Lesson 100B – Isaiah 36–47 Behold My Servant

Let’s step back And look at the whole of Isaiah for a bit His prophecies are split into two parts What is the historical context of each? – Judgments during impending Assyria, Promise during exile of Bablyon How do each demonstrate the role of Isaiah the Prophet? – Judgments for warning; promise for hope

Words of Comfort from the Lord Isaiah 41:10-14 – Does v10 sound familiar? – Hymn #85 Remember the setting; this is for the Israelites while in bondage. What are the comforting words and phrases from the Lord? – “Fear not” – “strengthen” – I “will hold thy right hand” (any significance that it’s the right one?) – “thy redeemer

Isaiah 41:21-24, Who is talking? Who is being addressed? – The Lord is challenging the ways of the world “Shew the things that are to come… that we may know that ye are gods” – All right, prove it “Behold, they are all vanity; their works are nothing” How are idols “vanity”? What modern day idols are vanity? – Obsession with beauty, money, power – Where is the true power?

Isaiah 42:1-4 Who is the servant? (hint: v8) Christ Given that, what is the power of verse 3? – “A bruised reed”, “the smoking flax” – bruised, but not broken – smoking, but not quenched – The Lord will not let us cease v6-8 – Even those who are in prison (think spirit prison) will be brought out in the end.

Joseph Smith “Here then we have an account of our Savior preaching to the spirits in prison, to spirits that had been imprisoned from the days of Noah; and what did He preach to them? That they were to stay there? Certainly not! Let His own declaration testify. [ Luke 4:18 ; Isaiah 42:7 ] It is very evident from this that He not only went to preach to them, but to deliver, or bring them out of the prison house.”

Isaiah 43:1-2 What does the water and fire represent in verse 2? – Baptism and the Holy Ghost – Or simply the trials and sin we find in our lives. Isaiah 44:9-20 – Description of making of graven images – What is in the end? (v20) – v21, 24 – The Lord is the creator, He made us, we cannot make Him or anything like Him or to replace Him

The L ORD Read Isaiah 45:15-25 This chapter clearly identifies the God of the Old Testament as Christ. Find as many evidences as you can in these verses that we are talking about Jesus Christ. v23 – “Every knee shall bow, every tongue swear” This is the great testimony of Isaiah, that Israel will be saved, and will be saved through the merciful power of the Messiah.

Notebook Ideas What words/phrases/verses that we discussed today were of the most comfort to you? How does this testimony strengthen your relationship with Christ? What are the foolish idols that might have been made by you? What power do they have, truly?