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DUPAGE AME CHURCH STUDY – APRIL 2021

A STUDY OF THE BOOK OF

ISAIAH WEEK 4 – Wednesday, April 28, 2021 Pastor James F. Miller & Rev. Morgan Dixon I WILL ALWAYS SHOW YOU …

Isaiah 56-66 (after the Babylonian exile) The third book. The author is unknown. There is a mixture of prose and poetry, hope and despair. It appears that the people have returned to their homeland and are messing up again. In these chapters, the call for justice is reiterated. (Dr. Raquel S. Lettsome)

Isaiah 58

Isaiah 61

Isaiah 66:12-14; 22-24

In simple terms, JUSTICE occurs when society functions to protect and care for those who are weakest and most vulnerable. From the onset of the book, Isaiah stresses the importance of justice. God is not only concerned about what affects us personally, but also socially and nationally. The repentance that is required concerns how we treat the "least of these" in society. Out the gate, Isaiah's message shows us that God is angered by the corruption of the legal system when he writes: "Trample

my courts no more." (Isa. 1:12). (Dr. Raquel S. Lettsome)

DUPAGE AME CHURCH BIBLE STUDY – APRIL 2021

• God is a God of justice (:18) • God loves justice (:8) • (the nation) is redeemed by justice (:27) • God is exalted by justice (:5) • Lack of justice displeases God (:15) • God expects justice (:7) • God desires justice for all people (:4) • Part of the Messianic expectation is justice on earth (:4); perversion of justice removed (:8) • Justice is connected to peace (Isaiah 59:8-9-no justice, no peace)

REVIEW (The Bible Project)

Isaiah announces that God’s judgment will purify and prepare his people to the coming messianic king and new . Like Elijah, Jeremiah, and the other Prophets, Isaiah was called by God to deliver God’s messages to Israel for its welfare in the . But along with warnings against Israel's sin and rebellious ways came a message of hope in a new depth that would carry on for centuries after Isaiah's passing.

Isaiah offers hope This hope would be embodied through God's Servant known as "," who will one day establish a new Israel and God's Kingdom on the earth. Remarkably, does precisely that in His lifetime, fulfilling over 300 in Scripture that include intricate details of His death and resurrection foretold in Isaiah chapters 50 through 53. Throughout the test of time, Isaiah's words have encouraged thousands of people who have suffered the drudgeries in this life while waiting for the Messiah to come in His first and second appearances everyone is counting on.

DUPAGE AME CHURCH BIBLE STUDY – APRIL 2021

MILESTONES (The Bible Project) Isaiah the Messenger  Isaiah sees God but is purified. God appoints Isaiah as a prophet and tells him to warn the people of Israel about the impending judgment coming to them. Judgment and Hope  God gives Isaiah various prophesies and visions about judgment for Jerusalem and the nations. But God's kingdom will one day rule, righting the world's wrongs. 's Faith  threatens as prophesied, but God answers King Hezekiah's prayers and defeats them. Hezekiah falls deathly ill, but God remembers him and heals him. A Holy Seed  God's Servant is featured, rising from Israel's burnt stump. He is rejected and killed but is resurrected. His death pays for the sins of everyone. New Heaven & Earth  Isaiah prophesies that the Servant will rule God's kingdom, creating a New Jerusalem. The wicked are expelled and the righteous stay. All nations are welcome.

DUPAGE AME CHURCH BIBLE STUDY – APRIL 2021

538-333 B.C.E. Persian Period. 538 B.C.E. Edict of Cyrus (first return from Exile). 520-515 B.C.E. Jerusalem ("Second") Temple rebuilt. 520 B.C.E. Judean Prophet Haggai. 500 B.C.E. The notion of a Messiah, a political/military-religious/moral leader, develops. 450-400 B.C.E. Reformation led by Ezra and Nehemiah. ca. 450 B.C.E. (Pentateuch = first division of Jewish Scriptures) begins to gain recognition as Scripture. 438 B.C.E. Achashverosh becomes king of Persia. 426 B.C.E. First decrees by Haman; fast ordered by Esther, Haman's downfall and execution. 425 B.C.E. Haman's ten sons executed; Purim celebration. 424 B.C.E. Megillah recorded. 411 B.C.E. Bagoas, a Persian, is made governor of Jerusalem. 333-63 B.C.E. Hellenistic (Greek) period. 333/331 B.C.E. Alexander the Great conquers the Land of Israel. ca. 320-168 B.C.E. Judaism under Greek Ptolemies & Seleucids. ca. 250 B.C.E. "" translation of Torah into Greek. ca. 230-146 B.C.E. Coming of Rome to the east Mediterranean. ca. 201 B.C.E. Prophets (second division of Jewish Scriptures) recognized by some as Scripture ca. 200 B.C.E.-135 C.E. Jewish community. 175 B.C.E. Selicid, king of Syria, plunders Jerusalem, murdering many. 166-160 B.C.E. Jewish Maccabean revolt against restrictions on practice of Judaism and desecration of the Temple. 142-129 B.C.E. Jewish autonomy under Hasmoneans. 63 B.C.E. Rome (Pompey) annexes the land of Israel. 66-73 C.E. First Jewish Revolt against Rome. 69 C.E. Vespasian gives Yochanan ben Zakkai permission to establish a Jewish center for study at Yavneh that will become the hub for rabbinic Judaism. 70 C.E. Destruction of Jerusalem and the .

https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/timeline-of-judaism-after-the-babylonian-exile-538-bce-70-ce

CONSULTED SOURCES: The New Interpreters Study Bible, 2003 Book of The Month: Isaiah Outline by Raquel S. Lettsome, PhD The Bible Project, https://bibleproject.com/learn/isaiah/#!