Session 6: When God Comes Back in Power
Isaiah 52:7-12
Preparation Resources
The passage we are looking at this week is from the very famous and beautiful poem that runs from Isaiah 40 - 55 when God pronounces liberation to the exiles in Babylon and which is sometimes referred to as the "fifth Gospel". This passage occurs immediately before the famous fourth "servant song". I would recommend reading all of chapters 52 and 53 (or, if you're ambitious, all of chapters 40-55!)
There is no Tim Keller sermon on this particular passage, but there is one on the fourth servant song to which this is basically a preamble: The Sin-Bearer
Discussion Topics
1) How does this passage signal the promised Kingdom of God? Jesus used the phrase frequently and in fact his core message was "repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand". What do you understand that phrase to mean?
2) How does this passage invoke the story of the Exodus? What promises or themes link these passages?
3) How does this passage set forward the Creator's purposes for Israel and for the whole world? NT Wright says that God's purposes are to be advanced through obedient humans. What does that mean to you?
The passage we are looking at this week is from the very famous and beautiful poem that runs from Isaiah 40 - 55 when God pronounces liberation to the exiles in Babylon and which is sometimes referred to as the "fifth Gospel". This passage occurs immediately before the famous fourth "servant song". I would recommend reading all of chapters 52 and 53 (or, if you're ambitious, all of chapters 40-55!)
There is no Tim Keller sermon on this particular passage, but there is one on the fourth servant song to which this is basically a preamble: The Sin-Bearer
Discussion Topics
1) How does this passage signal the promised Kingdom of God? Jesus used the phrase frequently and in fact his core message was "repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand". What do you understand that phrase to mean?
2) How does this passage invoke the story of the Exodus? What promises or themes link these passages?
3) How does this passage set forward the Creator's purposes for Israel and for the whole world? NT Wright says that God's purposes are to be advanced through obedient humans. What does that mean to you?