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ISAIAH OFFERING HOPE FOR THE FUTURE
LESSON FOR THE JUNIOR CLASSES
STUDY SCRIPTURE: ISAIAH 29
Lesson 10 May 8, 2021
Key verse
“Those who err in mind will know the truth, And those who criticize will accept instruction”.
Isaiah 29:24
INTRODUCTION AND STUDY.
Hope is an amazing thing to have.
Sometimes we have difficulty understanding a subject we are studying in school. Sometimes we try to get our parents and friends to understand how we feel. But sometimes this does get through no matter how much we try.
Solutions do not always come easy. But we know that some problems have been solved some times before. We therefore have hope that the little difficulties before us now will also be solved. So our hope and expectations for a good future keeps us going.
Nehemiah The people living in the land of Judah were caught in a jam. A powerful nation wanted to attack them and take over the country, bringing all kinds of pagan worship with them. They needed help.
Should they depend on God to help them, or should they ask the people in Egypt for help? Everybody had an opinion even thought they very well knew their hope was in God’s protection.
But the prophet Isaiah told the nation of Judah God did not want the Egyptians to help them, All they had to do was to pray to God and trust Him to help them beat back the coming invasion from Assyria.
But spiritually things were bad in the country. The leaders were fighting among themselves. They were not treating the people well.
Fortunately they had a good king named Hezekiah. God thought a lot of him and he was called the most righteous king that Judah had ever had. So he listened to the warning the prophet Isaiah was giving him.
The prophet Jeremiah experienced that kind of feelingWhen the prophet spoke he listened. Isaiah told the king and the people in the nation that though things were bad and they were being threatened and they were afraid of the coming invasion and the destruction it would cause, they should make up their minds to rely on God.
They should hope in their future for God would protect them. God would send His army of angels to defeat the Assyrian army.
Since they were human beings, their fears made them lose hope. The prophet Isaiah had to keep on reminding them of what God had done for them in the past, and how He had saved them from powerful enemies. All they had to do was to obey the commandments of God, and worship Him from a honest and clean heart.
They should not pretend to love God and to worship Him without really meaning it for that would be hypocrisy. Hypocrisy is a deadly sin.
God hated pretence. He wanted the leaders and the people to stop pretending to love Him. He knew the hearts and minds of everyone. Nobody could hide their thoughts and preferences from Him.
If they wanted to misbehave and do the wrong things they could not hide their true intentions from God.
God wanted the King and the people of Judah to stop fooling themselves. They were to concentrate on following God and His instructions with a clean and pure and honest heart.
That way their future was secure. Their hope would become a guarantee for success.
Their future would be bright. Those that did not know God would come to know Him and His teachings.
The same advice is given to us. We have a sure hope. Our hope is certain. All we need to do is to follow God and do as He advised with a pure, honest and clean heart.
God’s promise was beautiful. They would not have to fear capture, or death itself. They would not be trampled under anyone foot once they believed in justice and righteousness.
God would give them a tried and powerful stone for a foundation. It would be a precious foundation and a sure foundation.
That is what we have when we listen to God, love Him, and worship Him in truth.
So let us trust and obey God.