Ashamed: Fighting Shame With the Word of Godنموونە

Day Five

The book of Isaiah is the most frequently quoted book elsewhere in the Bible. Why? Why is it so important that other biblical authors kept sharing it? What about Isaiah is so fundamental to our faith?

Well, put simply, Isaiah kept saying that Jesus was coming. Guys, Isaiah clearly presented the message of the gospel seven hundred years before the gospel was fulfilled. He predicted it in great detail—detail that turned out to be completely, hair-splittingly accurate.

It feels too good to be true now, so can you even imagine the hearers of Isaiah’s words back in those days?

The book of Isaiah is important and massively quoted because it pointed to the reality of the Rescuer who was to come. And then He came, and He and the people around Him were like, “Remember what Isaiah said? Open your eyes!”

It’s hard to really capture the significance by pulling little pieces of Scripture out like this, so if you have the time today, I’d really encourage you to flip back, even if it’s just to the beginning of John chapter 12.

Right there at the beginning, we’re reminded that Jesus just raised Lazarus from the dead (John 11). The Gospels are so incredible. Miracle after miracle is performed. And in John 12, we see Jesus’s triumphal entry, where He rides a young donkey to fulfill a prophecy from Zechariah 9:9. Even the words the people are shouting at Him are quoted from Psalm 118:25-26. It’s amazing.

In John, we see Jesus in real time living out the calling that Isaiah prophesied about all the way down to the state of the hearts and ears and eyes of the people He was around.

Jesus was the long-awaited hope. He bled and died and rose again, giving eternal hope to our broken hearts.

Raise your hand if you forgot you were doing a Bible plan about shame? Looking at the intricate fulfillments of this hope make it hard to think about lesser things—even our own shame. And that’s the whole point.

God is so wonderful, so compassionate, so loving. He overwhelms lesser things in our lives and gives us what we need. He has given us signs and wonders and details and miracles—as if salvation wasn’t enough! We can look through this alive and active book (Heb. 4:12) and see His provision and His hand, throughout history, on every page. Why do we so often doubt His hand in our own lives?

Jesus is good news. The gospel is good news. Death has been “swallowed up in victory.” Your shame from failures—past, present, and future—shrivel up in that kind of hope, right?

Read John 12:37-41; Luke 4:16-19; Isaiah 61:1-2. How should you close off this day? Believe the gospel. Memorize it. Cling to it. Jesus has swallowed up our shame and given us the victory. We can have true and lasting peace.

For more of this study by Scarlet Hiltibidal, visit lifeway.com/ashamed.