The Bible OverBrew - Bible in a Yearنموونە

Week 19. Day 1. Isaiah 49-51.

Introduction to week 19

Isaiah 40-48 gave glorious promises of God’s comfort and salvation he offered his people, but all against the backdrop of the people’s continued failure. In Ch 40-48 Israel is described as God’s servant—someone called by God to carry out his purposes—but Israel fails in this task due to their sin. In chapters 49-55 (and 42:1-9) a different servant comes in to view: one person who will be all that Israel should have been. This servant is described in terms similar to Moses—the great servant of God in the Old Testament so far—and comes into view in 4 servant songs. In the work of this servant, one of the conundrums of Isaiah so far will be solved: how can God promise all the comfort and salvation to the people (ch40 onwards) if they are still sinful? The answer will be in the surprising work of the servant, especially as seen in the final servant song in Isaiah 53.

Isaiah 49-51

Is 49:1-12 Second servant song

• What is the character of the servant?
• What will the servant do?

Is 50:4-9 Third servant song

• What is the character of the servant?
• What will the servant do?

Bonus: Remember, this is how God is going to deal with evil and achieve his plans. Is this sort of servant what we would expect?

Is 51:1-3 See how the work of the servant and the return from exile are described:

• As fulfilment of Abrahamic covenant
• As fulfilment of original creation purposes, return to/expansion of Eden

51:9-11 See how the work of the servant and return from exile are described in Exodus language.

NOTE: Days 1-5 of each week contain the scripture reading for that week. Day 6 has just the 'key chapters'. If you want a briefer version of this plan that still takes you through the whole Bible, you could just read the key chapters featured on day 6. Day 7 has the podcast video where we discuss the week's reading.