Mes: enero 2021

Universal Appeal (Isa. 60:1, 2)

What is Isaiah 60:1, 2 talking about? What principle do you see at work there that’s seen throughout the Bible? What hope does it offer?
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In Isaiah 60:1, 2, we are given a picture of God’s deliverance of His
people, following the exile, expressed with the imagery of God’s creating light out of darkness and pointing forward to an ultimate fulfillment in salvation through Christ.

In Isaiah 60:3, to whose light do nations and kings come?
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In Hebrew this person is feminine singular (see also Isa. 60:1, 2). It must be “Zion,” personified as a woman, who is mentioned near the end of the previous chapter (Isa. 59:20). So, the people of the earth, who are covered in darkness, will come to Zion. They will be drawn by the light of God’s glory that has arisen over her (Isa. 60:2). “Zion is summoned to enter into the light that is hers and then to observe and react to the nations as they gather to the same light.”—J. Alec Motyer, The Prophecy of Isaiah: An Introduction and Commentary, p. 494.

Notice that although Zion is Jerusalem, the emphasis is more on the people than on the physical location of the city.
The rest of Isaiah 60 develops the theme introduced in verses 1–3:
The people of the world are drawn to Jerusalem, which is blessed
because of God’s glorious presence there.

How does this prophecy compare with God’s covenant promise to Abraham? (Gen. 12:2, 3.) Are they not saying the same thing?
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God had a universal purpose when He chose Abraham and his descendants: Through Abraham all families of the earth would be blessed (Gen. 12:3, Gen. 18:18, Gen. 22:18). So, God’s covenant with Abraham was ultimately intended to be a covenant with all humankind through Abraham.

He and his descendants would be God’s channel of revelation to the world. Isaiah sought to bring his people back to their ancient, universal
destiny. As the representatives of the true God, they were responsible
not only for themselves but also for the world. They should welcome
foreigners who seek God (see also Isa. 56:3–8), for His temple “shall
be called a house of prayer for all peoples” (Isa. 56:7, NRSV).

In this context, how do you understand the role of the Seventhday Adventist Church, or your role in that church?

“The Year of the Lord’s Favor” (Isa. 61:2, NRSV)

Who is speaking in Isaiah 61:1?
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The Spirit of God is on this anointed Person, which means that He is
a messiah or the Messiah. He is to “bring good news to the oppressed,
to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and
release to the prisoners” (Isa. 61:1, NRSV). Whom does that sound
like? Compare Isaiah 42:1–7, where God’s Servant is described in very
similar terms.

Isaiah 61:2 talks about the “acceptable year of the Lord.” The
Messiah, who is anointed as the Davidic King and Deliverer, proclaims
a special year of divine favor at the time when He proclaims liberty.
Compare Leviticus 25:10, where God commands the Israelites to proclaim liberty in the holy fiftieth year: “It shall be a jubilee for you: you shall return, every one of you, to your property and every one of you to your family” (NRSV). This means that persons who had been forced to sell their ancestral land or to become servants in order to survive hard times (Lev. 25:25–55) would reclaim their land and freedom. Because the jubilee year began with the blowing of a trumpet on the Day of Atonement (Lev. 25:9), we have mentioned this passage before in connection with Isaiah 58.

While “the year of the Lord’s favor” (NRSV) in Isaiah 61:2 is a kind of
jubilee year, it is not simply an observance of Leviticus 25. This year is
announced by the Messiah, the King, when He reveals Himself through a ministry of liberation and restoration. This is similar to some ancient Mesopotamian kings who promoted social kindness by proclaiming release from debts during early years of their reigns. The Messiah’s ministry goes far beyond the scope of the Leviticus 25 law. Not only does He “proclaim liberty to the captives” but He also binds up the brokenhearted, comforts those who mourn, and brings about their restoration (Isa. 61:1–11). Furthermore, in addition to “the year of the Lord’s favor,” He proclaims “the day of vengeance of our God” (Isa. 61:2, NRSV).

When was Isaiah’s prophecy fulfilled? (Luke 4:16–21.) How did
Jesus’ ministry accomplish this? Also, ask yourself this important
question: we, of course, are not Jesus. But we are to represent
Him to the world. What are the things the Messiah does,
as expressed in Isaiah 61:1–3, that we, in our limited capacities,
should be doing, as well? And what are some of the practical ways in which we can do these things?
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“The Day of Vengeance of Our God” (Isa. 61:2, NRSV)

Amid all the good news, why does the Messiah, as depicted in Isaiah 61, proclaim God’s vengeance? When is this prophecy fulfilled?

When in Nazareth, Jesus, the Messiah, read Isaiah 61 as far as “to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Isa. 61:2, NRSV; Luke 4:19, NRSV).

Then He stopped and said, “ ‘Today this scripture has been fulfilled in
your hearing’ ” (Luke 4:21, NRSV). So, He deliberately and specifically
avoided reading the next words in the same verse: “the day of vengeance of our God” (Isa. 61:2, NRSV). While His ministry of good news, liberty, and comfort was beginning to set captives free from Satan’s tyranny, the day of vengeance was not yet to come. In Matthew 24 (compare Mark 13, Luke 21), He predicted to His disciples that divine judgments would come in the future.

Indeed, in Isaiah 61 the day of God’s vengeance is the “great and terrible day of the Lord” (Joel 2:31, NRSV; Mal. 4:5), to be fulfilled when Christ will come again to liberate planet Earth from injustice by defeating His enemies and setting the oppressed remnant of His people free (Revelation 19; compare Dan. 2:44, 45). So, although Christ announced the beginning of “the year of the Lord’s favor,” its culmination is at His second coming.

How do you reconcile the notion of a loving God with a God who
also promises vengeance? Are the ideas incompatible? Or do you
understand vengeance as a manifestation of that love? If so, how
so? Explain your answer.

Though Jesus has told us to turn the other cheek (Matt. 5:39), elsewhere He is very clear that justice and punishment will be meted out (Matt. 8:12). Though Paul tells us not to “render evil for evil” (1 Thess. 5:15), he also says that when the Lord is revealed from heaven, with flaming fire He will take “vengeance on them that know not God” (2 Thess. 1:8).

The difference, of course, is that the Lord in His infinite wisdom and
mercy can alone bring both justice and vengeance in a completely fair
manner. Human justice, human vengeance, comes with all the faults,
frailties, and inconsistencies of humanity. God’s justice, of course, will
come with none of those limitations.

Which of the following incidents would make you more likely to
want to see vengeance returned upon someone who does evil? (1)
A person who hurts someone you do not love or (2) a person who
hurts someone you do love? How do we understand the link between
God’s love for us and the warnings of vengeance?

Further Thought: See also Ellen G. White, Patriarchs and Prophets,
pp. 376–378; also The Desire of Ages, pp. 236–243.

“Jesus stood before the people as a living expositor of the prophecies
concerning Himself. Explaining the words He had read, He spoke
of the Messiah as a reliever of the oppressed, a liberator of captives,
a healer of the afflicted, restoring sight to the blind, and revealing to
the world the light of truth. His impressive manner and the wonderful
import of His words thrilled the hearers with a power they had never
felt before. The tide of divine influence broke every barrier down; like
Moses, they beheld the Invisible. As their hearts were moved upon by
the Holy Spirit, they responded with fervent amens and praises to the
Lord.”—Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, p. 237.

“The day of God’s vengeance cometh—the day of the fierceness of
His wrath. Who will abide the day of His coming? Men have hardened
their hearts against the Spirit of God, but the arrows of His wrath will
pierce where the arrows of conviction could not. God will not far
hence arise to deal with the sinner. Will the false shepherd shield the
transgressor in that day? Can he be excused who went with the multitude in the path of disobedience? Will popularity or numbers make any guiltless? These are questions which the careless and indifferent should consider and settle for themselves.”—Ellen G. White, Faith and Works, p. 33.

Discussion Question:
A Seventh-day Adventist pastor thoughtfully stated that his number
one problem in ministry is the exclusiveness of church members
who do not want others to join them. How can “Christians”
take the love, hope, and good news of Christ’s kingdom to all the
world so that others can have an opportunity to be saved before
the end comes (Matt. 24:14) when they do not even want to accept
people who go out of their way to show up in their church?

Summary: God purifies an unjust society by removing the rebels and by restoring the remnant who turn from the sins that have separated them from Him. Due to the blessings of God’s presence, people from other nations are drawn to God and His people so that they also can enjoy the time of God’s favor that is proclaimed and delivered by the Messiah.

Read for This Week’s Study: Isa. 55:1–7; Isa. 55:6–13; Isa. 58:1–12; Isa. 58:13, 14.

Memory Text: “If you extend your soul to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted soul, then your light shall dawn in the darkness, and your darkness shall be as the noonday” (Isaiah 58:10, NKJV).

A Jewish cantor (worship leader) and his wife who lived in Lincoln, Nebraska, began receiving threatening and obscene phone calls. They discovered the calls came from a leader of an American hate group, the Ku Klux Klan. Knowing his identity, they could have turned him in to the police. But they decided on a more radical approach. When they learned that he was crippled, they showed up at his door with dinner! He was utterly flabbergasted. His hatred melted before their love. The couple kept visiting him, and the friendship grew. He even thought of becoming Jewish!
“Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry . . . ?” (Isa. 58:6, 7, NRSV). Ironically, the couple in Lincoln kept such a fast by sharing their feast with a hungry oppressor, thereby setting him free from his own bonds of unjust prejudice!

Let’s learn more about this important spiritual principle as depicted by the prophet Isaiah.

Buy Something Free? (Isa. 55:1–7)

Read this text: “Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you that have no money, come, buy and eat!” (Isa. 55:1, NRSV). What contradiction do you see there?
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Suppose you took food and stood on the street in a big city and
announced to the hungry and homeless there: “You who have no
money, come, buy and eat!” (NIV). But how can they buy if they have
no money?
However, if you add the words, as Isaiah did: “without money and
without price” (Isa. 55:1, NRSV), the point becomes clearer. Isaiah
appeals to people to accept forgiveness (Isa. 55:7) freely. Yet, the word
“buy” emphasizes that what God offers people to meet their needs and
desires is valuable; so, receiving it requires a transaction (transfer of
something of worth). God freely offers forgiveness within the framework of a restored covenant relation with His people, but not because it was free for Him: He bought it at the terrible, blood-drenched price of His own Servant. Though free, it came at an astonishing cost to Himself.

What was the price for our salvation? (See 1 Pet. 1:18, 19.)
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How does Isaiah’s approach to salvation compare with that of the New Testament? (Eph. 2:8, 9.)
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Isaiah encapsulates the gospel in the Old Testament, and it is the
same as the gospel in the New Testament. There was no “old-covenant” salvation by works, to be superseded by “new-covenant” salvation by grace. Ever since God’s promise of a Deliverer to Adam and Eve (Gen.3:15), there has been only one way to salvation: by grace through faith (Eph. 2:8); “the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 6:23, NRSV). From the ancient Gilgamesh, who did heroic exploits in a vain search for eternal life, to modern actors who believe in reincarnation, people have tried all kinds of different routes to salvation, but all are fruitless. This is why they need to know about Jesus and what He has accomplished for them at the cross.

Salvation is free in that there’s nothing we can do to earn it. Our
works can never be good enough to save us. Yet, at the same time, it can cost us everything. What does that mean? (See, for instance, Matt. 10:39, Luke 9:23, Luke 14:26, Phil. 3:8.)

High Thoughts and Ways (Isa. 55:6–13)

Why does God say His thoughts and ways are higher than ours, “as the heavens are higher than the earth” (Isa. 55:8, 9, NRSV)? What do you think that means?
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There’s no question that the God who created a universe in which
even some of the simplest things contain mysteries that our minds cannot begin to fathom is a God whose ways are beyond what we can ever begin to fully grasp. This knowledge of His infinite superiority should, therefore, make it easier for us to humbly receive His help. (See Isa. 57:15.)

Read Isaiah 55:6–9. What is the context in which the Lord talks about how His ways and thoughts are higher than what we can imagine? What is He saying He does that is so hard for us to grasp?
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Of all the great mysteries of the universe, no doubt the greatest one of
all is the plan of salvation, a mystery we can only barely begin to understand.
(See Eph. 6:19.) That the Creator of the universe would stoop to
clothe Himself in humanity, live a life of toil and suffering, only then to
die in our behalf, a sacrifice for sin, all in order that He could pardon
us and show mercy to us is a truth that will thrill the hearts of God’s
created beings for all the ages of eternity.

“The theme of redemption is one that angels desire to look into; it will
be the science and the song of the redeemed throughout the ceaseless
ages of eternity. Is it not worthy of careful thought and study now? . . .
“The subject is inexhaustible. The study of the incarnation of Christ,
His atoning sacrifice, and mediatorial work will employ the mind of
the diligent student as long as time shall last; and looking to heaven
with its unnumbered years, he will exclaim, ‘Great is the mystery of
godliness.’ ”—Ellen G. White, My Life Today, p. 360.

Look at the bad things you have done: the people whom you
have hurt, the unkind words you have spoken, the ways in which
you have disappointed others, not to mention yourself. And yet,
through Jesus, you can be forgiven for all these things and stand,
right now, perfect and righteous in the sight of God. If that isn’t
a mystery, what is?

Fast Friends (Isa. 58:1–8)

What is the “fast” referred to in Isaiah 58:3?
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This must be the fast of the Day of Atonement, the only fast commanded by God (Lev. 16:29, 31; Lev. 23:27–32). This is confirmed
in Isaiah 58:3 by the parallel expression “humble ourselves” (NRSV),
which follows the terminology of Leviticus. Humbling or afflicting
oneself referred to various forms of self-denial, including fasting (compare Ps. 35:13; Dan. 10:2, 3, 12).

The Day of Atonement setting explains God’s command to “Lift up
your voice like a trumpet!” (Isa. 58:1, NRSV). This kind of ram’s horn
trumpet, called a shofar, was to be blown as a memorial or reminder
10 days before the Day of Atonement (Lev. 23:24). Furthermore, every
fiftieth year, on the Day of Atonement, it was to announce the beginning of the jubilee year of freedom (Lev. 25:9, 10; compare Isa. 27:13).

Read Isaiah 58:3–7. What is the Lord complaining to them about? What was wrong with their “fast”?
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It seems the people were expecting the Lord to congratulate them for
their “piety.” Of course, they had it all backward. Practicing self-denial
on the Day of Atonement was to express their gratitude and loyalty to
Him on the day the high priest went before God to cleanse the sanctuary and thereby cleanse them from sins for which they had already been forgiven (Leviticus 16, compare Leviticus 4). Their acts should have been done in thankfulness and gratitude to the God who saved them in the day of judgment, not in order to get God’s approval for their “piety” and “devotion.” After all, it was the sins of the people that had defiled God’s sanctuary. It had to be cleansed with blood that was shed because of what they had done.

One of the crucial lessons that comes from these texts points to
the difference between being merely religious and truly being a
follower of Christ. How do we see the difference there? How do
we, as individuals, face the same danger as the individuals presented here, which is believing that our religious rituals somehow show we are really following the Lord as He asks us to?

Fast Fight (Isa. 58:1–12)

Ten days after trumpet blasts have reminded God’s people that the
Lord is acclaimed as their King on the very Day of Atonement when
their humility through self-denial is to affirm their loyalty to Him as
King, the prophet lifts up his voice like a trumpet to declare that they
are rebelling against Him (Isa. 58:1).
Read through Isaiah 58:6–12. What are acts that God considers true
acts of self-denial? After all, what’s harder: to skip a few meals or
to use your own time and money to feed the homeless in your town?

What is the principle to be seen behind these acts? How do these
acts comprise true religion?
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Anyone can be religious; anyone can go through religious rituals,
even the right rituals, at the right time, with all the right formulas.
But that alone is not what the Lord wants. Look at the life of Jesus.
However faithful He was to the religious rituals of His time, the Gospel writers focused so much more on His acts of mercy, healing, feeding, and forgiveness to those in need than on His faithfulness to ritual.

The Lord seeks a church, a people, who will preach truth to the
world. But what will better attract people to the truth as it is in Jesus:
strict adherence to dietary laws or a willingness to help the hungry?
Strict rest on the Sabbath or a willingness to spend your own time and
energy helping those who are in need?

Read Matthew 25:40 and James 1:27. What do they tell us?
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Look at the blessings in Isaiah 58 that God says will come to those who seek to minister to the less fortunate. What do you think the Lord is saying to us here? Are these promises of supernatural intervention in our lives if we do these things? Or, perhaps, is He telling us of the natural blessing we receive by giving of ourselves to others as opposed to being selfish, greedy, and self-absorbed? Explain your answer.
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A Time for Us (Isa. 58:13, 14)

Why does Isaiah discuss the Sabbath in Isaiah 58:13, 14? What connection does this have with the Day of Atonement setting of the earlier verses?
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The yearly Day of Atonement was a sabbath day. This special ceremonial sabbath was like the weekly Sabbath in that all work of any kind was prohibited (Lev. 23:27–32). Therefore, as recognized by early Seventhday Adventists, the rule that the Day of Atonement period of rest lasted from evening to evening (Lev. 23:32) informs us that the same must be true of the weekly Sabbath. Similarly, although the primary context of Isaiah 58:13, 14 is the ceremonial Day of Atonement Sabbath, its message also applies to the weekly Sabbath.

Read Isaiah 58:13. What kind of day is the Sabbath supposed to be? How can we make our Sabbath experience like the one depicted here? Also, when you think about what the Sabbath represents, why should it be the kind of day described in this text?
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Isaiah 58 deals with three main themes: self-denial, social kindness,
and the Sabbath. What are the connections between them?
First, all three involve concentration upon God, His priorities, and
recognition of our dependence upon Him. Second, by doing all three,
humans pursue holiness by emulating God (see Lev. 19:2), who, in the
form of Christ, humbled Himself (Phil. 2:8), who demonstrates selfsacrificing kindness (John 3:16), and who ceased from labor on the
Sabbath at the end of the Creation week (Gen. 2:2, 3; Exod. 20:11).

Look at these other ties between the themes of self-denial, social
kindness, and the Sabbath as depicted in Isaiah 58: Sabbath
freedom from weekly toil is kind to people because it lets them be refreshed (Exod. 23:12, Mark 2:27); Jesus showed that kind acts are appropriate on the Sabbath (Mark 3:1–5, John 5:1–17); true Sabbath keeping brings joy (Isa. 58:14), as does helping others (Isa. 58:10, 11). What must change in your own life in order to experience these blessings yourself?
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