Cyber-Chapel Blog

Author: vparunak

  • The Spirit-Powered King

    This week’s message (April 19, Isa 11:2-5) focuses on the spiritual endowment of the promised King, which enables him to sense directly whether or not people fear the Lord (v. 3), thus avoiding the perils of superficial judgment and ensuring a rule of righteousness and truth.

  • The Sprout from the Stump

    This week’s message explores the relationship between the promotion of the Messiah as ruler over Israel and his resurrection from the dead.

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  • Judah’s Hope

    This week’s study (April 5) on Isa 10:24-34 deals with the third of the three groups described last week, the people of Jerusalem. Unlike Israel, to be conquered by Assyria and promised only a remnant in vv. 20-23, Judah is assured that the Assyrian oppression will last only a very little while. The Assyrian’s southward march, which formed the basis of his boast in Isa 10:9-11, will continue to Nob hill, overlooking Jerusalem, but will advance no farther, and the nation that prided itself in hewing down its adversaries (Isa 37:24) will itself be cut clean by the Lord of Hosts.

  • When will they ever learn?

    This chorus from an old PPM song keeps coming to mind as I watch our leaders’ response to the current economic crisis and compare it to what we’ve been reading in Isaiah.

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  • Recent Studies

    It’s been a while since I updated the blog links to the studies on Isaiah. (You can always get to the latest one from the link on the Cyber-Chapel homepage.) Here are the last three, with a brief synopsis of each.

    The study for March 15 completed the analysis of the four stanzas of Isa 9:8-10:4, describing God’s past and future judgment against the northern kingdom. Arrogance, corrupt rule, fraternal strife, and social injustice must lead to divine wrath. The argument throughout this section corresponds to the “woe” and “therefore” sections of the interpretation of the Parable of the Vineyard in Isa 5:7-30. God means their misfortunes to capture their attention and draw them to the Lord, but they persist in their rebellion.

    Isa 10:5-32, introduced in the study for March 22, corresponds to the description of coming the Assyrian invasion in Isa 5:17, 26-30. The section is an alternation between the Lord’s purposes for Assyria and the invader’s arrogant refusal to recognize that it is a tool in the Lord’s hand.

    The study for March 29 looks beyond the horizon of Isa 5 to the future of the three main groups involved in the coming invasion. Assyria will be punished for its arrogance. A small remnant will return from the Northern Kingdom, consumed by the invader. Judah will be chastened to a lesser degree, but emerge largely unscathed.

  • God’s Persistent Anger

    This week’s study introduces the series of four stanzas that outline God’s past and future judgment against the Northern Kingdom.

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  • The Lord’s Everlasting Zeal

    This week’s study on Isa 9:7 explores the government that the Child of v. 6 will establish. Each of the four names that the child carries corresponds to a different aspect of this platform, illustrating the Bible  study principle, “Pay attention to repetition.”
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  • Study questions on Isa 9:8-10:4 for 8 March 09

    Judgment on the Northern Kingdom, 9:8-10:4

    1. Preview the entire section. How is its division into shorter paragraphs marked?
    2. Where have we seen this refrain before, and how was it previously used to compare the past and the future? (Note: Throughout this section, the verb tenses alternate between past and future in a most striking fashion. Most translations force them entirely into the future (AV) or past (NET). In fact, this variation strikingly emphasizes the point made in the refrain.)
    3. What common elements are repeated in each paragraph?
    4. As we work through the successive paragraphs, try to highlight the progression of thought from one to the next.

    9:8-12

    1. See if you can find other places where the Lord sends a “word” (singular, not plural). Does this idiom describe a message, or something else?
    2. Review the record of the last days of the Northern Kingdom in 2 Kings 17. In what sense did God’s word “light upon Israel”?
    3. In v. 9, the verb form translated “shall know” is better rendered “knew” (past).
      1. What did they know?
      2. In the light of this knowledge, why is their statement in v. 10 inappropriate? What should they have said?
      3. How do these verses anticipate Rom 1:20-21?
      4. What principles do we learn here for speaking to unbelievers about the Lord?
    4. Verse 11 is an example of the shifting time references. “Join” is future, but “set up” and “devour” are past. Who is Rezin, and who are his adversaries?
    5. Who is the “him” against whom the Lord set up the adversaries of Rezin?
    6. Study the idiom of the hand stretched out in the OT.
      1. Contrast it with the idiom of the strong hand and the arm stretched out. Look for systematic differences in
        1. who does the stretching and
        2. whether the focus is on judgment or blessing.
      2. What is the prototypical example of each action?
      3. How do these observations illuminate your understanding of this refrain?

  • Study Questions on Isa 9:7 for 1 March 2009

    We didn’t get to Isa 9:7 this past Lord’s day, so the questions on that verse from last week are still good for this week. In addition, you might like to read ahead Isa 9:8-10:4 and think about questions you might ask about that section.

  • The Child named “Miracle”

    This week’s study explores the names of the Child of Isa 9:6. The first, “Wonder” or “Miracle,” is a summary of the other four, of which the first and last (“Counselor” and “Prince of Peace” describe members of the court, while the central two (“Mighty God” and “Everlasting Father”) are titles of God himself. We explore the amazing paradox involved in a human child who is at once a counselor to the God who needs no counsel (Isa 40:13, 14), and himself God.