Unwavering Faithfulness: Pivotal Moments in the Book of Isaiah

Summary

Unwavering Faithfulness provides an accessible guide to Isaiah, helping contemporary audiences grasp both the uncompromising demands of God's holiness and God's unshakable faithfulness to covenant relationship and desire to bring about a good future for God's people. Isaiah is a dramatic book of prophecy and oracles that sweeps through the histories of Israel's kings and dealings with surrounding nations, levying judgment but also offering the hope of restoration, blessing, and shalom. Israel is taken to task for exploiting the poor and seeking security in political treaties and the human economy rather than in the fidelity of God. Ignoring the call of covenant to enact economic justice and righteousness for neighbors, Israel experiences the holy rule of God as working through geopolitical events that lead to the destruction of Jerusalem. But Isaiah doesn't rest here, and Unwavering Faithfulness forecasts ahead to the promise of Israel's return to Jerusalem from the Babylonian exile and to the imagination of the early church, inspired by the poetry of Isaiah to place its hope in Jesus the Messiah.

The ultimacy of God's governance and faithfulness in the swirl of global political chaos anchors this Bible study, helping listeners grasp Isaiah's vision of the covenantal fidelity of the Lord who wills newness and redemption amid failed histories.