Isaiah
Together
Isaiah
Together
Week One: Hope
Isaiah 2:1-5
The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
2 It shall come to pass in the latter days
that the mountain of the house of the Lord
shall be established as the highest of the mountains,
and shall be lifted up above the hills;
and all the nations shall flow to it,
3 and many peoples shall come, and say:
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the house of the God of Jacob,
that he may teach us his ways
and that we may walk in his paths.”
For out of Zion shall go forth the law,
and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
4 He shall judge between the nations,
and shall decide disputes for many peoples;
and they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war anymore.
5 O house of Jacob,
come, let us walk
in the light of the Lord.
Hope
Hope doesn’t mean what it used to. We use the word in a doubtful way (“Well I hope…”). But hope in the Bible is a confident assurance of what’s to come. For Christians, hope is connected to our faith in God.
Theological virtue of hope
Verses 4 and 5 promises everything anyone could possibly hope for their land. Isaiah promises a time when God himself will be like the President and the Supreme Court combined: teaching his ways to the country, judging all of the policies and problems with perfect wisdom. What is impossible with human beings is possible with God.
Hope is the confident assurance that God is in control and that “all things work together for the good of those who love him” (Romans 8:28). The virtue of hope gets us through tough times, when we are going through pain or suffering, but we can be sure that the Lord holds our future. Hope is one of the three “theological virtues” meaning it only comes from God. (Click here to listen to Fr. Alex’s podcast episode on the Theological Virtues: Faith, Hope, and Love) If we want more hope in our lives, we ought to pray for it, because we can’t get it anywhere but from the Holy Spirit!
Anxiousness – our default state
This opening prophecy in Isaiah came at a time of real hardship and anxiety. Anxiousness is fear, born of uncertainty about the future, that we feel in our bodies. Medication can help us with these bodily symptoms. But the cure is faith, which leads to hope.
How does faith lead to hope? If we trust someone, that means we can trust the promises that person makes. Having faith in God also means holding certain assurance that what God promises will come.
No matter how things look now, we know where this is all going!
How to wait in hope (or how do I get more hope?)
Often, we lose hope when we look to the future and see the obstacles that seem to stand between us and the reality promised by this kind of biblical prophecy.
When we focus on these obstacles, the future is full of anxiety and fear, leaving no room for hope.
Take a quiet moment in prayer to speak with God about your fears in the future.
As fears and anxieties surface, articulate them and write them down, then write this prophecy down next to them.
Hand over these fears to God and pray that the hope given by his promises would take root in your heart.
“Go up” now in worship
“Going up” means pilgrimage. Ours happens every Sunday when we come together at church. Make space in your weekend plans to join the body of Christ and come before the Lord in worship.
Hear the word of the Lord
Continue to read the scriptures. You really can start anywhere since “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.” (1 Tim. 3:16-17). But here are some good places to start from:
- Genesis 1-2 introduces us to God as the creator of everything and of us. It also shows us why human beings turned their backs on God and shows us why we need to be restored to him through Christ.
- Ephesians 1:3-14 is a summary of God’s plan for saving us and the whole world through Jesus Christ.
- 1 John is a practical guide for how to repent from our sins and keep our lives near to a God who loves us.