Home: The God Who Adopts - Week 1 (Isaiah 9:1-7)
Isaiah 9:1-7
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Jesus, Our Light, Victor, and King
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Isaiah 9:1-7 〰️ Jesus, Our Light, Victor, and King 〰️
We're now in the first week of Advent, and this is such an exciting time for us as a church! Each year, as a church, we've looked at the good news of Jesus' birth through a different perspective. In 2023, we saw the birth of Jesus through the Psalms. In 2024, through the eyes of Ruth. And this year, we're looking at our coming Savior through the perspective of various passages that highlight the mercy, hospitality, and adoptive heart of our Lord, hence the series title: Home: The God Who Adopts. As a community, we'll be highlighting different families at King's Table who have stepped out in faith in fostering and adopting children in need in our church, all while diving into what God's Word says about adoption. The heart of Advent for us this year is that we would see that, because of Christ's birth (and eventual life, death, and resurrection), we were adopted into the family of God.
As an additional note, we’ve assembled an Advent reading plan, so we encourage you to share with your people and read through these together as a community group!
And so this week, we kick it off in Isaiah 9:1-7! This passage is a beautiful prophetic word from the Lord, through the prophet Isaiah, for God's people, Israel. This was set in a time when Israel was described as "deaf and blind" (6:10), refusing to listen to the warnings from God. Compared to other prophets in the Old Testament, this book is interesting, as it's a beautiful blend of warning of coming judgment, with notes of hope and redemption. The most notable hope is that of the coming "servant," a "man of sorrows," who would be "pierced for our transgressions." (52:13-53:12. In the book of Isaiah, Israel receives word from God that a King is coming, and that the hope of the nations comes through Him.
So as we read this passage together, I would read it once out loud, and then read it again with Israel's context in mind (they have been walking apart from their God, but there is a promise of hope), and then again with Christ's birth in mind (the Savior of the world has come, on whom endless peace rests [v7]).
Discussion Questions
Could someone read Isaiah 9:1-7 for us?
What stood out to you from the passage?
Does this passage remind you of another part of Scripture?
Do you have any questions?
What is the meaning of v2? What would Israel have personally known or understood about this that we might not?
What does v5 say about the kind of peace God brings?
Verses 2-5 describe an age when the Lord will reign, and His people will be free, and then, in v6, it shifts to the birth of a child. What's the significance of this, and what do you think Isaiah was trying to communicate through this?
What hope and comfort do we have in v6-7?