Profiting from the Prophets
—(Part 36 of Seeing Jesus in the O.T.)
- Anne and Andrew Fountain – Nov 21, 2021
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Goal
To help us get more out of reading the Prophetic books in the O.T.,
by understanding what they are about
and how they can speak to us.
Isaiah 1:1–4
2Listen, heavens, and pay attention, earth,
for the Lord has spoken:
“I have raised children and brought them up,
but they have rebelled against me.
3The ox knows its owner,
the donkey its master’s feeding trough,
but Israel does not know;
my people do not understand.”
4Oh sinful nation,
people weighed down with iniquity,
brood of evildoers,
depraved children!
They have abandoned the Lord;
despised the Holy One of Israel;
they have turned their backs on him.
Isaiah 1:11–15
11What are all your sacrifices to me?
asks the Lord.
I have had enough of burnt offerings and rams
and the fat of well-fed cattle;
I have no desire for the blood of bulls,
lambs, or male goats.
13Stop bringing useless offerings.
Your incense is detestable to me.
15When you spread out your hands in prayer,
I will refuse to look at you;
even if you offer countless prayers,
I will not listen.
Your hands are covered with blood.
Isaiah 1:16
16Wash yourselves. Cleanse yourselves.
Remove your evil deeds from my sight.
Stop doing evil.
17Learn to do what is good.
Pursue justice.
Correct the oppressor.
Defend the rights of the fatherless.
Plead the widow’s cause.
Isaiah 1:18–20
18Come, let’s settle this,
says the Lord.
Though your sins are scarlet,
they will be as white as snow;
though they are crimson red,
they will be like wool.
19If you are willing and obedient,
you will eat the good things of the land.
20But if you refuse and rebel,
you will be devoured by the sword.
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.
Isaiah 1:21–23
21The faithful city—
what an adulteress she has become!
She was once full of justice.
Righteousness once dwelt in her,
but now, murderers!
22Your silver has become dross to be discarded,
your wine is diluted with water.
23Your rulers are rebels,
friends of thieves.
They all love graft
and chase after bribes.
They do not defend the rights of the fatherless,
and the widow’s case never comes before them.
Isaiah 1:24–26 Purification
24Therefore the Lord God of Armies,
the Mighty One of Israel, declares:
“Ah, I will get relief from my enemies;
I will avenge myself on my foes.
25I will turn my hand against you
and will burn away your dross completely;
I will remove all your impurities.
26I will restore your judges to what they were at first,
and your advisers to what they were at the start.
Afterward you will be called the City of Righteousness,
the Faithful City.”
Isaiah 2:2–3
2It 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,
3and 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.
Isaiah 2:4–5
4He 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.
5O house of Jacob,
come, let us walk
in the light of the Lord.
Profiting from the Prophets
- Readings from Isaiah 1 & 2
- How to read the Prophetic books
- Readings from Joel
Profiting from the Prophets
- Readings from Isaiah 1 & 2
- How to read the Prophetic books
- Readings from Joel
Joel 1
2Hear this, you elders;
give ear, all inhabitants of the land!
Has such a thing happened in your days,
or in the days of your fathers?
3Tell your children of it,
and let your children tell their children,
and their children to another generation.
4What the cutting locust left,
the swarming locust has eaten.
What the swarming locust left,
the hopping locust has eaten,
and what the hopping locust left,
the destroying locust has eaten.
Joel 1
5Awake, you drunkards, and weep,
and wail, all you drinkers of wine,
because of the sweet wine,
for it is cut off from your mouth.
6For a nation has come up against my land,
powerful and beyond number;
its teeth are lions’ teeth,
and it has the fangs of a lioness.
7It has laid waste my vine
and splintered my fig tree;
it has stripped off their bark and thrown it down;
their branches are made white.
Joel 2
1Blow a trumpet in Zion;
sound an alarm on my holy mountain!
Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble,
for the day of the Lord is coming; it is near,
2a day of darkness and gloom,
a day of clouds and thick darkness!
Like blackness there is spread upon the mountains
a great and powerful people;
their like has never been before,
nor will be again after them
through the years of all generations.
Joel 2
3Fire devours before them,
and behind them a flame burns.
The land is like the garden of Eden before them,
but behind them a desolate wilderness,
and nothing escapes them.
4Their appearance is like the appearance of horses,
and like war horses they run.
5As with the rumbling of chariots,
they leap on the tops of the mountains,
like the crackling of a flame of fire
devouring the stubble,
like a powerful army
drawn up for battle.
Joel 2
6Before them peoples are in anguish;
all faces grow pale.
7Like warriors they charge;
like soldiers they scale the wall.
They march each on his way;
they do not swerve from their paths.
8They do not jostle one another;
each marches in his path;
they burst through the weapons
and are not halted.
9They leap upon the city,
they run upon the walls,
they climb up into the houses,
they enter through the windows like a thief.
Joel 2
10The earth quakes before them;
the heavens tremble.
The sun and the moon are darkened,
and the stars withdraw their shining.
11The Lord utters his voice
before his army,
for his camp is exceedingly great;
he who executes his word is powerful.
For the day of the Lord is great and very awesome;
who can endure it?
Return to the Lord
Joel 2
12“Yet even now,” declares the Lord,
“return to me with all your heart,
with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;
13and rend your hearts and not your garments.”
Return to the Lord your God,
for he is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love;
and he relents over disaster.
Joel 2:18
18Then the Lord became jealous for his land
and had pity on his people.
19The Lord answered and said to his people,
“Behold, I am sending to you
grain, wine, and oil,
and you will be satisfied;
and I will no more make you
a reproach among the nations.
21“Fear not, O land;
be glad and rejoice,
for the Lord has done great things!
Joel 2:25
25I will restore to you the years
that the swarming locust has eaten,
the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter,
my great army, which I sent among you.
26“You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied,
and praise the name of the Lord your God,
who has dealt wondrously with you.
My people shall never again be put to shame.
27You shall know that I am in the midst of Israel,
and that I am the Lord your God and there is none else.
My people shall never again be put to shame.
Joel 2
28“And it shall come to pass afterward,
that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh;
Your sons and daughters shall prophesy,
your old men shall dream dreams,
and your young men shall see visions.
29Even on the male and female servants
in those days I will pour out my Spirit.
30“And I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke.
31The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes.
32And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Joel 3:18
16But the Lord is a refuge to his people,
a stronghold to the people of Israel.
17“So you shall know that I am the Lord your God,
who dwells in Zion, my holy mountain.
18“And in that day
the mountains shall drip sweet wine,
and the hills shall flow with milk,
21…for the Lord dwells in Zion.