Page 85 - Isaiah Student Worktext

Study Section 12: Chapters 41 - 43

12.1 Connect

Many non-Christians make the claim that Christianity is essentially the same as other beliefs,
that we worship the same God. They point out similarities in origins, some basic events that
are comparable and the fact that most religions have sacred writings to which they adhere.
Islam has the Quran; Hinduism has the Vedas, Buddhism has the Buddhavacana. What makes
the Bible unique?

Only the Bible describes the person and work of Jesus Christ, whose uniqueness is obvious in His claim
to be God incarnate, to be sinless, to have performed miracles the greatest of which was to rise from
the dead.

Perhaps more significant in determining the Bible’s unique status is the number of fulfilled prophecies.
We have seen already and will see more just in the book of Isaiah, but the books of the prophets are
filled with prophecies…both fulfilled and those yet to be fulfilled.

12.2 Objectives

1. The student should be able to explain that the Lord challenges the idols to do what only He can
do: predict the future and then carry it out. This reveals the uniqueness of the Bible as a record
of fulfilled prophecies.

2. The student should be able to recognize that the servant of the Lord, Jesus Christ, will patiently
and gently build His kingdom with broken sinners, even as far as the distant islands.

3. The student should be able to discuss that God displays His glory by rescuing His chosen people
through the fire and water of His judgments, a new salvation, which He predicted and which is greater
than the deliverance of Israel from Egypt.

12.3 Chapter 41 - Main Idea: The Lord challenges the idols to do what only He can do:
predict the future and then carry it out. This reveals the uniqueness of the Bible as a record of
fulfilled prophecies.

Bible scholars have said there are as many as one thousand different prophecies in the Bible, all
relating to future history, and many of them have already been fulfilled. The bible lays out
prophecies regarding people and kings and cities and nations. There are 20 consecutive
chapters of prophecy in Isaiah. There are seventeen consecutive chapters of prophecy in
Jeremiah, nine in Ezekiel, and two in Amos. Doom is predicted for Ammon, for Moab, for Edom,
for Philistia, for Babylon, for Tyre, for Sidon and many other places. And in every case, the
doom came to pass.

For example, Isaiah predicted that a king would come and that that king's name would be Cyrus. And
Isaiah said there would come a king named Cyrus and he will release Israel from its Babylonian
captivity. Isaiah gave us his name 150 years before he was even born. And that is found in Isaiah 44:28.

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