Week 12: The Messiah’s Sign · July 30

Read Isaiah 8:11-22

¹¹ This is what the Lord says to me with his strong hand upon me, warning me not to follow the way of this people:

¹² “Do not call conspiracy

    everything this people calls a conspiracy;

do not fear what they fear,

    and do not dread it.

¹³ The Lord Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy,

    he is the one you are to fear,

    he is the one you are to dread.

¹⁴ He will be a holy place;

    for both Israel and Judah he will be

a stone that causes people to stumble

    and a rock that makes them fall.

And for the people of Jerusalem he will be

    a trap and a snare.

¹⁵ Many of them will stumble;

    they will fall and be broken,

    they will be snared and captured.”

¹⁶ Bind up this testimony of warning

    and seal up God’s instruction among my disciples.

¹⁷ I will wait for the Lord,

    who is hiding his face from the descendants of Jacob.

I will put my trust in him.

¹⁸ Here am I, and the children the Lord has given me. We are signs and symbols in Israel from the Lord Almighty, who dwells on Mount Zion.

¹⁹ When someone tells you to consult mediums and spiritists, who whisper and mutter, should not a people inquire of their God? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living? ²⁰ Consult God’s instruction and the testimony of warning. If anyone does not speak according to this word, they have no light of dawn. ²¹ Distressed and hungry, they will roam through the land; when they are famished, they will become enraged and, looking upward, will curse their king and their God. ²² Then they will look toward the earth and see only distress and darkness and fearful gloom, and they will be thrust into utter darkness.

Week 12 Reflection Questions:

As you read this passage that speaks about the consequences of not recognizing or responding in faith to the Messiah, what stands out the most to you?  What do you learn about God in each? What do you learn about yourself?