This document summarizes lessons from the biblical prophets Isaiah. It discusses several of Isaiah's prophecies about righteousness, oppression, society, and God's desire to help the oppressed. The document examines what these prophecies teach about pleasing God and living according to cherished values. It explores imagery of people flocking to God, righteousness inheriting the land, and harmony between animals. The document concludes by considering steps to respond to the prophets' critiques and improve modern society.

1. Lesson Six – The Prophets: What’s Our Response?
I. Re-cap and Introduction
II. Today’s Prophetic Verses
A. ”I have called you with righteousness;…I will set you for a
covenant with the people, for a light to the nations; to open
blind eyes; to remove a prisoner from confinement, dwellers in
darkness from a dungeon.” Isaiah 42:6-7
Establish yourself through righteousness, distance yourself from
oppression…” Isaiah 54:14
What do we learn here about people’s ways that are pleasing
to God, that is, are good?
(Discussion)

2. B. ”I swear that you will clothe yourself all like jewelry and
adorn yourself like a bride.” Isaiah 49:18
Does this language bring back to your mind language we read
earlier? What does it seem to say?
(Discussion)
C. 1. ”The children from whom you had been bereaved will yet
say in your hearing, ‘The place is too crowded for me; move
aside for me that I may dwell.” Isaiah 49:20
What good development does this suggest in a healthy
society?
(Discussion)
C.2. ”My Lord, God, has granted me a tongue for teaching, to
understand the need of the times…, opened my ear for me,

3. and I did not resist…I did not hide my face from humiliation
and spit…
For my Lord helps me…who is he that will condemn me?
Behold they will all wear out like a garment; a moth will devour
them.” Isaiah 50:4-9
What signs of health do you see here?
(Discussion)
D. ”Everyone who is thirsty, go to the water, even one with no
money, go, buy, and eat; go and buy wine and milk without
money and without price. Why do you weigh out money
without getting bread and exert your efforts for that which
does not satisfy?” Isaiah 55:1-2
What is this water that is so freely available? And what purpose
can it and the wine and milk that are also available serve that
cannot be met by money?
(Discussion)

4. E. ”Surely this is the fast I choose: To break open the shackles
of wickedness, to undo the bonds of injustice, and to let the
oppressed go free, and annul all perversion. Surely you should
break your bread for the hungry, and bring the moaning poor
to your home…
Then your light will burst out like the dawn and your healing
will speedily sprout; your righteous deed will precede you…
If you remove from your midst perversion, finger-pointing, and
evil speech…then your light will shine even in the darkness and
your deepest gloom will be like the noon…
You will be like a well-watered garden and a spring of waters
whose waters never fail.
Ancient ruins will be rebuilt through you, and you will restore
generations-old foundations; and they will call you repairer of
the breach and restorer of paths for habitation.” Isaiah 58:6-12

5. There’s so much here. What is valued most by God? How does
that equate in our more secular world? What of great value
comes from living true once again to our most cherished
values?
(Discussion)
F. Let’s read a number of verses in the last chapters of Isaiah:
1. ”Who are these who fly like a cloud, like pigeons to their
cote-windows?” Isaiah 60:8
2. ”Your people will all be righteous; they will inherit the land
forever; a shoot of My planting, My handiwork, in which to
glory. The smallest will increase a thousand-fold…” Isaiah 60:21-
22
3. ”My soul will exult with my God, for he has dressed me in
the raiment of salvation, in a robe of righteousness has He
cloaked me, like a bridegroom who exalts himself with
splendor, like a bride who bedecks herself with her jewelry.

6. For, as the earth sends forth its growth and as a garden
sprouts forth its seedlings, so will God cause righteousness and
praise to sprout in the presence of all nations.” Isaiah 61:10-11
4. ”They will build houses and inhabit them, they will plant
vineyards and eat their fruit.” Isaiah 65:21
5. ”Wolf and lamb will graze as one, a lion – like cattle will eat
straw, a snake’s food will be dust…” Isaiah 65:25
Do you recall these images earlier in our study? What do you
make of their re-appearance here?
(Discussion)
III. Concluding Exercise – Let’s spend our remaining time
considering your thoughts and ideas about steps we
might take to respond to the prophets’ critiques of society
in their times by improving ours, by creating a more
positive measure on our “spiritual/ethical meter?”