October 15, 2023 – Isaiah in the New Testament – Living Fully

Living Fully

Isaiah 22:12-22 - New International Version (NIV)

¹² The Lord, the Lord Almighty,
    called you on that day
to weep and to wail,
    to tear out your hair and put on sackcloth.
¹³ But see, there is joy and revelry,
    slaughtering of cattle and killing of sheep,
    eating of meat and drinking of wine!
“Let us eat and drink,” you say,
    “for tomorrow we die!”

¹⁴ The Lord Almighty has revealed this in my hearing: “Till your dying day this sin will not be atoned for,” says the Lord, the Lord Almighty.

¹⁵ This is what the Lord, the Lord Almighty, says:

“Go, say to this steward,
    to Shebna the palace administrator:
¹⁶ What are you doing here and who gave you permission
    to cut out a grave for yourself here,
hewing your grave on the height
    and chiseling your resting place in the rock?

¹⁷ “Beware, the Lord is about to take firm hold of you
    and hurl you away, you mighty man.
¹⁸ He will roll you up tightly like a ball
    and throw you into a large country.
There you will die
    and there the chariots you were so proud of
    will become a disgrace to your master’s house.
¹⁹ I will depose you from your office,
    and you will be ousted from your position.

²⁰ “In that day I will summon my servant, Eliakim son of Hilkiah. ²¹ I will clothe him with your robe and fasten your sash around him and hand your authority over to him. He will be a father to those who live in Jerusalem and to the people of Judah. ²² I will place on his shoulder the key to the house of David; what he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open.

What has the Lord called for the people of Judah and Jerusalem to do “on that day” (verse 12)?

What did the people say while they were eating meat and drinking wine (verse 13?

Who said “till your dying day this sin will not be atoned for” (verse 14)?

In your opinion, why was Shebna, the palace administrator, hewing his “grave on the height” (verses 15 and 16)?

What is the Lord going to do (verse 17)?

Where will Shebna die (verse 18)?

Who will depose Shebna (verse 19)?

How is Eliakim, son of Hilkiah, described (verse 20)?

What will Eliakim become (verse 21)?

Where will the “key to the house of David” be placed (verse 22)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

In your opinion, what does this passage reveal about how we should view death and/or life?

Luke 12:13-21 - New International Version (NIV)

¹³ Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”

¹⁴ Jesus replied, “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?” ¹⁵ Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”

¹⁶ And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. ¹⁷ He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’

¹⁸ “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. ¹⁹ And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’

²⁰ “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’

²¹ “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”

What did the person from the crowd want Jesus to do (verse 13)?

In your opinion, why did Jesus ask “who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you” (verse 14)?

What did Jesus say that “life does not consist” of (verse 15)?

Whose ground “yielded an abundant harvest” (verse 16)?

What was the man’s problem (verse 17)?

How did the man propose to remedy the problem (verse 18)?

Then what was the man going to say to himself (verse 19)?

Why was the man a fool (verse 20)?

What was the man going to get (verse 20)?

For whom will it be like this (verse 21)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

In your opinion, what does this passage reveal about how we should view death and/or life?

In your opinion, how are the steward who thinks he is going to die in Isaiah 22:12-22 and the rich man who is planning to store even more riches in Luke 12:13-21 alike?

1 Corinthians 15:31-44a – New International Version (NIV)

³¹ I face death every day—yes, just as surely as I boast about you in Christ Jesus our Lord. ³² If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus with no more than human hopes, what have I gained? If the dead are not raised,

“Let us eat and drink,
    for tomorrow we die.”

³³ Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.” ³⁴ Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God—I say this to your shame.

³⁵ But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?” ³⁶ How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. ³⁷ When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. ³⁸ But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body. ³⁹ Not all flesh is the same: People have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another. ⁴⁰ There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another. ⁴¹ The sun has one kind of splendor, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor.

⁴² So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; ⁴³ it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; ⁴⁴ it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.

Who does Paul board about (verse 31)?

Under what circumstance does Paul say we should “eat and drink, for tomorrow we die” (verse 32)?

What corrupts “good character” (verse 33)?

What does Paul want the Corinthian Christians to “come back to” (verse 34)?

What must happen for something that is sowed to “come to life” (verse 36)?

Who determines what body “each kind of seed” will have (verse 38)?

What is not the same (verse 39)?

What is different between the sun, the moon and the stars (verse 41)?

How is the body that is sown perishable raised (verse 42)?

How is the body that is sown “in dishonor” raised (verse 43)?

How is the body that is sown as a “natural body” raised (verse 44)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

In your opinion, what does this passage reveal about how we should view death and/or life?

In your opinion, how does Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:31-44 help us understand the mindset of the people of Jerusalem who were saying “let us eat and drink” in Isaiah 22:12-22?

In your opinion, what could the rich man in Luke 12:13-21 have done to comply with Paul’s instruction in 1 Corinthians 15:31-44 to “come back to your senses as you ought”?

Romans 8:1-11 – New International Version (NIV)

¹ Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, ² because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. ³ For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, ⁴ in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

⁵ Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. ⁶ The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. ⁷ The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. ⁸ Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.

⁹ You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. ¹⁰ But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. ¹¹ And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.

Who is there “now no condemnation for” (verse 1)?

What does the “law of the Spirit” set believers free from (verse 2)?

How did God accomplish what “the law was powerless to do” (verse 3)?

Who is the “righteous requirement of the law” met in (verse 4)?

What do those who “live according to the flesh” have their minds set on (verse 5)?

What do those who “live in accordance with the Spirit” have their minds set on (verse 5)?

What is “life and peace” (verse 6)?

What can the “mind governed by the flesh” not do (verse 7)?

Who “cannot please God” (verse 8)?

Who is “not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit” (verse 9)?

Who gives life “even though your body is subject to death” (verse 10)?

Who will give life to those “the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in” (verse 11)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

In your opinion, what does this passage reveal about how we should view death and/or life?

In your opinion, what does Shebna cutting out a grave for himself in Isaiah 22:12-22 reveal about where his mind was set as defined by Romans 8:1-11?

In your opinion, how are the plans of the rich man in Luke 12:13-21 “hostile to God” in the way that Paul discusses in Romans 8:1-11?

In your opinion, how is the life given by the Spirit “because of righteousness” in Romans 8:1-11 the ultimate solution for the despair the statement “let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die” expresses in 1 Corinthians 15:31-44? 

In your opinion, what do these passages from Isaiah, Luke, 1 Corinthians, and Romans teach us about the difference between living like that we are going to die tomorrow and living eternally in Christ?

In your opinion, how can we overcome living in fear to living fully, completely and eternally today?