Isaiah 43-44

Isaiah 43-44 Study Guide – to be discussed March 15
Day 1: Read Isaiah 43:1-7 (with footnotes 1a, 6b, 7a), Genesis 1:27, Genesis 2:7
1. Read Genesis 1:27 and Genesis 2:7 with Isaiah 43:1 and Isaiah 43:7. What verbs, used in Genesis 1:27 and Genesis 2:7 in the context of God’s relationship with man, are repeated in both Isaiah 43:1 and Isaiah 43:7? What does this tell you about the Lord? About you?*


2. From Isaiah 43:2 and Isaiah 43:4, how do we know we can trust God?


3. Read Isaiah 43:5-7. What do these verses teach about the gathering of Israel and the power of Christ’s atonement to save and renew?


Day 2: Read Isaiah 43:8-13 (with footnotes 10a, 13a)
4. According to Isaiah 43:8, what two groups of people were/are being gathered? What rhetorical question is asked in Isaiah 43:9?


5. Read the footnote to Isaiah 43:10a. Who is being addressed, beginning in Isaiah 43:10? What are they/we being called to do or to be?


6. From Isaiah 43:10-13, list what the Lord said he has done for his people.



Day 3: Read Isaiah 43:14-21 (with footnotes 17a,b, 20a, 21a), Exodus 14:15-18, John 7:37-39
7. How does the Lord identify himself in Isaiah 43:15?


8. Read Exodus 14:15-18 with Isaiah 43:16-17. When, in Israel’s history, did the Lord make “a way in the sea” and extinguish “the chariot and horse”?


9. Looking forward, what did the Lord promise to do for his people in the future? (See Isaiah 43:19-20, also John 7:37-39.)


Day 4: Read Isaiah 43:22-28 (with footnotes 23a, 24a,b, 26a, 28a,b), Isaiah 1:11-13, Mark 12:28-34, D&C 97:8-9,
D&C 20:77, D&C 58:42-43
10. In Isaiah 43:22-24, the Lord reviews Israel’s history of disloyalty. How are we disloyal when we forget to pray (v. 22)?


11. Read Mark 12:28-34 and Isaiah 1:11-13 with Isaiah 43:23-24. Why were Israel’s ritual offerings scorned by the Lord? How can we make our offerings acceptable? (See also D&C 97:8-9.)


12. Compare Isaiah 43:25-28 with D&C 20:77 and D&C 58:42-43. List keys to repentance.

Day 5: Read Isaiah 44:1-8 (with footnote 3a), Deuteronomy 33:26, footnote “a”
13. Read the footnote to Deuteronomy 33:26a. What does “Jesurun” mean? To whom, then, is Isaiah 44:1-8 addressed?


14. List promised blessings from Isaiah 44:3-5.



15. Isaiah 44:6-8 issues a challenge to false gods to care for and prophesy for Israel as God has. How can we be “witnesses” (v.8) of who God is?


BONUS: List names or titles of Christ in Isaiah 44:6.


Day 6: Read Isaiah 44:9-20 (with footnotes 9b, 11a)
16. Isaiah 44:9-20 deals again with the evils of idol worship. List messages regarding the foolishness of idol worship from Isaiah 44:9-11.


17. In Isaiah 44:12-17, the Lord points out the simple facts of idol manufacture. Who fashions worldly idols? Out of what are they made?


BONUS: Read about how careful and precise idol makers are in their craft (Isaiah 44:13). How might exactness in worship of God overcome idol worship?


18. In Isaiah 44:18, the Lord points out that idol worshippers are as blind and numb as the graven images they worship. How are those whose hearts are set on things of this world living a lie, or feeding on ashes?


Day 7: Read Isaiah 44:21-28 (with footnote 21a)
19. Once again, who forms idols and of what are they made? Now, who formed man? Who formed the earth? Who remembers and redeems you? What are you made of?


20. How does the Lord support his own?


21. List the very specific promises in Isaiah 44:28.


*From the Institute manual: Isaiah 43:1–7 . A Shadow and a Type for One Who Is Called, Before He May Be Owned by the Lord. In these verses, as Isaiah promised the eventual restoration and regathering of Israel, he compared it to a person’s walking on a perilous journey where fire and flood threaten. The metaphor is as valid for an individual as it is for the house of Israel. The Lord called her by name, for Israel is the name given her by covenant and symbolizes the fact that she would eventually be preserved and belong to Him (see Genesis 32:28–30 ). He then promised that as she passed through the perils of her journey back He would be with her. Neither waters nor flood nor the fires of trial and persecution could take away His protection of His chosen people. There may also be a spiritual symbolism in these promises. When Israel escaped from Egypt, she passed through the water (the Red Sea) and was overshadowed with fire, the pillar of fire, and smoke (see Exodus 13:21–22 ; 14:21–22 ). Paul saw these phenomena as types or symbols of the baptism of water and the Holy Ghost (see 1 Corinthians 10:1–4 ). Here Isaiah showed Israel being gathered. One is gathered into the fold by becoming baptized; thus, the symbolism is both spiritually and temporally significant.