Isaiah 40-66 Introduction: God's Highway Project

We live in a broken world--a world full of broken people, broken families, broken community. We are bombarded with hateful, manipulative social messaging and twisted social values. We are oppressed by abuse and bullying, violence, hate, and injustice. In the backwash of all that, we grapple with fear, despair, self-pity, shame, destructive anger, and withdrawal into silence--all the reactions that come with feeling powerless to escape our situation. We are left with the challenge of where to find comfort and how to break free of our bondage.

Israel was no different in the days of Isaiah. She was already suffering from brokenness as a nation because of her broken relationship with God, and it would take even more suffering under the oppressive hands of Babylon before she would seek God's solution. Through Isaiah, God warns her of the coming exile and why He is bringing this on her, but He also outlines the path--a highway--for her comfort, healing, and restoration.

As we work through Isaiah 40-66, we will examine the path that God lays out for comforting a broken people and healing a broken community as He addresses Israel in the depths of her despair in exile. From His model we will take some strategies for helping ourselves prepare for the oppression on our horizon and comforting others who are already traveling rough roads or caught in crooked circumstances. Bring your own experiences to the table as we discuss how Israel's experience parallels our own and apply Isaiah's words to our own culture.