Light Rising in the Darkness
Click below to download the Cornerstone Connections leader’s guide and student lesson. This week’s resources also include two lesson plans and a discussion starter video which offer different ways of looking at the topic. Each lesson plan includes opening activities, scripture passages, discussion questions, and real-life applications.
Through the message of the prophet Isaiah God has been calling His people throughout the ages to their mission to restore His truth and to observe the seventh-day Sabbath. It is our privilege to practice keeping the Sabbath now, knowing that we will continue to worship God on His holy Sabbath day throughout eternity.
Royalty in Ruin (Prophets and Kings)
Chapter 60 - Visions of a Glorious Future
• Isaiah 58:1-14
• Zechariah 7:3-5
• Matthew 22:37-39
• Isaiah 60:1-3
As a result of this lesson, students will see that they are meant to be reflections of hope and light because of what God is doing right now and has been doing for all of human history.
Option 1: Unexpected Blessings
Make a list of all the ways this year that God has brought unexpected blessings to your life. Have each student share something from their list. While this isn’t a “game,” it’s a great way to sum up the year.
Option 2:
This is the last Sabbath School of the year. Make it festive. You may very well have visitors from out of town. Show them how much fun your class has. Encourage students to bring “ugly sweaters” to decorate your room. You may choose to have some warm drinks and/or cookies available.
For many, the holidays are delightful. (That word is being used intentionally.)
What (if anything) made this holiday delightful for you?
If not the holiday, what is the most delightful thing about this past year that you can think of?
What is something delightful about the Sabbath? (Expect very personalized answers, but let the ideas roll. The very variety will help us discover the message of this lesson.)
Like we mentioned before, this is our last meeting together this year. What a year it has been. Can you remember last Christmas? How different was the world way back then? I think most people would say this has been the most unique year of their lives, whether they are 85 or 15.
As we begin our lesson today and continue our study in Isaiah, we might hear echoes of the Christmas story, but in reality, everything is about Jesus. Today we are going learn something new about the Sabbath, and God’s idea of what our relationship with Him consists of.
This week’s passage from Isaiah 58 is about a group of people in isolation. Most scholars believe that it was written during the exile to the Jews who had been left behind. Remember, the Babylonians mostly only took the best, the brightest, and the leaders into captivity. There were a lot of people left behind with no temple, a destroyed city, and the challenge of finding direction or spiritual purpose for themselves. That is Isaiah’s audience. Zechariah 7:3-5 tells us that these spiritually isolated people fasted for two months of the year for 70 years.
It seems as if this is a group of people really trying to understand God. And, maybe they are. But let’s read the text to see what their relationship with God is like.
Read Isaiah 58:1-2.
Shout it aloud, do not hold back. Raise your voice like a trumpet. Declare to my people their rebellion and to the descendants of Jacob their sins. 2 For day after day they seek me out; they seem eager to know my ways, as if they were a nation that does what is right and has not forsaken the commands of its God. They ask me for just decisions and seem eager for God to come near them.
What kind of feeling do you get reading this passage? It seems as if God is talking to Isaiah in verse 1, but what about the end of verse 2?
Do you think it seems as if the people are seeking God Him without actually letting Him change their lives? Why or why not?
What are some ways that teenagers might do this today? What kind of changes does God really want to make in our lives?
Read Isaiah 58:3-7.
3 ‘Why have we fasted,’ they say, ‘and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?’ “Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers. 4 Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists. You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high. 5 Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for people to humble themselves? Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed and for lying in sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast,
a day acceptable to the Lord? 6 “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?
7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter— when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
What is God really looking for when He asks us to worship and/or fast? (Hint: this text ends with Sabbath, we are getting there, but this really is about the by-products of healthy worship practices.)
How possible is it that our worship is primarily about ourselves?
When we worship, could we possibly be seeking our own comfort and good feelings? How? Why might we do that?
What are some unselfish ways to worship God listed in verses 3 through 7?
What might some of the things you listed look like for teens today—what would it look like not to quarrel, to be humble?
Read Isaiah 58:8-11.
8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard. 9 Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I. “If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, 10 and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. 11 The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.
What do you notice about the if/then statements here? (If we look after others, then God blesses us, and we are a beacon of God’s goodness to others.)
Read Matthew 22:37-39.
37 Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
Why is this order of love important in our relationships and worship?
Read Isaiah 58:12.
12 Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.
I think verse 12 is really cool. I’m a movie/book lover. I can’t read “restorer of the breach” without thinking of the battles in Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. Reading/watching those reminds me of the Great Controversy in which Satan is always looking to break through the breach of selfishness in our lives.
What needs to be rebuilt—in our lives, in our church, in our country/world?
How can you raise the foundation for your generation?
How can teenagers today repair the breaches and restore our communities?
Read Isaiah 58:13-14.
13 “If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and the Lord’s holy day honorable, and if you honor it by not going your own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words, 14 then you will find your joy in the Lord, and I will cause you to ride in triumph on the heights of the land and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.” For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.
This text is really about worship. What does this say about what our worship should be like? Think beyond the Sabbath day.
How could Sabbath living be more of a lifestyle? What would that look like?
Check out Isaiah 60:1-3.
“Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you. 2 See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the Lord rises upon you and his glory appears over you. 3 Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.
You can make a difference. The Bible calls us to “arise and shine.” As 2024 ends, how can you as a group, and as individuals, take some of the ideas from Isaiah 58 and make them a reality in your church?
Write some special notes to shut-ins.
Host a special Zoom tech night to help older church members understand how to get on your church livestream, etc.
Take some really healthy (but still tasty) sack lunches to some homeless people in your community.
• Isaiah 58:1-14
• Isaiah 59:1-21
• Isaiah 60:1-3
LEADER’S NOTE
For a Relational Bible Study (RBS) you’ll want to get into the Scripture passage and encourage the youth to imagine participating in the story while it’s happening. Then you will be able to better apply it to your own situation today.
You will need to ask God for the Holy Spirit to be present as your small group discusses the questions (no more than 3-6 people in a group is recommended). Start with the opening question. It is a personal question and the answer is unique for each individual. There is no right answer and nobody is an expert here, so don’t be surprised when you hear different responses. You are depending on the Holy Spirit to be present and to speak through your group. Say what God prompts you to say, and listen to what others share.
Take turns reading the chapter out loud. Follow that with giving the students some time to individually mark their responses to the questions (a PDF version of the handout is available as a download). This gives each person a starting point for responding when you start to share as a group. Next, begin the discussion by asking the students to share what they marked and why on each question as you work your way through. Feel free to take more time on some questions than others as discussion warrants.
Encourage each person in the group to apply what is discussed to their personal lives and to share with the group what they believe God wants them to do. Then ask them to pray that God will help each of them to follow through in doing so. Remind them to expect that God will show them ways to live out the message of this passage in the coming week, and that they are free to ask others in the group to help hold them accountable.
Even in exile, the children of Israel continued to practice the religious traditions of their ancestors. Without the temple as the holy place for their worship, they stressed the rituals that could be conducted individually and collectively without the accouterments for worship formerly provided by the temple. As proof of their piety, some held tightly to the prescribed practices, such as Sabbath observance, and added others, such as fasting. In so doing, they opened themselves up to the danger of depending upon rituals as substitutes for true piety.
Consequently, they missed the meaning of the Servant’s redemptive work, both for themselves and for others. They attempted to live by rules minus relationship. Rules without relationship always leads to rebellion.
Too often a Christian’s lifestyle can become simply following a pattern of “religious” duties. In Isaiah’s day the people fasted and carefully followed the prescribed rituals, even as they complained that God did not seem to hear their prayers (Isaiah 58:3-4). God promises peace, healing, guidance, comfort, and an attitude of praise to those who depend on Him (Isaiah 58:18–19). While there is no peace for the wicked (Isaiah 58:20–21), a right relationship with God will bring inner, and even international, peace.
Reality within relationship, and not ritual, offers true meaning to God, His children, and the Sabbath. The one who finds restoration and peace in covenant relationship with God will express that commitment by sharing God’s love with people. His worship may contain ritual elements, fastings, and festivals. These are not wrong. But at the heart of the believer’s lifestyle must be a loving representation of God to the world. And the Sabbath is the day that most completely symbolizes that restoration and peace in covenant relationship with God.
What are some things that make people hypocrites?
Read Isaiah 58:1-14.
1 Shout it aloud, do not hold back. Raise your voice like a trumpet. Declare to my people their rebellion and to the descendants of Jacob their sins. 2 For day after day they seek me out; they seem eager to know my ways, as if they were a nation that does what is right and has not forsaken the commands of its God. They ask me for just decisions and seem eager for God to come near them. 3 ‘Why have we fasted,’ they say, ‘and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?’
“Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers. 4 Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists. You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high. 5 Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for people to humble themselves? Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed and for lying in sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord?
6 “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? 7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? 8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard. 9 Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.
“If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, 10 and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. 11 The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. 12 Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.
13 “If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and the Lord’s holy day honorable, and if you honor it by not going your own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words, 14 then you will find your joy in the Lord, and I will cause you to ride in triumph on the heights of the land and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.” For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.
Read Isaiah 59:1-21.
1 Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. 2 But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear. 3 For your hands are stained with blood, your fingers with guilt. Your lips have spoken falsely, and your tongue mutters wicked things.
4 No one calls for justice; no one pleads a case with integrity. They rely on empty arguments, they utter lies; they conceive trouble and give birth to evil. 5 They hatch the eggs of vipers and spin a spider’s web. Whoever eats their eggs will die, and when one is broken, an adder is hatched. 6 Their cobwebs are useless for clothing; they cannot cover themselves with what they make. Their deeds are evil deeds, and acts of violence are in their hands. 7 Their feet rush into sin; they are swift to shed innocent blood. They pursue evil schemes; acts of violence mark their ways. 8 The way of peace they do not know; there is no justice in their paths. They have turned them into crooked roads; no one who walks along them will know peace.
9 So justice is far from us, and righteousness does not reach us. We look for light, but all is darkness; for brightness, but we walk in deep shadows. 10 Like the blind we grope along the wall, feeling our way like people without eyes. At midday we stumble as if it were twilight; among the strong, we are like the dead. 11 We all growl like bears; we moan mournfully like doves. We look for justice, but find none; for deliverance, but it is far away.
12 For our offenses are many in your sight, and our sins testify against us. Our offenses are ever with us, and we acknowledge our iniquities: 13 rebellion and treachery against the Lord, turning our backs on our God, inciting revolt and oppression, uttering lies our hearts have conceived. 14 So justice is driven back, and righteousness stands at a distance; truth has stumbled in the streets, honesty cannot enter.
15 Truth is nowhere to be found, and whoever shuns evil becomes a prey The Lord looked and was displeased that there was no justice. 16 He saw that there was no one, he was appalled that there was no one to intervene; so his own arm achieved salvation for him, and his own righteousness sustained him.
17 He put on righteousness as his breastplate, and the helmet of salvation on his head; he put on the garments of vengeance and wrapped himself in zeal as in a cloak. 18 According to what they have done, so will he repay wrath to his enemies and retribution to his foes; he will repay the islands their due. 19 From the west, people will fear the name of the Lord, and from the rising of the sun, they will revere his glory. For he will come like a pent-up flood that the breath of the Lord drives along. 20 “The Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who repent of their sins,” declares the Lord.
21 “As for me, this is my covenant with them,” says the Lord. “My Spirit, who is on you, will not depart from you, and my words that I have put in your mouth will always be on your lips, on the lips of your children and on the lips of their descendants—from this time on and forever,” says the Lord.
Read Isaiah 60:1-3.
1“Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you. 2 See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the Lord rises upon you and his glory appears over you. 3 Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.
1. What main issues in Israel did Isaiah have to address (58:1-5)?
2. What is the true fast that is acceptable to God?
3. What happens when we offer true sacrifice to God?
4. According to Isaiah 58, what is true Sabbath observance?
5. What were the sins of the people of God that Isaiah outlined? (Isaiah 59:3-6)
6. What were the confessions of Israel in Isaiah 59:10-15?
7. In Isaiah 59 God redeems Israel. When have you felt closest to the power of God?
8. In Isaiah 60:1-3 Israel shines. How have you been a light to others around you?
Isaiah 58 shares explicitly that a fast is a day to afflict the soul; if it does not express true sorrow for sin, and does not promote the putting away of sin, it is not a fast. These professors had shown sorrow on stated or occasioned fasts. But they indulged pride, covetousness, and malignant passions. To be liberal and merciful is more acceptable to God than mere fasting, which, without those other qualities, is vain and hypocritical. Isaiah, too, speaks of the Sabbath as a sign between God and His professing people. His appointing it is a sign of His favor to them and their observing it is a sign of their obedience to Him. This also is only meaningful in the depth of mutual relationship.
As far as we have the knowledge of God in us, and the favor of God towards us, our light is come. And if God’s glory is seen upon us to our honor, we ought, not only with our lips, but in our lives, to return its praise.
Have you ever felt diligent in your Christian walk and yet far from God at the time? How have you been applying spiritual disciplines to your life? How do you respond to sin and evil in our world? How do we shine as lights in the darkness of this world? Below, find some application activities. These may be a source of inspiration for you to draw from, or an invitation for you to further explore His revelations as you share in His service.
1. Report the News
2. Virtual Group Discussion
3. Digital Murals
fasting, sabbath, oppression, deliverance, peace, joy, shining, forgiveness, excitement, people, expressions, thankfulness, encouragement, sunshine, etc.
