Isaiah 13-35

Lesson number one, is this the man? Isaiah 13 through 14.

The truth, Satan may appear powerful for a season, But Jesus Christ will expose him, defeat his kingdom, and give his people rest.

And the power of this lesson lies in its very dramatic depiction of Satan's defeat.

One of Satan's greatest weapons is exaggeration.

He wants temptation to feel irresistible, cultural pressure to feel unavoidable, and his kingdom to look permanent.

And no doubt, Satan does have power.

And we've got to take that seriously.

But ultimately, in the end, Satan is going to lose.

His story is going to end in disgrace.

The being that once made nations tremble will eventually appear so diminished that people will look at him and ask, is this the man? Helping our students to see Satan as he will ultimately be seen can help us to stop giving his promises and his threats and his kingdom more power than they deserve.

I'm going to try something just a little bit different this week and see if this is helpful to you, especially with the new format.

Before we get into the actual lesson, let's take a few minutes to understand what Isaiah is doing in these chapters.

You probably aren't going to explain all of this to your class, but knowing it is going to help you to guide the discussion and teach these verses with more confidence.

So this new section is going to be called, What the Teacher Should Know.

Isaiah chapter 13 announces the eventual fall of Babylon.

And Babylon was a real kingdom.

It was known for its wealth, military power, its pride, and its oppression.

But throughout the scriptures, Babylon becomes a symbol, a symbol for Satan's kingdom and the world's rebellion against God.

Isaiah makes that comparison pretty obvious in verse 11.

He says, I will punish the world for their evil.

It doesn't say Babylon.

That's his hint that we're talking about bigger things than just the literal fall of Babylon.

That chapter, chapter 13, it's basically just a large catalog of terrible things that are going to happen to that kingdom.

And those things literally did happen historically.

But spiritually, the message is clear.