Text: Jonah 2:1-10
Bible Study: The Futility of Life Without God
The prayer of the prophet Jonah praises the sovereign grace of God as the only means of salvation of Him. He realizes to depend upon anything else is idolatry, and it will get him nowhere. The knowledge of the emptiness of idols is of course not unique to Jonah. Isaiah is another prophet who God raised up to speak His Word to His people and Isaiah spent much of his time urging Israel away from idolatry.
The Book of Isaiah is one of the longest in the Bible and is almost entirely filled with God’s admonitions to His people. While some passages are a little complex at first read, others are straightforward and almost satirical in tone. Isaiah 44:6-20 is one of the plainest explanations of idolatry we will find anywhere in the Bible. Considering this passage will help you fully understand the futility of Jonah’s flight, the emptiness of idols, and his confession that salvation belongs to the Lord.
Read Isaiah 44:6-8.
1. Focus in on Isaiah 44:6-8. Summarize the message of these verses into one short thought.
2. This is perhaps the most central teaching of Scripture. Jonah’s prayer acknowledges God’s sovereignty over creation. Yet it took Jonah three days in a fish belly to get to this point. Why is such a simple teaching repeated so often so hard for us to live by?
Read Isaiah 44:9-20.
3. Now look at verses 9-20, specifically the illustrations of the carpenter and the ironsmith. In these illustrations, what do you think the characters and their crafts represent?
4. Relying on verses 17-20 to guide you, what is the simple irony God is communicating in these illustrations?
5. What danger are both Isaiah and Jonah saying comes with idol worship?
6. Ok, time to transition out of the illustrations and into real life. For most of us, we aren’t bowing down to blocks of wood. But we do sacrifice time, money and energy to the things we value. What are common idols among your circles of friends and family?
Bible study by J.D. Greear.
