ROTATION.ORG WRITING TEAM

JESUS' BIRTH THROUGH THE EYES OF ISAIAH

VIDEO WORKSHOP

PASSAGE

Story: Isaiah 7:14; Isaiah 9:6-7a
Key/Memory Verse: Isaiah 9:6b

PURPOSE

Objectives for Rotation

The students will know that:

• God promised to save God's people, to restore all creation.
  
• One of the ways God makes those promises known is through the prophets, God's messengers.
  
• Jesus of Nazareth IS the Savior, the Anointed One, the Messiah, the Christ, God-with-us, promised in the Hebrew scriptures.
  
• Isaiah, a prophet whose name means "God has saved," speaks for God and gives the people hope.
  
• We can share this hope by telling the world of God's promise fulfilled in Jesus Christ.
  

Objectives for Workshop

• To dig into the names used to describe God's promised Messiah.
  
• To relate the promised Messiah to the person of Jesus of Nazareth
  
• To explore the role of the prophet, how people responded to a prophet, and what they expected from a prophet.
  

PREPARATION

Review Bible Background.

Materials List

• Costumes for "time travelers" if you choose this alternative. (7 characters are suggested.)
  
• A microphone for the interviewer.
  
• A "set" if you choose to have one for your interview. You might have a very simple background with big call letters such as "W" plus the initials for your church.
  

PRESENTATION

Open - Introduction

Your introductory conversation might touch on your students' nicknames and what they tell about that person. You might also talk about how many different "titles" they have: sister, brother, child of ..., third grader, American citizen, member of ___ Church. Each "title" tells something different about him or her to someone they meet for the first time.

Open with the Bible verses. Distribute a Bible to each person or make one available to share.

Younger classes: Point out the passage in the Old Testament, the book of Isaiah, and read the verses to them. The passage is short enough to have them echo the phrases after you. You might even draw a symbol for each name to help the younger ones keep them straight.

Older classes: Find the passages in the Bible and read them together. With older students share some brief information about Isaiah. Isaiah probably came from a wealthy family in Jerusalem, in the southern kingdom of Judah. His name means "Yahweh (God) is salvation." He served King Uzziah. Because of the poetic nature of his writing, we assume that he was well educated. In chapter 6 Isaiah tells us of his dramatic call to be a prophet.

WITH the class work out a definition of what a prophet is.

Some suggestions for follow-up might be:

A prophet speaks for God. A prophet understands God's will so clearly that God uses the prophet to bring a message to God's people. As our Bible background tells us, God's prophets were not sent when people were faithful, but when the people had turned away from God and were deep in sin. Prophets were extremely unpopular with the people to whom they spoke. Who likes to hear about the evil we do? The people say to the prophets, "Don't tell us what God has shown you and don't preach the truth. Just say what we want to hear, even if it's false." Isaiah 30:10.

The positive side of a prophet's understanding of God's will is the message of hope. God also sends prophets when things are going very badly for the people and they need reassurance. God's love for us is so great that God will send a savior, the anointed one, to cancel out our sin and to establish God's kingdom of peace, justice and righteousness on earth.

Compare a prophet to a fortuneteller. A prophet tells of the results of sin and the faithfulness of God's promises. A prophet doesn't look into a crystal ball and guess what will happen; a prophet knows what will happen because a prophet understands the consequences of evil and the nature of God.

Dig - Main Content

Plan your video presentation.

If your class enjoys costume drama, you might do interviews by a time-traveling reporter who asks different personalities how they understand the prophecy of Isaiah.

OR Individual students, one at a time, might explain who Jesus is, using one of the names from Isaiah, and how that name helps us know Jesus.

Review some possible "time-traveling guests" and some questions you might ask them, but please have your students create their own questions! Depending on the size of your class, you may use the same interviewer or have a new interviewer for each guest. Some possible jobs for folks who don't enjoy the spotlight might include: Videographer, Cue card holder, and Director.

For a young class, the teacher could simply prompt each student to talk about one name.

The following list is almost certainly too ambitious to complete in one workshop session. Think about your students and choose judiciously how many interviews you can reasonably conduct.

Prophet Isaiah

• Who are you?
  
• What do you do?
  
• How did you become a prophet?
  
• How do you know what to say?
  
• How do the people respond to you when you tell them what the Lord will do?
  
• What sign will the Lord give to us?
  
• What does the name "Immanuel" mean for us?
  

A worshiper in the Temple who heard Isaiah prophesy

• How did you feel when you heard Isaiah?
  
• Isaiah's name means "Yahweh is salvation." What does that tell you about Isaiah?
  
• What is "salvation" anyway?
  
• What did you think about the idea of God sending a child for the people?
  

A scribe copying Isaiah's words

• How do you feel when you copy Isaiah's words for future generations to read?
  
• Why should God's son have all "authority"? What would that mean?
  
• How does the name "Wonderful Counselor" help you understand God's promises?
  
• What do you imagine will happen when these words are fulfilled?
  

Shepherd in Bethlehem

• How did you learn what Isaiah said would happen?
  
• When did you think God would do these things?
  
• How does the name "Mighty God" help you understand God's promises?
  
• You saw some of God's other messengers, the angels. Did you connect them with Isaiah's prophecy?
  

Joseph of Nazareth

• Were you aware of God's promise, recorded in the scroll of the prophet Isaiah, to send a child, God's own son, to the people?
  
• When the angel told you about Mary's child Jesus, did you remember Isaiah's prophecy?
  
• How does the name "Everlasting Father" help you understand God's promises?
  

Mary, Mother of Jesus

• When you learned that you would have God's own Son, did you remember the prophecy?
  
• How did you feel to know that the prophecy would come true in your own family?
  
• How does the name "Prince of Peace" help you understand God's promises?
  

Disciple

• You have been with Jesus through his entire ministry. How did you know that Jesus was the Messiah promised by the prophets?
  
• When you read in Isaiah that there will be "endless peace" in the kingdom of David and you see all the trouble in Israel, how do you feel about the prophesy?
  

First century Christian

• You have joined this persecuted group of followers of Jesus. Why is it important to you that Jewish prophets foretold his coming?
  
• When you hear in the prophesy that Jesus' kingdom will be of justice and righteousness, how do you feel about the injustice and unrighteousness that you see around you?
  

Reflect - Closure

Be sure to save enough time to view your creation.

Ask your students how seeing Jesus' birth through Isaiah's eyes helps them understand who Jesus is.

Your closing prayer might be participatory like the video. Ask each student to add one thing that they are thankful for this week and close with being thankful for God's prophets, both ancient and modern!

CONTRIBUTOR: Anne Camp