Every Student Is a Teacher

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 27 percent of the population over the age of three is enrolled in school. That means there are 76 million students in schools of all kinds, from preschool to university. In comparison, there are 7.2 million teachers in those schools. In our society, the teacher and the student are usually two different individuals. However, God seemed to have something different in mind for His chosen nation.

The first two chapters of Isaiah contain two invitations to learning. The first is from God: “‘Come now, and let us reason together,’ Says the Lord, ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow. … If you are willing and obedient, You shall eat the good of the land’” (Isaiah 1:18, 19). This invitation to reason with God was for the people of Judah and Jerusalem, whom the Lord called a “sinful nation” and a “brood of evildoers” (Isaiah 1:4). God wanted to forgive their sins and teach them to “do good” (Isaiah 1:17). He planned on calling Jerusalem “the city of righteousness” (Isaiah 1:26).

The second invitation is from one Gentile to another: “Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, To the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, And we shall walk in His paths” (Isaiah 2:3). God knew that if His people learned to do good, people from “all nations” would come to them, hoping to learn about God’s ways.

As we enter the month of September, which has traditionally been the start of the school year, the most important lessons we can learn are in God’s school: “Learn to do good; Seek justice, Rebuke the oppressor; Defend the fatherless, Plead for the widow.” And the beauty of God’s school is that each student becomes a teacher!

Key Bible Texts

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. (Matthew 5:16 KJV)