PREPARE TO MEET…ISAIAH
If I say that “the Lord spoke to me” one might understand that I heard an audible voice. For some that might be the case but for me it means that God puts thoughts in my head when I pray. When I was praying this week the Lord spoke to me. He said, “Plow deeply.”
A picture formed in my head of soil with a layer of tough, thick crust on the surface. At first glance this soil would seem impossible to plow. But the Lord said to plow and plow deeply. I could see the shine on the blade of the plow as it began to cut into the soil. Underneath the thick exterior came a beautiful, rich and dark soil that showed the promise of a great crop. “Plant the seeds,” the Lord said, and I knew what I had to do.
You are the soil and the plow is the message of Isaiah, the seeds the Word of God contained therein. Plow deeply, he said, and show them Jesus in the Old Testament.
If Isaiah said that the Lord spoke to him, we can assume that he had visions and experiences where he audibly heard the voice of the LORD. Here was a man whom God had anointed to present a very special message to a chosen audience. It would plow deeply and overturn their perceptions of themselves and of their God. The message would change their lives if they listened to it, internalized it, and obeyed it.
Before we begin the series of sermons from Isaiah I would like you to understand the book of Isaiah, its author, the background and its purposes. I want you to grasp everything you possibly can from this book of the Bible and from the sermons we preach from it.
This is a preview then, of Isaiah. My hope is that you will be challenged to read it and to pray about its impact on your life. This is a presentation more than a sermon but I hope it will inspire the same excitement in you as it does in me, if not more. So then, Prepare to meet…Isaiah.
1. Who was Isaiah?
Very little is actually known about Isaiah personally. The introduction to the book tells us he was the son of someone named Amoz. That means very little to us unless we consider the Jewish tradition that Amoz was a brother to King Amaziah. This would make Isaiah the cousin of Amaziah’s son, King Uzziah. It would also explain why Isaiah enjoyed a free pass into the royal courts to speak. Isaiah was royalty. He was the perfect person to speak to the kings on behalf of God.
His ministry extended across the reigns of four kings as it says in the first verse: “The vision concerning Judah and Jerusalem that Isaiah son of Amoz saw during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah” (1:1).
Jewish tradition again suggests that it was due to his ministry for the Lord and his relentless passion to speak for God that he was put to death by King Manasseh. There is a reference in Hebrews 11:37 about God’s heroes being sawn in two; Isaiah is said to have been killed this way.
Isaiah was married and he called his wife “the prophetess” (8:3) suggesting that prophecy was the family ministry, not his alone. They had two sons, one named Shear-Jashub (7:3), which means “a remnant shall return,” and one named Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz, which means “quick to plunder.” These names were given as prophecies of what was to come and a reinforcement of the prophet’s predictive message.
Isaiah himself was called a man of God, implying that he was more closely related to God than most people. He was a servant of Yahweh, specially commissioned to do God’s work. And he was a messenger of Yahweh; his words were authoritative because they were spoken in the name of the Lord.
This is all we know of the man but it is enough to earn our respect for what he was and what he said.
2. What was the Socio-Political Climate of Isaiah’s life?
a) The Divided Kingdom – Isaiah’s life and ministry were lived in the midst of the Divided Kingdom. Often when preachers speak of the Divided Kingdom they assume that their congregations know what they are talking about. But it is important to understand what it is and I have been asked to explain it.
The Kingdom of Israel was united for the first time under a human king when Saul took the throne. It had originally been God’s plan to be their King, but the Israelites wanted a human king like the other nations. David replaced Saul because Saul disobeyed God. Then Solomon, David’s son took the throne. But Solomon would be the last king of a united Israel since a great civil war broke out when Solomon died.
The Kingdom was divided into north and south. The ten tribes of the North wanted Jeroboam to be king but the two southern tribes wanted Rehoboam as their king. The Northern tribes became known as Israel with Samaria as their capital, while the Southern tribes were known as Judah and had Jerusalem as their capital. Israel was consistently ruled by wicked kings right up until their destruction. Judah was more fortunate that they had some good kings and often had times where the nation of Judah pleased the Lord.
So from the time of Uzziah to the reign of Hezekiah, kings of Judah, Isaiah preached his message. This message dates from 740 BC to 687 BC, about 700 years before Jesus would be born.
b) The line of Kings – It is important to realize that the kings of Israel did not follow the succession of David’s line. Only the kings of Judah could be considered to be the true bloodline of David. From the line of David and from the tribe of Judah, the Messiah would come. That is why Jesus is called the Lion of Judah (Rev. 5:5) and the Son of David (Mt. 21:9).
Isaiah’s prophecy is key to this revelation. He told the nation of Judah “A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit” (11:1). Jesse was the father of David and the Messiah was understood to come from this line.
c) The Assyrian Conflict – Off to the near North lay a growing empire, an empire chomping at the bit to expand its territory. Throughout the book you will read references to many nations and their impending doom. God uses Assyria to bring about this doom. Even Israel, because of its wickedness and disobedience and rejection of Yahweh, falls in 722 BC. This would be in the middle of Isaiah’s ministry.
Uzziah was a good king for the most part. He promoted worship at the temple and honored God. When his son Jotham took over the throne, it may have appeared as though there were a true and deep devotion in Judah. However it was not as deep as it seemed. There was a rapid growth of the spirit of luxury and indulgence. True piety was declining steadily. After Jotham, Ahaz brought out the true health of the nation when he began to worship idols, even sacrificing his own son to the fire. Temple worship was forbidden, Yahweh ignored and war threatened the tiny kingdom. When Hezekiah came on the scene, he tried to reverse the spiritual damage of his father, but it was too late. Hezekiah stood alone against the overwhelming tide of Assyrian might.
d) The Babylonian Threat – Assyria never did conquer Judah as it did Israel. Yet because Judah failed to listen to the message of Isaiah and change their ways, Isaiah predicted that the empire of Babylon would destroy Judah too. “The time will surely come when everything in your palace, and all that your fathers have stored up until this day, will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left, says the LORD” (39:6).
Such was the time of Isaiah. They lived in a façade, pretending to know peace and security, wealth and happiness. Yet they would pay for ignoring the God who had blessed them so richly. Do these times sound familiar?
3. What was the purpose of Isaiah’s Message?
When we think of prophetic oracles or messages we tend to think of judgment. That may be why we don’t like reading the OT. Isaiah does speak judgment to Judah and Jerusalem in chapters 1-39 and mingles it with words of hope. Then he speaks of comfort for his people in chapters 40 to 66 mingling it at times with words of correction.
In our series we will look at some of the messages in chapters 1-12 because these are words we can apply to ourselves. Chapters 13-34 are harder to understand because they are judgments on the surrounding nations of Isaiah’s period. Chapters 35-39 tell the story of Hezekiah’s confrontation with Assyria and the faith that he displayed. Then we will look at selections from chapters 40-66 that were of great comfort to the people of Judah, and will be to us also.
But the purpose of Isaiah’s message largely focuses on God’s plan of salvation. It has been called the ‘Romans’ of the OT. Isaiah has been referred to as the Evangelist of the OT. Despite all the historical and political content that we can hardly relate to, there is a message here of God’s design, his architecture of salvation for humankind.
One of the great images of Isaiah is the picture he paints of two cities. He begins with the historical Jerusalem of his day, corrupt and under judgment (1:8), and draws us through the story of Jerusalem’s fate, until he finishes with the end-time city of God, the New Jerusalem. This is not just a historical reference, this is the imagery of heaven and it involves you and I. You want to know what heaven is going to be like? Read Isaiah, “…be glad and rejoice forever in what I will create, for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight and its people a joy. I will rejoice over Jerusalem and take delight in my people; the sound of weeping and of crying will be heard in it no more” (65:18-19).
The purpose of this message is Gospel-like…
4. What is the significance of Isaiah’s Message?
All of this is very important information. Information? If that is all it is then it has the potential to be dry, boring and useless to you in your life. No, there is more to Isaiah than history and politics. What is the significance of Isaiah’s message for you?
a) Its influence on the NT – The influence of Isaiah on the New Testament is huge. The book of Isaiah is quoted 66 times from Matthew to 1 Peter. There are allusions to Isaiah on top of this such as Revelation 21:1-4 “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth…I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem…there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain…” which is based on Isaiah 65. Only the Psalms are quoted more often than Isaiah in the NT.
The apostle John quotes Isaiah in his gospel and then makes this amazing commentary, “Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus’ glory and spoke about him” (Jn 12:41). What an amazing insight into what Isaiah saw; Isaiah saw Jesus.
b) The witness of Jesus – This is exactly why I believe it is appropriate to call this book “the Gospel according to Isaiah.” Consider the content of this book:
In the early part of Isaiah the prophet foretells of the birth of the Messiah and gives precise details about how and where he would be born. Isaiah wrote, “Therefore the LORD himself will give you a sign. The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel” (7:14).
Chapter 9 foretells of the Messiah being born in Galilee of the Gentiles, a location unheard of in those times. It tells of the amazing and never-ending reign of this great deliverer. And chapter 11 assures us that this Messiah will be born of the house of David, a direct descendant.
Not only is the birth of Jesus specifically detailed, his ministry is highlighted in advance as well. When Jesus is handed the scroll to read in the synagogue of his hometown of Nazareth, he reads these words: “The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor…” (61:1). When this happened it was as though he had received it, not just from human hands, but from the hands of God. By reading it as he did he assumed the role of the Servant whom Isaiah had described and all that this meant. It was the beginning of his journey to the cross.
The sacrifice and death of Jesus is portrayed in essence if not in detail in the prophecy of Isaiah. “He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth…” (53:7). We read of the man of sorrows and the suffering he would endure for our sins; we read of his death and the healing that came through his death.
Barry G. Webb said, “If we want to understand fully who he is and what he came to do, we must read this book” (The Message of Isaiah; the Bible Speaks Today, p. 38). And the more I read Isaiah the more excited I become concerning Jesus. So “amen” to reading Isaiah.
c) The witness of Jesus to the world – Finally, we see in Acts 8:26-35 how Isaiah’s vision was intended for the whole world to discover. Philip the evangelist is told by the Holy Spirit to go to the desert road that leads from Jerusalem to Gaza. In a remarkable moment of Spirit driven destiny Philip finds an Ethiopian eunuch studying a scroll. And what is he reading specifically? Isaiah 53, where the Servant is led like a lamb to the slaughter. He is fascinated but puzzled and he asks Philip, “Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?’ It was like a door being thrown open by tremendous gust of wind slamming the door with a crash on the inside. Philip tells the Ethiopian the good news about Jesus. And the vision of Isaiah continues to throw doors open in our world.
The series of sermons on Isaiah will begin shortly. And it is presented with the prayer that it may help all of us who read the book and hear the sermons to see and speak of the glory of Christ with the same simplicity and power as Philip did with the Ethiopian.
May God bless you for studying it together with me.
AMEN
