The Book of Isaiah

Overview

I decided to go right to the book I really wanted to get into for the longest time. I had decided to start going through the books of the prophets, and was going to go in the order of them…starting with Joel. However…my heart is in Isaiah…so I figure I’ll be more motivated and devoted if I start with what I really desire to study first.

Looking at the information about the author, I discovered that Isaiah’s name means salvation of the Lord, Jehovah has saved or God is salvation. His ministry was conducted in Judah during the reign of 4 different kings and he prophesied for about 40 years. He was called into his prophetic ministry in the year that King Uzziah (Azariah) died which was about 740 B.C.

His book is sometimes referred to as the “fifth book of the gospels” because of his lofty portrayal of God and his heralding of the salvation coming through Christ. With 66 chapters, it is the longest prophetic book in the Old Testament. It’s interesting that the first section of the book parallels the Old Testament in having exactly 39 chapters, like the Old Testament has 39 books. The second section also parallels the New Testament in that it has exactly 27 chapters like the New Testament has 27 books. This similarity in association is a good way to remember the content of each section of the book of Isaiah, because they parallel the two main parts of the bible itself.

The first part of the book is about the coming judgment under the dispensation we know as law. There are a lot of prophecies of judgment, but the second half is full of comfort. This book points directly to the coming of Christ and identifies how we will know Him, in that the redemptive nature of His mission is foretold.

It is said that the book of Isaiah presents more insights as to the nature of God than any other book of the Old Testament. This is why it captures my attention so. This is why I have been eager to dig into it and find those nuances of God’s nature. In addition, it is the one book that points the most to the coming messiah, and no other book makes as many references to Him as Isaiah does.

About the man, Isaiah:

It is believed that he born of a prominent family in Jerusalem, who was related to the royal house of Judah. He spent his early years as an official of King Uzziah (Azariah) of Judah (2 Chr. 26:22). When Uzzaiah died (740 B.C.) Isaiah received his prophetic calling in a stirring vision from God. He married a woman described as “the prophetess” (Is. 8.3) {This makes me wonder who she was…} and they had two sons whom they named Shear-Jashub, “A Remnant Shall Return,” (Is. 7.3) and Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz, “Speed the Spoil, Hasten the Booty,” (Is. 8.3) The second name is actually the first, and speaks of the coming judgment on God’s people. The first name is the comfort of the two…the hope for those who remain faithful to God. This message emphasized that although the tree of the house of David would be cut down, there would still be life in the stump.

Apparently, Isaiah, like many of the prophets, met with an untimely and rather nasty demise. He, like many under popular Jewish tradition, was sawn in half during the reign of the evil king Manasseh of Judah. But he faithfully preached the message God gave him to the very end.