We have reached Isaiah!! My personal favourite book of the Bible.
I love this book & all the prophets.
I also like Isaiah, which was written near the end of the divided kingdom before Israel and then Judah were captured and many of the people were taken to Babylon.
IS points the way to the NT Messiah, but unfortunately Isaiah seems to have been
ignored by Ezra when he led the return of the Jews to Jerusalem after the Babylonian Captivity, and so Judaism became very legalistic, which paved the way for the Sanhedrin to crucify Jesus.
For example, IS 1:13-14 says, “Stop bringing meaningless offerings! …Your New Moon festivals and your appointed feasts my soul hates.” Compare this with EZR 3:2-5, “Then Jeshua… and his associates began to build the altar of the God of Israel to sacrifice burnt offerings on it…They celebrated the Feast of Tabernacles with the required number of burnt offerings prescribed for each day. After that, they presented the regular burnt offerings, the New Moon sacrifices and the sacrifices for all the appointed feasts…”. The reason the offerings are meaningless is because those who offer them are evil-doers.
My favorite passages in Isaiah include the following:
IS 1:17. This verse says to learn to do right, which includes seeking justice, encouraging the oppressed and helping the poor. Jesus had to teach the Jewish religious leaders that it is right to do good works on the Sabbath (MT 12:12).
IS 1:18a. “Come now, let us reason together.” I view this verse as teaching that that human logic is a divine gift. Other verses that imply this include JN 15:25, ACTS 17:17, 1CR 2:6, 13:11 and 1PT 3:15b. These passages indicate that we should at least think and attempt to learn the best opinions or solutions regarding issues, even if we have little power to enact them.
IS 5:20. “
Woe to those who call evil good and good evil.” You may be familiar with the “hip lingo” among adolescents in which something good is called bad, and good behavior is considered bad. This is both a symptom and a contribution to the moral confusion so many people have. And loose morality results in unhappy relationships among people and rebellion against God.
IS 6:9-10. This verse seems to make God responsible for spiritual blindness and deafness, but we know that God loves all people and wants everyone to be saved, so we should understand this verse as expressing the permissive will of God rather than His intentional will.
God allows people to choose to have callous hearts. Jesus quoted this verse when expressing exasperation for functional atheism like that of the Pharisees (in MT 13:14-15).
IS 7:14. “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.” Jesus was a human being like you and me, but in order to fulfill this prophecy and show that Jesus was the Messiah, apparently the Holy Spirit implanted a specially created embryo in the virgin Mary, who had not yet consummated her marriage to the virginal Joseph (MT 1:18&25). [I try to give equal credit and respect to both men and women!]
IS 8:19. This subject was stated more definitely and comprehensively as “
Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead.” (DT 18:10). Moses said such practices are detestable, and one reason is because they are fraudulent. How ironic it is that people will reject faith in the one true God, but believe in such superstitions! As Paul writes in RM 1:22-28, “They became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images… They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things… Since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind to do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness.”
IS 9:2&7. These verses are cited in the NT as prophecies about Messiah (servant/chosen one), as is
IS 42:1-9, in which
Messiah will be “a light for the Gentiles” as well as for the Jews. This teaching is expressed also in 45:22-23, “Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth… Before me every knee will bow; by me every tongue will swear.” A third statement is found in 49:6, “…I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.” And again in 60:3, “Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.” Finally, in 66:23, “All mankind will come and bow down before me, says the Lord.” Paul wrote about this “new thing” in EPH 2:11-3:13.
IS 48:17. “I am the Lord your
God, who
teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in
the way you should go. If only you had paid attention…” This verse reminds us that God is on our side when we are on His side, and that His desire is for our eternal joy. Of course, many people do not pay attention or try to learn God’s Word. Instead, they go off on their own and find all kinds of trouble as prodigal children.
IS 52:13-53:12. This one of the clearest and longest
prophecies of Messiah’s death for sins.
:^)
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