Category: <span>Isaiah</span>

Isaiah’s ministry began during the prosperous reign of King Uzziah (2 Kings 15; 2 Chronicles 26). At that time the Lord blessed Judah. The borders were expanded, and the people enjoyed affluence on the home front. Yet, their wealth led to greed and their status to pride. The prophet helped Judah picture their situation by prophesying that they were in fact an abandoned vineyard that would experience a series of woes if they did not turn from their haughty ways (Isaiah 5). To affirm his authenticity as a prophet, Isaiah described the Lord’s call on his life and the difficulties that would characterize his ministry (Isaiah 6).

Throughout the Old Testament, Israel is pictured as a vine (Ps 80:8-19; Jer 2:21; Ezekiel 17). For His vineyard, Isaiah argued, the Lord had done all that was necessary to receive a harvest of good fruit, “but it yielded worthless grapes” (Isa 5:2). The Lord thus had every right to remove its hedge and allow the vineyard to be trampled: “For the vineyard of the LORD of Hosts is the house of Israel, and the people of Judah, the plant He delighted in. He looked for justice but saw injustice, for righteousness, but heard cries of wretchedness” (Isa 5:7). Their unfruitfulness was characterized by a love of wealth (Isa 5:8-23). Because of these greedy pursuits, the Lord would call foreign nations against His people (Isa 5:24-30). Israel and Judah would be carried into captivity with no one to rescue.

To justify the boldness of his prophecy, the prophet recounted the Lord’s call on his life (Isaiah 6). The Lord called Isaiah in the year that King Uzziah died—when the king was yet marked by a serious skin disease he had received for unlawfully entering the Lord’s sanctuary to burn incense (2 Kgs 15:5-6; 2 Chron 26:16-23). Isaiah was thus called at a time when Judah was flourishing but nonetheless aware that the Lord would judge the offenses of His people. Isaiah saw the Lord as perfectly holy—the One whose glory was over all the earth; thus, no one calling out for His aid, or spurning His mercy, would go unnoticed (Isa 6:3; Rev 4:8). In the presence of the Holy One, Isaiah confessed his uncleanness and finitude, which could only be cleansed by the Lord’s resources (Isa 6:5-7). Isaiah, cleansed of wickedness and forgiven of sin, wished for God’s people also to know the mercy of the Lord. But Isaiah was told that his audience was beyond hope (Isa 6:11-12).

When the Lord called Isaiah to prophetic ministry, the Lord told Isaiah that he would be rejected by many who would hear him. In the storyline of Scripture, the ministry of Isaiah prefigured that of Jesus and Paul.

(1) Jesus and John interpreted the rejection of Jesus in light of Judah’s rejection of Isaiah. Isaiah’s messages confirmed God’s judgement upon those who rejected God’s word. Jesus saw in Isaiah’s situation an instance that set the stage for His own ministry and provided justification for His use of parables. When Jesus’ disciples asked about His frequent use of parables (Matt 13:10//Mark 4:10//Luke 8:9), Jesus replied by quoting from Isa 6:9-10. The Lord had instructed Isaiah to continue preaching to people so that their hardened hearts would continue to be hard, their blind eyes would continue to be blind—lest they hear, understand, and be healed by the Lord. Jesus taught in parables to ensure that those who had been given the ability to hear would understand and respond while those who had rejected Him would simply go on in ignorance, just like the majority in Judah during the ministry of Isaiah. John likewise interpreted the Jews’ rejection of Jesus as a reflection of Judah’s rejection of Isaiah, quoting Isa 6:10 in John 12:40.

(2) When the Jews in Rome rejected Paul’s message of the gospel, Paul interpreted the situation in light of Judah’s rejection of Isaiah. When Paul finally arrived in Rome to stand trial before Caesar, he was allowed to meet with the Jews of the city. When Paul expounded the Law of Moses and the Prophets, the Jews were divided about Paul’s preaching (Acts 28:23-25a). Paul said, “The Holy Spirit correctly spoke through the prophet Isaiah to your forefathers” (Acts 28:26) and quoted Isa 6:9-10.

(3) John’s vision of the heavenly throne room included imagery that matched Isaiah’s vision of God’s throne in heaven. In Isaiah 6, the prophet was allowed to see God’s throne and the angelic figures that worshipped Him. They cried out “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of Hosts; His glory covers the earth” (Isa 6:3). John saw God’s throne surrounded by four living creatures who cry out continually, “Holy, holy, holy, Lord god, the Almighty, who was, who is, and who is coming” (Rev 4:8).

Much of the book of Isaiah is a prophetic response to the historical situation in Judah during the reigns of Uzziah (2 Kings 15; 2 Chronicles 26), Ahaz (2 Kings 16; 2 Chronicles 28), and Hezekiah (2 Kings 18-20; 2 Chronicles 29-32). Isaiah had the difficult task of calling Judah (whom he often refers to with the generic Israel) to seek the Lord as he and they watched Shalmanessar, king of Assyria, besiege the northern kingdom (2 Kings 17). Isaiah beckoned Judah to trust in the LORD for deliverance during the mounting international threats not only from Assyria but also Egypt and the rising Babylonian forces. Israel was being overtaken because of their rampant idolatry (2 Kgs 17:7-23) and in Judah, Isaiah found the same. As a people, Israel and Judah had failed in their obligations to the One who had delivered them from Egypt (Exodus 12-15; 20:1-17).

Isaiah began his prophecy by indicting Judah for their unfaithfulness to the Lord (Isaiah 1). While Judah viewed herself as a beautiful people, Isaiah presented them with a divine mirror. Isaiah said, “Wash yourselves. Cleanse yourselves. Remove your evil deeds from My sight. Stop doing evil. Learn to do what is good. Seek justice. Correct the oppressor. Defend the rights of the fatherless. Plead the widow’s case” (Isa 1:16-17). Nonetheless, Isaiah promised the mercy of God to those who would seek Him, saying, “‘Come, let us discuss this,’ says the LORD. ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are as red as crimson, they will be like wool. If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good things of the land. But if you refuse and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword’” (Isa 1:18-20).

In Isaiah 2-4, the prophet declared that God would glorify Himself by disciplining and then restoring His people. In Isaiah’s vision, Jerusalem had the potential to become a place where the word of the Lord flowed freely. However, at the moment, Isaiah saw human pride, rampant idolatry, and little fear of the Lord (Isa 2:12-22). Judah’s opulence was displayed by the attire of the daughters of Jerusalem, whose future would be far from their present pursuits. Isaiah declared to them, “Instead of perfume there will be a stench; instead of a belt, a rope; instead of beautifully styled hair, baldness; instead of fine clothes, sackcloth; instead of beauty, branding” (Isa 3:24). War would so ravage the city that women would be left begging for a husband (Isa 4:1). Despite all this tragedy, Isaiah saw a day of future glory for Jerusalem. Once the Lord had “washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and cleansed the bloodguilt from the heart of Jerusalem by a spirit of judgment and a spirit of burning” (Isa 4:4), then those who remained in Jerusalem would be called holy and the whole city would be destined to live (Isa 4:3).

In the New Testament, Paul and John employed Isaiah’s declarations that God is sovereign to save His people and condemn those who forsake Him to worship idols.

(1) In Rom 9:29, Paul quoted Isa 1:9 to explain God’s sure salvation of a remnant of Jews. Paul saw in Isaiah’s prophecy a brick for the wall of defense he was building in order to justify God’s present calling of the Gentiles—a matter that dominates the latter half of the Epistle to the Romans. During Paul’s ministry more Gentiles than Jews were giving allegiance to the Messiah—a fact that contributes in no small way to the drama of the storyline of Scripture. Some Gentiles thus boasted over the minority Jewish populace among them in the church. This may have been the situation in Rome, prompting Paul to describe God’s historical plan for the partial, temporary, hardening of the Jews—during which time many Gentiles would be grafted in to the hope of Israel. In Romans, Paul explained that while there were not many Jews coming to faith, the Lord had reserved a remnant of Jews who would believe, a remnant that resembled in some ways the remnant Isaiah predicted. Concerning this remnant of Jewish Christians, in Rom 9:29 Paul quoted Isa 1:9, saying, “If the Lord of Hosts had not left us a seed, we would have become like Sodom, and we would have been made like Gomorrah.” Isaiah announced judgment and hope upon Judah; those who trusted in the word of the Lord would be delivered. Paul echoed the prophet, but his message humbled Gentiles too; in Christ, no grounds for boasting could be found.

(2) In Rev 6:15, John alluded to Isa 2:10, 19-21 when he wrote that when the sixth seal was broken, people hid in caves to escape God’s wrath. Isaiah prophesied that the Day of the Lord would be awful for the proud and all who would not humble themselves before Israel’s God. They would try to hide in rocks and crevices, any small passage where they might think themselves safe from God’s judgement (Isa 2:10, 19-21). When the plagues came upon the earth at the breaking of the sixth seal in Rev 6:12-14, John saw even the mighty leaders of the earth crawl into caves and beg for rocks to fall on them that they would escape God’s wrath (Rev 6:15-17).