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Introduction to Isaiah

Sunday, 11th 10th June, 2007

To help you to get to grips with the book of Isaiah, we have dedicated 8 Sundays to it this year. In addition you have a leaflet which has 4 lists.

  1. An outline of the book;
  2. The themes I will speak about this morning.
  3. A list of passages which speak about Jesus. If you want a more detailed study I have some sheets of references you can use called ‘Christ in Isaiah’.
  4. and the SRCF programme. We are going to start our exploration of the prophecy of Isaiah in  Luke 4:16 PAGE 1031

He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. 17The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him.

This is what it would have looked like. This is a copy of the text that would have been given to Jesus. It was found in a cave in Qumran near the Dead Sea and is 2000 years old! It is leather and each column was sewn into a scroll, rather than a book or codex as we do today. As it was hand written with great care it would have been very valuable.

Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:

There it is at the bottom of the page!

18"The Spirit of the Lord is on me,

because he has anointed me

to preach good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners

and recovery of sight for the blind,

to release the oppressed,

19to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour."

20Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, 21and he began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."

 

So we know he was reading Isaiah 61:1-2 PAGE 748

But what Jesus is saying to his family and neighbours is:

"If you want to know who I am, read Isaiah!"

Jesus said as much when castigating the Jewish leadership of his day for failing to acknowledge him.

John 5:39 PAGE 1069

You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, 40yet you refuse to come to me to have life.

This is why we are reading bits of Isaiah this month. To find out about Jesus!

Isaiah is often referred to as the gospel according to Isaiah as it says so much about Jesus.

So who was Isaiah and what did he write about?

2Kings 15-21 and 2Chronicles 26-32 are background history, although 2Chronicles 26:22 says The other events of Uzziah's reign, from beginning to end, are recorded by the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz.

 

Which brings us to Isaiah 1:1

The vision concerning Judah and Jerusalem that Isaiah son of Amoz saw during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

 

Isaiah was one of the Latter prophets which means he wrote and lived at the end of the independent Judah and before the city of Jerusalem was captured. Israel had become as decadent as 21st Century England and judgement was about to fall. Isaiah writes over a 59 year period from 740 BC to 621 BC. In other words  700 years before Christ!

In his day there were two super powers  Egypt and Assyria and Judah was piggy in the middle. Always not sure which one to ally with. Judah’s strength lay in God and Isaiah prophesied that they should not ally themselves with anyone. Eventually, in Jeremiah’s day and after Isaiah, Judah became a vassal state of first Egypt then Babylon until it was finally wiped out.

 

The book of Isaiah is 66 chapters long so we will only touch on key elements. It would be good to read through in your own time, but don’t expect to understand it all. Bits will jump out of the page but a lot will remain strange stuff.

 

The main divisions of the book into three books comes not from a belief that it was written by three different people but that each section has a distinct theme.

The first 37 chapters are seen as the book of the Kingfor example in ch29:1 page 712 Jerusalem is described as “the city where David settled”. It ends with the challenge of Sennacherib against God and its aftermath. Ch 38-55 talk about a servant. In this section we have some very familiar passages referred to as the ‘Servant songs’ which speak about Jesus in great detail. We also have Cyrus, king of Persia, who was not a power for another 70 odd years described as a servant of God.

 

Then in ch56-66 the emphasis moves to an anointed Conqueror, looking beyond the judgement of God to a future restoration of God’s people. An example of this is the passage Jesus applied to himself we read at the beginning.

 

So lets have a taste of the books in turn. In the next month we will have time to get into the book in more detail.

 

Isaiah 1:1 is followed by a selection of prophecies which reflect the whole of the book leading up to Isaiah 6 in which Isaiah’s calling to be a prophet is described.

The themes of Isaiah can be seen in these early chapters.

  1. Judgement and mercy
    1. The diagnosis – read 1:4-6  - the whole is sick not just bits and pieces, cosmetic surgery is not enough – sin is so pervading that it infects every aspect of our lives. Worship had become false 1:12-13
    2. The consequences 1:9 Or as Romans 6:23 puts it: “the wages of sin is death.

 

  1. Mercy
    1. Repentance 1:16-17
    2. The promise of cleansing and restoration 1:18-20
  2. National rebellion For example 5:1-7 read verse 7
  3. The majesty of God For example 2:19
  4. Hear and not hear for example 6:9-10
  5. Faith in God   see 7:10-14 you can read more in ch 37-38
  6. Waiting on God 8:17-20
  7. International Politics just turn the pages of ch 8-23 and the headings give you a clue that God was dealing with the nations of the day. They are confusing to read and most of the prophecies were fulfilled within 100 years.
  8. There is praise in this book. God is worthy of praise and chapter 26 is an example. Read 26:1-6

In the book of the servant we see further themes developed

 

  1. The weakness of Pride In ch 39 we read of Hezekiah foolishly showing envoys of Babylon the national wealth. Showing off lead to Babylon planning to collect the wealth for itself!
  2. Comfort and encouragement  read ch 40:1-2
  3. Deliverance ch 41-44 read ch 41:8-10
  4.  The Servant Songs  Read 42:1-4

a.       42:1-9

b.      49:1-13

c.       50:4-11

d.      52:13-53:12

In the book of the Anointed Conqueror is dominated by  the themes of

  1. Restoration read 54:1-3
  2. The New Zion  read 62:6-7

 

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