More than one person has been drawn to the book of Isaiah by the gospel passages that point to Christ. However, that same person will get bogged down and confused by the poetry and its often condemnatory tone. If one is to study Isaiah thoroughly, they do well to take Luther’s advice. Spend some time in 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles reading about the historical background; especially the kings mentioned in Isaiah 1:1. Like Jeremiah, Isaiah’s messages are not arranged in chronological order. The Lutheran Study Bible provides excellent notes to help with understanding this longest of all the prophetic books.
Isaiah begins with God calling heaven and earth to bear witness at Israel’s trial. 1:4 “ah, sinful nation…laden with iniquity...have forsaken the Lord…despised the Holy One of Israel…is utterly estranged.” Yet, in 1:18 we read, “Though your sins be like scarlet, they shall be white as snow.”
Chapter Five begins with Isaiah singing about God’s vineyard. Yahweh planted his vineyard on a fertile hill. He gave it every advantage, but when “he looked for it to yield grapes, it yielded wild grapes.” This time Yahweh calls Jerusalem and Judah as his witnesses, “What more was there to do for my vineyard?” 5:7 reveals that the vineyard is Israel and Judah. They will be trampled on and become a waste.
However, Chapter six takes us to the Temple where Isaiah describes his vision of Yahweh accompanied by the six winged seraphim. Isaiah confesses that applies to all of us, “Woe is me! I am lost. I am a man of unclean lips.” Yet, he hears words of absolution, just as we do each week, “Your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”
So it goes throughout the whole of Isaiah, in chapter 7, King Ahaz refuses to ask for a sign. So God gives him a sign, “A virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”
Not without reason Isaiah is called, “The fifth gospel.” But if one sets out to study Isaiah in depth and not just the gospel highlights, be aware, you are in it for the long haul. Studying one chapter a day will often fill an hour or more. One chapter a week will fill more than a year.
There is great blessing and enrichment of faith offered in Isaiah. But like anything worthwhile, it takes work.
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