Isaiah - Chapters 1-12

This is a transcription of a podcast episode where the host, Julie Callio, discusses the book of Isaiah. She mentions that Isaiah is a prophet and his book contains references to Jesus. Julie explains that Isaiah prophesied during the time of the Assyrian empire and the destruction of the northern tribes of Israel. She also briefly mentions other prophets like Jonah, Amos, Hosea, and Micah. Julie emphasizes the importance of treating others justly and loving God. She then provides an overview of the first few chapters of Isaiah, highlighting themes of rebellion and corruption, and Isaiah's encounter with God's holiness. The episode ends with an introduction to King Ahaz and the conflict between Aram and Judah. I'm Julie Callio, your host, and thanks so much for taking time out of your busy schedule to tune in with me today. If by chance you want to contact me, you can do that at vab.bc.pc at gmail.com. Today we are covering chapters 1 through 12 of Isaiah, and let me share with you that this year is much more of an overview of the book within the context of 2 Kings. Last year I did 10 separate lessons on Isaiah from June 19th through the 30th, 2023, and this year may be only 3 or 4 lessons to cover the entire book. The book of Isaiah is full of references to Jesus. Actually see Hassel Bullock in his book, An Introduction to the Old Testament Prophetic Books, calls Isaiah prophet par excellence. This year I will not point out most of those to you, but I will show how Isaiah was involved in his time period. Chapter 1 verse 1 says, The vision concerning Judah and Jerusalem that Isaiah son of Amos saw during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, kings of Judah. Isaiah may have been the longest serving prophet in the Bible. King Uzziah's reign was around 792-740 BC and Hezekiah's was around 716-687 BC. Now in the Christian Bible, Isaiah is called a major prophet because his book is the longest book of the prophets, 66 chapters. He also is put in the category of Neo-Assyrian prophet because the nation of Assyria is rising to power and he is prophesying during the time that Assyria wipes out the northern ten tribes of Israel in 722 BC and attempts to do the same with Judah, but it will not be Assyria that wipes out Judah, but Babylon in 586 BC. So far as we have looked at the Neo-Assyrian prophets, we have covered Jonah who prophesied while Israel was rising in power. He is listed in 2nd Kings chapter 14 verse 25 who lived during the reign of Jeroboam the second king of Israel. He was the prophet the Lord sent to the city of Nineveh in Assyria to preach repentance. They repented and this made Jonah mad because he did not want these wicked people to repent and the Lord asked him at the end of the book, You have been concerned about this vine, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight, but Nineveh has more than 120,000 people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city? It is interesting that the first dated classical prophet, meaning it is the prophetic book of the Bible, was Jonah who went and preached to a pagan nation. One thing we will see in the prophets is the Lord cares for all people. If you remember way back in Genesis chapter 12 verses 2 and 3 when God first called Abram the first patriarch of the Jewish nation, the Lord promised, I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you. I will make your name great and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and whoever curses you, I will curse and all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you. Ladies, as believers in the Lord, we are blessed not to hoard what we have been given, but to be a blessing to others of all nations, races, and creeds. John 3.16 says, For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. Not only was Jonah sent for the people of Nineveh, but he was sent to change his heart, but the story never says if it did. Then we have Amos, who was from Judah, but was sent to prophesy in Israel the northern tribes. This was during the golden age of Israel, during the reign of Jeroboam II, and he preached about their injustice toward people and how their greed had taken hold of them. A famous verse in this book was quoted by Martin Luther King Jr., but let justice roll on like a river and righteousness like a never failing stream. Amos 5.24 The Israelites did not repent like the Assyrian Ninevites did. Then during the decline of the nation of Israel, Hosea, whom God called to marry a harlot and have children, and then after she was unfaithful to him, he was called to go and buy his wife back to himself. His life was an object lesson of the Lord's chesed love, his covenantal, steadfast, merciful love toward his people. One of the key verses of that prophet is chapter 11 verse 8. How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? With each prophet, the Lord was calling his children to himself, but most would not come. Then the Lord sent Micah during the same time of Hosea, but he was from Judah, during the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, his ministries at the same time as Isaiah, but not as long. Micah saw a vision of the destruction of Israel by Assyria and the future destruction of Jerusalem and the temple by the Babylonians. He sent a warning to the leaders, prophets, and priests of Judah and to all that would listen about getting their act together and following the Lord. The key verse for this book is Micah 6, 8. He has shown you, O man, what is good and what the Lord requires of you, to act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. Dr. Beth said over and over and over again in Old Testament class, the prophets had two messages, how we treat others and how we treat God. This correlates with what Jesus said in Matthew chapter 22 verses 37 through 40. Jesus replied, Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment, and the second is like it. Love your neighbor as yourself. All the law and the prophets hang on these two commandments, love. Now we will look at Isaiah. In chapter 1 verse 3, the Lord says through Isaiah, The ox knows his master, the donkey his owner's manger, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand. The Lord's people do not know or follow him. Verse 13 tells them, Stop bringing meaningless offerings. Your innocence is detestable to me. New moon, Sabbath, and convocations, I cannot bear your evil assemblies. Their worship is false. Verse 16b through 18, Stop doing wrong, learn to do right, seek justice, encourage the oppressed, defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow. Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool. Chapter 2 starts, This is what Isaiah son of Amos saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem, and it is a picture of the last days, and the Lord says in verse 5, Come, O house of Jacob, let us walk in the light of the Lord. Instead they walk in their own ways, and trust in men instead of God. Judgment is coming in chapter 3, and yet in chapter 4 there is a glimmer of survivors in Israel. Chapter 4 verses 2 and 3. Chapter 5 is a song of the vineyard, where God is the vine dresser, and he did everything he could do to make his grapes grow big and luscious, yet they were only bad. So he declared he would take away the hedge, break down the walls, make it a wasteland. Verse 7 says, The vineyard of the Lord Almighty is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are the garden of his delight. He looked for justice, but saw bloodshed, for righteousness, but heard cries of distress. Then there are woes and more judgments to those who do not walk in the ways of the Lord. Dr. Betts in Old Testament class described chapters 1 through 5 as the introduction and explanation of what the book is about, which is how can the promised holiness and blessedness that God wants to bring about on his people replace the rebellion and corruption that is in his people. The answer is found in chapter 6. It starts with verse 1, In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on the throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Now King Uzziah was mainly a godly king, and the Lord blessed Judah during his reign. Now with his death there is uncertainty, especially with the previous vision that Isaiah had in chapters 1 through 5. But Isaiah's focus has changed, and he looked up when he experienced the holy holy holy is the Lord God Almighty, the whole earth is full of his glory. He said, Woe is me, I am ruined, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty. Then the seraph used tongs, and took a live coal from the altar, and touched Isaiah's mouth and said, See, this has touched your lips, your guilt is taken away, and your sin is atoned for. Dr. Betts said, Just as the man of unclean lips had to abandon all hope before being cleansed by fire, so too must the nation. It is a call to holiness, what Isaiah could not achieve on his own was an act of God to purify him. Ladies, that's why he sent Jesus, believing in Jesus purifies us. Once Isaiah was purified, the Lord asked, Who shall I send, and who will go for us? Us, a glimpse of the Trinity. Isaiah said, Here am I, send me. Then his message is surprising, he was to declare it, but they would not understand. The Lord's message would make the people's heart hard, and ears dull, otherwise they might hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed. Isaiah asked, How long? And the answer was, Until Israel lies in ruin, and there is a remnant left. Now chapter 7 moved forward, past the son of King Uzziah, King Jotham, and has moved on to King Ahaz, around 735-716 BC. Chapter 7 begins, When Ahaz, son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, was king of Judah, king Rezan of Aram, and Pekah, son of Remalia, king of Israel, marched up to fight against Jerusalem, but they could not overpower it. Now for those of you who have been reading through 2 Kings with me, we got a precursor to this in chapter 15 verse 37, and it said, During the time of King Jotham, in those days, the Lord began to send Rezan, king of Aram, and Pekah, son of Remalia, against Judah. Depending upon the political climate, sometimes Israel and Judah were against Aram, also known as Syria, but now Israel and Aram, which are the north and northeastern borders of Judah, are ganging up on Judah. Part of the struggle is that Assyria is coming and threatening Israel and Aram. Their attack of course scared King Ahaz and Judah, but in verse 3 the word of the Lord came to Isaiah to go and speak to the king. He told them of the king's plot against them, and then he said, Yet this is what the sovereign Lord says, it will not take place, it will not happen, if you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all. The Lord asked the king to give the Lord a sign, so he could prove his word, but King Ahaz would not, so the Lord gave him a sign. Verse 14 The virgin will be with child, and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. Ladies, do you know what Immanuel means? Yep, God with us. Of course we know, because of the New Testament, that this ultimately was Jesus, but for the king it probably was the birth of Isaiah's son in chapter 8, and the sign was by the time this child knows how to say mother and father, the wealth of Damascus, which is the capital of Aram, and the wealth of Samaria, which is the capital of Israel, will be carried off by the king of Assyria. Chapter 8 verses 3 and 4. The end of verse 10 reminds them that no matter what plan these kings attempt, they will not succeed, for the Lord is with us, Immanuel. One of the themes found in chapter 7 through 39 is, if they will trust God, and they can trust God, they will be delivered from the nations, and when they don't trust God, and trust in the nations, they will be captured and destroyed. Thank you Dr. Betts. See Hassel Bullock said in an introduction to the Old Testament prophetic books. The book of Immanuel, chapters 7 through 12, which follows, highlights the Lord's saving actions. On the one side of Isaiah's call, chapters 1 through 5, the major emphasis falls upon the sinful condition of Judah and the impending judgment, whereas the overarching stress on the other side of the call narrative is salvation. Dr. Betts said the key word for Isaiah is salvation. Chapter 9 verses 6 and 7 are some of the key verses of the book. For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be upon his shoulders, and he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever, the zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this. Ladies, we know this is fulfilled in Jesus. Chapter 9 continues with the Lord's anger against Israel and Aram, and the Lord will bring forth the Arameans from the east and the Philistines from the west, verse 12. And in chapter 10, God's judgment will also come upon Assyria, because their king also has a prideful heart and haughty eyes, verse 12. Then the Lord speaks of the remnant of Jews that will return to the Mighty God, verse 21, and they are not to fear the Assyrians, because they also will find their destruction, and we know the Assyrians are destroyed by the Babylonians. Chapter 11 gives hope that one from the branch of Jesse, which was King David's dad, will come in righteousness. Chapter 11, verse 10 says, In that day the root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples. The nations will rally to him, and his place of rest will be glorious. Did you catch that it said, the nations will rally to him, and not just the Jews? The downs of judgment are mixed with the ups of salvation and hope, and these chapters end with a song of praise in chapter 12, verses 1 through 6. In that day you will say, I will praise you, O Lord, although you were angry with me, your anger has turned away, and you have comforted me. Surely God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid. The Lord, the Lord is my strength and my song, he has become my salvation. With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. In that day you will say, Give thanks to the Lord, call upon his name, make known among the nations what he has done, and proclaim that his name is exalted. Sing to the Lord, for he has done glorious things, let this be known to all the world. Shout aloud and sing for joy, people of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel among you. Ladies, if you have heard the Lord today, please, oh please, don't harden your heart. Instead, let's be women who see with our eyes, hear with our ears, understand with our hearts, and turn to the Lord and be healed. Thanks for listening, and may the Lord's blessings be on you, until next time.