Isaiah

In the Beginning

Isaiah the prophet was thoroughly devoted to God. He was one of the “holy men of God [who] spake as they were moved by the holy spirit” (2 Peter 1:21). This issue is devoted to the prophecies of this noble servant, aggregated in the book so well known as Isaiah. “His style is simple and sublime; in imagery, intermediate between the poverty of Jeremiah and the exuberance of Ezekiel. The form is mostly that of Hebrew poetical parallelism. Christ and the apostles quote no prophet so frequently.” (A Commentary, Jamieson, Fausset and Brown)

We begin with a review of all 66 chapters of this book in the article Isaiah. One of the remarkable prophecies is found in chapter 45, which opens by naming Cyrus a chosen vessel to free Israel from Babylonian captivity. This famous person is the subject of Cyrus, the Lord’s Anointed.

Lessons from Hezekiah considers Isaiah’s record of the invasion of Judea by Sennacherib, king of Assyria, which is prophetic of the coming crisis in Israel as a consequence of Gog’s invasion from the north.

The Sarah Covenant Bears Fruit examines Isaiah 54 from which Paul extracted his comments about the covenants in Galatians 4.

Isaiah’s prophecies apply to both the first and second advents of Christ; sometimes the same prophecy applies to both. Some examples of this are examined in My Father's Business, with an emphasis on Isaiah chapters 42 and 65. 

Waves of Blessing in the Book of Isaiah gleans from various chapters in Isaiah a recurring theme of sin, judgment, punishment, recovery, and blessing, wave upon wave, which will finally introduce righteousness throughout the earth.

The verse-by-verse article for this issue, They Shall Not Hurt, is a thoughtful examination of Isaiah 65 with special emphasis on how this passage pertains to the first advent of Christ, though it applies also to the second advent.

The final article, Isaiah and the Ancient Manuscripts, considers the integrity of the Isaiah text as we have it today.

We trust these various insights will give our readers a greater appreciation for the depth and scope of this prophecy which is the foundation of the prophetic testimony of God's Word.