The history of the world is rushing toward a grand and spectacular conclusion. Isaiah the prophet has more to say as to where we have been and what will constitute the world that is ahead than any other single person directed by God the Holy Spirit. Whether you be Jew or gentile, if you believe that there is a God and that He has revealed Himself through the Bible, there are some things we can agree to be true: that Abraham is the great patriarch of the Bible, that Moses was the law giver and that David was Israel's greatest king who foreshadowed the Messianic king on whom the Jewish people wait. Isaiah is the forth great dimension of the Old Testament and is considered its greatest writing prophet. He is quoted more than any other Old Testament prophet with direct references in twenty of the twenty- seven books of the New Testament. I challenge you to take a journey with me and consider the message he delivered. The nation of Israel and all its peoples still scattered world wide should listen with a newly tuned ear to the message. Satan has effectively used his jamming devices in an attempt to distract from the clear message found in this book. To the person within the Nation of Israel willing to listen, there is still a clear spiritual message waiting to be heard and obeyed resulting in a future spiritual national restoration. There are great spiritual lessons to be learned by every child of God, but the promises of this book are for God's chosen people, Israel. The damage done to the family of God by the misapplication of scriptural truths found in the Old Testament have left a trail of destruction down through the course of history. Since this study is to the masses and not directed to scholars, I shall not weary you with a detailed outline beginning in the third century down to the present error of what we call, "replacement theology." The course of anti- Semitism can be traced to the same error of taking the promises given by God to Israel and applying them to the Church of Jesus Christ and to present day Christianity. The apostle Paul directs us to, "rightly divide or correctly handle the Word of Truth" (II Timothy 2:15). Let me be very clear; the promises of this Book for the future belong to Israel, and the future glorious reign of Messiah is for the Jewish people. There are great spiritual lessons to be learned in this Book, and the warnings should be heeded by all people. In fact, so powerful is the message that if Isaiah were here today, he would in most cases be rejected. To all who believe, that the time of the Messiah is near, and His kingdom is soon to rule over the whole earth. To every Christian who views the times and seasons of I Thessalonians 5 as indicating the return of Christ for His Church is imminent. Let us take the journey through Isaiah and allow the Holy Spirit to open our eyes to our own spiritual condition and readiness for what the future holds.

As a prophet, Isaiah was one called by God to be His spokesman, to tell forth His message to the people. God gave His prophets the ability "to see" that which the physical eyes or mind cannot see. The prophets were God's messengers as to the true state of the human heart, and they viewed the conditions within the nation as God saw His laws and commandments disobeyed. The prophets were also allowed to see the future and hold before people the hope of final restoration. This hope of our final destination and ultimate victory must never be lost or allowed to dim our vision of future glory. One of the characteristics of a true prophet is a reluctance to deliver his message. Moses is seen as one who strenuously objected to the path that had been chosen for him. Think of it this way, the prophet is caught between a Holy God and a rebellious people. He is like a vice-president caught between the board and CEO and the people who make up the company. He is committed to leadership and yet the welfare of the people for whom he is responsible is overwhelming. It was Jeremiah who revealed the heart of the true prophet in 4:19-22 of his Book, "My anguish, my anguish, I writhe in pain. Oh the walls of my heart! My heart is beating wildly. I cannot keep silent. For I hear the sound of the trumpet, the call to war. For my people are foolish. They know not me. They are foolish children. They have no understanding. Expert in doing evil but to do good they know not how." The prophet of God suffers with his people and for his people. He does not enjoy delivering his message and pleads from his heart for the people to listen that the judgment of God can be avoided on a personally and national level.

As we enter our study, I think it is important that we remember the Assyrians under Sennacherib came down and destroyed Samaria, the capital of the Northern Kingdom. The ten tribes of the Northern Kingdom of Israel came to a tragic end in 722 BC as recorded in II Kings 17:4-6. Judah was next, but Isaiah expressed the attitude of the people in Isaiah 22:13 with these words, "Let us eat and drink; for tomorrow we shall die."

Onto this scene comes Isaiah whose name means, "Jehovah is salvation." We know he was married, and his wife is referred to as "the prophetess" (Isaiah 8:3). The names of his two sons were Shear-Yashue, meaning "a remnant-shall-return," and Maher-ShalalHash-Baz meaning, "hasten-to-spoil-hurry-to prey." The two sons' names hold in a nutshell, the message of divine mercy and divine wrath, the theme of Isaiah message. If we follow the thinking of the early church fathers, such as Jerome, Isaiah could be referred to in Hebrews 11:37, "they were sawn asunder," as his manner of death. Like the apostle John who wrote "The Revelation of Jesus Christ," Isaiah was around ninety years of age at his death, probably under the reign of Manasseh. These two old servants of God give us in their writings the most profound pictures of God in His Glory to be found in Scripture. Their sense of awe as they bow in humble adoration should strike in our hearts an attitude of worship and what it will be like when we see Him face to face. It will be worth it all when we see Jesus, and all that we have gone through will quickly fade into everlasting forgetfulness. May the Holy Spirit through the study of Isaiah so fill our hearts with the lofty vision of final redemption that we will be ever, "looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior, Jesus Christ," Titus 2:13).