LESSON 1
ISAIAH THE PROPHET

As we open our study in Isaiah, we shall see in chapter one all the major themes addressed which are more fully developed throughout the remainder of the book. It is also interesting to note that the sixty-six (66) chapters of Isaiah are divided in much the same way the Bible itself is put together, namely a natural division of thirty-nine (39) books making up the Old Testament and 27 of the New Testament. The book of Isaiah is referred to in the New Testament more often than any other Old Testament book. Perhaps it is time that both Jews and Christians allow its message to reach within our souls and seek the meaning that God has in store for the world in which we live today. President George W. Bush, speaking to the nation and the world recently quoted from the book of Isaiah. Properly understood, the message of this book would root out the underlying causes of so called "Christian" anti-Semitism. The May 9, 2003 Jerusalem Post, states there have been more violent anti-Semitic acts in 2002 than in any of the previous twelve years. Again in its May 16, 2003 addition the Jerusalem Post, under an article on Judaism by Shlomo Riskin, challenges its readers, "Yes, we may anticipate redemption and anxiously await its coming, but it will never happen without proper preparation. It is not sufficient to wait for the Messiah to bring us to Israel; only by coming can we hope to bring the Messiah."

Through Isaiah God gives a solemn call to His people Israel to consider the personal inner preparations necessary to please God from the heart. It is important to remember that, "man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart," I Samuel 16:7. The message of Isaiah was so powerful and as a nation rejected by the majority that tradition records he was, "sawed in two," (Hebrews 11:37). May we listen with spiritual ears and not reject what God brings to our attention as we study His Word. May the Holy Spirit be allowed to open our eyes to our true spiritual condition before His Holy presence.

As our study of the book of Isaiah opens, we see his vision or spiritual perception given by God. Here the God of the universe is seen setting on the throne of judgment, a scene not many of us wish to consider. As we see the spotlight of His holiness and righteousness pointed on man's sinful heart, our study will reveal the great depth of His love and grace. God calls heaven and earth to witness that His ultimate goal for Israel is her final restoration and final redemption. As Christians we can learn many valuable lessons in this study, but the Church of Jesus Christ is not Israel and we are not looking for Messiah. Our hope as Christians is the return of Christ for His Church and to be caught up in the air to meet Him and to be His bride forever as recorded in I Thessalonians 4:13-18. As Isaiah called upon Judah and Jerusalem to repent, so I believe God is calling us to repent and recognize our sad state of sinfulness before His Holy presence.

For five hundred years God had blessed His people since bringing them out of Egypt to the Promised Land, but they had become a people loaded with guilt, a sinful nation. They had rebelled and their whole heart had been afflicted. When one forsakes the Lord, the whole person is viewed from God's standpoint as being sick. The whole nation was desolate and its cities destroyed. The Assyrians had destroyed the northern kingdom and carried off its people. They had an army of 185,000 that had destroyed the cities of Judah and were at the gates of Jerusalem. As we shall see because of Hezekiah, the Godly King of Judah, Judah would not be carried away for another one hundred years by the Babylonians.

Even in the darkest hour God has a faithful few. "The Lord almighty had left us some survivors" (Isaiah 1:9) who love Him and allow His mercy to be extended. Isaiah goes on to show that God takes no pleasure in outward worship that consists of meaningless offerings and multitudes of sacrifices. God will not listen to the prayers of people who are not willing to come clean. One of the great hopes of the Bible is found in Isaiah 1:18, when God reveals to us our sins. They can be forgiven, and we can be made white as snow if we repent and stop rebelling against Him. We must be willing and obedient to the Lord. As we turn to the Lord, He will take away our sin. The hope is placed before Israel that one day Zion or Jerusalem will be redeemed and be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city.

The key to restoration and blessing before the Lord of hosts, the mighty one of Israel is repentance. The city of Jerusalem and Israel are under siege today surrounded by those who seek to wipe the nation and its people from the face of the earth. The call of God today as in the day of Isaiah is to turn to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob for deliverance. God will be faithful to His promises, but as a loving father He will allow the pressure to build until a broken and contrite spirit burst forth from the heart toward the God of Israel. The spiritual application for everyone today is that if God will go to such great lengths to prune the natural branch Israel, what about us who are the grafted in branches, the Church. Paul in Romans 11:13-25 makes it very clear that, "if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee," Romans 11:21. As we look at the sins of Isaiah (chapter 1) and go into greater detail throughout the book we must heed the warning. Perhaps the underlying reason why there is so little power today in the church of Jesus Christ is that our hands are full of blood from God's viewpoint. God takes no more pleasure in the sin of His children than He did in Isaiah's day. Are we more interested in our beautiful churches than in winning the lost and helping the poor? Have we become mechanical and superficial in our churches without an inner desire to conform to the holiness and righteousness of God? In our drive to become politically correct, have we lost our capacity for righteous indignation? May our study of Isaiah give us a sense of sin as God sees it and a broken heart to reach out to our fellow man with the redeeming message of God's love as revealed in the person of Jesus Christ.

The sins of Isaiah are as prevalent today in the church as they were in Israel, and the blessing of God will not come until repentance takes place. The Lord Jesus Christ of the book of the Revelation will remove the candlestick of the churches of America as he did of the seven churches of Revelation 2 and 3 if we refuse to come to grips with sin as revealed in the Word of God. Are we to become discouraged and faint in well doing? The answer is no, for God always has a faithful few who are true and know that in the end we as the Church of Jesus Christ will win and that the hope of eternity burns brightly within our heart. That hope is based upon the Word of God and the promises such as I Thessalonians 4:13-18.