An Introduction to Isaiah

It was an age of impending doom. From the throne-rooms of kings to the smoking huts of commoners, men whispered of a rising power in the east, a nation that was fast becoming the most powerful empire on earth. They spoke of Assyria, a land of warlike men and terrifying kings, whose armies were sweeping all before them. This was the world of the 8th century BC, in which Isaiah the prophet lived.

For some half a century, Isaiah doggedly declared a vision of God which sounded bizarre in the ears of his countrymen. Yahweh, the national God of the Hebrews, was raising up the Assyrian hordes to bring judgment on wicked men. The nation of Judah, which had long prided itself for its methodical observance of Yahweh’s rites, would not escape God’s judgment. They were “a sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity,” and they had provoked the “Holy One of Israel.”

This was Isaiah’s favorite term for God, perhaps born from his own terrifying encounter with the Deity. Isaiah had been called into prophetic service when he faced his own life-changing encounter with “the Lord,” “high and lifted up.” Right when he feared that he would be “lost” forever due to his own sinfulness, the man had been rescued from the brink of destruction by an act of unmerited grace—the atonement of his own sin, in the figure of a coal of fire that touched his lips. From that point, Isaiah had been commissioned by heaven to preach to a nation that would continually reject his message and ultimately—if later Jewish tradition is to be believed—saw the messenger in half in an ultimate denial of everything that he proclaimed.

Historical Background

Isaiah lived in the 700s BC (8th Century BC), but he faced the same human conditions that modern men and women face. These conditions were exemplified in three crises that roiled his nation and provided opportunities for him to declare God’s message.

The first crisis occurred under king Ahaz. Ahaz was king of the small nation of Judah, and Judah was at that time threatened by two nations, Israel and Syria, led by their respective kings, Pekah and Rezin. These nations, having already won a stunning military campaign against Judah, decided to press their advantage in a second invasion. Ahaz panicked, afraid to lose his throne, but Isaiah counseled trust in God. Yet despite the assurance of the prophet, Ahaz could not bring himself to trust God. Instead he begged for help from Assyria, drawing the attention of a sleeping lion to his own corner of the world.

The second crisis occurred when King Hezekiah found himself attacked by Sennacherib, King of Assyria. As Jerusalem faced the threat of an Assyrian siege, Isaiah again counseled trust in God. This time Hezekiah put his trust in the Lord and found that Yahweh’s promise was more than sufficient to protect him.

The third crisis was of a different kind. Hezekiah’s heart grew proud, and he flaunted his wealth to a posse of Babylonian ambassadors. Although Babylon was hardly a world power at the moment, God declared that in a future age, the nation would fall to the Babylonians as punishment. Foreseeing this distant age of despair, Isaiah wrote words of comfort and encouragement for the future generation that must endure this judgment. He counseled them to keep their eyes on Yahweh, knowing that he would protect them, ultimately deliver them, and send them a Savior.

Outline

The book of Isaiah divides into three sections.

Section One is chapters 1-39, which contains the accounts of all three crises, as well as Isaiah’s words to his contemporaries. Following Motyer, this is The Book of the King, for it shows that God is king over the nations of the world, and it refers to his sovereignty over all events.

Section Two is chapters 40-55, The Book of the Servant. This section is addressed to those who are in Babylon, counseling them to wait for God’s Servant who will rescue them. Isaiah speaks of a coming servant, Cyrus, who prefigures a greater servant who will reconcile the people to their God.

Section Three is chapter 56-66, The Book of the Conqueror. This final section is more vague, and it addresses a time—evidently after the people have returned from Babylon—when God’s people must wait for his conquest, persevering in faith and obedience until he establishes the fullness of his kingdom.

Message and Themes

Isaiah’s ministry was predicated on a view of God as the “holy, holy, holy” God of the nation. From the moment when he had cringed in the presence of this awe-inspiring power, Isaiah continually speaks of God as a great and transcendent being who is aggravated by the sins of men.

While all nations are guilty of sin, it is the favored nation, Judah, that endures Isaiah’s most extreme denunciations. They, of all men, have knowledge of the true God, yet “They have forsaken the LORD, they have despised the Holy One of Israel, they are utterly estranged” (1:4).

The tension between God’s holiness and man’s sinfulness demands judgment. God will bring destruction on his holy nation until they recognize their place and his holy reputation is again restored: “Man is humbled, and each one is brought low, and the eyes of the haughty are brought low. But the LORD of hosts is exalted in justice, and the Holy God shows himself holy in righteousness” (5:15-16).

Yet there is another tension. Not only does Isaiah speak of coming judgment, but he continually speaks of a future restoration. For example, even as he speaks of the nation becoming as corrupt as Sodom and as wicked as Gomorrha, yet his exalted poems also mention a day when Jerusalem, “the mountain of the house of the LORD[,] shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it” (2:2). Even in his darkest denunciations, the prophet still holds out a promise of future restoration.

The glimmer of such a hope, however, cannot rest on human effort. In an age of impending doom, only the sovereign God of history is powerful enough to bring about such plans. Here too we see Isaiah’s grand vision of God. It is Yahweh, the “Sovereign of Armies,” who raises up one king and puts down another; nations are mere tools in his hand; the coming devastations occur only because “Yahweh removes people far away” (6:12).

And then there is The Servant. Of all God’s world-ranging plans, the most magnificent is the shadowy Servant, a rejected and despised individual who will arise to take the iniquity of God’s people. This individual, rising like a tiny twig from the splintered stump of the nation, will face the ‘crushing’ of Yahweh, until he succeeds in making “many to be accounted righteous.” A fascinating and intriguing individual, to be sure!

Such a message as Isaiah delivers must be believed. This is the great dilemma, not only of ancient kings like Ahaz and Hezekiah, but also for modern readers. If this is the revelation of God, shall we believe it, and order our lives in light of it? As Isaiah himself demands, “Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD GOD is an everlasting rock” (26:4).

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