BLOG

Isaiah, Prophet of Salvation, part 1

This morning our Father said to start a series on the prophet Isaiah. This seems to coincide with my latest FFI bulletin that was just sent out a few days ago. I look forward to this study, because at one time I considered it to be my favorite book of the Bible. In the mid-1970’s, Romans replaced Isaiah as my favorite. Eventually, Deuteronomy became my favorite.

Today, it is hard to tell, because they all are integrated and fit together as a whole. It seems like every time I do a particular commentary, that becomes my favorite book—at least for the moment. I am always impressed by whatever book I study. I hope it shows, and I hope to pass on my enthusiasm and love for the word.

As I said, I have loved the book of Isaiah for decades. However, I have never done a forensic study of the book from beginning to end. As most of you know by now, having read a number of these studies, we get a whole new understanding and appreciation for a book of the Bible when we start at the beginning and go through it verse by verse to see the flow of the revelation. By doing this, we get the author’s intent, much like a story, rather than just picking out a few memorable quotes to apply to our own lives.

In other words, by the time we finish the book, we can see the big picture and have a better understanding of the Kingdom itself. The more we do this, the more our worldview changes, because our Christian belief system no longer focuses upon ourselves but upon Christ and His Kingdom. In that context, we are able to find our own individual calling, function, and place in that Kingdom.

Two Revolutions

There has always been a philosophical tension between the individual and the collective. America’s constitution (1789) focused on preserving individual rights, and the people at that time were endued with the spirit of “rugged individualism,” as the historians call it. This formed the background of the American Revolution itself.

However, there was another revolution in 1789 that was based on very different principles, for the French Revolution sowed the seeds of modern Socialism and its goal, Communism, which emphasized the collective over the individual. The rights of the State were elevated over the rights of individuals in that system, and 50 years after the French Revolution, Karl Marx was hired to write The Communist Manifesto as a banner uniting all the Socialists.

These two revolutions (America and France) have defined political and social conflicts up to the present time. The American Revolution was designed to protect individual rights against the collective will of the majority, and they found these principles in Scripture. The French Revolution set forth Masonic ideals, designed to destroy the existing order, to wipe it clean, and start over with a new calendar with the Year Zero. To do this required a totalitarian form of government to overrule the will of the people, supposedly acting in the name of the people. And it was willing to kill all opposition to achieve its goals, not allowing any to disagree with its political narrative. Promising them liberty, they brought them into bondage (2 Peter 2:19).

Historically speaking, then, 1789 was extremely important, and so it is little wonder that the book of Revelation would treat it as a great turning point in Revelation 13. It is the end of the 3½ “times” (i.e., 360 x 3.5, or 1260 years) from the rise of the “little horn” of Daniel 7:25. The starting point was in 529 A.D., when Emperor Justinian changed the laws of the Roman empire with his Corpus Juris Civilis. This law became the foundation of western law. At the same time, he changed the calendar to one we still use, based on the birth of Jesus Christ, rather than on the founding of Rome in 753 B.C.

Hence, Justinian’s actions reshaped the history of the Western nations, and 1260 years later, in 1789, two revolutions again reshaped the world. Revelation 13 treats it in terms of two beasts, the first (religious beast) from the sea, and the second (financial beast) from the earth. Today we are witnessing the collapse of both of these beasts, as God prepares the way for His Kingdom to emerge and dominate for the next thousand years.

This is the big picture, which few understand, because they still think that the book of Revelation is fulfilled in a seven-year period with apocalyptic disasters that will destroy the earth while the church escapes in a rapture. Yet the book of Revelation is prophetic of history, written in symbolic language. It gives us a broad sketch of timing as well, which shows us that all of these historical events were planned by God from the beginning.

Isaiah’s Big Picture

Isaiah does not focus on timing, as we see with Daniel and John. This prophet focuses upon the process of destroying the old kingdom (Israel) and the reconstruction of the Kingdom under better and more enduring principles—that is, under the New Covenant. Whereas the first kingdom was doomed to failure from the beginning, having been founded under the Old Covenant, the final Kingdom is doomed to succeed.

The Old Covenant was based on the will of man; the New Covenant is based on the will of God (John 1:13). Man always fails; God always succeeds in the end, although it usually appears like He is failing all the way to His ultimate success. He does this to distinguish between those who have faith and those who have an opinion.

Isaiah’s prophecies are divided into two large sections: Isaiah 1-39 and Isaiah 40-66. The first section focuses on the decline and fall of the kingdom of Israel through the failure of men. The second section focuses on the restoration and reconstruction of the Kingdom through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Theologians often refer to these two sections as First and Second Isaiah. Many treat these as if they were written by two different authors. However, the structure of the book shows that they were meant to be two halves of a single book. As with so many other books of the Bible, Isaiah is written in a Hebrew parallelism, as Dr. Bullinger shows us in his introductory notes.

A Exhortations (1:2 – 5:30)

B The Voice from the Temple (6:1-13)

C Historic Events and Prophecies (Ahaz) (7:1 – 12:6)

D Burdens of the Nations (13:1 – 27:13)

D₁ Woes of the Nations (28:1 – 35:10)

C₁ Historic Events and Prophecies (Hezekiah) (36:1 – 39:8)

B₁ The Voice from the Wilderness (40:1-11)

A₁  Exhortations (40:12 – 66:24)

As anyone can see, the parallelism would be incomplete without the final B₁ and A₁.

Isaiah’s World

Isaiah lived in a time that saw the destruction of Samaria and the kingdom of Israel and the deportation of the Israelites into Assyria. He was in Jerusalem when the Assyrians came again to try to conquer Judah. The Assyrian army was destroyed by the angel of God (Isaiah 37:36), thus sparing the kingdom of Judah for another century until God raised up Babylon to conquer Jerusalem and deport the people to Babylonia for a 70-year captivity.

Most Christians focus so much on the story of Judah that they forget the story of Israel. Somehow Judah and Israel become one in their minds, and this is the source of much prophetic confusion that exists in the church today. When the prophets speak of Israel, many Christians think in terms of the Jews (i.e., “Judah”), and so their minds associate these prophecies with the modern Jewish state which they named Israel in order to perpetuate that confusion.

The prophets, however, make no such identification after Israel and Judah split into two nations. Prior to that split, during the United Kingdom of Israel, the term Israel referred to all the tribes. However, during the Divided Kingdom, the term Israel was used by the prophets to distinguish it from Judah, except when they were contemplating the repair of the breach and the reunification of the two nations.

Knowing the difference between Israel and Judah is one of the foremost keys to understanding Bible prophecy. Most Christians, however, do not understand this difference, and so they remain in a state of confusion and are misguided by many prophecy teachers today who assume that the Jews are the Israelites and that the state of Israel is the reconstruction of ancient Israel. Yet the "lost tribes of Israel" remain lost, at least to those who have not studied history. They remain lost because they are not Jews and because they lost their name Israel.

Isaiah himself knew the difference, as we will see from his prophecies. He lived in the time of the Divided Kingdom, when all of the people knew the difference between a Jew and an Israelite. But if we do not know what Isaiah knew, we will never truly understand Isaiah, because we will be using different definitions of his terminology.

Isaiah prophesied in the years of Uzziah, Jothan, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, who were kings of Judah. Uzziah of Judah was the contemporary of King Jeroboam II of Israel, during whose reign the great earthquake occurred (Amos 1:1). This earthquake greatly weakened Israel and caused a 24-year disruption of the monarchy in Israel.

Finally, some of the more powerful warlords in Israel took the throne, ruling for short periods of time. Jotham, son of Uzziah of Judah, began to reign during the time when Pekah ruled Israel. Jotham’s son, Ahaz, ruled during the final years of Pekah in Israel and into the time of Hoshea, the last king of Israel.

Hezekiah, son of Ahaz, came to the throne of Judah in the third year of Hoshea, king of Israel (2 Kings 18:1). Hezekiah had ruled just four years in Jerusalem when the Assyrians laid siege to Samaria and conquered it three years later (2 Kings 18:10). Isaiah was still prophesying during this time, although it appears that he was living in Judah. Hence, he was not directly affected by the downfall of Israel. Isaiah was said to have been martyred by Hezekiah’s son, Manasseh.

This turbulent time in Israel’s history was when Isaiah prophesied, bearing witness to the word of the Lord. Because Hezekiah was a good king, the life of the kingdom of Judah was extended, even as Hezekiah’s own life was extended 15 years (Isaiah 38:5).

The Two Mandates Reunited

Though Isaiah was from Judah, most of his prophecies concerned the northern House of Israel, which carried the birthright of Joseph (1 Chronicles 5:1, 2). When Israel was destroyed and the people deported to Assyria, the birthright appeared to be lost as well. Isaiah, however, gave hope, prophesying the restoration of the birthright and its Fruitfulness Mandate and its authority (and right) to bring forth the sons of God.

The division of the kingdom split Judah’s Dominion Mandate from Joseph’s Fruitfulness Mandate, ensuring that the sons of God would not be manifested in the earth for a very long time—except, of course, for individual overcomers in a limited way. The manner in which the two Mandates are reunited begins to be clarified in the New Testament, at least for those who have eyes to see and who know what they are seeing.

Isaiah’s prophecy gives many such foundational truths, which the New Testament writers—the Apostle Paul especially—draw upon in constructing Christian teaching. These things we will study as we proceed.