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NLT

English Standard Version (ESV)

New Living Translation (NLT)

50 This is what the LORD says: And your mother, too, was taken because of your sins. 2 Why was no one there when I came? I can turn rivers into deserts covered with dying fish. 3 I dress the skies in darkness, covering them with clothes of mourning.” 4 The Sovereign LORD has given me his words of wisdom, and opens my understanding to his will. 5 The Sovereign LORD has spoken to me, I have not rebelled or turned away. 6 I offered my back to those who beat me from mockery and spitting. 7 Because the Sovereign LORD helps me, And I know that I will not be put to shame. 8 He who gives me justice is near. Let them appear! 9 See, the Sovereign LORD is on my side! like old clothes that have been eaten by moths! 10 Who among you fears the LORD and rely on your God. 11 But watch out, you who live in your own light You will soon fall down in great torment.

Introduction to Isaiah

Background of Isaiah

What is the Book of Isaiah About?

Time: 4 Minutes

If you open the Bible to the middle, you’re likely to land in Isaiah, one of the biggest books in the Old Testament. Isaiah was a prophet like many others in the Bible, but his book is the epic of the Old Testament—not in length alone, but also in scope.

The prophet Isaiah belonged to the Southern Kingdom of Israel, after the nation had fractured in two. He witnessed the collapse of the Northern Kingdom to the Neo-Assyrian Empire in 722 BC during the reign of Ahaz, the Syro-Ephraimite wars in 734-732 BC, and Hezekiah’s crisis with Sennacherib (King of Assyria) in 701 BC. Isaiah lived in wartime, under the stress of national insecurity.

Isaiah spoke to three audiences: the pre-exilic generation of his time, those taken into exile by the Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar, and those returning from exile. In this context, he often gave political instruction to Israel’s kings. He was God’s means of direction for their state. Some people wonder how this is possible, because Isaiah didn’t live long enough to personally address each audience. Surprisingly, God not only gave Isaiah foresight into the present course of his nation, but also into the cosmic course of history. Some scholars are so astounded by the visions given to Isaiah by the Holy Spirit that they try to explain it away by saying his book had to have been authored by three different people!

The book of Isaiah helps us understand the complex nature of biblical prophecy. Here’s how.

Prophecy is like a photograph of a mountain range. Imagine it. Looking at the photo, there seems to be one row of mountains, all different hues of color.

You know, though, that if you were to fly over those mountains, they would no longer look like they stand in a line. The mountain ranges would be separated by great lengths.

When we open Isaiah and read his prophecy, we are looking at a sort of mountain photo—a beautiful polaroid of God’s promises. They seem to be indistinguishable from one another, all scrunched together and overlapping.

But if we were to fly over the Bible’s story, we would see clearly that the closest range of promises found their fulfillment in Isaiah’s day. The range of promises beyond that found their fulfillment in the coming of Jesus—the one Isaiah speaks about as “The Suffering Servant.” But the mountains in Isaiah’s photo span even further. Isaiah’s prophetic photograph spans all human history.

At the beginning and end of his prophecy, Isaiah clarifies that his audience includes all of creation, because God has one plan for the entire world. At the beginning, he writes: “Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for the Lord has spoken…” (Isaiah 1:2). At the end, God says, “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind… From new moon to new moon, and from Sabbath to Sabbath, all flesh shall come to worship before me, declares the Lord” (Isaiah 65:17; 66:23). God’s plan of redemption involves all of creation.

Isaiah is a collection of one man’s sermons from the 7th and 8th century BC given to his home country. When Isaiah’s first hearers looked at the picture he painted through his prophecy, they saw judgment, for Israel had sinned against the Lord and broken his covenant, thus they would be driven into exile by their political enemies, away from their homeland. But even in that near vision, God promised to restore Israel and bring Israel home from exile one day.

A vision far grander than Isaiah’s first audience could imagine stood behind their present circumstances. God would rescue his people through a coming suffering servant who would bear the exile of sin and death for us and free us from our bondage to sin.

Isaiah is also a poetic anthology that retells God’s plan to redeem all of humanity. A vision far grander than Isaiah’s first audience could imagine stood behind their present circumstances. God would rescue his people through a coming suffering servant who would bear the exile of sin and death for us and free us from our bondage to sin. We find out as we read the rest of the Bible that this servant is God himself, come to us as one of us in the person of Jesus, the Christ.

We pray that as you open Isaiah, that photo would turn to flight for you, and the Holy Spirit would help you soar through God’s promises, and recognize the magnitude, beauty, and significance of each one.

What Is the Background of Isaiah?

Time: 20 Minutes

The Background of Isaiah

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Author and Date

Isaiah was called to his prophetic ministry “in the year that King Uzziah died” (Isaiah 6:1), around 740 BC He lived long enough to record the death of Sennacherib (Isaiah 37:38), in 681. However, most of the book can be dated only in very general terms because few specific dates are given.

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Theme

The central theme of the book is God himself, who does all things for his own glory (Isaiah 48:11). Isaiah defines everything else by how it relates to God: is it rightly related to him as the center of all reality (Isaiah 45:22–25)? God’s people find strength only as they rest in the promises of their God (Isaiah 30:15). They find refreshment only as they delight themselves in his Word (Isaiah 55:1–2). To serve his cause is their worthy devotion (ch. 62), but to rebel against him is endless death (Isaiah 66:24).

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Simplified Overview of Isaiah

Background of Isaiah

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Key Themes

1. God is offended by religious practices that come from an empty heart or a careless life (Isaiah 1:10–17; 58:1–12; 66:1–4).

2. God’s true people will someday become a multinational community of worship and peace that will last forever (Isaiah 2:2–4; 56:3–8; 66:18–23). They will be the predominant culture of a new world (Isaiah 14:1–2; 41:8–16; 43:3–7; 60:1–22).

3. God opposes human pride (Isaiah 2:10–17; 13:11; 23:9).

4. The foolish idols that man creates are destined for destruction (Isaiah 2:20–21; 44:9–20; 46:1–7).

5. God’s judgment will reduce Israel to a remnant. From this remnant he will raise up a holy people (Isaiah 1:9; 6:1–12:6; 40:1–2).

6. God sometimes judges people by making them deaf and blind to his saving Word (Isaiah 29:9–14).

7. The only hope of the world is in one man. He is the promised Davidic king (Isaiah 7:14; 9:2–7; 11:1–10), the servant of the Lord (Isaiah 42:1–9; 52:13–53:12), the anointed preacher of the gospel (Isaiah 61:1–3), and the victor over all evil (Isaiah 63:1–6).

8. God uses everything, even human sin, for his own glory (Isaiah 44:24–45:13).

9. All people are called to repent of sin and trust in God alone (Isaiah 12:2; 26:3–4; 32:17–18; 50:10; 66:2).

10. Often, when God’s people feel abandoned by him (Isaiah 40:27), they foolishly trust in worldly powers (Isaiah 31:1–3; 39:1–8).

11. God will vindicate his cause with a world-transforming display of his glory (Isaiah 11:10; 40:3–5; 52:10; 59:19).

12. God is guiding all of human history (Isaiah 41:1–4; 44:6–8; 46:8–11).

13. God’s faithfulness and the certainty of his final victory should motivate his people to pray and to be obedient (Isaiah 56:1–2; 62:1–64:12).

14. The wrath of God is to be feared above all else (Isaiah 9:19; 13:9, 13; 30:27; 34:2; 66:15–16).

5

Outline

I. Introduction: “Ah, Sinful Nation!” (1:1–5:30)
II. God Redefines the Future of His People: “Your Guilt Is Taken Away” (6:1–12:6)
III. God’s Judgment and Grace for the World: “We Have a Strong City” (13:1–27:13)
IV. God’s Sovereign Word Spoken into the World: “Ah!” (28:1–35:10)
V. Historical Transition: “In Whom Do You Now Trust?” (36:1–39:8)
VI. Encouragement for God’s Exiles: “The Glory of the Lord Shall Be Revealed” (40:1–55:13)
VII. How to Prepare for the Coming Glory: “Hold Fast My Covenant” (56:1–66:24)

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The Near East at the Time of Isaiah

Background of Isaiah

The Global Message of Isaiah

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A God-centered Vision of All Things

Dating from the eighth century BC, and centering on God’s promises of protection, deliverance, purging, and restoration for his guilty and defiled covenant people, the book of Isaiah presents an incredibly rich landscape of salvation history in all its eternal and global scope. God has a purpose and plan, and his eternal decree will stand. It will be neither thwarted by strong and aggressive nations (Isaiah 14:26–27) nor derailed by unfaithful ones (Isaiah 1:4, 9). God has a message for the world that he created, and he declares without equivocation,

“I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose.’” (Isaiah 46:9–10)

At the center of this global and eternal stage stands the Lord. He stands as the sovereign God (Isaiah 43:13), the Holy One of Israel (Isaiah 1:4; 5:19, 24; 10:20; 12:6; 17:7; 29:19; 30:11, 12, 15; 31:1; 37:23; 41:14, 16, 20; 43:3, 14; 45:11; 47:4; 48:17; 49:7; 54:5; 55:5, 60:9, 14), our redeemer (Isaiah 41:14; 43:14; 47:4; 48:17; 54:5), and the only Savior of the world (Isaiah 43:11).

2

Judgment and Salvation for All Nations

A Righteous God

God himself is our salvation (Isaiah 12:2; 17:10; 33:2, 6). He alone is “mighty to save” (Isaiah 63:1). He is incomparably great (Isaiah 40:25), and he is “holy, holy, holy” (Isaiah 6:3). The message of the book of Isaiah to the world begins with warning. Human pride and boasting are utterly foolish and a great danger before this righteous God (Isaiah 2:11–17; 10:33; 13:11; 16:6; 23:9; 28:1–4). Indeed, a day of judgment is coming (Isaiah 2:12–22, 24:1–23), so let all the nations of the earth take heed. Whether it is corporate greed, national pride, individual self-dependence, or Babel-like self-exaltation (Genesis 11:1–9), this is a message for our world today. Sin will not go unpunished. The sovereign Lord is watching.

A Saving God

But warning gives way to merciful promises of salvation. The message of the book of Isaiah to the world is that there is indeed a Savior, the Messiah, who has humbly, painfully, and gloriously won salvation for sinners and for all who would trust in him (Isaiah 4:2; 7:14; 9:6–7; 11:1–5; 42:1–4; 52:13–53:12; 61:1–3). Death itself is swallowed up, and our reproach is removed (Isaiah 25:8). What an astonishing salvation! There is no one in our world today too sinful to be saved, too hurt to be healed, too lost to be found, or too far away to be brought near. God, our Savior, is Immanuel, God with us (Isaiah 7:14). He saves. It is who he is.

A Global God

This salvation is for all nations. God’s promise to Abraham to bless the nations of the world (Genesis 12:1–3) is affirmed throughout the book of Isaiah. Even as the seraphim declare that “the whole earth is full of his glory!” (Isaiah 6:3), so it shall be, and so it is coming to pass even today, that the whole world will be filled with God’s glory (Habakkuk 2:14; Numbers 14:21; Psalm 72:19). In Isaiah 19 we read that one day even the hated nations of Assyria and Egypt, both of whom at some time enslaved Israel, will be included within God’s gracious purposes (Isaiah 19:16–25).

A Trustworthy God

Our confidence in our global missionary endeavor is not in our techniques, resources, or strategies. It rests instead upon the promises and faithfulness of God. As declared in Isaiah 25:5–7, the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all mankind will see it; the feast of the Lord Almighty will be enjoyed by all peoples, and the veil of sin, ignorance, and death will be removed from all peoples and nations! No tribe, language, people, or nation will be excluded from the salvation of the Lord (Revelation 5:9). This is not the language of exaggeration. It is the declaration of the invincible determination of our almighty and trustworthy God (Isaiah 46:9–10).

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Gospel Freedom and Proclamation to All Nations

A Divine Liberation

The gospel is a message of freedom to a world that is weary from bondage. So many among the nations are burdened—burdened by the relentless demands and empty promises of mankind’s religions, philosophies, and idols. Such things are “borne as burdens on weary beasts” (Isaiah 46:1). But God’s message to a weary world today is that, rather than being a burden to us, the Lord himself has borne his people; he has carried us from the womb, and will carry us to our dying day, finally saving us (Isaiah 46:3–5).

A Proclaimed Salvation

God’s people worldwide have the glorious privilege of proclaiming this message of freedom: “‘You are my witnesses,’ declares the Lord” (Isaiah 43:10, 12; see also Acts 1:8). Indeed, our very lives are an indispensable part of our witness that God uses to attract the nations to himself. As Christ taught, “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35). The glory and goodness of God is reflected in and through his people, by their words and by their actions.

A Fearless Proclamation

As we serve our God, make known his deeds among the peoples (Isaiah 12:4; 66:19), and herald the good news from high mountaintops (Isaiah 52:7), we are commanded not to fear (Isaiah 40:9). Because God is our salvation, we “will trust, and will not be afraid” (Isaiah 12:2). To those persecuted because of their witness to Christ around the world today, we have the great comfort of Isaiah 43:

“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,
and the flame shall not consume you.” (Isaiah 43:2)

God will protect, renew, and restore his global people. Our assurance rests in his deeply comforting words to us:

“Because you are precious in my eyes,
and honored, and I love you,
I give men in return for you,
peoples in exchange for your life.” (Isaiah 43:4)

He has proven this love in an ultimate way by sending us his Son to give his life in exchange for ours.

4

A Message of Cosmic Significance

We have a glorious message to proclaim to the world. We are to be “beautiful feet” bringing good news of happiness and salvation to the nations (Isaiah 52:7). We are privileged and called to “walk in the light of the Lord” (Isaiah 2:5). We are to present to the world the open invitation of God—the invitation for cleansing and forgiveness (Isaiah 1:18). The invitation to receive compassion, feeding, care, and life (Isaiah 55:1–3). The invitation to seek the Lord and turn from our wicked ways (Isaiah 55:6–7).

With joy we will draw water from the wells of salvation (Isaiah 12:3), and on that day we will all say,

“Give thanks to the Lord,
call upon his name,
make known his deeds among the peoples,
proclaim that his name is exalted.
“Sing praises to the Lord, for he has done gloriously;
let this be made known in all the earth.” (Isaiah 12:4–5)

50:1 God was not at fault for the people’s problems; it was their sin that brought about their exile (see also 59:1-15). • Jerusalem—the mother city of Judah (Ps 87:5-6)—was destroyed, and the people of Judah were taken into exile in 586 bc.

50:1-50:3 This disputation shows that God was not forced to give Israel up, and therefore he could take the nation back as his people if he desired.

50:2 Why didn’t anyone answer: The people had not responded to God’s repeated call to trust in him and repent of their sins. They were deaf and stubborn (see 6:9-10; 29:18; 35:5; 42:18-19). • The Lord came and called the people through the prophets (see also 65:1-3). • Is it because I have no power to rescue? God was fully able to rescue Israel and Judah from the Assyrians and Babylonians, but he first had to deal justly with his people’s sinfulness (see 59:1). • speak to the sea and make it dry: This was an allusion to the parting of the Red Sea during the exodus from Egypt (Exod 14:21-22).

50:3 Phenomena such as darkness and the wearing of clothes of mourning were associated with the day of the Lord (13:10; see study note on 2:5-22). The mention of darkness might allude to the plague of darkness in Egypt (Exod 10:21).

50:4 The Lord, who never grows weary (40:28), sends the servant with good news (see 40:28-31) to comfort those who are weary (see study note on 40:1-31).

50:4-50:11 This is the third of four servant songs (see study note on 42:1-4). The faithful and suffering servant portrays an ideal Israel; the image was realized in Jesus Christ.

50:6 beat me . . . pulled out my beard . . . mockery and spitting: These connections with the experience of Jesus at his crucifixion are too close to be coincidental—Jesus is the true suffering servant (see Matt 27:27-31).

50:7 Externally, the servant would be disgraced and put to shame, but within himself he would calmly await God’s vindication (see 29:22; 54:4; 61:7). • set my face like a stone: The servant would be determined to do God’s will (see Luke 9:51).

50:8 He who gives me justice is near: God vindicates those who suffer for doing his will. Vindication is an act of God by which he exalts those who have been wrongly disgraced and strikes down the wicked, self-exalted, and arrogant (see also 2 Thes 1:6-9). • bring charges . . . my accusers: Confidence in God’s vindication removes fear and bolsters faith (see Rom 8:31-34).

50:9 Who will declare me guilty? The implied answer to this rhetorical question is, “No one!” This answer foreshadows the New Testament understanding of justification (see Rom 8:31-35).

50:10 The test of whether or not an individual fears the Lord is how he or she responds to God’s righteous servant. The same idea is present in Jesus’ claim that no one can come to the Father except through him (John 14:6). • Those who trust in the Lord have great hope for the future (see Isa 12:2).

50:10-50:11 This is a call for response to the servant’s ministry.

50:11 warm yourselves by your own fires: Spiritually complacent people are unresponsive toward God. Though they have comfort and security now, they will soon fall down in great torment (see 66:24).

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