The sermon by Peter Allison on Isaiah, titled 'Isaiah: The Prophet & His Message,' explores the theological richness and historical context of the Book of Isaiah. The book is frequently referred to as the 'fifth Gospel' and the 'Romans of the Old Testament' due to its comprehensive coverage of God's plan of salvation. Isaiah's name itself, meaning 'Yahweh is salvation,' encapsulates the book's message. Isaiah's personal life, including his symbolic-named sons, reflects his prophetic message concerning Judah and Jerusalem. The geopolitical context during Isaiah's ministry involved significant conflicts with Assyria, impacting both Israel and Judah. The sermon also highlights Isaiah's influence in the New Testament, where his writings are extensively referenced, emphasizing themes such as the unbelief of the Jews, the gospel reaching the Gentiles, and the role of the Messiah. Additionally, the book underscores crucial doctrines like the holiness and sovereignty of God.

Well, our Scripture reading is Isaiah, chapter 1, verse 1, as we begin to look at this book of Isaiah. And I will just read the very first verse this morning because it has the outline of the message. Hear God's word. The vision of Isaiah, the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Aziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah." May Jehovah open our eyes that we may see wondrous things out of His law. Father, You have given us the Scriptures, caused them to be written for our learning.

Grant this morning that as we read them and hear them, that we may mark them and learn them, and inwardly digest and receive them. May you sanctify us through them, that we may be more faithful, more obedient, more zealous in your kingdom. And I ask that you would sanctify my sinful lips this morning to proclaim the wonderful news of the grace of God through Jesus Christ. In His name we pray, Amen. Amen.

Isaiah is a very rich theological book. And it's hard for me this morning to adequately convey the riches of this book. Certainly not in the time that we have this morning. But a number of superlatives have been attached to this book and to the prophet of God who wrote it. It's been called the fifth Gospel.

And I think by today, you will have an understanding of why it has been called that. It's been called the Romans of the Old Testament. Romans is that book in the New Testament that most comprehensively and succinctly lays out God's plan of salvation from the fall of man to our glorification. So it's been called the Romans of the Old Testament because of its comprehensive coverage of God's plan of salvation. It's been called the most theologically significant book in the Old Testament.

It's been called the richest of all the books in the Old Testament. And according to Reader Boss, From ancient times, it's the greatest of the Old Testament prophets. It's been considered the greatest of the Old Testament prophets. And those are just a few of the superlatives with which this book and its author have been described. Isaiah's name, Yashayahu, means Yah or the Lord is salvation or the Lord saves.

Yah saves. And that gives the message of this book in one word. His name, Isaiah. And the Bible indicates that Isaiah had a wife who was called a prophetess and at least two sons from her. And just like Isaiah's names, their names were symbolic of Isaiah's message to Judah and to Jerusalem.

The first son was Shir Jezeb, as we might say with a hard J. And his name means only a remnant shall return. Only a remnant shall return. So while there's hope held out in a remnant returning, there's also the indirect implication that there is going to be a judgment and a scattering in exile. And the name of the second is probably one of the most unique names in all the Bible, Maher Shalal Hashbaz.

I tried to say that three times fast. And it means hastening to the spoil, hurrying to the prey. So, The name of this son, this second son, refers to Assyria's lust and greed for conquest. Assyria, hastening to the spoil, hurrying to the prey. And they were a very violent nation.

Syria was a very violent nation, a very cruel nation. A number of years ago, My wife and I were at the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago, which in the early part of the 20th century had taken a lot of the artifacts out of the Orient. They had been excavated. And one of the things they have were these massive stones that had been initially walls, on the walls of Nineveh, and later on had been torn down and used for roads and things. But throughout on all of these stone monuments were graphic depictions of their extreme cruelty.

They were just covered with decapitated enemy soldiers with the Syrians standing with their feet upon them, holding their heads in their hands. You remember reading about David and Goliath. Remember David cuts off Goliath's head and he actually came to Saul with the head of Goliath under him. That was a very common practice in that day, but the Assyrians were particularly cruel and particularly harsh. And so his name means hastening to the spoil, herveying to the prey.

Israel would come under the attack of Assyria on more than one occasion. Isaiah was the son of Amoz, and that's not to be confused with the prophet Amos, two different people. And some have thought that Amos, his father, was a brother to King Amaziah. That would be the father to Aziah. I don't know how reliable that is.

I didn't track it down to be able to assess the merit of that claim, but it is at least a medieval origin. And most modern commentators today agree that he came from a family of some rank, although I think it's interesting that a number of the older Reformation era commentators consider him to have come from humble means. But most today would understand him to have come from a family of some rank, nobility, possibly. If he is the nephew of Amaziah, that means he's part of the royal line. According to an early tradition, a document called the Ascension of Isaiah.

It indicates that when Isaiah was 90 years old, Manasseh, so if you remember in verse 1, there were four kings. Aziah, final years of Aziah, Ahaz, or Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. Well, Hezekiah's son is Manasseh. And in the ascension of Isaiah, when he's 90 years old, Manasseh is said to have tried and condemned him. Remember, Manasseh was a very wicked king, one of the more wicked kings in Israel.

He is said to have tried and condemned him for having declared that quote, he had seen the Lord. And it reminds you of some of the Muslim executions for blasphemy. He had said he had seen the Lord and that was contrary to what Exodus says in Exodus 33, that no man shall see me and live. And so this, in this document, Isaiah has said to have taken refuge in a cedar tree and was sawn asunder inside the tree. And some of the early church fathers connect this account with Hebrews 11 passage, which you know speaks about a number of saints that were faithful.

And then it mentions there are a number of additional ones that are not specifically named, of whom it says the world was not worthy. And it mentions some of these being sawn in two. And some early Church Fathers have connected that Hebrew passage with Isaiah's, this account of Isaiah. This document, The Ascension of Isaiah, is at least a first century document. And possibly even prior to Christ.

But it's at least for a century. And so there are several very early church fathers that were acquainted with this document. Justin Martyr who lived very early in the second century, that would be 110 years after Christ, AD, in the year of our Lord, to 165. He makes reference to it in his dialogue with Trifo the Jew showing the deity of Christ from the Old Testament. Justin Martyrs says, quote, I have not attempted to establish proof about Christ from the passages of Scripture which you don't admit to, which he's referring to the New Testament.

The Jews don't accept that. He says, but I've done this from those which you did recognize as authoritative. And then he adds, which if your teachers, speaking to a Jew, if your teachers comprehended the significance and meaning of those documents, be well assured they would have deleted them as they did those passages about the death of Isaiah whom you saw to Sunder with a wooden saw. So he's clearly referring to, he's clearly aware of this Ascension of Isaiah document. And another church father, Tertullian, in his discourse on patience, gives some examples of patience from the saints in the Old Testament and the New Testament.

And he refers to Isaiah saying, with this strength of patience. He's giving examples of bodily and spiritual patience. He says, With this strength of patience, Isaiah is cut asunder and ceases not to speak concerning the Lord. So that's two church fathers, and there were others that were aware of this document and quoted from it. But at the end of the day, the Bible doesn't say how Isaiah died, it doesn't tell us exactly when he died either.

And so we have to leave that in the realm of somewhat conjecture, although I think there is fairly reliable extra-biblical testimony as to how Isaiah died. His ministry followed Amos and Jonah. They came before him. And he was a contemporary with Micah and Hosea. Hosea to the northern kingdom, Micah in the south.

Amos and Jonah. Jonah was the prophet to Nineveh, you remember, and Amos was a prophet to the northern tribes. His ministry came in the middle of the 8th century BC, and it followed a period of great affluence and success at the beginning of the 8th century in both the northern and the southern kingdoms. There was a great stability in both kingdoms at that time because of the long reigns of Jeroboam and Isaiah. They both reigned very long.

Jeroboam reigned from 825 to 784, and Isaiah reigned from 810 to 758, over 50 years, and Jeroboam was over 40 years. Two very long reigns. And I think worth noting, it's very likely that this period of prosperity, not only because of the long reigns and stable kings and fairly capable kings, capable men, But it's due to the conversion, I think, of Nineveh under Jonah's ministry. Remember, Jonah was ministering, went to Nineveh maybe around 825. And you remember the account that the whole city is converted.

The king repents in dust and ashes. And there was a period of 45 years there where Nineveh was living as a Christian city and a kingdom. In fact, the record of those kings has been expunged from their own histories, probably because they were embarrassed at them. Maybe that's one conjecture. But I think that those two things do explain why there was this prosperity, this reprieve from war in both the north and the south.

And both Israel and Judah flourished. And together these two kingdoms, the north and the south, the north under Jeroboam the southern kingdom under Judah under King Isaiah they they got they got back more territory and came closer to holding and controlling the same territory that Solomon controlled than at any other time since Solomon. So remember, a lot of land would be lost due to other nations and their unfaithfulness. And so under them it was restored. 2 Kings 14, 25 says, Jeroboam restored the territory of Israel from the entrance of Hamath to the sea of Araba according to the word of the Lord God of Israel." And I didn't print out the maps, but I did send it out on the Signal Group.

And if you look at those maps, you can identify where these territories are and what lands that Jeroboam recovered. And it says, "...he did that according to the word of the Lord God of Israel, which he had spoken through his servant Jonah, the son of Amittai, the prophet who was from Gath-Hefer." So in the south then, King Aziah rebuilt Elath and restored it to Judah. And that's in 2 Kings 14. Which implies Elath is down there on the tip of the Yam Su for the Gulf of Aquabuz, we call it today. It's the other body of water from which, well, from where the Suez Canal would be, the Gulf of Aquipa is the other finger of water that goes north.

And so this Elat is right at the tip of that. That's the southern border of the land that God gave originally to Israel. And so he rebuilt it and restored it to Judah, which implies that they took back from Edom. Says he also attacked the Philistines and he built Jewish settlements in their territory. So we read in Joshua about the Philistine cities that were not conquered by Joshua.

And what this is saying is that under Isaiah, those cities were conquered and he built Jewish settlements around them. And in 2 Chronicles 26, it says, Now he went out and made war with the Philistines and broke down the wall of Gath, the wall of Jabnah, and the wall of Ashdod. And he built cities around Ashdod, and among the Philistines, God helped them against the Philistines, against the Arabians who lived in Gerbeil, against the Munites. Also the Ammonites brought tribute to Azzion. And his fame spread as far as the entrance of Egypt, for he became exceedingly strong, in the words of the kings.

He was also, we know, an avid farmer. And he established settlements down into the Negev for the southern part of the area of Judah. That's north of Elath. 2 Chronicles 26 says, He dug many wells, for he had much livestock, both in the lowlands and in the plains. He also had farmers and vine dressers in the mountains and in Carmel, for he loved the soil.

So he was an avid farmer. And he was also a very capable leader. Assyrian sources indicate that a leader of the coalition of nations in that area was led by somebody, by Isaiah of Judah against Tiglath-Pileser. So he put together coalition of other kings to defend against Assyria. So Isaiah then begins his ministry in the very last year of Azaiya.

He begins his ministry at a time where the land has prospered, it's been successful, and it's gained quite a bit of wealth. He began his ministry in about 759 BC in the last year of Azaiya. And he ministered then through the reigns of Jotham, that's 16 years. Through Ahaz, that's another 16 years. And then through Hezekiah, and that's 29 years.

If you add that up, it's over 60 years. There were a couple of wars that occurred in his ministry that are woven into the book of Isaiah in various ways. And so I think it's helpful to have an understanding of them because they also form a part of the geopolitical picture in which Isaiah was ministering that time. So he's coming following a period of great prosperity and wealth. And so he starts in 759 or so, and about 20 years later, 25 years later, during the reign of Ahaz, a resin who's king of Damascus, he put together a coalition or tried to put together, he did put together a coalition of countries to defend against the Syrian aggression.

And that included Pika, king of the northern tribes, Israel, some of the Philistine city-states, and possibly even Edom. But Judah, first under Jotham and then under Ahaz, refused to join this coalition, even in the face of military pressure. And so the coalition besieged Jerusalem with the intent of replacing Ahaz with a king who was willing to join this coalition that was formed by Rezin. In Isaiah 7, the Lord said to Isaiah, Isaiah 7 verse 3, Go out now to meet Ahaz, you, and shirjazab your son, or yazab your son, at the end of the aqueduct from the upper pool on the highway to the fuller's field, and Say to him, take heed and be quiet. Do not fear or be faint-hearted for these two stubs of smoking firebrands, for the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria and the son of Remaliah.

Because Syria, Ephraim and the son of Remaliah have plotted evil against you, saying, Let us go up against Judah and trouble it, and let us make a gap in its wall for ourselves, and set a king over them, the son of Tabal. Thus says the Lord God, it shall not stand, nor shall it come to pass. For the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is resin. Within sixty-five years, Ephraim will be broken, so that it will not be a people." That was Isaiah's message to Ahaz when he was being attacked by this coalition. But Ahaz, being a wicked king, did not turn to the Lord.

Instead, he turned to Assyria. Here this anti-Assyrian coalition is attacking him, so he figured he'd go to their enemy. And he became a vassal of Assyria under Tegelath-Pileser, the king of Assyria. And in 2 Kings 16, verse 5, we read the account of this attack. Then Rezin the king of Syria and Pekah the king of Remaliah, king of Israel, came up to Jerusalem to make war and they besieged Ahaz, but they could not overcome him because Isaiah, remember, had prophesied that they would not be able to overcome him.

At that time, Rezun king of Syria captured Elath for Syria. So he's taken back what Isaiah had conquered. And he drove men of Judah from Elath, and then the Edomites went to Elath and dwell there to this day. So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-Pileser, king of Assyria, saying, I am your servant and your son. Come up and save me from the hand of the king of Assyria and from the hand of the king of Syria and from the hand of the king of Israel who rise up against me.

And Ahaz took the silver and gold that was found in the house of the Lord and in the treasuries of the king's house and sent it as a present to the king of Assyria." So the king of Assyria listened to him, heeded him, and went up against Damascus and took it and carried its people captive to Kyr and killed Rezin. And now King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-Pileser, And he saw an altar that was at Damascus. And then it goes on in this account to talk about how he saw this altar and then he had his priests make altars like it and so on and lead the people into idolatry. The second major battle during Isaiah's ministry came about 10 to 12 years later from this first incident. That was when Samaria fell to Assyria and was largely deported.

And they were scattered across the Assyrian Empire, never to be returned or restored. Samaria then was settled by other people that the Assyrians had conquered, and they brought in, displaced them from their land, and brought them into Samaria. Now, as you remember, when they had the problems with the lions attacking the people and so they had to send some priests back to Israel to teach the people there how to worship the Lord and and so we had This is where the Samaritans have had corrupted worship. And remember when Jesus spoke to the Samaritan woman at the well, she asked him this question, you know, who's right? Is it the Samaritans or the Jews in terms of their worship?

But this is where the Jews were displaced and other people were brought in. The third war in Isaiah's ministry comes another ten or so years later when Assyria under King Sennacherib attacked Judah in Hezekiah's reign. And this account is recorded in some detail in the Kings and in Isaiah 36 and 37. And so we'll be looking at that in a lot more detail, Lord willing, down the road. But that was the time that culminated in the destruction of the 185, 000 soldiers that the angel of the Lord killed in one night.

And Sennacherib went back to Nineveh ashamed, disgraced, and was later assassinated by two of his sons. So this is the geopolitical situation in which Isaiah ministered His ministry. Economically, Isaiah's description of their society in Isaiah chapter 3 indicates a two-tiered culture. Two-tiered economy. One very wealthy and refined and entitled, and the other poor and oppressed.

You didn't have the middle class. The middle class is what results when there is a godly economy and where wealth is used in righteous ways and not unrighteously. But whenever you have found an economy built on lies, as we have, You will see the displacement of the middle class and you have the entitled wealthy and the oppressed poor. And in Isaiah five, I won't read Isaiah three, it's quite graphic as to the riches, the entitlement, the refinement of their culture. But in Isaiah 5, he says to these entitled people, Woe to those who join house to house, they add field to field, till there is no place where they may dwell alone in the midst of the land." And in Isaiah 10, He speaks to the oppression.

Woe to those who decree unrighteous decrees, who right misfortune which they have prescribed to rob the needy of justice and to take what is right from the poor of My people that widows may be their prey and that they may rob the fatherless. What will you do in the day of punishment and in the day of desolation which will come from afar? To whom will you flee for help? And where will you leave your glory?" Isaiah 10, first three verses. The oppression of the poor.

The wealth, the entitled wealth of the refined. Now, that is the prophet and the culture, the situation, the context in which he ministered. What was his message? Alfred Nock wrote an essay that Gary North popularized on the remnant that he entitled, Isaiah's Job. And he summarized Isaiah's job to carry God's message to Judah in this way.

He said, "...Isaiah was to tell them what a worthless lot they were, tell them what is wrong and why and what is going to happen, Unless they have a change of heart and straighten up. Don't mince matters. Make it clear they are positively down to their last chance. Give it to them good and strong. And keep on giving it to them.

Oh, And by the way, it won't do any good. The official class and their intelligentsia will turn up their noses at you, and the masses will not even listen. And they will keep on in their own ways until they carry everything down to destruction." and then Isaiah famously asks in Isaiah 6, well, how long do I have to preach to people that won't listen? And God's reply is, until there's no one left to listen. But God said there would be a remnant.

A ten percent that would remain. Just a stump. But that was where the Holy Seed was. And it's those people who would benefit from His preaching. They were His mission field.

In many ways, a lot of commentators have noted that the first chapter is really a summary of the entire book, of the message of the entire book. It contains the basic themes of the sinfulness of Judah and Jerusalem, All the tender appeals of the Lord to them. The certainty of God's coming judgment and the blessedness of the salvation that God would bring to that remnant. Alfred Nott got a lot of it right in his summary, even though I don't know if he was even a Christian But we can look to the New Testament to see how they interpreted and understood the message of Isaiah. Because Isaiah is the fifth most mentioned Old Testament figure in the New Testament behind Moses, Abraham, David, and Elijah.

Isaiah is the fifth most mentioned by name. The connecting Scripture Bible found 853 quotes or allusions from Isaiah in the New Testament. That's far more than any other book. Quotes and allusions. 853 in the New Testament.

Now if you just count strict quotations, the consensus among commentators is that Isaiah is the second most quoted Old Testament book behind Psalms. But either way, it indicates how central Isaiah is in the message of the Bible and in proclaiming the person and the work of Jesus Christ. And that's why it's been called such a rich Christological book, a book rich with theology, a book like the Romans of the Old Testament, the fifth Gospel. And if we look at the times that Isaiah is quoted by name in the New Testament, because remember a lot of times quotes and references are made to the New Testament, the Old Testament, without naming the writer. But if we just look at the times that Isaiah is named as the author, and that's some 21 times, there are three themes that stand out that the New Testament draws out of Isaiah.

The first is the unbelief of the Jews. The unbelief of the Jews, the rejection of Christ the Messiah by the Jews. The second is the fact that the Gospel would go to the Gentiles, that a light has come to them. And the third is the work of the Messiah. The suffering servant and the king.

Those three things are what we see in the New Testament when they quote Isaiah. The unbelief of the Jews. The rejection of the Messiah. The light, the fact that a light was coming to the Gentiles. The Gospel would come to the Gentiles.

And Christ, or the Messiah, as the suffering servant and as the king. After Paul had presented the Gospel to the Jews in Rome, remember we just read that or went through that in our recent series in Acts, some, remember, did not believe. And Acts tells us in Acts 28-25, so when they did not agree among themselves, they departed after Paul had said one word. And that was this, the Holy Spirit spoke rightly through Isaiah the prophet to our fathers." And then he quotes Isaiah 6, 9, saying, "'Go to this people and say, Hearing you will hear and shall not understand, and seeing you will see and not perceive. For the hearts of this people have grown dull, their ears are hard of hearing, their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they should understand with their hearts in turn, so that I should heal them." And in John 12, It said, verse 38, that Jesus was not received, that the word of Isaiah, the prophet, might be fulfilled, which He spoke.

Lord, who has received our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? Therefore, they could not believe because Isaiah said again, He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, lest they should see with their eyes, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn so that I should heal them. These things Isaiah said when he saw his glory and spoke of Him." Jesus quotes from Isaiah regarding their unbelief in Mark 7. Jesus answered and said to the people, Well, did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites as it is written.

This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me." Or Mark 13. And the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled which says, Hearing you will hear and not understand, and seeing you will see and not perceive. Or Matthew 15. Hypocrites, Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying, These people draw near to Me with their mouth and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me, and in vain they Worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men." According from Isaiah 29. Or Romans 10.

Paul in his section dealing with the rejection of the Gospel by the Jews and they're being cast away, cut out. He says, but they have not all obeyed the Gospel, for Isaiah says, Lord who has believed our report. The second theme then is the fact that a light was coming to the Gentiles. And Jesus when He came said that He was the fulfillment of those prophecies. In Acts 8 with the Ethiopian eunuch, he was a man of great authority under Candace, the queen of the Ethiopians.

He was her treasurer, their controller. He came to Jerusalem to worship, and as he's returning home, you remember he's reading from the prophet Isaiah and he's not understanding, and God sends Philip to him in the Spirit. And Philip ran up to him and said, do you understand what you are reading? And in Matthew 12, It says that verse 17, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, Behold, My servant whom I have chosen, My beloved in whom My soul is well pleased, I will put My Spirit upon Him, and He will declare justice to the Gentiles. He shall not cry nor quarrel, nor will anyone hear His voice in the streets." He would proclaim justice to the Gentiles.

And in Luke 4, remember, he went into that synagogue and he was handed a scroll, a book of the prophet Isaiah, and he opened the book and he turned it to where it is written in Isaiah 61, "'The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because He has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord." And in Romans 10 in that same theme, Paul writes, Isaiah is very bold and says, I was found by those who did not seek me. I was made manifest to those who did not ask for Me." These are the Gentiles. And in Romans 15, verse 12, Isaiah says, Paul quotes, "'There shall be a root of Jesse, And he who shall rise to reign over the Gentiles in him, the Gentiles shall have hope." Christ was a light to the Gentiles. And that was one of the themes that we see over and over again in the New Testament out of Isaiah.

And thirdly, we see this rich prophecies, many prophecies about Christ the Messiah. And they are extensively quoted in the New Testament as well. In John 1, He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Make straight the way of the Lord as the prophet Isaiah said. Or as it's written in Luke 3 in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make His paths straight." And a little later in Matthew 4, that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet.

See, They're looking to Isaiah saying, Christ is a fulfillment of what Isaiah prophesied. That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying, The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, by the way of the sea beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and upon those who sat in the region and the shadow of death, light has dawned." That's out of Isaiah. And Matthew 8, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying, He Himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses. And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel, though the number of the children of Israel will be as the standard of the seed, the remnant will be saved. And a little later, Isaiah said, unless the Lord of the Sabbath had left us a seed, we would have become like Sodom and we would have been made like Gomorrah.

The seed is Christ. Prophesied in Isaiah. Some of the things that Isaiah teaches that we don't think about as often as Old Testament teachings, but Isaiah teaches that our sins are forgiven through Christ's blood. Very clearly in Isaiah 52-10. You don't have time to read it, but Isaiah 52-10 all the way through chapter 53 and into chapter 54.

Very explicit, very clear teaching that Christ's blood cleanses us. By His stripes we are healed. It teaches that John the Baptizer is the precursor to Christ. Isaiah 40 begins that. And it follows a statement by Hezekiah that there would be peace in his day.

Isaiah teaches that Christ was born of a virgin. Isaiah 7, right? Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel." And some, the Orthodox and others, want to say that that's mistranslated, but it's not. The Hebrew word there for virgin does mean virgin.

It can also mean woman, but it does mean virgin. Fourthly, Isaiah teaches the Trinity Very clearly. God is one God in three persons. Isaiah 48, 16, Come near to me, hear this. I have not spoken in secret from the beginning.

From the time that it was, I was there. And now the Lord God and His Spirit have sent me. There's three people there. The Lord God and His Spirit have sent Me. Who's speaking?

Christ is speaking. From the time that it was, I was there. And if you look at the context of that, it's clear Christ is the one who is speaking. It says things of Him that are only true of Christ. Now, interestingly, most modern commentators understand this passage to be speaking of Christ and to be Trinitarian.

But interestingly, in several reformers, Calvin, Matthew, Henry did not see Christ in this verse. And I find that interesting. I did a double take and I went back and looked again, and I do believe that it is speaking of Christ. Yes, it does speak of Cyrus in the context, but it clearly is Christ. Isaiah also teaches Christ's humiliation.

He was despised. A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and we hid as it were our faces from Him. He was wounded for our transgressions. By His stripes we were healed. He was oppressed.

He was afflicted. Isaiah 52 and 53. Isaiah also taught the sevenfold Spirit of the Lord. It comes right out of Isaiah. Remember the figure in Revelation where John sees this lamb having seven eyes, which are the seven spirits.

Isaiah 11, There shall come forth a rod from the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him. The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. Seven things. Spirit of the Lord.

Spirit of wisdom. Spirit of understanding. Spirit of counsel. Spirit of might. Spirit of knowledge.

And the spirit of the fear of the Lord. Right in Isaiah. And that's just a sampling of some of the why so many people see this as such a rich book theologically, and one that presents Christ the Messiah so clearly. If we look at a high-level overview, I've saved the outline for last. We see in the first twelve chapters it's God's covenant lawsuit against Jerusalem.

And we'll look more at that. We'll look at even in the next verse, verse 2 begins the covenant language, Hear O Heavens, and Give Hear O Earth. It's a covenant lawsuit against Jerusalem that the old Jerusalem will be destroyed and the new Jerusalem will be established under Christ. And in chapters 13-27, it's the covenant lawsuit against the pagan nations. And I think these chapters are one of the very strong proofs of theonomy that all of the world, all people, all nations, whether or not they acknowledge Christ, they are obligated to obey His commandments.

They are included in Isaiah's prophecy. God brings His covenant lawsuit against them for their disobedience. Chapters 29-39 deal with the rise and the fall of the earthly city of Jerusalem. And chapters 40 to the end of the book is the second half of the book. Phil Kiser has noted, I think, interestingly, I don't know if it was original with him or somewhere else, but he's noted that there's a lot of similarities between Isaiah as a book and the Bible as a whole.

So there are 66 books in the Bible, and there are 66 chapters in Isaiah. And There are 39 books in the Old Testament, and there are 39 chapters in the first section of Isaiah. That section has an Old Testament feel to it. And there are 27 books in the New Testament and 27 chapters in the second half of the book, which is the one that focuses upon Christ so richly and has sort of a New Testament theme to it. I think it's interesting.

I don't know how significant it is. But it is a nice handle to remember the book of Isaiah by. One that deals with God's mercy, His judgment, His mercy, and Christ's delight to the Gentiles and the Redeemer of His people. Two other things that I think should also be mentioned that Isaiah deals with is the holiness of God and His sovereignty. Those are themes that are woven throughout this book.

Some of the strongest passages on the sovereignty of God and the holiness of God are found in Isaiah. Two very fundamental doctrines. Well, that's an overview of Isaiah, the man, and his message. And look forward in coming weeks to digging into this book. Almighty Heavenly Father, we thank You for this clear, clear testimony to the person and to the work of our Savior Jesus Christ.

You have established from early times, decreeing from hundreds of years ahead what would happen, which king would arise, which king would return the remnant to Israel. You prophesied many details about your son, the Messiah, your anointed one, the Christ, which were all satisfied in Jesus of Nazareth. Demonstrating your sovereign control of all history, even down to the names that parents give their children, to the names of kings that were yet unborn, unheard of, unknown to any but you. Lord, you are the sovereign God. There is none beside you.

There is none like unto you. And you call to all the nations of the earth to turn to you in repentance and faith, for you are God and there is no other. We bless your name through Jesus Christ. Amen. Then.