All Articles For Studies in Isaiah

The previous article dealt with “The Sign of Isaiah’s Son” (Isaiah 8:1-6), under the headings:  A. Foretelling Destruction of Confederated Syria and Israel by Assyria (1-4).  B. Revealing Desolations Made by Assyria in Israel and Judah (5-8).  1. The sin of distrust and misplaced trust on the part of Judah (5-6), and now, 

“For so spoke Jehovah unto me in the being strong of the hand (of God impelling me) and dissuaded (disciplined) me from going in the way of this people, saying, ‘Do not call conspiracy (treason) everything which this people shall call conspiracy (treason), and its fear fear ye not, nor be awed (by their line). Jehovah Tsebhaoth himself sanctify ye, as He (is) your fear, and He your terror” (v. 11-13). 

“If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land.” Is. 1:19

How she is, the faithful city become a harlot! She (was) full of judgment, righteousness was lodging in her; but now murderers! Thy silver is become dross, thy wine cut with water. Thy princes, rebels and companions of thieves, all loving a bribe, and pursue rewards. They judge not the orphan, and the cause of the widow comes not unto them. Isaiah 1:21-23

Introduction  It was Lowth (d. 1787) who said, “Isaiah is certainly one of the most difficult of all the prophets, though perhaps few are sensible of it but they who try to explain him . . . He that will undertake to fathom the depths of this prophecy is in great danger of going out of his own” depth. With this warning in mind, one would certainly hesitate before plunging into the bottomless sea of Isaiah’s sixty-six chapters. Yet as you scan the whole of the sixty-six books of the Bible, you see before you nothing less than a limitless...

Quite a task!  It’s one thing to bear children; it’s something else to bring them up.  This difficulty is accentuated in Eph. 6:4, “Bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.” That conjunction, but, emphasizes this. “Ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.” We must not provoke them to wrath, but on the contrary, bring them up properly.

Most Christians are not disturbed by the attacks of radical critics upon the Book of Isaiah, nor are they particularly interested in the so called critical problem relative to this prophecy. When you walk through an orchard there is really more to it than the admiring of the beautiful out-of-doors and enjoying the fragrance of the trees and the benefit of their fruits. There is also the realization of all the labors the farmer must have expended in his constant battle against destructive insects.

The scene in this chapter is one of misery (2-4ff), deliverance (18, 25, and thanksgiving (26, 27). Where the church, the vineyard, appears bleak and dismal, how bad and black must be this wilderness world!

What is the end and aim that God has for this earth? That it “be full of His glory.” The earth is the Lord’s and the fulness thereof. The Lord God omnipotent reigns and must reign till He hath put all enemies under His feet. The victory is His all along the line. We do not say that the gospel will effect a gradual conversion of the world to God. We do not believe that the Spirit of God, largely, fails until feeble men set up an earthly kingdom for the Lord Jesus.

The vision of Isaiah, the son of Amotz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, kings of Judah.  Isaiah 1:1