The book of the prophet Isaiah
In the first video we explored chapters 1 to 39
Which was Isaiah's message of judgment and hope for Jerusalem
He accused Israel´s leader of rebellion against God and said that through Assiria and then Babylon
Israel´s kingdom would come crashing down in an act of God´s judgment
and so chapter 39 concluded with Isaiah predicting Jerusalem´s fall to babylon
and the exile
and a hundred years after Isaiah it all sadly came to pass
but Isaiah´s greater hope was for a new purified Jerusalem where God´s kingdom would be restored through the future messianic king
and all nations would come together in peace
and so chapters 40 and following explore this great hope
the first main section chapters 40 through 48 open with an announcement of hope and comfort for Israel
the people are told that the babylonian exile is over and that Israel´s sin has been dealt with and a new era is beginning
so they should all return home to Jerusalem where God himself will bring his kingdom and all nations will see his glory
Now stop for a moment because this opening announcement raises a big question
that is ¿who is saying all of this? who´s voice are we hearing in these words of hope?
the perspective of the profet in these chapters is that of somebody whose living after the exile
in other words in the time period described by Ezra and Nehemiah
but Isaiah died 150 years before any of that so what are we supposed to make of this
Oh they´re many who think that is still Isaiah in his own day speaking
but that he´s been profetically transported--so to speak-- 200 years into the future
and that he is speaking to the future generations as if the exile has passed
however the book of Isaiah itself gives us some clues that something else is probably going on
in chapters 8 and 29 and 30 we´re told that after Isaiah was rejected by Israel´s leaders
that he wrote and sealed up in a scroll all of his messages of judgement and hope
and that he passed it on to his disciples as a witness for days to come
eventually Isaiah died waiting for God to vindicate his words. Now remember chapters 1 to 39 were designed to show us that Isaiah predictions of judgement
were fulfilled in the exile, he´s a true prophet. And so after exile is over Isaiah´s disciples who have treasured his words for so long
open up the scroll and began applying his words of hope to their own day
so on this view the book of Isaiah consist of that first collection of Isaiah´s words
as well as the writings of his profethic disciples that God uses to extend Isaiah´s message of hope to future generations
whichever view you end up taking everybody agrees that these chapters are announcing that the future
hope has come, that God is fulfiling Isaiah´s prophetic promises
and so the prophet hopes that Israel will respond
by becoming God´s servant
that is after experiencing God´s justice and mercy through history
that they will now begin to share with the nations who God truly is
but that´s not what´s happening Israel instead of bearing witness to the nations is actually complaining
and even accusing God. They say:"the lord doesn´t pay attention to our trouble
in fact he´s ignoring our calls. The babylonian exile -- and understandably-- caused Israel to lose faith
in their God. I mean maybe he is not that powerfull, maybe the gods of babylon are way greater than our God
and so the rest of these chapters 41 to 47 are set up like a trial scene
God is responding to this doubts and accusations with the following arguments:
he says first: that the exile to babylon was not divine neglect
rather it was divinely orchestrated as a judgement for Israel´s sin
and second it was for Israel´s sake that God raised up Persia to conquer babylon so they could come back home
fulfilling Isaiah´s words
So the right conclusion that Israel should draw is that their God is the king of history
not the idols of the nations. In the fall of Babylon and the raise of persian king Sirus
Israel should see God´s hand at work and so become his servant telling the nations who he is
But by the end of the trial chapter 48 we find that Israel is still as rebellious and hardhearted as their ancestors
as so God disqualifies them as his servant but God´s still is on a mission to bless the nations and so
so the prophets says God´s going to a new thing to solve this problem
which moves into the next section 49 to 55. We´re introduced to a figure who´s called God´s servant
who´s going to fulfill God´s mission and do what Israel has failed to do.
God gives this servant the title Israel, and sends this person on a mission to -first of all- restore
the people of Israel back to their God, but second to become God´s light to the nations.
and we´re told that this servant is empowered by God´s spirit to announce good news and to bring God´s kingdom over all of the nations
it sounds just like the messianic king from chapters 9 and 11, but then we learn the surprising way of how this servant will bring God´s kingdom
he is going to be rejected, and beaten and ultimately killed by his own people
in reality as he´s been accused and sentenced to death he is dying on behalf of the sin of his own people
the prophet says the servant´s death is the sacrifice of atonement for the people´s evil and rebelion
and then after his death, all of a sudden, the servant is just Alive again, and we hear that by his death he provided a way to make people righteous
That is to put them in a right relationship with God
and so this section concludes by describing two ways people can respond to the servant
some will respond with humility and turn from their sins and accept what God´s servant did on their behalf
these people are called "the servants" and also " the seed" remember the holy seed from chapter 6
these are the ones who will experience the blessing of the messianic kingdom
but there are others who are called simply "the wicked" they reject both the servant and his servants
which brings us to the final sections of the book 56 to 66 where the servants inherit God´s kingdom
these chapters are beautifuly designed as a simetry that brings together all of the themes of the book
at the very center are three beautiful poems that describe how the spirit empowered servant
is announcing the good news of God´s kingdom to the poor and he reafirms all of the promises of hope from earlier in the book
the new Jerusalem inhabited by God´s servants will be the place from which God´s justice and mercy
and blessings flow out to all the nations of the world and surrounding these poems are to long prayers of repentance
where the servants confess Israel´s sin and they griev over all of the evil they see in the world arround them
and so they ask God to forgive them and that his kingdom would come here on earth as it is on heaven
now in each side of these prayers are collections of more poems that contrast the destiny of the servants
with that of the wicked who prosecute them. God says he´s going to bring his justice to all who pollute
his good world with their evil and selfishness and idolatry and it is going to remove them from his city forever
but the servants those who are humble before God and who repent and own their evil
they are forgiven they will inherit the new Jerusalem which we discover is an image for an entirely renewed creation
were death and suffering are gone forever and this brings us to the very outter frame of this part of the book
in this renewed world of God´s kingdom people from all nations are invited to come and join the servants of God´s covenant family
so that everyone could know their creator and redemer and so the book of Isaiah end
with a very grand vision of the fulfilment of all of God´s covenant promises
through the suffering servant king God creates a covenant family of all nations
who are awaiting the hope of God´s justice and bringing a renewed creation
where God´s kingdom finally comes here on earth as it is in heaven
and that´s the very powerful hope of the book of Isaiah