the book of the prophet Isaiah Isaiah
lived in Jerusalem in the latter half of
Israel's Kingdom period and he spoke on
God's behalf to the leaders of Jerusalem
and Judah he spoke first of all a
message of God's judgment he warned
Israel's corrupt leaders that their
rebellion against their covenant with
God would come at a cost
that God was going to use the great
empires of Assyria and after them
Babylon to judge Jerusalem if they
persisted in idolatry and oppression of
the poor but that announcement was
combined with a message of hope Isaiah
believed deeply that God would one day
fulfill all of his covenant promises
that he would send a king from David's
line tube establish God's kingdom
remember second samuel 7 that he would
lead Israel and obedience to all of the
laws of the Covenant made at Mount Sinai
remember Exodus chapter 19 and all of
this was so that God's blessing and
salvation would flow outward to all of
the nations like God promised to Abraham
in Genesis chapter 12 and it's this hope
that compelled Isaiah to speak out
against the corruption in idolatry of
Israel in his day now the book has a
pretty complex literary design but
there's one simple way to see how it all
fits together chapters 1 through 39
contain three large sections that
develop Isaiah's warning of judgment on
Israel and it all culminates in an event
pointed to at the end of chapter 39 the
fall of Jerusalem and the Exile of the
people to Babylon but in chapters 1 to
39 there's also a message of hope that
after the Exile God's covenant promises
would all be fulfilled in chapters 40 to
66 pick up that promise of hope and
develops it further in this video we're
just going to focus on chapters 1 to 39
the first main section focuses on
Isaiah's vision of judgment and hope for
Jerusalem and it begins as Isaiah
accuses the city's leaders of covenant
rebellion idolatry injustice and God
says he's going to judge the city by
sending the nation's to conquer Israel
Isaiah says that this will be like a
purifying fire that burns away all
that's worthless in Israel in order to
create a new Jerusalem that's populated
by a remnant that has repented and
turned back to God and Isaiah says that
that's when God's kingdom will come and
all nations will come to the Temple in
Jerusalem and learn of God's justice
bringing a
about an age of universal peace and
harmony now it's this basic storyline of
the old Jerusalem purifying judgement
into the New Jerusalem this is going to
get repeated over and over throughout
the book getting filled in with
increasing detail so at the center of
this section is Isaiah's grand vision of
God sitting on his throne in the temple
and he's surrounded by these heavenly
creatures that are shouting that God is
holy holy holy and as a I suddenly
realizes just how corrupt he and his
people Israel are and he's certain that
he's going to be destroyed by God's
holiness but he's not God's holiness in
the form of this burning coal comes and
burns him but not to destroy rather it
purifies him from his sin and as Isaiah
Ponder's the strange experience God
Commission's him with a very difficult
task he is to keep announcing this
coming judgement but because Israel has
reached a point of no return his
warnings are going to have a paradoxical
effect of hardening the people but
Isaiah is to trust God's plan Israel is
going to be chopped down like a tree and
left like a stump in a field and that
stump will itself be scorched and burned
but after all of that burning God says
that this smoldering stump is a holy
seed that will survive into the future
it's a small sign of hope but who or
what is that holy seed the rest of this
section offers an answer Isaiah
confronts a has a descendent of David
and a king of Jerusalem and he announces
his downfall God says that it's the
great Empire of Assyria who will first
chop Israel down and devastate the land
but there's hope because of God's
promise to David he's going to send
after this destruction a new king named
Emmanuel which means God with us and
Emmanuel's Kingdom is going to set God's
people free from violent oppressive
empires and Isaiah describes this coming
King as a small shoot of new growth that
will emerge from the old stump of
David's family it's this King that's the
holy seed from chapter 6 and the king is
going to be empowered by God's Spirit to
rule over a New Jerusalem and bring
justice for the poor and all nations
we'll look
this messianic King for guidance his
kingdom will transform all creation
bringing peace now you finish chapters 1
through 12 with a pretty good
understanding of Isaiah's message of
judgment and hope but when will this all
happen
Isaiah saw another Empire arising after
Assyria and thats Babylon who would also
attack Jerusalem and actually succeed in
destroying it and that brings us into
the next sections of the book so first
we have a large collection of poems that
explore God's judgment and hope for the
nations we learned first of all of the
fall of Babylon and Israel's neighbors
Isiah could see that a serious world
power would one day be replaced by the
Empire of Babylon a nation even more
destructive and arrogant
Babylon's Kings claimed that they were
higher than all other gods and so God
vows to bring Babylon down and not only
Babylon Isaiah goes on to list Israel's
neighbors accusing them all of the same
kind of pride and injustice and he
predicts their ultimate ruin but
remember for Isaiah God's judgment is
never the final word for Israel or the
nation's and that leads into the next
section with a series of poems that tell
a tale of two cities
there's the lofty city that has exalted
itself above God and become corrupt and
unjust this city is an archetype of
rebellious humanity and is described
with language that's all borrowed from
Isaiah's earlier descriptions of
Jerusalem and Assyria and Babylon all
put together this city is destined for
ruin and one day is going to be replaced
by the New Jerusalem where God reigns as
king over a redeemed humanity from all
nations and there's no more death or
suffering these chapters are the climax
to this section and it shows how
Isaiah's message pointed far beyond his
own day it was a message for all who are
waiting for God to bring his justice on
violent oppressive kingdoms and bring
his kingdom of justice and peace and
healing love the following section
returns the focus to the rise and fall
of Jerusalem and first we find a whole
bunch of poems where Isaiah accuses
Jerusalem's leaders for turning to Egypt
for military protection against Assyria
he knows this will backfire and Isaiah
says that only trust in their God and
repent
can save Israel now which gets
illustrated by the following story about
the rise of Hezekiah king of Jerusalem
just as Isaiah predicted the Assyrian
armies come and try to attack the city
and so Hezekiah humbles himself before
God and he prays for divine deliverance
and the city is miraculously saved
overnight but Hezekiah is Ryze is
immediately followed by his fall so he
hosts a delegation from Babylon and he
tries to impress them by showing
everything in Jerusalem's treasury and
temple and palaces it's clearly an
effort to make another political
alliance for protection Isiah hears
about this and he confronts Hezekiah for
his foolishness he predicts that this
ally will one day betray him and return
as an enemy to conquer Jerusalem and we
know from 2nd Kings chapter 24 and 25
the Isaiah was right over a hundred
years later Babylon would turn on
Jerusalem come and destroy the city its
temple and carry the Israelites away to
exile in Babylon and so all of Isaiah's
warnings of divine judgment in chapters
1 to 39 lead up to this moment he's
shown to be a true prophet because it
all came to pass like he said but
remember the purpose of God's judgment
was to purify Jerusalem and bring the
holy seed and messianic kingdom over all
nations and it's that hope that gets
explored in the next part of the book
but for now that's what Isaiah chapters
1 to 39 are all about