Isaiah’s Prophetic Message
Isaiah was one of the three major prophets and the other two are; Jeremiah and Ezekiel. Many scholars have what I call the Big 4 (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel) but as far as am concerned mine is a Big 3 of Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel. The conclusions in here, are based on my respect to the original readers and scholars of each testament. When am in the Old Testament I respect the Hellenism there and when it comes to the Old Testament I pay allegiance to the Hebraism source.
In the Hebrew Canon, the Book of Daniel is not included with the prophets (Nabh’im) but rather it is added the Writings (Ketuvim). In fact, the Jews never addressed Daniel as a prophet and they are justified since his message considerably differs from the prophetic literature. It is true that Daniel’s ministry has a lot in common with the prophets in real time but he was not categorized as a prophet by the Jews. The Septuagint (Greek Translation of the Old Testament) categorized Daniel among the prophets; and the Christian canon adopted it, however, it is not the Hebraic order.
Yes Daniel too was a historian and a consultant to the kings as many prophets were, and yes he predicted the future but not any different from the apocalypse of John the revelatory in the Book of revelation. Am not sure the works of John qualify him as a prophet too based on these conclusions. Let us look at Isaiah briefly
Isaiah’s message has salvation as its central theme. The message is however, presented in a blessings and Judgment form. Obedience to the covenant equals blessings while disobedience to the covenant materializes into Judgment. It is not a matter of proportionate consequentialism that Isaiah and other prophets teach but instead an active involvement of God into the life of the nation. Isaiah as well as other prophets; pronounces God’s judgment on Israel and Judah for their glaring violations of their covenant obligations (Isaiah 1:2-31; 13:1-23:18; 56:9-57:13; 65:1-16). After all that Isaiah is preacher of hope for he also declares God’s blessing of restoration after exile (Isaiah 40-66).
In His message, the prophet does not present a general rebellion at the expense of the a few individual faithful ones. Throughout his message he hints upon those remain faithful in their covenant practice and assures them of “God’s peace within themselves during times of trouble and in responding to God’s new acts of redemption in faith (Isaiah 2:5; 8:13-17; 26:20-21; 33:14-16; 40:28-31; 48:20-21; 55:1-12; 60:1-3; 61:10-11; 63:7-64:12; 66:5-6). Isaiah promised that a remnant would survive the exile, return to the land and enjoy the unprecedented blessings of God.” The remnant theological theme first appears in Isaiah (that will be for another day).
Isaiah further presents three other serious theological themes that actually shape the New Testament theology and our appreciation of God. These are:
1-Justice and Righteousness: in Isaiah the Hebrew word for Justice (mishpat) and that of Righteousness (tsedaqah) appear together (33:5, 56:1, 58:2, 59:9, 59:14; 56:1, 58:2, 5:7, 5:16, 9:7, 16:5; 59:9; 1:27, , 28:17, 32:1, 32:16). Note that when the Prophets use the term justice (mishpat) they infer a good society where both the poor are not oppressed by the rich and the weak not abused by the strong. It is about social justice and fairness. On the other hand, however, when the prophets discuss tsedaqah (righteousness), they infer to the divine standard truthfulness and purity (Isaiah 64:4-9). The two terms might be used concurrently to communicate divine righteousness as the Justification of the morality of our sociology.
2- The Day of the Lord: According to scholars the term “Day of the Lord” serves as a key word in nine prophetic passages (Isa. 13:6–13; Joel 1:15; 2:1; 3:4; 4:14; Amos 5:18–20; Obad. 15; Zeph. 1:17–18; Mal. 3:23); in others it appears in some slightly varied form (Isa. 2:12; Ezek. 30:3; Zech. 14:1–9). The prophets simply confront their listeners with the awful certainty of future Divine action. Thus in the expression “Day of the Lord” there is a rather vague but stark and powerful concept: God will indeed act – suddenly, decisively, and directly, in a single day, with vehemence and terror. We first learn of the Day of the Lord in Prophet Isaiah. It is presented as a bitter day of Judgment, vengeance and punishment (Isaiah 2:12, 13:6, 13:9, 34:8; Revelation 20:11-15; 21:8-9). To the Hebrew mind the day of the Lord was a battle day in which it was assured that the Lord was going to conquer and subdue his opponent (Ezekiel 13:5). On a positive note, the day of the Lord also implied as a better day of eternal blessings when everything is created anew (Isaiah 65:17-25; Revelation 20:1-10; 21:1-7). Both the bitter and the better are eschatological events in which God is the sole actor.
The idea of the Lord’s day is presented as the Sabbath day since Genesis 2:1-3, Exodus 20:8-11, Deuteronomy 5:12-15, throughout the prophets and resurfaces in the New Testament when God says he is the Lord of the Sabbath Mathew 12:8, Mark 2:23-27 and John says he was in the spirit on the Lord’s day Revelation 1:10. The communication is made clear in Isaiah 58:13 and Hebrews 4:1-11 that the day of the Lord is eternal rest in God not just a weekly break-off. It will be resting in God from this kind of work (Genesis 3:17-19) and from this kind of body (Romans 7:24).
3-The Suffering Servant (Ebed Yahweh): Risto Santala wrote “It is estimated that the Old Testament contains altogether some 456 prophecies concerning Christ. Of these 75 are to be found in the Pentateuch, 243 in the Prophets and 138 in the “Writings” and Psalms. Most of these references are isolated verses, in which the Rabbis in particular see the Messianic motif. In some cases there are whole chapters to be considered.” Prophet Isaiah presents the messiah as the suffering servant of Yahweh who through his sufferings will constitute a new reign. Before he presents him as that, he first introduces him as one who will have a different birth from all other men. It is from Isaiah we get to know about the virgin birth of the Messiah (Isaiah 7:14) and we are told that he who is to be born is the very great God (Isaiah 7:14, 9:6-7; Titus 2:13; Mathew 1:23). Later the Prophet presents this very messiah as the suffering servant (Isaiah 52:13-53:12; Luke 24:26, 46).
It matters that we point out that the suffering servant according to the non-believing Jews was the nation of Israel. However, to the believing Jews and Christianity the suffering servant in the four songs (Isaiah 42:1-4; Isaiah 49:1-6; Isaiah 50:4-7; and Isaiah 52:13-53:12) is Jesus Christ (God himself) incarnate. By the suffering servant, it was revealed to the Prophet that the Messiah who was coming was a Messiah who was coming to deal with a bigger problem than the problem the Jews anticipated. They wanted a political messiah, but God came as a salvation messiah. One who was to save us from sin; however, the means of that salvation could be through being slaughtered as a sacrificial lamb for the sins of his people.
While the Jews considered a suffering messiah as a weak messiah, Christianity presented the suffering Messiah as the strongest and boldest of all for God to lay down his life for his creatures. now, you can see why the book of Isaiah, along with the Psalms, are the most quoted Old Testament books by Jesus, as well as the apostles who wrote the New Testament!
God bless you I invoke TRUTH, REASON and FAITH (2Tim 2:7)
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