Showing posts with label Isaiah. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Isaiah. Show all posts

Monday, December 31, 2012

Final Note On Isaiah

Shocking as Isaiah ends the book with judgement. The last chapter of Isaiah speaks about the humble and contrite in contrast to those who rebel and offer vain sacrifices.

God looks upon those who are humble and contrite. To the broken in spirit God looks upon. Throughout the Bible, I see that God does not look at our outward looks or appearances or deeds, but He looks at our heart.
  • Isaiah 66:2
  • James 4:6
  • Isaiah 29:13
  • Luke 18:9-14 
  • Isaiah 57:15 
  • Psalm 51:17 
  • Micah 6:8 
The ESV Study Bible's final comment on the last verse of Isaiah speaks a lot of truth and helps illuminate the message of Gospel: 
The gospel is good news to the contrite but bad news to the rebellious.

Isaiah The Prophet - The Beautiful and Terrifying Truth

For the past few weeks, I've been reading through the prophet of Isaiah. Throughout my time in reading the Old Testament again, God has been humbling me to the point of seeking to know Him more through Scripture. As Paul said in 2 Timothy 3:16, Scripture is profitable for teaching, correcting, rebuking and training in righteousness. At this point, I sense that God is training me to obey His Word and to really take His Word more and more seriously. This just my own personal reflection as I read Isaiah.

Isaiah was called into ministry during the time of King Uzziah, Ahaz and Hezekiah (Isaiah 1:1), but his ministry started after the death of King Uzziah (Isaiah 6:1). Date is possibly around 740BC - 680BC.

The Terrifying passages in Isaiah are usually the judgement upon nations after nations. Usually you read those kind of passages from chapters 1 - 34. The more I read about the prophecy, the Spirit is prompting to me to take those words seriously. During those time, nations, especially Israel and Judah, were in rebellion against God due to their arrogance and stubbornness to reject Yahweh as their one and only true God, and worshiped idols. King Sennacherib of Assyria mocked King Hezekiah for trusting in Yahweh instead of Baal. However, Sennacherib failed to invade Judah. Let us not forget about the passages in Isaiah 56-58. Check your heart and see if you're really God's people.

The Beautiful passages in Isaiah are usually from chapters 40 - 66, but passages earlier on are beautiful too. There's so much hope for people who were exiled from their land. There's so much hope for sinners. There's so much hope for God's people in the future. God is inviting us to trust Him. God is inviting to believe in His promise. Isaiah prophecy the "New Heavens and a New Earth" (Isaiah 65:17-25), which resembles to John's revelation in Revelation 21. Additionally, passages such as Isaiah 53 speaks about the suffering servant, which is a messianic prophecy about Jesus Christ.

Just wanted to quickly summarize the book of Isaiah although there's so much more to talk about. However, just want to say Happy New Year, and God Bless.