Road To Revelation: The Prophets - Isaiah and the Power of Yet!

 As Assyria was knocking on Israels door in the North Isaiah started to preach the word of the Lord to the tribes of Judah and Benjamin in the South and continued his work right through to the last days of Judah in Hezekiah’s reign.

Isaiah’s prophecies are arranged roughly into two sections: The first is a book of judgement upon God’s people for rejecting their God and chasing after idols. The second are predominantly words of comfort from the Lord that they are His people and he will rescue them from their punishment. Or as the Lutherans would say: God’s two words of Law and Gospel. I say roughly because where there is law from the Lord, there is also gospel...

Out of all the prophets Isaiah is characterised by his hopefulness; he is looking forward centuries to God’s ultimate redemption of his people in the person of his Messiah; God himself in the flesh! Even his prophecies of judgement for God’s people are answered quickly with gospel (good news) Isaiah 1:18-20. In this New Testament time we live in (the Church age) we talk about the “now and not yet”.  It’s a short way of saying that God has promised so much for us but we don’t seem to have fully received it yet. We eagerly wait for these promises to be fully realised. We know they are true now… and yet… not yet! The power of yet!

Isaiah fully lives in this paradigm. He truly understands that he lives in the “now and not yet”. He seems to be able to grasp what is happening with God’s people at the time of his life and what will happen in the future (the coming of Jesus) in both hands and then smoosh them together like time is not as relevant as we all think it should be. Chapter 7 of Isaiah is a wonderful example of this. He begins with the account of Israel fighting Judah! Oh no! civil war among God’s people! The Lord sends Isaiah to comfort the king of Judah and the comfort he brings to him is that  “the virgin shall bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” and then tells him that the two kings coming to fight him will be swept away by a larger army who will destroy the land. But lest the king lose all hope again he tells the king more about this Immanuel child in chapter 9. “His name shall be Wonderful Counsellor, Almighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over all his kingdom…” Isaiah understands and wants his reader to understand that the most important problem in this world that needs solving is man’s sin before a holy God; all other problems must be looked at with this perspective in mind.

It is a very similar format to the way the prophet to the new testament people of God speaks; the prophet John in the book of Revelation. He cycles around and around from God’s people suffering in this time and place to God’s eternal kingdom reigning over it all until his people are granted everlasting peace and joy in his kingdom forever when he finally returns.

“In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples—of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious” Isaiah 11:10

But before all those promises are fulfilled, God’s people must go through trials and tribulations. Isaiah warns the people that after Assyria will come Babylon. Babylon will destroy Judah, Assyria, Moab, Damascus, Cush AND Egypt. Yowsa. That seems like an un-defeatable kingdom BUT (ch21) Babylon will also fall. Jerusalem will be judged by the Lord using Babylon as his tool BUT the Lord is a refuge for the poor and a shelter from the storm (ch 25). The Lord will deliver his people in the end BUT not the obstinate and rebellious (ch 27). DO NOT rely on Egypt or other earthly kingdoms to save you, rely on the king of righteousness (ch 31-32).

Chapters 36-39 depart from the rest of the book in that they are not prophecies per say but an account of Sennacherib threatening Jerusalem during the reign of Hezekiah. Hezekiah receives words of comfort and warning from the Lord but again, Isaiah comforts his reader with the promises that ultimately God’s servant saviour will come! Yes, God’s people will be rescued from Babylon BUT it is better to look to their eternal salvation, their eternal rest which only the Messiah can accomplish. How will he do it? By suffering on behalf of his people.

Chapters 51-55 are the clearest and most detailed prophecies regarding the coming of Christ which we have seen in the Old Testament so far. We can see that God’s promised offspring who would bless the nations will do it not by military might, but by sacrifice. And not only will he bless Abraham’s seed but he will bless ALL the nations! The foreigners too! (ch 56) Everyone is welcome. Isaiah urges his readers: does peace with god and forgiveness of sins sound good to you? Then you come! You come! Everyone come!”Seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near!”

And for those who believe I will give them rest. The final chapters of Isaiah are very similar to the final chapter of the Bible (revelation 22). Its easy for all of us to get caught up in the here and now, the weeds of our lives but God has a greater plan for his people than a temporary respite from their sufferings and enemies; he is planning through the work of his son to destroy all their worst enemies—sin, death, the devil—once and forever and to give them all their Sabbaths for all time, in his time. Reader—today your Messiah has come! You can cling to his  promises NOW… but you won’t see them all fully realised quite YET. The power of yet.