Rev. Don Campbell
ISAIAH
THOUGHT FOR TODAY, July 9, 2019
“ISAIAH THE MESSIANIC PROPHET”
Isaiah is often called the Messianic Prophet because he predicts so many details of the coming Messiah and his ministry. These prophecies are interspersed with warnings of judgment for all nations, but especially Judah. In chapter one, Isaiah reads the bill of indictment against the nation and predicts its destruction. However, in chapter two (vv.1-5), he announces the coming kingdom of God. In chapter three, he describes the judgment that will come upon Jerusalem and Judah:
See now, the Lord,
the Lord Almighty,
is about to take from Jerusalem and Judah
both supply and support:
all supplies of food and all supplies of water,
the hero and the warrior,
the judge and the prophet,
the diviner and the elder,
the captain of fifty and the man of rank,
the counselor, skilled craftsman and clever enchanter.
I will make mere youths their officials;
children will rule over them.”
People will oppress each other—
man against man, neighbor against neighbor.
The young will rise up against the old,
the nobody against the honored. (3:1-8) NIV
Commenting on this, Burton Coffman wrote: “Here is a study in disintegration. It is a sad picture of a society which has forsaken its moral values, turned from God to a philosophy of humanism, and adopted the customs, idols, and value-judgments of paganism, inevitably culminating in the bitter predictive prophecy of Isaiah 3:8, ‘Jerusalem is mined’” [fallen]. We also see generational and class conflict.
CONNECTIONS:
1. Someone has described the remarkable accuracy of Isaiah (and all the prophets) as being like an archer shooting arrows at a distant target while being blindfolded and hitting the bull’s eye on every shot. Perhaps just as remarkable is the fact that they had to accept by faith that they were hitting the target. What does Peter say is the secret of their success? (2 Peter 1:20-21).
2. Peter affirms that this “great salvation” means that there is reserved in heaven for us an inheritance that cannot decay, be spoiled, or fade away (1 Peter 1:3-5). Most Christians have no problem accepting that truth. On the other hand, the very next verse says that the inheritors are just as secure as the inheritance because we are kept, protected, shielded, guarded (depending on the translation one reads) until the final salvation. Jude, in a short epistle seemingly devoted to warnings of apostasy also says that Jesus is able to keep us from stumbling and present us faultless (v. 24). These passages do not teach the impossibility of apostasy, but they do teach the perseverance of the believer. As the NIV Study Bible (Zondervan) says, “There are two sides to the perseverance of the Christian. He is shielded (1) by God’s power and (2) by his own faith. Thus he is never kept contrary to his will nor apart from God’s activity.” In light of these truths, what comfort do you find in Jesus’ words (John 10:25-30)?
