No prophet says so much about the coming of the Messiah as Isaiah. For this reason, his book has been called the fifth gospel. Indeed, the book of Isaiah has a curious likeness to the Bible in brief.

Both the author and the date during which he wrote are identified in the very beginning of the book that bears his name.

1. The name Isaiah means "salvation from Yahweh." These are the same two words that make up the name "Joshua" and "Jesus", but their order is reversed.
2. The Authorship Question.

• The first half of the book deals with judgment while the second half of the book deals with the glory of God’s future hope.
• The latter portion of the book has events during the Persian empire as its focus. The prophets of the Old Testament normally wrote about events and countries that existed within their own day.
• There is no mention of Isaiah in this portion of the book. The only personal name found within the book apart from characters in the past like Abraham is that of Cyrus the Great who died in 530 B.C.

3. Isaiah the Man.

• Isaiah moved in the circles of the wealthy, the influential and the elite. The Hebrew of the book of Isaiah is the best of the entire Bible. This was a man who was evidently highly educated.
• He was a friend and a confidant of King Hezekiah. He had ready access to the palace at Jerusalem.
• We read in Isaiah 6 of a vision with its setting in the Temple. Because only priests were permitted into the Temple, this suggests that Isaiah might have been from the ranks of the priesthood.

4. His Family.

• Maher-shalal-hash-baz (Isaiah 8:3).

• Shear-jashub (Isaiah 7:3).

We said that the book of Isaiah has a curious and coincidental likeness to the Bible in that Isaiah has 66 chapters just as the Bible has 66 books. Furthermore, the main division of Isaiah takes place at the close of the first 39 chapters of Isaiah in the same way that the Old Testament ends after the 39^th book of the Bible.

If you happen to be asked on a test as to the two major parts of Isaiah, this is the answer. The first 39 chapters focus upon the judgment of God while the last 27 chapters focus upon the comfort of God.

This verse sets the date of Isaiah’s ministry. It is a ministry that spanned the reigns of five kings of Judah since Isaiah later spoke during the reign of Manassah.

It was a time for the rise and the fall of kingdoms. It saw the fall of the Northern Kingdom of Israel to the Assyrians and it saw the invasion of Jerusalem by those same Assyrians.

The first chapter of Isaiah has been described as a microcosm of the entire book.

The visionary message begins with words that are reminiscent of both the beginning and the end of the Pentateuch. Consider the following...

Notice that verses 2-4 does not address the nation of Israel. Instead, it addresses the heavens and the earth. They are called as witnesses in a legal court. Serving as both Prosecutor and Judge is the Lord. And in the dock stands Israel.

The phrase "offspring of evildoers" is translated from the Hebrew ZERA' MeRAYIM, literally "Seed of Evil Ones." The concept of an evil seed is an ancient one. It goes all the way back to Genesis 3:15.

God initially created all life to reproduce after its find. But man rebelled and sinned against God. And so, a promise was given. It was a promise of TWO SEEDS.

The first seed was to be the seed of the serpent. It was the seed of rebellion. It was the seed of sin. It was made up of all who walked in the way of Adam in turning against God.

But there is also a second seed promised. It is the seed of the woman. This second seed is set over against the first seed.

The two seeds are at war with one another. And God has decreed that the second seed shall ultimately win.

From our vantage point, we know that this second seed is ultimately fulfilled in Jesus Christ - the One who was bruised for our iniquities as He crushed underfoot the Serpent's Head.

As Isaiah begins his prophecy, he charges the people of Judah with having become the "Seed of Evil Ones." This is not a reflection upon their earthly parents. It is a reflection of their spiritual parentage.

Notice that Isaiah says that Judah would be like Sodom and Gomorrah but for the grace of God. He then goes on to address the people of Israel as:

• You rulers of Sodom
• You people of Gomorrah

Revelation 11:8 uses this same sort of symbol when it speaks of the great city which mystically is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified.

God has become angry with His wife over her unfaithfulness. His wife has turned away. His bride has committed spiritual adultery. He has every right to divorce this unfaithful wife.

These same two pictures of God’s city and its people is seen in the book of Revelation. In Revelation 12 we see the picture of a woman giving birth to a child. We recognize the child as Israel and the woman as Israel. Later in the book we see another vision. Again it is a woman, but this time we see her as a prostitute. She is become drunk with the blood of the saints and she has prostituted herself with the dragon that manifests itself in the Roman Empire.

The same picture is seen here in Isaiah. The once-faithful city has become a prostitute. But the good news is that He is a forgiving husband. The city that was once called "faithful" shall again be made into a "city of righteousness" and a "faithful city" (1:26).

The prophecy closes with a promise of future restoration. The city that has been called a harlot and a lodging place for murderers will again be called "the city of righteousness" and "a faithful city."

How can such a thing be? It takes place when Zion is "redeemed with justice." This is a picture of the imputation of Christ's righteousness that was credited to guilty sinners. He has redeemed us with His own justice and righteousness that were credited to us.

We can further subdivide the first 35 chapters of Isaiah into a type of Hebrew parallelism known as a chiasm.

In a chiasm, the first section begins and the last section ends the same way. In this case, it begins with the woe of judgment and it ends with the woes of judgment. Sandwiched between these sections is a long list of woes.

The first five chapters of Isaiah are filled with woes of coming judgment. But as we come to chapter 6, there is a refreshing change.

Isaiah’s ministry began in the year of King Uzziah’s death (Isaiah 6:1). Uzziah was one of the good kings of Israel (he is also called Azariah). He reigned for a very long time. But Uzziah became proud. And in his pride, he took it upon himself to enter into the Temple and to offer incense upon the altar of incense. This was something that only a priest was permitted to do. As a result, God struck him with leprosy.

Notice that the official royal historian for the reign of King Uzziah was none other than Isaiah the son of Amoz. The same year that King Uzziah died marked the beginning of Isaiah's ministry. It began with a heavenly vision.

Isaiah sees a tremendous vision. It takes place within the setting of the Temple. It is a holy vision of the presence of God. Isaiah says, "I saw the Lord." The first thing that Isaiah saw in his vision was THE LORD.

• Not a bright light.
• Not streets of gold.
• Not a new Jerusalem.
• Not even a heavenly Temple.

Those things were all overshadowed. They were all like fireflies before the blazing sun. They were overshadowed by the glory of the Lord.

In the book of Revelation, the apostle John has a similar experience. He is caught up in a vision to heaven. And he spends two chapters describing all that he saw. But the first thing that he describes is the throne of God and the One who is seated upon it.

Now let me ask you a question. When you go to church, what is the first thing that YOU see?

There is nothing wrong with any of these. We ought to do all of these things when we go to church. But FIRST, we ought to see the LORD.

The NIV correctly refers to these creatures as "Seraphs" -- the "im" ending is merely the Hebrew plural. The Hebrew word saraph means, "to burn." Thus these Seraphim are literally "burning ones."

The idea of winged supernatural beings was not unknown in the ancient world. Statues of four-footed winged beasts can be found throughout ancient Mesopotamia and Persia (note that the passage does not say that they were human in appearance, but only that they had six wings and the power of speech).

This vision is set in symbols that would convey an understanding from someone living in Isaiah's day. What is conveyed is a grand picture of God's majesty.

God is not seen here as "the man upstairs." He is the Sovereign Lord of the Universe. The awesomeness of God is seen in Isaiah’s response to this vision.

A proper view of God will result in a proper view of yourself. Isaiah does not look at God and say, "I’m okay, you’re okay." He says, "I am undone!" The man who thinks it is easy to stand before a holy and righteous God has never stood before THE Holy and Righteous God.

Isaiah had a problem. It is called sin. It was a problem that disqualified him from the ministry. Indeed, it was a problem that disqualified him from heaven.

But now his sin is removed. Notice what it was that took away the sin of Isaiah. It was something from the altar. It is that which represents the sacrifice. When Isaiah can do nothing to save himself, something is done on his behalf that brings salvation to him.

God saved us, not merely as an end unto itself, but for a reason. God saved us that we might serve Him. Isaiah is called to service. His service will be such that he will represent the Lord.

Approximately 20 years had passed since the close of chapter 6 to the beginning of chapter 7. In that time had been the reign of King Jotham, but Isaiah makes no mention of him.

Now Ahaz was on the throne. Ahaz was not a particularly good king. Bad times came upon the land. On the political scene, Ahaz found his tiny kingdom threatened with enemies from the north, especially the kingdoms of Israel and Aram. The Assyrian Empire was at its zenith and the fierce Assyrian warriors had spread their reign of terror throughout most of the known world, plundering and burning wherever they went. The small kingdoms that lay along the shores of the Mediterranean were no match for these hoards and they decided that the only way they could resist the onslaught was to band together into a single alliance. Accordingly, Egypt, Aram (Syria) and the Northern Kingdom of Israel formed an alliance and asked Judah to join with them. Ahaz, the king of Judah, refused.

Tensions mounted as the confederation threatened to invade Judah and install a puppet king of their own choosing. Ahaz found himself surrounded by enemies on all sides. It was into this scene that Isaiah came with a message from the Lord. The message was one of hope in the midst of what had all the appearances of an eventual collision of forces.

Isaiah tells Ahaz that he can trust in the Lord because the leaders of both Israel and Aram will soon come to naught. God even offers to put His signature to this promise in the form of a sign.

At first glance, Ahaz seems to be doing a very noble and pious thing. He gives the excuse that he does not want to test the Lord. But that is not a correct response. It is like the man who says, "I do not pray because I do not want to bother God with my problems." Such a stance is the result of a heart of unbelief.

Before you judge Ahaz, ask yourself when was the last time that you ignored the power of prayer?

The good news is that the story does not end here. God turns from this unbelieving king and gives a promise to those who will believe. Here is the sign. A virgin will conceive and shall be with child. She will have a son. He will be called Immanuel. It is a name that means "God is with us."

There is a "child motif" that runs through this section of Israel from chapter 7 to chapter 9 and include the mention of five different children.

• Shear-jashub (Isaiah 7:3).
• Immanu-el (Isaiah 7:14; 8:8).
• Maher-shalal-hash-baz (Isaiah 8:3).
• Isaiah’s children (Isaiah 8:18).
• The Royal Child (Isaiah 9:6-7).

This motif serves as an organizing principle within these chapters. The chapters can be taken and understood as a single unit:

This is a symphony in three parts. The person of Immanu-el dominates the first two parts, leading to the climactic conclusion that introduces the Royal Son.

Immanu-el stands out in contrast to the other children in that there is no father mentioned. Even the mother is not named except to refer to her as "the virgin." In this regard, Immanu-el and the Royal Child of chapter 9 are seen to be similar. This same "child motif" is seen in the book of Hosea. This is notable because Hosea is commonly thought to have been a contemporary of Isaiah.

The sign is that a young maiden shall be with child. She shall have a son. He will be called Immanuel. But the prophecy does not end here. It goes on to tell what the sign will signify. The sign has been given for a specific localized reason.

The sign was not to end with the birth of Immanuel. It was only to begin there. The rest of the sign was that the child would grow and develop into a young boy. Before that boy had reached the age of being able to tell the difference between right and wrong, the kings of both Aram and Israel would die.

It would have been a happy story if it could have ended on this note. But that is not the case. Isaiah goes on to give Ahaz a glimpse of things to come.

Because of the sin of Ahaz, both in worshiping the false gods of the Canaanites as well as in demonstrating his unbelief of Yahweh, he is told that the Lord will bring enemies from both Egypt and Assyria who will come and make life miserable for the kingdom of Judah.

I believe that the sign of Immanuel was given as a partial fulfillment in the days of Ahaz. This is seen in the following chapter where Immanuel himself is addressed (Isaiah 8:8). But that is not the end of the story. Even though his name was Immanuel and expressed the truth that God was working in the lives of His people, there remained a further and more complete fulfillment.

That fulfillment is seen in the person of Jesus. Matthew 1:22-23 presents to us the truth that Jesus is the ultimate fulfillment of the Immanuel. He is God with us.

It is no mistake that Isaiah used the specific word that he did. The Hebrew word Almah (translated "virgin") technically means a "young maiden." Every time it is used in the Old Testament, it describes a young unmarried damsel.

• Because sin is passed down from the father?
• Because of the supernatural origin of Jesus?
• Because Jesus is God?

No! It is because this was the promised sign. This sign points to the fulfillment of the promise that God would be with us.

Having examined the Scriptures with regard to Immanuel, we must now ask the question of how this will change the way in which we live.

1. Jesus the Messiah.

2. God with Us.

3. The Continuing Presence of God.

4. A Sign for a Secular Situation.

This passage can be viewed in two different ways. Both are legitimate.

1. Past Interpretation.

• Not Jerusalem.
• Not the Temple.
• Not Rome, the capital of the Empire.
• But Galilee.

2. Present Application.

For the past three chapter we have seen a "son motif" running through the pages of Isaiah. It began in Isaiah 7 with the virgin-born son named Immanuel. Throughout chapter 8 we read of Isaiah giving names to his children that had prophetic significance. Now we come the final promise of a Son.

The Hebrew of Isaiah 9:6 speaks of the Messiah being the "eternal Father." What does this mean? Some of taught this this is an indication of Modalism - that Jesus IS the Father and that they are both one person in the same way that I am a son and I am also a father.

The Hebrew phrase is a compound word. This seems to be a Hebraism. There are a number of examples of this:

• Abiethon (2 Sam. 23:31), "father of strength," means "strong"
• Abiaseph (Ex.6:24), "father of gathering," means "gatherer"
• Abigail (1 Chron.2:16), "father of exultation," is a woman’s name meaning "exulting"

If this is the same sort of Hebraism, then the term "Father of eternity" in Isaiah 9:6 means simply that the promised Son would be eternal.

For the first 35 chapters of Isaiah, we see a long succession of prophecies and oracles. But now there is a change. The genre of this literature changes from prophecy to history.

The story which is told here is also found in...

• 2 Chronicles 32.
• 2 Kings 19.

Indeed, 2 Chronicles 32:32 says that Isaiah was the prophet who wrote the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah.

This section forms the pivot between the two parts of the book.

Notice that the chronology of the Historical Section is reversed. The events of chapter 38-39 took place BEFORE the events of chapter 36-37. Why did Isaiah do this? It was because he wanted to link the historical sections to the two corresponding messages of judgment and of comfort.

Hezekiah was the king of Judah. A few years prior to his coming to the throne, the Assyrians had invaded the Northern Kingdom of Israel and had taken the ten tribes away into captivity. Israel ceased to exist as a nation. Meanwhile, Judah had dutifully continued to pay tribute to Assyria.

Now Hezekiah was the king. He had instituted a revival in Judah, harkening to the preaching of Isaiah and the other prophets of the day to return to the Lord.

Hezekiah was persuaded to join in with some of the surrounding kingdoms in a revolt against the Assyrians. Retaliation was swift in coming.

In 701 B.C. Sennacherib conducted a massive campaign against this western alliance. The Phoenician cities each submitted or were destroyed. The Egyptians were routed and Judah was left to face Sennacherib alone.

Hezekiah offered to pay any tribute in return for peace. Sennacherib set the price at 300 talents of silver and 30 talents of gold (in that day even a single talent was considered to be a fortune).

Instead of keeping his agreement, Sennacherib changed his mind and decided to try to take Jerusalem. He invaded Judah like a plague of locusts sweeping over the land. Within a short time, most of the cities of Judah had fallen to his armies.

Sennacherib's palace at Nineveh contains vivid frescos of the siege of Lachish, located a mere 20 miles from Jerusalem.

As Isaiah 36 opens, Sennacharib's forces now control most of Judah. Only Jerusalem and Lachish continue to hold out and Lachish will soon fall.

What follows is a propaganda campaign as the Rabshakeh attempts to undermine the authority of Hezekiah by wearing away at the resolve of the Jews to withstand the Assyrian onslaught.

This time, Hezekiah turned to the Lord for help and was promised deliverance. In a single night, the Assyrian army was overthrown.

The palace of Sennacherib was discovered in 1847 by the English archaeologist Austen Henry Layard. Among the finds was the Taylor Prism, a clay octagonal cylinder which today resides in the British Museum (an even better copy is on a prism at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago). It contains the following account of the campaign against Judah:

It is interesting to note Sennacherib’s description of this campaign. He brags about how he had besieged the city of Jerusalem, closing up Hezekiah as a bird in a cage, but makes no mention of the outcome of the battle.

The latter portion of Isaiah can be divided into three parts. They can generally be categorized as follows:

Chapter 39 ends with a prophecy of Jerusalem’s destruction and the Babylonian Captivity. But now Isaiah offers comfort by looking beyond the captivity to the promises of the restoration that would come after.

The word translated "comfort" is nocham:. It is the same word that we see back in Genesis 5:29 where Lamech named his son Noah, saying, "This one shall give us rest from our work and from the toil of our hands arising from the ground which the LORD has cursed." There is a rest and a comfort for the people of God. That is the message that Isaiah brings us in this book.

Why does Isaiah give us this very large section of comfort and restoration from captivity when Judah had not yet been taken into captivity? The answer is rather simple. The time to learn about the comfort of God is BEFORE you need the comfort of God. You don’t wait until the ship is sinking to learn about lifeboats. You don’t wait until times of distress to learn about the comfort of God.

There is a corollary to this principle: Never doubt in the darkness what you have learned in the light.

This had not yet taken place as Isaiah penned these words. The Babylonian Captivity was still many years in the future. But afterward there would come a time of restoration and of rest and of comfort.

Throughout this chapter, we are going to see two applications of the words of Isaiah. The immediate application has reference to the Jews returning to their land. It is for this reason that these words of comfort are directed to Jerusalem. They could take comfort in the promise that there would come a day when the punishment for past sins would be accomplished and at an end.

But there is also a further application of this principle that goes far beyond the city of Jerusalem and the return of the Jews to their homeland. It is seen in Jesus. He is the personification of Israel. These words have their ultimate fulfillment in Him.

He paid the full price for the sins of men. The reference to a "double" payment points to the fact that it was paid in full. There remains nothing more to be done. His work on the cross paid it all.

Isaiah 41 takes us into an imaginary courtroom. It is not immediately apparent who it is that is on trial. The first to the witness stand is the coastlands.

Even though the land of Palestine bordered upon the Mediterranean, it is not normally described in the Bible as a "coastland." The Jews were a race of landlubbers. They preferred dry land. They went so far as to call the 11-mile long lake in Galilee a "sea."

God calls upon the nations to "listen up." He ended the last chapter by promising that those who wait on the Lord would be renewed in strength. Now He lets it be know that this promise is also open to the nations.

Now we are introduced to a new character. He is not called as a witness, but rather as a deliverer -- a divine policeman. This unnamed character...

• Comes from the east (41:2).
• Delivers up nations and subdues kings (41:2).
• Travels so fast that his feet seem hardly to touch the ground (41:3).

And yet, this person is really doing the work of the Lord. This is seen in verse 4: Who has performed and accomplished it, calling forth the generations from the beginning? "I, the LORD, am the first, and with the last. I am He."

The reaction to this coming character is a mixture.

• Some see and are afraid: The coastlands have seen and are afraid (41:5).
• Some see it as a time of great upheavel: The ends of the earth tremble (41:5).

But for Israel, this is a time of salvation.

Notice the terms in which this salvation is described. It is described in terms of restoration -- of being "taken from the ends of the earth, and called from its remotest parts."

Isaiah 39 ended with a promise of banishment from the land. It was a promise that was not fulfilled in Isaiah’s day. It was a promise that was not fulfilled until 605 B.C. when Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came against the kingdom of Judah. Over a period of 20 years, Nebuchadnezzar carried out three separate deportations.

• The first involved the nobility (Daniel and his three friends)
• The second involved the upper class and the craftsmen (included Ezekiel)
• The third involved just about everyone else.

This prophecy in Isaiah 41 is not about the deportation. It looks beyond that. It looks to the restoration of God’s people to the land.

Just in case you forgot, this chapter started in a courtroom. Now the courtroom motif is brought back with full force:

God calls upon the opposing attorney to set forth a legal case. The issue before the court is the question: Who is God? The Lord invites the evidence for the opposition. The evidence is that of fulfilled prophecy and of accurate history. The Scriptures do both.

• They give us prophecy of the future: Declare to us what is going to take place
• They give us a picture of what God has done in the past: As for the former events, declare what they were.

In verse 24 we see the ruling of the court: Behold, you are of no account, And your work amounts to nothing; He who chooses you is an abomination.

Judgment is quickly passed.

Even as the potter treads clay. (Isaiah 41:25).

Notice what we are told about the bringer of this judgment.

• He comes from the north and from the east
• He calls upon the name of the Lord
• Rulers crumble before him.

Who is this? Let me say at the outset that this is one of those trick questions. It is a trick question because there are really two different people in view. There is both an immediate fulfillment as well as a long-reaching fulfillment. Let me begin by telling you of the immediate fulfillment.

The final deportation of Israel into Babylon took place in the year 586 B.C. At that point, Babylon was the mightiest nation on the face of the earth. Nothing could withstand the might of her armies. The city of Babylon was at its pinnacle of greatness. The Greek Historian Herodotus described her massive walls as being so thick that chariots could race from point to point on top of the walls. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon were considered to be one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.

But following the death of Nebuchadnezzar, there arose a new power from the lands to the east of Babylon. By a curious coincidence, there was a man whose father had been the king of the Persians and whose mother was the daughter of the king of the Medes. That made him both a Mede and a Persian.

We know him by his Greek name of Cyrus. History refers to him as "the Great."

Beginning a few years after the death of Nebuchadnezzar, Cyrus set out on a mission of conquest. He brought both the Medes and the Persians under his control and then set out on a mission of conquest.

Cyrus viewed himself as a liberator. His first legislative act was to issue an edict that permitted all displaced peoples to return to their homelands. This included the Jews.

It is for this reason that Isaiah refers to Cyrus as "the Servant of the Lord."

The astounding thing about this passage is that it was penned by Isaiah over a hundred years before Cyrus the Great was even born. It predicts the restoration and the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the Temple in a day when Jerusalem had not yet been destroyed.

History looks at Cyrus and calls him "the Great," but the point of this passage is that it is not Cyrus who was great but rather it is God who is great. God is the one who appointed and anointed Cyrus to accomplish the will of the Lord.

In view of this brief history lesson, we can see that Cyrus serves as an immediate fulfillment of our prophecy in Isaiah 41.

It can indeed be said of Cyrus that he was a servant of the Lord and that his conquests unwittingly served the Lord of the universe.

But as we turn to chapter 42, we see quite a different picture of the servant of the Lord.

This picture has changed. Instead of a conqueror from the north and a strong hand from the east, we see a picture of gentleness.

He still has a ministry to the nations -- but this time it is to bring justice.

• He does not raise His voice
• He is so gentle that His coming does not break a reed that is already bent
• His coming is so soft that it does not blow out the glowing embers of a wick

And yet, He wins.

He brings justice in the earth.

We cannot help but to recognize Him -- it is Jesus.

It was at His baptism that the Father gave a graphic and audible sign of delight as is mentioned in verse 1.

You remember the incident.

John asks as to who should be baptizing whom.

Jesus replied that it was indeed appropriate for Him to be so identified with John’s preaching.

And so, the baptism took place.

And then something else took place.

The heavens opened and the Spirit came.

A vision of gentleness.

And a voice from heaven: "This is My beoved Son in whom I am well pleased -- My chosen One in whom My soul delights."

There is a wonderful parallel in the two fulfillments of these prophecies of the servant of the Lord.

This entire chapter is set forth in the form of a chiasm. It is a parallel that begins and ends of the same note. The important point of this parallel is see in that which is at the pivotal point.

Notice that the aspect of suffering is the central and pivotal point of the passage. But before we read of the suffering of the Servant, we are first guaranteed of the exaltation of the Servant. He will prosper. This is the same message as is found in the book of Revelation. Jesus Wins!

What sort of image would come to mind if you suddenly heard one day that God was coming to town?

Every movie that I’ve ever seen depicting Jesus presents Him as a tall, good-looking man. You’ve known people like that. The movie star stereotype.

We have this idea that we want Jesus to be pretty. But this passage says that He wasn’t that way. That says something comforting to us.

We tend to believe that if you are strong and good-looking and smart, then Jesus must love you more. We watch a Christian athlete wins a race and he crosses the finish line and says that they owe it all to Jesus and we think that Jesus must love him.

And then some little scrawny fellow who couldn’t run around the block thinks, "Jesus must not love me very much."

Television and magazines always lift up the beautiful people. Jesus would have been overlooked by them. He had no form or beauty. You remember that the next time you pass by someone who is not pretty. If you take a second look, you might find that Jesus is there.

Verse 13 begins with a command. It is to BEHOLD! God is commanding us that we should come and look and examine the One whom He has chosen to become His Servant.

Jesus took for Himself the title of a Servant. We read in Philippians 2:6-7 that although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. The One who was from eternity took the form of a servant.

In these verses we go back and forth between the truth about the work of Jesus versus what people THOUGHT about Jesus. It is a contrast between reality versus delusion.

Unbelieving Israel looked at Jesus on the cross and said, "He got what He deserved." The truth is that He got what WE deserved. The death of Christ was substitutionary in nature. He died in our place.

This was graphically illustrated in the case of Barabbas. This man was a thief and a robber. He had been caught and tried for his crimes and sentenced to death. Seeking to pacify a hostile crowd, Pontius Pilate released Barabbas and crucified Jesus. The one who deserved to die was given life and the One who had done no wrong was sent to the cross. It was a cross that was meant for Barabbas.

Verse 6 widens the scope of the cross to show how it extends itself to all.

This is the same concept that Paul presents in Romans 5:12-18. It is the concept that all were under sin and that all sins were subsequently atoned.

Sheep are not known for their organizational skills. Left to themselves, they will wander and they will keep on wandering. We are like that. Left to ourselves, our tendency is to wander away from God. This is why we need a Savior.

In verses 4-8 we see a contrast between our need over against the Servant’s divine remedy for that need.

The innocent was punished in place of the guilty. The guilty as permitted to go free.

Isaiah presents an extensive portrait of the Messiah. Only the book of Psalms gives us more in the way of prophecy and Isaiah is unsurpassed for its rich details.

There is also an interesting contrast to be seen in the King of Babylon in Isaiah 13-14 over against the Suffering Servant in Isaiah 52-53.

There are three passages that speak of the new heavens and new earth.

Peter describes how the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up in 2 Peter 3:10. In verse 13 he goes on to say that we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.

Finally there is Revelation 21:1 where John sees a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea.

Some problems arise when we attempt to make all three of these instances rigidly literal. In the case of the Isaiah passage, the context goes on to speak of a youth dying at the age of a hundred (65:20). If this is understood to take place after the new heavens and the new earth have been established, then one wonders whether we are to understand that death takes place, albeit belatedly, in this new heaven and new earth.