Of the four greater prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel, the first named is the only one who labored before the deportation of the ten tribes to Halah and Habor, by the river of Gozan and to the cities of the Medes. This gives a character to the book of his prophecies wanting of necessity to the other three. To him the invasion, and subjection of the land west of Jordan by the king of Assyria was still future when he was first called to the prophetic office; so by him the Spirit of God has given a bird's eye view, as it were, of the nation's condition and trials, from his own day to the final attempt of the northern power (Isa. 33) to disturb the prosperity and security of Israel. Beginning with the reign of Uzziah, and going on to that of his great grandson Hezekiah, Isaiah must have labored for half a century or perhaps more, learning, as one living in the circumstances alone could, the thoughts and hopes of his countrymen, who witnessed the temporary revival of power under Uzziah and Jo-tham, and the decay and revival of the outward forms of religion under Ahaz and his son Hezekiah. Uzziah's victories and Jotham's might must have been topics with which he was familiar, as well as the invasion of Judah, and her humiliation by Pekah during the reign of the idolatrous king Ahaz. In his day was witnessed the presence of the Assyrians in the land of Israel, invited there by the king who reigned at Jerusalem, and the welcome accorded in the city of David to the friendly advances of Merodach king of Babylon, by Hezekiah after he was recovered from his sickness; these two powers, destined to play such important parts in the history of Judah, then first became acquainted with the occupants of David's throne.
Thus the Assyrian, his attempt, and his failure against the house of David, the enemy whom the people had to dread when Isaiah was witnessing for Jehovah, are prominent subjects in this book. With Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel, the case was different. Jeremiah, God's prophet in the land from the days of Josiah to the overthrow of the kingdom under Zedekiah, warns the rebellious Jews of the captivity at Babylon which awaited them; and, since Babylon was the scourge God was employing wherewith to chastise them, its overthrow, after accomplishing God's purpose at Jerusalem, the prophet announced. But of the Assyrian, or the king of the north, Jeremiah says not a word. Babylon was the power that the Jews had to dread in his day, so what concerned that power, as bearing on the history of Judah, is for the most part the field of prophetic truth through which the prophet of Anathoth ranges. Ezekiel was God's prophet to the captives by the river Chebar, before the taking of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar. Captivity he already knew, as did those amongst whom he labored, the future fortunes of the whole nation therefore he was led to predict, and the final re-union of Joseph and Judah under their king David he was allowed to foretell. Daniel was God's prophet at the court of the king of kings Nebuchadnezzar: so the times of the Gentiles is his great theme, and the course of the four great empires, till the rise and complete triumph of the kingdom of Messiah, it was given him to trace out; and he stops not in his work, till he can tell of the end of the king of the north, who will perish in his attempt to blot out the name of Israel as that of a living nation upon earth. (Chap. 11:45.) Jeremiah predicts the overthrow of Babylon of his day; Ezekiel tells us of what Jeremiah is silent, the invasion and complete discomfiture of Gog and all his armies; Daniel announces what Ezekiel did not, the overthrow of the king of the north, whilst Isaiah embraces in the subjects of which he treats all these events. (Chaps, 13, 14, 33.)
Of his personal history we know but little. His father's name we learn was Amoz, but of what tribe he formed a member we are ignorant. That Isaiah was married and had two children he has informed us; and the great lesson which he learned as to the uncleanness of his nature he has recorded for our instruction; but the date of his birth and the year of his death are facts shrouded in the darkness of the past. For three years, in obedience to God's word, he walked naked and barefoot (chap, 20.), and at times during his ministry in Judah he saw visions and burdens. Outside of Judah we never meet with him. This need not surprise us, for during a part of his prophetic labors Hosea was witnessing for God in Israel. Against individuals he rarely speaks. Ahaz the king, and Shebna the scribe, and Hezekiah, after his failure, are of this the only examples that we have. Long as is his book, (being exceeded in quantity only by Genesis, Jeremiah, perhaps Ezekiel, and of course the Psalms,) we have not all that he wrote, as 2 Chron. 26:22,22Now the rest of the acts of Uzziah, first and last, did Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, write. (2 Chronicles 26:22) bears witness; but doubtless we have all that it pleased God should survive to our day. Of dates we have but few, so different from the habit of Jeremiah and Ezekiel, the death of Uzziah (chap, 6.) and of Ahaz (chap. 14:28), the invasion of Judah by Pekah and Rezin (chap, 7.), and subsequently by Sennacherib (chap, 36.), and the capture of Ashdod by Tartan, sent thither by Sargon king of Assyria (chap, 20.), are all that the prophet has noticed.
To turn now to the book, a cursory glance at it shows us that it is divided into two great parts, separated by the historical chapters which recount events of Hezekiah's reign. The first part, chapters 1 -35, gives us the prophetical outline of events, in connection with Judah and Jerusalem, to take place from the days of the prophet to those of the Lord Jesus. The second part, chapters 40-66, describes the moral dealings of God with the nation, to form the remnant, that will inherit the promises, and dwell in the land under the rule of the righteous king.
These two great parts of the book are farther subdivided into sections, chapters 1-3, 13-17, 28-35, each portion of which ends with gladness or praise; and chapters 40-48, 49-57, 58-66, each of which ends with warnings about the wicked. This feature we can understand. For, where it is a question of what Jehovah will do on earth for His people, a scene of brightness will be witnessed, and praise will be the fitting utterance of the heart; but, where the moral condition of the people forms the subject of the prophecy, since all will not be converted, words of warning about the wicked form the suited conclusion. God warns the ungodly in the latter part, the praises of His people are provided for in the former part.
Chapter 1 forms a preface to the book, announcing the reason of God to speak; namely, the then condition of Israel and Judah, which must draw down judgment on the capital of the land, to be followed in God's own time by the final redemption of Zion and her converts, but with judgment and in righteousness, and the common destruction of the transgressors and of the sinners. This is yet future, so in chapters 2-4., the prophet is led on to the day of the Lord, first telling that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, forming the center to which all nations shall flow, and Gentiles as well as Jews there find an object of interest for their hearts, the prelude to that time of universal and enduring peace to which as yet earth, since the fall of man, has been a stranger. In view of this the house of Jacob is exhorted to walk in the light of the Lord; to them the wide spreading judgment of the day of the Lord is graphically described (chap. 2; 3.) ending with the presence of the cloud of glory, familiar to the people in the wilderness, resting over the earthly Jerusalem,” “When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof, by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning.” (Chap. 4: 4, 5.)
To dwell further on such a prospect might have been a pleasant occupation, but the prophet has to turn to that which will edify the people of his day. So he next proceeds to produce the indictment, and a heavy one it was, which God had drawn up against those on whose behalf He had done so much. (Chap. 5.) That stated, which concerns the whole nation, Isaiah turns aside for a time to what more directly concerns Judah, and the house of David. (Chaps. 6-9: 7.) The vision which he beheld in the year that king Uzziah died, brought home to him the condition of the people amongst whom he dwelt, besides God's judgment of what he himself a fallen creature was, with the divinely appointed method of cleansing marked out, namely, by association with the sacrifice on the altar of burnt-offering. Cleansed himself, set free in the presence of God from all thoughts of his vileness, after that the live coal had touched his lips, he can offer himself for Jehovah's service, and volunteer to be His messenger to the people, an offer immediately accepted. Chapter v. had demonstrated by the indictment to which there was no good defense, what the people had been in the past, now the prophet has to show, what the appearance of Jehovah's glory had demonstrated to his own soul, the moral condition of Judah and Jerusalem, as unfit to behold the glory, which historically was proved by the presence of the Lord Jesus upon earth. (John 12:39-4139Therefore they could not believe, because that Esaias said again, 40He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them. 41These things said Esaias, when he saw his glory, and spake of him. (John 12:39‑41).) God's people, redeemed to be His own forever, unfit for His presence, what could follow, but judicial action against them? Thus the prophet declares blindness would fall upon them, and desolation roll over their land, but only for a season. This directly concerned the throne; so commencing with the attempt in his day by Pekah and Rezin to supplant the house of David (chap. 7: 6), Isaiah sketches out the result of that attempt, disastrous to the confederate kings, the invasion of the land by the Assyrian, and the final triumph of the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, born of the virgin. Judicial action must take place, but God's purposes cannot fail, so all attempts to subvert finally the house of David, as the royal house of Israel, must end in confusion to those, whoever they might be, who should undertake it. Syria, Samaria, and Assyria of that day found this to be true, as the northern enemy of the future will be a standing witness of it likewise. Distress, straitness, want, awaited the people for their sins; but the faithful, sanctifying the Lord of hosts, making Him their fear and dread, are to be delivered, and the never ending reign of Messiah upon the throne of David shall one day commence. “The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.” Then (chaps, 9:8-ch. 11.) resuming the subject of chapter 5, the grievous behavior of the people in the past and the then present, the rod of God's chastisement is predicted, the king of Assyria of that day, and the king of Assyria of the future, whose fall will be brought about after the Lord shall have performed his whole work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem (chap. 10: 12), when the indignation shall cease, and God's anger in his destruction (chap. 25) by the Lord Jesus, the Branch from the stem of Jesse, under whom Judah and Ephraim shall be united, just the opposite of what they were when Isaiah lived. (Compare 9:21 with 11:13.) All enemies overthrown, and the nations subject to Israel's king, peace shall be enjoyed, and Israel again dwell all of them in their land. In view of this happy consummation thus to be effected, the song that Israel will in that day sing we read of in chapter 12.
This slight sketch of the first section of the book suggests to our mind, how pregnant with important consequences was the Assyrian invasion of the land and attack on Jerusalem in the prophet's day. And, reading these prophecies, we are taught the connection between the attempt of the stout-hearted king of Assyria in that day, and the assault that will be made by one ruling over that very country against the people's existence in a future day. The invasion of the land of Canaan at that now distant date was the commencement of the nation's punishment, which will only end by the utter rout of the northern army, when the Lord Jesus shall appear on earth in power and great glory. So the prophet passes, from what took place when he was alive, to what will be witnessed after the Church shall have been caught up. Syria and Israel, who were leagued against the house of David, were shortly to fall, and the Assyrian should overflow all his banks, and all but overrun Immanuel's land, reaching even to the neck. (Chaps, 7, 8.) These events have been witnessed, but the introduction in power of the king, who will overthrow the northern invader, has not yet been accomplished, though, as having been on earth in humiliation, that light of which Isaiah speaks (Chap. 9: 1, 2), the presence of the Lord, has been seen in Galilee. These two events then, the first and the last invasion by the Assyrian of Immanuel's land, are brought before us, events so fruitful in results to the people and the house of David, the two ends as it were of a rolled volume, the one connected with the commencement, the other with the close of these days of national humiliation and trial to which they were doomed, after which rest and blessing in their land they are to know, and those who here rejoiced at their calamities shall personally smart under their triumph. Antichrist visited with direct divine judgment (9: 4,) from the Lord, Israel and Judah united in heart, and assembled in their land from all quarters of the earth, brought home by the Gentiles, “shall fly or pounce upon the shoulders of the Philistines toward the west, and spoil them of the east together, they shall lay their hands upon Edom, and Moab, and the children of Ammon shall obey them.” (Verse 14.) When Assyria invaded that land few of the other nations of the earth felt themselves concerned by the result. When the Assyrian of the latter day shall be overthrown by the power of the Lord present in Israel, what nation in the world will remain unaffected by the event? So the song which Israel will then sing celebrates their salvation, the proclamation of Jehovah's doings among the nations, םּֽמַעָּב. From chapters 13-28 we have another section of the book, revealing God's dealings with all the nations connected with the territory of His people. Babylon, Assyria, Philistia, Moab, Damascus, Egypt, Ethiopia, Edom, Arabia, Tire, all are judged, the burden upon each of them, Assyria and Ethiopia excepted, being pronounced by the prophet. Their past judgment, as well as their future condition Isaiah declares. Universal is the punishment that is to be meted out. “I will punish the world תֵּבֵל for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity.” “And I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place in the wrath of the Lord of hosts, in the day of his fierce anger,” (chap. 13: 11, 13,) are statements, which tell of the general and grievous judgment about to be poured out, of which that, which each nation mentioned has undergone, is but the precursor and the solemn witness of the Creator's right thus to act, whenever He shall see fit to enforce it. And, as this section commences with the announcement of God's judgment of the world, it goes on till we read of His judgment of the universe, “And it shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall punish the host of the high ones on high (i.e. the principalities and powers of Col. 2:1515And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it. (Colossians 2:15); Eph. 6:1212For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. (Ephesians 6:12)), and the kings of the earth upon the earth.” So all are brought under judgment—Jerusalem, and His people, (chap, 17, 18, 22.), as well as the nations around them. But here should be noticed the order of events as given by the prophet, just the contrary to what has been witnessed as yet. The judgment of Babylon in its completeness is treated of before the final overthrow of the Assyrian (chap. 14: 1-24, 25-27); and the prophet's vision of the chariot, which told of her overthrow, brought a cry of distress from his lips as he thought of the country he loved (chap. 21: 10), for immediately afterward he was led to predict the last successful attempt of the northern power to gain a footing in Jerusalem. (Chap. 22: 1-6.) History reverses the order of these events. Assyria fell before Babylon, and Jerusalem was taken by the Chaldeans. Prophecy warns us this order will be changed, the fall of Babylon of the last days will open the way for the attack on Jerusalem, and the final overthrow of the Assyrian on the mountains of the Lord of hosts. (Chap. 14:25.)
Thus carrying his readers on to the scenes of these days, the prophet teaches us that most of the burdens look forward to the day of the Lord (chaps, 14: 32, 16: 5, 17, 19: 18-25, 21: 12, 23: 18); for prophecy does not stop short of the fulfillment of God's counsel about earth. Of the past, not recorded in any profane history which has come down to us, we learn from the prophecy of Isaiah (chap, 20.), and the future, which no man can anticipate, we have clearly mapped out. For with Him, who sees the end from the beginning, what are years or centuries? The distant future is as clear to God as the events of the next few years; so Isaiah, by walking barefoot for three years, pointed out the humiliation of Egypt and Ethiopia by the king of Assyria, which must have happened not long afterward; and Eliakim's entrance on the office Shebna had filled, prefigures the entrance in power on His kingly office of the Lord Jesus, after the cutting off of the Antichrist, the nail referred to in chapter 22: 25.
Embracing such a range of subjects as this section does, we are prepared for the character of the songs with which it concludes. In chapter 12 The nation in its joy would tell far and wide what Jehovah has done for it. Here we learn the results of the Lord's actions on the nations, when He rises up on behalf of His people (chap. 25: 7, 11; 26: 9). The national resurrection too of Israel is celebrated (chap, 26: 19), as well as the discomfiture of Satan, when the poor, despised, hunted, proscribed, persecuted people shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit. (Chap, 27: 1-6.)
Erom chapters xxviii.—xxxv. we find ourselves in the third section of the prophecy of this book, nearly all the subjects of which are introduced by the expressive interjection “Woe” הוי, as we had in the previous section the term burden מעזא frequently made use of, and confined by the prophet exclusively, in the sense there intended, to that portion of his writings. In the chapters before us we are introduced to events of the last days without any intermixture of what took place in the prophet's day. Ten burdens we have mentioned in chapters xiii.—xxiii., and five woes in chapters xxviii.—xxxiv. With the fulfillment in part of many of those burdens, Babylon was concerned; with the events of which these woes treat the Assyrian of the future is closely connected. The land invaded (chap, xxviii.) and the consternation of the people described, their plans are detailed by the prophet, and the remnant is warned against falling in with them. To turn to the political head of the Roman earth, with whom Antichrist will be allied, will be the plan proposed to ward off the threatened invasion of the great northern power, a plan, the wisdom of which is graphically portrayed in the significant words employed: “Your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.” (Chap, 28: 18.) The success of the invading army over Jerusalem, Ariel, i.e. lion of God, or perhaps better 'hearth of God,' = אֵרִיאֵלìÅàéÄêÇà (Ezek. 43:1515So the altar shall be four cubits; and from the altar and upward shall be four horns. (Ezekiel 43:15)), is then recounted, to be subsequently signally reversed (chap. 29: 1-8). Next the turning to help from Egypt in that day (the kingdom of the south of Dan. 11) is predicted, and the wrongness of such a step is declared (chaps, 30, 31.), followed by an account of the moral changes to be effected, and spiritual blessings to be enjoyed, when the king shall be reigning in righteousness. (Chap, 32.) After that we have the woe addressed to the last disturber of the peace in the land of Israel at the commencement of the millennium, the Gog probably of Ezekiel (chaps, 38, 39.), who will spoil though he was not spoiled. The great leaders against Israel of that day having been severally dealt with, the Assyrian (chap, 30.) and Gog (chap, 33.), the prophet goes back in the order of time to predict the end of the northern army in Edom, led against Jerusalem by the Assyrian, whose own end has already been narrated (chap, 34.), and concludes this section with the description of the quiet enjoyment of blessing, and permanent security of God's people under the protecting wing of the Lord Jesus when seated on His throne. “The ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs, and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.” (Chap. 35: 10.)
Besides the final overthrow of the two great enemies of the nation —the Assyrian and Gog, of which we read in this section, we learn some more particulars of the end of the king, or Antichrist, the false prophet of Rev. 13; 19 In chapter 11: 4, we are told that the Lord will with the breath of His mouth slay the wicked, which, taken in connection with 2 Thess. 2:8,8And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: (2 Thessalonians 2:8) can leave no doubt on our minds of whom the prophet writes, nor the appropriateness of alluding in that chapter, which gives us the characteristic of the rule of the Lord as Israel's king, to the final end of the Antichrist, the miserable personator of Him who is to come. Now in chapter 30: 33, we learn where the execution of the judgment will take place. “For Tophet is ordained of old, for the king moreover it is prepared; he hath made it deep and large, the pile thereof is fire, and much wood, the breath of the Lord like a stream of brimstone doth kindle it.” In the valley of the son of Hinnom will that divine vengeance overtake him, of which men on earth can be spectators; but Rev. 19:2020And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. (Revelation 19:20) acquaints us with his immediate and irrevocable doom, “cast alive into the lake of fire,” which those will not be able to behold, whose vision, as in flesh, is bounded by the horizon of this world. Thus judgment on the Assyrian and on the king, and the overthrow of all the schemes of conquest cherished by Gog, are taught us in this section as awaiting Israel's enemies, whilst on them instead of judgment will be poured out the Holy Ghost, (chap, 32: 15); and then shall be illustrated most fully, what John the Baptist foretold, “He shall baptize with the Holy Ghost and with fire.” (Matt. 3:10, 1110And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. 11I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire: (Matthew 3:10‑11).) We know now the former, baptism with the Holy Ghost. By and by both will be witnessed, when the Holy Ghost, having gone with the Church from earth, shall be poured out on Israel, and on all flesh, according to Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Joel, and the fire of judgment shall be seen overtaking the bold and hardened enemies of God and His people.
After tracing out the historical order of events which this earth will yet witness, we have four chapters which refer exclusively to what took place when Isaiah was alive (chaps, 36-39), narrating the invasion of the Assyrian of that day, his success, and his discomfiture, then the sickness and recovery of Hezekiah, and the embassy of Merodach king of Babylon which followed after it. Three lessons the king learns: the land is Jehovah's, and He will defend it; his life is from Him, and He will restore it; his wealth and family are His, and He will dispose of them. That Hezekiah was not the king of chapter 32 was apparent; nevertheless, many of the circumstances of that day will be found analogous to those of the future; so, whilst the prophet was writing about the future, Hezekiah and his men could receive instruction from it for the time then present. Alliance with Egypt, and a means of defense from the overflowing scourge by a confederacy, were topics which occupied men's thoughts then, as they will at a future day. There was enough of resemblance in the circumstances to afford present light and counsel for the king and the nation; but there was enough of difference in what the prophet disclosed, to show men that he spoke of a time which earth had not then witnessed. But this incorporation of the history of his own time with prophecy served another purpose, namely, to furnish his readers with an introduction to the second part of the book, explaining the connection between Jerusalem and Babylon, from which the captives must return, ere God's judgment on the Assyrian can take place.
Judgment, and the way of its execution, formed the chief burdens of the first part; return from Babylon, and final rest in their land for the remnant, with God’s dealings with them is brought out in the second. Divided into three sections as noticed above, the first (chaps, 40-48.) is chiefly taken up with God's purposes toward Israel of blessing, and His judgment on Babylon carried out by Cyrus. In chapter 40 as is so common, we have a glance at the future, looking on from the day of John the Baptist to the full development of God's plans, when Jerusalem shall know peace, because her warfare is accomplished, her iniquity is pardoned; for, in fulfillment of God's word by Jeremiah (chap. 16: 18), she will have received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins. (Chap. 40: 2.) To execute judgment in the land of Israel is God's strange work (chap, 28: 21), to bless His people is indeed the joy of His heart. How clearly this is exemplified in the language and spirit of the predictions, which announce God's goodness to His people: “Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people, saith your God.” Surely to the people these words will come with peculiar sweetness, “comfort ye, comfort ye.” Their trouble and distress then He had known, and would now comfort them. “My people” He here calls them. Then He has reinstated them into His favor, who had to disown them for their sins. (Hos. 1; 2.) Addressed thus by their God, who He is set before them, the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, who fainteth not neither is weary, there is no searching of His understanding. (Chap. 40: 28.) How different is He from all the idols of human device!
With this introduction, turning the eyes of the people thus addressed to Jehovah, two persons are mentioned, by whom God's purposes about His people shall be carried out—Cyrus and the Lord Jesus, God's servant (chap. 12-13: 16), the former would begin the work of their restoration, the latter would definitely complete it. To this announcement all people are called to be attentive: God would raise up a man from the east, righteousness would call him to its foot, give nations before him, and make him rule over kings. The effect on the nation is seen at once. They turn to their idols for help, whilst Israel is exhorted to put confidence in Jehovah. (Chap. 41: 5 -14.) But this announcement regarding Cyrus, before Babylon had reached the acme of its glory, evidenced that the Lord who made it was indeed the true God, for He it is who “first said to Zion, Behold, behold them.” Cyrus thus introduced, the servant of Jehovah, the Lord Jesus, is also announced, by whom all God's mind will be effected as regards Israel and the Gentiles, hence praise and joyfulness is called for. (Chap. 13: 10-12.) But what was Israel on whose behalf such mighty intervention would take place? The prophet tells them. (Chaps, 13: 13-44: 28.) Their past ways are recounted, and God's goodness and grace to be enjoyed at a future time are predicted. Blind and deaf when they ought to have been obedient and hearkening to His word, forgiveness of sins they shall know through His grace, (chap, 43: 25), and the outpouring of the Holy Ghost Jacob's seed shall enjoy (chap. 44: 3); for Israel is God's servant, whom He will never forget. Hence praise is again called for, but this time from both heaven and earth, for creation has a deep interest in the fulfillment of the promises to Israel. (Chap. 44: 23.) Edom speaking of Cyrus the prophet turns to address him directly, and that by name, though yet unborn. A Gentile should be God's instrument for letting go from captivity His people Israel. By His own arm had the Lord brought them up out of Egypt; by the decree of Cyrus should they be at liberty to return to Jerusalem from Babylon. That predicted, just before God's judgment on the idols of Babylon is announced, and their inanity set forth, (chap, 46.), and the humiliation of the haughty capital described (chap, 47.), we learn that Gentiles can and shall be blessed, when all God's word about Israel shall be fulfilled. (Chap, 45: 22-24.) But this coming in at the tail of the list of blessings Israel will enjoy, is in character by its place in this section, with the subordinate position of Gentiles to the favored people at that time, so different to that which believers from the nations now know is theirs through grace. With a word of warning to Israel, for there is no peace, saith the Lord, for the wicked, the section closes. (Chap, 48.)
Thus the return from Babylon has a place in God's dealings with His people, little perhaps understood. It was the first break in the trouble which had enveloped them on account of their sins. The presence of the Assyrian in the land in the prophet's day attested the commencement of that time of trouble, which shall not terminate till the Lord returns in power to earth. The return from Babylon, under Cyrus, was the first link in that chain of events, which will culminate in their final deliverance, when Jerusalem shall become a praise in the earth. This explains the apparently abrupt introduction of the Lord as God's servant in chapter xiii., following so close after the mention of Cyrus, and his work on Israel's behalf. It explains too the fact, that nowhere else in this section have we the Lord Jesus borne witness of; for the prophet, led by the Spirit of God, would point out the connection between the first and the final restoration, and thus brings them into juxtaposition, as one writing before the Babylonish captivity could best do, an abiding witness that prophecy is a vast scheme in the mind of Him, who sees the end from the beginning, and from ancient time was marshalling events with special reference to the ultimate development of His counsels. We are to look on therefore from Cyrus to the Lord Jesus Christ, and to understand the part in God's counsels which the former had to play, or he was not a conqueror relenting, and letting go the captives he had made; but a conqueror overcoming the captor, and setting free the prisoners carried away, an action akin somewhat in character to that which the Lord Jesus will perform. But Cyrus could only commence the work. He issued the decree about the rebuilding of the house, which Darius was destined to see completed. The Lord Jesus will Himself accomplish God's counsels. He has no successor on the throne, by whom the finishing stroke can be given to the work which He has to do.
From chapters 49-57 a new scene presents itself. The birth of Messiah and the character of His reign we have read of in chapters 7-9 and 11. Between those two dates a great space intervenes, which in part is now to be filled up with the description of the Messiah's walk on earth as God's servant, His death by which all that we have read of can be established, and the blessings which will flow out far and wide, when God deals with Jews and Gentiles in grace. Israel, God's servant, by whom He will be glorified having failed in obedience, another comes on the scene who is perfect, and is obedient even to death, the death of the cross, the arm of Jehovah, bared on Israel's behalf in Egypt, but crucified in weakness, having been first rejected by His own. Like chapters 1 and 40 we have in 49 an outline to be filled up afterward in detail. The Lord's presence on earth witnessed of Israel's past failure, and tested their spiritual condition. He labored in vain, and spent His strength for naught and in vain as far as the nation was concerned. Results then of worldwide importance, and of everlasting significance should be produced. Gentiles should be blest during the day of Israel's unbelief, and finally Israel brought in, Jerusalem be seen in her glory, and the shame of her widowhood be forever put away. The results of His work, stated in chapter 49., His behavior and the treatment He received, we learn about in chapter 1. His presence in Israel separated the remnant from the rest of the nation, the earnest of that which will be yet found amongst them. (Chap. 1. 10.) These latter are addressed in chapter 51, and Jerusalem is addressed in answer to their cry to the arm of Jehovah in terms of gladness and promise. (Chaps, 51-52: 12.) Then follows the mention of the Lord's return to the astonishment of the kings of the earth, (chap. 52: 13-15), which will draw forth from the remnant of the future day their confession about His humiliation and death (chap, 53), so productive of grace to Jerusalem (chap, 54.), and grace to all (chap, 5.), even to those who under the law were made to feel keenly their position, the eunuch and the stranger. (Chap. 56: 1-8.) Thus carried on to the day of Jerusalem's joy, we read of God's charge against the wicked portion of the nation. Their sin in worshipping idols is stated, their alienation of heart from Him in going to the king—Antichrist is brought out to them, and the class of people who will dwell with God is pointed out. For them, the humble and contrite ones, the Gentiles shall make plain their way, (chap. 57: 14), but for the wicked, ever restless in wickedness, like the troubled sea, there will be no peace. (Chaps, 56: 9-57: 21.)
Two or three points in this section (chaps, 49-57.), should be more particularly noticed. The Lord's life in humiliation is brought prominently and somewhat in detail before us, and results which affect the nations are disclosed to us, both illustrative of the orderly arrangement of the book such as a master mind might be expected to ensure. For, as in the first section of part 1, we had predicted the commencement of God's judgment against the house of David, and in the first section of part 2, we could trace the first rays of light as regards Israel's position, the harbinger of the dawn of that day of coming full deliverance for the nation; so in the second section of part 1, we read of judgments which were to fall upon the nations around and in the land, and here in the second section of part 2, we learn how grace will flow out to those who are not of the seed of Abraham according to the flesh. Carrying on the thoughts of an orderly arrangement of the different portion of the book we may remark, that, as the third section of part 1, is concerned with the political condition of the remnant of the last days, so the corresponding section of part 2, tells of their moral condition, during the closing days of divine forbearance with the national apostasy.
In this section, however, the existence of a godly remnant is distinctly notified (chaps. 50:10,11; 51:l—8, 53; 57: 15), in the midst of their own kindred, but morally separated from them, thus marking off the subject of which this section speaks from that which the previous section took up. There God's purposes about the nation are set fully, here the remnant is met with, in whose persons those purposes will be fulfilled; and as a remnant was first separated from their brethren historically by the labors of John and the Lord Jesus (for it is the testimony about Christ which attracts the sheep to the shepherd of the flock) we have them as distinct from the rest of the nation in this section, which sets forth the Lord as personally present in Israel, though the means used to gather them in the last days is described to us elsewhere. Now the remnant of Israel form part of the church, then they will be a separated class morally in Israel. This explains the difference of language in chapter 57: 21, from that in chapter 48: 22. In the latter addressing the people in words of warning, the nation in covenant relationship with God, the term “Jehovah” which expresses that is used; but in chapter 57: 21, where the ungodly part of the nation is denounced, the worshipping of idols and adherents of Antichrist, the term “God” not “Jehovah” is employed by the prophet. To them God could speak of no covenanted blessings, who had deliberately turned their backs upon Him. Besides the existence of the remnant we learn what will be the position of the godly Gentiles, enjoying blessing at the same time as Israel, subordinate to the people of God, but sharing in the favors which will be dispensed by the Lord Jesus then present on earth.
To the closing section of the book (chaps. 58-66.) we must now turn. The thoughts of the latter day remnant about the cross mentioned in chapter 53, we read now of the means employed to call out the remnant from the mass of the nation. (Chap. 58-59.) The nation's sins pointed out, their consciences are touched, and they confess that the indictment is true, their then condition is the result of national unfaithfulness. Thus responding to God's dealings with them, the Redeemer's return to Zion, and the Lord's Spirit to be with the faithful in Israel, are promised. (Chap. 59: 20, 21.) Then as the consequence of the Redeemer's return we have a description of the glory of Jerusalem (chap. 60.), and the connection between the heavenly and earthly city is hinted at, providing for an undimmed and constant light to shine on the city below through the jasper walls of the city above. (Compare chap. 60: 19, 20, with Rev. 21:11-2411Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal; 12And had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel: 13On the east three gates; on the north three gates; on the south three gates; and on the west three gates. 14And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. 15And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof. 16And the city lieth foursquare, and the length is as large as the breadth: and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs. The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal. 17And he measured the wall thereof, an hundred and forty and four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel. 18And the building of the wall of it was of jasper: and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass. 19And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald; 20The fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst. 21And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; every several gate was of one pearl: and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass. 22And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. 23And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. 24And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honor into it. (Revelation 21:11‑24).) But how can this consummation ever be effected? Was not the description of Jerusalem in chapter 1: 21, a true one? It was. But the ministry of Christ personally, and by His servants, will be found to have produced fruit, so that the people of Jerusalem shall be all righteous. (Chap. 60: 21.) That ministry is next described. It began when the Lord was on earth, but ends not in spirit till He can proclaim the day of vengeance of our God. Absent personally from earth, He will intercede for Zion, and will set watchmen on her walls, with hearts, full of longing for the fulfillment of Israel's hopes, constantly poured out in prayer before God. (Chap. 61-62.) When on earth He sent out a mission to Israel, which will not have finished its work, till He returns a conqueror to proclaim God's day of vengeance, and the year of recompences for the controversy of Zion. This explains the mention of the Lord's personal ministry in Israel in this section rather than in the former one. Had we been permitted to arrange the book according to man's thoughts, should we not have inserted the opening verses of chapter 61 either in chapter 49 or in chapter 50? But the Holy Ghost has inserted them in the former place, to point out the connection between His ministry in humiliation and the future grand results, after that the remnant, repentant and converted, shall desire His return to earth, who is the Jehovah, whose mighty works their fathers had witnessed, and God's word has recorded. (Chaps, 63: 15-64: 12.) Historically the cry of the remnant in chapter 64 will precede the Lord's return of chapter 63, when (none of the nations being with Him) He will act alone on Israel's behalf; but His victory and Israel's prayer both flow from the intercession of chapter 62.
But why this long interval between the day when those words of chapter 61 were declared in the synagogue at Nazareth to be fulfilled, and the gathering out of the remnant of the latter day? Was the truth so difficult of comprehension, or could it need such an age to germinate? Ah no. Hardness of heart, not obscurity of the truth, hindered their reception of it, for Gentiles during this interval have heard and received with gladness what the nation generally has rejected. “I am sought of them that asked not for me, I am found of them that sought me not. I said, Behold me, behold me, unto a nation that was not called by my name. I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people, which walketh in a way that was not good, after their own thoughts.” (Chap. 65:1, 2.) These are the words of the Lord, telling of the Gentiles receiving Him, and of His patience toward the nation that He redeemed out of Egypt. What remains then for them who reject such grace but judgment, and that final? So the book ends with the destruction of the ungodly, and the blessing of the faithful remnant in Israel, the pleading with all flesh by fire and sword, the assembling of all nations to see Jehovah's glory, declared, as displayed in judgment, by those of the nations who escape His wrath, and the final doom of the transgressors. (Chap, 66.)
Thus we are led on to the day of the Lord of which other prophets have also written; but Isaiah, differing from all his Old Testament compeers, not only speaks of its dawn, but looks on also to its close, as he mentions the new heavens and the new earth which God will make, after that the Lord shall have vindicated by judgment, executed on the wicked dead, God's authority, so long and so openly set at naught in this scene through which we are moving. (Chap. 66: 22.) A condition of happiness and a righteous rule, unenjoyed, and unknown since man first trod this earth, will, when the Lord reigns, be the portion of Jerusalem and of her people. (Chap. 65: 17-19.) A moral change will be effected when the Lord appears on His people's behalf, and a physical change after the close of the millennium: the former (65.) speaks of, the latter (66.) just notices. That the former refers to millennial days the context makes plain (chap. 65: 14-25), and hence as a moral change, introducing an era of blessing never yet witnessed, we find the term create applied to it. Whereas, where the physical change is noticed, for 2 Peter 3:1313Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. (2 Peter 3:13) affirms it had been previously predicted (and nowhere else in the Old Testament certainly is there any mention of it), we meet with the word make, in perfect harmony with Gen. 2:22And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. (Genesis 2:2); Ex. 20:1111For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. (Exodus 20:11); Rev. 21:5,5And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful. (Revelation 21:5) where physical changes on this globe and its circumambient atmosphere, both past and future, are similarly described.
Looking on then to the new heavens and the new earth, we cast our eyes across all the changes this universe will witness, till the changeless state shall begin, that time of which God alone has spoken, when the restless activity of men shall cease, and the calming quiet of a settled and everlasting order of things shall commence. Blessed, unspeakably blessed, is this prospect for all who shall share in it, landed, as they will be then, from the troubled sea of shifting circumstances upon the terra firma of an immutable and holy condition. “As the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, so shall your seed and your name remain,” is God's last promise by Isaiah to His people Israel. The assembling of all flesh from month to month, and week to week, to worship before Jehovah, is the prophet's last statement about men on earth, whilst the carcases of transgressors unburied, to be seen by those who are obedient to God's word, tells its tale of God's holiness and judgment upon sinners, of which the day of the Lord will bear witness. But the prophet stops not here, for lifting up just the corner, as it were, of the curtain, which hides the other world from our view, he tells us of the eternal condition in misery of those, whose carcases shall lie unburied upon earth; “for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched.” (Chap. 66: 24.)
Thus, starting from the Assyrian of his own day, when the throne of David was standing, Isaiah predicted the judgments to fall on his people and on the nations around them, announced the name of the sovereign by whose decree the Babylonish captivity should terminate, and told of the ministry of John the Baptist, and of the miraculous birth, and the life, labors, and death of the Lord, of all of which we know the fulfillment. Passing on beyond the interval of time, when the church is present on earth, just touching it as it were with the point of his pen (chap. 65:1, 2), he looks on to the nation's restoration to Canaan, and the trials to which the Jews will be subjected, to be terminated by the personal presence of the rejected Lord in power, when the believing remnant shall have been called out to desire His return. Then going on to the day of the Lord, he sings of Jerusalem's glory, discriminates between the portion of Israel and that of the Gentiles in the millennium, tells of the punishment of the wicked, and of God's purpose about heaven and earth, and, with his closing words, would impress on all his readers the permanent nature of that judgment, which awaits the transgressors against the Lord.