The twenty-third book in the Bible, and first of the Prophetic Books, is the Book of Isaiah. There are seventeen Prophetic Books in all and they make up approximately one quarter of the Bible as a whole.
Isaiah is considered by many to have been the greatest of all the prophets. He served under four different kings of Judah, but became unpopular because of the harshness of his words.
The first 39 chapters in Isaiah tell us of holiness and God's justice (the main theme of the Old Testament as a whole) whilst the last 27 are about God's compassion (the theme of the New Testament). Coincidentally there are 39 books in the Old Testament and 27 in the New Testament.
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Isaiah 7:13-14
"And he said, Hear ye now, O house of David; Is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will ye weary my God also? Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel." Isaiah is of course talking about Jesus. Immanuel means 'God is with us,' as indeed He was in the form of Jesus Christ |
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Isaiah tells us of Christ's birth and also of His second coming when He shall rule the earth.
Isaiah 9:6-7 "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this" |
They used two wings to fly, two wings to cover their feet and two wings to cover their faces.
Isaiah 6:1-4 "In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke" |
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Twelve nations are named and Isaiah tells us what God has in store for them, then, in chapter 24 Isaiah tells us what God says will happen to the whole of the earth.
Isaiah 24:19-20 "The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly. The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again" |
Isaiah tells us how God will destroy all the armies of the earth.
Isaiah 34:1-2 "Come near, ye nations, to hear; and hearken, ye people: let the earth hear, and all that is therein; the world, and all things that come forth of it. For the indignation of the Lord is upon all nations, and his fury upon all their armies: he hath utterly destroyed them, he hath delivered them to the slaughter" |
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Hezekiah was given an extra 15 years of life. He wrote a hymn of thanks after his recovery. The last lines of the hymn are these:
Isaiah 38:17-20 "Behold, for peace I had great bitterness: but thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption: for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back. For the grave cannot praise thee, death can not celebrate thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth. The living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I do this day: the father to the children shall make known thy truth. The Lord was ready to save me: therefore we will sing my songs to the stringed instruments all the days of our life in the house of the Lord" |
God tells us to be good because he is coming soon to rescue us.
Isaiah 56:1-2 "Thus saith the Lord, Keep ye judgment, and do justice: for my salvation is near to come, and my righteousness to be revealed. Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that layeth hold on it; that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and keepeth his hand from doing any evil" |
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The verses tell us of how Jesus' suffering was to atone for our sin.
Isaiah 53:4-6 "Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all" |
God tells us of the wonderful world He will make, where there is no more suffering, prayers are answered before they are spoken and even animals live together in peace.
Isaiah 65:24-25 "They shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth for trouble; for they are the seed of the blessed of the Lord, and their offspring with them. And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear. The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent’s meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the Lord" |
Isaiah 12:2
"Behold, God is my salvation;
I will trust, and not be afraid:
for the Lord JEHOVAH is my strength and my song;
he also is become my salvation"