
Believed to be the greatest of all Bible prophets, Isaiah declares to God’s people the urgency of the need to repent of their sins and warns of God’s judgment and punishment. In the first half of this book (chapters 1-39) we find Isaiah, whose very name means “the Lord Saves” reminding Israelites that God’s justice does come. What was once true for Israel is also true for us today. Though many are our ways of rebellion such as our unyielding stubbornness, lack of obedience to His will, unclean lips and idols of materialism and entertainment, God still measures out justice, rather than annihilation and complete destruction. He chooses instead to put into place His divine redemptive plan. He restored the Jewish race back to their homeland as “…a light of the nations so that [His] salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”
Isaiah’s favorite expression for God is “the Holy One of Israel.” Isaiah reveals God’s sovereignty from the creation to the cross and even toward a new creation. In the second half of the book of Isaiah (chapters 40-66) Isaiah writes of the hope of God’s promise of forgiveness through the birth, death and resurrection of the suffering Servant, Jesus Christ. During His earthly ministry, Jesus used the words of this great prophet more than any other Old Testament writer to reveal His divine fulfillment. This book also gives us great hope for an eternal peace as God brings forth a new heaven and a new earth as a rich reward to His faithful throughout the centuries of time.