CHAPTER 1

(760 B.C.)

INTRODUCTION

¹The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. (Isaiah was a contemporary of Jonah, Amos, Hosea, and Micah. It is thought that he began to preach at about 15 years of age and died at about 85. Tradition says that Manasseh placed Isaiah in a hollow log and cut him in two [Heb. 11:37]. This great Book which bears his name was written about 800 years before Christ.

His Prophecies covered the entire or the partial reign of some four kings, as listed in the Text. [Every message was primarily related to Judah, Jerusalem, or to the Jews and their Holy City.]

He is called the Millennial Prophet, having given more Prophecies concerning that coming grand day than any other Prophet. As well, he was quoted by Christ more than any other Prophet.

Of the four kings under whom Isaiah prophesied, Hezekiah was the Godliest.)

GODS CASE AGAINST JUDAH

²Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O Earth: for the LORD has spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against Me. (In this Verse, all nature is invoked to hear Jehovah make complaint of the ingratitude of His People. The invocation is cast in the same form which is so common in Deuteronomy [Deut. 4:26; 30:19; 31:28; 32:1] and seems to indicate familiarity with that Book.

To step out of the Song of Solomon into Isaiah is to pass from sunshine to shadow. The love that exults in the one laments in the other.

Actually, Isaiah is not the One actually speaking here, but rather Jehovah. The Prophet is only His mouthpiece.)

³The ox knows his owner, and the ass his masters crib: but Israel does not know, My People do not consider. (The meaning of this Verse seems to be, My People do not consider Me, do not reflect on My relation to them as Lord and Master.)

⁴Ah sinful nation, a people laden with in iquity, a seed of evildoers, children who are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward. (According to Isaiah, holiness is the most essential element of Gods nature; hence, he would call Him the Holy One of Israel.

In their forsaking the Lord, Judah did not renounce His worship, but actually continued it; however, it was reduced to a mere formality. The people honored Him with their lips, while their hearts were far from Him [Isa. 29:13].)

⁵Why should you be stricken anymore? you will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.

⁶From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment. (The statement of Verses 5 and 6 not only describes moral character, or rather the lack thereof, but also the severity of future just but unavailing punishment. Israel refused to repent notwithstanding such punishment.

The head and heart of Israel respectively represented the intellectual and moral natures. Israel had turned away from God in both her mind and heart.

The deadly bruises and sores of Israel, while but a spiritual analogy, still, could not be cured by anything except the Lord.)

⁷Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire: your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers.

⁸And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city. (The descriptions given in these two Verses were literally fulfilled about 175 years after this stern prediction; however, a prelude to its destruction by Babylon was rendered by the Edomites and the Philistines, who invaded Judea in the time of Ahaz [II Chron. 28:17-18].)

A CALL TO REPENTANCE

⁹Except the LORD of Hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah. (In a sense, there were always two Israels. There was the remnant which served the Lord, and which was always very small; and the balance of Israel, which rebelled against the Lord. It is the same in the modern Church; consequently, every blessing experienced by Israel, whatever it may have been, was because of that small remnant. Once again, it is the same in the modern Church.)

¹⁰Hear the Word of the LORD, you rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the Law of our God, you people of Gomorrah. (The Holy Spirit likens Israel to Sodom and Gomorrah. However, the people will meet the Prophecy of Isaiah with an appeal to the fact that they maintain all the outward ordinances of religion as required by the Law, and are, therefore, blameless. In response to this, the Prophet denounces such a pretense of religion as an aggravation of their sin, and then characterizes their whole worship as an abomination.)

¹¹To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto Me? says the LORD: I am full of the Burnt Offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats. (The very worship which God Himself had commanded was debased by them and became an abomination in His Sight, because they looked to the ceremony instead of what the ceremony represented, namely, Jesus Christ and Him Crucified.)

¹²When you come to appear before Me, who has required this at your hand, to tread My Courts? (The Lord required more than mere bodily attendance and a trampling of His Courts with their feet, when their hearts were far from Him.)

¹³Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto Me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. (All the religious activity, which in fact was genuine and actually God-given, still, was emptied of all its significance and became hateful to God a mere form; consequently, it was, as stated, an abomination.)

¹⁴Your new moons and your appointed feasts My soul hates: they are a trouble unto Me; I am weary to bear them. (The Hebrew word for weary is laah, which means to be disgusted, grieved, loathe.)

¹⁵And when you spread forth your hands, I will hide My eyes from you: yes, when you make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood. (If their hands had been spread forth with a broken heart and with Repentance, the Lord would not have hidden His Eyes.)

GODS DEMANDS

¹⁶Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes; cease to do evil (sin defiles, hence the need for a spiritual washing; defilement has always been felt by men universally wherever there has been any sense of sin; only the Blood of Jesus Christ, which in fact was symbolized by the animal sacrifices, can take away sin; however, Israel did not trust in what the sacrifices represented, but rather the ceremony itself, which God could never tolerate);

¹⁷Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. (The idea is, if a person is truly right with God, they will also treat their fellow man right.)

¹⁸Come now, and let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. (There is no greater invitation found in the Bible than this one given by the Holy Spirit through the Prophet Isaiah.

In this Passage, sins are spoken of as scarlet. Such has a reference to blood-guiltiness. All sin is murder in some form, hence the blood-guiltiness.

This glorious Passage illustrates to us the eternal Truth that irrespective of the evil, wickedness, deception, and weight of sin, the Lord stands ready, upon proper confession and Repentance, to forgive all and, therefore, to cleanse all. As stated, this is done exclusively by Faith in Christ and His shed Blood [Eph. 2:13-18].)

¹⁹If you be willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land:

²⁰But if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the LORD has spoken it. (This means, If you consent in your wills and are also obedient in your actions.

The eating of the good of the land refers to blessing and Satans not devouring the increase.

The idea is that God controls all. If we obey Him, blessing will be ours. If we do not obey Him, He will allow enemies to come in and devour with a sword.)

²¹How is the faithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers. (The word judgment does not refer here to the negative, but rather to the positive. It spoke of right doing and doing right which could only come from the Lord.

Jerusalem is not called here an idolatress, but rather one who has left her first love and turned to other attractions. Faithful once to her Lord, she has now cast Him off she is as an adulterous wife; she no longer obeys or loves her husband.

This is identical to the modern Christian who makes something other than the Cross of Christ the object of his faith. The Holy Spirit through Paul referred to such as spiritual adulterers [Rom. 7:1-4].)

²²Your silver is become dross, your wine mixed with water (this means that the great men of Israel had deteriorated):

²³Your princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves: everyone loves gifts, and follows after rewards: they judge not the fatherless, neither does the cause of the widow come unto them. (Gifts mean bribes. Gods Love perpetually appears throughout the Bible in indignant denunciation of injustice and hardness of heart toward the widow and fatherless.)

PROMISED RESTORATION

²⁴Therefore says the Lord, the LORD of Hosts, the Mighty One of Israel, Ah, I will ease Me of My adversaries, and avenge Me of My enemies (the title, Mighty One of Israel, is peculiar to Isaiah; Verses 24 through 27 speak of the day, which is even yet to come, when Israel will be completely restored; it is the coming Kingdom Age):

²⁵And I will turn My Hand upon you, and purely purge away your dross, and take away all your sin (this Promise has to do with the Prophecy of Zechariah [Zech. 12:10]; it will take place at the Second Coming):

²⁶And I will restore your judges as at the first, and your counsellors as at the beginning: afterward you shall be called, The city of righteousness, the faithful city. (The Lord is promising to bring back the time when the nation will renew its first love and be as it was in the days of David and the early days of Solomon. As stated, this will take place at the Second Coming, when Israel will then accept Christ as Saviour and Lord. However, it cannot happen until Jesus is accepted.)

²⁷Zion shall be redeemed with judgment, and her converts with righteousness. (Jerusalem and Zion are the names of the only city that God has promised to redeem and to make His eternal, earthly capital. This will take place at the Second Advent of Christ.)

JUDAHS JUDGMENT

²⁸And the destruction of the transgressors and of the sinners shall be together, and they who forsake the LORD shall be consumed. (This Passage, among many others, completely refutes the doctrine of Unconditional Eternal Security. This clearly refers to those who no longer have faith in the Lord, thereby rejecting Him, and doing so to the point of being destroyed. Men are warned not to forsake God [Deut. 12:19; 14:27].)

²⁹For they shall be ashamed of the oaks which you have desired, and you shall be confounded for the gardens that you have chosen. (The reference in Verses 29 through 31 is to idolatry. It is figured by oaks and gardens. The garden probably was an imitation of the Garden of Eden, and the oak, of the Tree of Life.)

³⁰For you shall be as an oak whose leaf fades, and as a garden that has no water. (This is to be contrasted with the godly, whose leaf shall not wither [Ps. 1:3].)

³¹And the strong shall be as tow, and the maker of it as a spark, and they shall both burn together, and none shall quench them. (Tow referred to the fiber of flax or hemp, which had the idea of being fragile.

The word maker refers to the makers of pillars, or Asherahs, as idols.

This Verse speaks of eternal Hell, where all who rebel against God shall go [Ps. 9:17].)