Isaiah the Prophet His Glorious Epiphanies: A Bible Commentary Chapters 1-39

By Dr. Oliver L. Johnson Jr.

What is an epiphany but a sudden, intuitive perception of or insight into reality or essential meaning of something, usually initiated by a simple homely, a commonplace occurrence or human experience? The experience that Isaiah would come to know was that of God Almighty who chose him to prophecy against the nation of Israel and the gentile world that He is God and that there is no other deity that exists. Isaiahs prophecy would not only touch Israel, but the gentile world at large. This book gives the reader insight into how God works through people and nations to bring about His will given through His Old Testament prophets and now through His Word today outlined in the greatest book ever written (the Bible). May the reader of this book receive a blessing that he or she will cherish for life!

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Feb 24, 2015
• ISBN: 9781496970992

Dr. Oliver L. Johnson Jr.

Dr. Oliver L. Johnson Jr. was born in Tuscaloosa Alabama to Mr. and Mrs. Oliver L. Johnson Sr. He graduated from Holt High School in 1972 and entered the United States Air Force soon afterwards. He spent 24 years serving his country traveling all over the world from Germany, Italy, South Korea and Honduras just to name a few of his assignments. After completion of his military service, he attended the University of Texas at San Antonio in pursuit of a business degree but God would tap him on the shoulders and show him his true calling and that was to preach, teach and write about biblical principles outlined in the greatest book ever written (the Bible). In some instances, the Bible can be hard to understand but through Dr. Johnson’s training and education, he has been able to tell God’s story so others can understand the most complex scriptures allowing them to learn and comprehend for themselves as well as teach others what thus saith the Lord! Dr. Johnson attended Andersonville Theological Seminary where he attained a Doctorate of Ministry degree graduating Suma Cum Laude. Afterwards, he attended Newburg Theological Seminary and graduated again Suma Cum Laude with a PHD in Biblical Studies. He has written seven other bible commentaries that are free to read and download on his website at:oljchristianenterprises.com. This book…is the third book he has written; the others are: “Jesus Christ and the Rapture” and “The Gospel of Mark a Bible Commentary”, which can be procured from Amazon.com along with this particular book as well

Book preview

© 2015 Dr. Oliver L. Johnson Jr. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 02/23/2015

ISBN: 978-1-4969-7098-5 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4969-7099-2 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2015902590

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Contents

Acknowledgment

About the Author

Introduction

Chapter 1, Restoration by Repentance

Chapter 2, The Mountain of God and Judgments of Judah and Jerusalem, Isaiah 2-4

Chapter 3, The Song of the Vineyard, Isaiah 5

Chapter 4, The Called, Cleansed and Commissioned, Isaiah 6- 8

Chapter 5, Punishment Necessitated Through Proxy

Chapter 6, The Response by the Remnant, Isaiah 12

Chapter 7, Isaiah 13-14, Prophecies Against the Heathen Nations

Chapter 8, Prophecies Against Moab and Damascus, Isaiah 15-17

Chapter 9, Prophecies Against Egypt and Cush, Isaiah 18-20

Chapter 10, The Burdens of Babylon, Edom and Arabia, Isaiah 21-23

Chapter 11, The Little Apocalypse, Isaiah 24-27

Chapter 12, Isaiah 25-26, Praises to the Lord

Chapter 13, Isaiah 27, Prophecies of Israel’s Deliverance

Chapter 14, Woe Against the Nations, Isaiah 28-31

Chapter 15, Righteous, Distress and Help Isaiah 32-33

Chapter 16, Judgment and Redemption of the Nations Isaiah 34-35

Chapter 17, Isaiah 35, The Blessings of the Millennial Redeemed

Chapter 18, Isaiah 36-39, King Hezekiah and King Sennacherib

Conclusion

All rights reserved solely by the author. The author guarantees all contents are original and do not infringe upon the legal rights of any other person or work. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without the permission of the author. The views expressed in this book are not necessarily those of the publisher.

Scripture quotations marked KJV are from the Holy Bible, King James Version (Authorized Version). First published in 1611. Quoted from the KJV Classic Reference Bible, Copyright © 1983 by The Zondervan Corporation

Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved. [Biblica]

Acknowledgment

I’d like to take this time to acknowledge God Almighty for first saving my life for without Him, I would not be here. It was through Him that I was able to go to school and complete seminary and it was He who gave me the ideas and fortitude to complete this book and it was He who showed me my true calling in life. I’d like to thank my darling wife Valerie who supported me every step of the way and who was my editor in chief. I’d like to thank my children whom I love very much: Kashana Warner, Anthony Johnson, Maurice Johnson, Jasmine Burditt and my baby girl Gabriel Johnson. I’d like to thank the members of my church (Bulverde Baptist Church) who have shown my family and I much love and respect for these are truly God fearing people who love the Lord. Special thanks to my mother and father who taught me to worship the Lord and have gone on to live with the Heavenly Father.

About the Author

D r. Oliver L. Johnson Jr. was born in Tuscaloosa Alabama to Mr. and Mrs.

Oliver L. Johnson Sr. He graduated from Holt High School in 1972 and entered the United States Air Force soon afterwards. He spent 24 years serving his country traveling all over the world from Germany, Italy, South Korea and Honduras just to name a few of his assignments. After completion of his military service, he attended the University of Texas at San Antonio in pursuit of a business degree but God would tap him on the shoulders and show him his true calling and that was to preach, teach and write about biblical principles outlined in the greatest book ever written (the Bible).

In some instances, the Bible can be hard to understand but through Dr. Johnson’s training and education, he has been able to tell God’s story so others can understand the most complex scriptures allowing them to learn and comprehend for themselves as well as teach others what thus saith the Lord!

Dr. Johnson attended Andersonville Theological Seminary where he attained a Doctorate of Ministry degree graduating Suma Cum Laude. Afterwards, he attended Newburg Theological Seminary and graduated again Suma Cum Laude with a PHD in Biblical Studies. He has written seven other bible commentaries that are free to read and download on his website at:oljchristianenterprises.com.

This book…is the third book he has written; the others are: Jesus Christ and the Rapture and The Gospel of Mark a Bible Commentary.

Macintosh HD:Users:oliverjohnson:Desktop:FAMILYPHOTOS:20140928_111709 (1).jpg

Introduction

Isaiah has 1,292 verses and over 37000 words so I cannot read every single verse of this great book, but as we go along, I will attempt to give you hopefully a good understanding of the book so that it will be both a blessing to you and your ministry.

Isaiah was born during the reign of king Uzziah and it was in the last years of this great monarch’s life that Isaiah received the call to the prophetic office. Uzziah’s character was generally acknowledged to be very noble and in every way he showed a spirit of honor for the things of God, yet in his later years he suffered from leprosy due in part to an act of great pride. During his reign the nation as a whole enjoyed times of prosperity and temporal development. The whole nation mourned Uzziah’s passing from the scene at a time when his presence seemed needed the most. Under his rule, the worship of Jehovah was encouraged, but Uzziah was not strong enough to secure the destruction of the high places where idolatrous practices were continued. Why was Uzziah struck with leprosy? He was a proud man with an arrogant heart and his destruction was a result of his transgression against the LORD by entering the temple of the LORD to burn incense on the altar which was suppose to be done only by the priest. Uzziah desired to be both a king and a priest but that role would only be served by Jesus Christ. 2 Chronicles 17 says, So Azariah the priest went in after him, and with him were eighty priests of the Lord—valiant men. 18 And they withstood King Uzziah, and said to him, It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the Lord, but for the priests, the sons of Aaron, who are consecrated to burn incense. Get out of the sanctuary, for you have trespassed! You shall have no honor from the Lord God. 19 Then Uzziah became furious; and he had a censer in his hand to burn incense. And while he was angry with the priests, leprosy broke out on his forehead, before the priests in the house of the Lord, beside the incense altar. 20 And Azariah the chief priest and all the priests looked at him, and there, on his forehead, he was leprous; so they thrust him out of that place. Indeed he also hurried to get out, because the Lord had struck him. 21 King Uzziah was a leper until the day of his death. He dwelt in an isolated house, because he was a leper; for he was cut off from the house of the Lord. Then Jotham his son was over the king’s house, judging the people of the land (2 Chronicles 26:17-21). The theme in this book is about the judgments as God would render against many nations including the Northern Kingdom of Israel and the Southern Kingdom of Judah.

The book of Isaiah abounds with Messianic prophecies concerning the Messiah’s person, His work, His message, His kingdom and particularly the millennial aspect of His reign. Isaiah predicts the virgin birth of Christ in Isaiah 7:14, a passage that has some controversy and I’ll explain that later. Prophecies of both judgment and redemption occur throughout Isaiah. Chapters 1-12 are prophecies concerning the corruption of Judah, Jerusalem and her inevitable punishment and closing with the millennial promise and the restoration of Israel. Isaiah deals primarily with Israel as a nation while the book of Daniel deals primarily with the times of the gentiles. Chapters 13-23 are prophecies concerning judgments against foreign nations whose activities affected Israel and Judah. Chapters 24 and 27 deal with the apocalypse which prophesizes the tribulation, the judgment upon the nations and millennial reign of Christ. Chapters 25-26 are praises and songs sung to God while chapters 28-34 are prophecies concerning Samaria (the capital of Israel) in relation to Assyria and carries warnings of the fall of Israel and condemns alliances with the nation of Egypt. Chapter 35 concerns the blessings of the millennial redeemed and chapters 36-39 talks about Sennacherib’s invasion, King Hezekiah’s sickness and recovery, and Isaiah’s prophecy of the Babylonian captivity.

The opening chapters describe how Israel was steeped in sin and Isaiah’s ministry attempts to tell Israel that only through her repentance can she avoid the inevitable judgment from God and invites Israel to come and let us reason together. Isaiah’s ministry was in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah who were all kings of Judah. It is generally thought that Isaiah began his ministry towards the end of the reign of Uzziah which was between 790BC and 739BC continuing until shortly after the invasion of Sennacherib (king of Assyria) in 701 BC. His total ministry lasted about 40 years which extended his ministry into the reign of Manasseh the successor to Hezekiah. According to Hebrew tradition, Isaiah suffered martyrdom by being sawed in half during the reign of King Manasseh. Let’s look at Hebrews 11:37-40(NIV): "They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated— 38 the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground. 39 These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. 40 God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect. So even though Isaiah died a horrible death, he was rewarded by God for his prophecy and obedience and sits in heaven today with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Isaiah’s name in the Hebrew language means Yahweh is salvation. The name was not an uncommon one as referenced in 1 Chronicles 25:3, and 1 Chronicles 25:15. Isaiah was the son of Amoz (not to be confused with the prophet Amos). Isaiah was married and according to Isaiah 8:3, his wife was called a prophetess. He had two sons Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz and Shear-Jashub. Isaiah was considered royalty since he had access to the royal courts. According to Chapter 1, Isaiah labored during a time when Judah and Israel were politically and economically prosperous. Under Uzziah, Judah had attained a high degree of prosperity identified in 2 Chronicles 26; but Israel, under Jeroboam II, recovered most of the territory that was subject to King Solomon. 2 Kings 14:27-28(NIV) reads, He was the one who restored the boundaries of Israel from Lebo Hamath to the Sea of the Arabah, in accordance with the word of the LORD, the God of Israel, spoken through his servant Jonah son of Amittai, the prophet from Gath Hepher. 26 The LORD had seen how bitterly everyone in Israel, whether slave or free, was suffering; there was no one to help them. 27 And since the LORD had not said he would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven, he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam son of Jehoash. 28 As for the other events of Jeroboam’s reign, all he did, and his military achievements, including how he recovered for Israel both Damascus and Hamath, which had belonged to Yaudi, are they not written in the book of the annals of the king." The great wealth produced by both the Northern Kingdom of Israel and the Southern Kingdom of Judah produced the usual moral and social evils that resulted in the delineation of religion, pagan worship, committing evil in the sight of the Lord and rebelliousness toward the books of the Law (10 Commandments); all were major factors in the downfall of both kingdoms.

Isaiah’s mission was to rebuke Judah and to get the nation back on track. To understand the historical background of Judah, we need to look at three crises that arose during Isaiah’s ministry. The first crisis was the Cero-Ephromatic war in 734 B.C. where King Rison of Syria and King Pekah of Israel formed a military alliance to oppose Tiglath-Pileser III who was King of Assyria. At that time the nation of Judah was under King Ahaz who for reasons unknown refused to join in the resistance against Assyria. Ahaz appealed to Assyria (the nation he should have been fighting against) for aid in spite of Isaiah’s warning to trust in God for deliverance and to confirm His message, the prophet offered to work any sign that Ahaz desired. Ahaz scoffed at this offer, nevertheless Isaiah gave a sign known as the Emmanuel Prophecy which says in Isaiah 7:14 (NIV), Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Emmanuel (God with us) who was Jesus Christ. Now there are many controversies concerning this particular scripture which we will visit in a later chapter. Tiglath-Pileser captured the Syrian capital of Damascus, killed King Rison and carried the population to Assyria. He invaded Northern Israel, ravaging and carrying off many captives which is known as the Galilean Captivity.

The second crisis that arose during Isaiah’s ministry was the fall of Samaria (the capital of Israel), which took place in 722 BC. After a 20 year reign, King Pekah was assassinated in 732 B.C. by Hoshea who then became the Northern Kingdom of Israel’s last king. Upon the death of Tiglath-Pileser III in 727 BC, Hoshea, being weary of paying heavy tribute to Assyria, turned to Egypt for help but failed in giving its annual tribute to Assyria. The new Assyrian king, Shalmennezer V, invaded Israel and laid siege to Samaria. During this crisis Shalmennezer died and his successor Sargon II continued the siege. Samaria fell to him in 722 BC and resulted in the utter collapse of the Northern Kingdom of Israel and its territories, thus becoming part of the Assyrian empire. After that time, the 10 tribes of Israel disappeared from history for they intermarried with the Assyrians and lost their identity. They became hated as a people by the Southern Kingdom for the children of these unions became the Samaritans, a sort of half-breed nation of people.

The third major crisis under Isaiah’s ministry was the Sennacherib crisis. Sennacherib succeeded his father Sargon II in 705 B.C. and attempted to invade Jerusalem. As we get into Isaiah the Prophet, we will find out how his prophecies and advice would allow Judah to overcome the mighty army of the Assyrian nation, how his prophecies changed the attitudes of the people of Judah and how he tells the world God’s plan for all mankind in his day and for future generations as well.

C hapter 1, Restoration by Repentance

Isaiah1:1

The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Ussiah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

Application

T his verse tells us that Isaiah is the writer of the book and gives us insight to the time period of his prophecy. The bible writers wrote as the Holy Spirit spoke to them and Isaiah only passes the truth that he received from God. This fact separates Isaiah and all the prophets and writers of the bible from the false prophets who did not receive revelations from God but merely spoke from their own imaginations of pagan gods and their own thoughts. Verse 1 talks about the vision of Isaiah. A vision is a dream in which through supernatural insights and awareness are given by supernatural revelation. The difference between a dream and a vision is that dreams occur while an individual is sleeping and a vision can happen while a person is awake as referenced in Daniel 10:7 (NIV) which says, I, Daniel, was the only one who saw the vision; the men with me did not see it, but such terror overwhelmed them that they fled and hid themselves. In the Bible, people who had visions were filled with a special conscienceness of God and those noteworthy bible writers in the Old Testament who received visions were Ezekiel and Daniel. Those who received visions in the New Testament were Luke as he wrote the book of Acts, and the Apostle John when writing the book of Revelation. The purpose of visions was to give guidance and direction to God’s servants and to foretell the future. Let me propose this question. Does God give any new revelation to mankind in dreams today? The answer is no. All of God’s revelation has been written in the 66 books of the Bible, yet God continues to speak to man through various avenues. He can speak to you through other people. He can speak to you as you are sitting in your car. He can speak to you through circumstances in the world itself.

Isaiah 1:2-3

Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the LORD hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me. 3 The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.

Application

N othing is more tragic in life than an unsuccessful upbringing. Children who rebel against their parents for various reasons go on and have problems in life. Some spend their entire lifetimes floundering in the world and never becoming anything in life. If that happens to be you, turn to the Lord Jesus Christ who can turn your life around and do marvelous things in your life. I am a perfect example of that. Examples of wayward children can be found throughout the Bible: Joseph’s brothers who sold him into slavery; Aaron’s sons Nadab and Adahu who offered strange fire to the Lord and were burned to a crisp by God Himself as a result; and King David’s son Absalom who tried to kill his own father to take over the throne of Israel. These examples speak to the fact that God dealt with children who failed despite of their upbringing and I am talking about the nation of Israel as His firstborn adopted sons. The children of Israel were in a covenant relationship with the Lord God during the giving of the Old Testament Law and then they broke that covenant relationship. In the book of Chronicles, the term God the Father is found as often as 30 times. This term translates to the fact that expects fathers to pass down to their children posterity (future events) in those things pertaining to God and His word. He places this emphasis on fathers because they are the head of the family and they are to exercise leadership in carrying out this obligation. However, since so many fathers are now missing in the home, that responsibility now falls on mothers to ensure that their children are properly taught the word of God through Sunday school attendance and individual bible study in the home. Sadly this fact is evidenced in our society and particularly in the black family unit where fathers are so prominently missing in the home. As a result, the number of teenage pregnancies has skyrocketed not only the African American home but also in the Hispanic home. Now this young teenage mother who may not have a guide in raising up her children to know the Lord in a heathen society, may watch her children become drug dealers, alcoholics or gang members and the list goes on and on. This is a sad state of affairs for these children are being left behind in the social-economic ladder of success in American culture. Nevertheless there are a few success stories where strong mothers raise up their children to know the Lord. Those children carry that knowledge into their adult years and pass it on to their children. Amen!

Isaiah 1:3 speaks about the ox and the ass: The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider. The ox is one of the least intelligent animals