As one of the Bible’s four major prophets, Isaiah is most remembered for his prophecies of Jesus Christ in the last 27 chapters of the book that carries his name.
The Revs. Aaron Shipman, Jay Armstrong and Jorge Romero say Isaiah was a humble man emboldened by the hand of God.
The Rev. Shipman, pastor of Bible Baptist Church, said there is a compelling symmetry in the book, which has 66 chapters while the Bible has the same number of books. “The amazing thing to me is that it’s set up just like the Bible,” he said.
“The Old Testament has 39 books and the first 39 chapters of Isaiah are all about the Old Testament,” he said. “The New Testament has 27 books and the last 27 chapters of Isaiah are his prophecies of the Messiah. He lets us know that the Bible is God-breathed. God put it all together and it is just one more proof that the Word of God is true.”
Having lived during the Eighth and Seventh centuries B.C., Isaiah is considered a major prophet along with Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel. The core of the Messianic prophecies, Chapter 53 of the Book of Isaiah, is quoted 85 times in the New Testament.
“He was a humble man who recognized that the sin of Israel and his own sin were before God,” Shipman said. “Chapter Six, where he sees the Lord seated on his throne in the temple and the temple fills with smoke and shakes, is just a great description of a man who was humble and wanted the hand of God on his life.
“God asks, ‘Whom shall I send and who will go for us?’ And Isaiah answers, ‘Here am I, send me!’”
Shipman said Jesus often quoted Isaiah “because he prophecies the coming of Jesus and talks about Jesus’s death, burial and resurrection.
“Long before the time of Christ, he explained everything that would happen and we rely on that,” he said. “Without Christ’s death, burial and resurrection, we don’t have a purpose. There is no hope.”
It’s often noted that the book coined phrases that became universally known like “Beat their swords into plowshares” (2:4) and “A voice calling in the wilderness” (40:3)
According to Biblestudytools.com, “The beauty of Isaiah’s poetry is unsurpassed in the Old Testament.
“The poetry is indeed rich and varied, as is the vocabulary of the prophet, who uses a larger vocabulary of Hebrew words than any other OT writer.”
The Rev. Armstrong, pastor of the First United Methodist Church, said the Book of Isaiah “was a large piece” of the Dead Sea Scrolls that was unearthed in the Qumran Caves in the Judean Desert in 1946-47.
“It includes whole passages about the suffering servant and it gives us a good idea of what success looks like in the eyes of God as compared to the eyes of the world,” Armstrong said. “For the people of Israel, that would be being that light on the hill that calls people into the relationship with the God of creation that leads to their reward.
“Most of the prophets were intense and people saw them as being judgmental rather than simply speaking the truth. As Christians, we look into Isaiah and see the foretelling of what happens in the New Testament. He gives us the bad news up front and then at the end reminds us that God is still faithful and there is an oasis for those who pass through the struggle.
“Jeremiah does give hope that the people of Israel will be restored, but Isaiah contains more of the total picture of what God has planned in the future for the whole world and all creation,” Armstrong said.
The Rev. Romero said Isaiah’s message about Jesus is amazing given that he lived 700 years before Christ. “It took a lot of courage to write with such confidence about what was yet to come,” said the pastor of The Gathering Church in Midland.
“The only possible answer is that he was truly inspired by the Holy Spirit because the chance of that happening with such accuracy was minimal. In fact, I believe that prophecy has not been fulfilled with such accuracy in any other religious book.”
Romero said Isaiah “was a man of faith and courage who stood up and spoke even if people rejected him.
“Jesus didn’t just throw the Old Testament away,” he said. “In fact, he quoted it to give us understanding that all Scripture is God-breathed and that he can reassure our faith in a God who doesn’t hide from us but is willing to reveal himself to us.
“It’s a big book that emphasizes salvation as a constant calling to be saved. Then he tells us how we will be saved and points us to the Savior.”
