- All right. This class is Isaiah for Beginners. We're at lesson number two, entitled Structures and Features Part 1. That's an interesting title,
Structures and Features in studying a Bible book
but you'll understand that. Unless you really understand
how Isaiah wrote this book, how he put it together is very difficult to
understand the message that's in the book. So that's why we're
spending a couple of lessons figuring out structurally
how he put this book together and then as we go on it'll be
much clearer as we continue. Well, so far we have noted
that the prophet Isaiah lived in Jerusalem between the 8th and 7th
century before Christ. We said that he was a
contemporary of several Kings and he prophesied during
the reigns of King Jonathan, King Ahaz and of course King Hezekiah. The main subject of his
prophecies were warnings. Warnings to the rulers both of
the Northern Kingdom, Israel and also warnings to the
Kings of the Southern Kingdom of Judah concerning their conduct and their faithfulness to God and various relationships that
they had with foreign powers. Some of the prophecies. For example, he would
denounce the king's alliances with pagan nations to
secure military protection instead of trusting God for their safety. In other words if they were in trouble, if they were being attacked, they would make a treaty
with another country and purchase some of
their military strength to come in and help them
fight against a third party and Isaiah often denounced
the kings for doing that saying to them: "you're the people of God. You ought to be trusting God to save you and not trusting other nations especially pagan nations to help you." Also there were warnings
of impending attacks and destruction coming. He denounced the surrounding nations for their worship of pagan gods and he also announced judgments on them. So he didn't just to warn and tell the Kings of the Northern Kingdom and the Southern Kingdom
that trouble was coming. That judgment was coming. He also warned other nations in the surrounding nations
that they too would be judged and punished for their conduct. He also predicted the restoration of the Southern Kingdom after
their defeat and their exile. And then of course, a very important part
of the book of Isaiah Isaiah articulated the form, the method and the result of God's promised salvation in the future. Of all the prophets he is the one that most clearly explain exactly what God was going to
do in order to save the nation and actually save the world. He said that the form of
salvation would be a man and not an army and not a
politic or not a philosophy but the form of God's salvation would come in the form of a man. The method he even explains
would be vicarious atonement meaning, someone would
suffer the punishment for someone else's sins,
vicarious atonement. And the results of the salvation would be the regeneration of mankind. And so of all the prophets he's the one that most clearly defined what the salvation that God
would send would be like. And so these prophecies
were not only given once but they were repeated at different times using various words and literary devices. That's why it's helpful
for us to understand the form and the structure of his writing because he often repeats the same thing but he repeats it in different ways, okay? In this lesson we're going to begin to examine the way that Isaiah wrote and how he put his book together. Understanding this of course
will help us understand what exactly the prophet
was trying to communicate to the people of that time. So let's talk about the
structure of the book of Isaiah. Isaiah's prophecies and his teachings are presented using five main topics. Five topics or five themes if you wish throughout the book. These consist of the following themes. One is the Messianic hope. Two, the motif of the city,
the city being Jerusalem. The third theme is the Holy One of Israel. The fourth is the faith response of the Jews throughout history. And then the fifth is a special literary and structural features
of Isaiah's writings. In other words, the way that he writes reveals the meaning of what
he is trying to get across and that in is a kind
of a theme in the book. Now, the book would be a lot easier to understand and follow if Isaiah had taken each of these topics or themes or devices and
had written a chapter or two about each one in successive order as we would do in Western culture. The main theme let's say the
Messianic hope chapter one, Roman numeral, number one, Messianic Hope blah,
blah, blah, blah, blah. Sub subtitle a, sub subtitle
b, c and so on and so forth. That'd be great. Two or three chapters of that. And then woe, chapter
four, Motif of the City, Roman numeral one, let
us tell you about that and so on and so forth. That's the way we happen to
write about various subjects. But Isaiah wrote a book with an Eastern mindset of
a Jewish prophet and a poet. I mean, most of his book is poetry. And so it's not as easy to decipher as a it would be if it was
written in a Western theme. So his five topics or themes therefore, are seen as
five individual strands that are carefully and
artfully braided together each repeatedly overlapping the other to tell a single story. Think of braiding hair. I remember when our girls
were young had long hair. Mom would take one, two, three strands and she would braid
them together into one. Well, it's kind of what Isaiah is doing with his five themes. Each one of these is a strand and what he does is that he
braids them all together. They overlap and intertwine
each other, okay? It tells the same story and if you're not aware of
what the five themes are you're going to be reading and then all of a sudden he
switches over to something else. He's talking about the Messianic hope and then all of a sudden he starts talking about
the city of Jerusalem and you're saying: "Oh well, wait a minute. What happened to the messianic hope?" And then he'll switch over and talk about the Holy One of Israel. And so if we understand that
there are five themes here and there are being
written about concurrently then it helps us to understand
where we are in the book while we're reading book. So in other words, you
understand many times some of the words but you
can't follow the storyline in order to understand the message unless you know ahead of
time these five strands. So knowing that the themes and
the features of the writing helps the reader know who and what the prophet is talking about in different parts of the book. So what we're going to do is we're going to examine
these five strands here, okay? Before we actually even look at the book. The first strand is the Messianic hope. The Messianic hope. Let's get that up there. Now, the Jews from the time
of Moses, Deuteronomy 18:15. The Jews had been promised a savior but until Isaiah came
the form and the purpose of this Messiah had not
yet been clearly defined. Yes, there was a Messiah. Yes, there was a savior and
yes he was coming in the future but just exactly who this Messiah was or what it was and what
would exactly happen. It wasn't so clear to the people. Now we have references to
him, the Messiah or the savior in the book of Job for example. In Job chapter 19:2-27 and we have references to
the Messiah in the Psalms, Psalm 110 verse one. But Isaiah is the prophet
that most clearly defined him along with the way that
he was to save the people. This is why Isaiah is called
the Prince of the prophets because he's the one that
articulated most clearly the work and the person and
the results of the Messiah. Now, Isaiah provides
us with three portraits of the Messianic hope in this strand, the Messianic hope in this strand. And so he writes about the
Messiah as a King, chapters 1-37. And then he writes about
the Messiah as a servant in chapters 38-55. And then he talks about the Messiah as an anointed conqueror
in chapters 56-66. So he's always talking about the Messiah but in one part of the book
he's talking about him as a King and another part he's talking about the same Messiah but as a servant and then he talks about Him as
an anointed conqueror, okay? Although separate and
distinct as portraits, all three share similar features indicating that they are all meant to be facets of a single Messianic personage. So the King, the servant,
the anointed conqueror they're all the same person. For example, let's say
you name three animals. A lion and a bear and an Eagle. However, in describing each one you use words like fierce
and powerful and cunning. Well, all things that are
true about each creature and serve to unify them rather
than to distinguish them. In other words, they're all cunning. They're all powerful. You could be describing any
one of these three animals with these adjectives. Well, this is what Isaiah does very much in describing the messianic hope. Describes Him as King,
describes Him as the servant, describes Him as anointed conqueror, all things that are true
about this single individual. So in Isaiah's description
of the Messianic hope as a King, or as a
servant, or as a conqueror. Each one of these has similar traits. The King, the servant and the conqueror all have these traits. First, each is endowed with
the spirit and the word of God. So we read for example in Isaiah 59:21. It says: "As for me, this
is My covenant with them", says the Lord: "My
spirit which is upon you, and my words which I
have put into your mouth shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your offspring, nor from the mouth of your
offspring's offspring", says the Lord: "For now and forever." So, each Of these individuals, the King, the Messiah as
servant, the Messiah as conquer each would be filled with the
spirit and the word, okay? You following along. Another example. Each would be filled with
righteousness as a natural state. In 53 verse nine he says: "His grave was assigned with wicked men yet he was with a rich man in his death because he had done no violence nor was there any deceit in his mouth. And so the King, the
servant, the conqueror, all of them we're righteous, okay? Shared righteousness. Another thing that he says
about the Messianic hope. The messianic hope would be a servant or a descendant of David. The King, the servant, the
conqueror were each seen as descendants of David fulfilling
promises made through Him and Isaiah chapter 9: 6-7 he says: "For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will
rest on his shoulders; And his name will be
called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal
Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the
increase of His government or of peace, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with
justice righteousness from then on and forever more. The zeal of the Lord of
hosts will accomplish this." And so all three, the King,
the servant, the conqueror, each of these will be
descendants of David. Another example of this. Each will bring the Messianic
hope in each of its forms, both to Jews and to Gentiles. And so in Isaiah 2, he write: "The word which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. Now it'll come about
that in the last days. The mountain of the house of the Lord will be established as
the chief of the mountains and will be raised above the hills; And all the nations will stream into it. And many peoples will come and say, "come, let us go up to
the mountain of the Lord, to the house of God of Jacob that he may teach us concerning his ways and that we may walk in his path". For the law will go forth from Zion and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem." And so here, the King,
the servant, the conqueror all three of them will provide salvation not only for the Jews but also
for the Gentiles, all right. All will be subject to
the salvation brought by the Messianic hope. Another feature. Each of these King, servant and conqueror will have a dual nature or will be described as
having a dual nature, both God and man. For example the King would be born in David's line chapter 11 verse one. In other words, as a
man He would be a route from which David himself
Springs, chapter 11 verse 10. However, this King will
be called Mighty God and so the King, the
Messianic hope as King will be both God and man will have both of those features. The servant has human ancestry. Isaiah chapter 53 verse two it says: "For He grew up before
Him like a tender shoot and like a root out of parched ground. He has no stately form or majesty that we should look upon Him nor appearance that we
should be attracted to Him." So here Isaiah is talking about a man and not a man that that is
a beautiful or anything, just a very ordinary man. But then he also said
also is the Lord himself bringing salvation. And so when he talks about the servant he talks about the servant in human terms but also in a divine terms as well. He was the Lord bringing the salvation in the form of a servant. And then the anointed conqueror again the God man combination as savior. Let's see 59. Okay, so in verse 59 it
says: "Now the Lord saw, And it was displeasing in His sight that there was no justice. And He saw that there was no man and was astonished that there
was no one to intercede;" Okay, there's the conqueror there. "Then His own arm brought salvation to Him and His righteousness upheld Him. He put on righteousness
like a breastplate, And a helmet of salvation on His head", who is this sound like this. Does this not sound like a
Paul's writing in Ephesians. You wonder, where did Paul get that idea? Anyways, He keeps going. "And he put on garments
of vengeance for clothing and wrapped Himself with zeal as a mantle. According to their
deeds, so he will repay, Wrath to His adversaries,
recompense to his enemies; To the coastlands He
will make a recompense. So they will fear the name
of the Lord from the West and His glory from the ring
of the rising of the sun for He will come like a rushing stream which the wind of the Lord drives. A Redeemer will come to Zion, and to those who turn from
transgression in Jacob," declares the Lord. So there's the percentage
of the appointed conqueror. The God-man combination as
the appointed conqueror. In other words, the appointed conqueror will be both God and man, okay? So the point I'm making here
is that this first strand, the Messianic hope, Isaiah
through the power of the spirit creates three portraits
of the coming Messiah with each portrait, providing
particular information about this individual. He'll talk about this
individual as a person having a royal position
of authority as a King. And then he'll talk
about this Messianic hope in his human character, as a man with a mission, the servant. And then he's going to talk
about this Messianic hope as the anointed conqueror with
ultimate victory over death as the anointed conqueror
coming from God, okay? And that's just one strand,
I said there's five strands. (chuckling) So that's just the first strand. The Messianic hope that's subdivided into three different characters that he talks about at different times. And sometimes he's talking about the King and then he'll talk about
something completely different. And you have to understand, you have to keep in mind that he's always talking
about the Messianic hope when he's talking about
the King or the servant or the anointed conqueror. So this unified vision that
the prophet Isaiah presents is that of a person Who
is a descendant of David, full of the spirit and word
of God and fully righteous Who will ultimately succeed
in bringing salvation to both Jews and Gentiles. So this is the beginning
of his articulation of who the Messiah is going to be. In other words, this King
and conqueror will do this because he is the chosen
servant sent by God, okay? Now the next topic or
strand that Isaiah addresses is referred to as the Motif. The Motif or the pattern
or the concept of the city and of course the city is Jerusalem. Some of the passages that I read concerning the Messianic
hope he talks about the mount and the mountain and Zion. This second strand here he's
talking about Jerusalem. The servant or the King is
going to come to Jerusalem to do his work, okay? The problem is that he refers to Jerusalem in a lot of different ways. We'll talk about that in a second. So in the writings of Isaiah, the city of Jerusalem
plays an important part in the outworking of God's plan. A little bit of history. The city is first
introduced in Genesis 14:18 through Melchizedek who was
described as the King of Salem later to become Jerusalem, okay? You wonder, he's the King of Salem. Salem is Jerusalem, okay? And his royal priesthood
was recognized by Abraham who paid tithes to this priestly king. He was both a priest and a king. If you notice among the Jewish people, the priests could not be kings and the kings were not
allowed to be priests. Remember Saul lost the kingdom. Why? Because he was impatient. He didn't wait for Samuel to come and to offer the sacrifice
to do the duty of the priest. And so he just ran ahead and
he did the sacrifice himself and because of that he lost the kingdom. The king was not allowed to be a priest and the priest was not
allowed to be a king and yet we learn of this Melchizedek. They mentioned him in Genesis and they refer to him
as both priest and king. And then we find out why this is so, It's because Melchizedek is the pattern for the Messiah who would
also be a priest and the King at the same time. Patterned not after
Jewish priests like Aaron, but patterned after Melchizedek who was a, both a king and a priest. And so David captured this ancient city and made it the capital as well as the political and
religious center of his kingdom since the temple and the royal palace were both eventually located there. The significance of the city in Isaiah. Well, Isaiah uses Jerusalem as a character and a metaphor for the Jewish
people and the Jewish nation. This is first mentioned in
Isaiah chapter one verse one. If you're not sure a metaphor if you remember from your grammar classes is a word used to symbolize
something else, okay? A word used to symbolize something else. So in this case, the word Jerusalem which is the name of the city, Isaiah uses that word
to symbolize the people, the nation of Israel or the
Jewish people themselves, okay? So he uses the city as a
metaphor for God people all over the world. Not just cultural Jews,
those living in Jerusalem or living in the country of Israel. A little bit like if
you remember after 911. The terrorist attack on New York city. After 911 people around the
world said, "we are New York" as a way of solidarity. They would people in Paris
said, "we are New York." There were signs as a
demonstration of solidarity and sympathy with the city of New York that had this terrible tragedy take place. Well, in this sense
all Christians can say, "we are Jerusalem" expressing the idea that
we are God's people, right? So this was Isaiah's use of
the city of Jerusalem metaphor. He also uses it to express the notion that what happened to the city
also happened to the people, also happened to the nation as well as the spiritual nation itself. And so Isaiah uses for
interchangeable terms when he's talking about
the city of Jerusalem. The first well, is Jerusalem itself. The second is Zion. When he talks about Zion he's talking about the city of Jerusalem. Zion is just another word for Jerusalem. The original root word from
which the words Zion comes from means a Holy place, a Holy place, okay? So Zion also is a word
referring to Jerusalem. When he says the Holy
mount or the Holy mountain he's talking about Jerusalem. And then the city, when
he just mentioned the city he's not talking about Samaria, he's not talking about
Damascus or Bethlehem. When he says the city he's
talking about Jerusalem. And remember, Jerusalem is a
metaphor for the Jewish people. So Zion is a metaphor
for the Jewish people. The Mount or the mountain, a metaphor for the Jewish people, okay? So you've got different words that mean the same thing that
also is used as a metaphor. Now he writes various themes with the city as the central object or figure. For example. He talks about the divine
judgment on the city or the preservation or the
restoration of the city or the security of the city. The security one that has
who dwells in the city or the security, excuse me. Or this in tranquility of the city in God's thought and plans or the eschatological vision
of the city at the end of time. So Isaiah's view of heaven was that God was seated as
King at the center of the city reigning over the entire universe filled with righteousness and peace, oka? And remember, when he's
talking about the city and all of these things he's talking about not only the Jewish, the
"cultural Jewish people", he's talking about the people of God. We are the people of God. We today are the children of Israel. So to summarize therefore
the city of Jerusalem is used by Isaiah as a metaphor for: A, the Jewish nation during his time, B, all of God's people in the world in the future and C, the fulfillment and
the of God's heavenly kingdom at the end of time. And you only know what he's
talking about in context. You have to read the context. So in this lesson we've
examined two of the five themes or topics or strands which Isaiah will use to present his prophecies and teachings. One the Messianic hope and the messianic hope
seen as a King, a servant or an anointed conqueror. And then two, we looked
at the second strand, the Motif or the pattern of the city. This is where Isaiah explores
the history of Jerusalem, the significance of the city representing the people
now and in the future. Of the terms it is
referred to by Jerusalem or Zion or Mount or city. He also looks at the
city from various angles. The city being judged or
the city being restored. And he looks at the city as
a metaphor for the present, the near future and end times. And again, you have to you
have to look at the context to know which he's talking about. Is he talking about now? Is he talking about the near future? Or is he talking about
the end of the world? Okay, next time we get
together Lord willing. We're going to look at the
third and fourth themes or strands that Isaiah uses. The third and fourth strands
are the Holy One of Israel and the faith response
of the Jewish people throughout history. That's what we're going
to be studying next time. So we're going to try to keep all of these balls in the air. Here we haven't even opened
the book yet(chuckling) but the things that I'll talk about in Isaiah will make a whole lot more sense if we understand this background. So that's our lesson for today. I look forward to doing one
more lesson with you next week, lesson number three. We'll see you then. God bless you.
