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WORLD ENGLISH INSTITUTE ISAIAH THE PROPHET After the death of David's son Solomon, the kingdom
of Israel split into two kingdoms: Israel in the north, and Judah in the
south. In the north, all the kings were evil. GOD CALLS ISAIAH TO BE A PROPHET About 300 years after King David died, there lived in Jerusalem a young man by the name of Isaiah. In the temple, Isaiah saw a vision of God. He saw the Lord sitting on a very high and wonderful throne. Angels were saying, "Holy, holy, holy, the Lord All-Powerful is very holy. The Lord's glory fills the whole earth."
There was a fire on the altar. One of the angels used a pair of tongs to
take a hot coal from the fire. The angel flew to Isaiah with the hot coal
in his hand and touched Isaiah's mouth with the coal. The angel said,
"Look! Because this hot coal has touched your lips, the wrong things you
have done are gone from you. Your sins are now erased."
After this vision, Isaiah served as a prophet for
fifty years. Isaiah warned the people about the dangers of sin, and called
the people back to God.
Again and again, Isaiah pointed out the sins of the people. He said, "You people rise early in the morning and go looking for beer to drink. You stay awake late at night, becoming drunk with wine. You party with your wine, harps, drums, flutes, and other musical instruments. And you don't see the things the Lord has done. The Lord's hands have made many, many things-- but you don't notice those things." With grief in his heart, Isaiah said, "Look at those people! They pull
their sins behind them like people pull wagons with ropes. Those people
say that good things are bad, and bad things are good. They think light is
darkness, and darkness is light. Those people have refused to obey the
teachings of the Lord All-Powerful. They hated the message from the Holy
One of Israel. So the Lord has become very angry with his people. And the
Lord will raise his hand and punish them." ISAIAH SEES A NEW KINGDOM The Spirit of God came into Isaiah, and Isaiah was able to look into the future. Isaiah looked ahead and saw a new kingdom. It was not like the kingdom of Judah. It was a spiritual kingdom with spiritual values and laws. It was God's kingdom. It stood above all the kingdoms of the earth. It was a kingdom that would attract people from all nations. People would come from far and near to worship God and to learn about God's way of living. They would follow God's rule and obey God's commands. The kingdom that Isaiah saw was to have its beginning in Jerusalem with
the preaching of God's special message on Mount Zion. From Jerusalem, the
word of God would go out to all the world, and people who accepted God's
rule would change their ways. Those who had been in the habit of arguing
and fighting would learn to love one another and live together in peace.
They would stop using weapons of war. They would make plows from their
swords and use their spears as tools for pruning trees and vines. They
would stop fighting against other people and never train for war again.
As Isaiah looked into the future, he also saw a new
King ruling over God's kingdom. This King was different from other kings.
He was more than a man. Inspired by the Spirit of God, Isaiah described
the new King as follows:
As Isaiah looked ahead, he saw an awful thing. He saw
the King suffering and dying for all humanity. "He was hurt and punished, but he never protested. He said nothing--like a
sheep being carried to be killed. He was quiet like a lamb is quiet while
the wool is being cut from him. He never opened his mouth to defend
himself. Men used force and took him, and they did not judge him fairly.
He was punished to pay for the sins of my people.
This is one of the most amazing prophecies in the Bible. Seven hundred years before the King was born, Isaiah explained what the King would accomplish by dying on a cross. He would have no sin, but God would put our sins on him. God would do this for us so we could become right with God.
God's plan for saving humanity from evil has
developed before our eyes as we have traced the events of Old Testament
history.
The prophets of the Old Testament have painted a
picture of the coming King--like artists painting a picture on canvas.
Other prophets add a few final strokes to the picture. The prophet Micah
says that the King will be born in Bethlehem. Zechariah reveals that the
King will ride into Jerusalem triumphantly on the back of a donkey, but
will be betrayed for thirty pieces of silver. Daniel calls him "the Son of
Man," and says that he will return to God to rule over an everlasting
kingdom. Scripture References: I Kings 12-14; 2 Kings 17-19; Isaiah 2:2-4; 6:1-13; 7:14; 9:6-7; 11:1-2, 10; 40:3, 11; 53:3-12; 61:1-2; Daniel 7:12-14; Micah 5:2; Zechariah 9:9-12; 11:12 Acts 13:23; Romans 15:12; 2 Corinthians 5:17-21; Revelation 22:16.
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