Who is the Prophet Isaiah?

August 8, 2023

The prophet Isaiah was one of the most influential prophets mentioned in the entire Word of God. He is considered to be a major prophet because of the length of his book which bears his name. He was the son of Amoz and his name means “God is salvation or the Lord saves.”

Isaiah was used mightily by God to prophesy of the life, death, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. He also warned Israel of judgment due to their continual sin. The thing is that God doesn’t do anything before He first warns His servants the prophets, Amos 3:7. He does the same very thing today as God is the same today, yesterday, and forever and He does not change.

Isaiah also prophesies about how Jesus Christ will be wounded and suffer a horrific death saving the entire human race. The reason that He had to die for our sin is because God could only accept a perfect sacrifice in order to pay for the sin debt. Jesus was that perfect sacrifice.

When was Isaiah called into ministry?

He was called by the Lord to be a prophet in 740 B.C Isaiah has a vision of the Lord Isaiah 6:1 details, “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple.”

Isaiah is getting an illustration of just how glorious the Lord actually is as His robe alone filled the entire temple. His very existence was so powerful and pure that Isaiah could immediately feel his iniquity in His presence. You can see this shown in the way that Isaiah responds to his encounter with God. Isaiah 6:5 describes, “So I said:

“Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.” The words “I am undone” is the Hebrew word “dāmâ” which means: I am cut off. In other words Isaiah is passionately crying out with grief and despair at the fact that he is feeling so dirty and unworthy in the Lord’s presence. Then he describes why.

The words “of unclean” is the Hebrew word “ṭāmē’” which means: unclean and impure. One thing that we need to realize is the fact that God almighty is glorious, righteous, pure, and untainted. Isaiah 64:6 gives us the perfect description of what our righteousness looks like when compared to the Lord’s. It depicts, “But we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags…” This fact was magnified for Isaiah as he is having this encounter with the Lord.

Isaiah’s unclean lips are made clean, his iniquity is taken away, and his sin is purged with a coal straight from Heaven delivered by one of the Lord’s seraphim, Isaiah 6:6-7. Another significant passage of Scripture regarding the call for Isaiah to be a prophet is Isaiah 6:8 it states, “Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying:

“Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.” Isaiah accepts that call on his life without any hesitation. How many of us today would heed to the voice of the Lord if He called? God wants us to be completely surrendered to Him because the fact is that we are His vessels here on Earth. We need to be ready to be used by Him at all times.

Some of Isaiah’s Prophecies

Isaiah describes the virgin birth of Jesus Christ

Isaiah 7:14 “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.”

Isaiah’s prophecy about a son being born that would be God

Isaiah 9:6 “For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

Isaiah describes how the kingdom of Babylon will be permanently overthrown

Isaiah 13:19 “And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, The beauty of the Chaldeans’ pride, Will be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.”

Isaiah’s prophecy about the promise to restore Israel

Isaiah 27:12 “And it shall come to pass in that day that the Lord will thresh, from the channel of the River to the Brook of Egypt; and you will be gathered one by one, O you children of Israel.”

Isaiah describes John the Baptist paving the way for the Lord

Isaiah 40:3 “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.”

Isaiah’s prophecy on the rejection of Jesus Christ

Isaiah 53:3 “He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him;
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.”

Isaiah describes how Jesus would die for the sin of the entire world

Isaiah 53:5-6 “But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”

Jesus references Isaiah

The prophet Isaiah is referenced on multiple occasions in the New Testament. The verses of Scripture that I wanted to highlight are when the Lord Jesus Christ references him. These passages can be found in the book of Luke 4:16-19, it states “So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”

You can see that same verse of Scripture out of the book of Isaiah 61:1-2. We can see the significance of the message that the Lord was trying to convey to us both through the prophet Isaiah and with His own words as He read out of Isaiah’s book. There are several things to unpack out of these verses out of the Bible. Jesus is describing how powerful the Spirit of God truly is. The Lord didn’t even begin His ministry until the Holy Spirit descended on Him as a dove, John 1:32.

Jesus also describes being “anointed” which is the Greek word “chriō” which means: consecrating Jesus to the Messianic office, and providing Him with the power to do the work of ministry. Then the Lord gives some of the things that He would do as the Son of the living God. He would: preach the gospel, heal the broken-hearted, proclaim liberty to the captives, give sight to the blind, and set free those that are oppressed.

These are some of the descriptions of the Lord’s ministry and He expects every single one of us to do the same exact thing as vessels for Christ. Jesus is clear in John 14:12 when He states, “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.” We are expected to do even greater works with the empowerment of the Holy Spirit.

The final part of the verse in Luke that I wanted to highlight was when the Lord reads, “…To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” Jesus is referencing the year of Jubilee which was a concept from the Old Testament where slaves were set free, Leviticus 25:9-15. What He is trying to let us know is that He is the One that will be the ultimate sacrifice with the ability to set the slaves free that are physically and spiritually bound at the hands of Satan.

Conclusion

There is so much to unpack out of the entire book of Isaiah. He prophesied of the life, death, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. He also warned Israel of judgment due to their continual sin. He was a prophet that did not hesitate when called to ministry by the Lord.

When the Lord gave him a word to speak to His people, he did just that. Jesus Christ read from the book of Isaiah and his book is referenced on multiple occasions in the New Testament. One of his most important messages is a message of hope that because of what Jesus did on the cross at Calvary we can accept the free gift of salvation and eternal life with Him in heaven.

Also, don’t forget to check out my other blogs:

The Armor of God-The Sword of the Spirit

The Armor of God-The Helmet of Salvation

The Armor of God-The Shield of Faith

The Armor of God-The Shoes of the Gospel of Peace

The Armor of God-The Belt of Truth

The Armor of God-The Breastplate of Righteousness

Breaking Spiritual Strongholds-Fight Back

Breaking Spiritual Strongholds-Feed Your Spirit

Breaking Spiritual Strongholds-Renouncing

Breaking Spiritual Strongholds-Confess and Repent

Recognizing Spiritual Strongholds