This week we
will begin the study of the Book of Isaiah in the Old Testament.
Introduction to Isaiah:
The name Isaiah means either “the Lord saves” or “the Lord is Savior” and this very much encapsulates the theme of this most often quoted OT book by the NT writers. The vision of the prophet covers some 50 years, from the death of Uzziah (739 B.C.) until the end of the reign of Hezekiah (686 B.C.). In spite of works of modern critics on its unity, it is clear that the original transmitters of the book saw it as one work authored by the prophet Isaiah as evidenced from the first of several portions of Isaiah found in Qumran, referred to as IQIsa, dating to ca. 125-100 B.C., and its reference by the book of Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) in 190 B.C.
The first part of Isaiah, i.e. from ch.1 – ch. 39 sets its background against the lifetime of the prophet from 739-701 B.C. when Assyria as a world power resurged in its greatness, and, laying directly in its path of expansion, was Israel and Judah who had enjoyed a time of peace and prosperity that they had not known since the time of Solomon (from roughly 810-750 B.C.). A bit earlier, God had raised up Amos and Hosea to minister to the north, rebuking their complacency, compounded by its idolatry, adultery and injustice. Isaiah was raised up by God with his likely royal blood to minister to Judah, whose spiritual complacency was worse as they felt superior spiritually to their “godless” neighbor. But words of warning and prophecy by Isaiah extend beyond the fate of God’s people, but to that of the nations.
The second part of Isaiah, i.e. from ch. 40 – ch. 57 is a section distinctly marked by hope and is highlighted by messages that depict the greatness and transcendence of God and the famous Suffering Servant.
The final part of Isaiah i.e. from ch. 58 – ch. 66 looks forward to the time when God will create new heavens and a new earth.
This great book displays marvelously the wonder and character of God, exposes the sins of humanity and the world and delivers a powerful message of grace in redemption that, together with the rest of the book, “contains more prophecies about the Messiah than any other books in the Old Testament”, including the birth of Christ, His ministry, His death and His future reign. St. Augustine called this book, the “Fifth Gospel”.
Due to the length of the book, we shall not be able to reflect on a verse-by-verse basis as we usually do; rather, we shall meditate reflectively based on the main teachings of each section for devotional purposes. However, this should not deter you from pursuing the study of each chapter in greater details outside of our time of devotion.
The calling of Isaiah as a prophet is recorded in chapter 6; we shall take the position of Calvin in treating the writing of the entire book chronologically, assuming that his formal calling came subsequent to the first five chapters of “vision”:
(1) Just imagine that even before he might be recognized as a professional prophet, Isaiah opened his ministry as a young man with this opening salvo. As you read the entirety of this chapter, consider the following:
a. What kind of a spiritual condition is being depicted under this relatively good king, Uzziah?
b. How shocking would this message be to the king and the people of Judah?
(2) The lament of God (1:2-4):
a. Why does God invoke heaven and earth as His witness?
b. What does the comparison of the nation to an ox and a donkey seek to reveal?
(3) The sorry state of Judah (1:5-9): Although it would be some 140 odds years later that Judah would bear the full wrath of Babylon, the threats of Assyria had already inflicted enough destruction on Judah:
a. Why would God lament over their plight as injuries to their head, heart, foot and sole?
b. While comparing them to Gomorrah, how does God show mercy to them?
(4) The sins exposed (1:10-17):
a. What in essence are the sins being exposed in vv. 10-15?
b. According to vv. 16-17, what made such a sin of religious hypocrisy even more wicked?
c. What is the important message to you?
(5) A message of grace (1:18-20):
a. Do you think the invitation to reason is based on grace? Why or why not?
b. Where does their hope lie ultimately?
(6) Their reality of sins and punishment (1:21-31):
a. What are the sins being highlighted once again (vv. 21-23)?
b. What punishment will they face (vv. 24-25)?
c. What is the ultimate purpose of God’s punishment (vv. 26-27)?
d. Shame will be the result of turning to idols (depicted by sacred oaks and gardens): When read together with vv. 10-14, what kind of religious apostasy is being depicted?
(7) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
“When you come to appear before me, who has asked this of you, this trampling of my courts?” (Isa. 1:12)
Irrespective of when one places the formal calling of Isaiah as a prophet, whether it began only after the delivery of the messages of the first five chapters or before, the first chapter ought to be a message that would have rocked the entire royal court down to the least of the peasants of Judah.
Whether Isaiah received his call “in the year that King Uzziah died” (6:1) or shortly before that, Judah had been under the rule of a relatively godly king. Uzziah is described as a king who did what was right in the eyes of the Lord (2 Chr. 26:4) until he “became powerful, his pride led to his downfall” (2 Chr. 26:16). God inflicted him with leprosy until his death because he usurped the role of the priest and wanted to burn incense on the altar.
Such pride and complacency appeared not to be confined to the king, but was commonplace among the people and became the focal point of the opening salvo of Isaiah’s ministry. While Israel, to the north, had openly become idol-worshippers, Judah with its apparent zeal in the worship of the Lord had fallen into the sin of false piety. On the one hand, they fervently engaged in the practice of Yahweh’s worship — praying, offering sacrifices and observing all religious festivals (1:11-15); on the other hand, they lived an unethical life of oppression, injustice and evil deeds (1:16-17). This had invited the wrath of God, with charges that they were, in fact, trampling the courts of God (1:12).
Today, we need to take this message of rebuke seriously as the Evangelical churches do not lack in the zeal of worship and in the study of the Word. However, if our lives lack compassion, if we disregard justice to the poor and oppressed, and engage in unethical behaviors, our worship will amount to the trampling of the courts of the Lord, our prayers will not be listened to, the Lord will have no pleasure in our service to Him, and even our gatherings will be hated by Him (Isa. 1:11-15).
The first message of rebuke and punishment of Judah is immediately followed by a grand vision of “the last days” that include the reign of peace by the Lord (2:2-5); the humbling of the house of Jacob (2:6-11) and the dreadful appearance of the Lord (2:12-21).
(1) The reign of the Lord (2:2-5): The future of the worship of the Lord by all nations is being prophesied:
a. What is the result of such a world-wide worship of the Lord?
b. What will be the basis of “world-peace”?
c. Since this is a vision concerning “Judah and Jerusalem” (2:1), what role will they play in this glorious future? (2:5)
(2) The humbling of the house of Jacob (2:6-11):
a. What sin is being highlighted, especially by the idea of “fullness”?
b. How will they eventually learn that such “fullness” cannot be trusted?
(3) The Day of the Lord (2:12-21):
a. Vv. 12-18 is mixture of figures and realities:
- What is its main message?
- Do you sense that this message applies beyond the house of Jacob? Why?
b. Vv. 19-21:
- How is the splendor of God depicted?
- How are men humbled?
(4) Why does this vision end with an exhortation not to trust in man (2:22)?
(5) How relevant was the message to Judah, as they were going through a political transition with the (impending) death of King Uzziah and the threat of a resurging Assyria?
(6) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
“They will beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nations will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.” (Isa. 2:4)
The creation of the United Nations at the end of World War II was certainly an expression of the world’s desire for world peace, and the inscriptions of the above verse from Isaiah in some parts of the United Nation certainly reflect, to a certain extent, the faith of some in this biblical ideal. However, I wish they would have quoted the entire passage of Isaiah 2:2-5 and not just the last few lines, because in so doing, they completely missed the point of what world peace truly is and how it will be accomplished.
The passage clearly points out that world peace can only be achieved in these ways:
- By men worshipping Yahweh only and above all else:
The mountain of the Lord’s temple has to be the chief one, raised above all other hills, meaning that only the Lord can be recognized as God, the only God above all idols, all gods, including atheism.
- Not only is He to be worshipped, but His law and His ways are to be followed:
We know that no one can walk in His ways and follow His law without first being reconciled to Him through faith in His Son Jesus Christ and through repentance.
- That clearly means that it is only through restoring peace with God that men can restore peace with other men.
It is a pity that while the United Nations seeks to broker peace among nations and peoples at war, it is always an exercise in futility, not only because they seek to do it apart from God, but also because they have continued to champion ways that are blatantly against the ways of the Lord.
But one day, world peace will be restored, not through the United Nations, nor any human endeavors, but through the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in all His splendors to judge the unbelieving world, and to usher in His everlasting Kingdom with all those who have believed in Him.
After the initial thunder of lament and rebuke, followed by the dreadful announcement of the Day of the Lord, the prophetic vision turns to the present reality of the sins of the nations. In this chapter, the sins of the leaders and the ‘women” of Zion are exposed:
(1) Sins of the leaders (3:1-15):
a. Who will be taken away? (vv. 2-3)
b. Why is the taking away of leaders mentioned together with supply and support? (v. 2)
c. What will be the curse of poor leadership (vv. 4-7)?
d. What were the sins of the leaders (vv. 8-15)?
e. What will be the exception? (v. 10)
f. What is the importance of framing this accusation within a court setting? (vv. 13-15)
(2) The sins of the women (3:16 - 4:1):
a. Why were the women singled out?
b. While wearing perfume and ornaments are in themselves not a sin, where then do their sins lie?
c. Do you think this rebuke is purely metaphorical as some scholars opine? Why or why not?
d. How does 4:1 depict the horrible consequence of God’s judgment on the nation?
(3) A most glorious hope (4:2-6): It will be wrong to assume that the message of hope only appears from chapter 40 onward. Here is an example of a most glorious hope prophesied in the midst of utter destruction:
a. God has promised the survival of a remnant:
- What will they be called and why?
- How will they be cleansed?
- Why would their names be recorded? (Mal. 3:16)
- The presence of God is promised in 2:5: What do the symbols of cloud and fire remind you of? (Num. 14:14)
- All this is preceded by the introduction of “the Branch of the Lord”, why? (See Isa. 11:1; Zech. 3:8; 6:12)
b. How does this speak to the mercy of God in the midst of His wrath?
(4) What is the main message to you today and how can you apply it to your life?
“In that day, the Branch of the Lord will be beautiful and glorious and the fruit of the land will be the pride and glory of the survivors in Israel.” (Isa. 4:2)
While Isaiah opens his message like a thunder expressing the intense grief of the Lord calling on the heavens and the earth to be His witness against His rebellious children who were worse than oxen and donkeys in the lack of understanding, he follows up with relentless accusations of Judah’s false piety and ends with their judgment by God through the hands of their enemies. However, even in this first message of punishment, God has invited them to repentance and promised restoration: “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow” (Isa. 1:18).
In reality, God could have confined the message of hope to the very end of the book, but throughout the book of Isaiah, we find that in the midst of severe rebukes and messages of horrific judgment, God always injects into them a message of hope, as if the rebukes and judgment would be too much for them to bear, lest they, in their wicked state, fall into despair. This is how amazing our God is: “For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.” (Ps. 30:5).
Chapter 4 of Isaiah is such a great example: Immediately following the chastisement of the sins of the leaders within a court and formal setting (3:1-15) and the more than sarcastic humiliation of the sins of the women of Zion (3:16-26), cumulating in a message of massacre of the men of Judah in 4:1, the prophet bursts into one of many Messianic messages of hope, promising a salvation that is complete and eternal through the introduction of the “Branch of the Lord”.
While commentators might have differing opinions about what the “Branch of the Lord” refers to, the consequences brought by the “Branch” are unmistakable:
- The remnants will be called holy;
- Their names will be recorded in the Book of Life;
- Their filth and bloodstains will be washed away;
- The daily presence of the Lord will be a reality; and
- They will rest, truly rest from the storms and rains of life.
Given all this, it is hard not to see the “Branch of the Lord” as the one referred to in Isaiah 11:1 and in Zechariah 3:8; 6:12 — the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. And, we are so blessed that we do not have to be part of the remnant to be grafted into the Branch for the above promises are a reality already in our lives as we put our trust in the Lord Jesus Christ (Rom. 11:17).
These first messages preceding the formal call of Isaiah end with a poetic expression of God’s relationship with His people as one between the husbandman and His vineyard:
(1) The parable of the vineyard (5:1-7):
a. What does the depiction by Isaiah of God as “the beloved” of whom he sings reveal about the prophet?
b. What does a husbandman desire in the planting of a vineyard?
c. How does it express God’s desire for Jerusalem?
d. What normally does a husbandman have to put into the planting of a vineyard?
e. What has God put into His relationship with Jerusalem?
f. What did He get at the end? Why?
g. What consequence will the vineyard face?
h. What does this parable serve to illustrate?
(2) Six woes of “sour grapes” (5:8-23):
a. What is the 1st woe (5:8-10):
- Can you draw a parallel with today’s unchecked greed in our society?
- What will the punishment be?
b. What is the 2nd woe (5:11-17)?
- Can a life of pleasure coexist with a life of regard for the deeds of the Lord? Why or why not?
- What will the punishment be for the leaders and the people?
- Why would God mete out such punishment?
c. What is the 3rd woe (5:18-19)?
- What depiction of their wickedness is meant by the use of (tiny, less visible) cords and (huge, visible) cart ropes?
- How and why do these people mock the Lord?
d. What is the 4th woe (5:20)?
- Can you draw a parallel with today’s secular society?
e. What is the 5th woe (5:21)?
- Why is such a sin so wicked?
f. What is the 6th woe (5:22-23)?
- What has such drinking to do with bribery?
(3) The horrific judgment (5:24-30):
a. What kind of consequence is depicted by v. 24 and what are the reasons given?
b. What is the immediate punishment as God’s anger burns against them (v. 25)?
c. Why is it not enough? What will the Lord use to inflict even more severe punishment?
- This punishment was fulfilled by the invasion of Nebuchadnezzar in 586 B.C. (see 2 Ki. 25):
1. How fitting was his invasion in the fulfillment of this prophecy?
2. As Isaiah refers to the “distant nations", in what ways do you think it refers to a time still in the future? Why?
(4) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
“I will sing for the one I love, a song about His vineyard.” (Isa. 5:1)
Here is a first glimpse of the personality of the prophet Isaiah and his relationship with God. As we have already considered how powerful a message he has delivered for the Lord, even perhaps before he received his official call from the Lord (in chapter 6) — the message has been marked by intense feelings of lament, harsh words of rebuke and horrific prophecies of destruction. However, as Isaiah pauses and reflects on the tender desire by the Lord for Jerusalem, his tone of voice turns poetic and mellow. He calls the Lord his “beloved”.
Indeed, such should mark the relationship of all God’s servants of the Lord — there has to be a love-relationship between the servants and the Master, otherwise the servants would remain merely tools, without knowing and identifying with the heartbeat of the Master. This is why Jesus bares His soul to His disciples, telling them that they are more than servants, “I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead I have called you friends, for everything I learned from my Father I have made known to you” (Jn. 15:15).
The truth of the matter is we do not have a different God in the New Testament; He is the same, “yesterday, today and forever” (Heb. 13:8). Isaiah is more than a mere servant, but an intimate friend of the Lord whom he calls, “my beloved”.
Now Isaiah tells us the awesome experience leading to his calling:
(1) What is the significance of the timing of this official calling?
(2) Why did the call need to take place in such an epiphany?
a. Where does the Lord reveal Himself?
b. How does He reveal Himself?
c. Why do the seraphs who serve Him need the following?
- Wings that cover their faces
- Wings that cover their feet
- Wings that fly
d. Why do they have to call to one another?
- What does the three-fold “holy” signify?
- What does the praise that “the whole earth is full of His glory” signify?
e. What happens at the sound of their voices and what does it signify?
(3) At such a sight, the normal reaction of a human is to worship:
a. Why then was Isaiah’s immediate reaction the consciousness and confession of his sin?
b. Why was he particularly convicted of the sin of “unclean lips”?
c. Why did he think that he was “ruined”?
(4) At his confession, one of the seraphs took away his sin with a live coal from the altar:
a. What does the altar have to do with atonement?
b. What was the spiritual significance of his forgiveness by the touching of the live coal?
(5) Why did the Lord choose to call him only after his confession?
(6) Why did he respond so readily?
(7) The call by the Lord was most puzzling:
a. What did the Lord specifically ask Isaiah to do?
b. If the people were not to hear and see, what was the purpose of his mission?
c. V. 10 is a subject of much controversy:
- Can Isaiah or his message really “make” the heart of the people calloused, ears dulled and eyes closed?
- What really causes it?
(8) Isaiah’s concern was not so much the apparent futility of his mission but the ultimate fate of his people: What was God’s answer to his question in essence?
(9) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
“He said, ‘Go and tell this people: be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving'.” (Isa. 6:9)
It is puzzling enough to learn that Isaiah’s mission was one destined for futility as the Lord clearly revealed to him that the people would not listen to his message, but what makes it even more puzzling is the command to “Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes” (Isa. 6:10).
Although I prefer the Greek
translation in the LXX which was quoted by Matthew in Matthew 13:13-15,
“This people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears and they have closed their eyes”
and which puts the responsibility on the people, I would like to share with the following insight of John Oswalt:
“But why should God desire to harden people’s hearts? Why should He wish them not to be healed? The text itself gives no reason, but we may offer some general deductions. It is evident that something is more important than healing. What could that be? Surely it is a pure revelation of the character of God and of the human condition. As it happened, such a revelation could only harden Isaiah’s generation in its rebellion (3:8; 5:18, 19). For Isaiah to declare faithfully what he knew to be so would not result in an admission of guilt and a turning to God. Rather, it would bring about a more adamant refusal to recognize need. What was the alternative? Perhaps, if the prophet would alter the truth in certain ways the people might be more responsive and, after a fashion, be healed. Yet such a healing would be a mockery. For what can heal except God’s truth? It is as though Isaiah should tell them that they did not need to see God as he did, nor be cleansed as he was to be a servant of God as he was. The ultimate result would be deadly. It would confirm that generation in its syncretism and pervert the truth for all generations to come. It would sell the future for the apparent sake of the present. But if the truth could not save the present generation, if it would, in fact, destroy that generation, it could, faithfully recorded, save future generations. This, then was Isaiah’s commission, as it is of all servants of God, not be successful in a merely human sense, but to be faithful.”
(TNICOT, Isaiah,189-190)
After taking up the call of the Lord, Isaiah was thrust into action within chapters 7-39 united around the theme of trust, spelling out the truth that their trust in the nations will result in desolation (ch. 34), while their trust in God will lead to abundance (ch. 35).
Chapters 7-12 is a unit dealing with the combined threats of Syria and Israel to Judah in which king Ahaz chose to trust his worst enemy, Assyria. This unit also opens to the grand revelation of God’s salvation through “Immanuel”.
7:1-9—The counsel to trust:
(2) Read 2 Kings 16:5-18 to get a sense of the historical background to this encounter between king Ahaz and Isaiah: Isaiah makes clear that the combined force of Aram and Israel “could not overpower” Jerusalem.
(3) How did the king and his people react to the news of the impending threat? (v. 2)
(4) Now the Lord sent the prophet and his son to deliver a message to the king:
a. What did the Lord ask Ahaz to do? (v. 4)
b. How did the Lord describe the two invading kings?
c. Why should king Ahaz not be afraid? (v. 7)
(5) Three more reasons are added so that the king need not be afraid (vv. 8-9): What are they?
7:10-15—The giving of a sign
(6) Why did the Lord offer to give the king a sign?
(7) Was his refusal pleasing to the Lord (include in your judgment the subsequent action he took according to history)? Why or why not?
(8) Why did Isaiah say his pretense of not wanting a sign was really trying the patience of God?
(9) Why did the Lord choose to give a sign anyway? What was this sign about, according to Matthew 1:23? (See Note below)
7:16-25—The unbelieving fate of Judah
(10) As we know from 2 Kings 16, king Ahaz chose to trust in Assyria, and not the Lord: What would be, in essence, the consequence of his choice?
(11) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
Note:
It is futile to argue whether the word “virgin” in
its original Hebrew means a married woman or a virgin since Matthew 1:23
serves as its best commentary (not to mention the fact that “the word is never
used of a married woman in the OT”— see TNICOT, 210). However, this sign likely has a dual focus — one
points to the birth of the Messiah in the distant future; another is rooted in
Ahaz’s own time likely referring to the son of Isaiah (Mather-Shalal-Hash-Baz in chapter 8) whose birth was definitely
known to the king and served as a sign that “by the time the child has reached
an age of official accountability, both of the threatening powers will have
ceased to exist” (ibid, 214).
“Now the house of David was told…so the hearts of Ahaz and his people were shaken, as the trees of the forest are shaken by the wind.” (Isa. 7:2)
I was teaching this particular lesson in Isaiah during a Sunday morning at a Sunday School class. I was commenting on how vividly Isaiah depicted the faithless condition of Ahaz and his people. The Bible makes it clear that the combined force of Aram and Israel “could not overpower” Jerusalem. And the Lord, through Isaiah made it very clear that their threats (v. 6) were only empty (v. 7), and he cautioned Ahaz to stand firm in his faith or he will not stand at all (v. 9).
No sooner than the class was over, I got a call from my wife that our son was missing. Because we lived very far from our church, my wife had decided, that particular morning, to take our four-year old son to attend a church much closer to home. Alas, after the children's Sunday School, my son simply followed two other classmates and left the church, without anyone knowing, including the two classmates and their mum. My wife obviously panicked and so did the whole church. I quickly jumped into a taxi and headed towards that church.
When I prayed to God inside the taxi, the Lord reminded me of what I had just taught and asked me the question, “why are you shaken, as the trees are shaken by the wind?” I bowed my head at that moment and asked God for forgiveness. Peace, which certainly transcended all understanding, set in. I just cannot explain it. The taxi had to stop quite a few blocks from the church in front of a youth center because of traffic restrictions, and just as I stepped out of the taxi, my neighbor who took part in the search was walking out of the center with my son because he recognized his cry.
I learned a great lesson that day: Do not just teach the Word of God, trust in it!
8:1-8—The child a sign
(1) To reinforce the prophecy that “the land of the two kings you dread will be laid waste” (7:16), God told Isaiah to do the following:
-Write the words Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz on a large scroll (or wood) and have it witnessed by two prominent figures
-Name his new born by that name signifying “speeding to the plunder, hurrying to the spoil”, i.e. the swift destruction of Damascus and Samaria that took place in 732 B.C. (it was likely within a year of the child’s birth)
a. Why did the Lord make such a prophetic declaration so formal?
b. What might be the significance of using Isaiah’s son as such a sign?
(2) What does the comparison of the gentle stream of Shiloah with the mighty Euphrates of Assyria seek to highlight? (Note: Shiloah was likely the little brook which runs between the south-western slope of Moriah and the south-eastern slope of Mount Zion — a symbol of the Davidic reign enthroned upon Zion — see K&D, 151.)
(3) The rejoicing in v. 6 likely refers to Judah rejoicing over the retreat of the two kings because of Assyrian intervention:
a. What will their rejoicing turn into?
b. While Judah would also bear the wrath of Assyria, how different would their fate be from Israel? (Note: up to the neck means near-death, but not death itself)
c. What is the reason for their rescue, according to the end of v. 8?
8:9-10—Deliverance of “Immanuel”
(4) “O Immanuel” and “for God is with us” serve as an “inclusio”:
a. As much as the nations would invade Judah, who is the one calling them to war?
b. As much as the nations might think they’re acting on their own and with their own plans, would they succeed? Why or why not?
8:11-15—A word of warning to the prophet
(5) What did the people dread?
(6) Whom should they dread and why?
(7) Why did the Lord have to caution the prophet “not to follow the way of this people”?
(8) In what ways would God be both a “sanctuary” and a “stumbling stone”? (See 1 Pet. 2:4-8)
8:16-22—The role of the prophet
(9) It appears that Isaiah understood the “sealed up” nature of this prophecy which will have to wait for the arrival of the Messiah — the Immanuel — to unfold its meaning; therefore he will wait and in the meantime continue to exhort the people:
a. What does he understand as his role and that of his children? (v. 18)
b. How should the prophets (and for that matter, the servants of God) differ from the mediums? (vv. 19-20)
c. What if the servants of the Lord do not preach faithfully according to the law and the testimony? (vv. 21-22)
(10) What is the main message to you today? How may you apply it to your life?
“Why consult the dead on behalf of the living? To the law and to the testimony!” (Isa. 8:19-20)
As the Lord spoke through the Prophet Isaiah to a rebellious king who was bent on trusting in men (the Assyrians) and not the Lord, forcing him to receive a sign — the birth of a son through a virgin and whose name will be called “Immanuel” (Isa. 7:14), He was announcing His great plan of salvation, not only for Judah, but for the entire human race — the birth of His own Son, Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world.
However, these words of Prophecy also addressed the more immediate situation facing Judah — the destruction of both Aram and Israel, and the punishment Judah would face in the hands of their worst enemy, Assyria, in whom they had put their trust. While the destruction of the two kings would soon happen (within, perhaps a year or two of the prophecy), the punishment by the Assyrians would have to wait another few decades, and the fulfillment of “Immanuel” (the stone that causes many to stumble, as we know and as attested by the Apostle Peter, 1 Pet. 2:4-8), would have to wait till the virgin-birth of Christ.
Isaiah obviously understood that the bulk of what he was prophesying would take a long time to fulfill. Therefore, he must “wait for the Lord who is hiding His face from the house of Jacob" (8:17). It is with this understanding that the Lord warned the prophet “not to follow the way of the people” (8:11).
Indeed, during a crisis, people in fear long to inquire of the Lord, seeking to know the future, thinking that as a result, they may know what to do or how to deal with the present. Unfortunately, God is not there to satisfy our desire for instant answers and solutions. Whatever needs to be known is already made plain in His law and His testimony (8:20), and often the answer we get from Him is to wait, to submit and to trust in Him, His timing and His ways — this was the central message given to king Ahaz through Isaiah. But we will have none of this; instead our desire for instant answers and solutions often drives us to consult the mediums and enquire the spirits (8:19). King Saul was a typical example. Those who have consulted mediums and spirits would know that this will result only in being enslaved in greater fear and they will “see only distress and darkness and fearful gloom, and they will be thrust into utter darkness” (8:22).
Therefore Isaiah asks, “Why consult the dead on behalf of the living?“ (8:19). As for him, he says, “I will put my trust in Him” (8:17) — Immanuel!