Isaiah study notes

Important Concepts

• The Holy One of Israel: God’s transcendent holiness, seen in Isaiah’s temple vision, frames the whole book, exposing sin and magnifying the grace of the Redeemer.
• Judgment and the Folly of Idols: Isaiah pronounces God’s judgment on Judah and the nations and exposes idols as empty and powerless, so that only the living God is worthy of trust.
• Trust in the LORD Alone: The prophet confronts the temptation to rely on Egypt and Assyria, calling instead for quiet, believing dependence on the LORD.
• The Servant of the LORD: Isaiah unveils the Servant who brings justice, is a light to the nations, and — supremely — suffers and dies to bear the sin of many, fulfilled in Christ.
• Comfort and Salvation: The second half of the book speaks tender comfort to an exiled people, proclaiming a salvation that God Himself accomplishes and that reaches the ends of the earth.
• The New Creation: Isaiah’s hope stretches to new heavens and a new earth and a glorified Zion, the consummation of God’s saving purpose fulfilled in Christ.

Practical Application

Isaiah presses upon us, first, the vision that transformed the prophet: the holiness of God. To see the LORD “high and lifted up,” to hear the seraphs’ “Holy, holy, holy,” is to be undone by our own uncleanness and then to marvel at the grace that cleanses us with a coal from the altar — grace that flows, we now know, from the cross. This vision cures both a casual view of sin and a small view of God. It calls us to worship the thrice-holy LORD, to take our sin seriously enough to seek His cleansing, and, like Isaiah, to answer His call with, “Here I am! Send me.” Isaiah also confronts the perennial temptation to trust in what we can see — in political power, wealth, or human strength — rather than in God, and it summons us to the harder, better way of “quietness and trust,” waiting on the LORD until we mount up with wings like eagles.

Above all, Isaiah lifts our eyes to Christ. Here, centuries in advance, we behold the child who is Mighty God, the Servant who is a light to the nations, and the one “wounded for our transgressions” who bears our sin as our substitute. To read Isaiah as a Christian is to hear the gospel preached beforehand and to be assured that our salvation was no afterthought but God’s ancient, holy purpose. Its closing promise of new heavens and a new earth gives the weary and the suffering a sure and joyful hope: the Holy One who judges sin is the Redeemer who saves His people, and He will not rest until His whole creation is filled with His glory and every tear is wiped away.

Questions for reflection

1. Isaiah’s vision of the thrice-holy God undid him and then commissioned him. How does a fresh sight of God’s holiness reshape your view of your sin and your calling?
2. Isaiah confronts the temptation to trust in “Egypt” rather than the LORD. Where are you tempted to rely on visible strength instead of quiet trust in God?
3. Isaiah 53 unveils the Servant who was wounded for your transgressions. How does seeing the cross foretold so clearly deepen your gratitude and worship?