Isaiah, UN, Juliani

This week in our discussion, we began by pointing out how one of our brothers here in Kenya, Julius Owino, was inspired through the book of Isaiah to even do an album themed Exponential Potential. The first song in that album is called “Isaiah 58.”

We also pointed out the fact that the United Nations headquarters in New York has a wall commonly referred to as the Isaiah Wall. On that wall is inscribed part of Isaiah chapter 2, verse 4. It is interesting to note how the first part of that verse was not included in the inscription. Isaiah 2:4 says, “He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.” Beautiful words. Humanity wants that outcome. We want a world without war. We want nations to settle their disputes. We want swords turned into farming tools and people to stop preparing for war.

There is just one interesting problem with the Isaiah Wall. They included the result, but left out the One behind the result. If you read the preceding verses, Isaiah 2:2-3 tells us where this peace comes from: “In the last days the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established as the highest of the mountains… Many peoples will come and say, ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord… He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.’” Isaiah is therefore not simply giving humanity a vision of world peace. He is telling us WHO will bring it about. There is a God behind the plan.

We then went further to look into the breakdown of the book of Isaiah, which is basically in two parts: chapters 1 to 39(OT), and chapters 40 to 66(NT).

In part one, we see God in chapters 1 to 10 rebuking the people of Judah, more specifically the people in Jerusalem. Isaiah 1 begins with a very strong indictment. God says, “I reared children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against me” (Isaiah 1:2).

Chapters 13 to 23—after the brief interjections of chapters 11 and 12—then turn toward the nations. God points a finger of judgment at them. The message is essentially, “You overstepped the permission that I had given you.” These nations had been used by God to discipline the Jews(people from Judah), but they had gone overboard. God had allowed them to attack and, in some cases, to loot the land, but they went beyond what God had permitted. They became cruel in their treatment of the people, took captives and committed acts of violence, and God was not pleased. The judgement stretched from the Northern Babylonian nation all the way South to Cush.

This is an important thing to notice about God. He can use a nation to accomplish His purposes without approving everything that nation does.

Then in chapters 24 to 34, we see judgment on Samaria and Judah. God goes back home, so to speak. Peter in New Testament said “judgment begins with the household of God” (1 Peter 4:17). The argument there is quite sobering: if judgment begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God?

Sometimes we think that because we believe in God, we are somehow exempt from accountability. Yet Scripture gives us a very different picture. There are crowns that believers are going to receive in the kingdom of God, but those crowns are not going to be thrown into the air and we grab whichever one we can reach. There is accountability attached to what God has entrusted to us.

The parable of the talents in Matthew 25 captures this beautifully. The master gives one servant five talents, another two, and another one. He gives them responsibility, leaves, and then returns to settle accounts. Notice that phrase: settle accounts. The master asks, in effect, “I gave you this. What did you do with it?”

I sometimes think of the 5 as been a picture of apostles, prophets, teachers, evangelists and pastors. Then the 2 are the elders and deacons and finally the 1 is life in general. What do you think of that thoughtline?

That is accountability. So if judgment begins with the household of God, Peter asks, “what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God?” We therefore see judgment on other nations, but we also see judgment on the people of God, particularly Samaria and Judah.

Then chapters 11 and 12, and later chapter 35, give us a slight shift in the conversation. God gives us these little interjections—words concerning the coming glory, the future King and what God is ultimately going to do. This relates closely to what Joel was talking about concerning the Day of the Lord.

Some of the things Isaiah is saying must have sounded completely out of this world to his original audience. He builds up from a virgin conceiving and giving birth to a son (Isaiah 7:14). He talks about a child who will be born and a son who will be given, whose government will be upon his shoulders and whose name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father and Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6-7). He speaks about a coming shoot from the stump of Jesse upon whom the Spirit of the Lord will rest (Isaiah 11:1-2). He is speaking about things that are far beyond the immediate circumstances of his own generation.

Some of these things must have been difficult even for Isaiah to comprehend fully. Yet that is part of what prophecy does. The prophet is given a glimpse into something that is still ahead, and he speaks about it before the generation that will experience it has even been born. One day these things would come to pass. Some of them already have in our day.

Then finally, chapters 36 to 39 give us a very different section because it is largely narrative. This is where we see the story of Hezekiah, his prayer, his sickness, the additional years given to him, the visit of the Babylonian officials and the events that point toward the future of Judah. It is a very interesting portion of Scripture to read because it gives us a historical pause in the middle of all this prophecy.

Basically, the bottom line of chapters 1 to 39 is bad news. It addresses the disobedience, discipline, disasters and eventually dejection of Judah into captivity in Babylon.

Then chapter 40 comes, and the atmosphere changes. “Comfort, comfort my people, says your God” (Isaiah 40:1).

That is quite a change from what we have been reading.

Chapters 40 to 66 shift the conversation, and we had touched on this even the previous week. The focus increasingly becomes the Messiah. Reading this section feels like you're reading the gospels.

Yesterday in the morning my mom called me. She is also doing a reading on the same book, and she pointed this out. She said, “I noticed it was talking more about the Messiah. It was talking about the coming King, the coming Savior.”

I told her, “Yes” and then we talked about everyone else apart from Isaiah. Tuliwasengenya.

Chapters 40 to 48 capture comfort. Chapters 49 to 57 capture salvation. Then chapters 58 to 66 speak about the glory that is going to come. The glory mentioned earlier in chapters 11 and 35 appears again toward the end of the book. In this section, the message is good news. It is about the remnant that is going to remain. It is about the return of the King. It is about the reign of the King. In the end, it leads to rejoicing.

Now, as we enter this section of the Bible, there is something else that becomes very interesting. Isaiah uses different titles and descriptions to help us understand God and His relationship with His people. “God” itself is a title rather than a personal name. It tells us that we are talking about deity, but Scripture continually adds descriptions that help us understand who this God is. In Isaiah, He is repeatedly called the Holy One of Israel, redeemer, creator, King and Lord of Hosts.

Then, over and above these descriptions of God, Isaiah introduces another figure who becomes increasingly important in chapters 40 to 66: the Servant.

This is where things become very interesting because Isaiah presents this Servant in a way that would eventually become central to our understanding of Jesus. He is chosen by God, upheld by God and pleases God. He is also going to suffer, be rejected and somehow carry the burden of the sins of others.

Isaiah captures these things with remarkable confidence because he is not simply throwing ideas into the air. He is speaking as a prophet who has been given a glimpse into something that is yet to happen. He is seeing something beyond his own generation.

This is what makes Isaiah such an interesting book to read. You are reading history, but at the same time you are reading prophecy. You are reading things that had not yet happened, but which, hundreds of years later, we begin to see taking shape.

So when we get to Isaiah chapter 42, we meet this Servant.

The Lord says, “Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him, and he will bring justice to the nations” (Isaiah 42:1).

Please notice the language. The Servant is chosen by God, God delights in Him, God's Spirit is upon Him, and His assignment is not limited to Israel. He will bring justice to the nations.

That phrase should catch our attention because, if you have been following our journey through the Bible, you will remember that this idea of the nations is not new.

From Genesis, God has always had the nations in view. When God called Abraham, He did not call him simply so that Abraham and his family could have a comfortable relationship with God while the rest of the world watched from a distance. God said to Abraham, “ALL peoples on earth will be blessed through you” (Genesis 12:3).

So when Isaiah speaks about a Servant who will bring justice to the nations, he is continuing a story that began much earlier. The nations were always in God's plan.

Then the Servant is described in a manner that is very different from the kings we have been reading about. Isaiah 42:2-3 says, “He will not shout or cry out, or raise his voice in the streets. A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out.”

Think about that. This is the Servant who is coming to bring justice to the nations, yet He is not presented as someone who needs to crush the weak( word used is reed-Peters name means reed) in order to establish His authority. There is gentleness here. A strength, but it is strength under control.

This is where I begin to see Jesus very clearly in the picture. When you read the Gospels, you find Jesus walking among ordinary people. He is touching people whom society had pushed aside. He is eating with people whom religious people had rejected. He is stopping for people whom everybody else had learned to ignore. He is set apart but not separated.

Matthew actually connects Jesus' ministry to this very passage. Matthew 12:17-21 says that what Jesus was doing took place “to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah,” and then Matthew quotes Isaiah 42:1-4.

That is quite something. Matthew is looking at Jesus and saying, in effect, “Go back and read Isaiah 42. This is the Servant Isaiah was talking about.”

Then there is another thing Isaiah says about this Servant which becomes even more interesting. In Isaiah 49, the Servant speaks again, and we begin to realize that His assignment is much bigger than simply restoring Israel. God says, “It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth” (Isaiah 49:6).

Pause there for a moment.

It is too small a thing.

Restoring Israel is important, but it is too small a thing to be the entire assignment. The Servant is going to be a light to the nations. The salvation of God is going to reach the ends of the earth.

We have moved from Israel to the nations. The Servant is not coming merely to repair one nation. He is coming as God's instrument of salvation for the world.

This is why the coming of the Messiah is such a big deal. The Messiah is not merely Israel's private possession. God's plan through Israel was always bigger than Israel.

Isaiah then takes us to another dimension of this Servant in chapter 50. The Servant says that the Sovereign Lord has given Him “a well-instructed tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary,” and that morning by morning God awakens His ear “to listen like one being instructed” (Isaiah 50:4-5).

He is a Servant who listens and obeys.

Then the language becomes difficult. Isaiah 50:6 says, “I offered my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard; I did not hide my face from mocking and spitting.”

At this point, Isaiah is painting a picture that is difficult to understand if you are simply reading it as a prophecy about an ordinary king. What kind of king is this? What kind of Servant is this?

• A chosen one who suffers.
• A Spirit-filled one who is rejected.
• A Servant who obeys even when obedience becomes painful.

Then we arrive at Isaiah 52 and 53, where the picture becomes even clearer.

Isaiah introduces the Servant by saying, “See, my servant will act wisely; he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted” (Isaiah 52:13). That sounds like glory. Then suddenly the picture changes: “He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain” (Isaiah 53:3).

Think about the tension here. Exalted, yet despised. Chosen, yet rejected. The One through whom God will accomplish His purpose is also the One who will suffer.

Isaiah then tells us why the Servant suffers. “Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering… he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities” (Isaiah 53:4-5). The suffering is connected to someone else's sin and the tense is in the past tense.

That is the part that makes the prophecy so remarkable. Isaiah is not merely saying, “A good man will suffer.” He is saying that this Servant's suffering will somehow accomplish something for other people. “The punishment that brought us peace was on him,” and “the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:5-6).

The question naturally becomes: who is this Servant?

The New Testament gives us the answer it understands Isaiah to be pointing toward. Philip encounters an Ethiopian official who is reading Isaiah 53 and asks, “Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?” (Acts 8:34). That is actually a very good question.

Philip begins with that very passage and tells him the good news about Jesus (Acts 8:35).

So the New Testament is not presenting Jesus as a stranger who suddenly appeared with a completely new plan. The earliest followers of Jesus understood His suffering, death and resurrection through the Scriptures they already had.

This is why we have been saying that the Old Testament is not simply a collection of stories that happened before Jesus arrived. It is laying down the road on which Jesus would eventually walk.

The kings, the prophets, the sacrifices, the covenant, the exile, the return, the promises and the prophecies are all contributing pieces to a much larger story. By the time you arrive at Jesus, you should not be meeting a stranger. You should be meeting the One whom the Scriptures have been preparing you to recognize.

There is something else that becomes fascinating when you put Isaiah beside the life of Jesus. The Servant is not simply suffering for the sake of suffering. Isaiah 53:10-12 moves beyond His death toward vindication. “After he has suffered, he will see the light of life and be satisfied.” His suffering is followed by life, righteousness and exaltation.

That pattern helps us understand something the disciples themselves struggled to understand about the Messiah. They were looking for a King, and they were right. The difficulty was that they did not initially understand what kind of King He would be.

They wanted the crown, but Isaiah had already told them about the suffering. They wanted the kingdom, but Isaiah had already spoken about the Servant.

Jesus eventually explains this very thing to His disciples after His resurrection. Luke 24:26-27 records Him asking, “Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” He then begins with Moses and all the Prophets and explains what was said in all the Scriptures concerning Himself.

Notice the order: suffering, then glory.

That is also what we see in Philippians 2:5-11. Paul tells believers to have the same mindset as Christ Jesus, who, “being in very nature God,” took the nature of a servant and humbled Himself, becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross. Then comes the other side of the story: “Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name” (Philippians 2:9).

Isaiah had already given us the pattern.

The Servant suffers, but the suffering is not the end. He is rejected, but He is ultimately vindicated. He is humbled, but He is exalted. Through His suffering, many are made righteous.

This brings us back to where we started in Isaiah chapter 2.

The nations are going to come. The nations will seek the God of Jacob. Swords will be beaten into ploughshares. Nations will no longer train for war. There will be peace.

• But behind that peace is a King.
• Behind that justice is a Servant.
• Behind that salvation is a Messiah.

Remember the Isaiah Wall at the United Nations that we talked about at the beginning. They have inscribed the portion about nations not lifting up sword against nation and no longer learning war. Beautiful words. Humanity desperately wants that outcome.

Isaiah, however, does not begin with the outcome. He begins with the Lord.

Isaiah 2:3 says, “He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.”

In other words, you cannot separate the peace from the Person. You cannot separate the kingdom from the King. You cannot separate salvation from the Saviour.

Perhaps this is one of the things Isaiah is teaching us as we read these chapters. Do not become so fascinated by the benefits that you forget the Benefactor. Do not become so interested in the kingdom that you forget the King. Do not become so excited about peace among the nations that you forget the One who makes that peace possible.

We began with a wall in New York that celebrates the dream of a world without war. Isaiah takes us deeper than the dream. He introduces us to the God behind it, the Servant through whom salvation comes, and the King whose reign will ultimately bring the peace that the nations are longing for.

The question, then, is not simply whether we want the world Isaiah describes. The question is whether we recognize the King Isaiah introduces us to.