Gospel in Isaiah
In the Old Testament there is hardly a more important book than that of Isaiah. Not that we would want to label books some more important than others, as the entire Bible is important! But Isaiah, with its sixty-six chapters, is like a mini Bible which has sixty-six books. There is also a clear line of demarcation between the first thirty-nine chapters and the last twenty-seven; just as Old Testament is comprised of thirty-nine books and the New Testament has twenty-seven. Isaiah is also one of the major sources from which New Testament writers draw, particularly surrounding the Lord Jesus fulfilling prophecy and the Gospel proper. And as the Bible centers in on the work and person of Jesus Christ (Lk. 24:26, 44, 46), so too does the prophet Isaiah. There are certainly the historical issues of his day as well, but connections to the Christ are seen throughout, with a strong emphasis in the latter chapters 40-66, which are largely prophetic.
Our focus in this article is to address particular aspects of the Gospel in Isaiah as it pertains to the work and Person of the Lord Jesus Christ, as much as space allows. Two more things we should mention are that Isaiah’s ministry stretched over the reign of four kings, and that the Davidic promise of one from David’s line to rule on the throne forever was also spoken of in Isaiah’s day.
The well-known reference of Immanuel (God with us) comes to us after the significant of king Uzziah’s death and Isaiah’s commissioning (Isa. 6:1-13). The opening chapters leading to the parable of the vineyard in 5:1-7 prepare us to understand both Isaiah’s commissioning and his words of ‘unclean lips’ for himself and the people he lives amongst. This is true also of the series of woes that follow (5:18-30). In short, the people were ripe for judgment, even likened unto Sodom and Gomorrah (1:9-10). None of the kings in the line of David had measured up to fill the shoes of the coming Davidic king and king Ahaz became the proverbial ‘straw that broke the camel’s back’. His lack of faith set the wheels in motion to fulfill Isaiah’s commission to harden the people for judgment[1] and led to the prophecy of Immanuel that Matthew interprets as being fulfilled in the Lord Jesus (Mat. 1:22-23). In the context of this crucial event there are stages of progression that begin with an historical application that moves out from Isaiah’s day to later fulfillments: from Assyria’s devastation, to the Lord Jesus who quotes Isaiah’s prophecy as being fulfilled in His own day, as well as again in the apostolic period (Acts 26:27-28).
Amidst the warning of the judgment oracle and the call to faith, the Lord has warned Isaiah about the people who will perish. The teaching here is further flushed out by other prophets of God Elsewhere, but essentially it is that there is a ‘remnant’ according to the election of grace within Israel. Those who will perish have a pseudo faith and do not walk according to God’s truth for they have no real fear of the Lord. These are later concretely contrasted in chapter 50, where the remnant are described as those who ‘fear the Lord’ and obey the voice of His [God’s] Servant, and express their faith by trusting in the Name of the Lord and relying on their God (Isa. 50:10). But there are those under the umbrella of Israel who walk in the way of self-sufficiency and according to the ‘light of their fire’; but these will lie down in events the torment of God’s judgment (50:11).[2]
These self-sufficient ones are like Ahaz; they fear man more than God and are faithless and false in their words and religion. God instructs Isaiah not to associate with them or walk in ‘their way’ (8:11) and God calls him not to ‘fear what they fear or be in dread of it’ (8:12). The exhortation is to fear the Lord and regard Him as holy. This dividing line is not one of fear and no fear, but rather between fear being properly and improperly directed. To those who identify with Isaiah, God’s representative servant, and thus the remnant who fear the Lord, God will be a sanctuary and place of refuge but to those who fear man and do not dread God’s judgment He will be a ‘stone to strike and a rock to stumble over, and a snare and trap’ which will mean their stumbling, falling, and ultimately being broken, snared, and caught (8:14-15). Herein the dividing line of Christ and salvation is drawn. Faith in God’s way of salvation or unbelief and rejection means heaven or hell, paradise or torment, eternity with the Lord or everlasting punishment with the devil. The apostle Peter speaks of those who have ‘tasted the kindness of the Lord’ and coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected by men but choice and precious in God’s sight; these as living stones offer to God spiritual sacrifices and are built up as God’s spiritual house (1 Peter 2:3-5). These who believe will not be disappointed, but for those who disbelieve, “The stone which the builders rejected has become the very cornerstone and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense for they stumble because they are disobedient to the Word and to this doom they were appointed†(1 Pet. 2:5-8).
Furthermore, Isaiah responds that he and ‘the children whom God has given him are for signs and wonders in Israel’ (8:18). The Lord Jesus (Matthew’s Immanuel) came into the world and died for those who become adopted as children of God and are thus led to glory under the banner of having ‘one Father’ whereby Jesus is not ashamed to call them ‘brethren’ (Heb. 2:9-11). The ‘good news’ of the ‘Gospel’ is that Jesus’ life and death and mediation between holy God and sinful man permits all who come in faith and repentance to the cross of Christ the privilege of adoption into the family of God whereby one can call God Father or Abba (an Aramaic term of endearment like our English reference of Daddy). The writer of Hebrews quotes the earlier cited reference from Isaiah (Heb. 2:13 = Isa. 8:17-18) and thus equates Jesus’ followers to those of Isaiah (the ‘children’ is likely a rabbinic reference to disciples) who are of the ‘remnant according to the election of grace’. The election or choice of God is also made plain when Isaiah’s words are attributed to Jesus, “I and the children whom God has given Meâ€. The writer of Hebrews can, by the Spirit of God, attribute this to Jesus as He is recorded as thankingHis heavenly Father for those who He has given Him (Jn. 17:6), as all who have come to Him were given by the Father (Jn. 6:37) and drawn by Him to Jesus (Jn. 6:44).
The Gospel in Isaiah is further expounded in Hebrews by noting the ‘effect of the cross’ as well as the earlier context in Isaiah of ‘fear’ being properly placed in accordance to faith and love for God, also referenced as ‘the fear of the Lord’. The effect of the cross and the linking with Jesus’ life and death is stated in Hebrews 2:14, “Since then the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devilâ€. The Gospel’s good news is that Jesus’ taking on a body of flesh and blood like ours has in effect rendered powerless the devil who had the power of death. He is the ‘strongman’ that both Isaiah and Matthew speak of (Isa. 49:24-25; Mat. 12:29) who is bound by Jesus and thus has his goods plundered, i.e., those who were in slavery to him are set free. Moreover, the ‘fear factor’ which we addressed above in Isaiah’s context comes to further light in the following verse in Hebrews: “and might deliver those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives†(Heb. 2:15). Note that Isaiah was told that for those who fear man and the consequences of men over the fear of the Lord He will be a cause for them to stumble and fall and be broken, whereas those who fear the Lord will find God a sanctuary and place of refuge. Note also that Jesus delivered those who ‘through fear of death’, which is equated to being in slavery to the devil’s means, from the power of death. In short, faith overcomes fear and the Lord Jesus Himself calls His followers to ‘fear the Lord’ and not man. To quote His words exactly,
“And do not fear those who kill the body, but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell†(Mat. 10:28). The call of God in Christ is that His children would fear God above all other fears and this proper ‘fear of the Lord’ would be a life of freedom from the slavery associated with the devil. The apostle Paul says it was for freedom that Christ has set us free (Gal. 5:1). We are not to be subject to any yoke apart from that of Christ Jesus whose yoke is easy and His burden light (Mat. 11:28). The Gospel liberates us from fear and slavery because of Jesus’ death, resurrection, and life-giving Holy Spirit.
The fear of political upheaval and military attack overcame Ahaz and he failed to produce the obedience of faith, of which he was told is the only way to stand (Isa. 7:9). So too with us, we need faith to take refuge in Jesus Christ as Sanctuary or we will stumble too! The Lord Jesus said we are to abide in Him, “… as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in Me†(Jn. 15:4). It is in the abiding faith of love and obedience that we bear fruit that glorifies the Father, even as it was with Jesus. He says to His followers that it is precisely in this that we ‘prove ourselves to be His disciples’ (Jn. 15:8). The disciples that fear the Lord and love God and obey Him are those who manifest the reality of the Gospel as they live sacrificially and selflessly like the Servant King, the Lord Jesus Christ. These model their lives after Jesus and God is a Sanctuary and place of refuge for them amidst His judgments in the world.
There is also another crucial Gospel connection in the Servant (singular) who is the Messiah (Isa. 42:1) that is set in contrast to Israel, the faltering failure servant in the plural (Isa. 41:8). God’s unique Servant would take on the identity and role of the faithless and idolatrous servant and give Himself as an offering for their sin, and in their stead die the death they deserved (Isa. 53:4-6, 8, 10-12). This is the crux of the Gospel. Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of His people (Mat. 1:21; Jn. 1:29) who knew no sin, took on the sin of those for whom He died and they in turn receive His righteousness (2 Cor. 5:21). It is aptly summed up as ‘the Great Exchange’ in that the only way man could attain life with God, which is an abundant and eternal life in a relationship with God the Father through Jesus the Son of God (Jn. 10:10; 17:3), is by Jesus the Mediator between God and man (1 Tim. 2:5), as He was the unique God-Man who was born of the virgin Mary and conceived by the Holy Spirit (Lk. 1:35). The Lord Jesus identifies Himself as the Servant of Isaiah that was anointed of the Holy Spirit to preach the Gospel and to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord (Lk. 4:18-19). The liberty and freedom earlier spoken of is from sin, satan, and self but also as the apostle Paul states, “… the Lord Jesus Christ who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us out of this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father†(Gal. 1:3-4). Despite this evil age, the Gospel prevails and will continue to do so, for those who have ears to hear. Yet, the same two groups exist in the Church as there were in Isaiah’s day. These Paul calls ‘false brethren’ who sought to bring Paul and those with him (like Isaiah and those with him) into bondage, from which the Lord Jesus died to set us free. Paul says, “we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the Gospel might remain…†(Gal. 2:4-5). E. J. Young insightfully addresses the issue as in Isaiah’s day and puts it in such a way as to see its reoccurring context. He writes, “The nation was so low spiritually…that when the prophets advocated that the theocracy (governed by God) act like a theocracy, they were accused …so it has always been. Throughout the history of the church, those who have sought to call the Church back to her God-given mission … have been treated as troublemakersâ€.[3]
From Isaiah to Jesus, to the acts of the apostles, even unto the present Church we deal with similar components of fear and faith, opposition and peril that surround God’s ways that lead to life and blessing. But the life of faith and love and hope and conformity to the Servant King, the Son of God is our Gospel duty and privilege. And Ahaz stands as a reminder to us of the peril of unbelief and judgment whereas the Lord Jesus brings the blessing of Immanuel – ‘God with us’ – and all that it entails. Who are you identified with and are you walking in the fear of the Lord?
[1] Ed. G. J. Wenham, J. A. Motyer, D. A. Carson, R. T. France, New Bible Commentary. pg. 637
[2] J. Alec Motyer, The Prophecy of Isaiah: An Introduction and Commentary. pg. 401
[3] E. J. Young, The Book of Isaiah Vol. 3, pg. 310