ISAIAH: THE EVANGELICAL PROPHET

Major characters #

• Isaiah (“Jehovah is salvation”), son of Amoz
• Uzziah (790-740 bc), Jotham (750-731 bc), Ahaz (735-715 bc32), and Hezekiah (715-686 bc), kings of Judah
• Sennacherib, king of Assyria

Major themes #

• Judgement
• Sin
• Salvation
• Messiah
• God

Major words/phrases #

• “in that day” (43x)
• salvation (28x)
• woe (23x)
• Holy One (30x)
• sin, sins, sinful, sinners (23x)
• sing (16x)
• glory (48x)
• holy (29x)

Major locations #

• Ephraim (Israel)
• Assyria (Capital city: Ninevah)
• Babylon
• Syria (capital city: Damascus)
• Moab
• Tyre

Christ in all the Scriptures #

• The Virgin Birth, 7:14
• A Child born, a Son given, 9:6-7
• A Branch, from the stem of Jesse, 11:1
• A Precious Cornerstone, 28:16
• A light to the Gentiles, 42:6; 49:6; 9:2 (cp. 60:19-20)
• The Anointed One, 61:1-3
• The Glorious One, 63:1-6
• The Servant of the LORD, 42, 49-53

The name “servant” is applied by Isaiah to the Messiah, to the entire nation of Israel, to the godly remnant (43:10), and to Cyrus. Usually the context makes clear which one is intended. (William MacDonald)

William MacDonald gives the following outline of chapters 49-57:

• The Messiah as Servant, 49
• The Messiah as True Disciple, 50
• The Messiah as Righteous Ruler, 51:1-52:12
• The Messiah as Sin-Bearing Sacrifice, 52:13-53:12
• The Messiah as Redeemer and Restorer, 54
• The Messiah as World Evangelist, 55:1-56:8
• The Messiah as Judge of the Wicked, 56:9-57:21

While the entire section (chs. 40-66) anticipates the ultimate restoration and peace of Jerusalem, ch. 41-48 do refer particularly to the return from the Babylonian captivity and the rebuilding of the Jerusalem that followed in the days of Zerubbabel, Ezra and Nehemiah.

John Riddle, WTBT: Song of Solomon, Isaiah (Ritchie, 2005), pg. 398.