Bible Studies

GETTING THE BIG PICTURE

by Henry Jaegers
09/27/22
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Making Sense of the Book of Isaiah

By Henry Jaegers

Lesson 8

GETTING THE BIG PICTURE

A Summary of Chapter One

"Making sense of the book of Isaiah", has been confirmed to me through reading a commentary by Alexander McLaren on the first chapter of Isaiah. In essence, he said that chapter 1 sets before us a summary of the whole book of Isaiah. And as I have been doing with this chapter in detail, I am glad to have the backing of another famous Bible commentator as a support for what I am attempting to do.

I think we can summarize chapter 1 with three headings. First, we deal with the messenger himself. He is Isaiah, who is unknown to the people among whom he is speaking. As in many cases, God uses an outsider to address the problems taking place within. That is true in the field of politics as well. But we notice that God did not call one from among the priests to address the problem, because they were already part of and sometimes the cause of it. So, the messenger God uses is very often unknown to the people. Perhaps that is why he is rarely heard or noticed.

The second thing of note is the message itself. To put it in a simplified form, it is a message from a loving God to a backslid-den people, urging and provoking them to "not go there." He does not want them to face the problems that Israel faced in the northern kingdom. And all through this book, we see these loving promises by God to try to keep his people from going over the edge in their backsliding.

 The third thing we see is the method of God in accomplishing his purposes. In the case of Isaiah, his method varies. Sometimes he warns of the dangers, other times he talks about greater hope for them and the coming of the Messiah, and other times, he reminds them, that when they were surrounded by enemies, he was there to protect them. But there is a bigger method that I like to share with you that I have not heard from the other commentators as such.

When I talked about getting the big picture, I am talking about God's method as demonstrated during the times of the major and minor prophets. It all began after the fall of Solomon when Jeroboam was chosen by God to lead the 10 tribes of Israel because of the wickedness of Rehoboam, Solomon's son. But it did not turn out as God planned. Jeroboam decided that he had a better method than God, and so replace God's plan with his own. And throughout that time, while the Northern kingdoms were guilty of Apostacy, the Southern kingdom was beginning to embrace Idolatry. Idolatry was not introduced to the North-ern kingdom until the reign of Ahab, who did so in his marriage to Jezebel. Then, God raised the prophet Elijah and Elisha to speak to the northern kingdom, particularly during those times.

But as we look at the southern kingdom, the prophets Isaiah and, Jeremiah were sent by God to prevent Judah and Jerusalem from following the example set by the Northern Kingdom (who were headed for Assyrian Captivity.)

So where am I going with this? Let's look at the major prophets first. Isaiah's address was to the southern kingdom as they were beginning to be engrossed with idolatry, even introducing it into their temple worship. The problem of the northern kingdom was apostasy, and the problem of the southern kingdom was idolatry. So God in the early stages uses Isaiah to address a backslidden people. This purpose for them is to take notice and to turn back to him to receive the blessing that he has in store for them. But they refused to learn from the backslidings of her older sister, Israel.

Now, one - hundred years later Jeremiah is called by God, and during his ministry, he was addressing the gross idolatry that was present at that time. God gave the people of Judah a choice to either turn from their idolatry or submit to Babylonian captivity. That was Jeremiah's message in a nutshell. But unlike what happened to Isaiah, the people in Jeremiah's time began to see their judgment taking place while Babylon was establishing her plan to invade Jerusalem. WHAT god was trying to prevent through Isaiah, He followed up through the ministry of Jeremiah. Jeremiah, in chapters 28 to 33 gave a word of promise, that after 70 years, Israel would be restored to the land that Nebuchadnezzar destroyed.

Now we come to the book of Ezekiel. Ezekiel was part of the first captivity performed by Nebuchadnezzar. And now we find him in Babylon speaking to those who have been part of the first captivity initiated by Nebuchadnezzar. He lived during the latter days of Jeremiah's ministry but was raised by God to preach to those now arriving in Babylon.                                                                                          His message continued from that of Jeremiah. But it gave further detail as to a future restoration and glory that would take place. It is interesting, that the book of Zechariah is complementary to the book of Ezekiel. Although Zechariah's purpose, was to motivate the people to begin building the temple again, he gave them a picture of where that success would lead. Ezekiel's purpose was not to motivate as much as to bring greater hope to the nation encouraging them to persevere in light of the present hopelessness that wasrent.   

 

Finally, we come to the book of Daniel. Daniel seems to be different in his message than that of the other three profits. He began his ministry in the courts of Nebuchadnezzar as a captive, as was Ezekiel. But Ezekiel stayed in the land and Daniel was taken to the palace of Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel's message was of the greater prophecy going beyond that of the others. Daniel's prophecies were during the time of transition when Babylon was replaced by the Persian Empire. Daniel received many messages concerning the future, and those messages pertain to the future that we face yet today.

But looking at the big picture, we see the northern kingdom had its prophets. Most of the messages of the minor prophets were given to the Northern Kingdom.

Now, looking at the picture as a whole. In the northern kingdom at the time of the preaching of Isaiah Jeremiah and Ezekiel, were already on their way to Assyrian captivity because of their sin. But the messages of Ezekiel and Jeremiah contained a message of a future restoration. And while Daniel was in his later years, the 70 years of the captivity of Israel were coming to a completion. God had to use Cyrus, a heathen king, to motivate them to leave, when those 70 years were complete. They were commanded under compulsion by Cyrus to return to Jerusalem with the purpose to rebuild the Temple.

We might say the message of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel could be titled "before Babylon." Then we can give the book of Daniel the title, "out of Babylon." Finally, the books of Ezra through Malachi the title, "After           Babylon." That may be a reason to write these books as a series of Messages.

 This is what the messages of the prophets were intended to do. To allow backslidden Israel to change. This summary helps us to transition into the next chapter where God continues his message with the theme, "In that Day".