Articles
Isaiah and God
Isaiah and God
Reading Isaiah and learning about God is overwhelming at times. The Bible is about God. It begins with God and it ends with God. Everything in between is about how God relates to man. Jesus could say "this is eternal life that you might know God" (John 17:3). Notice how God is present in the book of Isaiah.
Start with the Great vision of God as the Holy one of Israel in chapter 6. When God calls Isaiah He shows himself to him. Holy, Holy, Holy is the LORD. Isaiah continues to focus on this as he speaks of Yahweh as the "Holy One of Israel" some 30 times in this book. Earlier God had said "I will be sanctified (held to be holy) by those who come near" (Lev. 10:3). Later John would see a similar vision of God and again those in His presence keep repeating "Holy, Holy, Holy" (Rev. 4). The problem in Isaiah's day (as in ours) is that the people were NOT holy. Though they were instructed (as we are) to be holy, they had partaken of the profane (cp. 1 Pet. 1:15-16; Lev. 11:44).
Stand in awe as you read of The Greatness of God in Isa. 40:9-24. God is a God of might. He measured the water in his hand, marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance (vs. 10, 12). Compared to God the nations are a "drop in the bucket and are accounted as the dust on the scales" (15). He sits on the circle of the earth and men are 'like grasshoppers' before Him (22). Who can compare to the LORD - NO ONE and NOTHING.
Marvel at The Uniqueness of the LORD in Isa. 40:25-31. There is none to compare with Him for He alone is God. He is the creator of all things. He creates and names the host of heaven. He sees and knows the ways of all his creation. He is the Everlasting God who does not faint or grow weary. He is the omniscient God whose understanding is unsearchable. YET He wants to be OUR God. He wants us to be HIS people.
Consider The great challenge to the idols in chapter 44. In the 44th chapter of Isaiah God lays forth the challenge to the 'gods' (worthless idols made by man's hands): If you be god tells us what WILL happen. One of the amazing attributes of God is his ability to know and thus foretell what will happen. “I am the Lord; that is my name! . . . See, the former things have taken place, and new things I declare; before they spring into being I announce them to you” (42:8–9; see also 44:7-8; 45:1,4; 45:21; 46:10; 48:3-6). God then foretells the coming of Cyrus (more than 100 years later) and also in great detail the coming of the Messiah.
Tremble at His control over the nations in the judgments decreed in chapters 24-25. God is not just God over Israel, He rules in the kingdoms of men. Isaiah thus delivers 'the burden of the Lord' against Babylon , Assyria, Philistia, Moab, Damascus and Samaria, Egypt, Cush, Edom, Arabia, Tyre, and of course Judah and Israel (chapters 13-23). God is thus pictured as the judge of the whole earth (chapters 24-25). God thus is also the judge of ALL men for "it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment" (Hebrews 9:27).
Behold the goodness and the severity of God. God is good to those who love Him as God. God's wrath is against those who reject Him. Let us serve the Lord with gladness, praise, and reverence.
