ISAIAH CHAPTER 1

OBSERVATION STAGE

TABLE OF CONTENTS

The purpose of the observation stage is to maintain focus on the text at hand within the normative rules of language, context and logic . .This limits the observer to the content offered by the book of Isaiah. This will serve to avoid going on unnecessary tangents elsewhere; and more importantly, it will provide the framework for a proper and objective comparison with passages located elsewhere in Scripture.

Remember that something elsewhere may be true, but in the text at hand it may not be in view.

I) [Isa 1:1-31]:

A) (1:1-15) THE BOOK OF ISAIAH IS A BOOK OF THE VISIONS OF ISAIAH SON OF AMOZ CONCERNING JUDAH AND JERUSALEM IN THE DAYS OF UZZIAH, JOTHAM, AHAZ, HEZEKIAH, SUCCESSIVE KINGS OF JUDAH. THE MAJOR THEME WAS THAT THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL, GOD'S CHOSEN PEOPLE, WOULD REBEL AGAINST THE LORD AND THE CONSEQUENCES OF THAT REBELLION. THEIR COUNTRY WOULD BE MADE DESOLATE, THEIR CITIES WOULD BE BURNED, STRANGERS WOULD DEVOUR THEIR LAND, AND OVERTHROW THE RULE OF THEIR KINGDOM. JERUSALEM WOULD BE A CITY BESEIGED. UNLESS THE LORD OF HOSTS HAD LEFT A FEW SURVIVORS, ISRAEL WOULD HAVE BEEN LIKE SODOM AND GOMORRAH - WITHOUT SURVIVORS. GENERATIONS OF ISRAEL IN THE DAYS OF UZZIAH, JOTHAM, AHAZ, HEZEKIAH ARE IN VIEW IN ISAIAH CHAPTER ONE: THE MULTITUDE OF SACRIFICES OF THE PEOPLE IN THE TEMPLE WOULD BE FUTILE, THEIR APPEARANCES BEFORE THE LORD WERE LIKE TRAMPLING THE COURTS OF THE LORD, THEIR INCENSE WAS AN ABOMINATION TO HIM, THEIR NEW MOONS, SABBATHS AND CALLING OF ASSEMBLIES WERE UNENDURABLE AND UNBEARABLE. THE LORD WOULD HIDE HIS EYES FROM THEIR PRAYERS. HE WOULD NOT HEAR THEM FOR THEIR HANDS WOULD BE FULL OF THE BLOOD OF THE LORD'S SERVANTS

1) [Compare Dt 32:1]:

2) [Compare Isa 37:21-22]:

3) [Compare Isa 60:14]:

B) (1:16-20) AFTER SCATHING COMMENTS ABOUT ISRAEL'S UNREPENTANT BEHAVIOR - PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE, THE LORD COMMANDED ISRAEL, "WASH YOURSELVES, MAKE YOURSELVES CLEAN, PUT AWAY EVIL, LEARN TO DO GOOD." THEN HE SAID TO HIS CHOSEN PEOPLE, "COME LET US REASON TOGETHER," IN THE SENSE THAT EACH ISRAELITE WHO ACKNOWLEDGED THAT THOUGH HIS SINS WERE LIKE SCARLET, THEY SHALL BE AS WHITE AS SNOW - A PROMISE OF ETERNAL FORGIVENESS OF SINS IMPLYING A MOMENT OF FAITH ALONE IN GOD'S PROVISION OF AN ATONING SACRIFICE FOR SINS. FURTHERMORE, THOSE ISRAELITES WHO ARE FAITHFUL WILL RECEIVE TEMPORAL BLESSING, THOSE WHO REFUSE AND REBEL WILL BE DEVOURED BY THE SWORD. THE LORD WILL PURGE HIS PEOPLE OF THOSE WHO ARE REBELLIOUS AND FORSAKE HIM

C) (1:21-31) VERSE 21 JUMPS TO THE DAY OF THE LORD, TO A TIME OF A FUTURE GENERATION OF ISRAEL NOT YET SEEN IN HISTORY, WHEN HE WILL COME TO PURGE THE WORLD OF SIN AND ESTABLISH HIS ETERNAL KINGDOM OF GOD. THE VERSES BEGIN WITH A LAMENTING EXCLAMATION "HOW!" IN THE NKJV: "HOW THE FAITHFUL CITY [JERUSALEM] HAS BECOME A HARLOT!" AFTERWARDS JERUSALEM WOULD BE CALLED THE RIGHTEOUS CITY, A FAITHFUL CITY. THIS WILL EVIDENTLY NOT BE IN THE TIMEFRAME OF THE KINGDOMS OF UZZIAH, JOTHAM, AHAZ OR HEZEKIAH, RULING OUT THE BABYLONIAN CAPTIVITY - NOR AT ANYTIME SO FAR IN HISTORY. IN THE DAY OF THE LORD, THOSE WHO WORSHIPPED IDOLS WOULD BE CONSUMED, THEIR IDOLS WOULD NOT HELP THEM, BUT BE DESTROYED. THE UNFAITHFUL LEADERS WOULD BECOME LIKE TINDER, THEIR EVIL WORKS WOULD BECOME A SPARK WHICH WOULD TOGETHER DESTROY ONE ANOTHER

CONTINUE TO ISAIAH CHAPTER 2