Read & Absorb Isaiah in Five DaysSample

Day One: Who is Isaiah?

Read Isaiah 1–17

Today we’re reading about the prophet Isaiah who lived immediately before and during the exile of the nation of Israel in the eighth century BC.

For context, Isaiah is the prophet during the reigns of Judah’s kings Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. These kings ruled from Jerusalem at the end of the divided kingdom before their exile to Babylon. All the kings, surprisingly, were good, except Ahaz.

It’s here that Isaiah warns the nation of their impending doom. Because he remembers the goodness of God, he knows that God is full of mercy and will relent when Israel acknowledges its sin and repents.

Isaiah’s warning language is twofold—containing both rebuke and hope. You’ll see this in play throughout today’s reading. Notice how Isaiah’s words in 5:20–21 bend toward rebuke: “What sorrow for those who say that evil is good and good is evil, that dark is light and light is dark, that bitter is sweet and sweet is bitter. What sorrow for those who are wise in their own eyes and think themselves so clever.” His words are both timely and timeless—timely in that the nation was calling evil good, but also timelessly universal in that we are seeing the same phenomenon today. This is the incisiveness of God’s Word, able to interpret the moment in Biblical history and our current context.

Later, in Isaiah 16:4–5, we see hope emerge. “When oppression and destruction have ended and enemy raiders have disappeared, then God will establish one of David’s descendants as king. He will rule with mercy and truth. He will always do what is just and be eager to do what is right.” Jesus is the fulfillment of Isaiah’s words (and interestingly, Isaiah is the most quoted prophet in the New Testament).

In John 1:14, we see those same qualities of mercy and truth in Jesus. “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (ESV).

Remember, the Old Testament is a signaler of what would come later. It is the beginning of the chiastic structure of the Bible, where the fall of humankind, judgment, nation-building, and exile will hinge on the the life of Jesus, followed by the inclusion of humanity in the church, kingdom-building, judgment at the end of time, and the restoration of all things in the New Heavens and the New Earth. Isaiah’s words point toward that coming reality.

Lord, thank you for warnings. Thank you for hope. Thank you that you’re the author of the change to come, where you will restore all the things we messed up in our sin. I confess I’m weary of the pain of this world. Please hold me as I wait for your glorious Next! Amen.