THE WORLD OF ISAIAH 3

 

Holy One of Israel by LDS Bookstore

ISAIAH: “Jehovah Saves” or “The Lord Is Salvation”; a statesman, poet, psalmist, prophet, the mighty seer, Israel’s greatest prophet.  Son of Amoz, a prophet in Jerusalem during 40 years, 740-701 B.C. He had great religious and political influence during the reign of Hezekiah, whose chief advisor he was. Tradition states that he was “sawn asunder” during the reign of the most hated Israel’s king, Manasseh; for that reason he is often represented in art holding a saw (see Bible Dictionary: Isaiah).

QUOTED:  The most quoted of all prophets - Book of Mormon, over 20 chapters; New Testament – Jesus quoted him 7 times, the apostles 40 times more, plus 90 partial quotes or paraphrases; Doctrine and Covenants – 66 quotations from 31 chapters.

DUAL PROPHECIES: his time; the meridian of time after Christ’s crucifixion and 70 A.D. when Jerusalem was destroyed; the Second Coming; Christ’s first advent as the Suffering Servant (Isaiah 53) and the second advent as The King of Glory of the Millenial Day (Isaiah 9:6,7)

CHAPTERS 1-39:  Ministry of Isaiah;

CHAPTERS 13-23: “Burden” chapters – messages of doom for sister states of Israel;

CHAPTERS 40-66: Visions of future;

CHAPTERS 12, 26, 27: Psalms and Hymns of Praise.

 

Among all the important prophecies of this one man, what shines the most is his testimony of Jehovah whom he called “The Holy One of Israel” (Isaiah 1:4; 47:4):

 “This sacred title of the Saviour appears about thirty times in the writings of Isaiah but only twice in Jeremiah, once in Ezekiel, and three times in Psalms. It is not used elsewhere in the Old Testament, except in 2 Kings 19:22, which is Isaiah speaking. The Book of Mormon prophets Lehi, Nephi, and Jacob used this expression thirty-nine times, only four of which are passages from Isaiah.” (The Old Testament Student Manual 1 Kings-Malachi, p 137).

Consider these verses that clearly express Isaiah’s testimony of the Holy One of Israel:

“ Behold, God is my salvation: I will trust, and not be afraid: for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song: he also is become my salvation (Isaiah 12:2);

“O Lord, thou art my God; I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name; for thou hast done wonderful things…..thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat…..(Isaiah 25:1,4);

“Hast thou not known? Hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? There is no searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.

“Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”   (Isaiah 40:28-31)

He, in whose hand is the scepter of kings

Who spanned the heavens above

And laid the foundations of the earth below

Upon whose surface He once achingly trod

Is The Holy One of God.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN