Psalm 45 Publications

The call and commission of the prophets of Israel

When we examine the various biblical accounts of the call and commission of each of the writing prophets, we must be struck, above all else, with the sovereignty and divine prerogative of the God of the prophets. There is no characteristic common to each of them other than the certain, inescapable, and unsought call of God. The prophets did not all come from a certain tribe, as did the priests. They did not pass the office from father to son. They did not of themselves choose the position and follow all the right steps to attain their goal. Instead, God sovereignly reached down and set apart persons from every background, walk of life, and social position to speak his very words to the people of Israel. When God called a prophet, he did not have the option to refuse. If God had chosen him, he would be a prophet for life. There is no example of any prophet genuinely called by God who ever left his office. God had chosen him before he was born, and he would never revoke his choice. This is important for us to realize, because at the outset of our study it emphasizes a sovereign God whose plans are certain and unstoppable, and whose grace moves him to reveal to the desperate world of mankind what those plans are, and how the world should respond. From the beginning, then, we should be less concerned with understanding the prophets themselves and more concerned with understanding the God of the prophets, and his all-inclusive plans for the world he created. Continue Reading

Introduction:

The first verse in the book of Isaiah is helpful in that it gives a historical setting for the prophecies that follow, and it specifies the immediate audience to whom the prophet was writing. We see by this information that Isaiah was the earliest of the major writing prophets (although not the earliest of any writing prophet – Jonah, Amos, and Hosea were likely earlier than Isaiah), and that his message had to do primarily with the southern kingdom of Judah (unlike that of Amos and Hosea). The period of Judah’s history in which Isaiah would have been prophesying is marked by great changes: Uzziah and Jotham, although each with certain defects, were on the whole good kings; Ahaz was thoroughly wicked and corrupt; Hezekiah was characterized by a whole-hearted righteousness such as had not been seen in any king since David (2 Kings 18:1-6). And if Isaiah lived to see Manasseh’s reign as well, as Jewish tradition has it, then he also experienced the court of the most wicked king in Judah’s history (2 Chronicles 33:1-9). This extreme fluctuation in the outward appearance of godliness in Judah is an important backdrop to Isaiah’s prophecies. It is striking that his essential message does not change throughout any change in Judah’s kings. In Hezekiah’s reign, as well as in Ahaz’s, the people of Judah are denounced as corrupt, and certain judgment is prophesied (e.g. see Isaiah 58:1-8). The presence of a good king is not sufficient to change the people’s hearts; but a coming king is promised who will do just that (cf. Isaiah 11:1-9; 42:1-7). This “Branch of David” forms the sole substance of the hope of God’s people. They can no longer look back to their nationality, descent from Abraham, etc., to assure their hearts of acceptance with God. For that, only the coming King about whom Isaiah is diligent to prophesy will prove to be sufficient. Continue Reading

Introduction:

In the first chapter of Isaiah, we encountered some shocking prophecies concerning Judah and Jerusalem, God’s chosen people for thousands of years. We discovered that, because Judah had been so rebellious, forsaking the God who had blessed her so richly, God was about to cast his people off, destroying them and avenging himself upon them as his enemies. And yet, in the midst of this gloomy forecast of destruction and exile, we encountered a few rays of hope: God would preserve for himself a righteous remnant, and he would restore Jerusalem so that in the latter days it would be called the faithful city, and a city of righteousness. Now, as we look to the prophecies of chapter two, those few rays of hope burst forth into one of the most beautiful prophecies ever recorded for us, a prophecy of hope and triumph in the latter days of the gospel. As we examine these new prophecies in detail, it is vital that we remember the preceding prophecies of chapter one, which lay a necessary foundation for what is to follow. Continue Reading

Introduction [Chapter 3]:

Chapter three begins a new cycle of prophecies in Isaiah’s introduction. The prophecies of chapters three and four follow the same basic design as the prophecies in the first two chapters, only elaborating more explicitly on some of the themes already mentioned. Finally, chapter five rounds out the introductory cycles of prophecy, climaxing with an allegorical representation of God as the husbandman of a vineyard, and Israel as a vine that has been given every advantage, and yet has brought forth nothing of worth. Hence, there is a natural crescendo to Isaiah’s introduction, the first two chapters laying a thematic groundwork which will be taken up again in the next two chapters, and which will then give way to a dramatic representation that drives those same themes home in a pictorial and confrontational manner. Continue Reading

The Promised Immanuel, Israel’s Hope (Isaiah 7:14-15):

The sixth chapter of Isaiah left us with an account of Isaiah’s commission as a prophet, and a concise distillation of his essential prophetic message. As we move into chapter seven, we can begin to see how Isaiah reiterates and elaborates upon that same basic message in response to specific current events, addressing specific Jewish leaders. As pressing national events warrant, God sees fit to provide a more detailed glimpse of certain prophetic themes that he has already revealed to Isaiah: but no matter how much more detailed these later revelations are, they are still organically connected to, and in fact founded upon the kernel message laid out in the book’s introduction. Although this method of development is not consistent throughout the book of Isaiah (many of his prophecies are laid out thematically, with no historical context given), yet it is probably fair to say that the progression of prophetism in Israel as a whole unfolded along those basic lines: as events related to the impending exile of Israel and Judah arose, God provided an inspired interpretation of those events that would place them in the context of the movement of redemptive history, and use them to point the way to the glorious future restoration that the Messiah would effect. This general characteristic of the development of Jewish prophetism is seen as clearly in Isaiah chapter seven as anywhere. Continue Reading

Introduction:

In our last lesson, we concluded by observing verses six and seven of Isaiah chapter nine, and considering the everlasting kingdom that Christ would be born to rule. This week, we will examine the nature of his kingdom in more detail from the prophecy contained in chapter eleven. But before we get into chapter eleven, it would be beneficial to trace the flow of thought in the remainder of chapter nine, together with that of chapter ten, as a sort of brief introduction to the material at hand. Continue Reading

Introduction:

We concluded our last lesson in chapter twelve, lifting up a song of praise for the coming Kingdom of Christ, a Kingdom that will bring all true inhabitants of Zion the everlasting joy and life that Christ is going to draw from the wells of salvation. This is the end and goal of the exile of Judah: the people will be cast off, and the throne of David will be overturned; but all of this judgment is only setting the stage for a glorious restoration of the throne and kingdom of David. When Messiah comes, he will restore what was lost – but not just restore, he will recreate the Kingdom and the City of David, transforming it into an eternal kingdom of righteousness and peace. His wrathful judgment of Judah will result in a greater mercy and more certain hope for those whom he chooses to deliver, restore, and make righteous (i.e. the remnant of grace). Thus of Judah, but what of the rest of the world? Does God have plans for them as well? As we move into chapter thirteen, we begin to see that God’s sovereign rule does not stop with Judah. He also has certain plans for every nation of the world: and, as with Judah, his plans are first to pour out strong and wrathful judgment. But in the case of the Gentiles, as well, God’s plans do not stop with judgment. Wrath will give place to a restoration of grace – a restoration that is indeed a recreation of the entire order of things. Continue Reading

Introduction:

The interplay between the worldwide judgment pronounced in Isaiah chapters thirteen through twenty-four and the world-restoration promised in chapters twenty-five through twenty-seven comes again to the forefront in the next cycle of prophecies, recorded in chapters twenty-eight through thirty-five. In this cycle of prophecies, we see God’s judgment announced upon his people in the direst terms; but interwoven throughout, we encounter many encouraging glimpses of the coming King, and the restoration he will effect for his remnant of grace – a restoration that will grow until it encompasses the entire created order of things. This prophetic contrast appears in sharpest relief in the picture of the utter devastation of the earth in chapter thirty-four, set off against the picture of glorious worldwide restoration in chapter thirty-five. Continue Reading

Introduction:

In Isaiah chapters thirteen through thirty-nine, we are struck again and again with the greatness of God’s plans – plans that involve every nation of the world, and extend to the furthest reaches of time. When we have begun to realize the greatness of God’s eternal plans and his mighty acts in history, we must be confronted with the question, “If the works of God are so great, how great must God himself be?”. This question marks the shift in emphasis from chapter thirty-nine to chapter forty. We have already seen that every detail of world history has been perfectly planned out by God before the world began. We have seen that man’s wickedness does not frustrate his designs, but that he turns even the most evil intentions of men to work out his own good and righteous purposes. We have seen that human might and wisdom and strength have no ultimate bearing on the outcome of a struggle; as Nebuchadnezzar would later be forced to confess, “[God’s] dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation: And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?” (Daniel 4:34-35). But if what God does is so glorious, who he is must be even more glorious yet. As we move into Isaiah 40, we begin to get a glimpse of the incomparable greatness of the God who “works all things according to his will” (Ephesians 1:11). Continue Reading

Introduction:

Our last lesson, taken from Isaiah chapters forty through forty-two, emphasized, first, the incomparable greatness of God; and second, the work of redemption to be carried out by the coming Servant of the Lord as the ultimate display of God’s incomparable greatness. As the text moves into our next portion for study, chapters forty-three through forty-five, Isaiah continues this theme of the coming redemption which will be wrought by Christ. As we look into these chapters, we must be immediately struck with the greatness of salvation; but if that is all we come away with, we are missing the whole point of the text. Isaiah’s explicit reason for exulting in the great salvation of our God is that, in an unmatchable way, it reveals much about God himself. The basic reason for calling to mind God’s great salvation is that it serves to confirm God’s testimony of himself – “I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me, there is no savior” (Isaiah 43:11). God’s greatest act, the salvation of his people, as well as every other work he has performed, was done “for [his] glory” (Isaiah 43:7). When we consider the nature of this great salvation, and meditate on the character of the great God it reveals, we must be overwhelmed, as was Isaiah who penned this text, with God’s almighty power, and God’s unfailing grace. In other words, as this text makes clear, salvation is, above all, the display of the sovereign grace of God. Continue Reading

Introduction:

If Isaiah chapters forty through forty-five display the glorious greatness of God’s mercy upon those whom he has chosen for redemption, then chapters forty-six through forty-seven display the glorious greatness of God’s wrath upon his enemies. These two complementary truths, the free mercy and uncompromised justice of God, find their ultimate expressions in the different destinies planned out by God for the people he has chosen and for the enemies of his people. God’s mighty work of redemption was designed, above all, to display the manifold greatness of God; and hence, both eternal, holy wrath and eternal, sovereign grace have their place in redemptive history. In the supreme display of his character, through Christ the Redeemer, God left us no excuse for viewing him as a wrathful God without compassion or as a merciful God who is willing to overlook sin. God is both holy – the righteous Judge against all rebels – and merciful – the God who forgives freely and completely. We may be certain that the greatest revelation of the nature of God is to be found exclusively in Christ’s redeeming his people through his sacrifice of himself on the cross. But in order to magnify the vastness and the freeness of that redemptive grace, God purposed to demonstrate the full extent of his righteous wrath against all sinners by his reprobation and eternal punishment of the wicked. When we realize how severe God’s wrath truly is, and recognize that we are by nature children of wrath (Ephesians 2:3), then and only then can we appreciate the full extent of God’s elective, saving mercy. The destruction of God’s enemies is a cloth of blackest velvet, placed as a backdrop to set in more brilliant relief the dazzling splendor of the flawlessly cut diamond of free redemption (see Romans 9:22-24). Continue Reading

Introduction:

Isaiah chapter fifty-three (together with the last three verses of chapter fifty-two) is the clearest and fullest explanation of the gospel anywhere in the Old Testament. Not until Paul penned his epistles in the first century would the church have a more explicit and heartfelt treatise on the substitutionary atonement and vicarious suffering of Christ, on his humiliation, rejection, death, and subsequent glorification. Isaiah is perhaps the pinnacle of the Old Testament documents: in his prophecies we see Christ revealed more clearly than at any other time or place until his actual taking on of flesh to walk among us. If this is the case, then it is also undoubtedly true that chapter fifty-three is the pinnacle of Isaiah. May God fill our hearts with the wonder of seeing and savoring the beauty of Christ and his work of redemption as we stagger in awe before this most precious of prophecies! Continue Reading

Introduction:

Jonathan Edwards, in his beautifully Christ-centered biblical theology, A History of the Work of Redemption, argues that all of history was planned out by God for the purpose of accomplishing his mighty work of redemption. Accordingly, he divides history into three basic epochs, demonstrating, “(1) That from the Fall of man until the incarnation of Christ, God was doing those things that were preparatory to Christ’s coming and working out redemption, and were forerunners and earnests of it. (2) That the time from Christ’s incarnation until his resurrection was spent in procuring and purchasing redemption. (3) That the space of time from the resurrection of Christ to the end of the world is all taken up in bringing about or accomplishing the great effect or success of that purchase.” In our last lesson we spent all of our time in Isaiah fifty-three, meditating on the actual accomplishment of redemption that should occur when Christ came to take on human flesh, suffer for our transgressions, and rise again victorious over death and sin. As we move now into chapter fifty-four, we see the necessary effects of Christ’s perfect victory, as Isaiah looks ahead to that third great epoch of redemptive history, in which the success that Christ has already accomplished grows and spreads until it embraces all the nations. This is the epoch in which we live today. And the reason we are still alive on this earth is to labor for the sake of our Savior, so that the effects of what he has done for us might overspread the earth. Let us, therefore, be intentionally applicational as we look for the Spirit to teach us the truths that he has for us in this text. Let us be continually asking ourselves the question, “How can I be involved in seeing these prophesied realities come to fruition?” We have no greater honor than to be laboring for the growth of the kingdom of Christ. And this honor is ours indeed, if in faith we seize ahold of the opportunity that God’s grace offers to us. Continue Reading

Introduction:

We are now moving to the final, consummative stage in Isaiah’s grand vision of the advent and work of Christ. When we began the second major portion of Isaiah (chapters 40-66), we observed that God is eminently concerned with displaying his glory. We noted that the ultimate way in which he does this is through his mighty work of redemption. This work, we saw, would be perfectly accomplished by the coming of the Servant of the Lord, the long-awaited Christ. Then, when we got to chapter fifty-three, we learned something shocking: Christ would accomplish this mightiest of all works, which would display God’s glory more clearly than it could ever otherwise have been seen, by being humbled and degraded. We noted that Christ, through his sufferings, would obtain redemption and eternal life for his people; and that the effects of his great success would spread until they covered the entire earth. Because of all this, Isaiah spends some time exhorting the people of God to true religion, and not just the outward appearance of it. Now, as we move into chapter sixty-three, we see unfolding one last great development in God’s redemptive design. Christ will return a second time: but this time, he will not be in a state of humiliation – weak, despised, and as a lamb for slaughter. No, he will come as the Lion of the tribe of Judah, as a glorious conquering warrior, whom no one can resist, and before whom the whole earth will bow in terror. Seeing that this return of the King is bearing down hard upon us, let us make sure that we are in his favor, and that he is coming to deliver us from our enemies. For if we should be found to be his enemies on that day, oh how great and eternal our torment will be! Let us bow before the King now, while we may still do so with joy, and not wait until we must bow with the anguish of knowing we must forever face his wrath. Continue Reading

Introduction:

We have finally reached the conclusion of the book of Isaiah; which is a description of the conclusion and final goal of all of history. When Christ comes the second time, it will be the last great chapter of the world story, in which his great work of redemption will encounter the fullness of its necessary effects. In these chapters we see that Christ’s great work of restoration will be so successful as to bring about a new order of things: a new and eternal heavens and earth, no longer marred by sin and the curse; and a new people, themselves fully and finally liberated from sin and the curse, so that with joy and purity of heart they may worship their Redeemer-King forever. Let us never lose sight of this ultimate end for God’s people, this exceeding and eternal weight of glory, and hence grow weary in our well-doing. For we shall reap if we faint not (2 Corinthians 4:14-18; Galatians 6:9). Continue Reading