Timely & Timeless: God’s Government

One Year Bible (Sep.

Isaiah 1:1-2:22

Timely & Timeless: God’s Government

REMNANT’S MATTER

“Except the Lord of Hosts had left us a small REMNANT we would be like Sodom and Gomorrah.” (Isaiah 1:9)

Human Depravity. Horrendous Evil. Haughty Perversion.

These are just three phrases to describe what happened in the city of Sodom and Gomorrah before it was utterly described.

The Bible tells us that the end times will be characterized by carnality, gluttony, promiscuity, and perversion as in the days of Noah when the entire world was destroyed by a flood, except for Noah and his family.

Evil does not go unnoticed in God’s realm…

The book of Isaiah is both Timely & Timeless which is utterly amazing in so many ways!

The first half of the book of Isaiah speaks of God’s Government to address Israel’s sin. The second half of the book speaks of God’s Grace.

The book of Isaiah is also referred to as “The Fifth Gospel”.

If there is one Old Testament book to read that gives you a glimpse of the entire Bible it would be the book of Isaiah. This book is to the Old Testament what the book of John is to the New Testament. It gives you a “focused view” of the Big Picture.

This book is so unique and interesting for many reasons…

You can think of it as “The Mini-Bible”. Its structure is like a miniature Bible in that there are sixty-six chapters while the Bible has sixty-six books.

The book of Isaiah has two great divisions, the Government of God (Judgment) and the second half of the book is the Grace of God (salvation through the Messiah). There are 39 chapters in “The Law/Judgement” section of Isaiah just as there are 39 chapters in the Old Testament. There are 27 chapters in the God’s Grace section of Isaiah just as there are 27 books in the New Testament.

The Old Testament begins with the sin of man and the book of Isaiah begins with the very same theme. The first section of Isaiah closes with the prophecy of the coming King who will bring righteousness and redemption to his chosen, but sinful people.

The second section of the book of Isaiah begins with the “voice that is crying in the wilderness” ( Isaiah 40:3) and points to the coming of the Messiah. The New Testament opens with these words telling about John the Baptist and preparing the way for the coming of the long-awaited Messiah.

The book of Isaiah ends with the vision of the new heaven and a new earth where righteousness dwells in perfection. (Isaiah 62:1-2, 65:17, 66:22) The New Testament closes with this very same theme in Revelation 21. The similarities between Isaiah and the book of Revelation are amazing!

The last 17 books of the Old Testament are all prophecy. Five are of the Major Prophets and Twelve are of the Minor Prophets.

I used to think of this in terms of “Baseball”. Who is a Major league player and who is playing in the minor leagues… However, I was way “out in the outfield” on that one! The term major prophet means that it is a large or lengthy book or prophecy and minor prophets have a shorter message. Isaiah is definitely a “Major league player’. The game will be LONG and EXCITING!

Do you remember how many books are in the Bible? What about how many chapters are in the book of Isaiah? Well, that is how many times the book of Isaiah is quoted in the New Testament, SIXTY-SIX times!

Now, I ask you, “Do you think all of this is just by coincidence?”

The Bible uses numbers like 40, and 7 all throughout the Bible to help catch the greater picture in this symbolism.

Even in the Old Testament God is giving them a glimpse of the New Testament even before it was written or lived. How can this possibly be?

Some people doubt that Isaiah could have possibly written the second half of this book. How could he write things that actually happened in the future that he knew nothing about?

The beginning of the book of Isaiah answers this question for us, “These are the VISIONS that Isaiah son of Amoz SAW”…(1:1)

As a prophet, he spoke “FOR GOD” and received “FORETOLD” information! Prophets appeared in the DARKEST TIMES of History to point the REMNANT to REVIVAL and the UNRIGHTEOUS to REPENTANCE.

Even in the darkest of times, a REMNANT MATTERS! It mattered then and it still matters now...

The “Fifth Gospel of Isaiah” is both TIMELY & TIMELESS!