Buckle up, folks. Isaiah marks the beginning of the “Prophetic Books” section.
“What does that even mean, Rev. Dr.?”
It means that the following books talk about things that are going to happen because God personally told the prophets.
Did I just hear a pin drop? Probably. People don’t like talking about this.
I know you have questions. I know you do. All you need to consider in this moment is that these books were chosen for a reason, a “prophet” was always in tune with God and the people, and if someone is missing one of those elements, they are not a prophet and were not included in the Bible.
To answer one question you may or may not have had, the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947 helped solidify that the translation of the Bible has not been tainted in any major way. Isaiah was the first scroll found, so let’s just cut the crap and take my word for it- Isaiah is a good one. You can trust what it says.
You may remember from a few Substacks back about the kings of Israel and Judah, and all the empires that conquered them. This is where it starts getting handy to remember - we are essentially going back to the chronological order of things.
Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon kind of paused the action, think of them as a brief intermission.
Isaiah is when the ball starts rolling again.
Here are a few things you should know:
1) Isaiah was probably/more than likely written by Isaiah.
Even his name means “Yahweh is salvation,” which happens to be a very large theme in this book.
His job was to explain the vision God gave him.
2) First way to read: three separate sections.
Because Isaiah was a prophet, the majority of what you will be reading is…..prophecy. Wow!
Now, that word doesn’t need to be doom and gloom. I’d argue that most of the prophecies in the Bible were positive and only would bring peace and prosperity to those who knew God and His word.
Here’s the tough thing with reading ancient prophecies today: there is a lot of language you are not going to understand without some serious study. They used names of cities, famous figures, even mythical creatures as a way to portray what the prophets saw in their visions. They didn’t have TV or the internet, so it’s not like they could type into Google:
They had to compare what they saw to what they knew. Give them some grace….they tried their best.
Because it’s all prophecies, the best way to read Isaiah specifically is to read it according to the prophecy.
“Guys! This is what is happening right now!” - Isaiah 1-39 (700’s BC)
“Beware - this stuff is gonna happen in 200 years.” - Isaiah 40-55 (500’s BC)
“Time doesn’t exist. Everything could explode now or later. Hard to say.” - Isaiah 56-66 (all times, or until the end of time, up for interpretation)
3) Second way to read: top to bottom, in sections, like an email.
I’m not going to tell you Isaiah is easy to read. It’s not. However, there are bits and pieces that are 10/10 reading material. Just know there is no wrong way to read it, but give yourself grace while you read it.
“To Whom This May Concern: You suck!” Isaiah 1-5
“Chill out, God’s got a plan.” - Isaiah 6-12
“A lot of crap is going to happen before God executes the plan.” - Isaiah 13-27
“After the crap, an ah-ha moment!” - Isaiah 28-35
“Pick a team. You can’t change teams.” - Isaiah 36-39
“God is gon’ come down and whoop some people.” - Isaiah 40-55
“Hold on tight - here comes the good stuff.” - Isaiah 56-66
4) The big point Isaiah is trying to shove down their throats is…
God hates religious ritual and will do anything to get His people to break out of it.
He hates religion so much that God put the entire hope of the world into one man, the promised Davidic king (spoiler alert: it’s Jesus), which is absolutely insane if you look at it from this point of view.
If you are looking for proof of God hating religion, I recommend you reread Genesis and Exodus. There’s plenty of other places, but those two books are where I personally see it the most. God isn’t quiet about it.
Isaiah is one of the big moments in the Bible where God is really trying to tell people to knock it off. He tried with Judges, but the people He chose failed. So….here we are in Isaiah.
5) Give yourself a break.
Prophecies are incredibly difficult to read. They just are.
Don’t go into it as something you feel like you need to do just because you are Christian. Go into it as “even if I don’t enjoy it, it’s a privilege to read it.”
Heavy Reminder with the Rev. Dr.: the Bible is still banned (or considered a punishable offense if you are caught with one) in 52ish countries. You can stare at the Bible on your nightstand as long as you want, but I promise you, if given the opportunity, someone from Yemen or North Korea would enjoy having some new reading material. Don’t forget how fortunate you are.
6) And lastly, it’s okay to cheat.
If you start reading Isaiah and think, “gosh, I cannot do this,” that’s okay.
You’ve come to the right place.
There are other methods of learning about Isaiah where you don’t need to sit down with a cup of coffee at 5 AM before the kids are up. I’m such a nice Rev. Dr. that I will even put a cheat video below so you can do some learnin’.
The prophets are very difficult to read sometimes. Either you enjoy them or you don’t. Take it slow. Eat a cookie.
And, most importantly, remember that your salvation isn’t riding on you loving the book of Isaiah.
Go read with confidence. Thanks for being here.
