Having spent a long time in one of the BIG New Testament letters (i.e. Hebrews), we are now going to turn to one of the BIG Old Testament books: Isaiah. But we are going to focus our attention on the third, and final, section of this major prophetic book, and study chapters 40-66.

In preparation for getting into the text, here is an introduction from Tom Hale’s ‘Applied Old Testament Commentary’ – a book I often turn to for its clear explanations. This quote will help set things in context for us:

‘The first thirty-five chapters of Isaiah are written against the backdrop of Assyrian domination. Assyria had conquered the northern kingdom of Israel and was now threatening Judah and Jerusalem. Then, in chapters 36-39 (repeated in 2 Kings chapters 18-20), Isaiah records the failure of the Assyrians to capture Jerusalem, and he predicts that Babylon will rise and become Judah’s main enemy (see 2 Kings 20:16-18; Isaiah 39:5-7). Now, in Chapters 40-48, Isaiah’s vision leaps ahead 150 years: the Jews are nearing the end of their exile in Babylon and are about to return to Jerusalem led by the Lord Himself. Thus chapters 40-48 constitute an extended prophecy about the restoration of Judah (the faithful remnant of Israel) following the exile in Babylon’ (p.1037).

In the ‘New Bible Commentary’, Derek Kidner writes beautifully:

‘…we emerge in 40:1 in a different world from Hezekiah’s, immersed in the situation foretold in 39:5-8, which he was so thankful to escape. Nothing is said of the intervening century and a half; we wake, so to speak, on the far side of the disaster, impatient for the end of captivity. In chs.40-48 liberation is in the air; there is the persistent promise of a new exodus, with God at its head; there is the approach of a conqueror, eventually disclosed as Cyrus, to break Babylon open; there is also a new theme unfolding, to reveal the glory of the call to be a servant and a light to the nations. All this is expressed with a soaring, exultant eloquence, in a style heard only fitfully hitherto…but now sustained so as to give its distinctive tone to the remaining chapters of the book’ (p.655).

PRAYER: Lord, I marvel again at the magnificent variety in your Word. I want to give you my time and attention, and pray that I will hear you speaking to me through what you spoke to your people centuries ago. Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.