I. THE BOOK OF ISAIAH,
IN ITS CONTENT CONCERNING GOD’S
ETERNAL ECONOMY IN CHRIST, BEING THE LEADING
BOOK AMONG ALL THE BOOKS OF THE PROPHETS
The book of Isaiah, in its content concerning God’s eternal economy in Christ, is the leading book among all the books of the prophets. This book is the vision which Isaiah saw (1:1), the word which Isaiah saw (2:1), and the burden which Isaiah saw (13:1; 15:1). The vision, word, and burden in Isaiah are concerned with God’s eternal economy in Christ, which is thoroughly covered in this book.
II. THE SUBJECT
The subject of the book of Isaiah is the salvation of Jehovah through the incarnated, crucified, resurrected, ascended, and coming Christ. This is not merely God’s salvation; it is the salvation of Jehovah, that is, the salvation of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. This is full salvation, entire salvation.
III. THE CONTENT
The content of Isaiah is this: God’s dealing in love with His beloved Israel and His righteous judgment upon the nations bring in Christ, the Savior (43:3; 49:26), who is God (9:6) incarnated to be a man (7:14), possessing both the divine and human natures (4:2), living on this earth (53:2-3; 42:1-4), crucified (53:7-10a,12), resurrected (53:10b-11), ascended (52:13), and coming (40:10; 64:1) to meet the need of God’s chosen people and the nations (9:1-7; 49:6) in God’s all-inclusive salvation (12:2-3), that the restoration of all things (2:2-5; 11:6-9; 35:1-10; 30:26) may be brought in, which will consummate in the new heaven and new earth for eternity (65:17). Hence, the content of Isaiah covers God’s entire economy of the New Testament, from the incarnation to the new heaven and new earth, with the Old Testament background of God’s dealing with Israel and His judgment upon the nations.
IV. THE CENTRAL THOUGHT
The central thought of Isaiah is: Christ is God incarnated in humanity to be the Savior of man, that all the God-created universe, which is fallen, might be restored and consummate in the new heaven and new earth for eternity. This book, like the New Testament, covers from beginning to end all the things God has ordained according to His economy. The beginning is the incarnation, and the end is the new heaven and new earth. The New Testament begins with Christ’s incarnation and birth and ends with the new heaven and new earth. Since Isaiah covers the same matters, we see once again that the book of Isaiah is the representative of the entire Bible, especially of the New Testament.
(Life-Study of Isaiah, Chapter 1, by Witness Lee)
