When God called prophets in the Old Testament to bring messages to His people, they were one of two kinds: words for today and prophecies for some time in the future. Isaiah was a prophet God used in a mighty way to reveal Himself to the people of Judah, and to foretell the Messiah and the end of the world. Though prophecies can be difficult to comprehend prior to their fulfillment, on this side of history, they are crucial for Christians to understand. Especially those related to Jesus–His incarnation, life, death, resurrection, and ascension.
While there were several men that God used to speak to the Israelites over hundreds of years, Isaiah was considered one of the greatest prophets. Not because of any accomplishment of his own, but because of the number of years He served God (64) and the way in which he remained faithful. Being a prophet meant giving people messages they didn’t want to hear, and often never seeing the fulfillment of the prophecies themselves. But Isaiah trusted that God would keep His word, and thousands of years later, his prophecies about Jesus help corroborate the truth of the gospel.
Before we talk about Isaiah’s prophecies in specific detail, let’s consider an overview of the entire book and the circumstances in which it was written. Isaiah, whose name means “The Lord saves," lived during a time of the divided kingdom after the land of Israel was split into Israel to the north and Judah to the south. Because of Judah’s repeated sins and the refusal of other nations to follow God, the first 39 chapters focus on messages of judgment, rebuke, and warning that Judah would fall to the Assyrians. In chapters 40-66, God provides words of restoration and comfort, speaking of the regathering of Jews who had been exiled following the prophesied overthrow by the Assyrians. Sprinkled throughout the book are prophecies about the coming Messiah.
Who Was Isaiah, and Why are His Prophecies Significant?
In the introduction to his writings, Isaiah wrote that he had a vision “concerning Judah and Jerusalem…during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah” (Isaiah 1:1). But it isn’t until the sixth chapter of the book that we learn about Isaiah’s commission by God. “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple” (Isaiah 6:1).
He goes on to speak of this vision and observing angels calling to one another, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of His glory” (Isaiah 6:3). Isaiah felt understandably humbled and said he was a “man of unclean lips." Once an angel touched his lips with a hot coal and announced that Isaiah’s sin was now atoned for, He heard God’s voice speaking to him. “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” to which Isaiah replied, “Here am I. Send me!” (Isaiah 6:8-9). Thus began his role as prophet which lasted approximately 60 years.
In her article, “Who Was Isaiah and Why Is He So Important?”, Dawn Wilson writes, “So remarkable are Isaiah’s predictions that the New Testament quotes Isaiah’s prophecies scores of times — far more than all the other prophets put together. What’s more, fully 90% of the New Testament’s 260 chapters quote from Isaiah’s writings.” While other prophets, including Micah, Hosea, and Moses, prophesied about One who would be born in Bethlehem, then be called out of Egypt, and would save people from their sins, the lion’s share of Old Testament prophecies about Jesus were given to Isaiah.
What Does Isaiah Prophesy about Jesus’ Birth?
We remind ourselves every Christmas that God announced His plan for His Son’s incarnation hundreds of years before through Isaiah. “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: the virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14). There’s no question that, unbeknownst to Isaiah, he was writing about Jesus. No one else in the history of the world has been born of a virgin (actually conceived by the Holy Spirit). The fact that Isaiah wrote that His name would be “Immanuel” was also a once-in-a-lifetime event, considering the name means “God with us." Jesus came to earth to be exactly that. The disciple Matthew would write in his gospel about this prophecy and tell his readers that Isaiah was prophesying about Jesus.
Later in Chapter 9, Isaiah builds on this announcement, saying that this son would be given to us, and would carry the government on his shoulders. “And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this" (Isaiah 9:6-7). All of this would come true, just not in the way that the Jews envisioned it. While they were expecting a child king to be born, they likely didn’t expect him to be born of humble means. Nor would they expect Him to die a criminal’s death 33 years later.
How Does Isaiah Foretell Jesus’ Ministry and Character?
God had promised King David that through a descendant of David, “I will set him over my house and my kingdom forever; his throne will be established forever” (1 Chronicles 17:14). So when Isaiah writes in Chapter 11 about the Spirit of the Lord “resting” on a shoot from the stump of Jesse (King David’s father), the people of Judah would know that God was speaking of the coming king and kingdom that He foretold to David. The expectation was that He would be a ruler over His people and protect them from their enemies, much like David did hundreds of years before. And somehow that kingdom would be an everlasting one.
Later in Chapter 61, Isaiah describes One who would be “anointed to bring good news to the poor," and who would bind up the brokenhearted and proclaim freedom for the captives. He would comfort those who mourn, and “provide for those who grieve in Zion.” This would be good news in their day as the people of Judah who had been exiled would return to Jerusalem. But it’s also a word for us today because of who that “One” would be.
On this side of the cross, we know that Jesus would do all of these things. In Luke’s gospel, he tells us that when Jesus was on earth, he visited his hometown of Nazareth and read Isaiah 61 in the local synagogue. Whether he read only a portion or if Luke edited what he read, these are the words from Luke 4:18-19:
“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
Jesus then rolled up the scroll and said “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:21). In other words, He was claiming to be the One who would do all of these things. Of course, His meaning was that God was offering redemption through Jesus and His upcoming sacrifice. The people in the synagogue became furious and tried to throw Him off a cliff. But of course this was not God’s plan for His life, so Jesus walked away.
What Does Isaiah Say about Jesus’ Suffering and Sacrifice?
Isaiah 53 has been a conundrum for the Jewish people since Isaiah wrote it. He speaks a prophecy about a “suffering servant” that many have theorized was Isaiah himself, or perhaps the prophet Jeremiah. But Christians can’t read it without seeing Jesus clearly. Isaiah 53:3-7 reads:
“He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.”
Isaiah 50:6 speaks further of the cruelty that Jesus endured. “I offered my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard; I did not hide my face from mocking and spitting.” Together with Isaiah 53, these words are a certain depiction of Jesus’ rejection, trial, physical beating and crucifixion. He took up “our pain” and bore “our suffering” and God laid on him the iniquity of us all”, is an allusion to the lamb that was slain each year to pay for the sins of the people on the Day of Atonement. Now Isaiah was prophesying that a person would take on this role.
This was no mere suffering servant; this was a person who would take the sins of the world for all time on His body. He would be the One to reconcile us to God through His sacrifice. He had to have been speaking about Jesus hundreds of years before His birth.
How Do Isaiah’s Prophecies Describe Jesus’ Reign and Kingdom?
In two different places in his book, Isaiah talks about what the Messiah’s reign and kingdom would be like. Isaiah 2 talks about the Lord’s temple existing on the highest of mountains, where people can go to learn God’s ways. There the Messiah will judge the nations and wars will cease. Surely this is a vision of the end times when people will be judged whether they believed in Jesus. Those who did will have access to the Messiah who brings peace to all the nations. And according to Isaiah 9:7, His government and peace will be everlasting.
Further in Isaiah 9:7, he writes, “Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.” Again, the reference to “David’s throne” points to Jesus as one who was in the line of David, the One who would bring a never-ending kingdom. of an everlasting kingdom built on justice and righteousness.
Why are Isaiah’s Prophecies Important for Christians?
The fulfillment of even one prophecy made hundreds of years before is a miracle of God. But when you add up all of the Old Testament and New Testament prophecies that are fulfilled in one person (Jesus), the odds are astounding. We would expect nothing less from God. He could simply ask us to have faith and trust that Jesus is who He claimed to be, but fulfilled prophecies provide the strong foundation that reinforces that faith.
The fact that Isaiah’s words help us understand God’s redemptive plan and Jesus’ divine mission is what makes the Book of Isaiah one that Christians should read in its entirety. As we do, the Holy Spirit will undoubtedly shine a spotlight on those prophecies that very obviously speak of Jesus and his redemptive work while on earth and throughout all time.
Why Should We Study Isaiah’s Prophecies about Jesus?
I think reminding ourselves regularly of Isaiah’s prophecies about Jesus is a gift that we can continue to give ourselves. Knowing that Isaiah wrote so clearly about Jesus as the Messiah centuries before His birth draws us to great awe. We get a greater sense that God’s plan for all time was created before any of it came to be. He gifts us with prophecy to show that He knows the end from the beginning, but also so that we would see that He wants us to be involved in uncovering treasures that lead us to His Son–and the resolution of His grand plan.
It is truly a gift to us that the Old Testament holds such rich truths that should not be overlooked in our rush to get to the New Testament accounts of Jesus. There is so much Jesus in the Old Testament that we cheat ourselves by not reading it in its entirety. Citing prophecy and matching it to Jesus or to the fulfillment of events is a great witnessing tool as well. In a time when many people pick and choose their “truth,” pointing out realized prophecy can go a long way to showing skeptics that the Bible self-corroborates and is the truth they need.
Further Reading:
Is Isaiah 53 the 'Suffering Servant' a Prophecy about Jesus?
Why is Isaiah the Most Quoted Prophet in the Bible?
Who Was Isaiah and Why is He Important?
Photo credit: ©Sparrowstock
Mary Oelerich-Meyer is a Chicago-area freelance writer and copy editor who prayed for years for a way to write about and for the Lord. She spent 20 years writing for area healthcare organizations, interviewing doctors and clinical professionals and writing more than 1,500 articles in addition to marketing collateral materials. Important work, but not what she felt called to do. She is grateful for any opportunity to share the Lord in her writing and editing, believing that life is too short to write about anything else. Previously she served as Marketing Communications Director for a large healthcare system. She holds a B.A. in International Business and Marketing from Cornell College (the original Cornell!) When not researching or writing, she loves to spend time with her writer daughter, granddaughter, rescue doggie and husband (not always in that order).
