Our guest lecturer today is Hollie Roberts, the President of Bible Study Fellowship (since 6/2021).
We're continuing in our study of Isaiah, reviewing chps 1-39. Isaiah is referenced or alluded to over 400 times in the New Testament, and has 21 direct quotations. Jesus teaches directly from the Book of Isaiah when speaking of His identity as the promised Messiah described by the prophet. The name of Isaiah, son of Amoz, is the online one connected with the authorship of this book and is one of the key ancient texts found completely intact among the Dead Sea scrolls in the Qumran cave excavations in 1948. That scroll predates the birth of Christ by at least 100 years and verified for scholars the amazing nature of textual preservation. This older copy was found to be an exact copy (except for very minor spelling changes of words) of the previous oldest manuscript which dated to around 1000 AD.
During days leading up to Judah's exile into Babylon, God sent various prophets who lived concurrently with each other to alert them of the reasons for God's coming judgment, what it would entail, and how God will continue to keep His promise to the patriarchs to send the Messiah. Along with Micah and others who spoke God's warnings to Judah, Isaiah delivered his prophetic message over various times during the lives of the Judean kings Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah.
Today, we'll review the core message of God's judgment and understand how in the middle of needful judgment, God will keep His promise of a true King, who would lead rightly, the increase of whose government and peace there will be no end (vs 9:7).
