Isaiah – What Does This Mean?

On the 6th of July, the church commemorates the prophet Isaiah. If you have never read the front part of the hymnal I highly recommend it. The Church sees the good in remembering the saints.

Isaiah ministered to God’s people during an era of great turmoil. Reading his book, you will see that he was called to serve as the Lord’s prophet the year that King Uzziah died, and he served as a prophet through the reign of Hezekiah. During this period there was a lot of political turmoil, and the book does speak about some of these situations in detail. But the promise of the Lord saving his people and gathering them together on His Holy Mountain is in the background.

Isaiah did what every other prophet did, speak the word of the Lord to the people, even the kings of his day. He preached the Law of God, proclaiming that judgment was coming on Judah and the northern kingdom in the form the Assyrians, and later the Babylonians. He preached to them repentance. But Isaiah also offers much gospel and forgiveness from the Lord. We only need to look to Isaiah 40. But even before that we see throughout his book that he preaches Law and Gospel.

In the three year lectionary of the Lutheran Church — Missouri Synod, we find Isaiah’s book is used on a whopping 77 Sundays. That is over 50% of the Old Testament lessons, when you consider the season of Easter replacing OT lessons with readings from Acts.

Perhaps, we should ask why Isaiah is so prominent in the lectionary. Perhaps, it is because Isaiah preaches Christ’s kingdom in a way that the Gospels preaches it. Some even called Isaiah “the fifth Gospel” because Christ and His work comes through so clearly. Even the name “Isaiah” conveys Christ. His name means “YHWH’s Salvation”. And it is no surprise that two of Isaiah’s favorite words to use in the book are the verb “he shall save” and the noun “salvation”.

Isaiah’s prophecies of Christ are quite clear, and perhaps that is why we like him so much. Isaiah also is quoted a number of times by the Gospels too, and Isaiah 52 and 53 are highlighted in Acts as a the text that converted the Ethiopian Eunuch.

So we in the Church give thanks to the work that the Lord did through His prophet Isaiah, as we remember and commemorate Isaiah today.

Rev. Jacob Hercamp
St. Peter Lutheran Church, La Grange, MO