The Confession and Call of Isaiah (Isaiah 1–6)

Start at the base of a towering mountain and look up: that’s how Isaiah feels when you let his words fill your field of view. We open with the covenant heartbeat behind every prophet’s message, then move into Isaiah’s sharp double edge—clear warnings of judgment paired with a compelling invitation to grace. The stain is real, the mercy is greater, and the path forward isn’t moral polish but a God who says, “Come now, let us reason together.”

From there we lift our eyes to the mountain of the Lord, a vision of a future kingdom where the Messiah teaches the nations and Jerusalem becomes the world’s bright center. Isaiah doesn’t blink at timelines: near-term crises like famine and invasion sit beside the distant “day of the Lord,” a sobering period of global reckoning echoed in Revelation. Yet even at the darkest points, hope breaks through: the Branch of the Lord, beautiful and glorious, signaling restoration for Israel and an open invitation to all whose names are written in the Book of Life.

We also step into the temple with Isaiah and feel the tremor of holiness. “Woe is me” turns to purified lips and a willing heart—“Here am I, send me”—even after hearing that fruit may be scarce and listeners hard of heart. That collision of awe, forgiveness, and obedience becomes a map for living faithfully when cultures call evil good and good evil. Join us as we draw out the moral clarity, the end-times perspective, and the resilient hope that make Isaiah timeless. If this journey helps you see more of God and walk straighter paths, share it with a friend, subscribe, and leave a review so others can find the way.

NEW: Legacies of Light for Children, Volume 1:

Children Need Heroes. This book tells the story of nine Christian heroes worth following. https://www.wisdomonline.org/store/view/legacies-of-light-kids-1

Learn more at https://www.wisdomonline.org/

Transcript

Covenant Faithfulness And Prophetic Warning

Judgment Announced And Grace Offered

The Coming Kingdom And End Times

Near-Term Calamity And Future Restoration

Woes Against Moral Inversion

Isaiah’s Vision And Cleansing

Here Am I, Send Me

SPEAKER_00 0:48

Our wisdom journey today takes us into the book of Isaiah, and I gotta tell you, just saying that makes me feel like a mountain climber standing at the base of Mount Everest. The prophet Isaiah is the leading spokesman here in the Old Testament, and he's gonna lead us up that mountain peak. We're gonna see the grandeur of God's glory like never before. I think of what J. Sidlow Baxter wrote years ago, what Beethoven is in the realm of music, what Shakespeare is in the realm of literature, what Spurgeon was in the Victorian era among preachers, Isaiah is all of that among the prophets. Now Isaiah will minister seven hundred years before Jesus is born. Isaiah is going to serve four kings in Judah as sort of the official court prophet, and he's going to serve over a period of fifty years. Now, as we begin our wisdom journey through this book, it's important to get the context here. The preaching of every prophet flows out of God's commitment to the covenant he made with Israel. These prophets are God's voice and they're calling Israel back to obedience. And that's what Isaiah is going to be doing. He's warning God's people that judgment will come if they don't repent of their rebellion, but he's also reminding them of what God has in store for those who follow him. By the way, that includes you and me to this very day. Now with that, let's open this great book of prophecy. Right here at verse one. The vision of Isaiah, the son of Amaz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord has spoken. Children have I reared and brought up, but they have rebelled against me. Well Isaiah is going to move on now and prophesy that God is going to use the wicked nations surrounding Judah to bring judgment on them, take them away into exile. Now, true to the pattern of Isaiah's preaching, he follows up this warning of judgment with an invitation of grace here in verse eighteen. Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord, though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. In other words, sin has stained their lives, and it stained your life and mine as well, and this isn't just any kind of stain, this is one of those deep red stains, the kind you can't get out of your carpet or clothing. The good news is God can. He can cleanse his rebellious people from all their guilt. He can make their lives, as it were, as white as freshly fallen snow, and that's beautifully clean. Those who are forgiven have now permission to enter the glorious kingdom Isaiah begins to describe here in chapter two, over here in verse two. It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established, and many people shall come and say, Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord that he may teach us his ways, and that we may walk in his paths. Now this will all be fulfilled as recorded in Revelation chapter twenty, when this thousand year, this millennial kingdom is established following the tribulation. And Jerusalem, by the way, is going to become the capital city of the Lord's kingdom on earth. Now another aspect of Isaiah's preaching is that he warns the nation about events that are in their near future and events that will take place in the distant future. We call those events the end times. And here in chapter two, Isaiah begins to introduce that distant day of the Lord, that coming tribulation period in the end times when God pours out his wrath on the earth. Isaiah writes about that here in verse nineteen. And people shall enter the caves of the rocks and the holes of the ground from before the terror of the Lord, and from the splendor of his majesty, when he rises to terrify the earth. Now with that, here in chapter three, Isaiah warns the people of something just around the corner. Verse one says, Behold, the Lord God of hosts is taking away from Jerusalem and from Judah all support of bread, and all support of water. In other words, there's a famine just ahead. Jerusalem's going to fall to these enemy nations. And here in chapter four and verse one we read this seven women shall take hold of one man in that day, saying, We will eat our own bread and wear our own clothes, only let us be called by your name. See, so many of Judah's men are going to be killed by the Babylonian invaders. There's only going to be one man left for every seven women. Well, will the nation be permanently destroyed by these foreign armies? No, absolutely not. In fact, Isaiah begins here in chapter four to talk about the revival and the restoration of united Israel in the distant future. That hasn't happened just yet. But Isaiah describes it here in verse 2. In that day the branch of the Lord shall be beautiful and glorious. See, this is a reference to the Messiah sitting on his glorious throne in the coming kingdom. And who gets to be there with him? Well, a restored nation of Israel. But now Isaiah broadens the invitation list to this glorious kingdom here in verse three to include everyone who has been recorded for life in Jerusalem. Revelation chapter 21 is going to tell us that those who enter this new Jerusalem are those whose names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life. Let me ask you, have you claimed Jesus Christ as your Messiah and coming king? Well, if you have, your name has been recorded in this book of everlasting life. Well now here in chapter five, Isaiah is going to describe the wickedness of Judah, and frankly it reminds me of the wickedness of so many nations today. He says here in verse twenty, woe to those who call evil good, and good evil. He adds in verse twenty one, Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes. Beloved, any nation that calls evil things good and good things evil is heading for the judgment of God. Now here in chapter six, this records Isaiah's personal calling into ministry. The date is seven thirty nine BC. Isaiah's a young man. He records the event here beginning at verse one. In the year King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up, and a train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim, and one called to another and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is filled with his glory. What's Isaiah going to do as he stands before this holy God? Well, the same thing you and I would do. He says here in verse five, Woe is me. I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. God responds to his confession of sin by sending one of the angels with a burning coal from the altar to touch Isaiah's mouth. He says here in verse 7, Behold, this has touched your lips, your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for. This is a wonderful picture of forgiveness. It's a gift of God's grace as we confess our sins to this very day. Well, in verse eight, God asks, Whom shall I send? And who will go for us? And Isaiah answers, Here am I, send me. Now I don't know how many men would volunteer for this kind of ministry after hearing what God predicts for Isaiah. He says here in verse 9 that people aren't going to listen to him. He's not going to see any positive results, if at all, but but Isaiah meant it when he said, Here am I, send me. Well, let's be a little more like Isaiah today. No matter what the people around us are saying, no matter what our culture is doing, no matter what the results seem to be, you know, stacking up to be, let's just keep saying to our great God, Here am I, send me. Well, until our next wisdom journey, beloved, may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.