SUNDAY  ​FIRESIDE

The Book of Isaiah—A Sealed Book Unsealed—A Blueprint of Our Time

It is no secret that for any practical purpose the Book of Isaiah has been a sealed book to most readers probably since the time of the prophet himself. Of course, its author—Isaiah—was not just aware of that but he purposely intended it to be so at the time he wrote it. It served a divine purpose of keeping his book unaltered, while those with eyes to see and ears to hear would comprehend much of it and thus increase their understanding. In fact, an ancient writing attributed to Isaiah affirms that the book which he “openly proclaimed”—that is, the Book of Isaiah—was written “in parables” or as an allegory so that not everyone would understand it (Ascension of Isaiah 4:20).

What sets the Book of Isaiah apart from all other prophetic writings is its all-inclusiveness in depicting an end-time scenario. Even more comprehensive in portraying the end of the world than apocalyptic writings such as Daniel and Revelation, it spells out a great confluence of events humanity is about to experience. Using Israel’s ancient history as a foreshadowing of the end of the world, it predicts the future by drawing on events of the past. Only a prophet–poet with extraordinary literary skills could have predicted “the end” based on ancient beginnings (Isaiah 46:10). Only a visionary who saw both time periods could have crafted this prophetic masterpiece.

While the Book of Isaiah’s apocalyptic message accords with Jewish tradition, and while its literary features reveal its twofold relevance—to Isaiah’s day and to the end-time—it still requires uncommon faith to believe that it is a handbook for our day. For one thing, it may mean discarding much or all of what we thought we knew before. Isaiah foresees just such confusion when he speaks of the deaf “hearing” and the blind “seeing” the words of his book. Only then—in a day when barely a few “disciples” would know its true message (Isaiah 8:16)—would “those who erred in spirit gain understanding and those who murmured accept instruction” (Isaiah 29:18, 24).

 

Earth’s End-Time—History Repeating Itself

A reassuring thing about Isaiah’s prophecy is that Isaiah limits himself to predicting new things based on old things when describing the end of the world. Over thirty ancient events—some that occurred before, some contemporary with, and some soon after Isaiah’s day—typify end-time events. To God’s people who know their history, who have searched Isaiah’s writings for answers, therefore, those events won’t appear unfamiliar when they unfold. To those who are acquainted with them and experience them, hindsight will turn to foresight. Perhaps that is one reason why God commanded his people to celebrate ancient events such as Israel’s Passover.

Of course, when those former events repeat themselves in the end-time, they won’t do so in the order they occurred before nor take thousands of years. This time around, moreover, they will happen on a world scale and won’t be limited to the Jews in the State of Israel. While the ancient names that Isaiah uses to describe nations and persons function as codenames of end-time ones, they don’t apply to nations and persons with the same names today. Rather, a sure way to identify which nations or entities Isaiah is speaking of in today’s world is to be guided by the way Isaiah characterizes them and then to match them up with their possible modern counterparts.

 

Reprinted by Permission from the Analysis & Writings of Avraham Gileadi.