Isaiah: The vision

Isaiah 1

The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

Today we begin our adventure in the book of Isaiah. Isaiah is epic. It’s sweeping in its scope of history from the here-and-now into the eternal. It’s piercing in its emotion. It’s rich in poetic language and metaphor.

But most simply, it’s a vision. Of a particular man. About a particular place. At a particular time.

First impressions matter. This is the first statement of this sprawling book. And the first word?

Vision.

A dream. A revelation. An oracle. The image of something in your mind that nobody else has seen before. In this case, from God. Do you have that? A particular image. For a particular place. At a particular time.

What if “vision” is the imagination to see the world as God sees it?

And this vision of Isaiah begins with the mournful cry over rebellious children. Do you hear the heartache?

Anger and wrath—these are two emotions frequently associated with the Old Testament prophets. But what if there’s something deeper? Something more?

What we find in the first half of Isaiah (through chapter 39) is the theme of justice, that God’s people are sick. They are broken, malfunctioning. They are incapable of obedience to God because of this thing called “sin” in their midst. Something must, MUST, be done about it. Or complete corruption, devastation is just on the horizon.

As we read Isaiah, we should keep these opening verses in mind. God considers this nation his children, and their rebellion breaks the relationship. It’s come to the point of discipline.

Something has to change. It all starts with a vision.

Do you have a vision? To your particular place? To your particular time?

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