Lecture Six: Isaiah's Exilic Eschatology

Part of the Isaiah Scroll,

the longest and oldest of the

Dead Sea Scrolls from Qumran. 

Latter Isaiah

Chapters 40–66 contain different subject matter than chapters 1–39.

1–39 focuses on Assyria

40–66 focuses on Babylon

The concept of Messiah appears throughout all of Isaiah.

Redemption from Babylon (40:1–55:13)

Comfort for God’s People (40:1-31)

Isaiah 40:1-11 serves as a prologue for the rest of the book.

Isaiah announced God’s coming glory and contrasted it with the peoples’ helplessness.

God would bring his people home and care for them as a shepherd cared for his sheep.

“A voice of one calling:

‘In the wilderness prepare

    the way for the Lord;

make straight in the desert

    a highway for our God.’

Every valley shall be raised up,

    every mountain and hill made low;

the rough ground shall become level,

    the rugged places a plain.

And the glory of the Lord will be revealed,

    and all people will see it together.

For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

The rest of chapter 40 answers the question, “Can God really do all he says?”

“Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand,

    or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens?

Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket,

    or weighed the mountains on the scales

    and the hills in a balance?

Who can fathom the Spirit of the Lord,

    or instruct the Lord as his counselor?

Whom did the Lord consult to enlighten him,

    and who taught him the right way?”

“He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth,

    and its people are like grasshoppers.

He stretches out the heavens like a canopy,

    and spreads them out like a tent to live in.”

“Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens:

    Who created all these?

He who brings out the starry host one by one

    and calls forth each of them by name.

Because of his great power and mighty strength,

    not one of them is missing.”

“Why do you complain, Jacob?

    Why do you say, Israel,

‘My way is hidden from the Lord;

    my cause is disregarded by my God’?

Do you not know?

    Have you not heard?

The Lord is the everlasting God,

    the Creator of the ends of the earth.

He will not grow tired or weary,

    and his understanding no one can fathom.

He gives strength to the weary

    and increases the power of the weak.

Even youths grow tired and weary,

    and young men stumble and fall;

but those who hope in the Lord

    will renew their strength.

They will soar on wings like eagles;

    they will run and not grow weary,

    they will walk and not be faint.”

The Helper of Israel (41:1-29)

Isaiah 41 introduces a threefold theme or motif that runs throughout chapters 40–66.

1. God’s people are in captivity for their sins.

2. This captivity proves God is God, for he alone predicted it.

3. He will now restore and redeem them.

The prophet stated God’s case against false gods.

The idols had failed to predict the future and stood speechless and powerless before God.

God said He would raise up a ruler from the north who would honor Him and return His people to their homeland.

The Servant Individual and the Servant Nation (42:1-25)

The Servant of the LORD (42:1-9)

This passage presents a picture of God’s special servant chosen for a special purpose.

The Gospel of Matthew applies these verses to Jesus:

“Here is my servant, whom I uphold,

    my chosen one in whom I delight;

I will put my Spirit on him,

    and he will bring justice to the nations.

He will not shout or cry out,

    or raise his voice in the streets.

A bruised reed he will not break,

    and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out.

In faithfulness he will bring forth justice;

    he will not falter or be discouraged

till he establishes justice on earth.

    In his teaching the islands will put their hope.”

Song of Praise to the LORD (42:10-17)

“For a long time I have kept silent,

    I have been quiet and held myself back.

But now, like a woman in childbirth,

    I cry out, I gasp and pant.

I will lay waste the mountains and hills

    and dry up all their vegetation…

I will lead the blind by ways they have not known,

    along unfamiliar paths I will guide them;

I will turn the darkness into light before them

    and make the rough places smooth.”

Israel Blind and Deaf (42:18-25)

God’s special servant, or Messiah, would stand in contrast to His servant Israel.

He says of Israel:

“You have seen many things, but you pay no attention;

    your ears are open, but you do not listen.”

The LORD, the Gracious Redeemer (43:1–45:25)

Israel’s Only Savior (43:1-13)

God was His peoples’ leader, and He would lead them home from exile by His grace.

God’s Mercy and Israel’s Unfaithfulness (43:14-28)

In contrast to God’s grace and mercy, Israel had displayed a rebellious attitude from the start of her relationship with God.

“Forget the former things;

    do not dwell on the past.

See, I am doing a new thing!”

“I, even I, am he who blots out

    your transgressions, for my own sake,

    and remembers your sins no more.”

Israel the Chosen (44:1-5)

“I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring,

    and my blessing on your descendants.

They will spring up like grass in a meadow,

    like poplar trees by flowing streams.”

The LORD, Not Idols (44:6-23)

Here, God proclaims his superiority over idols.

God describes how carefully the people had crafted their idols, and how stupid they would have to be to mistake their Creator for something they had created themselves.

God mocked the idols, pointing out that half of the wood used to make these gods was used for ordinary purposes.

Jerusalem to Be Inhabited (44:24–45:25)

God said He was the one who alone stretched out the heavens and the earth in creation.

He alone is the one who has decided that Jerusalem will be inhabited by His people once again.

God has decided to make Cyrus His servant.

Cyrus was the Persian Emperor who conquered Babylon seventy years after the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem.

God referred to Cyrus as “my shepherd” who would “accomplish all that I please.”

God said that in the future, this emperor named Cyrus would give the command to rebuild Jerusalem and relay the foundations of the Temple of the LORD.

Babylon’s Fall (46:1–47:15)

Gods of Babylon (46:1-13)

Bel-Marduk and Nebo are unable to lift the burden placed upon their people.

Bel-Marduk and Nebo fall into captivity along with their worshipers.

The Fall of Babylon (47:1-15)

“Disaster will come upon you,

    and you will not know how to conjure it away.

A calamity will fall upon you

    that you cannot ward off with a ransom;

a catastrophe you cannot foresee

    will suddenly come upon you.”

“Keep on, then, with your magic spells

    and with your many sorceries,

    which you have labored at since childhood.

Perhaps you will succeed,

    perhaps you will cause terror.

All the counsel you have received has only worn you out!

    Let your astrologers come forward,

those stargazers who make predictions month by month,

    let them save you from what is coming upon you.

Surely they are like stubble;

    the fire will burn them up.

They cannot even save themselves

    from the power of the flame.”

Flee from Babylon (48:1-22)

Stubborn Israel (48:1-11)

God prophesied that these things would take place long beforehand because He knew how stubborn and rebellious Israel was and that they would attribute these wonders to false gods.

Israel Freed (48:12-22)

“Listen to me, Jacob,

    Israel, whom I have called:

I am he;

    I am the first and I am the last.

My own hand laid the foundations of the earth,

    and my right hand spread out the heavens;

when I summon them,

    they all stand up together.”

“Leave Babylon,

    flee from the Babylonians!

Announce this with shouts of joy

    and proclaim it.

Send it out to the ends of the earth;

    say, ‘The Lord has redeemed his servant Jacob.’

They did not thirst when he led them through the deserts;

    he made water flow for them from the rock;

he split the rock

    and water gushed out.”

The Servant (49:1–50:11)

In these passages, the prophet returns to his theme of The Servant.

Here, the Servant is described as bringing salvation to more than just Israel, but to the whole world.

A Light to the Gentiles (49:1-7)

“And now the Lord says—

    he who formed me in the womb to be his servant

to bring Jacob back to him

    and gather Israel to himself,

for I am honored in the eyes of the Lord

    and my God has been my strength—

he says:

‘It is too small a thing for you to be my servant

    to restore the tribes of Jacob

    and bring back those of Israel I have kept.

I will also make you a light for the Gentiles,

    that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.’”

Restoration of Israel (49:8-26)

“But Zion said, ‘The Lord has forsaken me,

    the Lord has forgotten me.’”

“Can a mother forget the baby at her breast

    and have no compassion on the child she has borne?

Though she may forget,

    I will not forget you!

See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands;

    your walls are ever before me.”

Israel’s Sin and the Servant’s Obedience (50:1-11)

What Israel could never get right the Servant will fulfill.

Israel:

“Because of your sins you were sold;

    because of your transgressions your mother was sent away.

When I came, why was there no one?

    When I called, why was there no one to answer?

Was my arm too short to deliver you?

    Do I lack the strength to rescue you?”

The Servant:

“The Sovereign Lord has given me a well-instructed tongue,

    to know the word that sustains the weary.

He wakens me morning by morning,

    wakens my ear to listen like one being instructed.

The Sovereign Lord has opened my ears;

    I have not been rebellious,

    I have not turned away.

I offered my back to those who beat me,

    my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard;

I did not hide my face

    from mocking and spitting.

Because the Sovereign Lord helps me,

    I will not be disgraced.”

Christians, again, associate this description with Jesus, who was mocked and spit upon and beaten. If this passage is talking about Jesus, this is also the only biblical reference we have describing him as a bearded man.

The Coming Deliverance (51:1–52:12)

Everlasting Salvation for Zion (51:1-16)

It was God who gave Abraham descendants as numerous as the stars.

It is God who will restore the fortunes of Zion and make her like the garden of Eden.

God is the one who destroyed the great chaos monster of the sea and brought order to creation.

God is the one who parted the chaotic sea to make a safe path for His people.

God is the one whose righteousness will last forever.

God is the one whose salvation will last through all generations.

The Cup of the LORD’s Wrath (51:17–52:12)

Jerusalem drank the cup of the LORD’s wrath.

She staggered and fell with no one to help her up.

God will now pull the cup of His wrath out of Jerusalem’s hand.

Just as God had rescued his people out of Egypt, so too would he rescue them from their current exile.

The Suffering and Glory of the Servant (52:13–53:12)

The prophet here goes into his greatest detail about the nature and mission of this Servant or Messiah.

“See, my servant will act wisely;

    he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted.

Just as there were many who were appalled at him—

    his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being

    and his form marred beyond human likeness—

so he will sprinkle many nations,

    and kings will shut their mouths because of him.

For what they were not told, they will see,

    and what they have not heard, they will understand.”

“Who has believed our message

    and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

He grew up before him like a tender shoot,

    and like a root out of dry ground.

He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,

    nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.

He was despised and rejected by mankind,

    a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.

Like one from whom people hide their faces

    he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.”

“Surely he took up our pain

    and bore our suffering,

yet we considered him punished by God,

    stricken by him, and afflicted.

But he was pierced for our transgressions,

    he was crushed for our iniquities;

the punishment that brought us peace was on him,

    and by his wounds we are healed.

We all, like sheep, have gone astray,

    each of us has turned to our own way;

and the Lord has laid on him

    the iniquity of us all.”

“He was oppressed and afflicted,

    yet he did not open his mouth;

he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,

    and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,

    so he did not open his mouth.

By oppression and judgment he was taken away.

    Yet who of his generation protested?

For he was cut off from the land of the living;

    for the transgression of my people he was punished.

He was assigned a grave with the wicked,

    and with the rich in his death,

though he had done no violence,

    nor was any deceit in his mouth.”

“Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,

    and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin,

he will see his offspring and prolong his days,

    and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.

After he has suffered,

    he will see the light of life and be satisfied;

by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,

    and he will bear their iniquities.

Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,

    and he will divide the spoils with the strong,

because he poured out his life unto death,

    and was numbered with the transgressors.

For he bore the sin of many,

    and made intercession for the transgressors.”

In the New Testament book of Acts, Philip the Evangelist claims that this entire passage was actually speaking about the life of Jesus.

Some examples of similarities between Jesus and the Servant:

1. He was wise
2. He was lifted up
3. He was highly exalted
4. Many were appalled at him
5. His appearance was disfigured
6. He "sprinkled" many nations (atonement language)
7. Kings shut their mouths because of him (Herod and Pilate)
8. He was not known as a physically attractive man
9. He was despised and rejected
10. He suffered
11. He took up our pain and bore our suffering
12. We considered him punished by God
13. He was "pierced" for our transgressions and punished for our sins
14. His punishment brought us peace and healing
15. He was oppressed yet did not open his mouth (silence before Pilate and Herod)
16. He was killed
17. He was buried in a rich man's grave
18. After his death, his life was prolonged and he saw his children (the church)
19. After his suffering, he saw the light of life
20. By his knowledge he justified many
21. After his suffering, his suffering continues to atone for transgression
22. He becomes a famous victor

God extends His Grace to the Exiled Nation (54:1–55:13)

The Future Glory of Zion (54:1–17)

God compares Zion to a woman unable to have children.

God will provide Zion with children.

God intends to restore His people and bring them back from captivity.

“‘To me this is like the days of Noah,

    when I swore that the waters of Noah would never again cover the earth.

So now I have sworn not to be angry with you,

    never to rebuke you again.

Though the mountains be shaken

    and the hills be removed,

yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken

    nor my covenant of peace be removed,”

    says the Lord, who has compassion on you.”

Invitation to the Thirsty (55:1-13)

“Come, all you who are thirsty,

    come to the waters;

and you who have no money,

    come, buy and eat!

Come, buy wine and milk

    without money and without cost.”

“I will make an everlasting covenant with you,

    my faithful love promised to David.

See, I have made him a witness to the peoples,

    a ruler and commander of the peoples.”

“‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts,

    neither are your ways my ways,’

declares the Lord.

‘As the heavens are higher than the earth,

    so are my ways higher than your ways

    and my thoughts than your thoughts.

As the rain and the snow

    come down from heaven,

and do not return to it

    without watering the earth

and making it bud and flourish,

    so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,

so is my word that goes out from my mouth:

    It will not return to me empty,

but will accomplish what I desire

    and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”

“You will go out in joy

    and be led forth in peace;

the mountains and hills

    will burst into song before you,

and all the trees of the field

    will clap their hands.

Instead of the thornbush will grow the juniper,

    and instead of briers the myrtle will grow.

This will be for the Lord’s renown,

    for an everlasting sign,

    that will endure forever.”




Universal Salvation (56:1–66:24)

Proper Worship (56:1–58:14)

Salvation for Others (56:1-8)

God reassures eunuchs and foreigners that He will not reject them.

God will include all people who honor His Sabbath, and keep His Covenant.

All people are God’s people, and He will bring all who are faithful to Him to His Holy Mountain.

God’s Accusation Against the Wicked (56:9–57:13)

God condemns the “watchmen of Israel” for being lazy, greedy, and drunkards.

Under their watch, righteous people died.

These people are described as “sons of the sorceress,” and “the seed of the adulterer and the whore.”

They practiced sorcery, worshiped other gods, and had sex with anyone they could.

They will all be destroyed and the “gods” they trusted in will be blown away with a breath.

Comfort for the Contrite (57:14-21)

“I live in a high and holy place,

    but also with the one who is contrite and lowly in spirit,

to revive the spirit of the lowly

    and to revive the heart of the contrite.

I will not accuse them forever,

    nor will I always be angry,

for then they would faint away because of me—

    the very people I have created.”

True Fasting (58:1-14)

God’s people had complained to Him because He had apparently ignored how well they practiced fasting.

He tells them that they didn't fast as well as they thought, following the letter of the law rather than the spirit of the law.

He says:

“Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please

    and exploit all your workers.

Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife,

    and in striking each other with wicked fists.

You cannot fast as you do today

    and expect your voice to be heard on high.”

“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:

to loose the chains of injustice

    and untie the cords of the yoke,

to set the oppressed free

    and break every yoke?

Is it not to share your food with the hungry

    and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—

when you see the naked, to clothe them,

    and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?”

Sin, Confession and Redemption (59:1-21)

The Sin:

“Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save,

    nor his ear too dull to hear.

But your iniquities have separated

    you from your God;

your sins have hidden his face from you,

    so that he will not hear.”

The Confession:

“For our offenses are many in your sight,

    and our sins testify against us.

Our offenses are ever with us,

    and we acknowledge our iniquities…”

The Redemption:

“The Lord looked and was displeased

    that there was no justice.

He saw that there was no one,

    he was appalled that there was no one to intervene;

so his own arm achieved salvation for him,

    and his own righteousness sustained him.

He put on righteousness as his breastplate,

    and the helmet of salvation on his head…”

“‘The Redeemer will come to Zion,

    to those in Jacob who repent of their sins,’

declares the Lord.”

“‘As for me, this is my covenant with them,’ says the Lord. ‘My Spirit, who is on you, will not depart from you, and my words that I have put in your mouth will always be on your lips, on the lips of your children and on the lips of their descendants—from this time on and forever,’ says the Lord.”

The Glory of Zion (60:1-22)

The prophet announced the lifting of darkness and the arrival of God as the “everlasting light.”

Israel would become the light to the nations.

Zion, “the City of the LORD,” would be ruled by peace and righteousness.

The walls of the city would be called “Salvation” and her gaits “Praise.”

The Year of the LORD’s Favor (61:1-11)

“The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,

    because the Lord has anointed me

    to proclaim good news to the poor.

He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,

    to proclaim freedom for the captives

    and release from darkness for the prisoners,

to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor…”

At the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, he read from this passage at the Synagogue of his hometown, claiming it was about him, and his neighbors accused him of blasphemy and tried to throw him off a cliff.

Zion’s New Name (62:1-12)

“For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent,

    for Jerusalem’s sake I will not remain quiet,

till her vindication shines out like the dawn,

    her salvation like a blazing torch.

The nations will see your vindication,

    and all kings your glory;

you will be called by a new name

    that the mouth of the Lord will bestow.

You will be a crown of splendor in the Lord’s hand,

    a royal diadem in the hand of your God.

No longer will they call you Deserted,

    or name your land Desolate.

But you will be called Hephzibah,

    and your land Beulah;

for the Lord will take delight in you,

    and your land will be married.

As a young man marries a young woman,

    so will your Builder marry you;

as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride,

    so will your God rejoice over you.”

In Hebrew, “Hephzibah” means “my delight is in her.”

In Hebrew, “Beulah” means “married.”

A Community Lament (63:1–64:12)

God’s Day of Vengeance and Redemption (63:1-6)

“Who is this coming with his clothes stained red?”

“It is the LORD who comes. He has trampled down all the nations in the winepress of His wrath and their blood spattered on His clothing.”

Praise and Prayer (63:7–64:12)

“I will tell of the kindnesses of the Lord,

    the deeds for which he is to be praised,

    according to all the Lord has done for us—

yes, the many good things

    he has done for Israel,

    according to his compassion and many kindnesses.

He said, “Surely they are my people,

    children who will be true to me”;

    and so he became their Savior.

In all their distress he too was distressed,

    and the angel of his presence saved them.

In his love and mercy he redeemed them;

    he lifted them up and carried them

    all the days of old.

Yet they rebelled

    and grieved his Holy Spirit.

So he turned and became their enemy

    and he himself fought against them.”

“But you are our Father,

    though Abraham does not know us

    or Israel acknowledge us;

you, Lord, are our Father,

    our Redeemer from of old is your name.

Why, Lord, do you make us wander from your ways

    and harden our hearts so we do not revere you?”

“Since ancient times no one has heard,

    no ear has perceived,

no eye has seen any God besides you,

    who acts on behalf of those who wait for him.”

“All of us have become like one who is unclean,

    and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags;

we all shrivel up like a leaf,

    and like the wind our sins sweep us away.”

“Yet you, Lord, are our Father.

    We are the clay, you are the potter;

    we are all the work of your hand.

Do not be angry beyond measure, Lord;

    do not remember our sins forever.”

A New Heaven and a New Earth (65:1-25)

Judgment and Salvation (65:1-16)

Judgment:

“I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me;

    I was found by those who did not seek me.

To a nation that did not call on my name,

    I said, ‘Here am I, here am I.’

All day long I have held out my hands

    to an obstinate people…”

Salvation:

“As when juice is still found in a cluster of grapes

    and people say, ‘Don’t destroy it,

    there is still a blessing in it,’

so will I do in behalf of my servants;

    I will not destroy them all.”

The New Heavens and the New Earth (65:17-25)

The prophet speaks of a future time when God will begin the process of recreating the whole of his creation. In this vision, death is being slowly defeated: infants no longer emerge stillborn, people live abnormally long lifespans, and even the animals themselves stop hunting each other. Death seems to still exist at this point, but is rare.

“See, I will create

    new heavens and a new earth.

The former things will not be remembered,

    nor will they come to mind.”

“I will rejoice over Jerusalem

    and take delight in my people;

the sound of weeping and of crying

    will be heard in it no more.”

“Never again will there be in it

    an infant who lives but a few days,

    or an old man who does not live out his years;

the one who dies at a hundred

    will be thought a mere child;

the one who fails to reach a hundred

    will be considered accursed.

They will build houses and dwell in them;

    they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.

No longer will they build houses and others live in them, or plant and others eat.

For as the days of a tree,

    so will be the days of my people;

my chosen ones will long enjoy

    the work of their hands.

They will not labor in vain,

    nor will they bear children doomed to misfortune;

for they will be a people blessed by the Lord,

    they and their descendants with them.

Before they call I will answer;

    while they are still speaking I will hear.”

“The wolf and the lamb will feed together,

    and the lion will eat straw like the ox,

    and dust will be the serpent’s food.

They will neither harm nor destroy

    on all my holy mountain.”

Judgment and Hope (66:1-24)

This passage is about as close as a description of heaven and hell as you will find in the Old Testament.

“As the new heavens and the new earth that I make will endure before me,” declares the Lord, “so will your name and descendants endure. From one New Moon to another and from one Sabbath to another, all mankind will come and bow down before me,” says the Lord. “And they will go out and look on the dead bodies of those who rebelled against me; the worms that eat them will not die, the fire that burns them will not be quenched, and they will be loathsome to all mankind.”

This perspective shows that heaven and earth are closely linked together, which is consistent with the New Testament picture heaven breaking into this world in a marriage of sorts.

Jesus also refers to this passage when he talks about the eternal punishment one can face after death, saying that God has the power to send people to "Gehenna" (often translated as "hell" in English), where "the worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched."