The amazing book of Isaiah

I am overwhelmed with grateful praise as I start the study of this amazing book. The book of Isaiah  has been my favorite part of scripture for many years. There are so many things written in this book that have touched my life deeply. I pray that you will be able to say the same by the time we are finished with this study. 

After starting my reading with many stuffy commentators, I encountered men who had diagrammed, dissected, presented the arguments about authorship and clarified some of the original language.
 I realized that for me, this book has always been full of God. 

the lion and the lamb

It is a way to see Him as He relates to us. His care, His sweetness, the things that do not please Him and His unchanging desire to reach us.  

In this book, we will see how God's word,  has reached the human race with passages so familiar that people with no connection to the church will speak of things in this book, having no idea where the subjects came from or what they actually mean. 

 Our Decembers are full Christmas quotes from Isaiah....

"a virgin shall bear a son and she will call His name Immanuel "Isaiah 6:14

"For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us and the government will rest upon His shoulders, and His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor , Mighty God, Everlasting father, Prince of Peace " Isaiah 9:6

This book is about more than a prophet and his prophesies. It is a record of the life of a faithful man. A man devoted to the Lord and full of the Holy Spirit, at a time when it was  sparingly bestowed on only the most faithful of his day. The commentators say that he was about 20 when he began  to speak as the Lord spoke to him. He lived with, and counseled, four kings. He faithfully spoke and recorded words from the Lord that brought about change in world history and left the record for the world to see. He tells us of what will eventually happen to our earth and he recorded an accurate account  of the death and burial of our savior 700 years before it took place. 
There are many prophecies that allow us to look into our future but, there are also incredible details in fulfilled prophecies that are already in the world's past. 

We will study through the history he recorded with 4 of the kings of Judah. These passages will remind us that he was just a man. A human being just like us. When he speaks of mans frailties and sins, he knows what he is talking about. He had a wife and 2 kids. This means that he lived a life very like  the lives our husbands live. Historians believe that his prophesies probably span as long as sixty four years. It seems his whole life was devoted to the calling that God had for him. He started his ministry at about 20 years old and finished his life at approximately 90 years when, credible tradition has it, he was sawn in half by the wicked king Manasseh. 

I am looking forward to this study. As with Matthew, I am going to try to apply the memory tools.  Read the chapters over and over again. There is no rush. The goal is to know the book of Isaiah when we are finished. I will be praying for all of you! 
Love
nancy