Isaiah 1 - the vision

Do you have a vision for your life?  If God gave you a vision, what would it be, do you think?  Would it be of a celestial city with streets of gold and trees with fruit that is always ripe.  Would it be a vision of the keys to the car that you always wanted and no speed limit?  What would God’s vision for your life be, do you think?  What does God want you to see?  One of the greatest visions that anyone in human history has ever received from God is the vision of Isaiah. 

The first line of Isaiah is “The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz. . .”  This could mean that the first portion of Isaiah is a vision, or this could be a title for the whole book, and in fact the “vision” of Isaiah is also referred to in 2 Chronicles 32:32, and speaks of what Isaiah wrote of Hezekiah, and  he is spoken of primarily toward the end of the first half of Isaiah, in chapters 36-39 of Isaiah.  So I would conclude the “VISION” is the title of the whole of Isaiah, though I am willing to be corrected. 

The setting of this vision is outlined in the first verse, in Judah and Jerusalem, and during the reigns of four kings of Judah, Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah.  This was a varied time, although filled with the people and at times the kings turning away from God.  It was also a time of upheaval.  The Assyrian Empire was taking over the known world. 

I want to share four pictures that God would show us that he showed to Isaiah of his people.

1.        Dog biting its Master’s hand.  “Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for Yahweh has spoken; “Children have I reared and brought up, but they have rebelled against me.  The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master’s crib, but Isreal does not know, my people do not understand.” (1:2-3)  Although many people do not have oxen or donkeys, many have dogs, and the picture today would be a dog biting its Master’s hand, that Israel was like a dog biting its Master’s hand.

2.       Body overflowing with puss and infection.  “Why will you be struck down?  Why will you continue to rebel?  The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.  From the sole of the foot even to the head, there is no soundness in it, but bruises and sores and raw wounds;  they are not pressed out or bound up or softened with oil.” (1:5-6)  I currently have a rash on the inside of my elbow.  It is small and does not itch too bad.  I have had boils which had much puss and infection.  The picture that Isaiah gets of Israel is a body with no uninfected parts, but only infection, so overflowing with puss and infection that the body is unrecognizable from what it should look like.  Israel was like a body overflowing with puss and infection.

3.       A besieged city.  “And the daughter of Zion if left like a booth in a vineyard, like a lodge in a cucumber field, like a besieged city.” (1:8).  The metaphor goes away and the real picture of Israel comes into focus.  Israel was being besieged and taken off to Assyria.  Judah was being taken over.  Jerusalem was on the brink of ruin and almost taken over.  Jerusalem, like one standing booth in the midst of a land where you are the only thing left, and you are next on Assyria’s hit list.  A besieged city.

4.       Sodom and Gomorrah. “If Yahweh of hosts had not left us a few survivors, we should have been like Sodom, and become like Gomorrah.” (1:9).  The vision of what could have been, Jerusalem could have been like Sodom and Gomorrah, which after their destruction, no survivors were left.  The vision of what Israel could have been – like Sodom and Gomorrah.

These pictures are not exactly what we want to look at.  “Give us a vision, Lord, . . . but not that vision.”  Why does God want us, at the beginning of Isaiah to see such doom and gloom.  If we do not look squarely at how things are, we will miss the vision of what God can do to make a renewed vision.  How can we truly see the beauty of the end of Isaiah when we miss the terror at the beginning?  The Surgeon shows us the cancer, not to shame us, but in order so that he can get it out, and give us a new picture of a healthy body.  We must see the vision of how things are if we are to be open to God painting a different vision of our lives. 

IDEA:  Ask God to give you an honest vision of your life, unabridged and uncensored, so that we are ready to walk into the beauty of the vision he has for our lives.