Plain Talk on Isaiah by Dr. Manford G. Gutzke CONTENTS 1. The Function of a Prophet 3 2. The Lord's Complaint Against His People 13 3. The Lord's Rejection of Insincere Worship 18 4. The Lord's Offer of Mercy 23 5. Apostasy Calls for Judgment 27 6. God's Plan for Dealing With His Sinning People 34 7. The Day of the Lord Will Bring Judgment 39 8. The Lord’s House Will Reign in Triumph 46 9. Traits of Sinful People 52 10. The Dire Collapse of Society 58 11. Salvation Will Come 64 12. Impending Doom Because of Sin 70 13. The Call of Isaiah 76 14. The Syrian Crisis 82 15. Promise of God's Help 87 16. God's Promise of the Messiah 93 17. God's Judgment on Assyria 99 18. There Will Be a Remnant 104 19. The Day of the Lord Upon Pagans 109 20. God Will Destroy the Unrepentant 114 21. Ungodly Nations Are Doomed 120 22. God Will Chasten, Then Bless, His People 126 23. God Will Destroy the Natural but Save the Spiritual 132 24. The Assyrian Crisis 137 25. Hezekiah's Prayer and Pride 143 26. God's Call to the Remnant 148 27. "Behold Your God!" 154 28. The Living God 159 29. The Ideal Servant 166 30. The Redeemer 171 31. The Only God 175 32. The Sovereign God 180 33. God Will Accomplish His Plan 185 34. Messiah Will Perform God's Will 192 35. God Will Vindicate His People 199 36. Christ Our Substitute 205 www.thebibleforyou.org 1 © Dr. Manford G. Gutzke 37. God's Gracious Call 209 38. God's Grace Is Free 213 39. The Call to Repentance and Faith 219 40. Warning to the Unrepentant 222 41. True Repentance 227 42. The Sins of God's People 231 43. A Song of Triumph 234 44. The Remnant Shall Be Blessed 238 45. The Remnant Will Believe 243 46. Blessing for the Redeemed 249 www.thebibleforyou.org 2 © Dr. Manford G. Gutzke Chapter 1 THE FUNCTION OF A PROPHET Do you know what a prophet of God was supposed to do? This study in the book of the prophet Isaiah is made from the standpoint of the New Testament. When I read the prophecy of Isaiah, I do so with complete confidence, since my interest in it centers in the viewpoint of the New Testament, which tells about Jesus Christ. Jesus of Nazareth talked about the Old Testament and used it. Paul said: Now all these things happened unto them for examples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come (1 Cor. 10:11). I want the power of God in Christ Jesus in my soul, and for that reason I consider the Book of Isaiah to be the book of Isaiah literally, as it is esteemed in the New Testament. To understand this book we need to consider the function of a prophet. The Bible speaks of both prophets and apostles, the prophets being especially those of the Old Testament, and these are they of whom we shall be thinking. Who were these men? They were designated by the word prophet because of what they did. A doctor is a person who doctors, just as a farmer is one who farms. One who prophesies is, therefore, a prophet. The prophets ministered primarily to the people of Israel, just as the apostles, in their letters to the churches, functioned primarily for the church, the people who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. There is a word from God to be said to the world, and we find that Isaiah says some things to people outside Israel. What he said to people outside Israel differed from what he said to the people inside Israel. He told those on the outside they would do well to get right with God. To those on the inside he said they should draw nearer to God. The same is true with the writings of the apostles in the New Testament. Who are these people called Israel? The fact that they were descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is not the important thing. The truth of primary importance is that these are people who, in the covenant with Abraham and afterwards in the Law, have yielded themselves to God to serve Him. They are the people who openly committed themselves to follow God's way. God made of them a special people to demonstrate to the rest of the world what godly living was like. Israel did not have a perfect score in their history, but their record is that they walked in the direction in which God led them. Thus, they illustrated even in their failings what happens to people when they walk with God. We call them "a covenant people." They had a promise from God and it was very simple: "Walk where I show you and I will bless you," And this is the promise of God right down to our day. When they asked the Lord Jesus Christ how they might work the works of God, He said: This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent (John 6:29). And that is God's word even now to the whole wide world. God deals with people who have never heard Him; He deals with people who disobey Him, and He deals with them according to the Law: www.thebibleforyou.org 3 © Dr. Manford G. Gutzke . whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap (Gal. 6:7). Every man has sinned and stands condemned in the presence of God; this is the record of the human race. It was for that reason Christ Jesus came to save "whosoever believeth in Him." He did not come to condemn but to save. That does not mean everyone will be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God (John 3:18). The Israelites were committed to walk in the ways of God; they were different from other nations — a people led of the living God by their own consent. In this respect they were unique; no other nation could ever make that claim. They were a type of all godly people living on the face of the earth; their thinking and their decisions were in terms of obedience to the revealed will of God. They walked in faith. In order to have faith in God, a person needs to know His Word. God will do what He has promised, and that is beyond our natural understanding. Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him (1 Cor. 2:9). God has revealed them to us by His Spirit, and as people hear and understand His Word, they can believe and be saved. But this requires interpretation. The Word of God must be ministered to the people by persons who, because they have been given special gifts, are qualified leaders. The one thing that made the Israelites the people of God was that they had God's Word and said they would follow it. On occasion, we find some prophet saying in effect to the people: "God didn't choose you because you are many, or because you are good (because you are not; you are stiff-necked). God chose you because through you He wants to show His grace and mercy, the way a teacher will take one student before the whole class and put him through his exercises to show the rest of the class the way it should be done." The only reason Israel was chosen was that they might demonstrate to the whole world the truth of God. The gospel involves the Seed of David, the Seed of Abraham, the Son of God, and the Son of Man: the Lord Jesus Christ in Himself being the express image of God. Believers today are now the people of God. The church today among the groups of persons in the world is like Israel in Old Testament days among the nations of the world that then was. We must never think of any modern nation being like Israel. Israel was a nation with earthly interests, with earthly destiny, with earthly blessings, but they belonged to God in a special way. They worshiped in the tabernacle and in the temple; whereas now we know where God is: He is not in the tabernacle or the temple, He is in the hearts of believers. Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? (1 Cor. 6:19). Believers today do not use tent tabernacles made of skins, neither do they use temples and offer animal sacrifices in worship. God does not dwell in any temple made with hands but in the hearts of the people. Just as the heart of the believer today is the temple of God and not the temple in Jerusalem, so the church is the people of God, and not the nation Israel or any other nation on earth. Among societies in a community there are clubs of various sorts, but the church is different. The church has a peculiar relation to God because His name is there.