Well, good morning, brethren. Let's pray because we are going to cover a prophet with a large content. And I think it would be profitable if we can share our thoughts on Isaiah and the blessings that we can find there. So let's pray. And after that, let's start the class. I will have a couple of seconds for our sisters to see Okay, let's pray now. Father, we thank you again for this time that we have with the church in trying to understand better your word. Thank you for this prophet in particular, for Isaiah, your servant, how great things he wrote about you. You gave him a great revelation of many things, including our Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you for that. Thank you for The importance that the words of Isaiah have been in the world, even in our current world, with the scrolls that they discovered in the Dead Sea and everything that He said about the Lord Jesus Christ and the prophecies about Babylon, the nations, and the prophecies about Cyrus the Great giving the return to the people of Israel to return from Babylon to Jerusalem. So many things, so many prophecies about the person of Jesus Christ, His birth, His death, His resurrection, We praise your name and we are amazed of these things that have been fulfilled and others that are going to be fulfilled later when the returning king is coming again to establish his eternal and everlasting kingdom. Thank you for all this and help us to understand these things So that we can rejoice in your word so that we can rejoice on those facts Because we have a very secure word in this Word of God. Thank you Lord. We praise your name this morning and we ask you to prepare our hearts as Long as we go to the service and to the worship and everything that we're going to do today in Jesus name. Amen So this prophet today, as you know already, that we are going to cover, Isaiah, he has been called, that book has been called the fifth gospel. Why? It's when you read the prophet Isaiah, and I'm sure all of us have read the book already many times in your life. When you read that book, the taste that you have in your mouth or in your eyes is the taste of the gospels. And that's why they call the fifth gospel, because we have four gospels. But if you have a fifth gospel, it should be Isaiah. Also, because of the fact that this prophet talks a lot about the Lord Jesus Christ, then the prophet is called the Messianic prophet. And because of the fact that this prophet has been so many times quoted in the Old Testament, he is also named as the evangelical prophet of the Old Testament. and also because of the fact that he wrote a large book with so many things, great content, then he has been called also the Prince of the Prophets of the Old Testament. So, with that challenge that we have today to try to cover all this book, I mean, the content of this book, we are going to address then Isaiah and as a reminder we are in our eighth class we are supposed to cover 18 classes on the prophets and we are doing that in a chronological way so let's go immediately to see the same structure that we have been seeing about the historical geographical context in the case of Isaiah, we want to drill down into historical context and talk about what about the political situation, what about the religious situation, what about the social aspects in Isaiah's time. We're going to see about that. And then we're going to go to the introduction of the book of Isaiah, the kind of survey, talking about the name of the book, the author, date. the main subject, and the outline and summary. And finally, lessons to learn regarding the person of Isaiah and regarding the book of Isaiah. So again, it's important that we memorize not the dates, but yes, the milestones. What happens here is the division of the kingdom in north and south, Israel in the north, Judah in the south then the next milestone is in year 721 22 maybe Israel the north part they were Captive by the Assyrians and that is the context where Isaiah is right now so in that context you see here Isaiah is He's covering maybe more than 60 years of history of Israel, and you will see about that why. But the important thing here is that Isaiah, he was prophesying about the fall of Israel, the north, and also he talked about eventually the fall of Judah, that he was mainly based in Jerusalem, mainly talking about Judah. And he talked about that, but remember that that happened actually a couple of hundred years after Isaiah. And also Isaiah talked about Cyrus the Great, Cyrus like returning and he named the name of that king that he was even born at that time, Cyrus, and he talked about Cyrus. And that is why Isaiah has been challenged by the criticism of German schools that they say it's impossible that this book has been written in that time because he talks about Cyrus, he talks about so many things that he's rather speaking in the past. He couldn't be speaking like in the future, it's going to happen this and that. But hey, OK, let's assume that they are right. And he wrote here, what about the prophecies of Jesus Christ? that he said that it's going to come from a virgin, that he's going to be crucified between sinners, that he's going to be his burial, he's going to be in a rich tomb. So, all those prophecies Isaiah told about Jesus and chronologically speaking, he was here right in the middle of the situation with Israel when Israel fell down from Assyria. Now, if you see the perspective about the kings, you see Isaiah is here, he's not mentioning the kings of the north, the kings of Israel. The blue ones are the north in Israel, but he was here historically, and he saw the fall of the north, but he specifically is prophesizing and working with these kings. He says that he was called to the ministry During the kingdom of Uzziah, and you will see about that, remember Isaiah chapter 6, in the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, and he started to explain his calling, etc. And then he was very active during the kingdom of Jotham because remember he practically he started working when Uzziah died. So his king was Jotham. And then after this king, he was very active during the kingdom of Ahaz, and then he has a whole book in Isaiah speaking about Hezekiah. So, you are going to see that Isaiah is divided in three main sections. So the section in the middle, they have been calling that section the Book of Hezekiah, because it is starting speaking about the King Hezekiah. You see the date here. And finally, Many scholars think that he was killed during the kingdom of Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah. So maybe his ministry ended up with Hezekiah's kingdom, but he was alive when Manasseh was the king. And tradition says, you will see about that, that he was killed by Manasseh. We will see more about that. So basically for our terms here, if you focus in the book of Isaiah, you will see that he mentions Uzziah, that after his death he was active. and Jotham, Ahaz, and Zechariah. Manasseh is not mentioned, but tradition says that he was alive when Manasseh was a king. So, that is sort of the chronologically perspective. Now, let's see about the historical context more in depth. So if you go to Isaiah chapter 1 verse 1, you will see the evidence there that he mentioned the vision of Isaiah, the son of Amos, which he saw concerning Judah. So we have the scope is Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. So that's the scope. And he mentions those those kings there. Then Uzziah in Judah and Jeroboam II in Israel left kingdoms of peace and prosperity at the beginning of the ministry of Isaiah. If you go to this table that we used to have, you remember for the kings, these are the kings of the north and these are the kings of Judah in the south. And then you see Isaiah here working in that time frame after Uzziah. with Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah and he are the kings of the north but you know that he didn't mention those he was he were not so focused on the north but contemporary to Isaiah you see Hosea and Micah so there are interesting relationship there with all those prophets speaking on behalf of the Lord Isaiah then was called by God to start his ministry around the time when King Uzziah died. When you go to chapter 6 in Isaiah, in the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of his robe, etc. And then he explained his calling, that he was feeling unworthy to go to that call. And then the Lord asks, who is going to go and who is the person that I'm going to send? And he says, here I am, send me. And that is the point when we identified Isaiah's calling. Then Isaiah had an active ministry during those kingdoms of Ahaz and Ezekiah, basically. And Isaiah lived until sometime after the death of Ezekiah during the times of Manasseh, who is thought to have sewn the prophet Isaiah in half with a wooden saw. So, sorry, I think it was me, yeah. The point is that tradition says in the Babylonian Talmud, in their treatise about Justin Martyr and Jerome, that they were speaking of the passage in Isaiah and other passages explaining the phrase taken from the letter of Hebrew, chapter 11, that said that some people were sewn, like with a saw, you know, cut in pieces. And they are relating, the tradition is relating that event of those, you know, people, martyrs that were killed. And they always relate Isaiah having been cut in half, in two pieces, by Manasseh, not himself, but maybe by the people of Manasseh in that time of evil. in Jerusalem. So that's the historical context with these kings, very clear in Isaiah chapter 1. Now what about the political context? In that context, the empires wrestling for supremacy are named here in this slide. Greece with the Athens and people from Sparta were in their peak Rome has been founded as a republic in the year 753 before Christ. Jotham, that he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, so the Lord strengthened his army and the country's economy. In 745 BC, Assyria started to show its power, conquering over the nation. So let me show you a slide for you to understand the wrestling of the you know, powers wrestling for the supremacy. So here you have Isaiah in this green box. And then you have Assyria taking over Israel North in that moment. And then after that, after the death of Isaiah, but he wrote about that, Babylon with Nebuchadnezzar was the one taking over Assyria, because Assyria took over north. And you will see a very fascinating passage in the Bible when Sennacherib, the prince of Assyria, already taking over north, he went to Jerusalem and he said, don't listen to Hezekiah, I am going to take over this And you were going to die, basically, unless you submit to my kingdom. And then Hezekiah was fearful of the Lord and he sent to Isaiah for advice. Hey, what should we do now? And then Isaiah said, don't worry, the Lord said that they won't touch the city. And you will see what happened in that moment. But the important thing is that Isaiah said, Don't worry, Assyria is not going to do anything in Jerusalem. The ones that are going to do something is Babylon. So Babylon will take over. And they are going to take your people, your noble ones, like Daniel and the children of the princes. So that happened a couple of hundred years later when Nebuchadnezzar went to Jerusalem and that happened. So you see struggling here, Assyria, Babylon, even Egypt. fell down because of Babylon, and eventually the Medo-Persian Empire took over Babylon later. And all those things were told by Isaiah, who again, he mentioned by name the prince or the king of the metaperson that was Cyrus. And he says, the Lord, God, says that Cyrus is a servant of Him and He is going to take His people from this captivity and He is going to send them back home. Isaiah said all those things many years before those happened. Political context, again, Jotham the king, he maintained a policy against Assyria. Remember, Jotham is in the south, he's sitting in Jerusalem, against Assyria, the same as his father Uzziah. But later, a pro-Assyrian group of Jerusalem put Ahaz. You remember Ahaz, he was a king, he was a terrible, terrible king, Ahaz. And Ahaz had, you know, many fights with the prophets. But then Ahaz looked for an alliance with Assyria, because Israel north, King Pekah, and Syria, King Rezin, made an alliance to attack Jerusalem. So the prophet Isaiah admonished King Ahaz with the solution, trust in God, trust the Lord and not other nations. But Ahaz ignored Isaiah and asked for Assyria's help. What happened was that Assyria then dominated the Syrians and Israel. And they replaced Pekah with Hosea that was the last king of Israel north. And then finally, in the year 721 BC, Israel, during the kingdom of Hosea, the last king of Israel, they were taken to an exile by Assyria during the kingdom of Hezekiah, king of Judah. So, that is what... I know that I have been repeating many information, but it's important that you, again, are very familiar with this kind of history in Israel. It's very important. So, more about the context, politically speaking. Hezekiah did everything he could to avoid an Assyrian attack, but he really trusted God. So, again, let's go here, just for you to see here. Here is Hezekiah. The north is already taken. I mean, all these kings already gone. Hosea, he was the last one, you see? And now you don't have anymore Israel. Samaria, they brought people from all the kingdom of Assyria and they put the Samaritans there. That's why you have known that. Samaritans had problems with the Jews in the times of the Lord Jesus Christ because of that. Samaritans were people mixed from everywhere. And then they were there. And then, as Syria said, after taking over of Samaria, they went to Jerusalem and said, hey, Hezekiah, you are next. And then what happened? So let's continue with the story here. Then in the year 720, 10. Before Christ, Sennacherib king of Assyria invaded Jerusalem, but God killed 185,000 Assyrian soldiers and he delivered Judah from the hands of the Assyrians. So let's go very quickly because this is a fascinating story that it worth that we take some time here. Let's go to Isaiah chapter 36. Fascinating story here. and give us comfort that the Lord is watching over you and He is protecting you when you are fearful to the Lord. And then even when we are not fearful, but we need to acknowledge that He is faithful. Isaiah 36 verse 1, In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib, king of Assyria, came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them. And the king of Assyria sent the Rabshakeh, it's like an ambassador, from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem with a great army. And he stood by the conduit of upper pool on the highway to the washer's field. And there came out to him Eliakim, the son of Elkiah, who was over the house, and Shebna the secretary, and Joash the son of Asaph the recorder. And Rabsakeh said to them, Say to Hezekiah, verse 4, Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria, On what do you rest this trust of yours? Do you think that mere words are strategy and power for war? In whom do you now trust, that you have rebelled against me? Verse 6, Behold, you are trusting in Egypt, and that broken reed of a staff, which will pierce the hand of any man who leans on it, Such is the fairer king of Egypt to all who trust in him. But if you say to me, Oh no, we trust in the Lord our God. It is not that he holds high places and altars. Zechariah has removed saying to Judah and to Jerusalem, you shall worship before this altar. Come now, make a wager with my master, the king of Assyria. I will give you 2,000 horses if you are able on your part to set riders on them." And he continued speaking, but let's read on verse 11. In verse 11, then Eliakim, Shepna, and Joash said, those are from Jerusalem, please speak to your servants in Aramaic. For we understand it. Do not speak to us in the language of Judah within the hearing of the people who are on the wall. But the rabshakeh said, Has my master sent me to speak these words to your master and to you and not to the men sitting on the wall who are doomed with you to eat their own dung and drink their own urine? Then Rabbi Sackler stood and called out in loud voice and language of Judah, Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria. Thus says the king, Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you. Do not let Hezekiah make your trust in the Lord by saying, The Lord will surely deliver us. This city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. Do not listen to Hezekiah, for thus says the king of Assyria, make your peace with me and come out to me." Then each one, and he continued persuading them, chapter 37 verse 1, As soon as King Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes and covered himself with slack clothes, so he humbled himself, and went into the house of the Lord. And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shepnah the secretariat, and the senior priests, covered with shackles, to the prophet Isaiah, the son of Amos. He said to him, Thus says Hezekiah, etc., etc. And then verse 5, When the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah, Isaiah said to them, Say to your master, Thus says the Lord, Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the young men of the king of Assyria have reviled me. Behold, I will put a spirit in him, so that he shall hear a rumor and return to his own land, and I will make him fall by the sword of his own land. The Lord says that. Then chapter 37, verse 33 and 38, so you see what happened at the end of the day. Therefore, verse 33, thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria, he shall not come into this city, or shoot an arrow there, or come before it with a shield, or cast up a siege mound against it. By the way that he came, the same he shall return, and he shall not come into this city, declares the Lord. For I will defend this city, to save it, for My own sake, and for the sake of My servant David." And, verse 36, The angel of the Lord went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And when people arose early in the morning, behold, there were all dead bodies. Then Sennacherib, king of Assyria, departed and returned home and lived at Nineveh. And as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch, his god, Adrammelech and Sharazer, his sons, struck him down with the sword. And after they escaped into the land of Ararat, Esarhadom, his son, reigned in his place." So, you see, don't mess with the people of God, with the Lord. You see what happened? Hezekiah was a fearful man, he was humble, and these people were speaking, who is going to deliver you? And the Lord spoke, and they killed 185,000 Assyrian soldiers. And he delivered Judah from the hands of Assyria. So, eventually... Manny, please. 185,000 men died that day. remember there was a that was the empire of the world imagine the the Chinese if they have a war there are many people you know that kind of people anyways but that's a reminds me my brother Many, many years ago, like maybe more than 20 years ago, a preacher, Gamal Michelin, he was preaching. He was on fire and he said, and the Lord killed 100, he was speaking about this text and he said, 185,000 Assyrians. And my brother, he was 12 years old, sitting next to him, and he said, how many? And he said, 185,000, you know, and everybody laughed. It was amazing. Like, wow, that amount of people. Yes. But later, look the other side of the story. It's important. Hezekiah, after this victory and everything, he has been sick. And then he was crying, asking God, Oh, I want to live more. I don't know why he felt like that. Maybe all of us, if they say you have a cancer, we don't want to. Everybody wants to go to heaven. Nobody wants to die. I don't know why is that, but anybody, but I don't know why that happens. But the point is that he asked the Lord more time and God prolonged his life for 15 more years. And here's a text that you can say that. But you know what happened during those 15 years? That he has a son, Manasseh, three years after his life was lengthened, and 12 years before his death. And Manasseh was the worst king ever in the history of... And he repented eventually, but he was a very, very bad king. So... And he did another thing. Isaiah continually supported King Hezekiah, but at the end of his days, Hezekiah, because of the days that were prolonged, showed the Babylonians who visited him the treasures of the temple in Jerusalem. So he was rebuked by Isaiah, who warned him that Babylon would come to conquer Jerusalem, taking the children of the nobles, as it happened with Daniel about 100 years later. So after the prolongation of the life of Hezekiah, two bad things happened. Manasseh was born, and he showed the Babylonians the treasures Of course, this is part of the providence of the Lord. We can't control those things, but Zechariah was responsible for that. And when Isaiah said that, you know what is going to happen? Many years from now, Babylon is going to come, and he said, like, oh, that's great. That's God's Word, and I'm very glad that it's not going to happen now. So we are going to have peace now and it's going to be, you know, another people's problem. That was the sense that he was saying. We are in the introduction still, don't worry. So, but we need to enjoy this because this is very, very good word in Isaiah. Social context. And unfortunately, Rick Lapworth is not here. He would enjoy this part of the social context of Isaiah. The government during the times of Isaiah was prosperous, but uneven. I mean, only two social classes. This is the same thing that happens in our third world countries, Latin American countries. You have two social classes, the rich and the poor. I mean, you have maybe a middle class, but it's in danger of extinction, you know, because always you have the extremes. There was resentment, abuse, dispossession, corruption in the government. And in general, there was a very similar context with the one we see in the Prophet Hosea. Isaiah was a crier for social justice, condemning both collective and individual sin. That was the context. Now, religious context. Isaiah knew from the beginning of his calling as a prophet that the people of Judah and Israel would not listen to him. Instead of leading by example to the nations in the neighborhood, the people of Israel downgraded themselves to the pagan's way of living. Worship to Baal, Moloch, they embrace Eastern customs, superstitions, immorality, drunkenness. and every kind of sin, beginning with the leaders. The leaders, of course, they were not Christians, many of them false prophets living in drunkenness. Priests served in a formalistic and hypocritical way. Ahaz, son of Jotham, practiced idolatry. And Jotham copied an altar he saw in Damascus, and he worshipped a pagan god where he burned his own son as an offering. And even though Hezekiah was one of the best kings of Judah, Manasseh his son was the worst king ever. Doing evil, introducing false gods such as Baal, not even his repentance, genuine repentance could change all the bad influence he left from his early years. So that was the context where we find Isaiah. Now we need to continue Now, with the book of Isaiah, understanding about the author and the name of the book, Isaiah comes from the Hebrew Yeshayahu, meaning Yahweh is salvation or salvation of Jehovah. Regarding his time when Amos was studying as a prophet, Isaiah was a young person. Isaiah was a contemporary with Hosea and with Micah. Let's review very quickly the chart here. You see, the importance of having these boxes is that you can see, more or less, who is who in a chronology. So you have Isaiah here, contemporary for with Hosea, Amos, Micah, this kind of time here. So, let's go back. Regarding his family, Isaiah's unnamed wife, I mean, the wife of Isaiah is not named, we don't know her name, but She had been a virgin before and now she would conceive two sons for Isaiah to announce prophecies So she is called a prophetess. How do you say prophetess? Because the son to whom she gave birth was prophetic to the Assyrian conquest she had two sons and Shear Yashob that is a remnant shall return and the other one is Maher Shalal Hashbaz which is the longest name that you can find in the Bible I suggested that name for Chase yeah for the dog they found recently but Maher Shalal Hashbaz but the meaning of that name is Quick to plunder, swift to the spoil. Like the judgment is coming and the enemy is going to come and it's going to happen something here in Jerusalem. So it was a promise and a judgment. The remnant shall return, but quick to plunder, swift to the spoil. Regarding the office of Isaiah, he was a statesman, he had a position as a chaplain in the palace, and he was a counselor of the kings in his time in Jerusalem. For example, these are just examples. When you take Isaiah 7, you see the case of Ahaz looking for help of Assyria, and Isaiah giving a review to Ahaz. And you see Isaiah counseling, or giving some kind of advice to Hezekiah during a Syrian invasion or during Hezekiah looking for an alliance with Egypt, he was also warning, no, no, no, don't do that or that kind of things. So it's important for us to understand the following. about the callings of the prophets. You see here, Jonah was a typical guy, you know, he was not a so important prophet, you know, in social aspects. But then you have Amos. He was a person from the country, basically. But when you see Hosea, maybe his father's name, his wife's father's name, so maybe they have some kind of relevance in the life of Israel. But in the case of Isaiah, he was known as a very important person, an intellectual and a godly man. And we will see that Now, he was, as an author, very well known as an intellectual one. His geographical and historical knowledge and the high quality of his prose and poetry are evidences of his intellectual horsepower. His 11 chapters about the nations of Babylon, Assyria, Egypt, and Ethiopia reveal his knowledge for the amount of details mentioned in every topic. Isaiah, according to this text of 2 Chronicles 26 and 32, he wrote about a history of the king of Uzziah and Hezekiah. I mean, when the Chronicle says, these were the life of Hezekiah, then they say, hey, this is written by the prophet Isaiah in his book about Hezekiah, about Uzziah. So, he was a kind of historian. He was writing very good. He was an intellectual one. But then you have, on the other hand, a godly man. Apart of being from the nobility, or being a noble, and being a statesman, and an intellectual one, Isaiah was a servant of God, called by the Lord, and was a profound and sincere godliness. Isaiah 6 describes his calling in the midst of God's revelation. He says, I saw the Lord. His vision of himself, when he saw the Lord, he says, Woe is me, for I am lost. For I am a man of unclean lips." You see what happened? When you see the Lord, you don't say, Hey Lord, finally you appeared to me. No, he was like humble. I am a man of unclean lips because he was comparing with the glory of the Lord. But at the same time, you see the purification. Behold, the angel says to him, this has touched your lips. Your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for and his consecration. Here am I, send me. And finally, his death. The Babylonian Talmud, again, speaking about the book of Isaiah, explains the phrase of Hebrews 11.37, where some prophets were sawn in pieces, sawn in two pieces, as related to Manasseh killing Isaiah. We don't have strong evidence about that, but it is written in the Babylonian Talmud as a commentary saying that. So, it has some credit that maybe he was killed in that way. I have a lack of translation here. Let me fix it before you realize that. So, regarding to the date of the book, the date of his ministry, as you have seen already, is during the kingdoms of Jotham until Hezekiah. And tradition says that he was murdered during the kingdom of Manasseh. So, the date of his writings, maybe it's around 690, because of the subjects he addressed, including Sennacheribs of Assyria, who died in 710, and Hezekiah, who died in 799, his book might be completed at the end of his career. So, what I'm saying is that if Isaiah Already no, maybe this is not the best chart. Let me look for another chart of the Kings that you can appreciate this easier I'm saying that if as he was here for sure alive when as a kaya and the tradition said that he was killed by Manasseh at some point here in The book of Isaiah, where he's mentioned Ezekiah's death, et cetera, then should be written around this time here. So that's why we are suggesting we really don't know, but it's logical to think it's at the end of his career as 690 before Christ, more or less. Yes. You're pretty confident in saying it was a book written at one time as opposed to maybe a diary It could be a diary, but when we're talking about the date, it's like the publishing date. It's like the final, you know. Yeah, but of course, he's recollecting memories and as an intellectual, he's already taking notes of the chronicles of the kings and everything. Yeah, completely right. And remember that there are three sections that people say like, maybe there are three authors, but they say, no, this is Isaiah all the time. So what about the subject, which is the most important thing? Where the subject of Isaiah is the near judgment of Israel with its restoration and Messiah. So he's talking about judgment, you're going to be exiled, you're going to be in the exile, but then you are going to be restored and the Messiah is going to come. Those are like the subjects that he addressed. Isaiah prophesied that because of the continuous idolatry, God would send Judah to a Babylonian exile, but even so, by His grace, God would restore them through the work of His servant, who would take their sins in His death and resurrection. Therefore, His kingdom would be an everlasting kingdom in the new heavens and the new earth. Key texts, we are not going to review those, but remember, you know those. Chapter 1 is the text where he's exposing the sins that could be white as snow, remember? And chapter 6 is the text where The Lord appears to him and he says, go to those people, they're not going to hear you. And that text is repeated in John chapter 12, saying, John, hey, when Isaiah said those things, he was talking about his glory, the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that text is repeated again in Acts 28 when Paul says, I am speaking to you, Jews, and you are not listening. That was what Isaiah wrote by the Holy Spirit saying that you will listen. So you have in Isaiah the father, in John the son, and in Acts 28 you have the Holy Spirit. That's a proof text of the Trinity. And then you have chapter 61, verse 1 to 3. when that is a good one that we should take a look because that is a text that the Lord Jesus Christ read in the synagogue for the Jews. And he says he's extended the role. He read that text and said, today that is fulfilled in me. And they wanted to stun him because he was blaspheming the name of the Lord, according to them. But in chapter 61, The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the broken heart, to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to those who are bound, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn. to ground to those who mourn in Zion, to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, etc., etc. And he stopped reading and he said, today that prophecy is fulfilled in me. And he continued preaching the word in the synagogue. And all the eyes of the people in the synagogue were looking at Jesus in that moment. And you know the story, that is in Luke chapter 4, verse 17. Luke 4, 17, if you want to go there and see that. So, the words that are key in Isaiah, judgment, 52 times. Comfort, 18 times. The Holy One of Israel, 25 times. So, importance... Yes, please, Michael. It's a very important text regarding the Messiah, but you are completely right. Isaiah has so many texts. To be honest with you guys, I don't create those texts. I mean, I just take what the consensus of the commentator says, like this is the key message. But of course, if you are going to go to this part of the content, Messiah, for sure, Isaiah 53, and we were going to see something about that later. So, importance of Isaiah. He is the most quoted prophet in the Bible, I mean, in the New Testament. Who knows how many times the texts of Isaiah are quoted in the New Testament? Richie, do you know that? And how many times, I'm going to challenge you, the name of Isaiah is quoted in the New Testament? How do you know those things, Richie? Okay, okay. Okay. Well, you are a good student, you know. You remember. Okay. Okay. So, he's quoted most of, you know, of every prophet, that's the one more quoted. And I said, Richie, because he liked the numbers. Remember that. I'm going to ask that tomorrow. Okay. So, it's important because he's quoted over and over all of Prophet Isaiah. And he explains the future judgment and its causes. Isaiah serves as a bridge between Israel and Judah because he prophesies about the threat of the Assyrians against Israel, as well as the Babylonians against Judah. And he predicted the coming of the Messiah. Here you go, Michael and Manny. He predicted the coming of the Messiah and his purpose. Isaiah wrote prophecies regarding the birth. death, resurrection, return of the King of Kings, the Messiah of the Israel of God. He also predicted the Messiah as the suffering servant that would come voluntarily in meekness to carry the sins of his people, Isaiah 53. No other prophet but Isaiah had such a revelation about the Messiah, that's for sure. And also he spoke about the kingdom of God to come. So let's go very quickly to the outline of Isaiah. So, we can divide in three. A section of judgment, chapters 1 to 35. A section of history, that's the Ezekiah's book, the book of the king Ezekiah. History, 36 to 39. And a section of consolation, 40 to 66. So, about the judgment, He rebukes, and you have the rebukes and the promises of Judah and Israel. You have the prophecies against the nation. If you go to the nation, see, prophesies, wow, I mean, you can have, when you have an evangelistic study in your house, you could have just Isaiah and show them the prophecies in chapter 13 and 14 for Babylon. And when he prophesied that, Babylon was not an empire. And he was saying, Babylon that is beautiful and is going to be an empire, God will destroy it and you won't have anything there. He prophesied against Philistia, Moab, Damascus and Samaria, all these nations that was in the first chapters in 13 to 24. general judgment and the promise of redemption and the woes for the unbelievers of Israel and final triumph of Christ. That was the first part then, judgment. Then the book of Hezekiah, history. Isaiah accounts Assyria's invasion and its outcome predicting that Babylon and not Assyria will finally conquer Judah. The speech of Jerusalem, that was the text that we just read at the beginning of the class. You remember about Sennacherib and everything that is in that section of history. And then the sickness of Hezekiah that I told you about. And then the foolishness of Hezekiah revealing Judah's treasures. And then the enemy said, hmm, interesting. We'll come back later. And that happened eventually. So finally, The last part of the book is the consolation. That is the section in Isaiah 40 that says, comfort my people, says your God about comforting the people of God. Prediction of John the Baptist. Prediction of Cyrus by name, Cyrus the Great, he was not even born in that moment and he was speaking about Cyrus. Prediction of the Messiah and a calling to salvation, that is the section where you guys mentioned 52 verse 13 and the chapter 53 about the Messiah and the glory of the eternal kingdom of God and God's program of peace for the Redeemers. So, summarizing here again, reviewing this section of judgment, a section of history, and a section of consolation. With that, let's spend the couple of minutes left in two slides more, and we will try to have one minute for any comment that you want to share. What lessons can we learn from Isaiah? Well, as a person, we can learn from him as a prophet. We learn to think of ourselves with prudence and sanity. The more we know the Lord, the more unworthy and sinners we realize that we really are. He says when he faced the Lord, Woe is me, for I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips. Maybe if it's me, I say, no, you know, I mean, if we see the Lord, we are going to fall down. But if we think that we know the Lord and we are proud, etc. No, the more you know the Lord, the more prudence and sanity you will have. We learn also to purify our hearts for God's service. Behold, this has touched your lips. We need that kind of godliness and practice in purification. We'll learn to be available for service to the Lord. Here am I, send me, he says. So that's regarding the person of Isaiah. And God enables those who he calls to serve. Now what about the book of Isaiah? What can we learn there, the content? We learn that the history of the world is the history of the redemption of Christ Jesus. I'm going to show an illustration that you may know already, but for you to not forget about this, we learned that history of the world is the history of the redemption in Christ Jesus. When you say the word history, maybe some of you already know this, but for you to not forget, I'm putting it big here, history is about His story. The story of Jesus Christ. His story is His story. The story of redemption. So God's salvation has been available since the beginning. The gospel did not start when Jesus came the first time to talk about the gospel, but we see the seed of the gospel in Genesis 3.15 with the woman and the serpent. And God continued unveiling the mystery through his prophets until his son came to give the Holy Spirit. This is why the Lord said, that John the Baptist is greater than the prophets, but the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than John the Baptist. It's because we have more exposure to the Word of God now. So we have then that tension that we call the already and not yet. When you see that John the Baptist in Matthew 11, He was in prison, John the Baptist, and he sent people to the Lord to say, Are you the Messiah? Because I am preaching that you are the Messiah, and I am in jail, I'm going to die, and I don't see the kingdom here. The Lord sent back people to John the Baptist saying, said to John, and he quoted Isaiah chapter 35. Isaiah 35, he says, say to those who have an anxious heart, be strong, fear not. Behold, your God will come with vengeance. with the recompense of God. God will come and save you. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped. And shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy, for waters break forth, the wilderness, etc., etc. And then he said, Say to John that the blind people are looking, are seeing now. and the deaf are listening. So, I am the one, but you need to believe that I am the Messiah. And then we have the tension in the already and not yet. So, the servant of the Lord came the first time in the face of seeding. He was seeding the gospel, but it was then the already of the kingdom. But still, we are waiting for the consummation of that kingdom when the Lord will come in His stage of a reaper, the not yet of the kingdom. So, when Christ came, was as a servant. He was seeding, planting the gospel. And we are in that kind of dispensation. When we are in the gospel dispensation, I mean, in the time that the gospel was inaugurated by the first coming of the Lord. And we already are in the kingdom of the Lord in that sense. But then, while we are preaching and the kingdom of the Lord continues, the consummation will come when the returning King comes. And then he will establish the eternal kingdom. And that was a differentiation that the Jews didn't understand. Because they say, Isaiah is talking here about a kingdom. The Messiah is here, and we don't get it. Because John is in jail, and then they see that Christ is crucified. So this is a failure. No. This is the victory of the kingdom. And now it's starting the kingdom, and the kingdom, that's the already of the kingdom. And then not yet because not yet finished until the Lord comes. So with that, we have a couple of minutes. So if you have any comments. Yes, Richie, please. to give King Ahab the great prophecy of the Messiah coming from a virgin in the middle of him negotiating with the alien-awakened nations to come and protect him. Why would he say to Lord Ahab that prophecy of a virgin birth? Because the Messiah didn't come for years after. What do you think his purpose was? What kind of impact is he trying to make? Well, remember that the virgin that he was speaking about, it was a twofold fulfillment, because it was about his wife that was a virgin and conceived two sons. The ones that we mentioned, Mayer, Salah al-Hasbas, and the other one that I, it's easier, but I haven't memorized his name. I'm going to tell you now. But the point is that because of that, he was speaking about those two events at the same time. And a son is going to be given to us because he was already existing. It was Christ. But the point is that it was that double thing that the king could see the kids there as a signal. And then he said, you know, the names of those kids is because you are going to have the judgment. And then eventually Ahaz, in the case of Ahaz, he didn't see his own, but Ahaz was there when they captured, the Assyrians took over the North Kingdom. And he saw that, at least. Anyone else? Any comments? Yes, Lynn. Someone wonders why the prophecy says his name shall be called Immanuel, but the name I mean, the name was specifically instructed by the angel when he said, you shall name him Jesus, because it's Joshua, salvation, etc. But his name Immanuel, it's because, remember, the Lord has many names, like the Lamb of God. And then Immanuel means God with us. Precisely in the spirit of Isaiah 35 that says that God will come. He will come and save you. So God with us, Emmanuel. But I don't know, nobody knew, you know, name or call it the Lord Emmanuel in that sense. So, yeah, please, Pastor Edwin has something. Yeah. Okay, thank you. Thank you. So I will ask Richie, can you please dismiss us in prayer for the time is already gone? Father, we thank you.