After perusing through the Book of Matthew, let us return to another ‘gospel.’ It is a long book, and to be truthful, I dread reading it again. Of course, I could read it in a few hours, but to really, really read it in expository, explaining certain passages word for word, because each word is the ‘Word’ of God. Each Word is God-breathed, to wit: “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness” (2 Tim 3:16). In some versions, inspiration is translated as “God breathed.”
First off, the New Testament,
although canon, is not the ‘scripture’ referred to as God-breathed. The Old
Testament is that scripture. The Word of God is God-breathed whereas the gospels
are God-spoken. The message of God was breathed unto men in the Old
Testament and spoken to them in the New. As such, Isaiah had life and
truth breathed unto him.
As John pointed out, the message
was the same but the transmission of it was much different; the Word was Jesus
(John 1:1-14) and it was as much Jesus who breathed the Word to Isaiah, the
other prophets, and the patriarchs. As such, all the patriarchs were prophets
as well because prophets were those who spoke the Word breathed unto them by
God.
Prophets were proxies for Jesus
until God came in the flesh. The Words of God spoken by prophets were essentially
the Word of God.
Take for example, the Book of
Genesis; Moses was not there in the beginning and had no idea how all
things were created. God would have breathed unto him Words of Truth. Genesis
is as such the Word of God spoken to the person, Moses who understood it and
recorded it on a ‘bible,’ meaning a material for writing. Moses would have seen
the creation as God breathed it unto him like a 16mm video.
The Word of God is capitalized, “Bible”
because it is the Word of God on some type of medium. The paper is not
sacrosanct, but the Words on it are. Do not let digital media upset you because
it is just electronic ‘paper;’ it is the Words of God that matters.
Isaiah recorded messages from God.
God breathed unto him certain messages, often about the future. The book
begins, “The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah
and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah”
(Isa 1:1).
Isaiah had a vision, and
the vision was about Judah and Jerusalem. The vision was seen during the
times elaborated, but the vision was about the future that he saw in those
times. Sometimes the future would be soon after and at other times long after
those times, or sometimes apply to both, as it seems.
The vision was literally a
sighting; he saw what God would show him from the vantage point of the past
into the future.
Now, I will examine another
sacred book. While in the Garden, Adam said that he could see unto the heavens,
but after he and his Eve were cast out of the Garden, he no longer could; he
added:
Then God the Lord said to Adam, "When you
were under subjection to Me, you had a bright nature within you, and for that
reason could you see things far away. But after your transgression your bright
nature was withdrawn from you; and it was not left to you to see things far
away, but only near at hand; after the ability of the flesh; for it is brutish.
(1 Adam and Eve 8:2)
Why would Isaiah be under subjection to God? God gave him a
bright nature; that follows: God continued speaking to Isaiah, “Hear, O
heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the Lord hath spoken, I have nourished and
brought up children, and they have rebelled against Me” (Isa 1:2). Isaiah would
have heeded the sayings of God unlike most of the others that God condemns in
subsequent verses. Because he had ears to hear and eyes to see, God used Isaiah
to see things from afar, whereas the general masses did not. Isaiah had no
problem with hearing and obeying, so he was the likely candidate for seeing
what he was hearing.
On the other hand, the audiences must have bright natures to
understand what they are hearing or reading. Based on Adam’s fallen state,
Isaiah would have been restored; having been born with a dull, even brutish
nature, as God said to Adam, Isaiah would assume a bright nature to see what
the angels could see. The bright eyes came with his non-brutish nature.
Brutishness is imperative in scripture. Brutishness is
animalistic, not using intelligence and understanding; being instinctive and
doing whatever they are inclined to do. Everyone is born in iniquity, according
to King David (Psalm 51:5); that is born with depravity. Since everyone is born
that way, it is genetic and is the nature of mankind. The brutish nature comes
from the Beast via the genetics of Cain.
The ‘father’ of all who were born is the Devil, Lucifer, “and
the lusts of your father you will do” (John 8:44). The use of the word ‘father’
means it is genetic, obviously because the Devil did not sire anyone, but
perhaps Cain (Gen 4:1; 1 John 3:12). As such, Lucifer is our ‘father’ through
the genetics of Cain. Hence, because Cain was cursed, our nature is like his
and all who are born from a woman are brutish in nature. Our nature is to
pursue things that can be sensed, hence the “lusts” of our genetic
father we will do.
That implies that Lucifer, called “The Serpent,” did his
lusts to the woman and produced a child with a brutish nature… Cain.
The parenthood of Isaiah is revealed in the key verse. His
father was Amoz. That has much significance because Amoz claimed that he was
not a prophet, and his life revealed that he was just an ordinary man with a
burden. His name means, “Burden Bearer,” and in a genetic sense, Isaiah too bore
the burden of Judah and Jerusalem. In a sense, Amoz was prototypical of Jesus
who did bear the burdens of mankind, and since Isaiah was of his genetics, that
burden would have been passed down to him.
Amos had given some of his genealogy. It is unknown just who
his parents were, but Amos said, "I am not a prophet nor a son of a
prophet” (Amos 7:14). His was not a genetic dispensation but a God-given one to
an ordinary man. God picked Amoz and Isaiah because they were ordinary. You
would think that the genealogy of Amoz, because he was the father of the most
major prophet, Isaiah, would be given! Not even Luke gave that “Amos” in the
genealogy of Jesus. He was essentially a non-person to whom God endowed him
with importance to bear the burdens of Judah and Jerusalem.
That Amos was the father of Isaiah is meaningful. Amos had
written, “The Lord will roar from Zion, and utter His voice from Jerusalem; and
the habitations of the shepherds shall mourn, and the top of Carmel shall
wither” (Amos 1:2).
What did Amoz mean by that? Firstly, consider Carmel. That
name means ‘The Vineyard of God,’ implying that is the Garden of God in Eden
before time began. Carmel would have been a mountain vineyard in the Garden of
Eden. That vineyard, so said Amoz, would wither. Of course it had
already withered, since before time, but now it would wither even further. It
would wither in importance to the favor of Mount Zion.
Amoz also saw Jesus, not on Mount Carmel like Elijah, but on
Mount Zion, which is most certainly Calvary, although it has lost its specific
distinction. Amoz saw that the Lord spoke audibly from Jerusalem and would roar
from Mount Zion. There, the focus would go from the pre-eminence of Carmel to
Zion. Salvation would apparently change locations.
Indeed, the Voice of Jesus was heard in Jerusalem, but Carmel
was where Jesus spoke most. So, rather than looking toward Carmel for Jesus,
Amoz knew the location would be Zion. In fact, in Latin that mountain may be Calvariae
Locus — the location of the Cranium. Amoz had seen Calvary as the entryway
to heaven, not the high place of Carmel where many had once gathered. He was
supporting Jerusalem as the very place where the world could be saved, so Amoz
bore a burden for Jerusalem to the disregard of Carmel.
Isaiah would see Jerusalem as sacrosanct because his father
had. Isaiah was picked by God because Jerusalem was in his blood as the place.
He had the faith and vision of his father, and Jesus used that. Just as Amoz
had the bright eyes to see that, Isaiah would have as well!
That Isaiah saw Jesus in the future from the past is easy to explain. God is "NOW" in whatever time is used.
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