The fifth gospel — salvation written 700 years before Christ
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
Isaiah 9:6Isaiah is the longest of the prophetic books and arguably the most consequential. He prophesied in Jerusalem for roughly fifty years (~740-690 BC) during a turbulent era — the Assyrian Empire was crushing the northern kingdom of Israel and threatening Judah. Into this national crisis Isaiah brought a vision so vast and a hope so distant that the New Testament writers will quote him more than any other prophet — over 65 times directly, with hundreds more allusions.
The book divides naturally into two great movements. Chapters 1-39 are largely warnings of judgment, set against the looming Assyrian threat and Judah's persistent unbelief. Chapters 40-66 shift dramatically — the prophet looks past judgment to comfort, restoration, and the appearance of the Servant of the LORD. The hinge is chapters 36-39, the historical narrative of King Hezekiah and the deliverance of Jerusalem from Assyria — a small foretaste of the greater deliverance to come.
Isaiah is the messianic book. Matthew opens his gospel applying Isaiah 7:14 to the virgin birth. The Servant Songs of chapters 42-53 — culminating in the staggering portrait of the Suffering Servant in chapter 53 — are quoted by every major NT writer as a description of Jesus. Philip explains the gospel to the Ethiopian eunuch from Isaiah 53. Paul says Isaiah "speaks plainly" about Christ. Jesus reads from Isaiah 61 in the synagogue at Nazareth and announces, "Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."
2 chapters per day · the most messianic book in the OT
In the year King Uzziah died, Isaiah saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, with the train of his robe filling the temple. The Seraphim cried 'Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty.' The threefold repetition is unique in Hebrew — it is the language's highest possible emphasis. Isaiah responds with the only honest human reply: 'Woe to me! I am ruined!' A Seraph touches his lips with a burning coal. Then comes the call: 'Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?' Isaiah answers, 'Here am I. Send me.' This is the pattern of every authentic prophetic ministry — encounter with holiness, awareness of sin, cleansing by grace, then commission for mission.
Two of the most famous messianic prophecies are clustered just two chapters apart. 'Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel' (7:14) — quoted explicitly by Matthew 1:23 as fulfilled in the birth of Jesus. Then in 9:6: 'For unto us a child is born... and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.' Each name is itself a complete sermon. The Mighty God ('El Gibbor' — applied to Yahweh himself in 10:21). The Everlasting Father. These are not merely titles of an earthly king. They are claims of deity made about a child to come.
Embedded in chapters 40-55 are four Servant Songs (42:1-9, 49:1-13, 50:4-11, 52:13-53:12) that together compose the most complete prophetic portrait of the Messiah in all of Scripture. Each adds a dimension: the Servant brings justice to the nations (Song 1); he is a light to the Gentiles (Song 2); he is obedient unto suffering (Song 3); he is the suffering, atoning, exalted One (Song 4). Read consecutively, they sketch Christ's public ministry, mission to all nations, willing submission, and substitutionary death — written seven centuries before he was born.
Isaiah 53 is the single most extraordinary chapter in the Old Testament. Written ~700 BC, it describes a coming Servant who would be despised and rejected, pierced for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities, silent before his accusers, numbered with transgressors, buried in a rich man's tomb, and ultimately exalted. Every detail is fulfilled in Jesus Christ with a precision that has converted skeptics for two millennia. The Dead Sea Scrolls contain a copy of Isaiah dated 100 BC — proving the prophecy predates the events. Philip uses this exact chapter to lead the Ethiopian eunuch to Christ in Acts 8. If you read only one chapter of the Old Testament, read Isaiah 53.