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This is post #2.  Under this post is a post about  The Captivity.  Even though it is coming up in our reading, it will make the prophecy books more “readable” if you understand what WILL happen eventualy.

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Chapter 5- We begin with a parable.  It may actually sound familiar if you have read the New Testament.

My loved one had a vineyard
    on a fertile hillside.

The vineyard is His chosen people.  God provided all the means for them to prosper (fertile hillside).  But when the crops Israelites grew, they grew bad fruit.

What more could have been done for my vineyard
    than I have done for it?

So what is the consequence?

He takes his hand off of them.  He will not tend to them and he will allow the border to be open.  After the parable is given Isaiah shocks the audience by letting them know He is talking about them!

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Verse 8 we add some more “Woes”- Beware.

v8-10-He is calling out those who accumulate- but lets them know that when the captivity happens…their mansions will be empty.

v11-17-He is talking to the “party crowd”, those that ignore God.  He specifically says in verse 13-

Therefore my people will go into exile
for lack of understanding;

v18-19-Those that are hitched to sin.  Not only do they disregard God but they defy Him, they don’t believe His warning and challenge Him to show up!  Verse 19-

“Let God hurry;
let him hasten his work
so we may see it.
The plan of the Holy One of Israel—
let it approach, let it come into view,
so we may know it.”

v20-those who think they are wiser than God

v21-to the corrupt.  He is detailed to tell them exactly what the captivity will look like.  V26-30 He tells them he will rise up nations around them, the enemies will not grow weary.  They will not break a sweat when they capture them.

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Chapter 6 Isaiah’s Commission- We change the channel and it is dated for us so we know exactly when this happens.

This vision occurs during the reign of Uzziah.  He sees God!

 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another:

God tells Ahaz to ask for a sign, and Ahaz declines.  God gives him one anyway! (Look at your prophecy list of the Messiah)

The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. (700 years before Christ this is said)

18-25 Isaiah prophesied that Assyria will be the nation God will use for this first invasion.

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In Chapter 8 Isaiah gives a description of the captivity but reminds Isaiah not to follow in Israel’s footsteps either.  It is NOT the enemy nations that will bring destruction on America Israel, it will be at the arm of the Lord to discipline their sins.  We They must not fear other nations, they must fear the Lord and obey his commands.

“Do not call conspiracy
    everything this people calls a conspiracy;
do not fear what they fear,
    and do not dread it.
¹³ The Lord Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy,
    he is the one you are to fear,
    he is the one you are to dread.
¹⁴ He will be a holy place;
    for both Israel and Judah he will be
a stone that causes people to stumble
    and a rock that makes them fall.
And for the people of Jerusalem he will be
    a trap and a snare.
¹⁵ Many of them will stumble;
    they will fall and be broken,
    they will be snared and captured.”

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Before we go any further I want to take a moment to explain what is going to happen.  As we read through Isaiah and other prophet books, they just won’t make sense unless you understand the big picture.  Tomorrow we are going to read some detailed prophecies about “a Captivity” or “an Exile”.  The way I explain this when I do a study with teenagers is: God says to his children…I put you in this land, shape up and start obeying me or I will take you out of this land”.

My adult answer would be-The captivity or exile refers to the time period in Israel’s history when Jews were taken captive by King Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon. It is an important period of biblical history because both the captivity/exile and the return and restoration of the Jewish nation were fulfillments of Old Testament prophecies.

God used foreign nations to bring judgment against Israel for their sins of idolatry and rebellion against Him. There were actually several different times during this period when the Jews were taken captivity.  During the captivity, the enemy nations would kill many people, destroy the Jewish temple, take captive many thousands of Jews, and left Jerusalem in ruins.

If you look at this map you will see that Israel (purple) will fall (captivity)to Assyria in 722.  But remember when Jeroboam and Rehenboam split the kingdom I told you to remember the “J” and the “R”.  Rehoboam comes from the line of David-the line with the Covenant to bring the Messiah.  Jereboam does not.  So when the Assyrians take Israel they do not come back.  However…Judah (who the scepter will not depart from) has to survive it. They are taken into Babylonian captivity in 586 B.C. The few that survive it are called the “Remnant”.  As prophesied in Scripture, the Jewish people would be allowed to return to Jerusalem after 70 years of exile. That prophecy was fulfilled in 537 B.C., and the Jews were allowed by King Cyrus of Persia to return to Israel and begin rebuilding the city and temple. The return under the direction of Ezra led to a revival among the Jewish people and the rebuilding of the temple. This might help:

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In the overview, I talked about Isaiah being the most quoted prophecies in the New Testament.  Example: Matthew 1 says: All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”(which means “God with us”). The prophecy of this will be in today’s read.  Here is a list of the fulfilled prophecies from Isaiah.  At the bottom of this post, I will attach all 3 visuals in a printable format just in case you like them as much as I do.

Fulfilled  Prophecies From Isaiah

The Prophecy	The Fulfillment
The Messiah…	Jesus Christ…
will be born of a virgin (Is. 7:14)	was born a virgin named Mary (Luke 1:26-31)
will have a Galilean ministry (Is. 9:1,2)	ministered in the Galilee of the Gentiles (Matt. 4:13-16)
will be an heir to the throne of David (Is. 9:7)	was given the throne of His father David (Luke 1:32,33)
will have His way prepared (Is. 40:3-5)	was announced by John the Baptist (John 1:19-28)
will be spat on and struck (Is. 50:6)	was spat on and beaten (Matt. 26:67)
will be exalted (Is. 52:13)	was highly exalted by God and the people (Phil. 2:9,10)
will be disfigured by suffering (Is. 52:14; 53:2)	was scourged by the soldiers who gave Him a crown of thorns (Mark 15:15-19)
will make a blood atonement (Is. 53:5)	shed His blood to atone for our sins (1 Peter 1:2)
will be widely rejected (Is. 53:1,3)	was accepted by many (John 12:37,38)
will bear our sins in sorry (Is. 53:4,5)	died because of our sins (Rom. 4:25; 1 Peter 2:24
will be our substitute (Is. 53:6,8)	died in our place (Rom. 5:6, 8; 2 Cor. 5:21)
will voluntarily accept our guilt and punishment (Is. 53:7,8)	was silent about our sin (Mark 15:4; John 10:11; 19:30)
will be buried in a rich man’s tomb (Is. 53:9)	was buried in the tomb of Joseph, a rich man from Arimathea (Matt. 27:57-60; John 19:38-42)
will save us who believe in Him (Is. 53:10,11)	provided salvation for all who believed (John 3:16; Acts 16:31)
will die with transgressors (Is. 53:12)	was numbered with the transgressors (Mark 15:27; Luke 22:37)
will heal the brokenhearted (Is. 61:1,2)	healed the brokenhearted (Luke 4:18)

• Click here to Isaiah Prophecy list
• Click here for Captivity Map
• Divided Kingdom Prophets