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Question: What challenges did Isaiah face?
Isaiah was a Hebrew prophet who was believed to have lived about 700 years before the birth of Jesus Christ. Born in Jerusalem, Israel, he was said to have found his calling as a prophet when he saw a vision in the year of King Uzziah's death. Isaiah prophesized the coming of the Messiah Jesus Christ.
The book of Isaiah is filled with sobering accounts of Israel's sin and rebellion and warnings of their coming judgement. But along with warnings, Isaiah also offers a message of hope—a suffering servant, a coming Messiah, who would come to establish God's Kingdom on Earth and create a new Jerusalem.
The six woes of Isaiah (5:8–23) relate to those responsible for: Amalgamation of land (verses 8–10) Drunkenness and revelry (verses 11–17) Compound sinfulness, or "sin with a cart rope" (verses 18–19). Particular notice should be made to v20.
Isaiah probably lived to its close, and possibly into the reign of Manasseh. The time and manner of his death are not specified in either the Bible or other primary sources. Later Jewish tradition says that he suffered martyrdom by being sawn in two under the orders of Manasseh.
Interestingly, of the “Dead Sea Scrolls”, only Isaiah is complete and is on show in Jerusalem.
He is generally considered one of the greatest of the prophets and was well aware of his human failings.
Isaiah was the prophet with “unclean lips”, Isaiah 6:1–10, when in the Temple Vision he said to God; "Woe to me!" he cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty".
His sin was cleansed by a Heavenly body with a coal from the holy Alter, after which Isaiah entered special service to Almighty God, which majored in the prophecy of God’s Messiah, and the sin of Israel!
An interesting point can be made here regarding Acts 28:25–28, as Israel was at that time still “Ammi” (My People); but when they rejected again God’s Message in Christ- Jesus, the Apostle Paul was ordered by the Risen Lord Jesus to quote Isaiah 6:9–10, which triggered the Lo-Ammi (not My people) condition of Israel, and brought the Gentiles into first place priority for the Salvation Gospel, which is still the case at today's date!
This will continue until all the foreknown Gentiles have been drawn into the Lord’s Body, in Salvation (Romans 9:25–26)!
After that, Isaiah 6:11–13 will transpire for Israel!
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