| Prophet Isaiah |
Isaiah
(VIII century BC), prophet Commemoration May 9
Came from a royal family. Isaiah's father, Amos, raised his son in the fear of God and in the law of the Lord. Having reached adulthood, the prophet Isaiah married a pious maiden prophetess (Is. 8:3) and had a son Jasub (Is. 8:18).
Saint Isaiah was called by God to prophetic service in the kingdom of Uzziah, king of Judah, and prophesied for about 60 years under the kings Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah and Manasseh. The beginning of his ministry was marked by the following vision: he saw the Lord God sitting in the majestic heavenly temple on a high throne. He was surrounded by six-winged Seraphim. With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their legs, and with two they flew, calling to each other: “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of Hosts, heaven and earth are filled with His Glory!” The pillars of the heavenly temple shook from their exclamations, and incense was heard in the temple. The Prophet exclaimed in horror: “Oh, wretched man that I am, I was honored to see the Lord of hosts, having unclean lips and living among unclean people!” Then one of the Seraphim was sent to him, having a hot coal in his hand, which he took with tongs from the altar of the Lord. He touched the lips of the prophet Isaiah and said: “Behold, I have touched your lips, and the Lord will take away your iniquities and cleanse your sins.” After this, Isaiah heard the voice of the Lord addressed to him: “Whom will I send and who will go to the Jews, who will go for Us?” Isaiah answered: “Here I am, send me, Lord, I will go.” And the Lord sent him to the Jews to convince them to turn from the ways of wickedness and idolatry and bring repentance. The Lord promised mercy and forgiveness to those who repent and turn to the True God, but those who are stubborn are destined for punishment and execution from God. Then Isaiah asked the Lord how long the apostasy of the Jewish people from God would continue. The Lord answered: “Until the cities are desolate, there will be no people in the houses and this land will not become a desert. However, when a tree is cut down, new shoots come from its stump, and after the destruction of a people, a holy remnant will remain, from which a new tribe will arise.”
Isaiah left behind a book of prophecies that was included in the collection of books of the Old Testament. The prophecies expressed in this book are so clear and accurate that Isaiah has been called the “Old Testament evangelist” since patristic times [1]. According to Saint Cyril of Alexandria,
«
Isaiah is both a prophet and an apostle; his prophetic sayings have the clarity of gospel preaching
» [2].
The holy prophet Isaiah also had the gift of working miracles. Thus, when, during the siege of Jerusalem by enemies, the besieged were exhausted from thirst, with his prayer he brought out from under Mount Zion a source of water, which was called Siloam, that is, “sent from God.” The Savior subsequently sent a man born blind to this source to wash, to whom He restored his sight. Through the prayer of the prophet Isaiah, the Lord extended King Hezekiah’s life by 15 years.
Prophet Isaiah died a martyr's death. By order of the Jewish king Manasseh, he was sawn through with a wooden saw. The prophet was buried not far from the source of Siloam. Subsequently, the relics of the holy prophet Isaiah were transferred by King Theodosius the Younger to Constantinople and placed in the temple of St. Lawrence in Blachernae. Currently, part of the head of the holy prophet Isaiah is kept on Mount Athos in the Hilendar monastery.
The time and events that took place during the life of the prophet Isaiah are spoken of in the 4th book of Kings (chap. 16, 17, 19, 20, 23, etc.), as well as in the 2nd book of Chronicles (chap. 26-32) .
Prophet - a person who proclaims the will of God
Who is a prophet? What must an ordinary person do to become a prophet? Or maybe this is the lot of the chosen few? In our understanding, a prophet is a seer, a seer, or a person who can accurately predict the future.
Metropolitan Hilarion, in his essay on the prophetic schools of ancient Israel, gives the most capacious and historical explanation of such a phenomenon as prophecy: “The very verb naba (which is translated into Russian as “to prophesy”) also has an active meaning - “to proclaim, to utter an inspired speech, to teach.” "
Prophet...can mean "taught"; prophets are sometimes called disciples and students (Isaiah 8, 16, 54:13; Jeremiah 32, 33).” The history of the Christian Church has preserved many names of prophets. We honor not only those who served with Christ, but also the Old Testament prophets.
Old Testament prophets. Icon "Praise to the Mother of God". Photo: images.icon-art.info
Isaiah - a prophet who remained devoted to God
Prophet Isaiah is one of the Old Testament prophets, who is deeply revered by the Orthodox Church. His life has always been a favorite reading for Orthodox Christians. He happened to live in a very difficult time in Judea. Several kings changed before his eyes. He saw how people rejected their God, Who had protected the people for so many centuries, and began to worship the gods of fertility and debauchery.
The prophets, who were supposed to admonish the people, followed the lead of the reckless rulers and told lies in order to please them, thereby leading the people further and further from God.
The prophet Isaiah was called the Old Testament evangelist for his messianic prophecies. Photo: pravoslavie.ru
Apocrypha entitled with the name of the prophet
In addition, one cannot ignore several texts united by the common title “The Ascension of Isaiah” and which became widespread in the Middle Ages. All of them are apocrypha, that is, writings that have not received recognition from the official Church, and therefore are heretical in their content. They also contain the messianic prophecies of Isaiah, but in an edition that differs significantly from the gospel interpretation of events.
According to researchers, this literary monument was created in the Balkans by participants in the anti-clerical Bogomil movement that emerged there in the 10th century. Over the next five centuries, its text was rewritten many times and circulated throughout the Christian world until it was officially banned by the Pope and its distributors were persecuted. Of the 11 chapters that once comprised it, only 6 have survived to this day.
The Life of the Prophet Isaiah - a biography of a fiery servant of God
The biography of this man devoted to God is known from the 3rd book of Kings. Isaiah was born in the seventh century BC. According to information preserved in Jewish traditions, he was the son of the prophet Amos and was brought up in the prophetic school of the prophet Elisha. And he entered into marriage with a prophetess girl.
In a vision, the prophet Isaiah was shown serving in the Heavenly Temple
One day, when Isaiah was 20 years old, he entered the temple and saw a great and amazing vision of service in the heavenly temple. This is how the book of the prophet Isaiah describes it:
“In the year of the death of King Uzziah, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of His robe filled the whole temple. The Seraphim stood around Him; each of them had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And they called to each other and said: Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of hosts! the whole earth is full of His glory!”
(Isaiah 6:1-3)
The young man was very frightened, because, as he said about himself, “I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people also of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts.” (Isaiah 6:5) One of the Seraphim took a burning coal from the altar, approached the prophet, touched his lips with the coal and said:
“Behold, this has touched your mouth, and your iniquity is taken away from you, and your sin is cleansed.”
(Isaiah 6:7)
Isaiah heard the Lord ask, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for Us? Isaiah said, “Here I am! Send me." Thus, Isaiah became not only one who learns from the prophet, but he himself was called to the prophetic ministry.
Vision of the prophet Isaiah. Painting of the Church of Santa Maria in Ana in Catalonia. End of the 11th century Photo: pravmir.ru
The book of the prophet Isaiah contains the most messianic prophecies and predictions about Christ.
Isaiah predicted the destruction of Jerusalem, the death of the kingdom of Judah, but through his lips God announced the great hope, the birth of the Savior from the Virgin. He spoke messianic prophecies:
“Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: behold, a virgin will be with child and give birth to a Son, and they will call His name Immanuel.”
(Isaiah 7:14)
“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; the government is upon His shoulder, and His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of His government and peace on the throne of David and in his kingdom, so that He may establish it and strengthen it with judgment and righteousness from now on and forever. The jealousy of the Lord of hosts will do this."
(Isaiah 9:6,7)
The book of the prophet Isaiah contains prophecies about the place and circumstances of the birth and life of the Messiah. Photo: pravoslavie.ru
Prophet Isaiah - prophecies
The soothsayer left behind a book in which he denounces the Jews for their unfaithfulness to God, predicts the wanderings of the Jews and the restoration of Jerusalem, and also prophesies the fate of other nations. In this work you can find facts about many events. The clergy assure that interpretations of Isaiah, when read correctly and consciously, help to understand the meaning of life and various important concepts.
The Book of the Prophet is considered one of the most famous and significant masterpieces of Christianity. It includes certain speeches of the saint, which are systematized. It is considered the main value of people who strive for spiritual perfection. The most important prophecies were made by the prophet Isaiah about the Messiah. He predicted the coming of Christ, and everything was described in great detail. The soothsayer foretold the birth of Jesus and his suffering for the sins of mankind. He made other prophecies, here are some of them:
- He described the vision of the New Jerusalem, which symbolizes the Kingdom of God.
- He condemned the Jews for their lawlessness and predicted that some of them would be rejected by the Lord and that the believing pagan peoples of Egypt and Assyria would come in their place.
- The prophet Isaiah spoke about Syria, and he predicted that the third world war would begin there. He wrote that only ruins would remain of Damascus.
God spoke through Isaiah not only to the ancient Jews, but also to us
When Isaiah denounced the kings and the people, his words were addressed throughout the centuries, because passions and sins remain the same throughout the centuries. Just as in those ancient times, the words spoken by God through the prophet are true for our time.
“And when you stretch out your hands, I will hide My eyes from you; and when you multiply your prayers, I do not hear: your hands are full of blood. Wash yourself, make yourself clean; remove your evil deeds from before my eyes; stop doing evil; learn to do good, seek truth, save the oppressed, defend the orphan, stand up for the widow. Then come and let us reason together, says the Lord. Though your sins be as scarlet, they will be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, they will be white as wool.”
(Isaiah 1:15-18)
Other messianic predictions
At the end of the article, we note that Isaiah’s prophecies about the Savior are far from the only prediction of the appearance of the Son of God in the world contained on the pages of Holy Scripture. The same good news can be found in a number of Old Testament texts; you just need to carefully study the Pentateuch of Moses, the parables of King Solomon, as well as the Book of Psalms. Leading Christian theologians claim that, directly or indirectly, they contain information about events that took place during the time of Jesus Christ and are reflected in the texts of the four canonical Gospels.
However, in none of them is the picture of the future reproduced as vividly and convincingly as in the book compiled from the speeches of the Jewish prophet Isaiah. It is for this reason that he is given a special place among all the chosen ones of God, overshadowed by the grace of the Holy Spirit and privileged to see what is hidden from other people in the thickness of the coming centuries.
The beginning of Isaiah's prophetic ministry occurred at the time of the Jews' apostasy from God
During the reign of King Ahaz, the house of God fell into desolation. Outside the gates of Jerusalem in the Valley of Hinnom, an idol of Moloch was placed, to which they sacrificed their babies, and the king himself set an example in this lawlessness, “leading” his son through the fire, that is, sacrificing him.
The worship of the goddess of fertility, which was associated with all moral impurity, flourished; people no longer turned to God for advice, but went to fortune-tellers and questioners of the dead.
The Jews who had abandoned God went to astrologers for advice and sacrificed their children to Molech.
The law was perverted so that the weak could no longer find protection in court. The prophet Isaiah courageously rebuked the wicked:
“Woe to those who make unjust laws and write cruel judgments to exclude the poor from justice and to steal the rights of the weak of My people, to make widows their prey and rob the orphans.”
(Isaiah 10:1,2)
When, after the death of Ahaz, his son Hezekiah became king, the worship of the one true God was restored. Through the prayers of the prophet Isaiah, Jerusalem was saved from destruction by the Assyrians in the 8th century. BC.
An angel sent by God destroyed more than 180 thousand Assyrian soldiers. Photo: epizodsspace.airbase.ru
Around 713 BC Assyrian troops besieged Jerusalem. There seemed to be no escape. King Hezekiah came to the temple and prayed to God. He sent his servants to the prophet Isaiah to ask the Lord.
“And Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, Thus says the Lord God of Israel: What you prayed to Me against Sennacherib king of Assyria, I have heard. ... Therefore, this is what the Lord says about the king of Assyria: “He will not enter this city, neither will he throw an arrow there, nor will he approach it with a shield, nor will he build a rampart against it.”
(Isaiah 19:20, 32)
This is what happened according to the word of the prophet. In the evening, an army of two hundred thousand stood under the walls of Jerusalem. In the morning almost all of them were dead.
185 000;Assyrian soldiers died in one night under the walls of Jerusalem
“And it happened that night: the angel of the Lord went and smote one hundred and eighty-five thousand in the camp of Assyria. And they got up in the morning, and behold, all the bodies were dead.”
(Isaiah 19:35)
The book of Isaiah describes life in the “world to come,” or the Kingdom of God
The Prophet Isaiah happened to live in a very difficult time, a time of retreat from the Creator. He tirelessly and fearlessly denounced not only ordinary people, but even kings. And, despite all the difficulties, he did not despair, because he trusted God.
It was to him that God revealed a wonderful prophecy that consoles believers to this day:
“For behold, I am creating a new heaven and a new earth, and the former will no longer be remembered and come to the heart. …And it shall come to pass, before they call, that I will answer; They will still speak, and I will already hear. The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, and dust will be food for the serpent; they will not cause harm or harm in all My holy mountain, says the Lord.”
(Isaiah 65:17, 24,25)
