📖 Biblical Definition
Isaiah is the prince of the prophets, ministering during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah in Judah. His book is often called "the fifth Gospel" because of its unparalleled Christological content. Isaiah saw the LORD high and lifted up in the Temple (Isaiah 6), received the commission to preach to a people who would hear but not understand, and delivered prophecies that span from the virgin birth (Isaiah 7:14) to the Suffering Servant (Isaiah 53) to the new heavens and new earth (Isaiah 65-66). Isaiah 53 is the most detailed prophecy of the crucifixion in the Old Testament — written seven centuries before Christ: "He was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities." Isaiah's message encompasses both judgment and salvation, wrath and comfort, the holiness of God and the grace of God. The Ethiopian eunuch was reading Isaiah 53 when Philip explained the gospel to him (Acts 8:32-35). Isaiah is quoted in the New Testament more than any other prophet.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
The greatest of the Hebrew prophets; his writings are remarkable for sublimity and Messianic prophecy.
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ISA'IAH, n. [Heb. ישעיהו, the salvation of Jehovah.] The son of Amoz, the foremost of the writing prophets, who prophesied in Judah for over sixty years. His prophecies contain the most extensive and detailed predictions of the Messiah found in the Old Testament, including His virgin birth, His ministry, His suffering, and His reign.
📖 Key Scripture
• Isaiah 6:3 — "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!"
• Isaiah 7:14 — "Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel."
• Isaiah 9:6 — "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given... Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."
• Isaiah 53:5 — "He was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace."
• Acts 8:32-35 — "Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Isaiah is fragmented by critical scholars into multiple authors to deny predictive prophecy.
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The most persistent attack on Isaiah is the "Deutero-Isaiah" theory — the claim that chapters 40-66 were written by a different author centuries after Isaiah because they contain prophecies too specific to have been predictive (naming Cyrus in 44:28, describing the Servant's suffering in detail). This theory is driven by an anti-supernatural presupposition: if predictive prophecy is impossible, then specific predictions must have been written after the fact. Jesus and the New Testament authors consistently attribute the entire book to one Isaiah. The Dead Sea Scrolls contain a complete Isaiah scroll with no division between the sections. The "two Isaiah" theory is not scholarship — it is unbelief dressed in academic clothing. If God cannot predict the future through His prophets, then He is not the God Isaiah describes: "I am God, and there is no other... declaring the end from the beginning" (Isaiah 46:9-10).
Usage
• "Isaiah 53 is the gospel written seven centuries before Bethlehem — the Suffering Servant who bears our sins, is crushed for our iniquities, and by whose wounds we are healed."
• "Isaiah saw what John saw — the glory of the triune God filling the Temple, the seraphim crying 'Holy, holy, holy' — and he was undone."
• "The Deutero-Isaiah theory exists for one reason: to deny that God can reveal the future. It is unbelief masquerading as scholarship."