Peter and Paul both predict that the “Day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night” (1 Thessalonians 5:2; 2 Peter 3:10), referring to Jesus’ prediction that the events surrounding his second coming would resemble a thief breaking and entering a house when its owner wasn’t watching (Matthew 24:43). According to the Hebrew prophets, the “Day of the Lord” or “Day of Jehovah” is a worldwide judgment that precedes Jehovah’s coming to reign on the earth (Isaiah 2:12; 13:6, 9; Jeremiah 46:10; Ezekiel 13:5; 30:3; Joel 1:15; 2:31; Amos 5:18). It isn’t Jehovah/Jesus who comes as a thief in the night, therefore, but rather the events associated with his coming.
On the other hand, there is an actual thief who precedes Jehovah’s coming: the end-time “king of Assyria.” As a world conqueror, he robs the world of its wealth, boasting, “I have done it by my own ability and shrewdness, for I am ingenious. I have done away with the borders of nations, I have ravaged their reserves, I have vastly reduced the inhabitants. I have impounded the wealth of peoples like a nest, and I have gathered up the whole world as one gathers abandoned eggs; not one flapped its wings, or opened its mouth to utter a peep” (Isaiah 10:13–14). In the end, however, this archtyrant leaves none of his booty behind (Isaiah 10:12, 15–18, 24–27).
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“My People Are Taken Over without Price!”
Can people disregard the relevance of Isaiah’s prophecy to our day yet suffer no consequences? Can they prepare to deal with the real hardships that lie ahead but with no foreknowledge of them? “Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t know,” a wise man once said. Isaiah’s use of people and events of the past as types of those that will exist in the future helps us to understand his message. God’s people of Isaiah’s day, for example, form a type of those who claim to be God’s people in the end-time. Applying to ourselves the things Isaiah says, therefore, even the unpleasant ones, will give us so much the advantage when end-time events begin to unfold.
A big part of Isaiah’s prophecy deals with the “Day of Jehovah”—God’s Day of Judgment upon a wicked world. Characterizing that phase of human history is God’s people’s subjection to bondage: “‘My people are taken over without price. Those who govern them act presumptuously,’ says Jehovah ‘and my name is constantly abused all the day’” (Isaiah 52:5). Economic distress—a covenant curse—gives his people’s leaders a chance to subjugate them. Isaiah compares the severity of that subjugation to Israel’s bondage in Egypt and servitude to Assyria (Isaiah 52:4). Things will get that bad, in other words, before Jehovah comes to reign (Isaiah 52:8–10).
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A big part of Isaiah’s prophecy deals with the “Day of Jehovah”—God’s Day of Judgment upon a wicked world. Characterizing that phase of human history is God’s people’s subjection to bondage: “‘My people are taken over without price. Those who govern them act presumptuously,’ says Jehovah ‘and my name is constantly abused all the day’” (Isaiah 52:5). Economic distress—a covenant curse—gives his people’s leaders a chance to subjugate them. Isaiah compares the severity of that subjugation to Israel’s bondage in Egypt and servitude to Assyria (Isaiah 52:4). Things will get that bad, in other words, before Jehovah comes to reign (Isaiah 52:8–10).
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Precious, Semi-Precious, and Common Stones
Stones and metals add to Isaiah’s metaphors that designate people. Even God is called “the Rock of Israel,” “the Rock, your fortress,” “an everlasting Rock” (Isaiah 17:10; 26:4; 30:29). To the reprobates of his people, however, he is “a stumbling stone or an obstructing rock” (Isaiah 8:14). When the people of Ephraim and their leaders scoff and deceive themselves and God’s judgments are about to come upon them, God “lays in Zion a stone, a keystone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation” (Isaiah 28:16). Before Jehovah comes on earth to reign, his watchmen must prepare the way: they must “pave a highway cleared of stones” (Isaiah 62:10–11).
Isaiah uses such imagery to categorize people. Common stones and metals identify people on a low spiritual level, semi-precious on a higher level, and precious on a high level. When God destroys the wicked, for example, he “will make mankind scarcer than fine gold, men more rare than gold of Ophir” (Isaiah 13:12). Zion’s children who return from dispersion in an exodus at that time belong in the precious category: “You will adorn yourself with them all as with jewels, bind them on you as does a bride” (Isaiah 49:18). In the millennial age, only precious and semi-precious varieties—“gold,” “silver,” “copper,” and “iron”—will remain (Isaiah 60:17).
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Isaiah uses such imagery to categorize people. Common stones and metals identify people on a low spiritual level, semi-precious on a higher level, and precious on a high level. When God destroys the wicked, for example, he “will make mankind scarcer than fine gold, men more rare than gold of Ophir” (Isaiah 13:12). Zion’s children who return from dispersion in an exodus at that time belong in the precious category: “You will adorn yourself with them all as with jewels, bind them on you as does a bride” (Isaiah 49:18). In the millennial age, only precious and semi-precious varieties—“gold,” “silver,” “copper,” and “iron”—will remain (Isaiah 60:17).
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“Forests” and “Trees” Are Cities and People
Just as “mountains” and “hills” may mean “nations” or “kingdoms” in the Book of Isaiah, so “forests” and “trees” may mean “cities” and “people.” A literal and metaphorical meaning may apply. Isaiah thus reveals more than meets the eye. He establishes such dual meanings by using synonymous parallel statements, as in Isaiah 32:19: “By a hail shall forests be felled, cities utterly leveled.” Or by simile, as in Isaiah 7:2: “The king’s mind and the minds of his people were shaken, as trees in a forest are shaken by a gale.” “Rivers,” too, may refer to rivers of people, as in Isaiah 18:2: “A people continually infringing, whose rivers have annexed their lands.”
Note how the king of Assyria recounts his world conquest: “Because of my vast chariotry I have conquered the highest mountains, the farthest reaches of Lebanon. I have felled its tallest cedars, its choicest cypresses. I have reached its loftiest summit, its finest forest. I have dug wells and drunk of foreign waters. With the soles of my feet I have dried up all Egypt’s rivers!” (Isaiah 37:24–25). When the tyrant passes away, “the pine trees rejoice over you, as do the cedars of Lebanon: ‘Since you have been laid low, no hewer has risen against us!’” (Isaiah 14:8). Those who rebuild are “called oaks of righteousness, planted by Jehovah for his glory” (Isaiah 61:3–4).
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Note how the king of Assyria recounts his world conquest: “Because of my vast chariotry I have conquered the highest mountains, the farthest reaches of Lebanon. I have felled its tallest cedars, its choicest cypresses. I have reached its loftiest summit, its finest forest. I have dug wells and drunk of foreign waters. With the soles of my feet I have dried up all Egypt’s rivers!” (Isaiah 37:24–25). When the tyrant passes away, “the pine trees rejoice over you, as do the cedars of Lebanon: ‘Since you have been laid low, no hewer has risen against us!’” (Isaiah 14:8). Those who rebuild are “called oaks of righteousness, planted by Jehovah for his glory” (Isaiah 61:3–4).
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Isaiah’s Apocalyptic Vision of the End-Time
By characterizing his book as a single “vision” (Isaiah 1:1) and claiming to “foretell the end from the beginning” (Isaiah 46:10), Isaiah is evidently giving his own interpretive guidelines that he expects readers to follow. If they don’t, very likely they won’t understand his message. Indeed, synchronous holistic literary structures in the Book of Isaiah, such as Isaiah’s Seven-Part Structure, require readers to view his book synchronously or as depicting a single scenario. Although grounded in historical events that occurred in Isaiah’s day and shortly thereafter, such events, without taking away from their historical origins, additionally portend end-time events.
But how did Isaiah come to have such an amazing apocalyptic vision? And how was he able to use historical events so selectively that they foreshadow such an end-time scenario? One answer may be that he lived in a portentous time of history, when many world events paralleled events that would occur in the end-time. Another may be that after serving forty years as a prophet from the time Jehovah appointed him (Isaiah 6) he had an apocalyptic vision in which he saw to the end of time (Isaiah 40). Assigned a new role, one similar to the seraphs who had ministered to him, Isaiah wrote new prophecies and reworked former ones into a single end-time “vision.”
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But how did Isaiah come to have such an amazing apocalyptic vision? And how was he able to use historical events so selectively that they foreshadow such an end-time scenario? One answer may be that he lived in a portentous time of history, when many world events paralleled events that would occur in the end-time. Another may be that after serving forty years as a prophet from the time Jehovah appointed him (Isaiah 6) he had an apocalyptic vision in which he saw to the end of time (Isaiah 40). Assigned a new role, one similar to the seraphs who had ministered to him, Isaiah wrote new prophecies and reworked former ones into a single end-time “vision.”
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King Ahaz’ Response to Assyria’s Hegemony
Neo-Assyrian expansion in the ancient Near East commences its most aggressive phase under Tiglath-Pileser III (747–727 B.C.). His incursions into Syria and Palestine put on edge local kings such as Ahaz who ruled Judah. Syria’s King Rezin and the Northern Kingdom of Israel’s King Pekah seek to bring Judah into an alliance against Assyria’s domination of the Levant. Ahaz’ refusal leads to these kings’ military incursion into Judea and their slaughter of Ahaz’ people (2 Kings 16:5; 2 Chronicles 28:5–7). Isaiah notes Ahaz’ fear: “The king’s mind and the minds of his people were shaken, as trees in a forest are shaken by a gale” (Isaiah 7:2).
Instead of joining the northern kings’ alliance against Assyria, Ahaz appeals to Tiglath-Pileser to come and deliver him from them. By calling himself Tiglath-Pileser’s “servant and son,” paying him tribute moneys with the temple’s gold and silver, he makes himself his vassal (2 Kings 16:7–8). Isaiah’s version of these events in the second part of his Seven-Part Structure (Isaiah 6–8; 36–40) is limited to structurally contrasting Ahaz’ disloyal response to Israel’s God under the terms of the Davidic Covenant with King Hezekiah’s loyal response at a similar incidence of Assyrian aggression a generation later. To Isaiah, history serves a typological purpose.
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Instead of joining the northern kings’ alliance against Assyria, Ahaz appeals to Tiglath-Pileser to come and deliver him from them. By calling himself Tiglath-Pileser’s “servant and son,” paying him tribute moneys with the temple’s gold and silver, he makes himself his vassal (2 Kings 16:7–8). Isaiah’s version of these events in the second part of his Seven-Part Structure (Isaiah 6–8; 36–40) is limited to structurally contrasting Ahaz’ disloyal response to Israel’s God under the terms of the Davidic Covenant with King Hezekiah’s loyal response at a similar incidence of Assyrian aggression a generation later. To Isaiah, history serves a typological purpose.
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The Harlot Babylon—Anti-Ideal for Women
In opposition to the Woman Zion in the Book of Isaiah appears the harlot Babylon. Besides representing a wicked world, she exemplifies the undesirable traits of womanhood and serves as a kind of anti-ideal or false model. Completely engrossed in herself, she manipulates those who inhabit her world, including the Woman Zion, to serve her selfish purpose: “I was provoked by my people, so I let my inheritance be defiled. I gave them into your hand, and you showed them no mercy; even the aged you weighed down heavily with your yoke. You thought, ‘I, the Eternal Mistress, exist forever!’ and did not consider these, or remember her final destiny” (Isaiah 47:6–7).
As her domination of her environment increases, she begins to rival God, so God punishes her: “Secure in your wickedness, you thought, ‘No one discerns me.’ By your skill and science you were led astray, thinking to yourself, ‘I exist, and there is none besides me!’ Catastrophe shall overtake you, which you shall not know how to avert by bribes; disaster shall befall you from which you cannot ransom yourself: there shall come upon you sudden ruin such as you have not imagined” (Isaiah 47:10–11). In Isaiah’s structural model of a Greater Babylon, those of God’s people who possess her dictatorial traits form an integral part of Babylon and thus suffer her fate.
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As her domination of her environment increases, she begins to rival God, so God punishes her: “Secure in your wickedness, you thought, ‘No one discerns me.’ By your skill and science you were led astray, thinking to yourself, ‘I exist, and there is none besides me!’ Catastrophe shall overtake you, which you shall not know how to avert by bribes; disaster shall befall you from which you cannot ransom yourself: there shall come upon you sudden ruin such as you have not imagined” (Isaiah 47:10–11). In Isaiah’s structural model of a Greater Babylon, those of God’s people who possess her dictatorial traits form an integral part of Babylon and thus suffer her fate.
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