Apocalyptic Commentary Introduction

Introduction to the Apocalyptic Commentary of the Book of Isaiah by Avraham Gileadi Ph.D. published by Hebraeus Press. Regularly $29.95; pre-publication discount price $22.95. Expect delivery, September, 2013.  Click here to order.

As you delve into the Apocalyptic Commentary of the Book of Isaiah, preconceived ideas you may have about Isaiah's prophecy may require a second look. Written in a cryptic code from a primordial age, the Book of Isaiah will most likely be different from anything you have studied before. To comprehend this enigmatic prophecy, moreover, will require you to devote as much time to it as if you were learning a new language. The understanding of all sacred texts that you will gain, on the other hand, will more than compensate you for your efforts.

To that end, a foremost principle you will need to apply when searching Isaiah's words for meaning is to diligently analyze what Isaiah says on a particular subject, not what others say he says. While Isaiah provides ample check and balances by which to verify any interpretation, he also warns against the teachings of the learned of the day who have perverted his words. The fact that many occupy the highest echelon of society may make disregarding their explications a challenge, particularly as you may already have internalized them as the truth.

Without seeing the need to apply the Jewish methodology of eliciting from a sacred text what God is telling his people-taking into account the many interconnections Isaiah has layered into his book such as literary structures, typologies, and words links-many who speak in God's name fall into the trap of using Isaiah's words as just a proof text for what they believe. Isaiah's prophecy far transcends such a self-serving and manipulative approach. Its spiritual riches can't reveal themselves except to those who draw near to its message with humility.

While the many layered literary structures that govern the Book of Isaiah entirely change the rules for interpreting it-transforming it from a historical prophecy to an apocalyptic or end-time prophecy-care needs to be taken in determining how what is historical prefigures the end-time. Without diminishing the significance what happened in Isaiah's day, for example, Isaiah's use of historical types and codenames requires that we match up the ancient nations and persons he mentions with their modern counterparts if we want to know who is who.

For the end-time look-alikes, however, former names lose their use. Ancient Assyria, for example-a militaristic world power from the North that conquered the ancient world-and its rival superpower, Egypt, don't compare with any nations in the Middle East today. When read as an end-time prophecy, the Book of Isaiah is about events that aren't confined to the Middle East. To match up the ancient nations and persons in his prophecy with their end-time counterparts, in fact, we must be guided by how Isaiah characterizes them, not by their names.

In cases where historical types of nations and persons don't adequately portray what takes place in the end-time, moreover, Isaiah develops composites of types or resorts to imagery from life or nature to round out the end-time scene. Having seen the end from the beginning, he thus manages to capture both the past and the future in a single prophecy. Still, not all that happened historically interests him, only what foreshadows the end-time. Isaiah's worldview is typological, not always logical. In his writings, the old is also new and the new is also old.

If Isaiah uses types from the past to prophesy the end-time, therefore, then which ancient nation do we suppose matches up with modern America? And what will happen to this nation in the end, especially as until now America has been such a major world player? Using Isaiah's key of matching up his characterization of a world superpower that resembles America, we find that ancient Egypt matches modern America almost precisely, allowing only for several major events to develop. Of course, Isaiah speaks also of the Jews and other tribes of Israel.

Although scriptural concepts that are familiar to us appear in the Book of Isaiah-such as God's destruction of the wicked and his deliverance of the righteous at the end of the world-we shouldn't simply take for granted what these mean. Isaiah tells us precisely what he means in the context of his end-time scenario. His literary structures that stretch from one end of his book to the other, for example, systematically develop a Hebrew gospel that not only preempts the New Testament gospel of Jesus but sustains and elucidates it as an ancient theology.

Here too we must set aside sectarian ideas-that if our religion doesn't teach something, or if we haven't heard it before, then it can't be true. Going back to Isaiah, the idea of ascending spiritual levels that he develops, which are grounded in the terms of covenants God makes with his people and with individuals, completely modifies creed-bound concepts of heaven and hell that stem from misinterpretations of the scriptures. If some things you read thus seem controversial, wasn't God's word always so? If not, why did God's people kill the prophets?

As typified by the many layered literary structures and patterns on which Isaiah builds his prophecy-each of which carries its own message over and above what we read on the surface-the Book of Isaiah contains many layers of divine truth that don't reveal themselves all at once. His linear structure of Trouble at Home, Exile Abroad, and Happy Homecoming, for example, is layered over that of Apostasy, Judgment, Restoration, and Salvation, which overlays Three Tests of Loyalty and others, including Isaiah's synchronous Seven-Part Structure.

Although this book barely touches on these underpinnings of the Book of Isaiah, the fact that they deeply impact Isaiah's prophetic message demands respect for his words, showing that there is far more to his writings than meets the eye. Isaiah's covenant theology of proxy salvation that functions on higher and lower spiritual levels on which people operate similarly permeates his writings. Differences between spiritual and temporal salvation, including God's protection in an end-time setting, make perceiving Isaiah's message an inviting prospect.

As the inner workings of the Book of Isaiah disclose their secrets, therefore, you may be tempted to feel offended at your religion for not correctly informing you. Or for not telling you that, according to the prophet Isaiah, your end-time religion has become degraded and that its adherents are the very catalyst of God's judgments coming upon the world. Consider, however, that a loving God foresaw these things and that in his divine wisdom he made provision for that eventuality by giving us the Book of Isaiah and also keys for understanding it.

To participate in events ushering in a glorious age of peace could under no circumstances come cheaply. Those who are willing to pay the price of learning Isaiah's message will thus have so much more the advantage over those who attempt to glean such knowledge from superficial sources. As God operates solely within the covenant relationships he establishes with his people and with individuals, their knowledge of those covenants, which Isaiah teaches, empowers them to align their lives with God through the end-time events that Isaiah predicts.

Even so, the Apocalyptic Commentary of the Book of Isaiah provides but basic insights into Isaiah's prophecy that introduce the novice to his awe-inspiring vision. Those who wish to deeply investigate Isaiah's message or acquaint themselves with the research that supports this commentary I refer to my book The Literary Message of Isaiah and its synopsis Isaiah Decoded. Although God grants his elect remarkable visions, I know of no one besides Isaiah who captures the entire end-time scene and interweaves it with the "good news" of Messiah.