I won't go into the background much, as that is covered well in the link I put up earlier. http://nabataea.net/isaiah.html . Good to help with a perspective of the historical setting.
Isaiah is rich with both prophecies of judgement and warning and exhorting the people to come back to God. Yet when Isaiah was called we see clearly that much of what he was saying would not be understood by the people - God conceals the truth from people who reject Him, because they reject Him and do not wish to receive it. A bit like Proverbs with the pearls before swine, the thought repeated in Matthew 7 - the full truth of the mysteries of God is holy and should be respected, not opened to abuse to those who reject God out of hand. To those who receive the truth, to them is revealed more truth, and understanding by His Spirit.
There are a number of pictures in Isaiah, an I have been thinking about a few.
Israel is seen as a vineyard - a vine in the care of the Lord, Who protects it and cares for it. We also see Him removing those protections when the vine is unfruitful - not living in obedience to His Word, nor being a witness and blessing to the nations but rather copying the evil around them. Yet God became one with us, raising up a Branch, Who is truly righteous and both taught and lived out perfectly a life without sin. When He comes again, He will rule and bring true peace to all. It is a nice picture of Christ, to see Him as first the vinedresser, and then willingly becoming part of the vine of Israel - the only truly good branch that bore good fruit. The picture provides a good background for Christ talking about Himself as the true vine in John 15.
There are a series of oracles, especially against the foreign nations around Israel. What struck me was the sadness that accompanied each one, and the detailed nature of the desolation that comes upon them. Often the devastation is linked with their rejection of God or reliance on idols or themselves. Laying two verses beside each other, I saw a link between the reliance on rocks - written in amongst oracles to Damascus and Jerusalem, each speaks to Israel following a similar theme:
Isaiah 22:16 What hast thou here? and whom hast thou here, that thou hast hewed thee out a sepulchre here, as he that heweth him out a sepulchre on high, and that graveth an habitation for himself in a rock?
Isaiah 17:10 Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, and hast not been mindful of the rock of thy strength, therefore shalt thou plant pleasant plants, and shalt set it with strange slips:
Israel (and Judah) relied on their own strength, making their own rock, but would not rely upon the Rock that does not fail.Finally, I want to consider the picture of the Potter and His clay: We see God's right to create us with such a design as He desires, and for whatever purpose He desires - Rejecting Him and trying to go our own way may result in the pot being smashed as worthless for anything - but if we trust ourselves to His care He will mould us and form us in accordance with His purposes that we might be useful.
(Isaiah 29:16) Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter's clay: for shall the work say of him that made it, He made me not? or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it, He had no understanding?
(Isaiah 30:14) And he shall break it as the breaking of the potters' vessel that is broken in pieces; he shall not spare: so that there shall not be found in the bursting of it a shard to take fire from the hearth, or to take water withal out of the pit.
There are so many connections and references to the New Testament, and I didn't catch them all as I went through, but did certainly appreciate the ones I did notice, for instance the 'stone the builders rejected' in Ch 28 - the reference in 1 Peter to Isaiah 8 (doing a Bible study on 1 Peter at the moment at church) - The reference of our Lord to Isaiah 29:13 about the difference between lip and heart worship. All beautiful to meditate upon!
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