events to which humanity may look forward

 The Book of Isaiah-Blueprint of Our Time

by Avraham Gileadi Ph.D.

What sets the Book of Isaiah apart from all other prophetic writings is its all-inclusiveness in depicting an end-time scenario. More complete in its portrayal of that time than even apocalyptic writings such as Daniel and Revelation, it spells out a great confluence of events to which humanity may look forward. Using Israel's ancient history as an allegory of the end of the world, it predicts the future by drawing on events of the past. Only a prophet-poet with extraordinary literary skills could have predicted "the end" based on the world's beginnings (Isaiah 46:10). Only a visionary who saw both time periods could have crafted such a prophetic masterpiece.

While the Book of Isaiah's apocalyptic message accords with Jewish tradition, and while literary structures provide proof of its twofold applicability-Isaiah's day and the end of the world-it still requires a leap of faith to believe that this is indeed a handbook for our time. For one thing, it may mean discarding much or all of what we have been taught. Isaiah foresees this confusion when he speaks of the deaf "hearing" and the blind "seeing" the words of his book. Only then will "they who erred in spirit gain understanding and they who murmured accept instruction" (Isaiah 29:18, 24). Fortunately, not all of God's people fall in that category (Isaiah 66:2, 5).