📖 Utangulizi wa Agano la Kale — Sehemu ya 9: Manabii Wakubwa – Kifungu cha 1 (Isaya)📖 Old Testament Survey — Unit 9: The Major Prophets – Part 1 (Isaiah)

Biblia kwa UfupiThe Bible in Miniature

Isaya ni Biblia kwa ufupi. Angalia hesabu: Biblia ina vitabu 66; Isaya ina sura 66. Agano la Kale lina vitabu 39; sura 39 za kwanza za Isaya ni sehemu ya onyo, iliyojaa hukumu. Agano Jipya lina vitabu 27; sura 27 za mwisho za Isaya ni sehemu ya faraja — inayoanza na sauti ya mtu aliaye nyikani na kumalizika na mbingu mpya na nchi mpya. Biblia nzima imekunjwa ndani ya nabii mmoja, na ndiyo sababu Isaya wakati mwingine huitwa injili kwa mujibu wa Isaya. Waandishi wa Agano Jipya wanamnukuu zaidi kuliko nabii mwingine yeyote. Augustino alisema angeweza kumpata Kristo zaidi katika Isaya kuliko katika baadhi ya Injili.Isaiah is the Bible in miniature. Look at the math: the Bible has 66 books; Isaiah has 66 chapters. The Old Testament has 39 books; Isaiah's first 39 chapters are the warning section, full of judgment. The New Testament has 27 books; Isaiah's last 27 chapters are the comfort section — opening with a voice crying in the wilderness and closing with new heavens and a new earth. The whole Bible is folded inside one prophet, and that is why Isaiah is sometimes called the gospel according to Isaiah. The New Testament writers quote him more than any other prophet. Augustine said he could find more of Christ in Isaiah than in some of the Gospels.

Jina lake la Kiebrania ni Yesha'yahu, nalo lina maana ya BWANA huokoa. Mzizi uleule wa Kiebrania unatupa jina Yeshua — Yesu. Mwandishi na Mhusika wake wana jina moja. Isaya aliona kuja kwa kwanza kwa Kristo kulikokuwa karibu, na Kuja kwake kwa Pili kulikokuwa mbali. Kwa jumla, alimwona Kristo.His Hebrew name is Yesha'yahu, and it means The Lord saves. The same Hebrew root gives us Yeshua — Jesus. The author and the Subject have one name. Isaiah saw both Christ's near first coming and his faraway Second Coming. In all, he saw Christ.

Isaya alihubiri kwa takriban miaka hamsini, kuanzia takriban 740 hadi 687 K.K., katika enzi za wafalme wanne wa Yuda — Uzia, Yothamu, Ahazi na Hezekia — naye aliishi wakati mmoja na Amosi, Hosea na Mika. Mapokeo ya Kiyahudi yanasema aliuawa kama shahidi chini ya Manase: alipokuwa amejificha ndani ya mti wenye uvungu, alikatwa vipande viwili askari walipoukata mti huo. Mwandishi wa Waebrania huenda anamfikiria anapoandika kuhusu mashujaa wa imani ambao "walikatwa kwa msumeno" (Waebrania 11:37). Manabii wengine hulipa gharama kwa machozi. Wengine hulipa kwa damu. Isaya alilipa kwa vyote viwili.Isaiah preached for about fifty years, from around 740 to 687 BC, through the reigns of four kings of Judah — Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah — and was a contemporary of Amos, Hosea, and Micah. Jewish tradition says he was martyred under Manasseh: hiding in a hollow tree, he was sawn in two when soldiers cut the tree down. The author of Hebrews probably has him in mind when he writes of the heroes of faith who were "sawn in two" (Hebrews 11:37). Some prophets pay in tears. Some pay in blood. Isaiah paid in both.

Mahubiri ya Isaya yanakunjika katika hoja tatu — hoja zilezile tatu ambazo profesa wako amezitumia kuhubiri kitabu hiki kwa miaka arobaini: Wito wa Nabii (Isaya 6), Onyo la Nabii (Isaya 7 na nusu ya kwanza), na Maono ya Nabii (Isaya 40 na kuendelea, na sura ya 53 ikiwa kiini chake). Mahubiri matatu. Milango mitatu ya kuingia katika nyumba moja. Pita ndani yake pamoja nami.Isaiah's preaching folds into three points — the same three points your professor has used to preach this book for forty years: the Prophet's Call (Isaiah 6), the Prophet's Warning (Isaiah 7 and the first half), and the Prophet's Vision (Isaiah 40 and following, with chapter 53 at the heart). Three sermons. Three doors into one house. Walk through them with me.

I. Wito wa Nabii (Isaya 6)I. The Prophet's Call (Isaiah 6)

"Katika mwaka ule aliokufa mfalme Uzia, nalimwona Bwana ameketi katika kiti cha enzi, kilichoinuka sana, na pindo za vazi lake zikalijaza hekalu" (Isaya 6:1). Kariri kifungu hicho cha mwanzo. Uzia alikuwa ametawala miaka hamsini na miwili. Kizazi kizima hakikumjua mfalme mwingine. Alikufa kwa aibu, akiwa mwenye ukoma, amepigwa kwa kujaribu kufanya kazi ya kuhani madhabahuni. Kiti cha enzi cha duniani kilikuwa tupu. Isaya aliingia hekaluni akitarajia giza la msiba — na akalikuta limejaa uwepo wa Mungu."In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple" (Isaiah 6:1). Memorize that opening clause. Uzziah had reigned fifty-two years. A whole generation knew no other king. He died in disgrace, a leper, struck down for trying to play priest at the altar. The earthly throne was empty. Isaiah walked into the temple expecting funeral darkness — and found it crowded with God.

Maserafi wanalia juu ya kiti cha enzi mstari pekee katika Maandiko unaoinua sifa moja ya Mungu hadi kiwango cha tatu: "Mtakatifu, mtakatifu, mtakatifu, ni BWANA wa majeshi; dunia yote imejaa utukufu wake!" (Isaya 6:3). Kiebrania hakina viwango vya juu kabisa vya sifa (superlatives) kama ilivyo Kiingereza; unachukua neno na kulisema mara tatu. Si upendo, upendo, upendo. Si mwenye rehema, mwenye rehema, mwenye rehema. Mtakatifu. Mtakatifu. Mtakatifu. Isaya akishasikia hilo, jina lake analolipenda zaidi kwa ajili ya Mungu linawekwa kwa maisha yake yote. Katika sura zote sitini na sita atamwita Mungu Mtakatifu wa Israeli — mara ishirini na sita katika Isaya, na mara sita tu katika sehemu yote iliyobaki ya Agano la Kale. Ukishasimama katika chumba cha kiti cha enzi, huwezi kuacha kutumia jina la chumba cha kiti cha enzi.The seraphim cry over the throne the only line in Scripture that ever raises an attribute of God to the third power: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!" (Isaiah 6:3). Hebrew has no superlatives the way English does; you take a word and you say it three times. Not love, love, love. Not merciful, merciful, merciful. Holy. Holy. Holy. Once Isaiah has heard that, his favorite name for God is set for life. Through sixty-six chapters he will call God the Holy One of Israel — twenty-six times in Isaiah, only six times in the whole rest of the Old Testament. Once you have stood in the throne room, you cannot stop using the throne-room name.

Isaya ni nabii wa kwanza kutumia lugha ya hukumu kwa nafsi yake mwenyewe kabla ya kuitumia kwa mtu mwingine yeyote: "Ole wangu! Kwa maana nimepotea; kwa sababu mimi ni mtu mwenye midomo michafu" (Isaya 6:5). Angalia mpangilio. Maono ya utakatifu, kutambua hali ya dhambi, kisha upatanisho: serafi anaruka na kaa la moto kutoka madhabahuni na kuigusa midomo ya Isaya — "uovu wako umeondolewa, na dhambi yako imesafishwa" (Isaya 6:7). Na hapo tu ndipo: "Nimtume nani, naye ni nani atakayekwenda kwa ajili yetu? Ndipo niliposema, Mimi hapa, nitume mimi" (Isaya 6:8). Kila huduma kuu huanza kwa mpangilio huo. Utakatifu, kuvunjika moyo, upatanisho, wito. Kama huduma yako inaonekana kuwa dhaifu na rahisi kuvunjika, na bidii yako inaonekana ya kutengenezwa, huenda uliruka chumba cha kiti cha enzi. Rudi. Tazama juu.Isaiah is the first prophet to apply the language of judgment to himself before applying it to anyone else: "Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips" (Isaiah 6:5). Note the order. Vision of holiness, recognition of sinfulness, then atonement: a seraph flies with a coal from the altar and touches Isaiah's lips — "your iniquity is taken away, and your sin purged" (Isaiah 6:7). And only then: "Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us? Then I said, 'Here am I! Send me'" (Isaiah 6:8). Every great ministry begins in that order. Holiness, brokenness, atonement, calling. If your service feels brittle and your zeal feels manufactured, you may have skipped the throne room. Go back. Look up.

II. Onyo la Nabii (Isaya 7 na Nusu ya Kwanza)II. The Prophet's Warning (Isaiah 7 and the First Half)

Mialiko Miwili ya PembeniThe Two Bookend Invitations

Kabla Isaya hajatamka hata ujumbe mmoja wa hukumu, anakifungua kitabu kwa mmojawapo wa mialiko ya injili yenye ukarimu mkubwa kuliko yote katika Maandiko — na mstari ambao, karibu sura arobaini baadaye, utaupa Uzi Mwekundu jina lake hasa: "Njoni basi, tusemezane, asema BWANA; dhambi zenu zijapokuwa nyekundu sana, zitakuwa nyeupe kama theluji; zijapokuwa nyekundu kama bendera, zitakuwa kama sufu" (Isaya 1:18). Angalia rangi. Uzi Mwekundu uleule ambao umekuwa ukipita katika kila mnyama juu ya kila madhabahu tangu Edeni hadi hekalu la Sulemani sasa unakuwa rangi ya dhambi yenyewe. Dhambi nyekundu sana. Madoa mekundu kama damu. Kitabu kizima cha Isaya kitakuwa hadithi ya jinsi Mungu anavyogeuza rangi hizo nyekundu kuwa nyeupe. Jinsi anavyofanya hivyo ndiyo hoja ndefu ya unabii wote, na jibu liko katika sura ya 53. Usome sasa na usiusahau; baada ya muda mfupi, tutakapofika kwenye Wimbo wa nne wa Mtumishi, utaona kwa nini Isaya alisema nyekundu sana.Before Isaiah ever utters a single oracle of judgment, he opens the book with one of the most generous gospel invitations in all of Scripture — and the verse that will, almost forty chapters later, give the Scarlet Thread its very name: "Come now, and let us reason together, says the Lord: Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool" (Isaiah 1:18). Notice the colors. The same scarlet thread that has been running through every animal on every altar from Eden to Solomon's temple now becomes the very color of sin itself. Scarlet sins. Crimson stains. Isaiah's whole book is going to be the story of how God turns those reds white. The way He does it is the long argument of the whole prophecy, and the answer is in chapter 53. Read it now and don't forget it; in a moment, when we reach the fourth Servant Song, you will see why Isaiah said scarlet.

Mwaliko unaolingana nao katika upande mwingine wa sehemu ya onyo ni mpana vilevile: "Haya, kila mwenye kiu, njoni majini, naye asiye na fedha; njoni, nunueni, mle; naam, njoni, nunueni divai na maziwa bila fedha na bila thamani" (Isaya 55:1). Hiyo ndiyo mipaka ya injili ya pande mbili katika Isaya. Njoni basi, tusemezane kinafungua kitabu; Haya, kila mwenye kiu, njoni kinafungua nusu ya pili. Kati ya mialiko hiyo miwili kuna hadithi nzima ya jinsi Mungu anavyoifanya nafsi iliyo nyekundu kwa dhambi kuwa nyeupe. Gharama inalipwa katika sura ya 53. Mwaliko uko wazi katika sura ya 1 na sura ya 55. Njoni ni kitenzi anachokipenda Isaya kuliko vyote.The matching invitation at the other end of the warning section is just as wide: "Ho, every one who thirsts, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price" (Isaiah 55:1). Those are the gospel bookends of Isaiah. Come now, let us reason opens the book; Come, every one who thirsts opens the second half. Between the two invitations sits the whole story of how God makes a scarlet soul white. The price is paid in chapter 53. The invitation is open in chapter 1 and chapter 55. Come is Isaiah's favorite verb.

Ahazi na ImanueliAhaz and Immanuel

Sehemu ya onyo inamkabili mfalme asiye na imani na kumpa ishara ya uaminifu. Ahazi wa Yuda yuko taabuni. Wafalme wawili adui wamefanya muungano dhidi yake, na badala ya kumtumaini Mungu anatafuta msaada kwa Misri na kwa Ashuru. Isaya anamkabili kwa ufafanuzi mkuu wa imani katika Agano la Kale: "Kama hamtaamini, hakika hamtathibitika" (Isaya 7:9). Kiebrania kilicho chini yake ni mchezo wa maneno unaokaribia kuonjeka — im lo' ta'aminu, lo' te'amenu. Mzizi uleule wa kitenzi, mara mbili. Usipomwambia Mungu "Amina," hutafanywa "Amina" (imara). Imani si chaguo moja kati ya mengi; imani ndiyo udongo pekee ambamo maisha ya mwanadamu yeyote yanaweza kupandwa na kutia mizizi.The warning section confronts a faithless king and offers him a faithful sign. Ahaz of Judah is in trouble. Two enemy kings have formed an alliance against him, and instead of trusting God he is reaching for help to Egypt and to Assyria. Isaiah confronts him with the great Old Testament definition of faith: "If you will not believe, surely you shall not be established" (Isaiah 7:9). The Hebrew underneath is a wordplay you can almost taste — im lo' ta'aminu, lo' te'amenu. Same verb root, twice. If you do not Amen, you will not be Amen-ed. Faith is not one option among many; faith is the only soil any human life can be rooted in.

Basi Isaya anamtolea Ahazi ishara yoyote — iwe ya chini sana kama kuzimu au ya juu sana kama mbinguni. Ahazi, kwa uchaji wa kujifanya, anakataa: "Sitamjaribu BWANA." Lakini Ahazi alikuwa tayari ameamua kutomtumaini. Hakutaka ishara kwa sababu ishara ingemlazimisha kufanya uamuzi. Kwa hiyo Mungu anatoa ishara hata hivyo, ishara maarufu kuliko zote zilizowahi kutolewa: "Kwa hiyo Bwana mwenyewe atawapa ishara; Tazama, bikira atachukua mimba, atazaa mtoto mwanamume, naye atamwita jina lake Imanueli" (Isaya 7:14). Neno la Kiebrania la "bikira" hapa, almah, kwa kawaida linamaanisha msichana aliyefikia umri wa kuolewa, na lenyewe peke yake halidai ubikira kwa namna ambayo neno mahususi zaidi la Kiebrania bethulah linavyodai; lakini wasomi wa Kiyahudi walipotafsiri Isaya kwa Kigiriki karne kadhaa kabla ya Kristo, walilitafsiri parthenos — neno la Kigiriki ambalo kweli lina maana ya bikira — na ni maandishi hayo ya Kigiriki ambayo Mathayo alikuwa akiyarejelea. Kwa kuelewa hivyo, unabii huu ulifanya kazi katika ngazi mbili — ishara ya karibu katika siku za Ahazi mwenyewe iliyomhusu mtoto aliyekuwa karibu kuzaliwa, na utimilifu wa mwisho miaka mia saba baadaye Mathayo alipounukuu mstari huu huu juu ya hori la kulia ng'ombe huko Bethlehemu (Mathayo 1:22–23). Imanueli — Mungu pamoja nasi.So Isaiah offers Ahaz any sign — as deep as Sheol or as high as heaven. Ahaz, with feigned piety, refuses: "I will not test the Lord." But Ahaz had already decided not to trust. He didn't want a sign because a sign would force a decision. So God gives one anyway, the most famous sign ever given: "Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel" (Isaiah 7:14). The Hebrew word for "virgin" here, almah, ordinarily denotes a young woman of marriageable age and does not by itself demand virginity the way the more specific Hebrew term bethulah does; but when Jewish scholars translated Isaiah into Greek centuries before Christ, they rendered it parthenos — the Greek word that does mean virgin — and it was that Greek text Matthew had in view. Understood this way, the prophecy worked at two levels — a near-term sign in Ahaz's own day involving a child soon to be born, and the ultimate fulfillment seven hundred years later when Matthew quoted this exact verse over a manger in Bethlehem (Matthew 1:22–23). Immanuel — God with us.

Spurgeon alimweleza Imanueli hivi: Mungu pamoja nasi katika asili yetu, katika huzuni yetu, katika kazi ya maisha yetu, katika adhabu yetu, katika kaburi letu — na sasa sisi pamoja naye katika ufufuo, kupaa, ushindi, na fahari ya Kuja kwake kwa Pili. Soma sentensi hiyo mara mbili. Isome usiku huu kabla hujalala.Spurgeon described Immanuel like this: God with us in our nature, in our sorrow, in our lifework, in our punishment, in our grave — and now we with Him in resurrection, ascension, triumph, and Second Advent splendor. Read that sentence twice. Read it tonight before you sleep.

Kabaila (Count) Zinzendorf, mwanzilishi wa Wamoravia, aliokoka katika jumba la sanaa huko Düsseldorf, akiwa amesimama mbele ya mchoro wa Kristo msalabani. Chini ya mchoro huo kulikuwa na maandishi: Nilifanya haya kwa ajili yako. Wewe umenifanyia nini? Takriban miaka mia moja kabla, mchoraji alikuwa ameshindwa mara mbili. Alikuwa amemwonyesha binti mdogo wa mwenye nyumba wake mchoro wake wa kwanza na kumwuliza alidhani ni nani. "Mtu mwema," alisema. Akauharibu mchoro huo. Akaomba na kujaribu tena. "Mtu anayeteseka sana," alisema. Akauharibu wa pili. Akaomba kwa bidii zaidi, akachora mara ya tatu, akamwita msichana tena. Aliutazama na kusema, "Ni Bwana!" Hilo peke yake ndilo linaloifanya Krismasi kuwa na maana — si kwamba mtu mwema alikuja, si kwamba mwalimu mwenye hekima alikuja, si kwamba mtu anayeteseka sana alikuja, bali kwamba Mungu alikuja. Imanueli.Count Zinzendorf, the founder of the Moravians, was converted in an art gallery in Düsseldorf, standing in front of a painting of Christ on the cross. Beneath the painting was an inscription: I did this for thee. What hast thou done for me? About a hundred years earlier the painter had failed twice. He had shown his first sketch to his landlady's little daughter and asked who she thought it was. "A good man," she said. He destroyed the sketch. He prayed and tried again. "A great sufferer," she said. He destroyed the second. He prayed harder, painted a third time, and called the girl back. She looked at it and said, "It is the Lord!" That alone makes Christmas meaningful — not that a good man came, not that a wise teacher came, not that a great sufferer came, but that God came. Immanuel.

Wamisionari wawili waliwahi kutekwa na majambazi na kufungiwa katika shimo chafu, lenye baridi kali, wakiamriwa wasiongee, wala hata kuoneshana ishara. Siku ya Krismasi ikafika. Mmoja wao aliketi sakafuni akitetemeka. Ghafla uso wake ukang'aa. Akichezea bila kusudi vipande vya majani makavu juu ya udongo mgumu, alianza kuvipanga kuwa herufi. Alimvutia rafiki yake kwa mtazamo wa macho. Majani hayo yaliandika neno moja: IMANUELI. Walilia kwa furaha. Wafungwa. Baridi. Wamekatazwa kuongea. Lakini Mungu alikuwa pamoja nao katika shimo lile chafu kwa kweli kabisa kama alivyokuwa katika zizi la Bethlehemu.Two missionaries were once captured by bandits and shut up in a filthy hole, freezing cold, ordered not to speak, not even to make signs to one another. Christmas Day came. One of them sat shivering on the floor. Suddenly his face brightened. Idly toying with bits of straw on the hard-packed mud, he began arranging them into letters. He drew his friend's attention with a glance. The straws spelled out one word: EMMANUEL. They wept with joy. Captives. Cold. Forbidden to speak. Yet God was with them in that filthy hole as truly as in the Bethlehem stable.

Mtoto Mwenye Majina ManneThe Child of Four Names

Na kisha, sura mbili baadaye, Isaya anamrundikia Imanueli huyu ajaye vyeo vinne ambavyo hakuna mtoto wa kibinadamu aliyewahi kuvibeba wala ambaye angeweza kuvibeba: "Maana kwa ajili yetu mtoto amezaliwa, tumepewa mtoto mwanamume; na uweza wa kifalme utakuwa begani mwake; naye ataitwa jina lake, Ajabu, Mshauri, Mungu Mwenye Nguvu, Baba wa Milele, Mfalme wa Amani" (Isaya 9:6). Ajabu — jina ambalo Mungu mwenyewe alikataa kumpa malaika katika Waamuzi 13. Mshauri — hekima ya ulimwengu wote katika sauti moja ya kibinadamu. Mungu Mwenye Nguvu — cheo cha kimungu kinachohitimisha kila mafundisho ya kweli kuhusu Kristo (Kristolojia). Baba wa Milele — Yule wa milele aliyevaa upendo wa baba. Mfalme wa Amani — yeye pekee anayeweza kusimamisha vita vya wanadamu kwa kuleta amani ndani ya moyo wa mwanadamu. Vyeo vinne juu ya Mvulana mmoja. Mwana wa bikira wa sura ya 7 amekuwa Mungu Mwenye Nguvu wa sura ya 9. Isaya anakitazama kitanda cha mtoto na kuona kiti cha enzi.And then, two chapters later, Isaiah piles four titles on this coming Immanuel that no human child has ever borne and no human child ever could: "For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace" (Isaiah 9:6). Wonderful — the name God Himself refused to give to the angel in Judges 13. Counselor — the wisdom of the universe in one human voice. Mighty God — the divine title that ends every honest Christology. Everlasting Father — the eternal one wearing the affection of a father. Prince of Peace — the only one who can stop a human war by making peace inside a human heart. Four titles on one Boy. The virgin's Son of chapter 7 has become the Mighty God of chapter 9. Isaiah is staring at the cradle and seeing the throne.

Ashuru na BabeliAssyria and Babylon

Sehemu ya onyo pia inafichua mamlaka mawili ya kidunia ambayo daima huwajia watu wa Mungu. Ashuru inawakilisha kutomcha Mungu — hakuna Mungu, mwenye nguvu ndiye mwenye haki, kula na kunywa na kunyakua chochote unachoweza. Babeli inawakilisha uasi wa kidini — ndiyo, kuna mungu, kwa namna fulani, na wengi wao, na ukweli ni chochote unachotaka uwe. Mamlaka yote mawili yako hai na yana njaa leo. Yote mawili yamelilenga kanisa lako. Tofauti inayopanga nusu ya kwanza ya Isaya iko pale pale: Ahazi aliikataa ishara na akafa ufalme ukitetemeka; mwanawe Hezekia, shida yake mwenyewe ilipofika (Isaya 36–37), aliichukua barua ya vitisho ya Senakeribu hadi hekaluni na kwa kweli akaikunjua mbele za BWANA — na usiku ule malaika wa BWANA akawaua Waashuru 185,000 katika hema zao. Simama imara katika imani yako, la sivyo hutasimama kabisa.The warning section also exposes the two world powers that always come for God's people. Assyria stands for godlessness — there is no God, might makes right, eat and drink and grab what you can. Babylon stands for religious apostasy — yes, there is a god, sort of, and many of them, and the truth is whatever you want it to be. Both powers are alive and hungry today. Both have your church in their crosshairs. The contrast that organizes the first half of Isaiah is right there: Ahaz refused the sign and died with the kingdom shaking; his son Hezekiah, when his own crisis came (Isaiah 36–37), took Sennacherib's threatening letter into the temple and literally spread it out before the Lord — and that night the angel of the Lord struck 185,000 Assyrians dead in their tents. Stand firm in your faith, or you will not stand at all.

III. Maono ya Nabii (Isaya 40 na Nusu ya Pili)III. The Prophet's Vision (Isaiah 40 and the Second Half)

Sasa geuza ukurasa hadi sura ya 40, na sauti nzima ya kitabu inabadilika. Onyo limekwisha. Hukumu imetangazwa; uhamisho unakuja au tayari upo. Sauti ya Isaya inakuwa sauti ya faraja: "Farijini, farijini watu wangu, asema Mungu wenu" (Isaya 40:1). Kisha sauti inalia: "Itengenezeni jangwani njia ya BWANA; nyosheni katika nyika njia kuu kwa ajili ya Mungu wetu" (Isaya 40:3). Miaka mia saba baadaye mtu aliyevaa nguo za singa za ngamia atatokea jangwani na kuusoma mstari huu kumhusu yeye mwenyewe. Sauti iliayo nyikani ina jina. Jina lake ni Yohana.Now turn the page to chapter 40, and the entire tone of the book changes. The warning is over. Judgment has been pronounced; exile is coming or already here. The voice of Isaiah becomes the voice of consolation: "'Comfort, yes, comfort My people!' says your God" (Isaiah 40:1). Then a voice cries: "In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God" (Isaiah 40:3). Seven hundred years later a man dressed in camel's hair will appear in the desert and read this verse over himself. The voice in the wilderness has a name. His name is John.

Kisha unakuja mstari wa kutumia katika mazishi: "Wote wenye mwili ni majani, na wema wake wote ni kama ua la kondeni. Majani yakauka, ua lanyauka; bali neno la Mungu wetu litasimama milele" (Isaya 40:6–8). Uwekee alama mstari huo kwa ajili ya siku utakaposimama kando ya kaburi. Na mwisho maarufu wa sura hiyo: "Bali wao wamngojeao BWANA watapata nguvu mpya; watapanda juu kwa mbawa kama tai" (Isaya 40:31). Uwekee alama huo kwa ajili ya siku ambayo huwezi kuamka kitandani.Then comes the verse to bury people by: "All flesh is grass, and all its loveliness is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever" (Isaiah 40:6–8). Mark that verse for the day you stand at a graveside. And the famous closing of the chapter: "Those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles" (Isaiah 40:31). Mark that one for the day you cannot get out of bed.

Sasa tuje kwenye unabii wa kutabiri wa kushangaza kuliko yote katika Agano la Kale zima. Isaya 44 na 45. Isaya anaandika takriban mwaka 700 K.K. Uhamisho wa Babeli bado haujatokea hata kidogo. Naye anamtaja — kwa jina — mfalme wa Uajemi ambaye, miaka mia moja na hamsini baadaye, angeiangusha Babeli na kuwaruhusu Wayahudi warudi nyumbani: "Asemaye katika habari za Koreshi, Yeye ni mchungaji wangu, naye atayatimiza mapenzi yangu yote" (Isaya 44:28); "BWANA amwambia mpakwa mafuta wake, Koreshi" (Isaya 45:1). Na mwaka 539 K.K. ilitokea hasa vivyo hivyo. Tangu miaka ya 1800, baadhi ya wasomi wamependekeza kwamba nabii wa baadaye, ambaye mara nyingi huitwa "Isaya wa Pili," aliandika sura 40 hadi 66 wakati wa uhamisho au baada yake, wakionyesha tofauti za msamiati, mtindo na mazingira ya kihistoria kati ya nusu mbili za kitabu — hoja halisi za kifasihi ambazo baadhi yao huzishikilia hata huku wakikubali unabii wa kutabiri mahali pengine. Lakini hoja ya kuwepo kwa Isaya mmoja inabaki kuwa na nguvu: kanisa limeshikilia umoja wa kitabu hiki kwa miaka elfu mbili, na waandishi wa Agano Jipya wananukuu nusu zote mbili kama maneno ya "Isaya nabii" yuleyule bila kutofautisha (ona Yohana 12:38–41). Usomaji ulio rahisi zaidi bado unasimama. Mungu anayeweza kumtaja Yesu miaka mia saba kabla, hakika anaweza kumtaja Koreshi miaka mia moja na hamsini kabla.Now to the most stunning predictive prophecy in the entire Old Testament. Isaiah 44 and 45. Isaiah is writing around 700 BC. The Babylonian exile hasn't even happened yet. And he names — by name — the Persian king who, a hundred and fifty years later, would crush Babylon and let the Jews go home: "Who says of Cyrus, 'He is My shepherd, and he shall perform all My pleasure'" (Isaiah 44:28); "Thus says the Lord to His anointed, to Cyrus" (Isaiah 45:1). And in 539 BC it happened exactly that way. Since the 1800s, some scholars have proposed that a later prophet, often called "Second Isaiah," wrote chapters 40 through 66 during or after the exile, pointing to differences in vocabulary, style, and historical setting between the two halves of the book — real literary arguments some hold even while accepting predictive prophecy elsewhere. But the case for one Isaiah remains strong: the church has held the book's unity for two thousand years, and the New Testament writers quote both halves as the words of the same "Isaiah the prophet" without distinction (see John 12:38-41). The simpler reading still stands. The God who can name Jesus seven hundred years early can certainly name Cyrus a hundred and fifty.

Uzi Mwekundu Wafikia Kituo Chake cha KumiThe Scarlet Thread Reaches Its Tenth Station

Na sasa kiini cha kitabu — Nyimbo za Mtumishi nne. Isaya 42, 49, 50, na 52:13–53:12. Kila mmoja unamtambulisha mhusika wa ajabu anayeitwa "Mtumishi wa BWANA," na kila mmoja unakueleza zaidi kidogo kumhusu. Mtumishi ataleta haki kwa mataifa. Atakuwa nuru kwa Mataifa. Atawapa mgongo wake wale wanaompiga. Na kisha wimbo wa nne — Isaya 53. Henrietta Mears aliuita Patakatifu pa Patakatifu pa Agano la Kale. Usome polepole. Kila mstari ni mstari wa injili.And now the heart of the book — the four Servant Songs. Isaiah 42, 49, 50, and 52:13–53:12. Each one introduces a mysterious figure called "the Servant of the Lord," and each one tells you a little more about Him. The Servant will bring justice to the nations. He will be a light to the Gentiles. He will give His back to those who beat Him. And then the fourth song — Isaiah 53. Henrietta Mears called it the Holy of Holies of the Old Testament. Read it slowly. Every line is a line in the gospel.

Sasa weka alama mahali tulipo katika hadithi ndefu ambayo kozi hii yote imekuwa ikisimulia. Uzi Mwekundu wa ukombozi ulianza Edeni Mungu alipomchinja mnyama ili kuwavika Adamu na Hawa. Ulipita katika mwana-kondoo wa Habili, madhabahu ya Nuhu, kondoo dume juu ya Moria, damu juu ya kila mwimo wa mlango huko Misri wakati wa Pasaka, mbuzi wa Yom Kippur (Siku ya Upatanisho), nyoka wa shaba jangwani, kamba nyekundu katika dirisha la Rahabu huko Yeriko, na mito ya damu iliyotiririka katika hekalu la Sulemani kwa karibu miaka mia nne. Vituo tisa. Kila mnyama ni hati ya ahadi. Kila madhabahu ni postikadi kutoka siku zijazo. Isaya 53 ni kituo cha kumi na cha katikati — mahali ambapo Mwana-Kondoo ambaye uzi huo daima ulikuwa ukimwelekea hatimaye ana uso na jina. Sikiliza mistari hii na uutazame uzi ukifika nyuma kabisa hadi Mwanzo 3 na mbele kabisa hadi Kalvari:Now mark where we are in the long story this whole course has been telling. The Scarlet Thread of redemption began in Eden when God killed an animal to clothe Adam and Eve. It ran through Abel's lamb, Noah's altar, the ram on Moriah, the blood on every Egyptian doorpost at Passover, the goats of Yom Kippur, the bronze serpent in the wilderness, the scarlet cord in Rahab's Jericho window, and the rivers of blood that flowed through Solomon's temple for almost four hundred years. Nine stations. Every animal a promissory note. Every altar a postcard from the future. Isaiah 53 is the tenth and central station — the place where the Lamb the thread had always been pointing to finally has a face and a name. Listen to the verses and watch the thread reach all the way back to Genesis 3 and all the way forward to Calvary:

"Alidharauliwa na kukataliwa na watu; mtu wa huzuni nyingi, ajuaye sikitiko… Bali alijeruhiwa kwa makosa yetu, alichubuliwa kwa maovu yetu; adhabu ya amani yetu ilikuwa juu yake, na kwa kupigwa kwake sisi tumepona. Sisi sote kama kondoo tumepotea; kila mmoja amegeukia njia yake mwenyewe; na BWANA ameweka juu yake maovu yetu sisi sote" (Isaya 53:3–6)."He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief… He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all" (Isaiah 53:3–6).

Angalia jinsi Isaya 1:18 na Isaya 53 hatimaye vinavyokutana. "Dhambi zenu zijapokuwa nyekundu sana, zitakuwa nyeupe kama theluji." Kwa jinsi gani? "Kwa kupigwa kwake sisi tumepona." Mungu anageuza rangi nyekundu kuwa nyeupe kwa kuziweka juu ya Mtu Mwingine, kisha kumpiga Mtu huyo Mwingine mapigo hadi rangi inapopenya. Dhambi nyekundu sana. Mapigo mekundu kama damu. Msamaha mweupe kama theluji. Uzi Mwekundu uliolipiwa kwa damu nyekundu. Vituo vitatu zaidi vya uzi huo vimebaki katika Agano la Kale — Zekaria atamwona akichomwa na chemchemi ikifunguliwa kwa ajili ya dhambi (Zekaria 12:10; 13:1), na neno la mwisho kabisa la Malaki litawaacha Israeli wakingoja siku ile kuu na ya kuogofya ya BWANA. Lakini kituo cha katikati, mahali ambapo vingine vyote vilikuwa postikadi zake, ni Isaya 53.Notice how Isaiah 1:18 and Isaiah 53 finally meet. "Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow." How? "By His stripes we are healed." God turns the reds white by laying them on Someone Else and then striping that Someone Else until the color comes through. Scarlet sin. Crimson stripes. Snow-white forgiveness. The Scarlet Thread paid for in scarlet blood. Three more stations of the thread remain in the Old Testament — Zechariah will see Him pierced and a fountain opened for sin (Zechariah 12:10; 13:1), and the very last word of Malachi will leave Israel waiting for the great and dreadful day of the Lord. But the central station, the place all the others were postcards of, is Isaiah 53.

Mwalimu mmoja wa Biblia wa Kiingereza aliwahi kuharakisha kando ya jukwaa la stesheni ili kuwahi treni mtu mmoja alipomkimbilia. "Bwana, nilikuwa katika mkutano wako usiku huu. Nataka kumpata Mungu." Mwalimu akasema, "Sina muda, lakini chukua Biblia hii. Kimbia hadi kwenye nguzo ya taa iliyo karibu. Fungua Isaya 53:6. Inama chini kabisa uingie kupitia 'sote' ya kwanza. Simama wima utoke kupitia 'sote' ya mwisho." Naye akapanda treni. Yule mtu akasimama chini ya nguzo ya taa, akiwa amechanganyikiwa, akaifungua Biblia. "Sisi sote kama kondoo tumepotea." Inama chini kabisa. Ndiyo — huyo ni mimi. "Kila mmoja amegeukia njia yake mwenyewe." Ndiyo — huyo ni sisi sote. Sasa simama wima. "Na BWANA ameweka juu yake maovu yetu sisi sote." Sote. Aliyabeba. Yule mtu alilia chini ya nguzo ya taa akamwamini Kristo. Rafiki, inama chini kabisa kwenye 'sote' ya kwanza. Simama wima kwenye ya mwisho.An English Bible teacher was once hurrying down the platform to catch a train when a man chased him. "Sir, I was in your meeting tonight. I want to find God." The teacher said, "I have no time, but take this Bible. Run to the nearest lamppost. Open to Isaiah 53:6. Stoop down low and go in at the first 'all.' Stand up straight and come out at the last 'all.'" And he boarded the train. The man stood beneath the lamppost, baffled, and opened the Bible. "All we like sheep have gone astray." Stoop down low. Yes — that is me. "We have turned every one to his own way." Yes — that is all of us. Now stand up straight. "And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all." All. He bore it. The man wept beneath the lamppost and trusted Christ. Friend, stoop down low at the first 'all.' Stand up straight at the last.

Msichana mdogo Myahudi huko New York alifundishwa Kiebrania na baba yake aliyekuwa rabi. Walisoma Agano la Kale pamoja. Siku moja alimwuliza kwa nini aliruka Isaya 53. "Si kwa ajili yetu," alisema; "ni kwa ajili ya Wakristo." Akauliza, "Basi kwa nini sura ya Kikristo iko katika Biblia yetu?" Akamwambia anyamaze. Kwa hiyo aliinakili sura ya 53 kwenye kipande kidogo cha karatasi, akakikunja sana, na kukibeba ndani ya soksi yake kwa miaka miwili. Miaka miwili. Aliisoma kila alipopata nafasi. Ilimwongoza kwa Kristo. Binti wa rabi akawa ushuhuda wa rabi.A young Jewish girl in New York was taught Hebrew by her rabbi father. They read the Old Testament together. One day she asked him why he had skipped Isaiah 53. "It is not for us," he said; "it is for Christians." She asked, "Then why is a Christian chapter in our Bible?" He told her to keep quiet. So she copied chapter 53 onto a small piece of paper, folded it tight, and carried it in her stocking for two years. Two years. She read it every chance she got. It led her to Christ. The rabbi's daughter became the rabbi's testimony.

Kitabu kinamalizika na mbingu mpya na nchi mpya (Isaya 65–66) — hakuna tena kulia, hakuna tena maombolezo, hakuna tena mauti. Ufunuo 21 haitabuni picha hiyo. Ufunuo 21 inainukuu.The book ends with new heavens and a new earth (Isaiah 65–66) — no more weeping, no more crying, no more death. Revelation 21 will not invent that picture. Revelation 21 is quoting it.

IV. Vitovu Viwili: Kristo Msalabani, Kristo Katika Kiti cha EnziIV. Two Foci: Christ on the Cross, Christ on the Throne

Henrietta Mears alichagua mfano usiotarajiwa kufunga sura yake kuhusu Isaya, nao ndio mfano sahihi. Johannes Kepler alipojaribu kueleza mwendo wa sayari kwa kuipa kila moja mzunguko wa duara, hesabu zake hazikufanya kazi. Duara lina kitovu kimoja tu. Kisha Kepler aligundua kwamba mizunguko ya sayari si duara bali ni duaradufu (umbo la yai) — na duaradufu halina kitovu kimoja bali vitovu viwili. Alipoliweka jua katika kitovu kimoja, hatimaye hesabu zikalingana. Mears aliitumia picha hii kwa Isaya: maono ya nabii huyu kuhusu Kristo yana vitovu viwili. Kristo msalabani — na Kristo katika kiti cha enzi. Kristo katika unyenyekevu — na Kristo katika nguvu na utukufu mwingi. Kitabu kinachoanza katika Isaya 6 na kiti cha enzi kilichoinuka sana na kufikia katika Isaya 53 kwa Mwana-Kondoo anayepelekwa machinjoni kinakuomba ushike pointi zote mbili kwa wakati mmoja. Jaribu kukifanya kuwa duara kuzunguka moja tu, na hesabu hazitafanya kazi. Kristo ni vyote viwili.Henrietta Mears reached for an unlikely illustration to close her chapter on Isaiah, and it is the right one. When Johannes Kepler tried to explain the motion of the planets by giving each one a circular orbit, his calculations would not work. A circle has only one center. Then Kepler discovered that planetary orbits are not circles but ellipses — and an ellipse has not one center but two foci. Once he placed the sun at one focus, the math finally fit. She applied it to Isaiah: this prophet's vision of Christ has two foci. Christ on the cross — and Christ on the throne. Christ in humiliation — and Christ in power and great glory. The book that begins in Isaiah 6 with a throne high and lifted up and lands in Isaiah 53 on a Lamb led to the slaughter is asking you to hold both points at once. Try to make it a circle around just one and the math will not work. Christ is both.

Fungua Agano lako Jipya na vitovu viwili vya Isaya vinaonekana tena. Ufunuo 4 — kiti cha enzi. Ufunuo 5 — Mwana-Kondoo, "Mwana-Kondoo amesimama, kama amechinjwa, katikati ya kile kiti cha enzi" (Ufunuo 5:6). Picha ileile ambayo Isaya aliiona katika sura mbili zilizotenganishwa na sura arobaini na saba, Yohana anaiona katika sura mbili zinazofuatana. Kiti cha enzi na Mwana-Kondoo. Msalaba na taji. Vitovu viwili, Kristo mmoja.Open your New Testament and Isaiah's two foci appear again. Revelation 4 — a throne. Revelation 5 — a Lamb, "a Lamb as though it had been slain, standing in the midst of the throne" (Revelation 5:6). The very picture Isaiah saw in two chapters separated by forty-seven, John sees in two chapters back to back. Throne and Lamb. Cross and crown. Two foci, one Christ.

Matendo 8 — Filipo anakutana na afisa wa Kushi (Ethiopia) katika barabara ya jangwani, akisoma kwa sauti kutoka Isaya 53. "Nitawezaje kuelewa, mtu asiponiongoza?" towashi anasema. Filipo "akafumbua kinywa chake, akaanza kwa andiko lilo hilo, akamhubiri Yesu kwake" (Matendo 8:35). Unaweza kuhubiri injili nzima kutoka mstari wowote katika Isaya; anza tu msalabani. Luka 4 — Yesu anarudi nyumbani Nazareti, anaingia sinagogini, na anapewa gombo la Isaya. Analifungua hadi sura ya 61 na kusoma kuhusu Roho akimtia mafuta ili kuwahubiri maskini habari njema. Kisha analikunja gombo, analirudisha, anaketi, na kusema maneno tisa (kwa Kiingereza) yanayobadilisha historia: "Leo maandiko haya yametimia masikioni mwenu" (Luka 4:21). Hakusema haya yananihusu Mimi. Alisema haya NDIYE Mimi.Acts 8 — Philip meets the Ethiopian official on a desert road, reading aloud from Isaiah 53. "How can I, unless someone guides me?" the eunuch says. Philip "opened his mouth, and beginning at this Scripture, preached Jesus to him" (Acts 8:35). You can preach the whole gospel from any verse in Isaiah; just start at the cross. Luke 4 — Jesus comes home to Nazareth, walks into the synagogue, and is handed the scroll of Isaiah. He unrolls it to chapter 61 and reads about the Spirit anointing Him to preach good news to the poor. Then He rolls up the scroll, hands it back, sits down, and says nine words that change history: "Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing" (Luke 4:21). He did not say this is about Me. He said this IS Me.

Na jina lake ni Imanueli — Mungu pamoja nasi. Katika asili yetu. Katika huzuni yetu. Katika kazi ya maisha yetu. Katika adhabu yetu. Katika kaburi letu. Na sasa sisi pamoja naye katika ufufuo, kupaa, ushindi, na fahari ya Kuja kwake kwa Pili. John Wesley, alipokuwa akifa, alinong'ona mahubiri ya mwisho ya maisha yake: "Lililo kuu kuliko yote ni kwamba Mungu yu pamoja nasi." Hiyo ndiyo injili ya Isaya. Bwana ambaye Isaya alimwona ameinuliwa juu sana ni Bwana yuleyule aliyesema, "Tazama, mimi nipo pamoja nanyi siku zote, hata ukamilifu wa dahari." Yeye ni Imanueli wako leo. Simama imara katika imani yako. Utasimama.And His name is Immanuel — God with us. In our nature. In our sorrow. In our lifework. In our punishment. In our grave. And now we with Him in resurrection, ascension, triumph, and Second Advent splendor. John Wesley, dying, whispered the last sermon of his life: "The greatest of all, is, God with us." That is Isaiah's gospel. The Lord whom Isaiah saw high and lifted up is the same Lord who said, "Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." He is your Immanuel today. Stand firm in your faith. You will stand.

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