How well do you know Isaiah? How well would you like to?

Years ago I listened to Dr. Avraham Gileadi’s Analytical Commentary on Isaiah (about 30 hours of audio) and was amazed how much more it made sense after having him explain it (The commentary is free online and I’ll show you how to access it below). Since then I’ve been fascinated by Isaiah and trying to understand it better.

Isaiah Made Simple

I think Avraham understood the need for a higher level overview and a few years ago came out with, “Isaiah Made Simple: Unsealing the Essential Isaiah.” (Click here to purchase a copy from the Isaiah Institute)

He emphatically states this is not “Isaiah for Dummies.” It’s an approach to unsealing Isaiah where you understand the essential elements of Isaiah’s imagery and literary structure and then dig in to do your own searching.

The last few weeks, Rachel Tay Faulkner and Raeshell Sutherland have presented a wonderful 4-part series based on this book and written by Dr. Gileadi. It is now complete and fully embedded in Scripture Notes as podcasts you can watch while you take notes.

To access the videos simply go to any chapter in Isaiah and click the “R” button by the chapter number to open the resources. Each chapter contains the Analytical Commentary as the first link, and then the Isaiah Made Simple presentations.

Click the video icon to open the video up in a Scripture Notes pane, and click the pencil icon if you want to open up the slide deck for the presentation in a new browser window.

When the video appears, drag the pane to the far left and open the chapter on the right of it (it’s easier this way). Then click play.

If the video is playing too slow (or fast) for you, you can click (green arrows) the gear button to access playback speed, or click the stopwatch icon to pull up speed controls (useful for when a video or audio file isn’t on YouTube and you need to adjust the speed.

On the video controls, if you click the maximize button in the bottom right corner (pink arrow), the video will display full screen. To return the video to the small window and access the scriptures and your notes, just press the ESCape key in the top left of your keyboard. Then you can pause the video at will and takes notes, do a search, and dig deeper into something being talked about in the video.

Their presentations include super helpful slides (which you also have access to in the show notes next to the video button in Scripture Notes’ chapter resource menu) like this summary of the 7 parts of Isaiah’s 66 chapters. Chapters 1-33 have a chiastic theme and that structure is repeated in chapters 34-66 after the descent phase of the prophecy.

America as Egypt

Now let me share with you one of the things I learned years ago that really opened my eyes to Isaiah. When writing, Isaiah saw our day and likened people and places to historical events. By understanding the ancient events, we liken them and apply them to modern times.

In ancient times, the world superpower was Egypt (during its allotted period of time), until it was overrun by Assyria. Today, the world superpower is America, and our modern day Assyria has yet to be fully revealed.

Lets look at a few verses in Isaiah 19 & 20.

Chapter 19

Verse 1: The burden of Egypt

Verse 2: A civil war will arise in Egypt

Verse 3: Egyptians get bad counsel from their idols

Verse 4: A cruel lord (Assyrians) will rule Egypt

Verses 5-10: Economic collapse

Verse 11: “Surely the princes of Zoan are fools, the counsel of the wise counsellors of Pharaoh is become brutish: how say ye unto Pharaoh, I am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings?”

Zoan: Washington D.C. (Congress)
Pharoah: President
Wise counsellors: cabinet

Verse 13: “The princes of Zoan are become fools, the princes of Noph are deceived; they have also seduced Egypt, even they that are the stay of the tribes thereof.”

Verse 14: “The Lord hath mingled a perverse spirit in the midst thereof: and they have caused Egypt to err in every work thereof, as a drunken man staggereth in his vomit.”

One only has to look at the current state of affairs in America to know we are like a drunken man staggering in his vomit. Every work of Washington D.C. causes the nation to err. There is a perverse spirit in the midst of us. But not all is lost.

Verse 19: “In that day shall there be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar at the border thereof to the Lord.”

Verse 20: “And it shall be for a sign and for a witness unto the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt: for they shall cry unto the Lord because of the oppressors, and he shall send them a saviour, and a great one, and he shall deliver them.”

Even though America is under this burden, there will be a righteous branch that builds an altar (temple) and worships the Lord in truth and spirit. The Lord will hear their cry of true oppression and send them a deliverer.

Verse 21: “And the Lord shall be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know the Lord in that day, and shall do sacrifice and oblation; yea, they shall vow a vow unto the Lord, and perform it.”

Finally, the true God will be known by America as it becomes Zion!

Verse 22: “And the Lord shall smite Egypt: he shall smite and heal it: and they shall return even to the Lord, and he shall be entreated of them, and shall heal them.”

The Lord will heal his people and dwell among them.

Now read Isaiah 20 for a vivid object lesson of how the Lord used Isaiah to teach the people what was coming during their burden…

Then go start your 4 part series on Isaiah Made Simple!