Isaiah saw the coming of Jesus who would bring redemption and restoration. This is why Isaiah is called “the evangelical prophet”—his entire focus is on the evangel, the “good news” of the gospel. Good news for sinners like you and me.

Behold my servant, whom I uphold,

my chosen, in whom my soul delights. (Isa. 42:1)

For he grew up before him like a young plant,

and like a root out of dry ground;

he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,

and no beauty that we should desire him.

He was despised and rejected by men,

a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;

and as one from whom men hide their faces

he was despised, and we esteemed him not. (Isa. 53:2–3)

There is no peace… for the wicked. (Isa. 48:22)

These startling words are not addressed to the heathen nations but to God’s covenant people. They describe the people’s condition after their return to the Promised Land from exile. They are a lament. The people have learned so little in their captivity. The reason for their exile is spelled out with a solemn indictment: they had sinned against the Lord, “in whose ways they would not walk, and whose law they would not obey” (Isa. 42:24). They returned to Jerusalem the way they had left it.

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