In this series of posts, we’re verifying Peter’s words—all the prophets foretold his generation (Acts 3:24), its events, and the consequences of those events. In roughly chronological order, we have confirmed that Moses, Samuel, Obadiah, Joel, Amos, Jonah, Hosea, and Micah did so and that their prophecies fit well in our inmillennial model of prophecy.1
The prophet Isaiah2 lived in the last half of the eighth century BC. In that period, Assyria (Nineveh) took the ten northern tribes of Israel captive, destroyed Egypt (Isa 20:1–6), and threatened Jerusalem (Isa 36:1). The kingdom that had flourished three centuries earlier under David and Solomon now languished. Isaiah foretold more problems in the immediate future: “The days are coming when … what your fathers have accumulated until this day, shall be carried to Babylon; nothing shall be left” (Isa 39:6).
Against this backdrop of despair, Isaiah also described a glorious future for Israel. For example, God told him to say, “Incline your ear, and come to Me. Hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you—the sure mercies of David” (Isa 55:3). Israel’s hope of restoring the kingdom to its previous splendor had evaporated under the scorching heat of captivity. Still, they had God’s prophetic word through Isaiah to sustain their hope of the future kingdom.
Isaiah discussed Israel’s progress from defeat to future victory more than any other prophet. His book repeatedly described her original blessings, apostasy, judgment, and restoration.
The New Testament draws from these descriptions. Almost one-half (14 of 29) of the New Testament books quote Isaiah, and they quote about one-half of Isaiah’s chapters.
Like the Lord Jesus before them, Peter and the other Apostles use Isaiah to explain events happening in their generation. They employ the cycle God summarized in Isaiah 44:21–22: God had established Israel, and she had sinned, but He would not forget her. He would cause her to return, and all creation would rejoice.
The opening chapters of Isaiah describe this cycle of Israel’s history and future redemption. That redemption brings us to Peter’s day.
The Cycle of Redemption in Isaiah—Version 1
In his first chapter, Isaiah mentions the original blessings God had given to Israel: “Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth! For the LORD has spoken: ‘I have nourished and brought up children’” (Isa 1:2). John Gill explains this statement:
The Lord took notice and care of them in their infant state, brought them out of Egypt, led them through the wilderness, and fed them in it; brought them into Canaan’s land, drove out the nations before them, and settled them there; gave them his laws and ordinances, distinguished them from all other nations by his favours, and raised them to a high estate, to much greatness and prosperity, especially in the days of David and Solomon.3
Israel responded in ungrateful rebellion against God. They did not consider what He had done for them and forsook the Lord (Isa 1:2–4), becoming like Sodom and Gomorrah (Isa 1:10–11).
God brought judgment on the nation (Isa 1:7). He rejected their sacrifices and burnt offerings and despised their celebration of the feasts Moses prescribed (Isa 1:11–14).
The climax of Israel’s judgment would come in her “latter days” (Isa 2:2).4 These were the days of Peter and the apostles, the “these days” to which he referred in Acts 3:24.
In these days, God said He would “take vengeance on [His] enemies” (Isa 1:24). Therefore, Jesus, while describing the judgment that would come on Israel in Peter’s generation, said, “These are the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled” (Luke 21:22, 32).
God said Jerusalem had “become a harlot” (Isa 1:21). Therefore, the Apostle John, speaking about “things which must shortly take place” (Rev 1:1), describes the judgment of the Harlot (Rev 17:5). He uses this term to represent Jerusalem, “drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus” (Rev 17:6), for “in her was found the blood of prophets and saints, and of all who were slain on the earth” (Rev 18:24).
Jesus foretold this vengeance judgment in Peter’s generation, saying,
Therefore, indeed, I send you (i.e., Israel) prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation. (Matt 23:34–36; emphasis added)
Thus, Isaiah described the judgment of Israel after the flesh5 that came in Peter’s day.
The prophet also described the glory in Israel’s “latter days.” After the above judgment, Jerusalem would “be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city” (Isa 1:26). The Apostle Paul described this city as the Jerusalem above, the mother of all Christians (Gal 4:26). The Apostle John saw this city as the church, the bride of Christ (Rev 21:2). Jesus said He would establish this city/church in Peter’s days (Matt 16:18, 28).
For this reason, the writer of Hebrews states a reality that was true in the days of which Peter spoke:
You have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel. (Heb 12:22–24)
The Scriptures also describe the church as the house of God. Under this imagery, Isaiah described the consequences of what God would do in Israel’s “latter days”:
Now it shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the LORD’s house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow to it. Many people shall come and say, “Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, and we shall walk in His paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations, and rebuke many people; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. (Isa 2:2–4)
What can we say about these results? First, the Lord has established His house, the church. Second, the law of God, in its gospel manifestation (cf. 1 Cor 9:21), is going forth to the nations through the Great Commission (Matt 28:18–20). Jesus is sitting on His throne of judgment (cf. Matt 26:64).
Have the nations exchanged swords for plowshares? Only in part, but the writer of Hebrews tells how to think about this situation:
Now we do not yet see all things put under him. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone. (Heb 2:8–9)
As Jesus rules in His kingdom, God will progressively put His enemies under His feet (Psa 110:1). The climax of this process will come when physical death dies at the end of the messianic age (1 Cor 15:25–26).
Conclusion
At the start of his book, Isaiah spoke of things that would occur in Israel’s “latter days”: the judgment of the apostate nation, the establishment of a holy city, the going forth of the gospel of the kingdom (cf. Matt 24:14; Mk 1:14; et al.), and the glory that would follow (cf. 1 Pet 1:11).
He rehearsed this cycle again, as we shall see in our next post, Lord willing.
Peter was right: “All the prophets, from Samuel and those who follow, as many as have spoken,” including Isaiah, foretold events that occurred in his days (Acts 3:24).
Footnotes
- Please consider becoming familiar with the inmillennial view of prophecy. You can read a summary version here or tackle the full book-length version here. The title of the book—Inmillennialism: Redefining the Last Days—hints at the reason for my suggestion. This model says the “last days” are identical to Peter’s “these days”; both terms refer to the “last days” of the Mosaic age. This perspective will shed light on the prophets as we work through them.
- The image in this file is The Prophet Isaiah by Antonio Balestra (1666-1740). It is in the public domain per {{PD-1996}}.
- John Gill, An Exposition of the Old and New Testaments, 9 vols. (1809–10; repr., Paris, AR: The Baptist Standard Bearer, 1989), 5:4.
- For a discussion of this term, see The Last Days in Hebrews.
- Paul uses this term in 1 Cor 10:18.
