Isaiah - Chapter One

Isaiah-An ancient prophet with a modern messageThis post is the first of a series of articles considering the prophecy of Isaiah. In the year 2000 the Watchtower Society published Volume I of Isaiah’s Prophecy. The following year the second volume was published. This series will not only consider the prophecy of Isaiah but also the commentary provided by the Watchtower Society.

__________________________________________

The Watchtower rightly points out that Isaiah is an ancient prophet with a modern message. Indeed, the message contained in the ancient prophecy of Isaiah is of the utmost relevance for the Watchtower Society and Jehovah’s Witnesses at this present time.

The name Isaiah means “salvation of Jehovah.” The name Jesus means the same thing only the wording is reversed in the construction of the name – the name Jesus meaning: “Jehovah is salvation.” The salvation of Jehovah is an appropriate name for the author of the prophecy considering the fact that not only are there many messianic prophecies contained in Isaiah, but the prophecy itself focuses upon Jehovah’s relationship with his nation of people and his intention to correct, discipline and ultimately save those who respond to his love.

The first chapter of Isaiah encapsulates the situation. God’s people have strayed far away from him and have treated the Holy One of Israel with disrespect. They have left Jehovah – meaning, they have become apostate. God is going to have to set matters straight.

Although Isaiah’s prophecy was written almost 200 years before Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem, the opening chapter speaks from the vantage points of the city under siege. Isaiah 1:7-9 says: “Your land is a desolation, your cities are burned with fire; your ground—right in front of you strangers are eating it up, and the desolation is like an overthrow by strangers. And the daughter of Zion has been left remaining like a booth in a vineyard, like a lookout hut in a field of cucumbers, like a blockaded city. Unless Jehovah of armies himself had left remaining to us just a few survivors, we should have become just like Sodom, we should have resembled Gomorrah itself.”

The situation described in Isaiah is very similar to that depicted in the prophecy of Joel. Jesus also foretold that which is represented by the city of Jerusalem would be laid desolate and that God’s holy place would be trampled underfoot by strangers. Of course, Jehovah’s Witnesses understand that Jesus’ prophecy will be realized during the conclusion of the system of things. So too, while Isaiah’s prophecy initially focused upon the ancient city of Jerusalem the ultimate fulfillment relates to the remnant of the bride – the true “daughter of Zion." And Jesus said that the great tribulation would be cut short on account of the chosen ones. That is what Isaiah is foretelling in connection with the survivors of the desolation. This indicates that the judgments contained in Isaiah will be fulfilled during the tribulation. It will be as though God speaks to his people then through Isaiah.

Of course the Watchtower teaches that the holy place destined for desolation is Christendom. But if that were the case are we to expect the “few survivors” to come from Christendom? Also, why does Jehovah state his determination to set things straight between himself and his erring people and cleanse them of their sin?

"YOU DICTATORS OF SODOM"

Next God addresses the leaders of his people in a most unflattering way, saying to them: “Hear the word of Jehovah, you dictators of Sodom. Give ear to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah.”

Surely, this harsh rebuke could not possibly apply to the leaders of Jehovah’s Witnesses? 

Let the reader take note of the fact that Isaiah is speaking to those who formally worship Jehovah. That is why the prophet refers to “the law of our God.” Now consider the context in which God addresses the leaders of his people as the “dictators of Sodom.”

‘“Of what benefit to me is the multitude of your sacrifices?’ says Jehovah. ‘I have had enough of whole burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed animals; and in the blood of young bulls and male lambs and he-goats I have taken no delight. When you people keep coming in to see my face, who is it that has required this from your hand, to trample my courtyards? Stop bringing in any more valueless grain offerings. Incense—it is something detestable to me. New moon and sabbath, the calling of a convention—I cannot put up with the use of uncanny power along with the solemn assembly. Your new moons and your festal seasons my soul has hated. To me they have become a burden; I have become tired of bearing them.”’ – Isaiah 1:11-14

The law of God required the Israelites to regularly offer animal sacrifices at the portable tabernacle and later the temple in Jerusalem. As a Jew even Jesus kept the Law of Moses and attended the traditional festivals. But God became disgusted with such offerings because his people did not keep the weightier matters of the law; namely, righteousness, mercy and justice.  

Jehovah’s Witnesses may or not be aware of the fact that in many respects the Watchtower Society has modeled itself after the ancient Jewish system of worship. For instance, just as there were three main annual festivals that all the Jews were required to attend, the Watchtower requires Jehovah’s Witnesses to attend three special assemblies each year, presently consisting of one main convention and one circuit assembly and a special assembly day. (There is no indication that the 1^st century Christians ever met in large assemblies – excluding the thousands of Jews who gathered to listen to Jesus on several occasions.)

And just as the Jewish sabbath in the time of Jesus typically involved attendance at the synagogue, Jehovah’s Witnesses religiously attend one meeting on the weekend, usually Sunday, and one mid-week meeting as well. At such meetings public prayers are always offered up to Jehovah, which may be likened to the perfumed incense that the Hebrew priests used in their worship. And Jehovah’s Witnesses regularly offer up symbolic grain offerings in sacrifice to God in the form of the public preaching.

Now consider the Watchtower’s commentary found on page 22.

“Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed not only for their perverted sex practices but also for their hardhearted, haughty attitudes. Isaiah’s audience must be shocked to hear themselves being compared to the people of those accursed cities. But Jehovah sees his people just as they are, and Isaiah does not soften God’s message in order to ‘tickle their ears.’”

Further on in the material in the Isaiah’s Prophecy publication, the Watchtower states:

 “In our day, Christendom has likewise failed to win God’s favor with her ceaseless repetition of vain prayers and her other religious “works.” It is of vital importance that we do not fall into the same trap.”

So, the Watchtower applies God’s rebuke to Christendom. They are supposedly the “dictators of Sodom” whose hardheartedness and haughtiness God endeavors to correct. At the same time though, individual Jehovah’s Witnesses are cautioned to guard against falling into the same trap of practicing a hollow form of religion. But is it possible that in Jehovah’s eyes the entire organization of Jehovah’s Witnesses is guilty of practicing mere formalism? Some outsiders certainly view the Watchtower Society as a “works based” religion. And many of Jehovah’s Witnesses have been heard to bemoan the inordinate emphasis placed upon the number of hours one spends in field service, meeting attendance and the ever-constant pressure to conform for the sake of organizational unity.

It is undeniable that the religion presently practiced by Jehovah’s Witnesses has been molded into a Christianized version of Judaism, complete with Pharisees, high priests, regular festivals, synagogues, and an attitude of self-righteousness and superiority. Should not humility at least move Jehovah’s Witnesses to contemplate the possibility that Jehovah’s denunciation issued through the opening verses of Isaiah is directed to the leaders of the Watchtower Society during the judgment of the house of God?

Actually, the Watchtower admits as much, sort of.

A few paragraphs further on the Watchtower claims that in 1919 God made it clear that Christendom had been rejected. Here is their commentary in paragraph 24:

“Jehovah’s own people have made themselves his enemies. They fully merit divine vengeance. Jehovah will ‘relieve,’ or rid, himself of them. Does this mean a complete, permanent obliteration of his name people? No, for Jehovah goes on to say: ‘And I will turn back my hand upon you, and I shall smelt away your scummy dross as with lye, and I will remove all your waste products.”’

While applying half of God’s rebuke to Christendom the Watchtower then claims that God is in reality dealing with his people, not just those who falsely claim to be such. So, are Jehovah’s Witnesses led to expect God to cleanse the congregation? No. That supposedly has already taken place. Paragraph 25 says so:

“The prophecy at Malachi 3:1-5, written long after the Babylonian exile, showed that God would again do a refining work. It pointed to the time when Jehovah God would come to his spiritual temple accompanied by his “messenger of the covenant,” Jesus Christ. This evidently happened at the end of World War I. Jehovah inspected all of those claiming to be Christians, sifting the true from the false. With what result?”

Evidently…? God “evidently” smelted away the impurities of the International Bible Students at the end of World War I? This is an audacious statement for any organization to make. What the Society is claiming is that in 1918 Jehovah made their scarlet-red sins as white as snow. In other words, the Watchtower Society has declared itself to be pure and righteous in Jehovah’s eyes – “the City of Righteousness” and “Faithful Town” described in verses 26-27. There can be no future day of reckoning for those who are so privileged. But if the Watchtower’s interpretation is true, if Jehovah actually christened the Watchtower Society as the “City of Righteousness” back in 1918, why is not the other aspect of the prophecy in evidence? What aspect? The very next verse, which states: “And the crash of revolters and that of sinful ones will be at the same time, and those leaving Jehovah will come to their finish.”

According to the prophecy God’s judgments against apostates and sinful ones “will be at the same time.” What evidence is there that those who apostatized against Jehovah have come to their finish? Evidently, the judgment message contained in Isaiah is yet to be unveiled.

Unquestionably, the leadership of the Watchtower Society has claimed to be the rulers of the prophetic “City of Righteousness.” Their claim, however, is false. They are in actuality the haughty “dictators of Sodom” with whom Jehovah is yet to enter into judgment. It is they who have refused to take up the legal case of the fatherless boy. The princes of Bethel have perpetrated numerous frauds against Jehovah’s Witnesses and stubbornly cling to the 1914 hoax. They have used uncanny power against Jehovah's Witnesses, the part of which is evidenced in the evil subliminal images that litter the Society's literature, some of which even appear in the very same commentary on Isaiah under consideration here. The legal princes of Bethel have wickedly denied justice to thousands of sexually abused children, claiming in court that Christian elders have no obligation to protect children from the sexual crimes of a congregant; but when forced by the threat of a jury trial they have quietly paid out millions, only to slyly bind the victims with legal gag orders to prevent them from speaking about the crimes that were committed against them or the deplorable way their complaints were handled by the Watchtower Society. Bethel's princes travel the world giving public discourses and expecting in return the so-called "golden handshake," which is when brothers come up and shake hands with them and pass a gift of cash to them. All the while Bethel arrogantly claims to have been declared righteous by God while they in turn denounce the clergy using the very rebuke God intends for them - the dictators of Sodom!

“Your princes are stubborn and partners with thieves. Every one of them is a lover of a bribe and a chaser after gifts. For a fatherless boy they do not render judgment; and even the legal case of a widow does not get admittance to them.” – Isaiah 1:23

The next installment will consider the 2^nd chapter of Isaiah.



Comments

[elena maree]

once again Watchman u have shown that the intense study of the PROPHETS from Hebrew scriptures was to be used at this critical time of the end when the True God's people would be roaming around looking 4 enlightenment of these same prophecies...HALLELUJAH !!! AMEN 2 the Father & the Son , for their gifts in men.....but HOW do we pass this true light on?? its only Jesus' joint-heirs who really need 2 GET OUT OF HER !!! Iis she the HARLOT of course, once the shock & awe settles down it really becomes obvious...REV 1v5 Kings of the earth Jesus rules over .....called & chosen ones., the FINAL sealing at death ? WT article B4 Gt Tribulation breaks out, any thoughts on this .? Rev 12 the WOMAN flees 2 the WILDERNESS where she is FED 1260 days , later verse she is FED AWAY from the FACE OF The SERPENT....arent we being FED at this urgent time 2 prepare 4 the collapse of Governments world wide ?? many questions, but know that we are grateful, & spreading the word of your BRILLANT websites.May YHWH bless you.. & keep u safe *******

[A Stone Crying Out]

There is no indication that Jesus has appointed a faithful and discreet slave over all his belongings, seeing that he is in sole possession of the “key of David.” He is the one “who opens so that no one will shut, and shuts so that no one opens.” (Rev 3:7) Jesus has charged his disciples with the responsibility of feeding his sheep and to make disciples of people baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, but he has not given or shared with them this key of David yet.

The Roman Catholic Church believes that they possessed this key by wrongly concluding that Peter was the “Petra” upon which Jesus built his church or congregation. It was not upon Peter [Petros] that Jesus built his congregation. As the Chief Corner Stone and Builder of his congregation Jesus was the Rock [Petra] and the foundation upon which he promised to build his congregation. So, any claim that Jesus has already appointed a faithful and discreet slave over all his belongings represents a gross deviation from the truth.

Nonetheless, Jesus will appoint the “faithful slave” over all his belongings, after he has called them up to heaven and establish them as his associate kings and priests. This event will likely occur at the sounding of the seventh trumpet during the great tribulation, when the kingdom of this world will become the kingdom of Christ. Afterward, Jesus will share his inheritance with his faithful disciples. Thus we find the following promises by Christ to those who would prove themselves faithful, as recorded in Revelation 2-3:

•Let the one who has an ear hear what the spirit says to the congregations: To him that conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.
•Prove yourself faithful even to death, and I will give you the crown of life.
•The one that conquers—I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God, and he will by no means go out [from it] anymore, and I will write upon him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem which descends out of heaven from my God, and that new name of mine.
•To the one that conquers I will grant to sit down with me on my throne, even as I conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.

Since the above mentioned promises have not yet come to fruition, it stands to reason that Jesus has not yet appointed the faithful and discreet slave over all his belongings. However, we can be certain that once these requirements are fully met by the seventh trumpet, 1260 days into the tribulation and also after the opening of the sixth seal, Jesus will fulfill them.

[to be 'Frank']

Stone,

I enjoyed your post once again, more food for thought.

[Tia Maria]

when are the REAL APOSTATES who have LEFT YHWH going to b exposed & all their interpretations revealed as ERRORS ?????? does anyone know WHY the F&DS/aka Gov body/ Presidents of WTB&TS etc since Charles Russell have been power -driven LYING fanatics. ??? $$$$$$$ start by exposing "JUDGE" Rutherford's criminal history of false prophecy, building BETHSARIM even writing the DEEDs in the names of the OLE FAITHFUL .....only to spend NEW YORK winters in said Mansion (refer to Barb. Andersons expose) someone, please write a HISTORY book about Rutherford, Knorr & Franzs' involvement in allowing HOMOSEXUALITY into the BETHEL homes, Branches in NewYork, CANADA & UK (3 well known GAY bros sent from LONDON in the 60's by Rutherford, that KNORR allowed into the Societies in USA (2) other one in Canada....."HEAR the WORDS OF JEHOVAH, YOU DICTATORS of SODOM".........
-

[A Stone Crying Out]

Watchman wrote: “Of course the Watchtower teaches that the holy place destined for desolation is Christendom. But if that were the case are we to expect the “few survivors” to come from Christendom? Also, why does Jehovah state his determination to set things straight between himself and his erring people and cleanse them of their sin?”

The question that e-Watchman and Jehovah’s Witnesses ought to ask is quite simple. The fact that Jehovah’s Witnesses think that their religion is the true religion and that Christendom is the most reprehensible part of Babylon the Great shows that the Watchtower has been inflicted with blindness beyond recovery.

Their two-volume book on Isaiah is replete with references and innuendos portraying the Watchtower as having God’s favor, while Christendom is destined for destruction. Thus Jehovah’s Witnesses rely heavily on the Watchtower’s publications to define their religion as the true religion, which they advocate to prospective converts. This view has made it impossible for Jehovah’s Witnesses to ask the simple question: “Who really are God’s people”?

The Bible does not support the view that God’s people are to be found in a particular group that has a set of beliefs in common. Belief systems vary from group to group. That is why a given denomination often thinks of their group as the true religion. This state of affair gave rise to the multitude of sects in existence today. So spiritually speaking, like ancient Judah and Jerusalem, Christianity today, “the daughter of Zion has been left remaining like a booth in a vineyard, like a lookout hut in a field of cucumbers, like a blockaded city.”

This “blockaded city” as it exists today consists of the elements that will give rise to Babylon the Great in the near future at the onset of the great tribulation, the leopard-like beast that John saw in vision that came up out of the sea of confused humanity. Viewed from a different angle, it is portrayed as a woman, "the great city that has a kingdom over the kings of the earth.” (Rev 17:18) It is fitting then that God’s people are exhorted to “get out her” to escape destruction.

Since Christianity or Christendom for that matter has followed the same course of rebellion and apostasy as did ancient Judah and Jerusalem, we can expect divine judgment and retribution to come upon this body of believers as a whole, as well as all the nations of Earth. So when Jesus comes “like the fire of a refiner and like the lye of laundrymen,” he is not going to find his people in a particular group that call themselves “Jehovah’s Witnesses” or by any other name. He is going to find them everywhere. –Rev 5:9-10; 7:9-10

[to be 'Frank']

Stone,

I couldn't agree more.

[victim]

" Hardheartedness and haughtiness........ complete with Pharisees, high priests, regular festivals, synagogues, and an attitude of self-righteousness and superiority."

Amen..

Dear brother,you should write another article at length about the wicked hearts and attitudes that so many of them have.

And you will know the truth and the truth will make you FLEE!

Thank you for your efforts

[Elena maree]

So much has transpired since this article was penned by e-watchman, and now as we learn that the "eagles who are feeding on the carcass" Matthew 24, are being sealed and being part of the "New Covenant" are truly the 'New Creation' at this time, spiritually transported to Gods Throne (Revelation 12:1-6)

Some new light from holy spirit, that the 7angels who are given the 7 trumpets, are these sealed 'chosen ones' as well as the 7angels who pour out the "bowels of Gods anger" after they are 'caught away to meet their LORD in the air' to be together with him in Heaven to be 'adopted as God's Sons ' ready for the Marriage of the Lamb, prior to the fulfillment of Revelation :26, 27..

That is why the prophecy in Revelation 12:14 mentions they are 'given 2 wings of the Great Eagle' and escape to their place, to be fed, 1260 days , away from the face of the serpent' after being sealed; with God's protection, the 'earth swallows up the torrent from the serpent' and they have the powers of Moses & Elijah, (Rev 11:5,6) to empower their journey to the end of the 1260 days of the Gt tribulation, unharmed.