The Good Book Club: Week 28
Isaiah visits God's throne room, predicts Jesus, and tells us the origin story of Satan
This Week
We are reading:
2 Chronicles 35-36
Isaiah 1-24
Psalms 145
Proverbs 7, 8:1-36, 9:1-18
Summary
This week we close out 2 Chronicles and begin Isaiah, and we finish Psalms and move back to Proverbs.
And we have officially crossed the halfway mark through our Bible in a Year Plan! Congratulations to those of you hanging in there week after week. You are certainly among God’s favorites <3
I’m thrilled to be moving on and starting Isaiah, if I’m honest. Isaiah is the prophet whose predictions foretell of Jesus the most, more than any other book in the Old Testament. AND we get the origin story of Satan. Isaiah pulls us out of reading a chronological history book and into the theological underpinnings of our world.
The first twenty-four chapters of Isaiah being covered this week are largely oracles of judgment against Judah, Israel, and the surrounding nations, interwoven with messianic prophecy. A nice poetic pick-me-up following the centuries of terrible kings we just endured.
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Here is the daily breakdown from our annual plan:
Day 187 — Monday, 7/6 — 2 Chronicles 35-36, Psalm 145
Day 188 — Tuesday, 7/7 — Isaiah 1-4, Proverbs 7
Day 189 — Wednesday, 7/8 — Isaiah 5-8, Proverbs 8:1-21
Day 190 — Thursday, 7/9 — Isaiah 9-12, Proverbs 8:22-36
Day 191 — Friday, 7/10 — Isaiah 13-16, Proverbs 9:1-6
Day 192 — Saturday, 7/11 — Isaiah 17-20, Proverbs 9:7-12
Day 193 — Sunday, 7/12 — Isaiah 21-24, Proverbs 9:13-18
Day 187 — Monday, 7/6 — 2 Chronicles 35-36, Psalm 145
Chronicles wraps up with a summary of why Israel fell: the people kept mocking the messengers of God, despising His words, scoffing at His prophets, until the wrath of the Lord was brought against his people.
Chronicles ends its account of Judah’s fall with the decree of Cyrus king of Persia, allowing the exiles to return and rebuild the temple.
My mouth will speak in praise of the Lord.
Let every creature praise his holy name
for ever and ever.
Psalm 145:21
Day 188 — Tuesday, 7/7 — Isaiah 1-4, Proverbs 7
Isaiah begins like a prosecutor’s opening statement, with the prophet representing God taking his own people to court.
The charges are social and ritual — meaningless offerings, hands full of blood, oppression of the widow and orphan. The worship continues but the justice doesn’t, and God says he cannot stand the worship without the justice.
Day 189 — Wednesday, 7/8 — Isaiah 5-8, Proverbs 8:1-21
The parable of the vineyard detailing how God planted a vineyard, tended it, expected good grapes, got wild ones is representative of Israel, and harkens back to Noah, while foreshadowing the same metaphor Jesus uses in the Gospels. It’s simply incredible how these books with different authors thousands of years apart tie to each other so completely.
And then we get a glimpse of God’s Throne Room. We haven’t been here since Enoch! The mighty seraphim, with 6 wings, who use fire (hot coals) to cleanse the sins of man (Isaiah). Idk sounds like theological support for purgatory to me.
Chapter 7 introduces Immanuel, a savior conceived of a virgin, once again foreshadowing Jesus. Matthew later quotes this passage in reference to Jesus. The original context is a near-term political sign to Ahaz while the New Testament reads a longer trajectory into it.
Chapter 8 contains a bit of sharp relevance for the Capitalism and Glitter crowd: The Lord has given me a strong warning not to think like everyone else does. He said, ‘Don’t call everything a conspiracy, like they do, and don’t live in dread of what frightens them. Make the Lord of Heaven’s Armies holy in your life. He is the one you should fear.’”
Here I am. Send me.
Isaiah 6:8
Day 190 — Thursday, 7/9 — Isaiah 9-12, Proverbs 8:22-36
Nevertheless, there is hope in the coming Messiah — a branch from David’s line, emerging out of Galilee.
Proverbs 8 is Lady Wisdom speaking about her own origins: “I was formed long ages ago, at the very beginning, when the world came to be.” She was there at creation, beside God as a craftsman. It is interesting to ponder the relationship between God and wisdom, personified, as a separate entity — one highly sought after by esoteric mystery schools.
Day 191 — Friday, 7/10 — Isaiah 13-16, Proverbs 9:1-6
Isaiah pivots to oracles against the nations — Babylon, Assyria, Philistia, Moab — while revealing the origin story of Satan. Here we read the infamous passage about the king of Babylon falling from heaven, which later tradition applied to Satan’s original fall. Once again the text has near term references that echo a much bigger picture.
How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations!
Isaiah 14:12
Day 192 — Saturday, 7/11 — Isaiah 17-20, Proverbs 9:7-12
Oracles against Damascus, Ethiopia, Egypt. The discussion around Ethiopia is unusual as it ends not with destruction but with gifts being brought to Jerusalem. I find this particularly interesting given how the Ethiopian Orthodox Church has preserved biblical texts that have been lost to the western world. The commentary on Egypt is even more surprising, stating that Egypt, Israel’s original oppressor, will become a worshipper of Israel’s God.
The nations surrounding Israel are all, in Isaiah’s vision, ultimately caught up in the same story — not as permanent enemies but as peoples with their own trajectories toward or away from God.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,
and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
Proverbs 9:10
Day 193 — Sunday, 7/12 — Isaiah 21-24, Proverbs 9:13-18
More oracles — the Desert by the Sea (Babylon), Dumah (Edom), Arabia, and Jerusalem itself.
Chapter 24 begins the apocalyptic climax of this opening section — the earth laid waste, scattered, the earth staggers like a drunk, its transgression lies heavy on it, the floodgates of heaven are opened. It is the covenant curses of Deuteronomy extended to cosmic scale. All of creation feels the consequences of faithlessness.
And yet, at the end of the devastation, a remnant singing from the west and the east and the sea, glorifying God. The darkness and destruction is real, and the song of God’s glory persists anyway.
What are you thinking about this week — Isaiah's call, the Immanuel prophecy, the origin of Satan, or Lady Wisdom at creation? Let me know below.