Isaiah was a Prophet of Israel and Judah, he was called by the Lord to proclaim his messages to the people, although he suffered rejection even from his own son.
Then I [Isaiah] said, “For how long, O Lord?” And he answered: “Until the cities lie ruined and without inhabitant, until the houses are left deserted and the fields ruined and ravaged, until the LORD has sent everyone far away and the land is utterly forsaken.” ISAIAH 6:11–12
Wanted: dedicated employee who will faithfully proclaim messages of judgment to people who will reject and despise you. All efforts will produce little noticeable results and will end in complete destruction.”
It’s unlikely that a job posting like that would garner many applicants.
Yet that is essentially the job to which the prophet Isaiah was called by God.
Isaiah was probably closely affiliated with the royal court, given his relatively easy access to the king (Isaiah 7:3). But at some point in his life, the Lord, in His royal splendor, appeared to him in a vision (Isaiah 6), and Isaiah’s life was forever changed. He was called to prophesy
God’s messages of judgment and restoration to His people, but God also
warned him that the people would not listen and would eventually experience destruction. Even Isaiah’s own children bore prophetic names: Shear-Jashub (“A Remnant Shall Return”) and Maher-Shalal Hash-Baz (“Swift Is Spoil, Speedy Is Prey”).
Isaiah faithfully carried out his solemn and weighty task to the very end. He began prophesying a few decades before the fall of the northern kingdom of Israel and ended a few decades after this event.
Isaiah’s efforts were not really futile, though, for his words were recorded for later generations in the book of Isaiah. Many of these prophecies foretold the Messiah, who would redeem His people from their bondage.
Isaiah is the Old Testament book most quoted in the New Testament. Jesus quoted Isaiah 6:9–10, which speaks of the people’s callous hearts, when His disciples asked why He spoke in parables rather than in direct statements (Matthew 13:13–15).