A Grand Prophecy
The book of Isaiah was incredibly intriguing to me because of its repeated message of judgment, purification, and salvation, appearing at first glance to be the same exact message delivered with slightly different language each time it is delivered. However, this is not entirely true because upon closer reading, Isaiah does build upon the message throughout the book with additional details. For instance, Isaiah prophesied that Israel would be destroyed as a form of punishment from God for its sins and lack of faith, but a small, remaining portion of purified Israelites would receive salvation. Out of this remnant, a Messianic king would arise from David’s line to lead the kingdom of Israel in the ways of God and allow the kingdom to spread God’s grace to all the other nations of the world. Christians would come to believe this “king” from David’s line to be Jesus, and they use Isaiah’s stories abundantly when justifying that Jesus is the Messiah. Furthermore, Isaiah talks of a servant of God who will spread His word to the Israelites and gentiles, and Christians believe that this prophesied servant is Jesus himself. On top of that, Isaiah describes that this servant will be “despised and rejected of men”, but through that servant’s suffering and sacrifice, that “righteous servant [shall] justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities” (Isaiah 53). Christians take this to mean that when Jesus was crucified after being tortured in various ways, he brought salvation to mankind by sacrificing himself to pardon all of mankind’s sins. Interestingly enough, after this declaration of universal salvation even for the wicked and unrighteous, Isaiah changes the message so that only those who walk in the way of God will be redeemed. Perhaps this is a sign that God has changed his mind, that Isaiah misinterpreted God’s original message, or even just that there is some slippage in the Bible as is almost unavoidable when you have originally distinct writings from multiple authors cobbled together.
Above are pictures by the Hubble and James Webb Space Telescopes depicting an iconic portion of the Eagle Nebula dubbed the “Pillars of Creation”, made famous by HST in 1995 though completely “reimagined” by JWST just this last week. One thing I always found interesting about the Pillars was how they sort of tapered off, with each pillar getting progressively smaller as you go from left to right in the image. Having finished Isaiah around the same time that the JWST picture was released, I find the tapering pillars to be symbolic of the fall of Israel through the conquests by Assyria and Babylon mentioned in Isaiah. Through those conquests, the Israelites are humbled and purified. In a similar manner, the Pillars will be torn apart from the inside out as new stars are born from gravitationally coalesced gas, purging the region of dark, concealing gas with only the bright, shining stars left behind. In both instances, destruction paves the way for creation, but not only that, it allows for a better creation. The new Israel will be redeemed with all of its sinners weeded out, and without the thick cloud of gas in the way, the beauty and splendor of the stars and planetary systems within the Pillars of Creation will be that much easier to see. It is a sort of life after death for the Pillars, and it represents the rebirth of the nation of Israel once all of the corrupt gas concealing the righteous is gone. Another interesting detail about the above images is that the clouds of gas that make up the Pillars allow infrared light through more easily than visible light, so the more recent image by JWST allows us to look past the irritating gas omnipresent in the original Hubble image toward the stars within. Likewise, the Book of Isaiah was important at its time of writing because it helped the Israelites to see purpose and divine planning within the Assyrian and Babylonian conquests, comforting them in bleak times with reassurance of God’s salvation.
Above are pictures by the Hubble and James Webb Space Telescopes depicting an iconic portion of the Eagle Nebula dubbed the “Pillars of Creation”, made famous by HST in 1995 though completely “reimagined” by JWST just this last week. One thing I always found interesting about the Pillars was how they sort of tapered off, with each pillar getting progressively smaller as you go from left to right in the image. Having finished Isaiah around the same time that the JWST picture was released, I find the tapering pillars to be symbolic of the fall of Israel through the conquests by Assyria and Babylon mentioned in Isaiah. Through those conquests, the Israelites are humbled and purified. In a similar manner, the Pillars will be torn apart from the inside out as new stars are born from gravitationally coalesced gas, purging the region of dark, concealing gas with only the bright, shining stars left behind. In both instances, destruction paves the way for creation, but not only that, it allows for a better creation. The new Israel will be redeemed with all of its sinners weeded out, and without the thick cloud of gas in the way, the beauty and splendor of the stars and planetary systems within the Pillars of Creation will be that much easier to see. It is a sort of life after death for the Pillars, and it represents the rebirth of the nation of Israel once all of the corrupt gas concealing the righteous is gone. Another interesting detail about the above images is that the clouds of gas that make up the Pillars allow infrared light through more easily than visible light, so the more recent image by JWST allows us to look past the irritating gas omnipresent in the original Hubble image toward the stars within. Likewise, the Book of Isaiah was important at its time of writing because it helped the Israelites to see purpose and divine planning within the Assyrian and Babylonian conquests, comforting them in bleak times with reassurance of God’s salvation.
The “Pillars of Creation” are my favorite astronomical entity because of the sense of grandeur that they exude about the universe. The Book of Isaiah is interesting to me for a similar reason: it discusses a grand, divine plan by God for judgment followed by salvation. Additionally, it gives us our first look into the promise of a Messiah, perhaps the most important basis for modern-day Christianity. Either way, the Book of Isaiah preaches the glory of God in a way I have not seen yet in the Old Testament that reminds me a lot of modern-day church services, a fact that perfectly demonstrates its revolutionary material and profound effect on religion globally. That, combined with the masterful wordplay and beautiful writing, I am sure will lead me to review Isaiah in the future in much further detail, just like how JWST revisited the “Pillars of Creation” after Hubble’s initial picture.
Works Cited
BibleProject, director. Overview: Isaiah 1-39. YouTube, YouTube, 15 Apr. 2016, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0A6Uchb1F8. Accessed 26 Oct. 2022.
BibleProject, director. Overview: Isaiah 40-66. YouTube, YouTube, 26 Apr. 2016, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TzdEPuqgQg. Accessed 26 Oct. 2022.
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