2 Kings 15:19-38 | 2 Chronicles 27 | Isaiah 5-6

There is an ongoing sting of wicked kings in the northern kingdom of Israel. In Judah, king Uzziah dies after reigning for 52 years, and his son Jotham is a good king for 16 years, and then his son Ahaz becomes king.

Through Isaiah, God describes Judah and Jerusalem as His favored vineyard, which He cultivated and protected, yet year over year He failed to find good fruit from the vineyard. God calls out the leaders in Judah as unfaithful vinedressers, who He will bring judgement upon, and He will allow His vineyard to be overrun by foreigners. This allegory is repeated by Jesus in Matthew 21:33-41, where He speaks prophetically of the judgement that will come upon Jerusalem just 40 years hence.

In Isaiah 6, the prophet is given a vision of the Lord’s throne room following the death of king Uzziah, which is also seen in the vision of the apostle John in Revelation 4-5. The word of the Lord comes to Isaiah, predicting that His people in Israel will have ears to hear and eyes to see, but they will not listen and they will not perceive what they see and hear. This prophecy is quoted by Jesus in Matthew 13:13-15, and it is because of this deafness and blindness to God that Israel rejected Jesus, and God’s grace and salvation was made freely available to the rest of the world, as Paul explains in Romans 9-11. However, God tells Isaiah (6:11-13) that this deafness and blindness will come to an end in the last days, after much devastation has reduced Israel to only a remnant, and they will be restored. This speaks of the end of the great tribulation, when a remnant in Israel will finally turn to God in repentance, and call upon Jesus to save them.