"Hear, O heavens, and hearken, O earth, for the Lord speaketh" (Isaiah 1:2). The sermon is addressed to the entire universe. Like Moses: "Hearken, O heaven, I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth" (Deuteronomy 32:1).

"Alas, a sinful people, a people burdened with iniquity... What else shall you be beaten, you who continue your obstinacy? The whole head is full of sores, and the whole heart is withered. From the sole of his foot to the crown of his head he has no healthy place: sores, spots, festering wounds, uncleansed and not bandaged, and not softened with oil" (Isaiah 1:4-6). What harsh words does the Lord say, how to bring you to reason, people who do not want to repent, people who do not want to abandon their iniquities? And now the land is desolate, the land is plundered, the land is plundered, "if the Lord of hosts had not left us a small remnant, we would have been like Sodom, we would have been like Gomorrah" (Isaiah 1:9). In Sodom and Gomorrah there was no pious remnant, and they perished.

The religious life of Judea was built around the temple and the altar. We remember how detailed and how detailed the requirements for rituals, sacrifices and feasts are described in the Pentateuch, how carefully everything must be fulfilled, and suddenly through the prophet Isaiah the Lord declares: "Why do I need the multitude of your sacrifices?<... >I am full of ram burnt offerings... and I do not want the blood of bulls, or lambs, or goats. When you come to appear before me, who requires you to trample down my courts? Bear no more vain gifts: incense is an abomination to me; New moons and Sabbaths, festive gatherings I cannot endure: iniquity and feasting... My soul hates your feasts: they are a burden to me; It is hard for me to bear them" (Isaiah 1:11-14). This is what the Lord says about those feasts which He Himself established and Himself commanded to be observed. Why? "And when you multiply your supplications, I do not hear: your hands are full of blood. Wash yourselves, cleanse yourselves; remove your evil deeds from my eyes; stop doing evil; learn to do good, seek righteousness, save the oppressed, defend the fatherless, intercede for the widow" (Isaiah 1:15-17), that is, this service must bear some fruit. These words echo the prophecies of the Book of the Prophet Amos (Amos 5:22-24).

Answering the question about the main commandment of the Law, Christ added: "On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets" (Matt. 22:39-40). Without the second, there is no first: if you say that you love God and hate your brother, then you are a liar (cf. 1 John 4:20). We have seen confirmation of this both in the Law and in the minor prophets. This idea is also revealed here: "Then, that is, when you learn to do good, come and judge, says the Lord. Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red as crimson, they shall be as white as wool. If you will and obey, you will eat the good things of the earth; but if you deny and persist, the sword will devour you: for the mouth of the Lord speaks" (Isaiah 1:18-20). Here ends the first Lenten paremia from the Prophet Isaiah. On the first day of Great Lent, this, of course, sounds especially convincing and edifying.

And then the prophet Isaiah says: "How the faithful capital full of justice has become a harlot!" (Isaiah 1:21). Here again we encounter images of which we have already had the opportunity to speak. The relationship between man and God is described not so much in legal terms as in terms of the relationship between husband and wife, and this kind of expression is constantly encountered in the text of the Book of the Prophet Isaiah. Although the accusatory and comforting prophecies in the book alternate all the time, its first part (chapters 1-40) is devoted primarily to the punishment and proclamation of the wrath of God. The Lord rebukes the inhabitants of Jerusalem: the faithful capital, full of justice, has become a harlot. Why did she become a harlot? Because she does not keep faithfulness to God, Who called her and loved her and Whom she herself promised to love. Now murderers dwell in it, "Thy silver has become dross, thy wine is spoiled by water; thy princes are transgressors of the law, and accomplices of thieves; they all love gifts and chase after bribes; the orphans do not defend, and the widow's work does not reach them" (Isaiah 1:22-23). And this is the reason for the judgment that is proclaimed over Israel and Judah. But along with the judgment it is also promised that the judgment will not be the final destruction of the people, but will be something like a furnace in which all the dross, all the lead that spoils silver, all impurities will be separated and purified.

26.4. Prophecy of the Church

Along with the judgment, the prophet constantly announces the triumph of righteousness, which will come after judgment and punishment. And here the prophet Isaiah speaks of the exaltation of the mountain of the Lord: "And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be set at the head of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow unto it. And many nations will go and say, 'Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob' (Isaiah 2:2-3). The mountain of the house of the Lord should be understood as the Church of Christ, which will be exalted and into which all nations will be drawn [see 12, part 2, p. 79]. The theme of God's calling of all nations and the worship of all godly people in the temple of God permeates the Book of the Prophet Isaiah from the first to the last page. It is no accident that at the very beginning of the book the prophet turns to heaven and earth, thereby showing that God is not only the God of Israel or, even less so, the God of individual faithful Israelites, but the God of heaven and earth. This means that the Lord is the God of all nations, and His providential actions extend to absolutely all people. And therefore, when some nations, Assyrians or Babylonians, come and crush the Israelites, this does not mean that they suddenly appeared from the realm of the universe, to which God's Providence does not extend, and invaded the land that belongs to God. All these actions also take place with the permission or direct command of God. In accordance with this, it is also shown that all the nations are not the future slaves of the Israelites, but all these nations are God's, although at that moment they are still far from Him, and that the Lord cares for them also, in order to give them salvation, which is being done in the midst of Jerusalem on Mount Zion: "For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord out of Jerusalem. And He shall judge the nations, and rebuke many nations" (Isaiah 2:3-4).

26.5. The Parable of the Vineyard

Further, the prophet depicts Israel in the parable of the vineyard: "My Beloved had a vineyard on the top of a fattened mountain, and He surrounded it with a fence, and cleansed it of stones, and planted in it choice vines, and built a tower in the midst of it, and dug a winepress in it, and expected that it would bring forth good grapes, but He brought forth wild berries. And now, ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge me with my vineyard. What else should I do for My vineyard that I have not done for it? Why, when I expected him to bring forth good grapes, did he bring forth wild berries? Therefore I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away its fence, and it will be laid waste; I will break down its walls, and it will be trampled underfoot, and I will leave it desolate..." (Isaiah 5:1-6).

Through the prophet, the Lord Himself explains this parable: "The vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are His favorite planting. And He waited for justice, but behold, there was bloodshed; waited for righteousness, and behold, there was a cry" (Isaiah 5:7). The vineyard is an image used in the Old Testament by a number of prophets (Jeremiah 2:21; 31:5; Ezek. 28:26; Zech. 8:12; Micah 4:4). When Christ tells the parable of the wicked husbandmen, He introduces it, repeating the text of the prophet Isaiah word for word (Matt. 21:33; Mk. 12:1; Lk. 20:9), thereby not giving His listeners the opportunity to understand Him in any other way. And finally, the words of the farewell discourse: "I am the true vine" (John 15:1) unite Christ and the Church as one, revealing to us the mystery of the Church as the Body of Christ.

26.6. The Calling of the Prophet Isaiah

Up to this point, we could still say that, in comparison with the books of the minor prophets already studied, we did not see anything fundamentally new. But this is just the beginning. You will agree that the first five chapters could have formed a separate prophetic book.

Chapter 6 describes the calling of the prophet Isaiah. A calling is necessary for the prophetic ministry, but it is not described by all prophets. Why is the calling spoken not at the beginning of the book, but after the pronouncement of a number of prophecies? Perhaps we are not talking here about the original call to ministry, but about a phenomenon that preceded a whole series of high and mysterious revelations. If we look at the prophecies contained in the next five chapters, we will see that this is indeed the case.

"I saw the Lord sitting on a throne high and exalted, and the edges of His garments filled the whole temple. Around Him stood the Seraphim; each of them had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And they cried out to one another, saying, Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of hosts. the whole earth is full of His glory! And the tops of the gate were shaken at the voice of those who shouted, and the house was filled with incense" (Isaiah 6:1-4). Notice that God reveals Himself to the prophet in the temple.