Isaiah definitely had a hard life, full of trials and sacrifices. I mean, the man was commanded by God to name his first son “A Remnant Shall Return.” Imagine naming your child A Remnant Shall Return. I mean, what do you say when you get mad at him? “A Remnant Shall Return, get that room cleaned up right now!” And then he was commanded to name his second son “Quickly to Spoils, Plunder Speedily.” Or something like that, depending on who translates it. But by far the greatest sacrifice in Isaiah’s life—was his life.

About the same time Isaiah wrote the last chapter of his book, which became the first chapter, the Jewish King, wicked King Manasseh, put a bounty on Isaiah’s head. And when the king’s guards found Isaiah hiding in the hollow of a log, the king had them cut it in half, with him in it. Thus, according to Jewish legend, Isaiah was executed by being sawed in half.

But back to that last chapter that Isaiah wrote, which actually became the first chapter of his book. Today we call it the introduction to the book of Isaiah—and in it, he calls out the covenant people. He says Jehovah has brought up sons, but they’ve rebelled against him. He says an ox knows who its master is, but God’s children don’t know who their master is. And then he uses temple imagery. He says that their sacrifices in the temple are meaningless, that even when they wave their hands and pray to him, he won’t hear them. Why? Because their hands are “full of blood.”

Now, Isaiah was a prominent man, possibly born in the royal family, so some of the people actually heard what he said—and some of them were probably a little upset when he said that God wouldn’t hear their prayers because their hands were full of blood. What he meant was, even though you go to the temple and sacrifice to God, your offerings aren’t accepted because of your sins. Later he said that the people were guilty of grinding the faces of the poor, that successful people were taking advantage of poor people, and then paying tithes on the profits. He called these things “vain oblations,” or vain offerings.

But in spite of all of this, God said that he was willing to forgive them, if they would just repent. Through Isaiah, God said he could make their sins, which were scarlet red, become as white as snow. But, of course, God knew they wouldn’t do it, so he said that he would purge away all their dross, which meant their sins, through burning and destruction. And he wasn’t being metaphorical. He meant real burning, and real destruction, which, of course, really happened.

Now, we should remember that Isaiah said he was mostly speaking to people in the last days. In fact, everything he wrote was meant as a type of things that would happen in the last days. So, do we grind the faces of the poor and then pay tithing on the profits? Do we make hollow offerings in the temple of God? Some of us must, or Isaiah wouldn’t have said we do. And because we are guilty, the consequences he promised will surely come, or Isaiah wouldn’t have said they would. As the Savior once said, “Great are the words of Isaiah.” But, of course, the words of Isaiah will only be great to us if we understand them—and obey them.