The following is chapter 14 in the children’s series, If They Could Talk, the story of our redemption as it unfolds from Genesis to Revelation. This is the story of Isaiah as found in the book that bears his name.
My Friends,
I know what you’re thinking, “A chicken? What’s a chicken know?” I understand your concerns. My kind scurries about, scratching the dirt with head down most of the day. But we listen. And what we hear we remember. I have much to say to you.
One nation with one king was a distant memory; it had been over two centuries of two nations and two kings—a divided people and a divided land. Israel in the north had forgotten God long ago; Judah in the south was beginning to. The Creator God sent His prophets to warn and to instruct. They spoke His Word for the present and sometimes spoke of what was to come. My favorite was my owner; his name was Isaiah—and he said much about the One who was to come.
Isaiah’s calling came long before I was an egg. He spoke of that vision much; reliving it often through loud prayers of thanksgiving to God as he fed the barnyard. We liked our food, but we loved hearing him speak of the “Holy, Holy, Holy” God he saw as a young man. Tears still flowed as he spoke of the Glory he saw that day and the verdict he heard; his guilt and sin taken away and that he would be God’s voice.
There would be many visions through the years; God speaking to Isaiah often. The more I listened, the more amazed I became. For there was a theme in God’s words to my master; someone was coming—He would be called God’s Servant.
But this Servant would be no ordinary man. God saying in the visions that the Servant would be born of a virgin and that His name would be Immanuel. We animals knew what the name meant: “God with us.” More visions came. That this One Who was to come would also be called “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” and that He would sit on the throne of David forever. Then there were visions of what He would do. That He would open the eyes of the blind and bring out the prisoner from the dungeon’s darkness, and even this—that He would be a light for the Jew and also for the Gentile. And then there was even this: That this Servant would take away the sins of His people.
How could a Servant do this? The Creator God told my owner. And what He told him makes me shake. He said His Servant would suffer and be rejected; just as a lamb led to the slaughter. Yet still more; that it was God’s will to crush His Servant so that many would be made righteous.
I don’t understand all this; I am just a fowl. But surely you must agree this One coming is more than a servant. He sounds like a Savior to me; a Messiah.
You must look for Him my friends. These are clues like bread crumbs; follow them—they will lead you to Him. God told my owner He’s coming. You mustn’t miss Him; for He comes to save you.
Looking with you,
The Chicken