Christians have called the Book of Isaiah a “fifth gospel” because of its striking foretelling of the principal mysteries of the life of Jesus. But how do these prophecies of a still far-off Savior relate to the circumstances of Isaiah’s own time?

St. Thomas Aquinas’s Commentary on Isaiah is believed to be his first major theological work, produced as part of his academic training as a bachelor of theology. Carefully attending to the language and structure of Isaiah’s prophecy and using Scripture to shed light on Scripture, Aquinas explains how Isaiah’s message brought comfort to Israel and pointed forward to the coming of the Christ.