Vision & viewing the future
The haftarah is the first chapter of Isaiah, beginning Chazon Yeshayahu, the Vision of Isaiah (it is from this phrase that this Shabbat derives its title of Shabbat Chazon).
The word Vision is used because prophets have insight into events and movements.
What makes them able to see into tomorrow? And if God knows what will happen in the future, why should we pray or repent since we cannot change anything?
On the first question we can say that a prophet sees trends and developments and warns that if they are not checked by human conscience, there will be future repercussions.
On the second, the philosophers say that with God there is no differentiation between past, present and future, but an Eternal Now. God does not attach a future time-frame to an event. Everything is contemporaneous.
