The Mysterious Prophecy of Isaiah 53

you the vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of uzziah jotham ahaz and hezekiah kings of Judah a vision given during troubled times to the people of Jerusalem living under the imminent threat of invasion in 701 the king of Assyria Sennacherib Sargon son came over with his army and invaded the kingdom of Judah we know from the Assyrian sources that they destroyed 46 of the cities of Judah according to the vision the Lord was trying to get the attention of a nation that had turned their backs on what he had said in the Torah and on him hear o heavens and give ear o earth for the Lord has spoken children I have reared and brought up but they have rebelled against me the vision expressed both warnings and hope for Isaiah's time while including predictions that reach to the end of the age but there was one part of the vision that sounded different totally unexpected a mysterious prophecy tucked in the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah in graphic detail it spoke of a servant a servant deliverer whose identity seemed hidden in a kind of prophetic riddle Kings shall shut their mouths because of him for that which has not been told them they see and that which they have not heard they understand for centuries many have tried to solve the mystery of Isaiah chapter 53 and identify this one whom the Lord calls my servant in the ancient targum which is a rabbinic paraphrase of the Bible it says behold my servant the Messiah and it adds the words the Messiah will prosper and so it is actually thinking of isaiah 52:13 through 53:12 it says this is the messiah so many many passages many citations could say yes this was a messianic passage behold my servant he shall be high and lifted up and shall be exalted many were astonished at you he grew up before him like a young plant and like a root out of dry ground he was despised and rejected by men from ancient times Jewish interpreters understood isaiah 52:13 through 53:12 to be a messianic passage for example in the talmud and sent Hedren 98 it speaks of the Messiah it asked the question what is the Messiah's name and it says the sick one for he shall bear our sicknesses quoting from Isaiah from Isaiah 53 surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows yet we esteemed him stricken smitten by God and afflicted but he was pierced for our transgressions he was crushed for our iniquities and with his wounds we are healed the Jewish view that's always made the most sense to me in this it's been to argue for the righteous remnant as a function of the collective as opposed to Israel as a whole because we know Israel's history as a whole is not particularly righteous so the nation as a whole doesn't qualify but the idea that within Israel there are certain righteous ones who have faithfully represented God who could perhaps fit this role seems to me to be a plausible way to try and make the corporate argument all we like sheep have gone astray we have turned every one to his own way and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all this much we see beginning in the 41st chapter Israel is referred to as the servant of the Lord as a nation but then sometimes one individual within the nation is identified as the servant he was oppressed and he was afflicted yet he opened not his mouth like a lamb that is led to the slaughter by oppression and judgment he was taken away he was cut off out of the land of the living stricken for the transgression of my people it says that the servant dies for the sins of my people now whether it's Israel speaking God's speaking or Isaiah speaking the only answer to the question of who are my people is it's Israel so how could Israel die for Israel as a substitution and they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death although he had done no violence yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him when his soul makes an offering for guilt he shall see his offspring he shall prolong his days out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied by his knowledge shall the righteous one my servant make many to be accounted righteous so the unnamed servant succeeds and conquers not by power but by surrender and suffering bringing healing for his people the Jewish people and the world but who is this suffering servant when you come to Isaiah 53 you have to ask yourself who actually fulfilled with who actually died and his own people thought he was dying for his sin and yet he was dying for the sins of the whole world who was it that didn't defend himself that when is the lamb to the slaughter who was it that not only was cut off from the land of the living and died but then continued on saw the light of life continued alive who was it that bore the sin of many who was it because of whom kings of the earth have shut their mouths and on said we never knew we never understood for centuries the rabbi's of Israel reflected on the mysteries of what Isaiah had foreseen some suggested that Isaiah was predicting two messiahs two deliveries one in the military legacy of King David another who liked the patriarch Joseph would rescue his people through suffering Messiah son of David and Messiah son of Joseph then just as the modern nation of Israel was being reborn the prophecies of Isaiah resurfaced ancient copies of the Prophet dated one hundred years or more before the Christian era were discovered at the lowest spot on earth near the Dead Sea so the Dead Sea Scrolls are ancient Jewish manuscripts discovered between 47 and 56 in eleven caves in the area of Qumran come gran is located on the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea ten a five thirty kilometers east from Jerusalem this was one of the greatest and most important discoveries of Antiquities ever made here the air is bone-dry perfect for preserving and hiding the manuscripts of the Dead Sea Scrolls many scholars identify what remains of the Qumran community where the Jewish sect called the Essenes seeing the priesthood and temple worship of Jerusalem as being corrupted the Essenes broke from mainstream Judaism and retreated here to seek the Lord in the wilderness it seems that the Book of Isaiah was among the most popular and most admired books for the sect which was living at Qumran during Second Temple period and of the Book of Isaiah we have 2 ne1 copies Isaiah is the most popular prophet among the Dead Sea Scrolls is the oft-quoted prophet in all the scrolls and it's a fact that out of the two - any biblical copy say in Qumran the only full copy is the great as a scroll discovered in cave 1 in 47 so it's very obvious that must be a reason hmm because Isaiah is a key prophet in Qumran the Essenes carefully copied biblical texts and community documents their desert library reflected the belief that they were living in the times of Israel's long awaited Messiah and there are many examples in the Book of Isaiah in the Oracle's of the a is a prophet about a day future saver and the hint of history in the first century BC first century AD those people probably felt their own days as the very troublesome days of prophet Isaiah they regarded the Roman threat to be maybe parallel to the threat felt by the Jerusalemites from Assyria the great power of their time they regarded themselves as the Isaiah of their own time some groups like the Cumbre Knights and the group of Jesus and John the Baptist they live with the sense that are actually they are on the eve of the new era expecting the Messianic Kingdom it's quite obvious why Isaiah became a key prophet for disclosing the secret of time the secret of the times in Scrolls governing life and worship called the community rule the Essenes use the words of Isaiah to describe their messianic mission to quote open up a path for the Lord a voice cries in the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord make straight in the desert a highway for our God and these issue is the key issue mentioned the scores themselves in the community rule and it's not by chance that the same verse quoting from Isaiah chapter 40 verse 3 is the same verse also they mentioned in the context of John the Baptist in the Gospel of Mark and the parallels also strictly speaking this verse is mentioned explaining why John the Baptist is announcing the coming of the Messiah in the wilderness of Judea so again it can't be by chance that same verse is quote and again it teaches the fact that a the prophet Isaiah was a key prophet for different groups in ancient Judaism soon after John the Baptist called on his people to prepare the way of the Lord in the wilderness Isaiah's predictions of a suffering servant took a controversial turn followers of Jesus or Yeshua in Hebrew came to the conclusion that they had seen an unexpected and dramatic fulfillment of the ancient words in the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah explore the mysterious prophecy of Isaiah 53 the revealing book Isaiah 53 explained is yours right now for the asking we'll send it to you absolutely free if you want to choose from Old Testament any passage that might speak directly to the Jewish heart go to Isaiah 53 I recognize that this was a spiritual thing within the heart Isaiah 53 explained reveals details about the Messiah and the future and it's yours free call one eight five five six five four 53 53 or go online to Isaiah 53 com request the book titled Isaiah 53 explain call one eight five five six five four 53 53 or go online to Isaiah 53 calm the shrine of the book at the Israel Museum houses the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit showcased here is a replica of the great scroll of Isaiah one thousand years older than any previously discovered copies of the Prophet here a national treasure silently represents the hope of a nation and a promise for the world within this 24 foot scroll our ancient predictions of a restored people and of a global peace it is a day when as Isaiah says the lion will lie down with the lamb and swords will be beaten into ploughs a time when a long-awaited Messiah reigns in justice yet where the promise comes an unfolding drama the 53rd chapter of this scroll tells the story of the suffering servant deliverer that would eventually be claimed by followers of Jesus it's important to remember that in the time of Jesus there was no such thing as Christianity he was a rabbi not a reverend he was called Christ not because he was the son of mr. and mrs. Christ but because Christ was the Greek way of saying Messiah and the only Bible they had was what we call the tun off the Jewish Scriptures according to the Gospels Jesus and His disciples didn't see themselves as starting a new religion but part of a new era in Judaism a new era that would again and again reach back to the promises of prophets like Isaiah and it's a fact that a also the prophet Isaiah is the oft-quoted prophet in the New Testament writings again it can not be a chance and there is another and very tricky issue there is in the stories on Jesus in the Gospels there is only one story in which Jesus is said that he reads from a book there is only one story in only one version in the Gospel of Luke in chapter 4 because the story that when Jesus on Sabbath and Shabbat he was in Nazareth he was asked to read from a scroll and it was given to Jesus the book of Isaiah and he read from Isaiah chapter 61 about the Spirit of God a a upon me the Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor he has sent me to proclaim Liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind to set at liberty those who are oppressed to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and he began to say to them today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing there is a a big discussion among scholarship if this story can be regarded as a true a an original story about Jesus on a profile story but in any case it's very obvious that in one way or another the story reflects the significance that the prophet Isaiah had for the followers of Jesus John the Baptist and the first Christians in the book of Acts and Acts chapter eight there's a Ethiopian royal official who is heading back he's the treasurer he's obviously a convert to Judaism and he's got the scroll of Isaiah in his chariot and he is reading it and he's trying to figure out who is this servant and it's at this point that he meets Philip who was a Jewish follower of Jesus in the first century obviously taught by the disciples had learned of Isaiah 53 and its application to Jesus being the Messiah and when he meets this royal official he asked him if he knows who he's reading about and the royal official says I don't know there's no one here to explain it to me who is he speaking of is he speaking of himself as he's speaking of who was he speaking of and at that point Philip shows him how Jesus is the fulfillment of this passage that it's that he is the the referent that Isaiah was speaking of when he spoke of the Messiah the suffering servant and at this point the Royal official immediately believes and becomes a follower of Jesus as well what really inspired those close to Jesus what made them see him as more than another rabbi after the tragic and unexpected execution of their teacher followers of Jesus claimed to be eyewitnesses of his resurrection before long they were also seeing in the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah an ancient portrait of the remarkable events they had just witnessed in verse after verse they saw detailed descriptions of the life of Jesus his terrible sacrificial death and even his resurrection they saw Jesus as the unnamed suffering servant in the arresting portrait of Isaiah 53 in Isaiah 53 it's shocking to see the servant of the Lord experiencing experiencing a humiliating death a horrific death when it describes him it talks about him being crushed for our iniquities it describes him as being so beaten and so hurt that he's beyond recognition it is a excruciating humiliating disfiguring death that he faces it also describes him dying through piercing it says he was pierced through for our iniquities so it indicates that his death would include piercing and the significance of his death is that it wasn't that he was dying because he did something wrong but it says all we like sheep have gone astray we each have turned to his own way but the Lord has laid on him the servant the iniquity of us all the guilt of us all in other words what he is saying is that the servant is dying as a substitution to take the chastisement for our well-being is paying the punishment for our sins his death in effect is a substitution he is exchanging his life so that we can be forgiven this description of the servant reads like it's a person an individual and remarkably like the story of Jesus but traditional Judah is a most often identifies the servant as the nation of Israel who also suffered tragically if I was reading it as a traditional rabbi so I'm reading the Hebrew text but I'm not just reading the text I'm reading it with the major commentaries and the primary commentaries on my page are going to be some of the commentaries from 11th 12th 13th centuries named Rashi and they've been Ezra and Roddick these men are very important in traditional Judaism I'm going to be reading in light of what they say and they're going to tell me that the servant of the Lord is Israel and this is speaking of the suffering of the the Jewish people or the the righteous remnant the righteous minority within the nation and this is as we're scattered around the world as via the Holocaust be Crusades inquisitions whatever we've suffered through the centuries and this is through our suffering somehow healing comes to the world and and then at the end the Gentile kings the nation's were recognized they were while we thought they were despised and rejected they were actually suffering for us and through them healing has come our way first century Israel certainly knew about suffering Jesus wasn't the only one crucified some were still looking for Messiah a deliverer someone to free them from a Roman occupation to restore their Kingdom but it had been 400 years of silence 400 years since there had been a word from the Lord or a prophet to show them the way Jesus and John the Baptist both enter the scene but without a word about Roman oppression Jesus did say give to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are gods so it's not surprising that the rabbi from Nazareth didn't meet the expectations of many in Jerusalem there's no question that the primary Jewish expectation of the Messiah even among the disciples would be one who would rule and reign and establish the kingdom and destroy the yoke of Rome and set the Jewish people free and bring the kingdom of God to the earth that would have been the most common Jewish expectation by contrast according to the Gospels of the New Testament Jesus presented himself humbly as the servant of Isaiah conquering through surrender and suffering he doesn't indirectly which is how he actually does a lot of things but he does it by saying that he came to give his life as a ransom for many which is an allusion to the imagery of this of this text he does it at the Last Supper you know the Last Supper is kind of like a last will and testament time with his disciples and you say things when you know you're departing - people - that they'll remember and so he has this meal and he he takes what is what is Passover what is the Passover and changes the imagery and relates it all to himself and in the midst of doing that he says he speaks about the blood being shed for on behalf of the many and so this is the blood of the New Covenant and so poured out for you and poured out for the many - we have two versions of these words and the Gospels but the illusion is to Isaiah 53 and so Jesus is connecting himself with this sacrifice being this servant he tells that the same meal and Luke he tells his disciples that he will be reckoned with the transgressors which is a passage coming right out of this text and Jesus took a cup and when he had given thanks he gave it to them saying drink of it all of you for this is my blood of the Covenant which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my father's Kingdom so according to the Gospels while anticipating his death Jesus spoke of that future kingdom foreseen by Isaiah and earlier in his life Jesus stated his purpose was to serve and serve as a ransom again quoting from Isaiah 53 for even the Son of man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many however Jesus didn't just link himself to one prophetic chapter in Isaiah but to the whole of the Hebrew Bible do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them centuries ago the Prophet wrote of the suffering of a heroic figure called my servant does the mystery still remain was that servant a nation that suffered was the servant a son of David who said he came to serve and suffer all we like sheep have gone astray we have turned every one to his own way and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all all prophecies are tested by time explore the mysterious prophecy of Isaiah 53 the revealing book Isaiah 53 explained is yours right now for the asking we'll send it to you absolutely free if you want to choose from Old Testament any passage that might speak directly to the Jewish heart go to Isaiah 53 I recognize that this was a spiritual thing within the heart Isaiah 53 explained reveals details about the Messiah and the future and it's yours free call one eight five five six five four 53 53 or go online to Isaiah 53 dot-com request the book titled Isaiah 53 explain call one eight five five six five four 53 53 or go online to Isaiah 53 calm you

Channel: Ask Isaiah

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Keywords: Isaiah 53, Isaiah53, Moshiach, Suffering Servant, Messiah, Truth, Salvation, Prophecy (Type Of Paranormal Event)

Id: gWkngqBoK6M

Length: 28min 32sec (1712 seconds)

Published: Mon Nov 18 2013