Jesus is linked with the Passover lamb and the Branch prophesied in the Old Testament. He’s also strongly suggested in the four “Servant Songs”—Isaiah 42: 1-4; 49: 1-6; 50: 4-7; and 52: 13-53:12. The Messianic prophecies are striking. For example, Isaiah says: “By his knowledge, shall my righteous Servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities” (Isa 53: 11).
Jesus tells his disciples at that final meal with his disciples: “Take, eat. This is my body . . ..” Then he takes the cup and says: “Drink from it, all of you, for this is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins” (Mat 26:26-28 ~NKJV).
Isaiah talks about a Suffering Servant. Hebrew prophecy has two pictures of the Messiah—one a victorious ruler, the other this oddly suffering leader. Isaiah also identifies him as the Arm of the LORD. In Jesus’s time, the expectation of a victorious ruler was at fever pitch, and the Messiah as Suffering Servant? No. The Servant prophecies deserve a closer look. Isaiah’s first two Servant Songs are one place to go.
God speaks through Isaiah: “Behold my servant, whom I uphold; my elect, in whom my soul delights; I have put my spirit upon him. He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles” (Isa. 42:1). Jesus says, “The Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son” (John 5:22). “All judgment” would include the Gentiles.
Soon after the death of John the Baptist, Jesus asks the crowd about John. He says, “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind?” John is Jesus’ relative and forerunner. Jesus seems to recall Isaiah’s prophecy referring to them both: “He [the Messiah] will not cry, nor raise his voice, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. / A bruised reed [John, apparently] he will not break, /And a smoking wick he will not quench. / He will bring forth justice unto truth. / He will not fail nor be discouraged/ Till he has established justice in the earth, /And the coastlands shall wait for his law” (Isa 42:2-4).
In Isaiah 49: 1-6, we hear the voice of the Servant, who says, “And now the LORD says, / Who formed me from the womb to be his Servant, / To bring Jacob back to him, / So that Israel is gathered to him, / For I shall be glorious in the eyes of the LORD, / And my God shall be my strength. / Indeed he says, ‘It is too small a thing that you should be my Servant/ To raise up the tribes of Jacob, / And to restore the preserved ones to Israel. / I will also give you as a light to the Gentiles, / That you should be my salvation to the ends of the earth” (Isa 49: 5-6).
These passages in Isaiah clearly suggest that the Messiah, the one called “the Nazarene” or “the Branch,” will be identified with the people of Israel—in their suffering, in their special place with God. Indeed they are special to God. They are “Israelites to whom belong the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the Law, and the service of God, and the promises, whose are the fathers, one of whom is the Messiah according to flesh–he being God over all, blessed forever, amen” (Rom 9: 4-5 ~ Modern KJV).
In the traditional rabbinic view, the Suffering Servant is Israel. Scripture seems to underwrite this view because Isaiah declares, “And he said to me, / ‘You are my Servant, O Israel, / In whom I will be glorified’ ” (Isa. 49:3).
But if Israel as a body politic is the predicted Suffering Servant, how then will Israel “Raise up the tribes of Jacob” or “restore the preserved ones to Israel”? To limit the meaning in this way creates a circular argument. Israel will “restore the preserved ones to Israel”? And what about the rest of the world? Isaiah talks about “the preserved ones” of Israel. But what about the nations.?
Imagine someone who emerges from among the Hebrew people, who comes along and makes a move so comprehensive that, not just Israel, but the whole world feels the effects? How could that happen?
The public suffering of Jesus will be contested by no one, but the question his suffering puts out there is this: What does it mean . . . for the Jewish people and for everybody else?
Simeon, an old man, was ready for this day and gave an answer to those questions. He holds the infant Jesus in his arms and says: “My eyes have seen your salvation / Which you have prepared before the face of all peoples, / A light of revelation to the Gentiles, / And the glory of your people Israel” (Luke 2: 30-32).
It is a question to be answered personally–by you and me. If you’re looking for an answer, go to the final book of the Bible for an unforgettable picture. A Speaker says, “Look, I’m standing at the door knocking. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in, and we two will eat together” (my reading, Revelation 3: 20).
What happens then?
According to John, the beloved disciple, when we choose to open that door to the One who knocks, we have friendship and table fellowship with God and with others who have fellowship with him: “That which we have seen and heard we declare to you that you may have fellowship with us. And truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ” ( 1 John 1:3). I can say from personal experience that wherever I am, when I meet another Christian, I find an instant connection. We are related . . . as assuredly as if we were blood relatives. That bond is more immediate, more intimate and certain than the relationship of blood relatives who have no fellowship with the Messiah.
It can happen because “God was in the Messiah, reconciling the world to himself, not laying the guilt of their sins upon them” (2 Cor. 5: 19).
What? That’s a big claim! Who’s saying this? Does this person know what he’s talking about?
The man who wrote those words was “circumcised on the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, concerning the Law, a Pharisee, concerning zeal, persecuting the church, concerning the righteousness to be found in following the law, blameless” (Philippians 3: 5-6).
This is Paul, who began life as Saul of Tarsus. He says of himself, I “advanced in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries in my own nation, being more exceedingly zealous the traditions of the fathers” (Galatians 1: 14 NKJV). He has more to say on the subject.
“But,” he declares to another group of Christians he’s now writing to, “whatever things were on the benefits side for me, these I count as loss for the Messiah” (Philippians 3: 7).
The One knocking, standing at the door of Paul’s heart, was as good as his word. Paul opened the door, and the Messiah came in to have fellowship with him.
This is how Paul would describe what happened then: “If anyone is in the Messiah, this ‘anyone’ is a new creation. Old things are passed away. See with your own eyes! Everything has become new” (my reading, 2 Corinthians 5: 17). Yes, even the conflicts between Gentiles and Jews. Old things have passed away. A new creation has come.
from The Edgefield Advertiser, oldest newspaper in South Carolina
May 6, 2019
With thanks for the great images to the following, in order as they appear: passion flower vine, annie-spratt-1396195-unsplash.jpg; “reed shaken by wind,” max-bovkun-1652068-unsplash.jpg; ancient lighted lamp, vivek-karthikeyan-467769-unsplash.jpg; sun shining through golden grass, constellate-25187-unsplash.jpg;
Recent Comments