Jesus the Messiah
During my time in the bible today, I landed upon Isaiah 52:13-53:12. What is amazing to me is the undeniable picture being painted of Jesus Christ and His death and ressurection some 700 years before His birth. This is just one of hundreds of prophecies that were fulfilled through Jesus Christ! According to Dr. Louis Lapides who was quoted in The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel concerning the probability of someone fulfilling OT prophecies like Jesus Christ did, Dr. Lapides stated: "Not a chance. The odds are so astronomical that they rule that out". He continued, "Someone did the math and figured out that the probablility of just eight prophecies being fulfilled is one chance in one hundred million billion." (Qtd. in The Case for Christ, p. 183). Read the verses out of Isaiah below in blue. To deny Jesus as Messiah would be very difficult just by this one passage among hundreds that point towards Jesus as Messiah. Something else I would like to point out is that the verses read as if the event had already happened! Another example that God in eternity is not bound by time and in fact is outside of time! C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity described it as life on earth is being read like a book. The ending has already been written and it is just being read as we speak. Jesus also gave us a glimpse into the eternal nature of God and his existance beyond time by His statement in John 8:58 : "I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "before Abraham was born, I am!" Dr. James Macdonald put it beautifully on the cover of one of his Christmas cards: "Our holy God who has dwelled for eternity in indescribable glory and unapproachable light has now stepped into time."
Isaiah 52:13-15
13 See, my servant will act wisely [a] ;
he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted.
14 Just as there were many who were appalled at him —
his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man
and his form marred beyond human likeness—
15 so will he sprinkle many nations, [c]
and kings will shut their mouths because of him.
For what they were not told, they will see,
and what they have not heard, they will understand.
Isaiah 53
1 Who has believed our message
and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.
Like one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4 Surely he took up our infirmities
and carried our sorrows,
yet we considered him stricken by God,
smitten by him, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before her shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
8 By oppression [d] and judgment he was taken away.
And who can speak of his descendants?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
for the transgression of my people he was stricken. [e]
9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in his mouth.
10 Yet it was the LORD's will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the LORD makes [f] his life a guilt offering,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.
11 After the suffering of his soul,
he will see the light of life [g] and be satisfied [h] ;
by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, [j]
and he will divide the spoils with the strong, [k]
because he poured out his life unto death,
and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors.
During my time in the bible today, I landed upon Isaiah 52:13-53:12. What is amazing to me is the undeniable picture being painted of Jesus Christ and His death and ressurection some 700 years before His birth. This is just one of hundreds of prophecies that were fulfilled through Jesus Christ! According to Dr. Louis Lapides who was quoted in The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel concerning the probability of someone fulfilling OT prophecies like Jesus Christ did, Dr. Lapides stated: "Not a chance. The odds are so astronomical that they rule that out". He continued, "Someone did the math and figured out that the probablility of just eight prophecies being fulfilled is one chance in one hundred million billion." (Qtd. in The Case for Christ, p. 183). Read the verses out of Isaiah below in blue. To deny Jesus as Messiah would be very difficult just by this one passage among hundreds that point towards Jesus as Messiah. Something else I would like to point out is that the verses read as if the event had already happened! Another example that God in eternity is not bound by time and in fact is outside of time! C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity described it as life on earth is being read like a book. The ending has already been written and it is just being read as we speak. Jesus also gave us a glimpse into the eternal nature of God and his existance beyond time by His statement in John 8:58 : "I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "before Abraham was born, I am!" Dr. James Macdonald put it beautifully on the cover of one of his Christmas cards: "Our holy God who has dwelled for eternity in indescribable glory and unapproachable light has now stepped into time."
Isaiah 52:13-15
13 See, my servant will act wisely [a] ;
he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted.
14 Just as there were many who were appalled at him —
his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man
and his form marred beyond human likeness—
15 so will he sprinkle many nations, [c]
and kings will shut their mouths because of him.
For what they were not told, they will see,
and what they have not heard, they will understand.
Isaiah 53
1 Who has believed our message
and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.
Like one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4 Surely he took up our infirmities
and carried our sorrows,
yet we considered him stricken by God,
smitten by him, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before her shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
8 By oppression [d] and judgment he was taken away.
And who can speak of his descendants?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
for the transgression of my people he was stricken. [e]
9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in his mouth.
10 Yet it was the LORD's will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the LORD makes [f] his life a guilt offering,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.
11 After the suffering of his soul,
he will see the light of life [g] and be satisfied [h] ;
by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, [j]
and he will divide the spoils with the strong, [k]
because he poured out his life unto death,
and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors.
