Now that we have established the claims of Jesus, let’s see if His claims are in fact true:
700
years before Jesus was born, Isaiah the prophet predicted that the
Messiah would die for Israel’s sin and then rise from the dead. Other
prophecies about the Messiah described a warrior who would deliver
Israel from her enemies and then rule as King (Zech 14). This
alternate understanding of the Messiah became the more popular one. It
is the type of Messiah Jews expected in Jesus’ day which explains why
He was rejected and explains why Jews today have so much difficulty
seeing Jesus as their Messiah. But there had been a time when the
Messiah was expected to suffer for our sins before ruling as king.
Here are some highlights from Isaiah 53:
"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 and judgment he
was taken away."
But the Messiah would not only suffer. He would also die:
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
for the transgression of my people he was stricken. 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.
After this death, the Messiah will live again and rule:
"10 Yet it was the LORD's will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes 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] and be satisfied; 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, and he will divide the spoils with the strong,
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."
“If this prophecy is that obvious, why don’t more people become Christians, especially Jews?”
There are two standard objections to this passage.
1) The original words of Isaiah did not contain these words. They were changed by the church to make it look like a fulfilled prophecy.
RESPONSE:
The transmission of the Hebrew Old Testament text remained in the hands
of the Jews, not the Christians. I have seen translations of this
passage that the church never touched with a ten foot pole. Even more,
compelling, the Dead Sea Scroll findings in 1947 produced another
complete copy of the book of Isaiah. The date for this text is around
150 BC. Are we also going to claim that Christians tampered with that?
2)
The more standard objection is that Isaiah did in fact write these
words but that they have been interpreted incorrectly. Supposedly
Isaiah is sharing an allegory. The Suffering Servant is not one
individual, but rather, the entire nation of Israel, suffering as
scapegoats at the hands of the Gentiles.
Prophets
did at times speak of Israel as if the entire country were a single
person However, there are several problems with that
interpretation in this particular case. First of all, he begins his
discussion of the servant back in Chapter 49 where the servant is
clearly distinguished from Israel by being someone who will minister to
Israel.
Isa 49:5-6
"5
And now the LORD says--he who formed me in the womb to be his servant
to bring Jacob back to him and gather Israel to himself, for I am
honored in the eyes of the LORD and my God has been my strength-- 6 he
says:” It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the
tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also
make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to
the ends of the earth."
When
the discourse continues, this remains the role of the servant as
Israel’s disobedience is described and the servant’s faithfulness is
described:
Isa 50:10
10 Who among you fears the LORD
and obeys the word of his servant?
Let him who walks in the dark,
who has no light,
trust in the name of the LORD
and rely on his God.
This
is the same topic and discourse that takes us all the way to the end of
Isaiah 52 and in that time the word servant is not introduced again, so
we assume that God is still talking about a servant who will save
Israel. This fits the context of verses 5 -6:
"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."
Allow
me to point out the obvious: Isaiah was a Jew, not a Gentile,
Isaiah is saying “He was wounded for our transgressions.”
As
you see, an honest literary criticism, taking the entire context into
consideration, dispels the idea of Israel being the Suffering Servant.
But
there is another case to be made, one which should carry far more
weight with today’s Jews, or at least Jews who want to be honest with
their own traditions. The ancient rabbis (for the most part) also
viewed Isaiah 53 as a reference to the Messiah. Please
understand, I personally do not accept the ancient commentaries as
being authoritative but Orthodox Jews do! For example, if you ask
them why they don’t make animal sacrifices today in obedience to the
law of Moses, they will answer, “Because the rabbis have told us that
without the temple we do not have to make sacrifices.”
I
don’t think that’s a very good answer. After all, there was no temple
from Moses through David, and yet sacrifice still went on those many
years. But never mind. It’s OK, because it tells us something
about the credibility of the ancient Rabbis in the minds of today’s
Jews. Well then, let’s look at what the rabbis said about Isaiah 53:
From
the Targum (an Aramaic translation of the Hebrew Bible) Jonathan Ben
Uziel of the first century paraphrases Isaiah 53: "Behold my servant,
the Messiah, shall prosper (52:13) "Then he will beseech concerning our
sins and our iniquities for his sake will be forgiven."
From the Zohar, an ancient book of Jewish Mysticism (vol. 2 212a
'The
Messiah... summons every pain and every chastisement of Israel.
All of these come and rest upon him...as it is written, surely our
sicknesses he carried."
Also from Zohar, (Torah 1153) Fishby Translation The
Wisdom of the Zohar, Vol 3 Elijah talks to faithful shepard:
"For you
are wounded for the sins of the people as it is written "He was wounded
because of our transgressions." Is. 53:5 Faithful shepard says "
It is said of me,’ They made his grave with the wicked." Is 53:9
From
the Midrash Samuel , part of a commentary on the Holy Scriptures)
"All
the sufferings of the world are divided into three parts. One of them is borne by the Messiah."
Also From the Midrash
Midrash Rabbah on Ruth 2:14 (also makes connection to Isaiah)
The
fifth interpretation refers to Messiah.."Come here" means to the
throne. "and eat some bread," that is the bread of the throne. "and dip
your morsel in vinegar," this refers to suffering "but he was wounded
because of our transgressions. (Isa 53:5)
(Midrash Ruth Rabbah :Vol 3 Jacob Nesner Brown Judaic Studies)
Piska
34: (From Peskita) Yale Judaica Series Leon Newry Editor on Zech 9:9
"Submissive and yet he promises salvation, describing the Messiah for
when they laughed at him while he sat in prison, he submitted for the
sake of Israel, to the judgment imposed on him and is therefore
properly called submissive. Why is he spoken of as
"yet he promises salvation?" Because after submitting to the
judgment for their sakes, he said, All of you deserve extermination,
never-the-less you will be saved, every one of you by the mercy of the
Holy One blessed be He."
Piska
37:1 "In the month of Nisan, in the year when the Messiah appears, the
Patriarchs will ask him whether he is displeased with Israel because of
the affliction he endured on their account"
Piska
36:1 "At the time of the Messiah creation, the Holy One will tell him
in detail what will befall him. There are souls that have been
put away with thee under my throne and it is their sins which will bend
thee down under a yoke of iron and make thee like a calf whose eyes
grow dim with suffering and will choke thy spirit as with a yoke
because of the sins of these souls, thy tongue will cleave to the
roof of thy mouth. Art though willing to endure such thing?"
In the 11th century, the famous scribe, Rashi changed the interpretation of Isaiah 53 to mean Israel. Rashi,
himself had once viewed the passage as a reference to the
Messiah. But he had a habit of changing his view to answer
Christians who debated him and he shamelessly admitted that he changed
his opinion for exactly that reason! Observe his words on Psalm 21:
“Our
rabbis interpret it as a reference to King Messiah but it is correct to
interpret it as a reference to David himself as a retort to the
Christians who found it in support of their erroneous beliefs.”
From: Rashi’s Commentary on The Psalms, Psalms 1-86” Books I-II
Translated by Mary Gruber
1998 University of Southern Florida pg. 123
Conclusion:
Isaiah
comes to us from the hands of the Jews, not the Christians. An honest
reading of the text tells us that this is a reference to the Messiah.
The commentaries of ancient Jewish rabbis also view it as a reference
to the Messiah. The very rabbi who made the modern interpretation so
popular admitted his reason for making such changes.
None
of this negates the fact that Jesus will still return to deliver Israel
from her enemies some day. He will come as a warrior and He will rule
as king. In short, Jesus will do, the second time, what the Jews
expected Him to do the first time. He just had this little problem with our sin which had to be dealt with first.