Did Jesus Fulfill Bible Prophecy? Isaiah 53

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 42.

Isaiah 42: 1, 6

“Here is my servant whom I uphold,

My chosen one in whom I delight

I will put my spirit on him

And he will bring justice to the nations….

I, the LORD have called you in righteousness,

I will take hold of your hand,

I will keep you and will make you,

to be a covenant for the people,

And a light for the Gentiles,

The discussion continues 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.”

Moving on in the chapters, we see the role of the servant continuing 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 topic takes us all the way to Isaiah 52 where Isaiah continues talking about the special servant without offering any indication that he is changing the subject or introducing a different servant.

Isaiah 52:13

“See, my servant will act wisely…”

And, of course, the controversial Chapter 53 immediately follows.

Before continuing, an observation is in order about the nature of ancient Hebrew prophecy. The prophets often spoke in a poetic style, taking unusual licenses. You will notice that when talking about the servant in Chapter 42, he was quoting God and God is speaking of the servant in a third person narrative. Then, in 49:5-6, Isaiah has switched to a first person narrative. Finally, in 50:10 and 52:13, he returns to third person. That kind of switch back and forth was not unusual in those days, even though it may seem peculiar to our 21st century notions. In any event, we know that in BOTH cases (even first person) Isaiah is not talking about himself, as he describes a ministry that not only reaches out to Israel but is also a “light to the Gentiles,” something that goes far beyond the scope of his personal history and ministry. Notice also that this outreach to Gentiles was not confined to the first person narrative. It is in the third person as well (Chapter42).

Further evidence that Isaiah is portraying the servant as somebody other than himself is found in verses 5 -6 of Chapter 53:

“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 shepherd:

“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 shepherd 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?”

From the Talmud: Sanhedrin 98:b

“…For the sake of the Messiah, What is his (the Messiah’s) name? The Rabbis said, his name is the ‘leper scholar,’ As it is written Surely he hath born our griefs, and carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem him a leper, smitten of God and afflicted.

In the 11^th 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 views about Messianic passages 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)

Apparently this confession about Psalm 21 is also revealing his change of heart about Isaiah 53.

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.

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE

New International Version NIV

Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House.