Isaiah 53:1-12
Do you think our faith would be the same if all we had was the New Testament? If all of a sudden this man named Jesus –who’s birth sounds like a fairy tale – appeared on the scene and was teaching some radical things and ways of thinking, doing some spectacular things, and then dies – claiming to be the Son of God… And if we believe him, we will have eternal life.
What is so important about the Old Testament? ( Prophecy )
Before Jesus came to this earth, there were people who were expecting Him. People that had read the Old Testament prophecies and knew that God would send someone to save His people. In fact, some Jewish teachers taught there would be two Messiahs or Chosen Ones. One would give his life as a sacrifice for his people. The other would rule over His people as King. They couldn’t separate the physical from the spiritual realm; thinking the two would be one in the same.
When Jesus came, some people recognized Him because of the prophecies they had read. After His death, when His gospel was preached around the world, others came to believe because of those very same prophecies.
For example, let’s read the story of the evangelist Philip and his encounter with the man from Ethiopia that is recorded in Acts 8:30-35…
Philip was able to take the prophecies of the Old Testament and preach the gospel to this Ethiopian.
In the story of Jesus on the road to Emmaus, it says that “beginning with Moses and the prophets, he began to show them all that was said about himself in scripture.”
There are many phrases in the New Testament and gospels that refer to prophecy - “It is written…” “So was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet…” “So God fulfilled what He had foretold through all the prophets…”( very similar with the exception of the words “God fulfilled”…)
The gospel writers used these and other words to alert their readers to some of the different prophecies that were fulfilled in Jesus life. These prophecies were an essential sign to people in the first century. They still are today, but only to those who are watching and waiting.
It has been said that Jesus just set out to purposely fulfill prophecy… If that were true, what are the odds of a man even fulfilling just a few prophecies? Very slim. What are the odds of fulfilling more than 300 prophecies? Astronomical. Jesus fulfilled more than 300 Old Testament prophecies! Let’s look at just a few;
1. Born in the time of the Roman empire
In the book of Daniel, chapter 2, the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar had a dream in which he saw a giant statue that was smashed by a “rock that was cut out but not by human hands.” God helped Daniel interpret this dream, showing that after the Babylonians would come three kingdoms. History shows that these kingdoms were the Persians, the Greeks and the Romans. Then Daniel interpreted the part of the dream about the rock:
Dan. 2:44 “In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever. This is the meaning of the vision of the rock cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands — a rock that broke the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold to pieces.” Daniel told of four kingdoms: the Babylonians, the Medo-Persians, the Greeks and the Romans. The eternal kingdom of God would be established in the time of the fourth kingdom, in the time of the Romans…Jesus, in the time of the Romans, came to this earth and established his kingdom…He established the eternal “Church”.
2. Born of a virgin – Isa. 7:14 - Isaiah spoke of a child that would be born to a virgin. Fulfilled in Jesus.
3. Born in Bethlehem - Mic. 5:2 “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.” Let me ask you this; Can a man decide where to be born? How he is born or where he is born?
4. Fled to Egypt as a child – Hosea 11:1When He was young, Jesus was taken to Egypt, (for fear that Herod would have him killed) then brought back, just as the prophet Hosea had prophesied.
5. Preached to the poor – Isa. 61:1
Isaiah said that a telling part of the Messiah’s ministry would be the way that He preached to the poor. If we look at Jesus’ ministry, that is exactly what He did. He went not to the rich, but to the poor. And when Jesus’ was reminding John the Baptist of His identity, he said, "And tell him that the gospel is being preached to the poor."
6. Healed the sick, the blind, the deaf and the lame -
Isaiah also taught that this would be a key point of the Messiah’s ministry. Again, this is what Jesus told his disciples to tell John…prophecy was being fulfilled.
7. Zealously defended the house of God
Jesus zealously defended His Father’s house, just as the prophets had said. Not once but twice Jesus cleared the temple of the vendors and moneychangers that ruined the holy atmosphere of that house of prayer.
8. Made a triumphant entrance riding on a donkey – Zech. 9:9
When Jesus made his entry into Jerusalem the week before His death, He could have come riding on a white horse like a great warrior or a majestic king. Instead, He came riding on a donkey, just as the prophets had said.
9. Hailed as king exactly 483 years after the order to rebuild JerusalemJesus triumphant entry into Jerusalem came exactly 483 years after the order was given to rebuild Jerusalem. Daniel had prophesied that this would occur 69 weeks after that proclamation. However, the Jews sometimes referred to 7 years as a week. If we multiply 69 by 7, we get 483. This is a startlingly precise prophecy.
10. Betrayed by a close friend for 30 pieces of silver -
The prophets foretold that Jesus would be betrayed by one of His closest friends. The price of this betrayal was to be thirty pieces of silver. Judas, one of the 12 betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver.
Of course, some of the most amazing and precise prophecies about Jesus concern His death. That’s because Jesus came to earth with a mission, and that mission was to give His life…This is why so much detail is given to the last week of his life.
As an example, let’s look at Isaiah 53:
Is. 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. Verse 3 says that Jesus would be despised and rejected. Jesus used those very words to describe what would happen to Him in Jerusalem. And so it did.
Is. 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. Verse 5 says that Jesus would be pierced and crushed. Psalm 22 adds the detail that they would pierce His hands and feet. Another prophecy fulfilled.
Is. 53:6 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. ( What is this a reference to? ) At His trial before the Jewish high priest, the high priest asked, “You’ve heard all these witnesses; have you nothing to say?” Yet Jesus did not defend himself. Pilate asked him, “Do you refuse to speak to me?,” yet Jesus would not defend himself. Just as the prophet predicted.
Is. 53:8 By oppression 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. 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.
The gospels tell us that Jesus was crucified between two thieves. He was assigned a grave with common criminals…Verse 9 also says that the Messiah would be with the rich in his death. Jesus was laid in the tomb of a rich man ( Joseph the Pharisee ) after being taken down from the cross.
Is. 53:10 Verse 10 holds out a ray of hope, saying that the Messiah would have a long life, and verse 11 emphasizes that this would be AFTER laying down His life for His people. This was puzzling to the Jewish teachers who studied this passage, for they could not see how the Messiah could sacrifice Himself, and die, yet still live a long life and see His offspring. Other passages said that the Messiah would reign forever. How can you reconcile these ideas? They would ask. That’s why many Jews taught that there would be two Messiahs.
They weren’t counting on one thing: the resurrection. Jesus came back from the dead. He came back to life. That’s how He fulfilled these prophecies in a way that no one had even dreamed of…No one had come back from the dead before!...Nor since!
Fulfilled prophecy is what makes the Bible true! Fulfilled prophecy is what makes our faith strong! It’s not just the story of Jesus…in the New Testament…It’s the fact that the story was foretold 700 years before his birth! And foretold with such precision.
Yet, the Bible says “when he came unto his own, they did not recognize him.” Why?... Either they did not know prophecy…or they did not understand prophecy. But, there was also another reason – it was a “mystery”… What is a mystery? ( Something that is kept hidden from even the elite, lest the enemy find out.)
One of the keys of the Bible is not just a single verse, but all verses of prophecy. In light of all this, How important or “key” are the prophecies concerning the “last days”? The coming of Christ? The Rapture of the church? The Judgment? The 1000 year reign? Things concerning the Anti-Christ? Would we do well to know and understand prophecy?
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