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In the previous unit, we studied ‘Prophets of Faithfulness. This unit, unit 2 follows the theme, ‘Prophets of Restoration’. Lesson one focuses on the prophet, Isaiah, and one of five major prophecies written by him called ‘the Servant Songs’ which speak of the Messiah who would appear some seven hundred years later in the person of Jesus, the Christ.
The book of Isaiah is regarded by many theologians as, “The Fifth Gospel” because it provides the clearest portrait of the coming Messiah in the Old Covenant. The time window in which Isaiah prophesies places him is the time when the ten tribes of the Northern Kingdom of Israel descend from prominence into idolatry and finally, into captivity to Assyria. As the major prophetic voice to both Israel and Judah, Isaiah had the unique responsibility to chasten and comfort the leaders of both kingdoms by the unction of the Spirit of God. Isaiah 53 gives a very clear prophetic glimpse of Jesus as the ‘Suffering Servant.’
Isaiah 53:4 NASB
4
However, it was our sicknesses that He Himself bore,
And our pains that He carried;
Yet we ourselves assumed that He had been afflicted,
Struck down by God, and humiliated.
Matthew 8:16-17 NASB
16 Now when evening came, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed; and He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were ill. 17 This happened so that what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet would be fulfilled: “He Himself took our illnesses and [u]carried away our diseases.”
In verse four of the lesson, Isaiah prophesied that God’s Messiah would bear our sicknesses, pains, and sorrow. In chapter eight of the Book of Matthew, the writer records several episodes involving divine healing. Verses one through four record the healing of a leper. In Jesus’ day, leprosy was incurable and highly contagious. So much so that a leper had to take the initiative to separate himself from the general public in all circumstances. It would disfigure and maim the leper, making their existence wretched to the very end.
Verses five through thirteen record the healing of the servant of the Roman centurion from what is described as a crippling and painful form of paralysis. In that, the centurion was Roman meant that, as a gentile and as a member of the occupying force of Rome, he was hated and despised by the Jews. Matthew could identify with the Roman centurion, in that, as a former Jewish tax collector for Rome, he too was despised, hated by his Jewish countrymen.
Verses fourteen and fifteen record the healing of Peter’s mother from a fever. When word of her healing spread, many of her neighbors came to receive a touch or a word from the Lord.
Matthew then goes on to quote directly from Isaiah 53:4 to indicate to his readers that the demonstration of Jesus’ ability to heal is affirmation that He was the Messiah, God’s promise to Israel of a Deliverer to come. In this same passage, Matthew also reveals the limitless power available through Christ to heal. God is no respecter of persons. What Jesus did for the leper, the servant, and his disciple’s family he can and will do for us.
Unfortunately, we are sometimes inhibited from receiving all that God’s grace makes available to us because of our limited understanding of God’s unlimited favor. In the same way that Matthew’s audience may have considered Jesus to have been deservedly punished by God, we too consider ourselves undeserving of the fullness of God’s favor, thereby missing out on the abundant life Jesus promised in John 10:10b, “I came so that they would have life, and have it abundantly..”
Isaiah 53:5 NASB
5
But He was [a]pierced for our offenses,
He was crushed for our wrongdoings;
The punishment for our [b]well-being was laid upon Him,
And by His wounds we are healed.
1 Peter 2:24 NASB
24 and He Himself [y]brought our sins in His body up on the [z]cross, so that we might die to [aa]sin and live for righteousness; by His [ab]wounds you were healed.
In verse five, Isaiah reveals that Christ was wounded for our rebelliousness against God, that he was bruised, beaten because of the depth of our depravity. That He was punished so that we might have everlasting peace with God and that by the stripes, literally, the wounds he endured in the beating before the crucifixion, we are healed, or rather, Rapha, the Hebrew word used to indicate actual physical healing from disease or affliction is made available. In 1 Peter 2:24, Peter confirms this fact with a direct quote of the same passage in Isaiah, affirming God’s desire for the believer to be healed completely, both spiritually and physically. Dr. R.W. Shambach used to say, “Divine healing was the children’s bread.” He would then add, “Divine healing wasn’t God’s best for you (the believer), divine health was.” His words reveal a comprehensive understanding of God’s intent for complete healing for the believer made available through the eternal salvation provided by Jesus at the cross. We are saved at the moment we believe. We don’t get more saved as time passes. Neither do we become more saved when we pass from this life to eternity. Rather, we are as saved, as righteous as we are ever going to be at the moment we place our trust in Christ. It then becomes contingent upon us to find out just what, exactly that God’s great grace affords us. I have stories to tell. I just don’t have time to tell them in this venue...
Isaiah 53:6 NASB
6
All of us, like sheep, have gone astray,
Each of us has turned to his own way;
But the Lord has caused the wrongdoing of us all
To [c]fall on Him.
1 Peter 2:25 NASB
25 For you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and [ac]Guardian of your souls.
Isaiah completes the thought by intimating that each of us are essentially taken by our own whims, trapped by devices of our own making, but that the Messiah would take upon Himself the entirety of our guilt. Peter again confirms this in repetition but adds that Jesus is the embodiment of Isaiah’s words who has both saved us, and now keeps us eternally, spiritually safe, and secure.
Isaiah 53:7 NASB
7
He was oppressed and afflicted,
Yet He did not open His mouth;
Like a lamb that is led to slaughter,
And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers,
So He did not open His mouth.
John 1:35-36 NASB
35 Again the next day John was standing [ah]with two of his disciples, 36 and he looked at Jesus as He walked, and *said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!”
In verse seven, Isaiah reveals the length to which the Messiah will have to suffer to accomplish the redemption of all mankind. With the use of the word ‘lamb’, Isaiah identifies the coming Messiah as one who will make the ultimate sacrifice for the sake of the redemption of the nations: death. In essence, the Messiah’s sacrifice would make atonement before God for the sins of all mankind. In the first chapter of the Book of John, Jesus is revealed to be the very Lamb of God and the fulfillment, yet again, of Isaiah’s word.
Isaiah 53:8 NASB
8
By oppression and judgment He was taken away;
And as for His generation, who considered
That He was cut off from the land of the [d]living
For the wrongdoing of my people, to whom the blow was due?
2 Corinthians 5:21 NASB
21 He made Him who knew no sin to be [a]sin in our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
In verse eight, Isaiah foretells the unjust and wrongful prosecution Jesus would suffer at the hands of Israel’s religious leaders. Paul echoes Isaiah’s words in his third letter to Corinth, making it clear that Christ paid our sin debt at the cross.
Isaiah 53:9 NASB
9
And His grave was assigned with wicked men,
Yet He was with a rich man in His death,
Because He had done no violence,
Nor was there any deceit in His mouth.
The accuracy of Isaiah’s prophecies is proof of the omniscience and providence of God. The Good News is, that because of that omniscience, God’s promises for healing and restoration for those who are called His children are assured.
Isaiah 53:10-11a NASB
10
But the Lord desired
To crush Him, [e]causing Him grief;
If He renders [f]Himself as a guilt offering,
He will see His [g]offspring,
He will prolong His days,
And the [h]good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand.
11
As a result of the [i]anguish of His soul,
He will [j]see it and be satisfied;
In these final verses, Isaiah foresees the reward received by the obedient Servant: eternal life and a legacy that we, today call the Church. The risen Christ
Hebrews 12:1-2 NASB
Therefore, since we also have such a great cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let’s rid ourselves of every obstacle and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let’s run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking only at Jesus, the [a]originator and perfecter of the faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
This lesson is incomplete but finished for the time being. I may return to complete it at a later date (The beauty of blogging)
Selah,
wb
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