Ancient Prophecies: Part 7 of 16: Rightly Dividing The Word Of God.

Isaiah 53:5

“But He was for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.”

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Everything about who Jesus is and what would happen while He was here on earth was written down by the prophets of the Old Testament. Everything regarding Israel and the Church is also written there and what would become of them as well. Did Isaiah or any of the prophets of old fully understand the things about which they wrote?

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Full Revelation?
Did Isaiah fully understand the revelations he was given? After all, there is an awful lot in his book about Jesus.  The fact of the matter is, none of the Old Testament prophets knew nor had full understanding of their promised Messiah.  It was very confusing!  Some parts of their prophecies paint a picture of a glorious, conquering King; others revealed a suffering Messiah.  So, what would He be:  A Conquering King, or a suffering Messiah?  Both stories couldn’t be true, could they?  They seemed contradictory.

What they never could have guessed was that Jesus would be both.

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Jewish Secretaries.
Though he penned the above passage, Isaiah was not the author.  He was simply acting as one of God’s Jewish secretaries. Like all the prophets of old, he simply recorded what The Holy Spirit told him.  But not a one of them had full revelation of what they were writing.
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You can see why they were confused. They didn’t realize that there would be a first AND a second coming.  This would result because Israel would reject Jesus as their Messiah.  In His first coming, He would suffer and die for our sins.  The Jewish people didn’t understand that, had they accepted Him, He would have become that conquering Messiah they thought He would be!

But it was also hidden for another compelling reason:  The devil was seeking desperately to stop the coming of this Champion Who would crush his head.  God did  not want to tip His hand, so to speak.

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Amazing Detail.

In the opening verse, Jesus is depicted as the suffering Savior.  What amazing detail!  It’s incredible that Isaiah described His sufferings in this manner because he wrote centuries before death by crucifixion was employed as capitol punishment.  There is no way he could have known in the natural what would happen.

How did he do it?  The Holy Spirit told him exactly what to write.  He simply put on paper God told him.

(For a more in-depth study on this passage, you may follow the link below.  I guarantee your appreciation of what He suffered will rise to a whole new level 😭:

By His Stripe We Are Healed: Passover Series Part 8

Nazareth Visit.

At one point during His earthly ministry, Jesus went to visit in His hometown, Nazareth. On the Sabbath, He got up, as was His custom, and read from the scroll of Isaiah.  He read most of the first two verses in Isaiah 61.  Let’s follow the story as recorded in Luke 4:

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“The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim libertyto the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed; To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.” Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant….”(Luke 4:18-20)

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Why Did Jesus Close The Scroll?

He didn’t read the entire passage.  Jesus closed the scroll and handed it back to the attendant and sat down.  But turn to this passage in Isaiah and you’ll notice He didn’t read the end of verse 2.

Isaiah went on to write the following words: “And the day of vengeance of our God…” Jesus left off that part and stopped at the comma. Why?  Because the day of God’s vengeance is not here.  Isaiah, like the rest of the Jewish people, did not know that between the “Acceptable year of the LORD” and “The day of vengeance” there would be a span of than 2,000 years.  We’re still counting.

Jesus closed the book on FAVOR because He came as the Lamb of God, as our Savior in His first coming.  At His second coming He will come as the Lion of the tribe of Judah to judge the world.  Right now, we are still in that age of grace, of “Radzon,” of it being acceptable to God for all to be saved.

(For more on that topic, you may follow the link below:

The Judgment Seat Of Christ.

THANK GOD HE CLOSED THE BOOK!

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Day Of Vengeance Still Future.

This means that the day of vengeance is not here…..YET.  So when someone talks to you about God’s judgment or sings about “the days of vengeance of our God” in song, as if God is judging the nations right now, or judgment has fallen on this person or those people, DON’T BELIEVE THEM!  We are still in the dispensation of grace.

Yes, the day of vengeance will come, but it is not here…..yet. Besides, Church, when it does come, you and I will not be here.  It is called, “The day of God’s wrath.”  We are not appointed unto wrath because Jesus took it ALL in our stead.  We will be sitting down with Jesus at the marriage feast of the Lamb while that “Day” is taking place!

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A Child Is Born.
The same confusion between the conquering King and the suffering Messiah is also evident here in Isaiah 9:6.

“For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

Isaiah had no way of knowing that between “The child born” and the “Government upon His shoulder,” there would again be than 2,000+ years between those two events.  He simply wrote down what God told him to write as a faithful Jewish secretary.

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You may continue this study by following the link below to part 8. We’ll discover more about the Gospel of the Kingdom that Jesus preached and how it is different from the gospel we preach today:

The Gospel of the Kingdom: Part 8 of 16: Rightly Dividing The Word Of God.