2000-11-04 - Messiah His Final Call to Israel

Messiah: His Final Call to Israel Series, Part 11

Peace will undoubtedly come to war-torn Israel, but it will not be drawn up in man's disagreements or misunderstanding over land. This week we will be looking at what the Prophet Isaiah has to say about the "real peace process."

The last ten devotionals we have written, cover some aspect of the peace that Israel will attain according to the Bible. The first few devotionals of our series covered a brief history of the nation. Just as surely as the Bible has described (in detail) the life, death and burial of Jesus of Nazareth the Hebrew Messiah - so again does it describe (in detail) the second coming of the Hebrew Messiah and fills in the details that encompass the event that WILL bring peace to war-torn Israel.

In our last two devotionals we have discussed those details which Moses and Hosea saw concerning those events. We have tried to clearly bring out Israel's place in this world-shaking, prophetic event. It is our desire and prayer that you too would intercede in prayer for Israel. We pray that the truth would rise in her midst.

Isaiah often uses the term "servant." When the context of each occurrence of this word is examined, it is learned that the Prophet uses it with three different meanings. In Isaiah 42:18-22, the context shows that he refers to literal Israel, in the broadest sense of the term.

Isaiah 42:18-22 Hear, ye deaf; and look, ye blind, that ye may see. Who is blind, but my servant? Or deaf, as my messenger that I send? Who is blind as he that is at peace with me, and blind as Jehovah's servant? Thou seest many things, but thou observest not; his ears are open, but he heareth not. It pleased Jehovah, for his righteousness' sake, to magnify the law, and make it honorable. But this is a people robbed and plundered; they are all of them snared in holes, and they are hid in prison-houses: they are for a prey, and none delivereth; for a spoil, and none saith, Restore

In Isaiah 41:8-16 the servant described is the faithful remnant of Israel of the end time.

Isaiah 41:8-16 "But thou, Israel, my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend, thou whom I have taken hold of from the ends of the earth, and called from the corners thereof, and said unto thee, 'Thou art my servant, I have chosen thee and not cast thee away; fear thou not, for I am with thee. Be not dismayed, for I am thy God; I will strengthen thee. Yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.' 'Behold, all they that are incensed against thee shall be put to shame and confounded: they that strive with thee shall be as nothing, and shall perish. Thou shalt seek them, and shalt not find them, even them that contend with thee: they that war against thee shall be as nothing, and as a thing of nought. For I, Jehovah thy God, will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, 'Fear not; I will help thee. Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel. I will help thee,' saith Jehovah, 'and thy Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel. Behold, I have made thee to be a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth; thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shalt make the hills as chaff. Thou shalt winnow them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them; and thou shalt rejoice in Jehovah. Thou shalt glory in the Holy One of Israel.'"

In Isaiah 42:1-4 the servant is the Messiah, who comes into the world to establish justice among the nations. In verse 49:1-7; 50:1-11; and verse 52:12 the servant is undoubtedly an individual, the ideal Israelite, the Messiah.

Isaiah 42:1-4 "Behold, my servant, whom I uphold; my chosen, in whom my soul delighteth: I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the Gentiles. He will not cry, nor lift up his voice, nor cause it to be heard in the street. A bruised reed will he not break, and a dimly burning wick will he not quench: he will bring forth justice in truth. He will not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set justice in the earth; and the isles shall wait for his law."

Embedded in the famous passage of Isaiah 53, is one of the verbal confessions, which penitent Israel will make regarding the mistake made by their leaders when they rejected the Messiah, who came nineteen hundred years ago. Herewith is the confession in full:

Isaiah 53:1-9 Who hath believed our message? and to whom hath the arm of Jehovah been revealed? For he grew up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised, and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and as one from whom men hide their face he was despised; and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows; yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and Jehovah hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, yet when he was afflicted he opened not his mouth; as a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and as a sheep that before its shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who among them considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living for the transgression of my people to whom the stroke was due? And they made his grave with the wicked, and with a rich man in his death; although he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.

Upon reading Isaiah 52:13-53:12, the unbiased reader, who has no theory to support, sees clearly that the prophecy speaks of an individual who suffers vicariously for others. Notwithstanding this fact, there are those who still insist that Israel as a nation is the sufferer of this passage. Dr. Frederick A. Aston, in his pamphlet, "The Challenge of the Ages (pp.5 and 6),"shows twelve reasons why Israel cannot be interpreted as the sufferer of this oracle.

1. He is portrayed in the detailed features of a human personality.
   
2. He is an innocent sufferer (vv.9c,d;12d).
   
3. He is a voluntary sufferer (v.7a).
   
4. He is a meek and silent sufferer (v.7).
   
5. His suffering springs from love for sinners, including his executioners, who acted in ignorance (vv.4c,d; 7; 12f ).
   
6. His suffering is ordained by God in love and fulfills a divine purpose (v.10).
   
7. His suffering is vicarious, that is, substitutionary (vv. 4a,b; 5a,b; 6c; 8d; 10b;11d;12e).
   
8. His suffering is redemptive and spiritual in nature (vv.5c,d; 11d).
   
9. His suffering ends in death (8c;10b; 12c).
   
10. His death gives way to resurrection (vv.10c; 11).
    
11. His atoning work leads the straying people to confession and repentance (vv. 4-6).
    
12. His redemptive work, in which suffering, humiliation, and death are central, inaugurates a life of sublime exaltation (52:13; 15a,b; 53:12a,b).

The twelve points listed prove conclusively that the servant presented in Isaiah 52:13-53:12 is a man who suffers vicariously for sinners, and who is able to make expiation for all accepting his atoning sacrifice in their behalf. This passage, studied in the light of related ones, identifies this sufferer as the Messiah.

As stated before, Isaiah 53:1-9 is one of the versions of Israel's oral confession of the national sin. Very frequently the prophets were borne along in vision by the Spirit of God to some time in the future and, figuratively speaking, were let down into the midst of the scenes concerning which they were to prophesy. That this statement is correct is evident in the light of this passage:

II Peter 1:21 For no prophecy ever came by the will of man: but men spake from God, being moved by the Holy Spirit.

It is certain that Isaiah the Prophet in 53:1-9 is transported in vision by the Spirit of God from his own day to the time that the whole nation of Israel will genuinely make this confession -- at the end of the Tribulation. Everyone who knows anything about Jewish history realizes that the people of Israel have never yet made such a confession.

But they will do so, as has already been seen in the last two devotionals which covered

Leviticus 26:40 And they [Israel] shall confess their iniquity, and the iniquity of their fathers, in their trespass which they trespassed against me, and also that, because they walked contrary unto me.

Hosea 5:15 I will go and return to my place, till they [Israel] acknowledge their offense, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me earnestly.

When will they make this confession? The answer is that they will make it in the year 2000 plus x plus 7. (The letter x is an algebraic symbol representing the unknown time between now and the Tribulation, and the number 7 represents the seven years of the Tribulation.) In the year 2000 plus x plus 7, when the people of Israel will have learned the facts concerning the rejected and condemned Messiah, they will look backward over the wasted centuries of suffering and confess that Messiah actually came on scheduled time, as foretold by the prophets, but that the people of Israel did not recognize Him. Not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God, many of the leaders of Israel rejected the Messiah, considering Him as an ignorant, unlettered, and deluded impostor. Hence, He was "despised and rejected of men" (Isaiah 53:1-3).

But in the year 2000 plus x plus 7, the entire nation of Israel will have been given the facts concerning the Messiah and His atoning sacrifice. As just seen, verses 1-3 give a glimpse of the Jewish people of the first century and their outlook, when they were blindly led by their misguided leaders, whereas verses 4-9 picture the people of Israel of the twentieth century as having learned the real facts regarding Messiah. According to these verses, they will see that Jesus of Nazareth was and is the true

Messiah; that in His life, death, resurrection, and ascension He literally fulfilled the prophecies relating to Messiah's first coming; and that the people of Israel, after learning these facts, will make confession of their guilt of rejecting Him in the words of Isaiah 53:1-9.

One may be certain that, when God pours out the Spirit of grace and supplication upon Israel: (Zechariah 12:10). "And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplication; and they shall look unto me whom they have pierced; and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn."

HE WILL open their blind eyes to see the marvelous truth of Isaiah 52:13-53-12.

So, once again, we see more details about the "real peace process." Please encourage someone to pray with you that the Truth may rise in the midst of Israel. Until next week we leave you with this verse:

Isaiah 62:6-7 I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem; they shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that are Jehovah's remembrances, take ye no rest, and give him no rest, till he establish, and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth.

In His Service,
Rick & Sandy

liv4yeshua@aol.com
http://www.cfdevotionals.org