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