Clues to the Messiah – Clue 4, Part 2: Isaiah 53

(This series is excerpted from our book, The Case for Jesus the Messiah (ATRI Publishing, 2014)

Introduction

The term “Messiah” is taken from Psalm 2:2 and Daniel 9:25-26 where Mashiach (Hebrew), Messias (Greek) means “Anointed One.” The term took its meaning from the Jewish practice of “anointing” prophets, priests and kings to their respective offices. As a generic term it could be applied to an earthly king such as David (2 Samuel 19:21) who was “anointed” to fulfill the divine purpose of his office.

In this article we will continue to look at a fourth clue to help us identify the Messiah. Is He the one whose birth we celebrate at Christmas?

We now continue answering the question, “Is Isaiah 53 Speaking of Jesus Christ?”  

(6) “For he was cut off from the land of the living, for the transgression of my people he was stricken” (53:8).

But you disowned the Holy and Righteous One... and put to death the Prince of Life... For you first, God raised up his Servant... (Acts 3:14-15, 26).

For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.... God demonstrates his own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:6, 8).

(7) “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” (53:9).

So as evening approached, Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent member of the Council, who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God, went boldly to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body. Pilate was surprised to hear that he was already dead. Summoning the centurion, he asked him if Jesus had already died. When he learned from the centurion that it was so, he gave the body to Joseph. So Joseph bought some linen cloth, took down the body, wrapped it in the linen, and placed it in a tomb cut out of rock. Then he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb (Mark 15:42-46).

(8) “Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life a guilt offering,...” (Isaiah 53:10).

But the things which God announced beforehand by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ [Messiah] should suffer he has thus fulfilled (Acts 3:18).

All this is from God... God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ... (2 Corinthians 5:18-19).

(9) “After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities” (Isaiah 53:11).

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve. After that he appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time,... (1 Corinthians 15:3-6).

...being justified as a gift by his grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus;... (Romans 3:24).

(10) “...because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors” (Isaiah 53:12).

Two rebels were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left (Matthew 27:38).

...Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing... (Luke 23:34).

He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification (Romans 4:25).

Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us (Romans 8:34).

Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them (Hebrews 7:25).

As the Scottish exegete and theologian Paton J. Gloag, former professor of biblical criticism at the University of Aberdeen, argues:

We do not see how anyone can read this remarkable prophecy without being struck with its pointed resemblance to the character, sufferings, and death of the Lord Jesus. The portrait is complete: the resemblance is striking and unmistakable. Indeed, it seems more like a history of the past than a prediction of the future: A statement of the doctrines of the gospel made by some New Testament writer, as Saint Paul or Saint John, rather than a prediction of some Old Testament prophet. The seven centuries which intervened between Isaiah and Christ seemed to be bridged over, and the future is painted in the characters of the present. In no portion of Scripture, even in the most Evangelical parts of the New Testament, is the doctrine of the atonement, that grand characteristic of Christianity, so clearly stated as in these words of the prophet: “Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows; 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. The Lord hath laid upon him the iniquity of us all.” And yet nothing is more indisputable than that these words were uttered centuries before our Lord came into this world.^[1]

Was Isaiah 52:13-Isaiah 53 Recognized by Jews as Messianic?

Proof that this passage has long been acknowledged as Messianic can be seen from the fact that the early rabbis developed the idea of two Messiahs from this passage. Why?

First, they could not reconcile the statements that so clearly spoke of a suffering and dying Messiah with those verses in other passages that spoke of a triumphant and victorious Messiah. What is important to note is that they did recognize that both pictures somehow applied to the Messiah. But they also assumed it was impossible to reconcile both views in one person.

Rather than seeing one Messiah in two different roles, they saw two Messiahs—the suffering and dying Messiah called “Messiah ben Joseph,” and the victorious conquering Messiah called “Messiah ben David.”

Today, some Orthodox Jews still wait for the political Messiah, who will conquer and rule forever. At the same time there are some who accept Jesus Christ as the “other” Messiah (Messiah ben Joseph) although they deny His deity.^[2]

Dr. Raphael Patai, formerly of the University of Jerusalem, who has authored 20 books on subjects relating to Jewish religious beliefs, has stated, “When the death of the Messiah became an established tenet in Talmudic times, this was felt to be irreconcilable with the belief in the Messiah as the Redeemer who would usher in the blissful millennium of the Messianic age. The dilemma was solved by splitting the person of the Messiah in two....”^[3] On the basis of Isaiah 53, the Babylonian Talmud boldly predicts, “Messiah ben Joseph will be slain....”^[4]

The different views that orthodox rabbis down through history have given to this passage can be found in Rays of Messiah’s Glory. Notice, even such rabbis as the great Maimonides and Rabbi Crispin thought it was wrong to apply Isaiah 53 to the nation of Israel. Rather, they thought this clearly described God’s Messiah:

...the weight of Jewish authority preponderates in favor of the Messianic interpretation of this chapter;... That until recent times this prophecy has been almost universally received by Jews as referring to Messiah is evident from Targum [J]onathan, who introduces Messiah by name in chapter LII.13; from the Talmud (“Sanhedrin,” fol. 98,b); and from the Zohar,.... In fact, until Rashi [Rabbi Solomon Izaaki (1040-1105), considered the originator of the modern school of Jewish interpretation], who applied it to the Jewish nation, the Messianic interpretation of this chapter was almost universally adopted by Jews, and his view,... was rejected as unsatisfactory by Maimonides, who is regarded by the Jews as of highest authority, by Alshech, and many others, one of whom [Rabbi Moshen Kohen Iben Crispin, of Cordova-fourteenth century] says that the interpretation adopted by Rashi “distorts the passage from its natural meaning,” and that in truth “it was given of God as a description of the Messiah, whereby, when any should claim to be the Messiah, to judge by the resemblance or non-resemblance to it whether he were the Messiah or no”....[Crispin also said that those who apply the passage to Israel have “forsaken the knowledge of our teachers, and inclined after...their own opinions.”^[5]] And another [R. Elyyah de Vidas] says, “The meaning of ‘he was wounded for our transgressions,... bruised for our iniquities’ is, that since the Messiah bears our iniquities, which produce the effect of His being bruised, it follows that whoso will not admit that the Messiah thus suffers for our iniquities must endure and suffer for them himself.”^[6]

The father of modern Hebrew, Wilhelm Gesenius, has also written, “‘It was only the later Jews who abandoned this [Messianic] interpretation, no doubt in consequence of their controversies with the Christians.’”^[7]

In brief, we agree with Gloag and Delitzsch: “All attempts to explain away this prophecy...have signally failed. It still stands as the most remarkable prediction in the Old Testament, receiving its accomplishment in the Messiah and in him alone.”^[8]

Even today, Dr. Pinchas Lapide, one of only four orthodox Jewish scholars in the world who is also a New Testament scholar has stated in a debate with Dr. Walter Kaiser on the John Ankerberg Show: “I fully agree with Dr. Kaiser that Isaiah 53 lends itself in many startling similarities to the life, career and death of Jesus of Nazareth....”^[9] He even believes Jesus actually physically rose from the dead after being crucified because of the compelling historical facts.^[10] Yet Dr. Lapide believes Jesus is the Messiah for the Gentiles and not for the Jews.

Let us ask you, if Jesus Christ is not God’s suffering Servant found in Isaiah 53, then who is?

Clue to Identify the Messiah: Whoever the Messiah is, He must fit the following description—He will be wounded and bruised, smitten and spit upon, mocked, killed with thieves, bear the sins of many, be rejected by His own people, pierced for our transgressions, be buried in a rich man’s tomb, and come back to life after His death.

Ed. Note: Our book, The Case for Jesus the Messiah, details several more important clues to the identify of the Messiah. See it in our online store: https://atriresearchresources.org/product/the-case-for-jesus-the-messiah-book/

Endnotes

1. Franz Delitzsch and Paton Gloag, The Messiahship of Christ [the Messianic Prophecies of Christ], Book II (Minneapolis, MN: Klock & Klock, 1983 rpt.), pp. 286-287.↑
2. Ben Blisheim, “Messianic Judaism – An Alternative,” privately published, p. 6.↑
3. Raphael Patai, The Messiah Texts (New York: Avon, 1979), p. 166.↑
4. Ibid., p. 167↑
5. David Baron, Rays of Messiah’s Glory: Christ in the Old Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1886), p. 228.↑
6. Ibid., pp. 225-229.↑
7. in Franz Delitzsch and Paton Gloag, The Messiahship of Christ [the Messianic Prophecies of Christ] Book II (Minneapolis, MN: Klock & Klock, 1983 rpt.), p. 295.↑
8. Ibid., p. 116.↑
9. Transcript, Do the Messianic Prophecies of the Old Testament Point to Jesus or Someone Else? with Drs. Walter Kaiser, Jr. and Pinchas Lapide (Chattanooga, TN: The John Ankerberg Evangelistic Association, 1985), p. 21.↑
10. Pinchas Lapide, The Resurrection of Jesus: A Jewish Perspective (Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg, 1983), pp. 7, 126-131, 137-150.↑