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Is God Dead?
Last week we began to investigate the Jewish claim throughout history of a coming messiah. In fact, we listed some seventeen ancient prophetic historians who recorded prophecies of this King and Messiah.
Bible scholar John MacArthur notes these prophecies begin in Genesis, in the Garden with God cursing Eve. It is in this first promise (Gen 3:15) from God of a messiah that we learn He will be the seed of the woman (cf Gal 4:4) who will destroy Satan (1 John 3:8).
He will be the great prophet of whom Moses wrote (Duet 18:15-22; Acts 3:22-23). “Daniel 7:13-14 describes him as the glorious Son of Man (a title Jesus used of himself some eighty times in the Gospels).” The same Messiah who will return on the clouds of heaven (Matt 24:30; Mark 4:62; Rev 1:7).
In addition, we learn the Messiah, as the Old Testament predicts, would be of the line of Abraham (Gen 12:1; cf Gal 3:16), from the tribe of Judah (Gen 49:10; cf Rev 5:5), and a descendant of David (2 Sam 7:12-16; cf Matt 1:1). Isaiah 7:14 predicted that the Messiah would be born of a virgin, in Bethlehem (Mic 5:2).
Jeremiah 31:15 foreshadowed the weeping that accompanied Herod’s slaughter of the male children in the vicinity of Bethlehem (Matt 2:16-18.)” Isaiah 40:3-4 and Malichi 3:1 predicted the coming of John the Baptist to prepare the way for the Messiah (cf Matt 3:1-3; 11:10, 14; 17-12-13; Luke 1:17). And Psalms 69:8 prophesied his being rejected by his own family (cf Matt 12:46ff).” MacArthur continues; “the Old Testament is full of implicit clues about Israel’s Messiah.
These include references to him as God incarnate (Ps 45:6-7; cf Heb 1:8-9) and a sovereign king and eternal high priest (Ps 110:1-7; cf Matt 22:43-44). Other subtle references appear depicting him as hated without a cause (Ps 69:4), hanged on a tree, cursed by God, and taken down before sunset (Deu 21:22-23).
The ‘seventy weeks’ prophecy in Daniel 9:24-27 predicts the day of his triumphant entry into Jerusalem. Zechariah 9:9 even describes his ride as the colt of a donkey (cf Matt 21:4-5). Even the betrayal at the hands of Judas was predicted (Ps 41:9; 55:12-14) as well as the exact amount of money Judas received and what he did with it (Zech 11:12-13); the scattering of his disciples after his arrest (Matt 26:6768), and at the hands of the guards (Mark 14:65), and at the hands of the Romans (Matt 27:27-30); the scene at the Cross (Ps 22) including the soldiers casting lots for his clothes (Ps 22:18); being given sour wine (Ps 69:21); his legs remaining unbroken (Ex 12:46; Num 9:12; Ps 34:20; cf John 19:31-33); and the piercing of his side by the Roman guard (Zec 12:10). Psalms 2:7 and 16:8-10 predict his resurrection, and Psalms 68:18 predicts Christ’s ascension (cf Eph 4:8).”
Even still, since our intent is not to scan the breadth, and height, and depth of historical Jewish belief, but rather to argue that God created human beings, and human beings, with divine intentionality to commune with them, one ancient prophesy sits at the apex of messianic Old Testament prophesy: Isaiah 53.
The collective of historical prophetic writings of Isaiah (the book of Isaiah) is an incredibly fascinating collection that parallels the New Testament in structure and scope. It is for this reason St. Augustine called the book of Isaiah “the fifth Gospel.”
MacArthur rightly calls the book of Isaiah “The Gospel according to God.” noting “Isaiah is divided into two sections, the first containing thirty-nine chapters and the second half containing twenty-seven chapters. Interestingly, the Bible is also divided into two sections: the thirty- nine books of the Old Testament, and the twenty-seven books of the New Testament.”
But that is not all; the second half of Isaiah begins and ends where the New Testament begins and ends. It opens with John the Baptist (Isa 40:3-5) just as it does in the New Testament (Matt 3:3), and it closes with the new heaven and the new earth (Isa 65:17; 66:22) just as the New Testament ends (Rev 21-22).
Further, the second part of Isaiah is often broken up into four prophetic songs about the coming messiah as a “Servant of the Lord.” Isaiah writes in the first song (Isa 42:1-7) that the coming “Servant” is not an ordinary man, but an extraordinary man sent specifically by God as “my chosen one” (v 1).
Isaiah says He will be a quiet, gentle, and humble Servant with the goal of establishing the kingdom of God on earth (v 4), bringing light to the Gentiles, and establishing a covenant with the people (v 6). In Isaiah’s second Servant song (Isa 49:1-6) we learn that the servant will neither be a prophet, nor will He be Yahweh, but will be one Yahweh calls “from the womb” (indicating his humanity) as “my servant” to deliver Jacob’s offspring to full restoration with Yahweh, and once again, to bring light to the Gentiles.
The third servant song (Isa 50:49) reveals that the coming Servant of Yahweh must endure intense and brutal suffering, but God will vindicate His Servant and His enemies will rot away (v 9).
In the final servant song (Isa 52:1353:12), considered by most to be the pinnacle of Old Testament prophesy, Isaiah prophesies that there will come a Servant of Yahweh who will suffer, be crucified, and will ultimately be resurrected from the dead having atoned for the sins of the world by “bearing the sins of many and making intercession for the transgressors (Isa 53:12). Join us next week as we continue to answer the Bible skeptic Michael’s question: “what does Isaiah have to do with whether or not God is dead?”
Gloria in excelsis Deo!
Ty B. Kerley, DMin., is an ordained minister who teaches Christian apologetics, and relief preaches in Southern Oklahoma. Dr. Kerley and his wife Vicki are members of the Waurika church of Christ and live in Ardmore, OK. You can contact him at: [email protected].
