Second, just because not all of the references of the servant of the Lord refer to the Messiah, this does not mean that none of them refer to the Messiah. The word servant is used of various individuals in the book of Isaiah including the prophet himself Is.
Christian messianic prophecies
While some references in Isaiah appear to identify the servant as Israel or Isaiah, the best interpretation of Isaiah 53 is that it refers to the Messiah. However, it is possible to take the reference to seed in a more figurative sense. Fourth, the traditional Jewish interpretation was that this passage referred to the Messiah. The Jewish scholars during the early Christian era clearly thought that this passage was Messianic. They paraphrase Isaiah Due to texts like Isaiah 53, the ancient rabbis resolved this apparent conflict between a dying and reigning Messiah by inventing the concept of two Messiahs.
He would then establish His Kingdom to rule and to reign. Usually our Jewish friends will say no. It is hard to do justice to all of the hermeneutical issues in Isaiah 53 in a few short pages when volumes have been written on these fifteen significant verses.
However, this text gives strong credence to the case for Jesus as the Messiah. First, the traditional Jewish interpretation had no problem teaching that this passage referred to the Messiah. Second, it is relatively easy to demonstrate that Israel is not the servant of the Lord in Isaiah 53 due to the reasons given above. Third, it is difficult to harmonize all the servant of the Lord passages which I have not done since some of them refer to Israel or the prophet Isaiah.
Does Isaiah 53 predict that Jesus would be the Messiah? The Immediate Context This prophecy actually begins in the latter part of Isaiah 52 verses , which serves as a summary of chapter Make a daily difference! There were hundreds of prophets to Israel in Old Testament Times yet only 16 were chosen to speak what would be written into books as Holy Scripture. The Major Prophets are made up of 5 books simply called major because they are longer letters.
Lamentations author is never mentioned but strong evidence points to Jeremiah. Then we find The Minor Prophets, shorter letters making up these remaining 12 books of the Old Testament. Prophets train us in discerning the difference between the ways of the world and the ways of the gospel, keeping us focused on the Presence of God.
Does Isaiah 53 predict that Jesus would be the Messiah?
These 16 Hebrew prophets help us stay alert and knowledgeable to develop faithful and obedient lives before God. The more we understand the ways of God the more we understand that the ways of the world - its assumptions and values - are never on the side of God. We don't read very many pages into the Prophets before realizing that there was nothing easygoing about the Prophets.
They were not popular. They never achieved celebrity status. They were decidedly uncooperative to the culture of their day as it was considered secondary to the culture of God.
This makes them somewhat insensitive to our feelings. Prophets don't fit into our way of life. For a people who are accustomed to "fitting God" into their lives, the prophets are hard to take and easy to dismiss. The God these prophets point to will not be confined to our preferences in our lives. If we want anything to do with him we have to conform to him. You know you have successfully created God in your own image if it turns out he hates all the same people you do.
The Immediate Context
One of the bad habits that we pick up early in our lives is separating things and people into secular and sacred. We assume that the secular is what we are more or less in charge of: The sacred is what God has charge of: We set aside a sacred place for God, designed to honor God but really intended to keep God in his place, leaving us free to have the final say about everything else that goes on.
Prophets will have none of this. They contend that everything, absolutely everything, takes place on sacred ground.
Jesus in Isaiah — Destiny
God has something to say about every aspect of our lives: Nothing is hidden from the sight of God, nothing is exempt from the rule of God, nothing escapes the purposes of God. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God almighty who was and is and is to come! Isaiah was married to a prophetess who bore him at least two sons Isaiah 7: Will have a Galilean ministry Is 9: Ministry began in Galilee of the Gentiles Mt 4: Will be an heir to the throne of David and the Davidic Covenant Is 9: Received the throne of His father David Lk 1: Will have His way prepared Is John the Baptist is the prophetic voice who announced His coming Mt 3: Will be spat on and struck Is Spat on and beaten Mt Will be exalted Is Highly exalted by God and the people Jn Will be disfigured by suffering Is Scourged by Roman soldiers; received a crown of thorns Mt