To start this post, I’d like you to read this passage and think about what it is referencing:
Surely he took up our pain
and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
So what did you come up with? I hope Jesus, because that is completely right! As we have established in this blog, Christianity clearly views Jesus as a Savior who came to bear the sins of the world by suffering a brutal death, taking on the iniquity of all our sins; and this glorious death allowed us to be welcomed back and reunited with our Father in heaven when we die as well as in a personal relationship with Him while we are still on Earth: just like the Prodigal Son.
Okay, if this is all good and established, then why am I hashing this out again? What makes this verse more special than any other theological statement proclaimed in the New Testament? Well, the answer to that is simple: this is not from the New Testament; this is Isaiah 53: 5-7, published in the Old Testament and written 700 years before Jesus’ birth!! That’s absolutely insane! And that’s why I want to reflect on the idea of prophecy this week.
In the Jewish tradition, before Jesus came, there were many people called profits who interpreted the words of God for kings, telling them truth and also interpreting what was to come in the future. The Messiah was a particularly common topic for prophecies, and consequently, the Old Testament is laden with bits of scripture that point toward the coming of Jesus, which He then came and fulfilled.
Some scholars declare that if you look closely and study the text, there are as many as 300 prophecies fulfilled by Jesus; however, for simplicity sake, here is a list of 44 ones that are clear to see.
When you look at all these statements it can be incredible to see the detail and accuracy of all these seemingly bizarre and specific claims. How could one know such accurate details of Jesus’ accusation, trial, and crucifixion, as seen in Psalm 22? Or know that Jesus would be born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14) in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2)? To me, this has to be the utter immaculateness of God. Only the word of God could not only foreshadow, but predict this many specific details of history.
Additionally, I believe that prophecy adds a lot of validity to the Bible and to the Christian message. This was God’s plan from the beginning and is still being carried out today, and it is a testament of its truth that God demonstrated His reliability through prophecy. Simply put, he showed his omniscience and then proved it. Finally, I think that prophecy is important because there are still things yet to be fulfilled. Something so unfathomable and difficult to think about such as the second coming of Christ can be made clearer through prophecy laid out in the bible. We can look to and trust this prophecy because of how God has proven his steadfastness in the prophecies of Jesus.
Personally, I am awe-stricken when I find these bits of foretold knowledge in scripture, and I think it’s pretty cool thing that foreshadowing isn’t saved for enticing fiction novels, but is a part of true, grand, and eternal story of all humanity.
Nate, I really enjoyed reading this post! I think you did an incredible job writing it as you shared the scripture in the beginning and then continued on and delivered your message. It’s definitely very inspiring to hear that God’s plan works unwaveringly in all parts of our lives and I think it’s important to bear this in mind in everything we do. This message has given me hope when experiencing shortcomings or failures. God and his plan are always there.
Of course, faith is faith because we have doubts and not everything can be completely proven. But if you are looking for some hard evidence, prophecies definitely do the trick. These are amazingly accurate; it’s crazy. I think the prophecy you shared is especially powerful because people often make the argument that God can’t be real because there is too much suffering in the world, but right here is proof that it is all part of his plan, even suffering. This post is very reassuring, thanks for sharing!
Great post Nate! I really like the opening passage and it did make me think about all that Jesus has done for us. I think its crazy that people were able to make prophecy and then the prophecy came true, in this case I am glad it did. The prophecy being fulfilled, like you said, just shows that God had a plan all along for us. I really liked this post and it definitely got me thinking.