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at thee- so marred was his visage
unlike that of a man, and bis form
unlike that of the sons of men- so
shall he startle many nations, kings
shall shut their mouths because of
him; for that which had not been told
them shall they see, and that which
they had not heard shall they per–
ceive" (verses 13-15).
He would be tragically disfigured.
But how can this be? And most of
all- why?
The idea that the Messiah was to
suffer before being glorified used
to be recognized in Judaism. Sev–
era! passages in the older Jewish
writings including the Talmud
speak of the Messiah suffering.
With this background, 1 carne to
study lsaiah 53 again. This chapter
had been the brunt of much debate
through the s_enturies.
Beliefs and interpretations on the
personage in this chapter have been
varied: the nation Israel , one of the
prophets, Zerubbabel, Moses, Cyrus
or even an unknown individual! The
Christian world believes, in general,
that this "unknown individual" is
Jesus of Nazareth. The most com–
mon interpretation among the Jew–
ish people is that this a reference to
Israel. In my study I looked further
into the Hebrew Scriptures to find
which possib le explanation is
meant.
We have seen so far that Isaiah
speaks of two servants. He
describes the Messiah right up to
chapter 53. Now suddenly, sorne
would have readers believe that
Isaiah is talking about someone else
in this chapter.
lsaiah 53 is simply a continua–
tion of lsaiah 52: 13-15!
Read the entire chapter to get
the full meaning. For now, we will
examine these points:
l saiah says: "Surely our diseases
he did bear, and our pains he car–
ried" (verse 4).
"For he was cut off out of the
land of the living, for the transgres–
sion of my people to whom the
stroke was due" (verse 8). " My
people" in the Hebrew Scripturcs
refers to Israel. The "servant"
therefore
cannot
refer to Israel.
This servant actually bears the
pains and sins of others. He is
killed even though he is righteous
(verse 9). This cannot be Israel.
We will come back to this issue,
18
but now we will see another revela–
tion of Scripture.
The Angel of the Lord
The Scripture in severa! places
speaks of the "angel of the Lord."
The word
angel
in Hebrew simply
means messenger. 1t does not
always mean an angelic being.
It
can sometimes refer to a man .
In severa] passages of Scripture,
however, we find that the "angel of
the Lord" is caBed "the Lord"!
This truth we find in Judges 6:11-
24. Speaking to Gideon is the angel
of the Lord (verse 11). After the
angel of the Lord hears Gideon, we
read: "And the Lord turned
towards him, and said ..." (verse
14). At the end of the meeting
"Gideon saw that he was the angel
of the Lord; and Gideon said: 'Alas,
O Lord God! forasmuch as 1 have
seen the angel of the Lord face to
face' " (verse 22). Here the name
of the angel or messenger of the
Lord is also called the Lord (verse
14) and God (verse 22).
In Judges 13 we can find a simi–
lar account. The angel of the Lord
appears (verse 20). The people rec–
ognized him to be God
(Elohim
in
Hebrew-verse 22).
1n Genesis 16, the angel of the
Lord finds Hagar, Sarah's hand–
maid, in the wilderness. We find it
is actually God speaking, for Hagar
recognizes him as God (verse 13).
But now, if the angel (messen–
ger) of the Lord
is
also called Lord
and God, who is sending him? Is he
sending himself?
In Genesis 18, three meo appear
to Abraham (verse 2). Two of them
are angels (Gen. 19:1 ). The other
one is tbe Lord (Gen. 18:1 ).
God appeared as aman elsewhere
in the Scriptures. J acob wrestled
with a man all night. He recognized
him to be God, because he said:
"For l have seen God faceto face"
(Gen. 32:31 ). Hosca 12:3-5 reveals
that this being called God is a mes–
senger or angel of God.
(Angel
means messenger in Hebrew.) That
is this person's function.
ls He the Messiah?
Now we can return to our ques–
tions. Who is the incredible indi–
vidual tbat is to rule all earth? Wby
is he to die for others?
He cannot be a mere man. His
titles are too great to describe one
human being. Yet, he is born as a
son in the lineage of David .
He is so great that bis life pays
for the sins of the nations. He is
greater than David . He will take
David's throne.
God anciently was King over
Israel
(1
Sam. 8:7).
It
was only
when Israel asked for a human king
that God allowed a human king to
sit on bis throne. Yet, it was "the
tbrone of the Lord" (I Chron.
29:23).
God said that David's throne-–
actual ly the Lord's tbrone-would
last forever. Yet the Messiah will
claim the throne that belongs to the
Lord!
How can the Messiab claim that
throne and all the wonderful titles
unless he is God? Zechariah helps
to explain it further. Look at Zech–
ariab 2:8-9. In the days of the Mes–
siah when Israel is to be restored, it
is the Lord who will be in her
midst! This means that one of the
names of the Messiah is Lord.
How can this be?
There is only one explanation pos–
sible! The word for God in the
Hebrew is
Elohim.
It
is a plural
word sometímes used with a singular
or plural verb or pronoun. Hence the
word can mean more than one per–
son. In Genesis 1:26 God says: "Let
us
make man in
our
image"!
This can only mean that the
great King, the Messiah- like the
Creator of all- is also God!
No wonder, then, that he can pay
for the sins of the nations! His life
is worth more than all lives com–
bined. He was a joint participant in
the creation.
Is it surprising that he is called
such wonderful titles as God "the
Mighty"? Or that he is referred to
as "The Lord is our righteousness"
in J eremiah 23:6?
1 carne to reali ze that the
Hebrew Scriptures described a
Messiah in eye-opening ways . I
could not ignore these plain facts.
This search made me aware that
l needed to prove everything. 1t is
with that thought in mind that 1
read the New Testament. 1 knew
what the Hebrew Scriptures said,
and I knew that they could not be
contradicted. 1 began to see the
"arm of the Lord ... revealed"
(Isa. 53:1 ).
o
The PLAIN TRUTH