More Prophecies About a Savior

WHEN IT COMES TO THE OLD TESTAMENT PROPHETS, Isaiah is "the big man on campus." For one thing, he was active for somewhere between forty to sixty years, and his ministry outlasted four kings. And his book is the longest of all the prophets - sixty-six chapters in all - and is the most-quoted prophetic book in the New Testament. But the most significant thing about Isaiah is that his prophecy gives us the most information about the coming Messiah, which is why we'll spend the next five readings pursuing what the Lord said through him.

The clearest descriptions of the Messiah are found in four so-called Servant Songs, which we find in the book of Isaiah. (They are Isaiah 42:1-9; 49:1-6; 50:4-9; 52:13-53:12.) They all describe various aspects of "the servant of the Lord." Who exactly is this servant? Scholars love to debate questions like that, but for our purposes, we can boil it down to this: the phrase refers both to the nation of Israel and the coming Messiah.

If you look ahead to the New Testament, you'll see that Jesus took the servant-of-the-Lord mantle onto himself at the beginning of his ministry by quoting from one of the Servant Songs.

The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:

"The Spirit of the Lord is on me,

because he has anointed me

to preach good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners

and recovery of sight for the blind,

to release the oppressed,

to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."

Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, and he began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." (Luke 4:17-21)

Jesus was keenly aware that Isaiah had prophesied about him; it was a fact that guided his ministry on earth.

But perhaps the most famous passage in the book of Isaiah is the one that describes the "suffering servant" (52:13-53:12). God inspired Isaiah to describe the crucifixion of Jesus in graphic detail long before it happened. And when Jesus walked the earth, he frequently explained that his mission was to suffer (Matthew 16:21). And yet no one understood--not the crowds, not the religious leaders and not even his own disciples. It's hard to imagine that the God of the universe would send his own Son to die for the sins of humankind, but that's exactly what he did. And that's exactly what Isaiah prophesied–almost eight hundred years before it happened!

God With Us

PRAY: Heavenly Father, my heart's desire is to experience your presence in a fresh new way today.

READ: Isaiah 7:1-25

REFLECT: Isaiah 7:1-25 contains one of the most well-known and debated prophecies about the coming Messiah in the entire Old Testament. Isaiah says that a virgin will give birth to a son who will be called Immanuel, which literally means "God with us" (v. 14). The New Testament makes clear this prophecy was fulfilled in the birth of Jesus Christ (Matthew 1:18-25). But to fully understand these verses, we need to consider what they meant to the original hearers.

Since 925 B.C., God's chosen people had been split into two rival kingdoms, Judah in the south (the tribes of Judah and Benjamin), and Israel in the north (the remaining ten tribes). At the beginning of Isaiah 7, we learn that Pekah, the king of Israel, and Rezin, the king of Aram (Syria), are attacking King Ahaz in Jerusalem, the capital of the southern kingdom. God's message is reassuring, saying in essence, "Stay calm. I will deal with Pekah and Rezin" (vv. 3-9).

When we find ourselves facing political battles today - whether at work, in the community, or even in the church - we need to remember that ultimately success is dependent on God, not on our cleverness or political skill (v. 9). For many years I worked with Chuck Colson at a ministry called Prison Fellowship. On his desk was a plaque that said, "Faithfulness, not success."

Trusting God when the pressure is on can be tough. Even when Ahaz was offered a confirming sign, he hesitated (vv. 10-12) because he wanted to form his own alliance with Assyria. God gave the sign anyway: the birth of a Son named Immanuel. For the original hearers, this probably meant that when God delivered Judah from the attacks of Pekah and Rezin, young mothers would name their sons in memory of God's deliverance, just as Isaiah had named his son after a future deliverance of God (Shear-Jashub [v. 3] literally means "a remnant will return").

But the sign also predicted God's greatest deliverance, sending his own Son, Jesus Christ, to deliver all people from sin. The great miracle is that because of Jesus' entry into human history, God is with us forever.

APPLY: Are you facing any situations of "political pressure" at work, in the community, or in your church? How could you be more faithful to God in the midst of the pressure?

PRAY: Ask God to help you remain faithful to him in the midst of the pressures and struggles you face today.