How Isaiah Prophesied That Jesus Would Submit and Endure

Allusion-Looking for and Thread-Pulling in Isaiah 50:4–9

The Lord GOD has given me the tongue of those that are taught, that I’ll know the right way to maintain with a phrase him who’s weary. Morning by morning he awakens; he awakens my ear to listen to as those that are taught. The Lord GOD has opened my ear, and I used to be not rebellious; I turned not backward. I gave my again to those that strike, and my cheeks to those that pull out the beard; I hid not my face from shame and spitting. However the Lord GOD helps me; due to this fact I’ve not been disgraced; due to this fact I’ve set my face like a flint, and I do know that I shall not be put to disgrace. He who vindicates me is close to. Who will deal with me? Allow us to arise collectively. Who’s my adversary? Let him come close to to me. Behold, the Lord GOD helps me; who will declare me responsible? Behold, all of them will put on out like a garment; the moth will eat them up. —Isaiah 50:4–9

“A messianic panorama on a grand scale”—what a spectacular description of the Outdated Testomony ebook of Isaiah.¹ Again and again, Isaiah lifts our eyes to the prophetic horizon towards which we see a shadow of the Christ. We might be sure that Jesus is in view as a result of the New Testomony explicitly states this. Exterior of Psalms, Isaiah is probably the most regularly quoted ebook within the New Testomony, typically drawing a direct connection between Isaiah’s prophecy and its achievement in Christ. Jesus is apparent in these instances.

Jesus is much less apparent when there isn’t a New Testomony citation explicitly linking him to Isaiah’s prophecy. The third so-called Servant Music in Isaiah is one such passage. You’ll search your cross-references in useless for a New Testomony quotation from Isaiah 50:4–9. Even so, how might we fail to spot that Isaiah has in view the one we all know as Jesus?

It Sounds Like Jesus

Sure passages of Scripture simply sound like Jesus. Our gospel antennae choose up a sign that reminds us of him. We have to be cautious in these moments to not learn Jesus into the passage if the Spirit hasn’t put him there. Bible interpretation shouldn’t be constructed on free affiliation or wishful considering. Relatively, we should always extra rigorously study the textual content to find out what’s was that tripped the messianic alarm. Within the case of Isaiah 50:4–9, two cues are definitive.

Figuring out Allusions

The primary cue is what has been known as allusion. To not be confused with phantasm, allusion is when later Scripture refers to earlier Scripture with out straight quoting it. Regardless of the absence of a citation, the reader notices a similarity of phrases and concepts that evoke a connection between the 2 passages. In in search of to grasp how an Outdated Testomony passage is fulfilled in Jesus, we might be most involved with figuring out New Testomony allusions, though allusions are current inside the Outdated Testomony too. Right here is how the thought course of unfolds as you’re studying your Bible.

You learn in Isaiah 50:6 that the individual talking gave his again to those that strike, his cheeks to those that pull out the beard, and his face to shame and spitting. You suppose to your self, That appears like Jesus. These issues occurred to him. Nevertheless, while you scan the cross-references in your Bible, you’re stunned to find that there isn’t a New Testomony quotation during which the verse is quoted. There are, although, quite a few references to the Gospel accounts of Jesus’s crucifixion. For instance, Matthew tells us that some members of the Jewish ruling council “spit in his face and struck him” (Matt. 26:67); additionally that Jesus was scourged, which might have required the publicity of his again (Matt. 27:26). Mark combines the concepts of being spat upon and disgraced, recounting how the Roman troopers had been “spitting on him and kneeling down in homage to him” (Mark 15:19). Luke data that the lads holding Jesus in custody “had been mocking him as they beat him” (Luke 22:63). John reveals that Jesus was struck, presumably throughout the cheek, by an officer of the council (John 18:22–23); additionally that Jesus was flogged and mocked (John 19:1-5). Not one of the Gospels report that Jesus’s beard was pulled out, however all the opposite components of Isaiah’s prophecy are current within the crucifixion accounts. Briefly, the allusions to Isaiah 50:6 appear clear. Which implies you’re proper to conclude that Isaiah has Jesus in view.²

Pulling the Thread

A second cue that Isaiah 50:4–9 is messianic comes by pulling the thread that ties it to different Scriptures that are clearly about Jesus. For instance, we all know from context that the individual talking in these verses is the servant of the Lord (Isa. 50:10). The Lord’s servant is talked about a number of instances in Isaiah. Although initially recognized with Israel, the servant is finally proven to be a person representing Israel, whose struggling and vindication carry salvation each to Israel and to the nations.³

Essentially the most well-known servant passage in Isaiah is present in Isaiah 52:13–53:12, the aptly named Struggling Servant prophecy. We all know that the Struggling Servant is none aside from Jesus. When the Ethiopian eunuch requested Philip who the prophet was speaking about in Isaiah 53:7–8, “Philip opened his mouth, and starting with this Scripture he advised him the excellent news about Jesus” (Acts 8:35). I imagine we might have identified that the Struggling Servant is Jesus even with no New Testomony citation, however the citation makes his id unquestionable.

It stands to motive, then, that if the Struggling Servant is Jesus, then the servant whose voice we hear in Isaiah 50:4–9 can also be Jesus. Each are known as servants, each are people who’re a part of Israel but distinct from Israel, and each expertise struggling and vindication. You’ve heard of guilt by affiliation; it is a case of achievement by affiliation. We haven’t invented the affiliation between these prophecies, one in all which is undeniably messianic—we’re simply pulling on a biblical thread that’s already there.⁴

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All reward to the Submissive Servant! Jesus’s submission is our salvation.

What It Teaches

Isaiah 50:4–9 seemed like Jesus as a result of it’s Jesus. Assured that Jesus is the achievement of this prophecy, we’re proper to learn it with him in thoughts. And we’re proper to marvel! For starters, isn’t it unbelievable that we get to listen to the servant converse in first-person? Jesus might have learn these verses out loud as his personal phrases. They had been meant to come back out of his mouth. If there have been a red-letter version of the Outdated Testomony, these verses could be in pink.

Our surprise solely deepens as we hear what the servant has to say, specifically, that he’s a person totally yielded to God. If Jesus is the Struggling Servant of Isaiah 53, he’s the Submissive Servant of Isaiah 50. He testifies that his skill to maintain weary souls together with his instructing comes from having first been taught by the Lord God (Isa. 53:4). That he didn’t insurgent when he heard the phrase of the Lord God (Isa. 53:5). That he willingly suffered due to his righteousness, giving his again to those that strike and his cheeks to those that pull out the beard (Isa. 53:6). That his face was set like a flint regardless of the violence finished to him, figuring out that the Lord God would vindicate him (Isa. 53:7–9). Submission is the theme of this track. Jesus would succeed because the servant by residing in whole give up to God.

All reward to the Submissive Servant! Jesus’s submission is our salvation. Via him we’re taught and sustained, indicted and redeemed. In response, allow us to submit ourselves wholly unto him. Might we be the reply to Isaiah’s query, “Who amongst you fears the Lord and obeys the voice of his servant?” (Isa. 53:10).

David M. King is the writer of Does the Outdated Testomony Actually Level to Jesus?.

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