Part 10: Summary

John MacArthur claims that Isaiah 52:13-53:12 “contains unarguable, incontrovertible proof that God is the author of Scripture and Jesus the fulfillment of messianic prophecy. The details are so minute that no human could have predicted them by accident and no imposter could have fulfilled them by cunning.”[1] When we read the New Testament today, it is easy to look back at Isaiah 52:13-52:12 and see the correlation with Jesus Christ. The Jews, though, struggled with seeing Jesus as their Messiah. As mentioned earlier, they were not expecting a suffering savior, so they overlooked Jesus and became instrumental in fulfilling the prophecy about in made by Isaiah. When the Jews were carried off to Babylon as a result of their sin, they recognized that one day God would return them to their land and establish them in peace. They realized that this restoration would be brought about by the work of a King in the line of David. During the time of rebuilding in the land after Cyrus allowed the exiles to return with Zerubbabel, Ezra, and Nehemiah, worship was partially restored, and a sense of peace seemed to exist. Unfortunately, it was not the peace God had promised – because sin had not yet been atoned for completely. For the next four hundred years, God was silent. After the years of silence, God sent an angel to deliver the good news of a coming savior and his forerunner. The Gospels spell out the details of how Jesus fulfilled the prophesy made about the coming Messiah. They even go so far as to show how Jesus directed his followers to spread the news about him to the ends of the earth.

            They did so, and still do so today. Webb reminds his readers that we are in a position like that of the returned exiles.[2] We live in the ‘now’ but ‘not yet.’ We live in the time between Isaiah 53 and 66, acknowledging the promise for a new heavens and new earth, looking to Jesus as the servant who died on our behalf, and looking forward his return when peace will be ushered in and sin will be no more. As we wait, we realize that “waiting tests our patience and our faith. It is too much for some. The interim is a time when tensions develop and some fall away, and those who do remain faithful are not always sure it is the right thing to do.”[3] We must endure. We must have faith. We must remain faithful.

---

[1] MacArthur, The MacArthur Bible Commentary.

[2] Webb, The Message of Isaiah. 219

[3] Ibid, 219-220