Prophecies Of The Christ In Isaiah

Prophecies Of The Christ In Isaiah
Isaiah 7:14

INTRO:
Good morning: It is good to see everybody this morning. I want to encourage you to take out your Bibles and look at the scriptures I mention. If you have any questions about anything I say, I’ll be glad to talk to you about it. If I’m wrong, I will stand corrected.

Over the past few weeks we have looked at the gospel of Jesus Christ from the Old Testament. Our examination of the gospel was from the Psalms and we also looked at shadows of the Christ from the Law of Moses, from Genesis Exodus and Leviticus. We have seen a sample of what Christ meant when He said; “all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.” You should have a hand out that has more references.

As I said we should realize that these prophecies in Isaiah were given somewhere between seven hundred and seven hundred and fifty years before the events in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

There are many reasons why we believe the Bible is the word of God. There are many reasons why we believe Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. One of the primary, foundational reasons why we believe the Bible is the word of God is the prophecies found within the Bible that were fulfill later on in history. One of the primary reasons why we believe Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God is because there were prophecies about the Christ and Jesus fulfilled them all.

We have glimpsed the Law and the Psalms and what we will be doing this morning is looking at prophecies from the prophet Isaiah. What we can find contained within this one book, is the full picture of the gospel of Christ laid out for us many, many years before the events happened.

I. Let us begin with a prophecy that you're probably very familiar with Isaiah 7:14 – “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.” When the Christ was going to come into this world He was going to be born in a very unique fashion. He was going to be born of a virgin. This was going to be the sign from God - that this individual is indeed the Christ, the Messiah.
A. We find this mentioned again over in Isaiah 9:6-7 where it says: “6. For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7. Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.”
1. In the text we have a prophecy about the Christ, the Messiah, the King and how the government is going to be laid upon His shoulders. There are some points that we should note:
2. He is going to be a child.
3. He’s going to be a son, but notice what the son is going to be called... everlasting father, mighty God.
4. Back in Isaiah 7:14 the meaning of the word Immanuel is literally “God with us”. The Christ is going to be God with us, everlasting father, mighty God.
5. It also says that He is going to have a kingdom that is going to be forever.
6. Notice too that in verse seven “of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end”.
7. This government, this kingdom is going to stand forever and He is going to be upon the throne of David in this kingdom.
B. Let’s turn to the New Testament books. I want us to look at how the birth of Christ is introduced in Luke 1:26-33 - “26. Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27. to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin's name was Mary. 28. And having come in, the angel said to her, "Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!'' 29. But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was. 30. Then the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31. "And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. 32. "He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; (notice the next phrase) and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. That is the fulfillment of the text we read back in Isaiah 9 33. "And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.''” Again, Isaiah Chapter 9.
C. Let us continue in Luke 1:34 – “Then Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I do not know a man?''” She is a virgin Isaiah says in 7:14.
1. What we see in Luke is about the birth of the Christ to the Virgin Mary and the Christ is to be the one who is going to reign over the kingdom that is going to stand forever.
2. Understand that the kingdom is indeed the church today, and that it will continue all the way to when the Lord comes again.
II. When you study Isaiah, and I encourage everyone to do so, I suspect that you will find in Isaiah 53 what will become your favorite prophesy of the entire Bible. For the rest of the lesson what I would like to do is take this entire chapter and break it down starting in verse three.
A. It says about the Christ, who is going to come into the world; “He is despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.”
1. Solomon was the son of David and since the Christ was described as the son of David many of the Jews were expecting the Christ would be like Solomon... and his kingdom like the kingdom of Solomon.
2. They’re expecting to come with him all the pomp and all the majesty of a great earthly king. Everybody was going to go: All right, here comes the Christ. Everybody loves Him, he is David’s son... but that's not the way it was prophesied.
3. The prophecy says he was going to be despised. The Christ was going to be rejected.
i. We find in John 1:11 – “He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.”
ii. When Christ came into the world he was rejected.
4. It was the leaders of his people, the Jews, the chief priest, the scribes and the Pharisees that were the ones that conspired to kill Him. They were the ones that tried Him in the Sanhedrin court and found him worthy of death. He came to his own, those that knew or should have known. Yet, they despised him and they rejected him just like the prophecy said they would.
III. In Isaiah 53:7 – “He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opened not his mouth.”
A. When the suffering servant was going be brought before trial he was not going to open his mouth.
1. He was not going to give any defense for himself at all. He was going to let happen what was going to happen.
2. He was going to allow these people's intentions for him to be realized and like a lamb being led to the slaughter he was going to allow it and go through the procedure without fighting it.
B. We find this fulfilled in Matthew 26. “62. And the high priest arose and said to Him, "Do You answer nothing? What is it that these men testify against You?'' 63. But Jesus kept silent. And the high priest answered and said to Him, "I adjure You by the living God that You tell us if You are the Christ, the Son of God.'' This is Jesus before the Sanhedrin and this He answered. 64. Jesus said to him, "It is as you said. Nevertheless, I say to you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven.''” Jesus answer was not to fight or argue but to move the process along for He knew it would never have occurred to that Satan-blinded court that His words were true and not blasphemous.
1. Look with me at Daniel 7:13-14 - “13. "I was watching in the night visions, and behold, One like the Son of Man, coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him. 14. Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom the one which shall not be destroyed.”
2. Jesus was taken to Pilate who found no fault in Him. Then Pilate, after finding out Jesus was from Galilee, sent Him to Herod. In Luke 23:8-9 we read; “8. Now when Herod saw Jesus, he was exceedingly glad; for he had desired for a long time to see Him, because he had heard many things about Him, and he hoped to see some miracle done by Him. 9. Then he questioned Him with many words, but He answered him nothing.”
3. Jesus is sent back to Pilate and we find in Mark 15:3-5 – “3. And the chief priests accused Him of many things, but He answered nothing. 4. Then Pilate asked Him again, saying, "Do You answer nothing? See how many things they testify against You!'' 5. But Jesus still answered nothing, so that Pilate marveled.”
i. When Jesus was before the Sanhedrin He said nothing.
ii. When Jesus was before Herod He said nothing.
iii. When Jesus was before Pilate and they’re accusing him Jesus says nothing.
4. Isaiah 53 says He is going to go like a sheep to the slaughter. No resistance. He says nothing.
IV. Back in Isaiah 53:5 – “But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.”
A. The Christ is going to be wounded, He is going to be bruised, and He is going to be whipped.
1. In the New Testament in Matthew 26:67 – “67. Then they spat in His face and beat Him; and others struck Him with the palms of their hands, 68. saying, "Prophesy to us, Christ! Who is the one who struck You?''”
2. Then in Matthew 27:26 – “26. Then he released Barabbas to them; and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered Him to be crucified.”
3. Finally Matthew 27:30 – “Then they spat on Him, and took the reed and struck Him on the head.”
i. He was bruised.
ii. He was beaten.
iii. He was scourged.
4. The Jews believed that if someone was to be punished it had to be done according to law of Moses with 39 stripes, 40 stripes save one, hence Paul’s reference in 2 Corinthians 11:24.
5. When the Roman soldiers scourged someone they could care less about the Jewish concept. The scourging the Romans delivered was much more traumatic, even to the point of being fatal. The flagellum was a much more torturous instrument then the whip used by the Jews, the lashes were delivered without any compassion or consideration for the victim’s health, and Roman law imposed no limit to the number of lashes inflicted at scourging.
6. This Roman instrument, called in Latin a flagellum, used to deliver this form of punishment, was much different from the bull whip that is more common in our culture. It was instead more like the old British cat o’ nine tails, except that the flagellum was not designed merely to bruise or leave welts on the victim. The flagellum was a whip with several (at least three) thongs or strands, each perhaps as much as three feet long, and the strands were weighted with lead balls or pieces of bone. This instrument was designed to lacerate. When they scourged an individual they would take them and tie them taunt with their hands extended and the body and legs extended on a post.
7. The blood would pour out and the idea was to beat the person as close to death as they could and just leave them barely alive. Every lash that came upon His body, He allowed.
B. Jesus said back in the Gospel of John no one was going to take His life from Him but He was going to lay it down of Himself. Everything that He went through, He permitted to occur. He went as a lamb to the slaughter, no resistance whatsoever.
1. He was giving Himself for me and for you.
2. Every lash of the whip, every moment of the beating was for me so that I could be healed of my sins.
3. Everything that He's allowing to happen to Him is because He loves us and He wants us healed of our sins.
V. Isaiah 53:8 says; “He was taken from prison and from judgment, and who will declare His generation? For He was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgressions of My people He was stricken.” .
A. The first thing we look at in the beginning of verse 8 is He was taken from prison and from judgment . We find that His judgment was taken away in John 18:38 – “Pilate said to Him, "What is truth?'' And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews, and said to them, "I find no fault in Him at all.”
1. That was Pilate’s verdict. Pilate, when he comes out to the Jews says; I find no fault in Him.
2. In John 19:4 – “Pilate then went out again, and said to them, "Behold, I am bringing Him out to you, that you may know that I find no fault in Him.''” Here for the second time is his verdict, I find no fault in him...not guilty.
3. John 19:12 – “From then on Pilate sought to release Him, but the Jews cried out, saying, "If you let this Man go, you are not Caesar's friend. Whoever makes himself a king speaks against Caesar.''”
B. When we get John 19:16 - “So he delivered Him to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus and led Him away.”
1. He was taken from prison and from judgment.
2. His judgment, his verdict, was I find no fault in him.
3. This man who was said to be not guilty, not guilty, was taken and crucified.
4. The writer of Acts puts it this way Acts 8:32-33 – referring to scripture; “32. The place in the Scripture which he read was this: "He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb silent before its shearer, so He opened not His mouth. 33. In His humiliation His justice was taken away. And who will declare His generation? For His life is taken from the earth.''”
5. The verdict of Jesus' Roman judge was one of innocence; but the Savior’s meekness and humiliation had no effect on the mob demanding his crucifixion; therefore, Pilate took away his judgment of innocence and ordered Jesus crucified.
C. We read earlier for the transgressions of My people He was stricken.
VI. It says in Isaiah 53:11-12 – “11. He shall see the travail of His soul, and be satisfied. by His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, for He shall bear their iniquities. 12. Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong, because He poured out His soul unto death, and He was numbered with the transgressors, and He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.”
A. The text here tells us the Christ is going to die. Not only is He going to be beaten. Not only is He going to be whipped and scourged He is going to die. He's going to pour out his soul unto death.
1. When we look at Matthew 27:50 it simply says; “Jesus, when He had cried out again with a loud voice, yielded up His spirit.” They hung Him on the cross for more then six hours. He poured out his soul unto death completely giving Himself as the sacrifice for our sins.
2. Why did He do it? Isaiah 53:6 says; “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”
3. This again is why Jesus is beaten, why He is scourged, why He is cut off from the land of the living. It's because of us.
4. It's by His stripes we are healed. It's what we have done that is wrong, not Him. His judgment was “not guilty”. We're the ones who have, in our stubborn pride, turned away from God and sinned. The Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
B. Continuing in Isaiah 53:8 it says; “...for the transgressions of My people He was stricken.”
1. Continuing in verse 10; “...When You make His soul an offering for sin,...”.
2. Then in verse 11; “... for he shall bear their iniquities”.
3. And in verse 12; “He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.”
C. Over and over again, God is explaining through Isaiah why the Christ, why the Messiah, why His Son, was going to be scourged, and crucified, and poured out to the point of death...the death of the cross. It was for our sins. It was for our iniquities so that we could be spiritually healed.
VII. Look back to Isaiah 53:9 – “And they made His grave with the wicked but with the rich at His death, because He had done no violence, nor was any deceit in His mouth.”
A. We're dealing with the Christ. He had done no violence, had done nothing wrong, He had done nothing worthy of this punishment. Then in honor He is going to be buried.
1. In those times if you were a criminal they didn't take you to the cemetery. They didn’t give you a nice burial. Sometimes they left you to rot on the cross let the birds eat your flesh and then threw the bones in the trash.
2. Other times they made you dig great big pits and then would throw you in there with the other dead bodies.
3. That is not the way the Christ was buried. He was not going to be left hanging on a cross for the birds to eat his flesh. They were not going to take His body and throw it in the pit with another bunch of trash or other dead bodies and animals.
B. He was given a burial of honor because He had done no violence nor was any deceit in His mouth. We find this fulfilled in Matthew 27:57-61 – “57. Now when evening had come, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who himself had also become a disciple of Jesus. 58. This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body to be given to him. 59. And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, 60. and laid it in his new tomb which he had hewn out of the rock; and he rolled a large stone against the door of the tomb, and departed.”
1. Mark 15:43 gives a little more detail; “Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent council member, who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God, coming and taking courage, went in to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.”
2. He made His grave with the rich because He had done no violence. It was fulfilled when he was buried in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea.
VIII. Isaiah doesn't stop there. In verse 10 it says; “Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.”
A. In Isaiah we're dealing with after the individual has poured out his soul to death. Again we learn in the text that his soul is going to be an offering for sin, but after he’s given himself to the point of death.
1. Then Isaiah says after that, after he’s dead, after he's buried, then it says the Lord will see his seed. He shall prologue His Days.
2. We asked this before, how is the pleasure of the Lord going to prosper in the hands of someone who is dead?
3. It is going to be by the dead individual, raised from the dead and his days now being prolonged. This is a prophecy of the resurrection.
B. We can read how Paul describes this in his letter to the Ephesians. Ephesians 1:19-20 – “19. and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power 20. which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places,”
1. The Christ was raised from the dead and He is now sitting in heaven itself at the right hand of God.
2. If we continue at that location in Ephesians it says; “21. far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. 22. And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, 23. which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.”
C. He shall see his seed. He shall prolong his days and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hands.
1. He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and right now He is reigning over the body of Christ, His body, the church, His kingdom.
2. What we find in Isaiah is Christ crucified preached to us from a text that is many, many years before the events happened.
3. Coincidence? I don’t think so.

CONCLUSION:
The reason Jesus fulfilled the prophecies about the Christ is because He is Christ. The point of these lessons was to look at the shadows of Christ from the Law of Moses, the prophecies of Christ from the Psalms, and the prophecies derived from Isaiah.
From all of those texts we can see the mystery of God revealed before the events in history ever happened.

We see Christ crucified where shadows are foretold in a very explicit manner. For those who are not yet Christians the purpose is to bring them to the point of faith where they can see and believe Jesus is the Christ.

As I told you in the introduction one of the primary reasons why I believe personally is because I can read Isaiah 53 and see the fulfillment in the birth, life, death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

For those that are a child of God already walking by faith, the purpose of the lesson was to strengthen your faith and when your faith is stronger then your relationship with God would be stronger and you are better armored against the wiles’ of Satan.

If you haven’t become a child of God yet, and you realize now that Jesus is indeed the Christ the one that was prophesied about, that He really is the son of God the one that was prophesied about Isaiah 7:14, you need to put your trust in the Lord and follow him by faith. If you are willing to confess your faith and repent of your sins we'd be glad to assist you as you, by faith, by the gospel are baptized into the body of Christ.

If you are a child of God already and you find that your faith has been weak in your relationship with God, be strengthened in faith by God’s Word and strengthen your relationship. If there is something serious standing between you and your Lord deal with it. Our God is gracious. God is willing to forgive you.

After all He was willing to give His son to die for you. That's why Jesus was scourged so that we could be spiritually healed when we obey the gospel and when we take our sin to him and beg for forgiveness of it. Be healed this morning.

If you subject to the Gospel call in any way let us know while we stand and sing the invitation song.

Invitation song: ???
Reference sermon by: Wayne Fancher

Prophecies Of The Christ In Isaiah

Attachment:
New Testament Quotations
Isaiah 40:3-5 ........ Matthew 3:3; Mark 1:3; Luke 3:4-6; John 1:23
Isaiah 40:6-8 .........1 Peter 1:24,25
Isaiah 40:13 ..........Romans 11:34; 1 Corinthians 2:16
Isaiah 42:1-4 .........Matthew 12:18-21
Isaiah 42:7 ........... Mark 4:15,16
Isaiah 45:23 ..........Romans 14:11
Isaiah 49:6 ........... Acts 13:47
Isaiah 49:8 ...........2 Corinthians 6:2
Isaiah 52:5 ...........Romans 2:24
Isaiah 52:7 ...........Romans 10:15
Isaiah 52:11 ..........2 Corinthians 6:17
Isaiah 52:15 ..........Romans 15:21
Isaiah 53:1 ........... John 12:28; Romans 10:16
Isaiah 53:4 ...........Matthew 8:17; 1 Peter 2:24
Isaiah 53:7,8 .........Acts 8:32,33
Isaiah 53:9 ...........1 Peter 2:22
Isaiah 53:12 .......... Mark 15:28; Luke 22:37
Isaiah 54:1 ...........Galatians 4:27
Isaiah 54:13 .......... John 6:45
Isaiah 55:3 ........... Acts 13:34
Isaiah 56:7 ...........Matthew 21:13; Mark 11:17; Luke 19:46
Isaiah 59:7,8 .........Romans 3:15-17
Isaiah 59:20,21 .......Romans 11:26,27
Isaiah 61:1,2 ......... Luke 4:18,19
Isaiah 62:11 ..........Matthew 21:5
Isaiah 65:1,2 .........Romans 10:20,21
Isaiah 66:1,2 ......... Acts 7:49,50
Isaiah 66:24 .......... Mark 9:44.