The birth of a nation

Some nations don’t know exactly how or when they originated. The Jews have no such problem. God wanted a chosen nation, a peculiar nation, a holy nation through whom He could demonstrate Himself to the world. Out of all the people on the face of the earth, He spoke to one man – Abraham, who lived in Ur of the Chaldees.

Abraham originally called himself Abram, which means “Exalted father.” God later changed his name to Abraham, which means “Father of a multitude.” “Get out of your country,” God told him, “from your kindred and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you.” Abraham obeyed.

God made a covenant with Abraham. Cutting a covenant is something that sounds strange to Western ears, but it would have been well understood at the time - some four thousand years ago - and in the place where Abraham was. It was a binding agreement between two parties. 

God told Abraham he would bless him, and make his name great. The nation that came from Abraham would be a great nation. “I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth; so that if a man could number the dust of the earth, then your descendants also could be numbered,” He said (Genesis 13:16).

God promised that Abraham would have a son by his wife Sarah. They were both old, and in addition, Sarah was barren – but true to God’s promise, she gave birth to a son, Isaac. Abraham eventually had a number of sons, but the covenant would be confirmed, God said, through Isaac.

Isaac had two sons, Esau and Jacob, but the covenant would be confirmed, God said, through Jacob. Jacob’s name was changed to Israel, and Israel’s 12 sons became fathers of the 12 tribes. A Jew then is someone who is descended from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

The covenant is described in the Bible in considerable detail in a number of chapters beginning in Genesis chapter 12. Chapter 17 mentions three times that this is an everlasting covenant. If everlasting means what it says, then God’s covenant with Abraham still stands.

God confirmed the eternal nature of the covenant, for instance, in Psalm 105:

O seed of Abraham his servant,

You children of Jacob, his chosen ones!

He is the Lord our God; his judgments are in all the earth.

He has remembered his covenant for ever,

The word which he commanded, for a thousand generations,

The covenant which he made with Abraham,

And his oath to Isaac,

And confirmed it to Jacob for a statute,

To Israel for an everlasting covenant,

Saying, “To you I will give the land of Canaan

As the allotment of your inheritance,”

When they were but few in number,

Indeed very few, and strangers in it.

When they went from one nation to another,

From one kingdom to another people,

He permitted no one to do them wrong;

Yes, he reproved kings for their sakes,

Saying, “Do not touch my anointed ones,

And do my prophets no harm.”

Psalm 105:6 – 15.

             

Hated without a cause

David Pawson says¹ the Bible predicts 735 events. Twenty-seven per cent of its verses focus on the future. Five hundred and ninety-three (81 per cent) of these predictions have already been fulfilled. If so many events have been fulfilled accurately, is it not reasonable to suppose the remainder will be fulfilled in the same way?

There are said to be some 450 prophecies concerning the Messiah. All that were to be fulfilled at this time have been fulfilled. He was of the seed of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, of the tribe of Judah, of the House of David, born in Bethlehem.

He was anointed of the Holy Spirit, He healed every kind of disease and every kind of sickness, He was betrayed by a close friend; He was sold for 30 pieces of silver. He was forsaken by His friends and accused by false witnesses, but would not respond to his accusers.

He was mocked, beaten, wounded, had His beard plucked out and was spat upon. He was hated without a cause. His hands and feet were pierced. They gave Him gall and vinegar to drink, and cast lots for his garments. His side was pierced. None of his bones were broken, but He died of a broken heart. He was buried in a rich man's grave.

<sup>There is a remarkable prophecy of the ministry of the coming Messiah in Isaiah 61, written some 700 years before Jesus was born:

"The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
Because the Lord has anointed me 
To preach good tidings to the poor;
He has sent me to heal the broken-hearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives,
And the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord,
And the day of vengeance of our God;
To comfort all who mourn,
To console those who mourn in Zion,
To give them beauty for ashes,
The oil of joy for mourning,
The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness;
That they may be called trees of righteousness,
The planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified."  

 It tells in Luke 4 how Jesus went into the synagogue at Nazareth, where he was brought up, one Sabbath day at the beginning of His ministry and was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. He read:

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
Because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor;
He has sent me to heal the broken-hearted,
To preach deliverance to the captives
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty those who are oppressed,
To preach the acceptable year of the Lord." 

Then He said: "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." 

Compare the two portions of Scripture and you will find He missed out some of the portion in Isaiah. Why? Because the part He didn't read was not fulfilled at that time and will only be fulfilled when He returns.

Why does God continue to suffer all the terrible things that happen in this world? I know of only one reason - because He is "long-suffering. . . not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9).</sup>
         

¹ Unlocking the Bible. London: HarperCollinsPublishers, 2007, pp640, 641.

        

As a lamb to the slaughter

Most Jewish people have never read the 53rd chapter in the Old Testament book of Isaiah. Yet it's a wonderful picture of Messiah's suffering for their sin, your sin and mine. His death was no accident, but a divine provision:

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.

Surely he has borne our griefs
And carried our sorrows;
Yet we esteemed him stricken,
Smitten by God, and afflicted.

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.
vv 3 - 5.

His was a substitutionary death. We are all sinners, yet He, being without sin, died in our place, that all might be forgiven: 

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.

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.
vv6, 7.

Having suffered and died, He was buried in a rich man's grave: 

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.

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.
vv8, 9.

It was God's will that He should suffer, but His sacrifice perfectly satisfied the requirements of a just God: 

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.

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.

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.
vv10 - 12.

Despite all the personal pronouns, many rabbis say that God is talking about Israel n this passage and not talking about the Messiah at all - in contrast to the reaction of many Jews on reading the passage for the first time: "What's Jesus doing in my Bible?"
            

A wonderful word picture

A Scripture verse that many Jewish people will be familiar with:

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, Counsellor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Isaiah 9:6

They will be familiar with it because they have seen it on Christmas cards. They will probably imagine that it comes from the New Testament. They are likely to be shocked to learn that it comes from the Old Testament book of Isaiah.

Many Jewish people have never read the Bible. They may be familiar with the Jewish prayer book, have a passing familiarity with the five books of Moses, or be familiar with books like Ruth or Esther, read at times of Jewish feasts, but not the remainder of the Bible.

They are unlikely to be familiar, for instance, with Psalm 22:

But I am a worm, and no man;

A reproach of men, and despised of the people.

All those who see me laugh me to scorn;

They shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying,

“He trusted in the Lord, let him rescue him;

Let him deliver him, since he delights in him!”

vv 6 – 8

Many bulls have surrounded me;

Strong bulls of Bashan have encircled me.

They gape at me with their mouths,

As a raging and roaring lion.

I am poured out like water,

And all my bones are out of joint;

My heart is like wax;

It has melted within me.

My strength is dried up like a potsherd,

And my tongue clings to my jaws;

You have brought me to the dust of death.

For dogs have surrounded me;

The assembly of the wicked has enclosed me.

They pierced my hands and my feet;

I can count all my bones.

They look and stare at me.

They divide my garments among them,

And for my clothing they cast lots.

vv12 – 18

Tell me, to whom can these prophecies refer?