The Big Picture

[HKHaugan]

Post Script Isaiah 52:13-53:12

It might be good to start with what prophecy is all about. The whole issue of prophecy is God looking out for us so that we can look forward. By identifying sin and evil, He frees us from love of the world to His love. He restores our humanity to what He designed it for, loving Him and loving others. Our conscious moments, our lives, connected to Him make us real. So as we look at this particular passage from Isaiah think of every next moment in terms of a God who desires to be the heart of that moment with you and me.

Throughout his prophecy Isaiah rails on about the leaders and people having lost any sense of personal God consciousness. As a result the whole nation has become uncaring and impersonal. They have lost their sense of moral responsibility, “Your rulers are rebels, companions of thieves...they do not defend the cause of the fatherless; the widow's case does not come before them (1:23).” They have lost the awareness of being persons who are images of God, chosen with a purpose, a calling, to be a moral lighthouse among the nations, “For the Lord has spoken: I reared children and brought them up but they have rebelled against me (1:2).” Lost faith, lost bearings, lost future sum it up. They lost the ability to look forward to being God's witnesses in every next moment. Thus the world around Israel was swallowing them up.

But prophecy is not without a forward looking promise, “Come now, let us reason together, though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow, though they are red like crimson, they shall be like wool. If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best from the land; but if you resist and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword.” For the mouth of the Lord has spoken (1:18-19).”

God's purpose for Isaiah was to prompt Israel to look forward and that was for people and leaders alike. Chapter 2 starts with this future assurance, “In the last days the mountain of the Lord's temple will be established as chief among the mountains; He will teach us His ways...it will be raised above the hills, and all nations will stream to it. The law will go out from Zion...He will judge between the nations...They will beat their swords into plowshares...Nation will not take up sword against nation...(2:2-4).”

As I have read the Jewish view of the prophets it seems they are looking forward to a Messianic age, that the persevering Jewish nation would in essence be delivered through some future societal change. More conservative Judaism looks forward to a Messianic figure who will appear on the scene to make that happen. However, God still remains distant and keeps getting pushed into some vague future appearance. From my view as a disciple of Jesus, the flavor of the prophets in general seems to be far more person-centered than ethnically oriented. They are far more spiritually purposed than world statused, more heart transforming than socio-politically involved and more personal and relational. What is most important, again in my view, is that they were anticipating a momentary arrival, a world ready for a person like Jesus.

Let me throw in a very human experience. A couple talks about having a baby. When is the right time? When you have enough money? When you are professionally established? When you have the right house and neighborhood? No, no, no. It's when you have the baby. That's the purpose. Let them grow in your early struggles. It's the best legacy you can give them. They learn from your reactions to life. When is it the best time to have a Messiah? When the Father chooses of course, but more to the point, when He did.

It seems from Scripture humanity was struggling at the bottom and Jesus came at mankind's most lost moments. The Jewish people set the stage bringing us the springboard of a new and absolute personal morality. One that enabled every person to look forward to who God was for each of them and us. It's a personal and interpersonal heart thing. Jesus fit the bill. He wasn't only a nice man chosen out of many. Mankind needed God Himself and that's exactly what He did. It was the right time, the right people, the right way and the right means to show the right life. He came in Jesus.

I realize the danger of overgeneralizing but it is this personal depth that the prophets seem to emphasize. For one example, you take Jeremiah's premier promised premise, “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God and they will be my people. No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' because they will all know me from the least to the greatest,” declares the Lord. “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more (31:33-34).” When seen through Jesus the Hebrew Scriptures become far more personal than people-group concentrated. They start with God creating persons, their personal fall, their sin infection and the promise of a personal savior and that in just the first three chapters!

So let's jump in and work through the intensely personal description Isaiah is given about this suffering servant who bears, carries, takes on the sins of a world of hearts, each having fallen in spiritual disrepair.