Immanuel: God With Us - Part 3 - Prophecies

"Prophecies of a Unique Incarnation"

Introduction: Living in Hope

In all ages, God has intended his people to live in hope. Adam and Eve lived in hope of the "seed of the woman." Noah lived in hope of a new and righteous world after the flood. Abraham lived in hope of the fulfillment of God's promises to him. Moses lived in hope of his people's living in the Promised Land that he himself was not permitted to enter. David lived in hope of the fulfillment of God's promise to him of a permanent descendant ruling over Israel (2 Sam. 7). Even after the Cross and Pentecost, we Christians live in hope of the return of Jesus. The earliest believers regularly prayed the corporate prayer marana tha "Come quickly, Our Lord" (1 Cor. 16:22). Only with Jesus' return and the establishment of God's eternal kingdom in a New Heavens and a New Earth will we no longer live in hope, but in complete fulfillment.

This week we want to investigate what hopes guided the Israelites during the periods of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, the exile, and the return to Zion under Ezra and Nehemiah.

By using the word "hopes" instead of "prophecies" I do not mean to convey the idea of wishful thinking. ("I hope I get a raise this year"). In biblical terms "hope" never means that. It means living in view of and in anticipation of what is promised and certain. In Hebrew it is ha-tiqvah. In NT terms (Hebrews 11) it is "faith."

A Comprehensive Hope

Much has been written and preached about "messianic prophecy." I don't object to that term, but I think it encourages us to think too narrowly about what scripture tells us that Israel heard from God and hoped for. What I see in OT scripture is the promise of a perfect kingdom vastly superior even to what Israel was intended to be and never achieved, and headed by a king like David but exceeding him in meeting God's standard and ideal of kingship. An ideal kingdom and an ideal king, all based upon the picture of the kingdom and the king for which God's laws were given to Israel through Moses. Nevertheless, in today's class we will focus on the prophecies of the Coming One who will usher in and rule over that kingdom by first suffering for humanity's sins caused by Adam's fall.

How is the messiah pictured?

Jews in Jesus' day called this person the messiah—Hebrew mĕšîaḥ, Greek christos—both meaning "the one whom God has anointed." This term was used very sparingly in the OT of this one future king. Normally, the word "anointed" designated the king of Israel, in particular David. It is true that God commanded the Israelites to anoint other figures. The high priest Aaron was anointed, as were the articles of the tabernacle furniture. This was to set them apart from profane use for the exclusive service of God. Elijah was once commanded to anoint Elisha to be his successor as prophet. But clearly the figure normally associated with being anointed was the Davidic king, and this is presumably how the word came to be reserved for the coming ruler, whom we call the messiah. BUT most of the prophecies of this coming one in the OT do not use the term at all.

How does one know if a passage of the OT is a prophecy of the messiah?

The surest way is to see if it is claimed for Jesus in the NT. But traditionally Christians have claimed many more than those explicitly quoted in the NT. 

What makes it so difficult to identify messianic prophecies is the fact that what in many cases began as predictions of historical kings and prophets who were ideal embodiments of God's will and purpose had a logical application to the messiah. If the messiah was to be the perfect king, prophet and Melchizedekian priest, then what was promised about ideal kings, prophets and priests, but never fully realized in Israel's history, could rightly be expected of the messiah.

Looking at a Selection of Prophecies, Most Likely to Be Messianic

1. Which of the assigned passages appears to you to relate to the birth of the Messiah? Micah 5:2; Isa. 7:14

Micah 5:2 is actually quoted by Matthew (2:6) as a prediction of the messiah's birth in Bethlehem. Usually the NT authors quote the OT from the Septuagint, the ancient translation into Greek. but here Matthew quotes the Jewish Bible scholars advising Herod as not following the LXX at all. In fact their rendering is even rather free from the standpoint of the Hebrew text. If you use two identical Bible versions and open them side by side to Micah 5:2 and Matthew 2:6, you can see what I mean.

Yet this rendering quoted by Matthew does not falsify Micah's text: it merely hits the high points. Someone is to "come forth from Bethlehem" (that is, to be born there) who is to become God's ruler. 

Herod's Jewish advisers—quoted here by Matthew—do not quote the second half of Micah 5:2. His "origin(s)" (NRSV, NIV; ESV "coming forth") are "from ancient times" (Hebrew ʿôlām). The KJV translated that last part as "from everlasting," which would fit the deity of the messiah well. But Hebrew ʿôlām is not quite so definite, as witness the various evangelical Bible translations as "from ancient times". What is meant by his "origin" being in "ancient times"? This could be a hint at his pre-existing his human birth, which would point to his deity. But another possibility is that it refers to the origin of his kingly line in the time of David. After all, Micah prophesied throughout the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, roughly 735–700 BC, three centuries after the time of David (around 1000 BC), which to him would be "ancient times."

Isaiah 7:14  is also quoted by Matthew (1:23) as a prediction of Mary's virginal conception of Jesus: not the place of the messiah's birth but the manner of his conception. This prediction is taken out of its original context, which was a "sign" given to King Ahaz, to reassure him that two threatening kings—of Israel and of Syria—would not succeed in conquering him, but would perish (see especially verse 16, where before the child Immanuel is old enough to distinguish good from evil the Assyrian army acting for God would conquer both kings). Matthew's use is confined to two points: (1) the child will be conceived and born by a woman who was a virgin at the time, and (2) he will be called Immanuel, a name never given to Jesus, but which encapsulates his nature as "God with Us". 

The name Immanuel, so far as we know, was never actually given to any Israelite newborn—not even to Jesus. It is a symbolic name, not a real one. It represents his nature as the embodiment of the promise to Ahaz. If Judah would hold out against these two kings for just the few years until the child reached the age of discretion, the truth that God was "with" them to protect them would be fulfilled by the Assyrian armies overwhelming Syria and Israel.

2. Which of the assigned passages appears to you to relate to the messiah's kingship? 2 Sam. 7:11-16

2 Samuel 7 records God's promise and covenant with David. The "son" who would rule after David and from whom God would never remove his love and commitment was—in the first instance—the immediate son of David, Solomon as well as his successors. This is indicated by God's warning that he will chastise such a descendant at the hands of human opponents.

“I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men,” (2 Samuel 7:14 ESV)

These "sons" of David would be imperfect fulfillments of the intended figure. The messiah would not be. For this reason, in the centuries after David and continuing into the lifetime of Jesus, the messiah was preeminently thought of as "the son of David" (see Matt. 12:23; 21:9; 22:42). 

Matt. 12:23 All the people were astonished and said, “Could this be the Son of David?”

Matt. 21:9 The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Hosanna in the highest!”

Matt. 21:15 But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting in the temple area, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they were indignant.

Matt. 22:42 “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?”   “The son of David,” they replied.

In fact, in the OT prophets the messianic "son of David" is sometimes referred to simply as "David"¹ or as "the shoot of Jesse." In the prophetic picture there is a merging of the figure of David with that of his messiah "son."

3. Which of the assigned passages appears to you to relate to the messiah's deity? Isa. 9:6-7; Micah 5:2

We have seen how the end of Micah 5:2 might be understood as a statement of the messiah's existence long before he was born. But we have also seen that the words can be interpreted as referring to the beginning of the messiah's kingly line in ancient times with David.

Isaiah 9:6, on the other hand, does seem to predict a divine messiah. In 9:1-5 the setting of this verse is the end of the sufferings of Israel at the hands of foreign armies and conquerors. Two reasons are given for this: (1) verses 4 and 5 each begin with "for" (because)—God has "broken the yoke" of servitude that the foreign nations had laid upon his people and burned in fire the equipment of the attacking armies, and (2) a child is born to Israel.

Isaiah doesn't say that this child will be the agent for breaking the yoke of foreign rule, but that he will rule on the throne of David and that his kingdom's growth and prosperity/peace will be endless. He will establish that kingdom and uphold it forever. In these dual roles he mirrors God himself who promised to do just this in 2 Samuel 7. 

But who is this mysterious ruler? Like Immanuel, he is given a symbolic—not a literal—name. It is actually a kind of titulary consisting of many titles, and we find it in v. 6. As early as the LXX this "name" was badly misunderstood. The LXX translates it as follows: "A messenger of great counsel am I. For I will bring peace to the rulers, peace and health to him." We won't go into how they may have come up with this strange translation from the Hebrew text.

• Wonderful (miraculous) Counselor stresses his divine wisdom.
• Mighty God (or "El the Mighty Hero") stresses his deity.
• Everlasting Father ("Father of Eternity") stresses his lordship over time and history.
• Prince of Peace (ruler bringing prosperity and peace) stresses his role in inaugurating God's final era of righteousness and peace.
• This, you will agree, is quite a picture of the coming messiah.

4. Which of the assigned passages appears to you to relate to his priestly role? To his sacrificial death? Psa. 110; Isa. 53; [Psa. 22]

Jesus himself did not claim to be a priest, but the author of the Book of Hebrews invokes the promise to the Davidic king given in Psalm 110 "you are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek" (Psa 110:4; Heb 5:6, 10; 6:20; 7:11, 17) to call Jesus "our great high priest" (Hebrews 4:14); see also Hebrews 2:17; 3:1; 4:14-15. But by qualifying this priesthood as Melchizedekian—Judahite and not Aaronic, Hebrews makes clear that the messiah was never conceived of or predicted to be a priest of the type that Aaron or his descendents were. 

Hebrews not only qualifies the messiah's priesthood as Melchizedekian, but in Hebrews 5:5 links it to the David kingship, saying it was given by the one who called the Davidic king "my son" in Psalm 2. The messiah's priesthood is the kind of priesthood that only the Davidic royal messiah could exercise, not that of the descendants of Aaron.

Since the publication of the Dead Sea scrolls there has been quite a bit of controversy as to whether some Jews in the time of Jesus already believed that the messiah would suffer and die. It has not been proved that they did, but if so, that is no problem for the veracity of the NT, which does not claim that no one anticipated this. What was totally unanticipated was the Jesus was that messiah. And if some Jews believed the messiah would die, no one anticipated that he would be delivered up to death by his own people's leadership, nor that he would die the ignominious death of crucifixion.

Two of the passages I assigned to you for study—Psa. 110, and Isaiah 53—predicted that the messiah would have a priestly role and that he would die for the sins of his people. A third which I did not assign—Psalm 22—describes that death in remarkable detail and was actually quoted from our Savior's own lips as he hung on the cross" "My God, my God! Why have you forsaken me?"

But the most striking OT prediction which found its fulfillment in Jesus does not use the normal terms associated with messianic prophecy. The figure is not called prophet, priest or king. He is simply called "my servant" (Hebrew ʿavdî). I refer to Isaiah 52:13-15; 53:1-12. Biblical scholars refer to the figure as the Suffering Servant. 

That term "servant of the LORD" could just as easily refer to Job, who is also proudly referred to by God himself as "my servant Job," and whom we all remember suffered excruciatingly, both physically with the loss of his children and possessions and mentally-emotionally by the rebuke of his wife who told him to "curse God and die" and his so-called "friends" who preached to him incessantly that he was suffering because of his own sins.

But Job's suffering—although undeserved, and therefore bringing him exaltation and praise from God in the end for his faith and honesty in the midst of it all—was not on behalf of others and for their sins. The "servant" in Isaiah 52 and 53 suffers in the place of others (vv. 5, 6, 8), makes intercession for them (vv. 11-12), and brings them forgiveness.

If this is the messiah, why is the term "my servant" particularly appropriate? It is important to note that David and each of his successors, whom we have seen were true types of the messianic king, were also called "servant of the LORD (i.e., Yahweh)". This was the model of Israelite kingship. And since 2 Samuel models the messiah on Israelite kingship, viewed in the ideal, he will also legitimately be called "my servant." In fact, in the sermons of the apostles recorded in Acts, the exalted Jesus is often referred to as God's "servant" (Greek pais in Acts 3:13, 26; 4:25, 27, 30). In prayer to God, the disciples in Acts 4:27 and 30 refer to Jesus as "your holy servant Jesus whom you anointed." The British scholar Larry Hurtado (Lord Jesus [2003], p. 190) sums up the significance of this title used of Jesus in the NT: 

"I contend that … these applications of [Greek] pais to Jesus carry a specifically Israel-oriented and royal-messianic connotation".

The song of the "Servant of Yahweh" actually begins in 52:13ff. It begins with a statement of the Servant's success (13). He will "act wisely (yaskîl, 13). He will be exalted threefold:  "See, my servant will act wisely; he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted" (yarûm wĕnissāʾ wĕgāvah mĕʾōd, 13). 

In v. 14 the NIV and ESV give the impression that the Servant will "sprinkle" many nations as a priest might consecrate or purify them. But the NRSV is right to render this verb "startle". Verses 13 and 14 are a pair, as their introductory conjunctions "just as … so" indicate. The point is that, although the Servant's appearance startles those who see him in a way that they expect nothing of him, after he has accomplished his mission he will leave everyone—Israel as well as the nations—dumbfounded with admiration. From a NT point of view that either happens when individual Gentiles are impressed by the gospel message, or will happen when Jesus returns in glory.

Chapter 53 proper commences what can only be called a lament of repentant Israel. "Who (of us) believed what we heard? To which of us was the arm of the Lord revealed?" These are rhetorical questions, because Isaiah's point is that none of them understood that the messiah was to come in humility and be thought a sinner who deserved to die.

Verse 3 summarizes the tragic misapprehension of Israel: "He was despised and rejected … and we esteemed him not." Like Job's three "friends", Israel would misjudge Jesus, consider him a blasphemer and a Sabbath-breaker, one whose fate on a Roman cross was a punishment from God himself. 

Verses 4-6 are the "Holy of Holies" of this beautiful prophecy. Here the prophet, speaking for a future repentant nation of Israel, expresses their horrified discovery of the true nature of what happened on the Cross, what a popular Christian songwriter called "the great exchange"—"he was wounded for our transgressions" and "Yahweh has laid on him the iniquity of us all." 

The Servant's death in this manner was no accident, no horrible unforeseen tragedy to be deeply regretted. It was planned by God himself: verse 10 says "Yet it was Yahweh's will to crush him and cause him to suffer … and to make his life/soul a guilt-offering".

And, as amazing as it may seem, this prophecy even predicts the resurrection of the Servant—although admittedly indirectly. In verses 10b and 11 we read: "he will see his offspring and prolong his days" and "after the suffering of his soul he will see the light (of life) and be satisfied". The more recent (correct) translation of that last phrase is due to the better text preserved in the LXX and the Dead Sea Hebrew manuscripts. 

There is also a prediction of Gentile inclusion. Up to this point the beneficiaries are understood to be Isaiah's people, Israel. But in 11b and 12 the "many" spoken of are in contrast to Israel, and refers to the nations. He will "bear their iniquities" is in contrast to "our iniquities" in 4-6 and the "transgression of my people" in v. 8.

5. Which of the assigned passages appears to you to relate to his being the source of forgiveness and righteousness to believers? Jer. 23:6; 33:16

In Jeremiah 23:5-6 and 33:15-16 we read:

“The days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will raise up to David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land. In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. This is the name by which he will be called: Yahweh ṣidqēnū, The LORD Our Righteousness" (Jeremiah 23:5-6 NIV).

Like Immanuel, and the fourfold titulary of Isaiah 9:6, this "name" is actually a statement about the coming King who is the "righteous branch" from David's trunk. But although it makes a statement about him, it need not be read as a sentence, as the NRSV does "the Lord is our righteousness," but can with NIV, ESV and others, be taken as a title: "Yahweh, our Righteousness." 

In the Gospel of John, Jesus claimed the divine name Yahweh in its meaning explained to Moses (Exodus 3:13-15), when he said "before Abraham was born, I AM" (John 8:58-59). And he is the source of our righteousness.

Summary

Did these messianic hopes actually play an important role in the lives of OT saints? Were they in some sense nourishment for their hopes and their faith? We get only fleeting glimpses of this in the OT. But it is likely that their major effect was felt in the Babylonian captivity and the return to Zion under Ezra and Nehemiah. It is no coincidence that during the exile they were without a real functioning king of their own (as opposed to the Babylonian or Persian kings), and that after the return their only king was Zerubbabel, who is titled only as a "prince." When physical and contemporary political kingship was lacking, the hope for the eschatological kingdom and its king was more keenly felt. 

The prophecies of Isaiah—not just Isaiah 53—are replete with messianic visions. As Christians we are familiar with the Christmas prophecies (Isa. 7:14 Immanuel born of virgin, Isa. 9:6-7 his name will be Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace). But there are also the descriptions of the perfect kingdom of righteousness and peace and the messiah's rule over his people like the perfect shepherd.

All of these prophecies were God's way of encouraging his people, suffering not only under foreign invasions, but under the godless and inept rule of the later pre-exilic monarchs of David's line. I like to think that the similar hope we have of the Second Coming of Jesus can encourage you and me, as we live in a world replete with dangers from without and within. We do not trust in human rulers. We trust in the Lord who will some day establish his eternal reign of justice and peace over the New Earth, with the only human worthy to rule, the God-Man Jesus of Nazareth.

1 “I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd. … My servant David shall be king over them; and they shall all have one shepherd. They shall follow my ordinances and be careful to observe my statutes.” (Ezekiel 34:23; 37:24)