Isaiah [Part 12] - The Messianic Transition

Read the transcript below, or watch a video of the teaching by Joseph Shulam.

Shalom. In our series of Isaiah the prophet in partnership with Brad TV we are skipping forward to Isaiah chapter 48. Why am I doing this? The chapters that I'm skipping are really political, ad hoc chapters dealing with the reality in the 8th Century BC, mainly in the days of Isaiah the prophet. But the Messianic part starts in chapter 40, and we did chapter 40-44, and now I'm going to chapter 48, verse 12. From here on, I will go at least to chapter 54, chapter after chapter, text after text.

We appreciate very much Brad TV and their interest in looking at the biblical texts from a traditional Jewish historical, I would say, scientific point of view. With scientific I mean that we are connecting things to the time, to the place, to the history of the Middle East in general surrounding Israel during that time, because the text itself demands it. And we are going to stress now the Messianic aspects of the Prophecies of Isaiah.

So, I am starting to read from chapter 48 of Isaiah, from verse 12. Let me read the first verse in Hebrew, and then I'll repeat it in English.

Let me read it now in English:

I'm continuing the reading:

Ah, let me stop here at verse 16 of chapter 48. We see here a switch, a beginning of a switch, because up to now, the servant of the Lord was the nation of Israel, the people of Israel, not an individual. It's definitely not a Divine individual, but the nation, the people of Israel, are addressed sometimes as Jacob, sometimes as Israel. The difference is this: Jacob is the devious Jacob; Israel is the Israel that came into existence after Jacob wrestled with the angel of the Lord in the River Jabok, before crossing the Jordan River. He sent his family ahead, and he remained there and crossed the river at night and met with the angel of the Lord, battled with him, and the angel of the Lord changed his name to Israel, the one who strived with God and was able to withstand it.

But this text is unique. In the same verse, we have both Jacob and Israel: "Hear me, Jacob and Israel, my called one, my chosen, my one, the one that I have called. I am the one; I am the first, and I am the last." Right here starts the Messianic aspects of the prophet Isaiah. Of course, we have chapter seven about the young lady, virgin, that will beget a son, and his name will be Emmanuel. Then we have chapter nine with the royal titles of that child that will be born in the land of Israel: Prince of Peace, a wonderful counselor, the son of God, yes, all the royal titles given to that child that was born in the land of Israel when a young lady would give birth. No man, no father, no earthly father is mentioned in that prophecy. And here, from chapter 11 of Isaiah till chapter 48, the servant of the Lord is the nation of Israel. Suddenly, it becomes an individual. What the nation of Israel failed to do, an individual will fulfill, will get it done.

How does that work? For example, when you have the Olympics, and an Israeli guy gets a gold medal, he stands on the podium with the flag of Israel, and they don't say Mr. Zilberstein received the medal; they say Israel received the medal. Mr. Zilberstein, who fought and did Judo, and he won the battle and got first place, is not Mr. Zilberstein the individual. He is Mr. Zilberstein who stands for all of Israel; Israel received the medal. In other words, he becomes the embodiment, the representation, of Israel. This is what we read here in verse 12: "Hear O Israel, Jacob, Israel, my called one, my chosen one, the one that I have called out. I am he; I am the first, and I am the last." When Yeshua says about himself, "I am the Alpha and the Omega," that's where he's getting it from. He's getting it from chapter 48 in the prophet Isaiah, from verse 12. This is the first proclamation that the servant of the Lord is not only a nation, a national one, but an individual. And that voice, the voice of the Lord, becomes the voice of the individual.

As we continue to read verse 13: "My hand established the earth." Now, who's the speaker? The speaker is God, and the one that was chosen by God, that is the Alpha and the Omega. "My hand established the earth, created the world. My right hand spread out the skies. When I summoned them, they at once existed." I spoke it; I called them, and they, boom, came into existence. Verse 14: "Assemble all of you and listen. Who among them foretold these things?" Among who? Among the heavens and the earth, among the creation. "Who among them?" Creation itself.

Not the people, the creation. Jehovah loves him as an individual. Notice he's not talking about a nation now; he's talking about an individual.

The subject of the text is not Jehovah; he is the one who is acting. But the subject is the one who was sent together with the spirit of the Lord.

And I want to make this clear: there is a switch. Until chapter 48, verse 12, the servant of the Lord is the nation of Israel. But because the nation of Israel didn't deliver the goods, didn't accomplish its mission, God has to take one Jew, one individual, and put on the shoulders of that individual the fulfillment of the task of all of Israel.

Verse 17:

What is God saying? He's saying, "Listen, I chose you, Israel, to be my servant, to be a holy priesthood for all the nations of the world. When I gave Moses the Law at Mount Sinai, I proclaimed you to be a holy priesthood, not for yourselves but for the nations. If you just heard my commandment, if you just believed me, if you just did what I asked you to do, you would be on top of the world. You would be on top of the world. You would continue to be collectively as my servants. But you didn't obey my commandments, and I had to choose one individual to be my servant now, to represent all of you."

And messengers are to go forth to the ends of the earth to tell the ends of the earth that the Lord has redeemed his servant Jacob. They suffered no thirst when he led them through the wilderness. He made water flow from the rock for them; he split the rock, and the water gushed out. There can be no well-being for the wicked, said the Lord, said Jehovah. So God is proclaiming here the fulfillment of the destiny of Israel as the servant of the Lord that failed to obey and to adhere to God's commandments, and says an individual will represent Israel, will represent Jacob, and will bring the final results into fruition. Why is that so? Because here is the key, the principle: verse 22 of chapter 48, "There can be no well-being for the wicked," says Jehovah, says the Lord. This has to do with an aspect that Paul deals with in the letter of Romans: the righteousness of God.

See, God promised to Abraham, and Abraham received that promise, that through his seed all the nations of the earth will be blessed. What does it mean? We'll be blessed, we'll be redeemed, we'll have a relationship with the Creator, we'll have a relationship with the Father of all mankind. But it didn't work out, not because of the Lord, not because of the Lord's mistake, but because of our weakness and disobedience to God's commands. Yes, these are very serious things, and they reflect a lot of things from the Law of Moses. They reflect the last chapters of Deuteronomy, chapter 32 of Deuteronomy, that gives all these prophecies, and in the end, that chapter is the basis for Paul's theology, and is the basis for Paul's inclusion of the Gentiles, of the nations, and it's the basis for Paul's hope that the nations will provoke Israel, provoke the Jewish people to jealousy, and they will return to have a good, proper, healthy relationship between the Lord, the Father of all mankind, and his chosen children, the children of Jacob, the children of Israel.

We are going now to chapter 49, which is again the continuation. This was chapter 48, from verse 12 to the end, to verse 22, was an introduction to chapter 49. And from here on, it is clear that the servant of the Lord is Yeshua, is the Messiah, the one that fulfills Isaiah 53 in all of his 33 different prophecies, that he is the only individual that ever walked on the face of this earth that can and did fulfill all these prophecies. I'm going to continue into chapter 49 for a few more minutes, and then the next lesson will go to chapter 50, 51, 52, and then we spend another special lesson to chapter 53 that is fascinating in its clarity and in its prediction of the work that God intended the Messiah to do during his lifetime here on Earth.

Chapter 49, verse 1:

So it's clear that it's not talking about God. It's clear that he's not talking about Jacob.

That's true. Remember that the angel of the Lord came to Joseph and to Mary before she gave birth to Yeshua, to Jesus, and said, "His name will be Yeshua because he will yoshia his people." 'His name will be the Savior because he is going to save his people.' So again, verse 14, chapter 49, verse 1: "Listen to me, you islands of the sea. Take heed, you people of far distance. Jehovah called me before I was born." So it's not talking about God himself and not talking about Jacob.

So this is now the servant of the Lord, and it was switched clearly in the first verses of chapter 49 to an individual, not Israel as a nation, not Jacob as a nation, but an individual that was born of a woman, that was manifest in his humanity, and was at the same time concealed in the Lord's quiver as the secret weapon of God to win the battle for the human race to be redeemed. I'm going to end here and bless you all, and please continue to listen to my teaching from the word of God, from the prophet Isaiah, because it's going to get more and more interesting, more and more relevant, and more and more building us in love and hope and faith in the way God rules his universe, his Earth.