Isaiah 53 Does Not Refer to Jesus

It is indeed my burden of proof to show that Isaiah 53 does not refer to Jesus. In this debate, I will show beyond a reasonable doubt that it cannot. I. Questions we must ask. There are three questions we must ask ourselves: (1) Who is speaking; (2) Who are the narrators speaking about; and (3) Deos Jesus fit the discription of the servant in the chatper? II. Who is speaking? A fundamental key in understanding the 4th Servant Song is to understand who is speaking. The context of this chapter begins in Isaiah 52:13-15 Isaiah 52:13-15(13) Behold, My servant shall deal prudently; he shall be exalted and extolled and be very high. (14) Just as many were astonished at you, so his visage was marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men;(15) So shall he sprinkle many nations. Kings shall shut their mouths at him; for what had not been told them they shall see, and what they had not heard they shall consider. What can we gean from this? From this, we know who is speakin: the Gentile kings! Indeed, the leaders of the world are speaking, "Who would believe what we have heard! " The kings are in astonashment at this great event and the great servant whom the song is speakinbout. III. Who is "My Servant"? From Isaiah 52:13, we know that it is "My servant. " The problem is we do not know who "my servant" is from these verses. What do we do? We look at the other servant songs to see if we can make a connection to "My [Hashem's] servant. " 1. Isaiah 41:8, "You are My servant, O Israel. " 2. Isaiah 49:3, "You are My servant, Israel. " 3. Other places include 44:1, 44:2, 44:21, 45:4, and 48:20. [1] From this, we can conclude that Israel is often used in the singular form as "My servant. " IV. Does Jesus Fit the Discription of Isaiah 53? I would now like to answer the question to see if Jesus fits this discription. We have already seen a good case from the immediate context that Israel is the servant, but let's continue to see if Jesus can fit the discription. A. Dispised and rejectedIsaiah 53:2-3(2) For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness; and when we see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. (3) 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. This is not talking about one who experienced a few hours of rejection on the cross, but was aquainted with grief and rejection; one who had a long history of being an outcast. What do the gospels say? Mark 3:7-9Jesus withdrew to the sea with His disciples; and a great multitude from Galilee followed; and also from Judea, (8) and from Jerusalem, and from Idumea, and beyond the Jordan, and the vicinity of Tyre and Sidon, a great number of people heard of all that He was doing and came to Him. (9) And He told His disciples that a boat should stand ready for Him because of the crowd, so that they would not crowd Him. Luke 4:14-15And Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about Him spread through all the surrounding district. (15) And He began teaching in their synagogues andwas praised by all. Luke 2:52And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature (helikia – physical growth), and in favor with God and man. From these first two verses, it becomes clear that Jesus cannot fit this discription. The New Testament describes Jesus, for the most part, as one who is vastly popular, and one who goes out to sea to prevent being ran over by the people who came to hear him speak! B. "He did not open his mouth. " Isaiah 53:7He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet He did not open his mouth; like a lamb that is led to slaughter, and like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, so he did not open his mouth. In this verse, Isaiah describes one who is oppressed and afflicted, yet kept silent. Clearly, Jesus cannot fit this discription. Take a look at the following verses: Matthew 27:46(46) About the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, "ELI, ELI, LAMA SABACHTHANI? " that is, "MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME? "(Note: Sabachthani is NOT Hebrew; rather, it is a corruption of Hebrew). Throughout the 4 gospels, there are other cases where Jesus "opened his mouth", though I won't go into detail about them as they are beyond the scope of this debate. C. "He had done no violence. " Isaiah 53:9They made His grave with the wicked, and his tomb with the rich, although He had done no violence, nor was there any deceit in His mouth. From this, the servant is not violent; nor is there and deceit (lies) in his mouth. Let's take a look at contradictory evidence: Matthew 10:34-35(34) "Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. (35) "For I came to SET A MAN AGAINST HIS FATHER, AND A DAUGHTER AGAINST HER MOTHER, AND A DAUGHTER-IN-LAW AGAINST HER MOTHER-IN-LAW;(Note: This proves Jesus is not the Messiah as the Messiah is suppose to send peace; this is unimportant for right now. ) [2]Luke 22:36, 38(36) And He said to them, "But now, whoever has a money belt is to take it along, likewise also a bag, and whoever has no sword is to sell his coat and buy one. (38) They said, "Lord, look, here are two swords. " And He said to them, "It is enough. "D. "He shall see his offspring. "Isaiah 53:10But the Lord was pleased to crush him, putting him to grief; if he would render himself as a guilt offering, He will see his offspring, He will prolong his days, and the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in his hand. The Hebrew word for offspring is "zera. " Here, it means a literal offspring; as it does everywhere else the word is used. If the prophet was talking about a spiritual child as the church deems it as, there is a different word that he would have used, that word is banim. Clearly, Jesus does not fulfill this as he never had a wife; let alon zera! E. "He shall prolong his days. "According to church tradition, Jesus died on the cross at age 33. This is not a prolonged life. Moreover, this begs the question as to how God could prolong God's days if Jesus is indeed God! V. If Not Jesus, who? I already gave good evidence that Isaiah 53 cannot refer to Jesus. However, I would like to touch up on my introduction to prove the Jewish nation is the servant! A. "The Arm of the Lord. "In verse 1, we read: "Who would have believed what we have heard! and to whom has the arm of Hashem been revealed? " The arm of Hashem always denotes a regeneration, or a salvation, of Israel. Consider:16Isaiah 62:8The Lord has sworn by His right hand and by His strong arm, "I will never again give your grain as food for your enemies; nor will foreigners drink your new wine for which you have labored. "Isaiah 63:12Who caused His glorious arm to go at the right hand of Moses, who divided the waters before them to make for Himself an everlasting name,Shemot (Exodus) 3:20"So I will stretch out My hand and strike Egypt with all My miracles which I shall do in the midst of it; and after that he will let you go. Devarim (Deuteronomy) 4:34"Or has God tried to go to take for himself a nation from within another nation by trials, by signs and wonders and by war and by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm and by great terrors, as the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? Tehillim (Psalms) 89:10 You Yourself crushed Rahab like one who is slain; You scattered Your enemies with Your mighty arm. VI. SummaryI have shown good evidence that Jesus cannot fit the discription of the song. Moreover, I have also shown that Israel is a better discription. VII. References[1] Roth, Marshall. "Isaiah 53: The Suffer Servant. " . http://www.aish.com... [2] Isaiah 2[3] Penina Taylor. "Isai53-The Suffering Servant. " . http://www.jewishisaiah53.com...