Isaiah 53 is Jesus

Isaiah 53 is one of the most beautiful servant songs in the entire book of Isaiah. In this debate, I will analyse it verse by verse to prove that this verse is not referring to Jesus. WHO IS THE SERVANT? As mentioned above, Isaiah 53 is a servant song. Who is this servant? None other than Israel! If we want to decipher any biblical text, we must view it in context. In the other servant songs, they are unanimously identified as Israel. Consider: “You are My servant, O Israel” (41:8) “You are My servant, Israel” (49:3) see also Isaiah 44:1, 44:2, 44:21, 45:4, 48:20 We will see that this chapter cannot be referring to Jesus. Pastor Walter Riggans admits: “There is no self-evident blueprint in the Hebrew Bible which can be said to unambiguously point to Jesus. Only after one has come to believe that Jesus was the Messiah, and more specifically the kind of Messiah that he is, does it all begin to make sense. .. ” (Yehoshua Ben David, Olive Press 1995, p.155) ISAIAH 53: LINE BY LINE (1) Who would believe what we have heard! For whom has the arm of God been revealed! In this opening verse, world leaders are shocked at the incredible news of Israel’s salvation: “Who would believe what we have heard! ” In verse 1, the world leaders are shocked at the incredible news of the messianic redemption and salvation of Israel. (Pardon my imagry. ) The second half refers to God's redemption from physical persecution. Throughout the Old Testament, God's Arm always denotes a redemption of Israel. (See: (Deut. 26:8). (See also Exodus 3:20, 6:6, 14:31, 15:6; Deut. 4:34, 7:19; Isaiah 51:9, 52:10, 62:8, 63:12; Jeremiah 21:5, 27:5; Ezekiel 20:33; Psalms 44:3, 89:11, 98:1, 136:12). (2) He formerly grew like a sapling or a root from dry ground; he had neither form nor beauty. We saw him, but without a desirable appearance. This verse is pure imagry. The verse is a pure metaphor that represents the Jewish struggle in exile. Consider a young sapling that is in dry ground, although it appears it will die, it is miraculously saved. In tihis verse, Isaiah describes the miraculous return from exile. Note that this imagry is throughout the Bible. (see Isaiah 60:21, Ezekiel 19:13, Hosea 14:6-7, Amos 9:15). (3) He was despised and rejected of men, a man of pains and accustomed to sickness. As one from whom we would hide our faces, he was despised, and we had no regard for him. The servant is described as universally despies and rejected. Historically, this has been the theme for the Israelites. Other imagries include Isaiah 49:7; 60:15; Psalm 44:14; and Nechemia 3:35 This clearly applies to Israel, though it cannot be referring to Jesus. According to the New Testament, Jesus is immensely popular. In fact, in Mark 3 Jesus has to go out to sea to avoid being overrun by the crowds! Luke 2:52 describes him as strong and well respected man, a man who was "praised by all. " This is a far cry from Isaiah's imagry of "despised and rejected," Jesus may have died a criminal's death, however isaiah describes one who's rejection has sppanned the ages--obviously referring to a nation and not an individual. (4) Indeed, he bore our illnesses and carried our pains – but we regarded him as diseased, stricken by God and afflicted. This again cannot be reconciled by Luke's description as physically strong. Throughout the centuries of Israel's exile, many nations persecuted the Jews. (5) He was wounded as a result of our transgressions, and crushed as a result of our iniquities. The chastisement upon him was for our benefit; and through his wounds we were healed. This describes the world leaders confessing that Jews suffered as a direct result of "our iniquities"--i. e. , anti-sematism. Isaiah 53:5 is sadly mistranslated. It should say because of our transgressions instead of for our transgressions. There is a major language difference. Indeed, this directly contradicts the Jewish teachings that G-d promises forgiveness to anyone who returns to him. Therefore, tehre is no need for the Messiah to atone for others (Isaiah 55:6-7, Jeremiah 36:3, Ezekiel chapters 18 and 33, Hoseah 14:1-3, Jonah 3:6-10, Proverbs 16:6, Daniel 4:27, 2-Chronicles 7:14). 6) We have all strayed like sheep, each of us turning his own way, and God inflicted upon him [Israel] the iniquity of us all. The nations realize that their lack of proper leadership caused them to treat the Jews with disdain. They further acknowledge how punishments that should have befallen the nations were averted through Israel’s sufferin (7) He was persecuted and afflicted, but he did not open his mouth. Like a sheep being led to the slaughter or a lamb that is silent before her shearers, he did not open his mouth. This again is pure imagery. This refers to the Jewish people. Take, for example: "You give us as sheep to be eaten and have scattered us among the nations. .. we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered" (Psalms 44:12, 23). This prophecizes many hardships. Ironically, this refers in part to the 11th century Crusaders who "persecuted and afflicted" the Jews in Jesus' name. Recently, it was Hitler that "led [the Jews] to the slaughter," although they had a chance to convert, they remained as a "lamb that is silent before the shearers. " (8) He was released from captivity and judgment; who could have imagined such a generation? For he was removed from the land of the living; because of my people's sin they were afflicted. The phrase, "land of the living," refers specifically to Israel. Hence, this verse "He was removed from the land of the living," does not mean that the servant was killed, but rather exiled from Israel. Again, this verse describes the world's surprise at witnessing the return to the Promised Land. "Who could have imagined" that an affected nation are now prospering. Here the text makes absolutely clear that the oppressed Servant is a collective nation, not a single individual. This is where knowledge of biblical Hebrew is absolutely crucial. At the end of the verse, the Hebrew word for “they were" always refers to a group, never to an individual. (see for example, Psalms 99:7) (9) He submitted his grave to evil people; and the wealthy submitted to his executions, for committing no crime, and with no deceit in his mouth. If you want to use this verse to claim Jesus lived a sinless life, this is contradicted by the fact that he claimed to be God Himself, thus violating the prohibition against making any physical image of God. According to the Talmud, anyone that claims to be God is automatically considered a liar. Historically, this imagry is correct. The Jewish people were given the choice to "convert or die. " However, there was "no decit in his omuth" the Jews refused to accept a pagan deity as their God, thus they "submitted to the grave. " Further, wealthy Jews "submitted to his executions, for committing no crime" – killed so that wicked conquerors could confiscate their riches. I am out of room to analyse the rest of the chapter. My source is: . http://www.aish.com... ask my opponent to carefully read my arguments and that link. This is where I got my argument. Thank you.