Home thoughts from abroad.wordpress.com

²⁶ Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, ‘Go south to the road – the desert road – that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.’ ²⁷ So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of the Kandake (which means ‘queen of the Ethiopians’). This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship, ²⁸ and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the Book of Isaiah the prophet. ²⁹ The Spirit told Philip, ‘Go to that chariot and stay near it.’

³⁰ Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. ‘Do you understand what you are reading?’ Philip asked.

³¹ ‘How can I,’ he said, ‘unless someone explains it to me?’ So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.

³² This is the passage of Scripture the eunuch was reading:

‘He was led like a sheep to the slaughter,
    and as a lamb before its shearer is silent,
    so he did not open his mouth.
³³ In his humiliation he was deprived of justice.
    Who can speak of his descendants?
    For his life was taken from the earth.’

³⁴ The eunuch asked Philip, ‘Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?’ ³⁵ Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.

³⁶ As they travelled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, ‘Look, here is water. What can stand in the way of my being baptised?’ ³⁸ And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptised him. ³⁹ When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing. ⁴⁰ Philip, however, appeared at Azotus and travelled about, preaching the gospel in all the towns until he reached Caesarea.

This seems back to front, I know, but in writing about the fourth ‘Servant Song’ I have assumed that it is about Jesus: that He fulfilled this prophecy. This view is commonly held among Christians. Frankly, it seems obvious.

Warren Wiersbe says that the messianic interpretation of this passage (i.e. that it refers to the Messiah) was held by Jewish rabbis until the twelfth century. After that, Jewish scholars began to argue that it was about the sufferings of Israel. But Wiersbe asks two incisive questions re chapter 53: ‘…how could Israel die for the sins of Israel (v.8)? And who declared that Israel was innocent of sin and therefore had suffered unjustly (v.9)? No, the prophet wrote about an innocent individual, not a guilty nation. He made it crystal clear that this individual died for the sins of the guilty so that the guilty might go free.’ ‘Old Testament Commentary’, p.1191.

For me, Acts 8 is the clincher. Philip, an evangelist, was sent out to the desert to meet an Ethiopian official. This man was probably what they referred to in those times as a ‘God-fearer’: a Gentile who was drawn to Israel’s God and religion. So he had gone up to Jerusalem to worship, and on his way home, as Philip came alongside him, he was reading from Isaiah 53:7,8. The only way I can interpret this text is to say Philip told him it was about Jesus. It is a classic case of the New Testament interpreting the Old.

Only one Person in history fits this prophetic description exactly. The identification of Jesus with Isaiah’s suffering Servant was obvious to the Christian church from the beginning. Isaiah 53 is directly quoted, or alluded to, in the New Testament more frequently than other chapter in the Old.

‘As trait after trait swings into focus and fulfilment, can we write any name under Isaiah’s portrait of the sublime Sufferer in Chapter 53 than Jesus of Nazareth? Dr. J. Sidlow Baxter.

Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
    and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
    and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.
¹¹ After he has suffered,
    he will see the light of life and be satisfied;
by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,
    and he will bear their iniquities.
¹² Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,
    and he will divide the spoils with the strong,
because he poured out his life unto death,
    and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
    and made intercession for the transgressors.

Following on from the death of Jesus:

• There will be success: ”…the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand”(10c). An alternative reading of verse 11a says: ”He will see the fruit of his suffering and will be satisfied”;
• There will be greatness: ”Therefore I will give him a portion among the great…” (12a); ”Therefore I’ll reward him extravagantly-the best of everything, the highest honours…” The Message;
• There will be victory: ”…he will divide the spoils with the strong…” (12a); ”I will give him the honours of a victorious soldier” New Living Translation. The Messiah is pictured as a conquering Hero, returning from battle with the booty. There is no doubt that He is the winner. As I’ve said previously, this totally unanticipated and massive reversal of fortunes explains the consternation of 52:15: ”…kings will shut their mouths because of him…” No-one could foresee this outcome (except, of course, for prophets like Isaiah who did, and who wrote about it for our benefit).

It is an utterly breath-taking ending to a most remarkable prophetic passage. Who of us can truly express how wonderful this is. It surely will cause our hearts to burn.