Amazing Prophecies from the Bible

        A Monthly Feature to Build Our Faith

One of the greatest prophecies of the Old Testament that points to our Lord Jesus is Isaiah 53.  This passage has more prophecies in it about our Lord’s suffering, death, burial and resurrection than any other passage.  I have read this passage to thousands of people over the years.  Few doubt this passage has something to do with Jesus’ life and ministry, and yet is was written about 700 years BEFORE our Lord was even born.  I encourage all of you to read this passage if you have not done so.  What a prophecy to build our faith!!!

In this month’s article, I would like to focus on how wonderfully the Gospel message is contained in this passage.  It is important for this fact to be established in the Old Testament, since the Gospel was not a new message when the New Testament was written.  The Gospel message is an eternal message of the Lord’s love for us.  The Gospel is expressed through our Lord’s atoning death, burial and resurrection in order to mercifully, yet justly, forgive our sin and restore us to fellowship with God.

To see the Gospel message prophesied in Isaiah 53, let’s focus on verse 11 which states:

 After the suffering of his soul, 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.

This verse tells us that “after” the suffering of his soul, he will see the “light of life”.  What a miracle of Scripture to have the story of our Lord’s death and resurrection mentioned in the same sentence.  Surely our Lord “suffered” an agonizing death on the Cross, but rose again to see the “light of life” again.  Our Lord was “satisfied” with His work and all that it accomplished with regards to bringing us God’s redeeming love and forgiveness.  You see this fact in the next section of the verse which talks about how “knowledge” of our Lord’s death and resurrection will “justify many” because he will “bear their iniquities”.  Here is the Gospel, clearly explained in brief, over 700 years before the New Testament begins to talk about “The Gospel”.  Our Lord’s death brought about our justification or righteous legal standing before God because our Lord was willing to “bear” our “iniquities” in our place.

Now the word “Gospel” does not appear in the Old Testament the same way it does in the New Testament.  In the New Testament the word “Gospel” appears 91 times in the NIV.  The closest equivalent in the Old Testament to “Gospel” is the phrase “good news”, which appears 12 times and does have the same, clear connection to our Lord and the Good News spoken of in the New Testament.  The Old Testament concept of “Good News” is somewhat hidden to the reader.  The reason for this is because the Old Testament is waiting for the coming of our Lord to fully revealed what is meant through the “Good News”. 

However, while the Old Testament is more subtle about using the expressing “Good News”, this passage from Isaiah is wonderfully clear about our Lord’s ministry and what it would accomplish. The story of our Lord’s suffering, resurrection and Gospel is spoken of here in Isaiah, 700 years before we have “The Great Commission”.  As a result, we must marvel at the Lord’s ability to inspire the Bible and fulfill His Word to us in Isaiah.  This is so important to clearly state this fact because you will sometimes hear that the Old and New Testaments are teaching different things or are not compatible.  This is a charge often leveled at the Lord’s people from those who want to say that Christianity has misunderstood the Old Testament’s message.  This wonderful prophecy from Isaiah clearly demonstrates that such a belief is simply not true.  The Bible is a perfect unity of prophecy and fulfillment demonstrated here in Isaiah 53 over the centuries of time.

I never cease to be encouraged and inspired by Isaiah 53.  The entire story of the New Testament and our Gospel is contained in each of its verses.  The Gospel message is a message that has never changed.  It is the same throughout the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation.  The Bible uses hundreds of amazing prophecies to demonstrate that fact over and over again.  How wonderful to know that just as the Gospel message has not changed, neither has the love of God for each of us. Now that is truly Good News to all of us this month. 

While hundreds of Bible prophecies directly and indirectly pointed to the resurrection of Jesus Christ, many still argue the point as something from the past that cannot be proven one way or another.  However, there is one prophecy about resurrection that is taking place before people every day of the year.  The resurrection I am speaking about is the resurrection of the modern state of Israel.  Israel has been in the news almost every day since her rebirth in 1948.  More press and news items have been generated about Israel in the last 50 years than any other single news item.  Of course, the amazing thing about this issue is that it was predicted by the prophet Ezekiel over 2500 years ago.

The most famous verse in the Bible is without question John 3:16.   This amazing verse contains the heart of the Gospel message that the Lord Jesus Christ was given for our sin by a loving and merciful God. Most Christians know this verse by heart. We even see it displayed at football games and sporting events because it is so well known.  What is not so well known is that this verse is the fulfillment of an amazing prophecy from the Old Testament.  Let’s take a look at this glorious truth this month. 

The center piece of the Christian Faith is the Cross and the death of our Lord Jesus Christ for our sins and His resurrection.  As a result, any time you study and look the death of our Lord and the crucifixion narrative, you will find a treasure chest of prophecies fulfilled by our Lord.  In this month’s article we are going to take a brief look at the timing of the crucifixion, from beginning to end, and see the hand of the Lord at work in showing us these amazing prophecies. 

I would like to offer a few thoughts about our recent trip to Israel in early November. I had the privilege of going with Ben DeGraaf, Bill O’Neill and Ron Redman.  We initially went to work on supporting an archeological project in the desert named Tel Tamar.  Tamar is located about 30 miles south of the Dead Sea and was an ancient crossroads of trade and commerce going all the way back to King Solomon and beyond.  We worked on the Tel for a few hours each day and then used it as a base from which to travel and explore the rest of the country.  I hope these brief words will give you some insight into the modern nation of Israel and what the Lord is saying to us through it. 

If someone were to ask you, “What is the most amazing thing happening today in our world?”  What would you say?  I think I would have to answer, the explosion of technology and the movement of people around the world into a global village through communications and travel.  The world is truly changing at a rapid pace, unseen in history.