Self-Portraits of God

Studies in the Life and Work of Jesus

Lesson 5: Drawings by the Prophets: Old Testament Prophecies of the Coming One

Promises, Predictions, and Self-portraits

Guilty and Innocent

Isaiah 53:4

Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.

In Numbers 14 we have a fascinating third cousin to the passage just quoted from Isaiah. This chapter in Numbers is not a directly messianic passage in the opinion of this writer, but it is tied to a portrait of the Coming One we might miss without the insights it brings to us.

The problem being dealt with is leprosy. In Old Testament times the worst thing that could happen to anyone was to become infected with the disease of leprosy. This was because not only was the disease a progressive wasting away of the body of the victim until the disease struck some vital part and the suffering victim died, but it was also the most dreaded because of the way that the victims of this disease were treated by the society in which they lived. They were allowed no contact with any other human being than those who were their fellow-sufferers. This isolation was made the more unpleasant by the prevailing opinion that the onset of leprosy was the result of the direct curse of God.

In Numbers 14 is described the rituals to be followed by some one who had been healed from leprosy. The rituals were a portrayal of both the objective and the subjective atonement, including the resurrection from the dead. The person healed of leprosy had to go through the prescribed ritual before they could again be a part of their community, and return to their family and friends.

The connection between Leviticus 14 and our study of portraits of the One sent to help is found in a story appearing in the Babylonian Talmud.

In this story two are talking and the one asks the other one when the Messiah will come. The reply is that He has already come. The questioner asks where He can be found. The answer is that he is among the lepers at the gate. The questioner then asks how he, the seeker for the messiah, would know him from the rest of the lepers. In response to this question the answerer says that the lepers unbind all their sores, and then bind them up again; but the Messiah unbinds one and then rebinds it, saying, lest I should be called and I would not be ready. This story is footnoted to Isaiah 53:4.

When King Uzziah refused to listen to the priests, and offered a sacrifice on the alter in the temple, something that the Lord had said that only the priests were to do, the Lord immediately struck him with leprosy, and he went out of the temple white as snow, and, in spite of being the king, lived in a special house until the day of his death. In Isaiah 53:4, which we quoted above, we read of the Messiah, “we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God.”

The word smitten is a translation of the Hebrew word Negah. This word is the word which appears in the smiting of King Uzziah when the Lord punished him with leprosy.

The story we can now find in Isaiah 53:4 is the account of the Sent-One being struck with leprosy by God because of His sins! EXCEPT that the very next words in Isaiah 53 are,

But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. Isaiah 53: 5-6.

This Self-portrait

Is of us looking in a mirror that gives back only a purified reflection. This picture reveals that the mirror is itself a portrait of God.

Coming as King

There are some fascinating passages in the Old Testament that leave us wondering what the properly understood message is. The words of these texts are in themselves obviously capable of being carriers of a packet of information about the central person in the Old Testament—the Promised being-Sent One. But the context surrounding those texts is often not what is readily understood as being a portrayal of the Coming One, or of events associated with the appearing and life of the Messiah- the anointed One, or the Given One, in other passages in Scripture clearly dealing with the future Redeemer. Therefore it is to the great delight of the Bible student that sometimes writers of Biblical materials, writing after the time of the author who presents the material with the fascinating word clusters lacking a clear context, comment on the texts, giving them a specific setting.

An illustration of this kind of material is found in association with the story of Isaiah, chapter 7.

In this chapter the prophet Isaiah is sent to give a message to the king of Judah. It is a time of war. Two of Judah’s enemies have decided to join their forces and attack Judah, again. There has been war between these groups in the past, but the enemies were then not strong enough to win the battle with Judah; but now Judah’s king believes that they have the ability to win in a battle with his nation. He is very afraid. The Lord, knowing how afraid the king of Israel is, sends the prophet Isaiah with a message assuring the king that the nations which he fears are not going to win if there is a battle.

Then the prophet gives the king a sign, a child is going to be born, a boy child, and before the child is old enough to choose between good and evil the 2 nations which are so fearful to the king will be no longer!

The exact words of the message are, “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and you shall call His name Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14). The translators have capitalized the words son and his, making the passage a reference to the promised Sent-One. This act emphasizes the central question presented to the reader of this text is the predicted child who is to be born, and who is to be called

Immanuel, the promised Savior?

One thing is clear immediately, the name Immanuel means God with us. The question is, does the name attached to the to-be-born son express an expression of faith, God is with us, or is it expressing a fact; this one is God? If the significance of the name is to be found in its being a statement of fact, the name should be translated God with us.

When the time of this war and the time for the coming of the promised Given One are compared, it is clear that this child can not be the promised Redemption-bringer. The time for the appearing of the promised One is clearly presented to Bible students in the book of Daniel, and the time Isaiah spoke to the king was not the designated time. But what about the words, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son? If this verse is not to be seen as a direct prophecy of the coming One, is this verse not then a prophecy for some child to be born, the result of a virgin birth, in the time of Isaiah? There are two words for young women in the Hebrew of the Old Testament; one is the word bethulah, which means virgin. The second word is almah, which appears only eight or nine times, and because of the changing contexts in which it appears, cannot be said to carry a particular and exact meaning, other than that it designates a young woman of marriageable age.

The Hebrew word translated virgin in Isaiah 7:14, the verse we are looking at, is the word almah. Therefore the prediction in Isaiah tells the king that a young woman, not identified for us, perhaps present with the king as the Prophet Isaiah talks to him, is to bear a son and have the name which is the assurance of the care of God for the frightened king and his nation. The name of the child, Immanuel, when said, reminds all those who hear the name pronounced that God is with them.

The prophet Isaiah’s own children carried this same kind of statement, as did the children of Hosea. Through the prophets the Lord tried many different ways of assuring the people of the nation He had a special role for, of His continuing good will toward them. “I know the thoughts that I think toward you says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil.” Jeremiah 29:11. “In quietness and confidence shall be your strength.” Isaiah 30:15.

So what does this passage have to do with our study of texts about the coming Promised One?!

I suspect you already know Matthew, the writer of the first book of the New Testament, quotes this text, originally written in Hebrew, when he writes his Greek language record of the acts and deeds of Jesus done while Jesus was living in Palestine, and uses the Greek word for a virgin to translate the Hebrew word almah, young woman.

Matthew wrote, “so all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: “Behold the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.” Matthew 1:22-23.

As an inspired writer of a book of the Bible Matthew points out to us the otherwise uncertain application of the words appearing in Isaiah’s assurance of the Lord’s good will toward Israel.

Jesus, the coming Promised One was to be born of a virgin. (For the story of the birth of the One bringing Redemption, see Matthew 1:18-2:23, or Luke, chapters 1and 2.)

Another great picture of the coming One that is only seen clearly with the help of a later Bible-writer, is the material found in Zechariah 9:9.

This material paints a brilliant portrait of an event in the life of the coming Promised One which it must have been fascinating for Bible students in Old Testament times to conjecture about; a portrayal of a triumphal entry set in the context of the overthrow of ancient enemies.

The noticeable element that is lacking, in addition to the timing of this triumphant scene, is the absence of a supporting cast! No king has a triumphal entry alone yet in this scene from the life of the Christ He is alone. It is also of interest to notice that no response to the invitation appearing in this verse is part of the picture that appears in Zachariah’s book.

This verse reads, Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, Lowly and riding on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey.

This material appears in a passage promising protection to God’s people in Old Testament times, while promising trouble to those who oppose God’s plans and people. Matthew picks up this verse and gives it a context of time, tying it to the Messiah. He writes the story of this triumphant act, however, after it has happened, in his Gospel in what is in our Bibles chapter 21, verses 1-11. Notice what happened when Zachariah’s verse became reality.

Now when they drew near Jerusalem, and came to Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them,” go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Loose them and bring them to me. And if anyone says anything to you, you shall say, the Lord has need of them’, and immediately he will send them.

All this was done that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by the prophet, saying: Tell the daughter of Zion, Behold, your King is coming to you, Lowly, and sitting on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey.

So the disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them. They brought the donkey and the colt, laid their clothes on them, and set him on them.

And a very great multitude spread their clothes on the road; others cut down branches from the trees and spread them on the road. Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying: “Hosanna to the son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” And when He had come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, “Who is this?”

So the multitudes said, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee”. Matthew has seen the triumphal entry before he understands that that act is the fulfilling of the verse in Zachariah we are studying. In fact the death of Jesus has occurred before any of the disciples tied the triumphal entry into Jerusalem, by Jesus, to the picture in Zachariah. Notice the comment of the apostle John; “His disciples did not understand these things at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written about Him and that they had done these things unto Him.” John 12:16.

John also writes that “the people who were with Him when He called Lazarus out of his tomb and raised him from the dead, bore witness.” John 12:17.

If this bearing witness occurred before the triumphal entry ride by Jesus, there may have been a very large multitude of people who went out to see Jesus ride into the city in the fashion of a conquering King, because Lazarus had not only been raised from the dead, but he had been in the tomb for four days! Other stories of the raising of the dead had been doubted by some, but this act nobody could cast doubt on.

It has been estimated that the people in and about Jerusalem when it was destroyed numbered about one million. If there were that many in Jerusalem when the story of the raising of Lazarus was reported, the crowd who went out to see Jesus enter the city would have really seemed like the whole world. It is therefore no wonder that the Pharisees, who were actively opposing the work of Jesus because He and His works were more popular than they were said, “You see that you are accomplishing nothing. Look, the world has gone after Him!” John 12:18-19.

The element these texts together add to our portraits of the Messiah appearing in Old Testament portrayals of the coming Helper is found in the fact that all these fascinating historical happenings were hiding in a text that even the disciples did not notice as being of particular import to the life of the Coming One, until they were enlightened by the Holy Spirit.

The Self-portrait of God here is of the Member of the Godhead who reveals that which we would not see without His enlightenment. This portrait is of One pointing away from Himself.

Our last picture to assemble is a mosaic—a composite picture made of Snap Shots of the Future. A future being offered by the One bringing help for those who couple themselves to Him. For the vision is yet for an appointed time; But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie.

Though it tarries, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry. Habakkuk 2:3.

Your eyes will see the King in His beauty; they will see the land that is very far off. Isaiah 33:17.

And it will be said in that day: “Behold, this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He will save us.

This is the Lord; we have waited for Him; we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation.” Isaiah 25:9.

For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former shall not be remembered or come into mind. Isaiah 65:17.

Your dead shall live; together with My dead body they shall arise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in dust; for your dew is like the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead. Isaiah 26:19

Therefore prophesy and say to them, “Thus says the Lord God: behold, O my people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up from your graves… .” Ezekiel 37:12.

“The wolf and the lamb shall feed together. The lion shall eat straw like the ox, and dust shall be the serpent’s food. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain,” Says the Lord. Isaiah 65:25.

Drawings by the Prophets as Mirrors

In this study we found many Old Testament Prophecies acting as mirrors, reflecting pieces of the future.

The Self-portrait is of One whose reflections always reveal another.