Chapter 4 - God’s Sacrificial Lamb Foretold

Yesha’yahu (Isaiah)

True prophets were called by God and approved by God as Seers to deliver His message to His people.  God does not always call the qualified, but always qualifies the called.

Let us look back in time at the great prophet, Yesha’yahu as he is being commissioned by Adonai in the 6th chapter of Isaiah.

In the year of King ‘Uziyahu’s death I saw Adonai sitting on a high, lofty throne!  The hem of His robe filled the temple.  S’rafim stood over Him, each with six wings – two for covering His face, two for covering His feet and two for flying.  They were crying out to each other, “More holy than the holiest holiness is Adonai – Tzva’ot! The whole earth is filled with His glory!” (vs. 1-3)

Yesha’yahu was in the very presence of Holy, Almighty God! Yesha’yahu was seeing God’s holiness!  Why me Lord?  What have I ever done to deserve this awesome honor and privilege?  The one faithful and holy God is all in all.  Glory, majesty, and praise are due Adonai, seated on the throne for He is truth and righteousness, with no beginning or end! Let everyone that has breath praise Adonai, the maker of all things.

After Yesha’yahu had this holy mountain top experience, he looked at himself.  Oh! What a wretched man I am! He was repentant and humbled when he saw his sinful condition.

“The doorposts shook at the sound of their shouting and the house was filled with smoke.  Then Yesha’yahu said, “Woe to me! I {too} am doomed! – because I, a man with unclean lips, living among a people with unclean lips, have seen with my own eyes the King, Adonai – Tzva’ot!” (vs. 4-5)

When Yesha’yahu realized his condition, with humility, he confessed and repented to most holy God to forgive him, including God’s chosen people as well.  God is waiting for His people to do as did Yesha’yahu, and their sins will be forgiven as well.

“One of the s’rafim flew to me with a glowing coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar.  He touched my mouth with it and said, ‘Here! This has touched your lips your iniquity is gone, your sin is atoned for.’”  (vs. 6-7)

Yesha’yahu is forgiven, his iniquity is gone and his sin is atoned for.  He is now a clean vessel for God to use as the prophetic messenger to His people.

Then I heard the voice of Adonai saying, “Whom should I send? Who will go for us?” I answered, “I’m here, send me!”  He said,  “Go and tell this people: “Yes, you hear, but you don’t understand, you certainly see, but you don’t get the point!” “Make the heart of this people {sluggish with} fat, stop up their ears, and shut their eyes.  Otherwise, seeing with their eyes, and hearing with their ears, then understanding with their hearts, they might repent and be healed!” I asked, “Adonai, how long?” and He answered, “Until cities become uninhabited ruins, houses without human presence, the land utterly wasted;until Adonai drives the people far away, and the land is one vast desolation. If even a tenth {of the people} remain,it will again be devoured." “But like a pistachio tree or an oak, whose trunk remains alive after its leaves fall off, the Holy Seed will be its trunk.”  (vs. 8-13)

Do you realize the importance of the question asked by Yesha’yahu, “Adonai, how long?”  How long will their ears be stopped up and their eyes shut? Until these things happen: the cities become uninhabited, the land laid waste, the people are scattered far away and the land is one vast desolation.  Praise Adonai!  These are fulfilled prophecies!  

"He's God"

performed by the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir

 

On May 14, 1948, the stump sprouted, began to grow again and the nation of Israel was reborn.  AD 70 to 1948 was a very long time without a homeland.  The reason being, God sent His perfect sacrificial Lamb and He was rejected.

There is a price to pay for iniquity and sin.  Just as Yesha’yahu was forgiven when he realized his lost condition, likewise those who do the same will be healed and forgiven.

The prophet Yesha’yahu was commissioned by Adonai in chapter 6 and in chapter 7:14, Adonai begins to unfold His plan for the ages 700 years before it was fulfilled!

Therefore the Lord Adonai Himself will give you {the Hebrew is plural} a sign:  The virgin will be with Child and will give birth to a Son, and {he or they} will call Him Immanuel.  Yesha’yahu 7:14

“The virgin will conceive and bear a Son, and they will call Him “Immanu El” (God is with us) Mattityahu 1:23

This is how the birth of Yeshua the Messiah came about. His mother Miryam was engaged to Yosef, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Ruach HaKodesh. (Holy Spirit)  Mattityahu 1:18

It’s sad but true that if events do not happen in the logical order that man perceives them then – THEY CANNOT BE TRUE!  The Adonai of all things cannot and will not be put in the knowledge “box” of what the mind of man perceives, since there are no boundaries for the One, all knowing, all omnipotent and Holy God!

We have established how Yeshua was conceived and the virgin Miryam by which He came to planet earth to show man - God Visible!

Yesha’yahu 9:6-7 
“For a Child is born to us, a Son is given to us; dominion will rest on His shoulders, and He will be given the name Pele-Yo’etz, El Gibbor, Avi-‘Ad,  Sar-Shalom {Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Father of Eternity, Prince of Peace}, In order to extend the dominion and perpetuate the peace of the throne and kingdom of David, to secure it and sustain it through justice and righteousness henceforth and forever. The zeal of Adonai-Tzva’ot will accomplish this.”  

Yeshua has been described with many titles and positions.  Now let us look at the prophecy fulfilled concerning His place of birth. 

"But you, Bethlehem near Efrat, so small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come forth to me the future ruler of Israel, whose origins are far in the past, back in ancient times." Mikhah 5:2 

Here is another passage in reference to Yeshua’s place of birth. After Yeshua was born in Beit-Lechem in the land of Y’hudah, during the time when Herod was king, Magi from the East came to Yerushalayim and asked, “ Where is the newborn King of the Jews? For we saw His star in the East and have come to worship Him.”

When King Herod heard of this he became very agitated, and so did everyone else in Yerushalayim.

He called together all the head cohanim and Torah-teachers of the people and asked them, “Where will the Messiah be born?”  “In Beit-Lechem of Y’hudah,” they replied, “because the prophet wrote, ‘And you Beit-Lechem in the land of Y’hudah, are by no means the least among the rulers of Y’hudah; for from you will come a Ruler who will shepherd my people Isra’el.’’’ Matthew 2:1-6

There were three very different reactions to the birth of Yeshua Messiah; King Herod, the Magi, and the chief priests and teachers of the law.  

First, King Herod was disturbed and all Yerushalayim with him, for the Magi were looking for the King of the Jews.  He did not tolerate competition, which resulted in the slaughter of all boys two years old and younger.  This first group represents the darkness of sin and a lost world without God and condemned to death.

The Magi, sometimes called the wise men, traveled some distance from the East to Yerushalayim by following the star. They asked where is the One who is born the King of the Jews? Neither King Herod nor the people of Yerushalayim had the answer. The Magi, after being told by the chief priests and teachers of the law, went on their way and continued to follow the star until they came to the house where the child was with His mother.  They brought gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. They were overjoyed, bowed down and worshiped Him.  Seems strange how they knew, since they lived such a far distance away.  They simply believed the Word and followed the Light!  Yes, this second group, the Magi, was truly wise men.  We can also ask, seek and knock, and the door will be opened to the complete truth, just as it was for them.

The third group was the chief priests and teachers of the law. King Herod asked them where the Messiah was to be born.  “In Beit-Lechem in Y’hudah,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written: ‘But you, Beit-Lechem, in the land of Y’hudah, are by no means least among the rulers of Y’hudah; out of you will come a ruler who will be the shepherd of my people Isra’el.’”

The chief priests and teachers of the law had everything memorized down to the very dots and tittles.  They knew the facts but their eyes were blind and their ears did not hear.  On the outside, they appeared to the people as righteous but on the inside they were full of hypocrisy and wickedness.  The chief priests and teachers of the law were blind and deaf because they did not open their minds and hearts to the rest of the story!  The complete truth!! God’s perfect Lamb, Yeshua Messiah has come, just as predicted 700 years earlier by the prophets, 100% right – 100% of the time.  God’s truth revealed!

This third group is the saddest of all. They know the scripture and through their own “self” efforts, no one works harder than the legalist. These people are clouds without rain and springs without water.  From their mouths comes empty boastful words, they promise freedom but cannot deliver, for they themselves are slaves to whatever has mastered them. False prophets and teachers can deceive and destroy untold numbers of lives. Know the truth and the truth will set you free. 

From Malachi to Matthew, a period of 400 years, there was silence from God and the prophets.  This time brought about the rise and fall of the Grecian Empire, a period of Jewish revolt by the Maccabees and the rise of the Roman Empire.

The genealogy of Yeshua Messiah is the bridge from the old to the new.  Upon the stage of mankind, the revelation of the Lamb of God, foretold by Yesha’yahu the prophet, is personified!

"The Silence of God"

performed by Andrew Peterson