Yeshua Messiah from Some Descriptive Prophecies

All Christians believe that the prophecy on the sin-bearing servant in Isaiah 53 was fulfilled in Yeshua about 2,000 years ago. This prophecy has been used to prove that Yeshua is the true Messiah. However, many of the modern Jewish rabbis interpret the sin-bearing servant in Isaiah 53 as the nation of Israel. They believe that Yeshua is not the sin-bearing servant and cannot be their Messiah.

It is impossible that the sin-bearing servant in Isaiah 53 is the nation of Israel. If the sin-bearing servant in Isaiah 53 were the nation of Israel, how is it possible that the nation of Israel would be buried with the wicked and with the rich (Isaiah 53:9)? It is obvious that this sin-bearing servant is a single person and does not represent the nation of Israel. In the previous chapters of the book of Isaiah, God calls Israel his servant and witnesses (Isaiah 43:10). Here, the word "servant" has singular form but represents the people of Israel (plural meaning) because the parallel word "witnesses" has plural form. In Isaiah 53, the sin-bearing servant has singular form and singular meaning. Similarly, the Hebrew word "seed" has singular form in Genesis 13:16 but plural meaning: descendants. But in Genesis 3:15, the word "seed" has singular form and singular meaning because the singular pronouns "he" and "his" are used together.

In Isaiah 49:3, a servant whose name is called Israel is declared. It is this verse that causes the modern Jewish rabbis to misattribute the sin-bearing servant in Isaiah 53 to the nation of Israel or Jacob. This servant Israel cannot refer to Jacob because God had hidden this servant (Isaiah 49:2) until the time of Isaiah while Jacob had been known a long time before Isaiah. At the time of the prophecy, God made this hidden servant known. This servant will bring Jacob back to Yehowah God (Isaiah 49:5), raise up the tribes of Jacob, and restore the preserved ones of Israel (Isaiah 49:6). If this servant were Jacob, how would verses 5 and 6 make sense? This servant will also be the light of the Gentiles and bring the salvation of God to the ends of the earth (Isaiah 49:6).

This servant is called Israel by God just as many Jews in modern Israel are called "Israel." The same name for multiple persons is very common in many cultures. There are many Joshua's and Peter's in the United States.

Why does God also call this servant Israel? The name of an Israelite has a special meaning. For example, Moses called Hosea, the son of Nun, Yehoshua. Hosea means salvation and Yehoshua (Joshua) means "Yehowah is salvation." Yehoshua became a regent of Yehowah on the earth, who led the Israelites and brought them into the promised land of God.

Jacob was called "Israel" after he wrestled with the angel of God. For a meaning of the name Israel, NOBSE Study Bible Name List and BDB Theological Dictionary unanimously go with the verb " שרה" of which the meaning is unsure. NOBSE reads God Strives, and BDB proposes El Persists or El Perseveres. Israel is a compound name of El Sarah, which means "he will rule as God." Alfred Jones thinks that the mysterious verb " שרה" might very well mean "to be princely," and assumes that the name Israel consists of a future form of this verb, which hence would mean to become princely. So, Jones interprets the name Israel as "he will be prince with God."

If Israel could mean "he will rule as God" or "he will be prince with God," Israel could be a name of the Messiah who will co-reign with God in the Kingdom of God on the earth. The Messiah is the prince of God and will co-reign with God forever. Therefore, the Son of Man, the Son of God, the Messiah, Yeshua, Israel, the Lamb of God, and the Word of God should all refer to the same being who is the only begotten Son of God.

The angel (messenger) of God who bears the Name of Yehowah in the books of Moses and the mighty angel (messenger) of God in the book of Revelation are also the only begotten Son of God. The Son who bears the Name of his Father is the special messenger of God in both "Old" and "New" Testaments. He is the regent of God and speaks and acts on behalf of God the Father. Yeshua said (John 1:18): "No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, has declared Him." Yeshua's teaching is consistent with the books of Moses. According to both Moses and Yeshua, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses did not actually see God the Father, but the Messenger (the Son) of God.

The sin-bearing servant is the prince of [new] Israel, who will bear the sins of the tribes of [old] Israel and restore the preserved ones of [old] Israel. Hosea the prophet rebuked the great sins of [old] Israel and prophesized in Hosea 10:15 and 11:1, "Thus, it shall be done to you, O Bethel, because of your great wickedness. At dawn the king of [old] Israel shall be cut off utterly. For a child Israel, I shall love him, and out of Egypt I shall call my son." These two verses should not be placed in different chapters because they belong to a complete prophecy of God. The verbs "be done," "be cut," and "call" in these two verses are all in perfect tense while the verb "love" is in consecutive imperfect tense. The tense in the NKJV of Hosea 10:15 is correct because the perfect tense in Hebrew language can be used as future tense to express assurance about the action being expressed by the verb. Thus, its use is to emphasize assurance about whatever is being expressed in the sense that the "completeness" of that event is an assured conviction and truth. This is especially true when a prophet of God spoke prophecy, which must be fulfilled in a future date. That is why the verbs in Isaiah 9:6 are in perfect tense in Hebrew, but they are changed to future tense in NKJV. In Hosea 11:1, the verb "love" is in consecutive imperfect tense, which directly points to the future tense. Then the other verbs in perfect tense are consistently attributed to future tense because they are consecutive to the verb "love," which is in future tense. The same grammar structure is also found in Isaiah 9:6 where Isaiah prophesied the birth of a child in a future time. In this verse, two verbs are in consecutive imperfect tense and all the others are in perfect tense, meaning that all the actions must be taken in a future time.

With the correct tense of Hosea 11:1, we can understand that God will love the new child whose name is also called Israel, and He will also call him out of Egypt. In the time of Hosea, the prophet knew that [old] Israel had been already inflicted by the Egyptians for about 400 years and God had brought them out of Egypt. If the new child Israel in Hosea 11:1 were Jacob, it is meaningless to prophesize something that had already happened. In both verses, Hosea simply prophesized that the king of [old] Israel shall be cut off completely because of the great wickedness while the everlasting prince whose name is also called Israel shall be called out of Egypt. This prophecy was fulfilled in Yeshua, the prince of [new] Israel (Matthew 2:15). The prince of [new] Israel will restore the preserved remnants of [old] Israel and bring God's salvation to the ends of the earth (Isaiah 49:6). God has also made his mouth like a sharp sword (Isaiah 49:2) and he will strike the nations with the sharp sword out of his mouth (Revelation 19:15). He will rule the nations with a rod of iron (Revelation 19:15; Psalm 2:9). Therefore, Hosea and Isaiah both prophesized that the servant of God, whose name is called Israel, would be called out of Egypt, bear the sin of the people of God, become the light of the Gentiles, and bring God's salvation to all the nations. Matthew correctly understood the prophecy and attributed this sin-bearing servant to Yeshua Messiah (Matthew 2:15). The angel of God who spoke to John called himself fellow servant of God (Revelation 22:9). We will show in Chapter 33 that the angel of God is actually Yeshua Messiah who serves God to execute His Word faithfully. He called his disciples as his brethren even after he resurrected (Matthew 28:10) and received all the authority in heaven and on earth (Matthew 28:18). He is the humble servant of God, and we shall all follow him.

God's only begotten Son, who exercises God's power on behalf of his Father, who is the counselor of God Almighty the Everlasting Father (Isaiah 9:6), who is the prince of peace (Isaiah 9:6).

Isaiah 9:6 has been mistranslated into every language. Here we provide the verse from a Hebrew Interlinear Bible (Scripture 4 All):

When we add punctuation, the verse reads:

If we accept this interlinear translation, we can re-phrase this verse as:

The phrase "one-counseling El masterful Father-of-future" should mean "the one who will counsel El masterful Father-of-future," that is, the counselor of God Almighty the Everlasting Father.

Another Hebrew Interlinear Bible for Isaiah 9:6 reads:

Here, "counselor" should be "counseling" because this verb is in the participle form. By adding punctuation and changing "counselor" to "counseling," we finally rephrase this verse as:

Both interlinear versions tell us that the Son is called the wonderful who counsels God the Father, and the prince of peace. The Son is the counselor of God Almighty the Everlasting Father and the prince of peace. The Son will co-reign with his Father in the everlasting Kingdom of God. The Son is not the same as the God Almighty Yehowah. The Son is the Messenger of God, who bears the Name of Yehowah. The God Almighty, the Ancient of Days, or Yehowah God is unbegotten (Revelation 1:4,8) while the Son is begotten. The Father and the Son are not equal, as Daniel clearly told us in Daniel 7:13-14.

Some rabbis in modern Israel interpret the child in Isaiah 9:6 as referring to Hezekiah king of Judah. No human has been called "God Almighty Everlasting Father." If the Messiah who is the king of kings and the lord of lords on the earth cannot be called "God Almighty Everlasting Father," how could an earthly king have more privilege than the everlasting prince of God (the Messiah)? The title "God" (meaning the god) is reserved for the heavenly Father only. Because Christians called their Messiah "God Almighty Everlasting Father" due to mistranslation (misinterpretation) of Isaiah 9:6, the rabbis were angry and mocked them as being ignorant. Yet in a similar manner, the rabbis blaspheme God when they refer to Hezekiah king of Judah as "God Almighty Everlasting Father." Yeshua declared (Matthew 23:9): "Do not call anyone on the earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven." Only the Father in heaven is called Everlasting Father. Yeshua also declared that my Father is greater than I (John 14:28). Yeshua's teaching is perfectly truthful.

During the days of Ahaz's sole reign in the fall of 733 BC (see Chapter 11), Rezin king of Syria and Pekah king of Israel, went up to Jerusalem to make war against Judah, but could not prevail against it. But the hearts of the people in Jerusalem were moved like the trees moving with the wind. Then Yehowah God asked Isaiah to speak to Ahaz (Isaiah 7:4-8), "Take heed, and be quiet; do not fear or be fainthearted for these two stubs of smoking firebrands, for the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria, and the son of Remaliah. Because Syria, Ephraim, and the son of Remaliah have plotted evil against you, saying, 'Let us go up against Judah and trouble it, and let us make a gap in its wall for ourselves, and set a king over them, the son of Tabel'— thus says Yehowah God: 'It shall not stand, nor shall it come to pass. For the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin. Sixty-five years Ephraim will be broken, so that it will not be a people...'"

Pekah king of Israel wanted to take over Judah to reign over the whole land of Israel. Yehowah God does not allow this to happen because He has His own plan. His plan is that the Messiah He has chosen will reign the whole nation of Israel, and that both the northern and southern kingdoms of Israel will be broken. The northern kingdom Ephraim will be broken in 65 years and the southern kingdom Judah will be broken a little later.

When Ahaz refused to ask Yehowah God for a sign, He gave Ahaz a sign (Isaiah 7:14-16):

The prophecy on the virgin birth was interpreted by Matthew to be the birth of Yeshua. If this interpretation were incorrect, the foundation of Yeshua's faith would be completely collapsed. Most modern Jewish rabbis strongly criticize this interpretation because they believe that this child is not the Messiah and the Hebrew word " עַלְמָה (almah)" should not be translated into "virgin."

The Hebrew word "עַלְמָה" means "a young woman" or "virgin." God wanted to give a sign to Ahaz when He foretold a child's birth. If a young woman gives birth of a male child, it is not a sign at all. Any normal young woman can give birth to a male child. From the context, the best meaning of the word "עַלְמָה" is "virgin."

A crucial question arises as to when the child shall be born. The child cannot be the newborn son of Isaiah because his son's name was called "Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz." (Isaiah 8:3) rather than "Immanuel." Isaiah prophesized that before the child (the son of Isaiah) would have knowledge to cry his father and mother, the riches of Damascus and the possessions of Samaria would be taken away to the face of the king of Assyria (Isaiah 8:4).

Before Ahaz died in the fall of 727 BC, the king of Assyria went up against Damascus and took it, carried its people to Kir, and killed Rezin (2 Kings 16:9). In 730 BC, Hoshea became king of Israel and did evil in the sight of God (2 Kings 17:1-2). Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against him and Hoshea became his vassal and paid him tribute money (2 Kings 17:3). The prophecy of Isaiah about his own son was fulfilled in these events that happened in 730 BC when his son was about two years old.

When should the virgin have given her birth? The child conceived by the virgin must have been born after the land that Ahaz dreaded had been forsaken from the faces of two of her kings (Isaiah 7:16). What is the land that Ahaz dreaded? The land could not have been a city because the land had kings. The land could not have been the land of the northern Israel because it was disowned once from the face of one king (Hoshea) in 721 BC. Therefore, this prophecy of Isaiah means that the child would be born after Syria had been disowned twice from the faces of her two separated kings.

The land of Syria was first taken by the Assyrians from the face of Rezin king of Syria in 730 BC. This was the first time that the land was disowned from the face of one of her kings. The land was then governed by kings of Assyria until 605 BC. It fell into the hands of Pharaoh Necho II after 605 BC. In 572 BC, the land of Syria was conquered by Neo-Babylonians. In the 4^th century BC, the land was taken by Alexander the Great and eventually fell into the hands of the Seleucid Empire. Then Itureans rose their power in the declining period of the Seleucid Empire in the second century BC. They dominated vast stretches of Syrian territory and even penetrated the northern parts of Israel as far as the Galilee.

The exact origin of the Itureans is under debate. Some scholars identify them as Arabs while the others as Aramaean people. If the Itureans were Aramaean people, the land of Syria should have been owned again by the original Aramaean people in the second century BC. In the first century BC the Iturean kingdom had its center in the kingdom of Ptolemy. Ptolemy reigned between 85 and 40 BC and was succeeded by his son Lysanias. About 23 BC, Iturea and the adjacent provinces fell into the hands of Zenodorus, the son of Lysanias. During his reign, the Roman emperor Augustus gave the Iturean kingdom to Herod the Great despite Zenodorus' resistance. Thus, the land of Syria was again disowned from the face of her king (Zenodorus) between 23 and 20 BC.

If the Itureans were Aramaean people, the prophecy of Isaiah was fulfilled in the birth of Yeshua in 5 BC (see Chapter 34). Yeshua was indeed born after the land of Syria was disowned for the second time around 20 BC. After Isaiah prophesized this in the fall of 733 BC (see Chapter 27), the land of Syria was disowned for the first time around 730 BC when the son of Isaiah was about two years old and had knowledge to cry his father and mother.