1572. A Study in Isaiah
A Study in Isaiah
Isa_25:1-12
Christ Is God (Isa_25:8).
A Highway for Our God (Isa_40:3).
The Lord Thy God, Thy Saviour (Isa_43:3).
Beside Me There Is No God (Isa_44:6).
I Am the Lord, There Is None Else (Isa_45:5).
I Am God, There Is None Like Me (Isa_46:9-10).
The Lord God of Israel Reigneth (Isa_52:7).
That the Lord Jesus claimed to be God, we have no doubt. The New Testament everywhere makes Him equal with God.
The question which is now before us is this: Does the Old Testament tally with the New, in ascribing the fullness of the Godhead to Jesus Christ?
In the New Testament the Lord Jesus was worshiped as an infant by the Magi who came with their gifts of frankincense and myrrh. He was worshiped during His earth ministry by the leper, by one of Israel's rulers, by His disciples, and by many others. He was worshiped after His resurrection by the women and by the disciples. He was worshiped as He ascended into Heaven by His followers who saw Him go into Heaven. He is worshiped today by millions of saints everywhere. He will be worshiped upon His return to earth, for then God will say: "Let all the angels of God worship Him."
The Jew must readily grant everything that we have just stated about the Lord Jesus, but they will not grant, usually, that the Lord Jesus of the New Testament, was ever worshiped and honored as God by their forefathers in the Old Testament.
In reply, we wish to propound very briefly some salient questions:
1. Do not the Old Testament Scriptures declare, "Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve"?
2. Do not the Old Testament Scriptures declare that no one can look at God and live? and that no one hath seen God at any time?
3. If the above are answered affirmatively, then we ask the meaning of Exo_33:11 : "And the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend."
With whom did Moses speak?
4. We ask again, with whom did Joshua speak, for the Bible says that a Man stood "over against him with His sword drawn in His hand: and Joshua went unto Him, and said unto Him, Art Thou for us, or for our adversaries? And He said, Nay; but as captain of the host of the Lord am I now come" (Jos_5:13-14).
If it be answered that this captain of the Lord's hosts was an angel, then why do we read that Joshua fell on his face and worshiped Him, for we have already agreed that God gives permission to worship the Lord thy God alone?
5. Who is the Angel of the Lord who appeared unto Manoah? Manoah said unto his wife, "We shall surely die, because we have seen God" (Jdg_13:20-22).
6. Who was it that Isaiah saw when he saw the Lord high and lifted up, while His glory filled the Temple? (see Isa_6:5).
7. With whom did Jacob wrestle until the breaking of the day (see Gen_32:24). Jacob said, "I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved." We read, however, in Joh_1:18 that "no one hath seen God at any time." We read in 1Ti_6:16 that God dwelleth "in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see."
If we want an answer to the questions above, we can only take the New Testament statement which is spoken of Isaiah, and his vision of the Lord.
"These things said Isaiah, when he saw his glory and spake of him" (Joh_12:41).
It was the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ which appeared unto Isaiah.
It was the Lord Jesus Christ who appeared to the saints of old.
It is true beyond controversy that while no one hath seen God at any time, yet the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him.
From the very beginning Jesus Christ was the Word, and He was with God, and He was God. It was He who veiled His glory and manifested Himself as "the Angel of the Lord" unto the saints of old.
The burden of this message will be the proof of the claim that Jesus Christ, the One in whom the Gentiles trust, is the God of whom Isaiah prophesied and wrote.
If the Jew will study these prophecies of Isaiah, in the light of the New Testament Scriptures, he must be convinced.
The question of the high priest, "Art Thou the Son of God?" is still the great question which faces Israel. The orthodox Jews will concede that the Messiah must come; it is necessary for Gentile Christians to prove to the Jew that his Christ is that Messiah.
Autor: R.E. NEIGHBOUR