THE SUFFERING SERVANT

The fifty-third chapter of the Book of Isaiah is generally called the Fourth Servant Song the first three of which are found in chapter 42, chapter 49, and chapter 50.

The importance of the passage before us can scarcely be exaggerated. From the earliest times Christian writers have found here a detailed description of the sufferings and death of Jesus the Messiah and in this they clearly follow the New Testament.

First: we will look at the context in which the passage is set and show its importance in the light of the New Testament teaching about the content of the gospel and then we will attempt a brief exposition of the whole passage concentrating on those verses which explain the meaning of the Servant's death, bringing out significant New Testament passages as we go. 

CONTEXT AND STRUCTURE 

In his book, "What Saint Paul really said," Tom Wright points out that Christians have generally failed to understand what the Bible means by "Gospel" and "Justification" simply because they have not grasped the background to these terms in the thinking of Paul. The same can be said of Isaiah 53. To grasp its meaning, we must fit it into its literary and prophetic context. 

One of the greatest failings of historic Christianity has been its failure to recognize the importance of eschatology in its proclamation of what it calls its "gospel". 

The message preached is usually only a message about the death of Jesus and in such expositions, Isaiah 53 will be generously quoted. But its setting, that of chapters 40-66 will be ignored. We will now attempt an outline of the message of these chapters and examine the setting in which Isaiah 53 appears. 

The following is a summary of the main features of the second half of Isaiah. 

Because of its sins, the people of Israel have been taken into captivity. Many find themselves in prison. Others have been scattered throughout many nations and live in conditions of utter misery. The persecuting power is explicitly identified as Babylon (Isaiah 43:14, 46, 47,) 

Sometime during this period of captivity, a group of people appeared bringing a message of good news of deliverance to Israel and restoration to their land, forgiveness of sins and the appearance of a deliverer sometimes said to be God Himself, and later identified with a person known as the Servant of Yehovah. The Servant himself is the bringer of the gospel in Isaiah 61. 

The task of the Servant is to restore Israel and bring light and salvation to the surrounding nations. A time of prosperity and spiritual blessings ensued, called the Millenium, the 1,000-year rule of the Messiah Jesus over the nations. God's Spirit will be poured out freely. Israel will send emissaries to their former captors and the world will unite in universal worship of God - Yehovah. Those who refuse to submit will be dealt with severely and the book closes with a somber view of Gehenna [the Lake of Fire], where the wicked will be destroyed. 

Now let us take a closer look at the more immediate context of Isaiah 53. Chapter 52 contains a prophecy of the preaching of the gospel. Isaiah 52:7 shows that it is a message concerning the Reign of God, in New Testament language, the Kingdom of God. The following verse describes the ending of the captivity when "all the earth shall see the salvation of our God." A striking feature of this entire section is that Paul quotes from it directly no less than four times in the letter to the Romans. Isaiah 52:5 is quoted in Romans 2:24. "My name is blasphemed continually every day." Isaiah 52:7 appears in Romans 10:15 to prove that God has sent messengers to preach the gospel. He quotes Isaiah 52:25 in Romans 15:21 and finally, Isaiah 53:1 is quoted in Romans 10:16. 

Romans opens with Paul's introduction to the subject of the gospel which he says "was promised before through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures concerning His Son Jesus the Messiah our Lord who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness by the Resurrection from among the dead." Although other prophets do predict the preaching of the gospel, Isaiah has more to say about that than any other. Paul is here identifying his message with Isaiah 40, 52, 61, and other passages. Clearly, the prophet Isaiah is for him supremely important. And Paul's teaching on the sacrificial sin-offering death of the Messiah can only be derived from Isaiah 53. 

It should be clear from what we have said that we believe that what has come to be called the futurist view of prophecy is the correct way to interpret Isaiah. New Testament fulfillments do not exhaust the meaning of any of these passages. 

The passage we are considering is divided into five stanzas consisting of three verses each. The first is found in Isaiah 52:13-15, the second in Isaiah 53:1-3, the third in Isaiah 53:4-6, the froth in Isaiah 53:7-9 and the last in Isaiah 53:10-12. 

EXPOSITION 

THE MESSIAH AND HIS SUFFERINGS REVEALED TO THE NATIONS

The first stanza in verses 13-15 of Isaiah 52 forms a summary of what follows in Isaiah 53. The servant is introduced with the words "Behold, My Servant shall deal prudently." The word translated "deal prudently" primarily means to "act wisely" and also "prosperously" because prosperity is the result of acting wisely. The exaltation of the Servant predicted in the second half of the verse has been taken by some to refer to the resurrection and ascension of the Messiah but is more likely referring to his Second Advent. He is not now exalted as far as the kings of the earth are concerned; indeed the world generally despises the things of the Messiah but the thrust of this passage is that the leaders of the earth will come to acknowledge him. We may note here the passage in Philippians in which Paul speaks of the Messiah receiving a "name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, of those in heaven and of those on earth and of those under the earth and that every tongue should confess that Jesus the Messiah is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2:9-11).

 Isaiah 52:14: gives us a summary of the sufferings; sufferings which cause astonishment to many. The verb which is translated as "astonished" means to be desolate or waste, to be thrown by anything into a desolate or bereaved condition; to be startled, confused as it was petrified by paralyzing astonishment. Many will realize then for the first time the extent of his sufferings as he is openly revealed in the sight of the nations. His sufferings were greater than that of any man and were not simply physical. Many men have undergone intense physical pain and even died heroic deaths, but the death of God's servant was more than just a physical death, as the next chapter will bring out. 

The sprinkling of many nations in Isaiah 52:15 has overtones of the sacrificial system the sprinkling of blood with the finger on the mercy seat and the altar of incense on the Day of Atonement.  It is also used for sprinkling the water of purification on a leper (Leviticus 14:7) and of the ashes of the red heifer on those defiled by a corpse. (Numbers 19:18). It is the Servant himself who sprinkles the nations, a hint of his priestly functions fully explained in the epistle to the Hebrews. Many have sought to render the word translated "sprinkle" as "startle" and this is reflected in some translations such as the RSV. Other scholars reject this opinion. Peake's commentary says that the word sprinkle "despite many contrary opinions, ought not to be excluded on grammatical grounds and in fact anticipates the central theme of the song." 

The kings of the nations so sprinkled will have nothing to say reminding us of Habakkuk 2:20, "But Yehovah is in His holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before Him." The last part of Isaiah 52:15 is a sober reminder of the ignorance that will exist at the time of the Messiah's Second Coming. This is also mentioned in Isaiah 61:1-2 "Arise shine for your light has come and the glory of the Lord Yehovah has risen upon you. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth and gross darkness the people: but Yehovah shall arise upon you and His glory shall be seen upon you." 

THE MESSIAH'S RECEPTION 

The second stanza contained in Isaiah 53:1-3 continues and expands on the theme of ignorance and unbelief summarized in Isaiah 52:15. Isaiah 53:1 is quoted in John 12:38. Paul quotes the same passage in the same sense in Romans 10:16 where it forms part of his explanation of why Israel has apparently not believed the gospel. The unbelief with which the Lord [Jesus] has been received down through the ages is something foreseen long ago and is part of the purposes of God. 

As early as the time of Moses Scripture declares that " Yehovah has not given you a heart to perceive and eyes to see and ears to hear, to this very day." (Deuteronomy 29:4) Isaiah was told to proclaim the spiritual blindness and deafness of the people of Israel (Isaiah 6:9-10). He was told that this condition would last "Until the cities are laid waste and without inhabitant, the houses are without a man, the land is utterly desolate, Yehovah has removed men far away and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land." (Isaiah 6:11; 12). This plainly refers to a captivity that has not yet taken place for the blindness of Israel and the nation, in general, continues to this day. 

The speakers in verse one of chapter 53 are a group of believers at that time and what follows represents their confession as they look back at the sufferings of the Messiah now made plain to them for the first time. This is the time described in Zechariah 12:10-14 when Israel will look on him whom they have pierced and there will be a great mourning for him because their descendants reject him as their Messiah 2,000 years before. 

The "arm of Yehovah" is a reference to divine power. The arm of Yehovah is mentioned as part of the great promise of deliverance in Isaiah 40. The remnant of Israel prays for it to be manifested in chapter 51:9. "Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of Yehovah; awake as in the ancient days in the generations of old. Isaiah 52:10 says "Yehovah hath made bare His holy arm in the eyes of all the nations. and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God."  

The Servant of Yehovah is therefore the arm of Yehovah manifesting God's power in deliverance and salvation. The Messiah stands as it were in the place of God, acting as His vice-regent. In Isaiah 4:2; 11:1,10; Jeremiah 23:5, 33:15 the Messiah is referred to as a Branch. These terms refer to the origin of the Servant in the House of David, in the land of Israel characterized by barrenness whose people despise him seeing nothing of beauty in him. 

The gospels amply testify to the truth of verse three. Jesus was despised by the leaders of the people and Jews have consistently down through the centuries considered that Jesus was an apostate who was smitten by God. The Christian Jewish writer David Baron has this to say about Jewish reaction to Jesus: "No person in the history of the Jews has provoked such deep-seated abhorrence as He who came only to bless them, and who even on the cross prayed, "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do." When on earth, at the end of His three-and-a-half years of ministry among them, they finally rejected him. Their hatred was intense and mysterious. "Away with this man; release unto us Barabbas ...Crucify him, crucify him" was their cry. And all through the centuries no name has provoked such intense abhorrence among the Jews as the name of Jesus.           

"I have known personally most amiable, and as men, lovable characters among the Jews; but immediately that Jesus was mentioned, a change came over their countenances and they would fall into a passion of anger. In the course of my missionary experiences these past thirty-five or forty years, how often has it been my lot to witness some of my people almost mad with rage - clenching their fists, gnashing their teeth, and spitting on the ground at the very mention of the name which to the believer "is as ointment poured forth!" 

It is likely that the term "rejected of men" has particular reference to men of high rank, leaders of the people rather than the generality of mankind.  Paul can say that not many of the world's mighty men or nobility have believed; God has rather chosen people who are generally despised by the world's intelligentsia with the ultimate aim of shaming the so-called wise amongst men. "Have any of the rulers believed on him, or of the Pharisees," was the contemptuous sneer of the leaders of the Jews and it remains the attitude of the majority of opinion formers in our world today, many of whom are deliberately reviving ancient pagan beliefs under the guise of scholarship while they are at the same time attacking the Bible. 

THE SIN-BEARER

Isaiah 53:4-6: forms the middle section of this chapter and of the entire prophecy. Its teaching is of central importance as it sets out the reasons for the sufferings of the Servant. David Baron translates verse four literally as follows "Verily they were our griefs (or sicknesses) which he bore, and our sorrows (or pains) with which he burdened himself, but we regarded him as one stricken smitten of God and afflicted." 

Baron goes on to state that "No plainer or stronger words could be used to express the thought of vicarious suffering than those employed in the original of this verse." Here we confront the important issue of what has come to be called "penal substitutionary atonement." That means in plain language that the Messiah was punished for our sins and took our place so that by his sin-offering sacrifice which he gave on the cross, God may forgive us our sins. 

The idea of bearing sin or bearing iniquity occurs quite frequently throughout the Old Testament and it always means to be punished for the iniquity. It is used in this sense in Numbers 14:34 when Israel was told by God that they would bear their iniquity for 40 years. That is, their punishment for their unbelief would last for that period of time. Aaron was to "bear the iniquity of the holy things "(Exodus 28:38,43) meaning that he would be punished for any sin committed concerning the tabernacle ritual. A person would "bear his iniquity" if he witnessed an offense and refused to disclose it under oath. (Leviticus 5:1) The idea of bearing iniquities occurs in Isaiah 53:4, 6,11, and 12 of this chapter. 

If to bear sin means to be punished for the sin, then it is clear that for the Servant to bear the sins of others means that he was punished for their sins. There seems to be no way of avoiding the conclusion that the Messiah died as a substitute for our sins. The Substitutionary language of this passage is well recognized even by those who do not accept the idea of substitution. The apostle Peter quotes the fifth verse in I Peter 2:24 saying plainly "He bore our sins in his own body on the tree." 

Further evidence for substitution if found in Matthew 20:28 and Mark 10:45. This important statement by Jesus reflects the language of Isaiah 53:11. Jesus said, "The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many." The substitutionary preposition anti is translated "for" in this passage. It is used in other passages in such a way as to indicate that its meaning is "instead of" or "in place of". Thus, Archelaus reigned over Judea in place of (anti) his father Herod." (Matthew 2:22) Jesus asked, "What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of (Anti) a fish give him a serpent?" (Luke 11:11). 

Another Greek preposition that is relevant to our subject is huper. This word can have several meanings and can often be rendered "on behalf of". In some passages, however, such as 2 Corinthians 5:14 and Galatians 3:13 it clearly has the meaning "instead of". This last passage is one of a number where a substitutionary interpretation is obvious even in English translations. Those who are of the works of the law are under a curse, but the Messiah has taken the curse upon himself so that the covenant promises to Abraham might come upon us. Another passage in 2 Corinthians 5:14 is likewise explicitly substitutionary. "If one died for all, then all died; and he died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for him who died for them and rose again." 

The word translated "smitten" or "stricken" at the end of verse four is used in 2 Kings 15:5 where it is stated that King Uzziah was stricken with leprosy by God for his presumption in entering the Temple. Because of this connection some Rabbis in ancient times called the Messiah "the leprous one".  There is certainly no need to follow this interpretation, but a problem does arise in this verse in connection with disease and the Messiah. The words translated "griefs" and "sorrows" are the ordinary Hebrew terms for sicknesses and disease. Matthew quotes this verse in this connection to prove its fulfillment by Jesus in His healing miracles. (Matthew 8:17) 

Two different errors have arisen from a misunderstanding of these terms. One error following the Rabbis mentioned earlier sees the Messiah Himself as actually suffering from some unspecified diseases. According to this view, Jesus not only bore sin, but also was afflicted with the disease himself. Luke 4:23 has been quoted in support. Jesus said to the synagogue audience, "You will surely say unto me,' Physician heal yourself'." 

A more common error is the belief that since believers can expect forgiveness of sins because Jesus has borne them, they can also expect divine healing of all their illnesses because Jesus has borne them too. Healing is therefore as much a part of the atonement as is forgiveness of sins. Since is it obvious that believers do suffer illnesses and die, implicit in this view is that such people are lacking in faith to be healed. 

It is therefore essential to understand why sicknesses and diseases are used here. Throughout the Old Testament disease is often used as a synonym for sin. One of the best examples is found in Isaiah 1:4: "Alas, sinful nation a people laden with iniquity, a brood of evildoers, Children who are corrupters! They have forsaken Yehovah, They have provoked to anger the Holy One of Israel, They have turned away backward. Why should you be stricken again? You will revolt more and more. The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faints. From the sole of the foot even to the head there is no soundness in it but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores; they have not been closed or bound up or soothed with ointment." (verses 4-6) 

It is obvious from the context here that literal diseases are not in view since the subject matter concerns the body politic of the whole nation. David also in some of the Psalms speaks of his sins as if they were diseases. In the great penitential Psalm 51:8; he refers to God having broken his bones something that literally did not happen. Healing is sometimes used as a synonym for forgiveness (Isaiah 57:19) 

David Baron has this to say about the miracles of healing. "The miracles of healing not only served to certify him as the Redeemer, and as "signs" of the spiritual healing which he came to bring, but were, so to say pledges also of the ultimate full deliverance of the redeemed, not only from sin but from every evil consequence of it in body as well as in soul. Hence our full salvation included not only the perfecting of our spirits but the "fashioning anew of the body of our humiliation that it may be conformed to the body of his glory." 

The second half of verse four graphically describes the terrible suffering as the believing remnant continues to look back at the sufferings of the Messiah. The word "nagua" means one stricken or smitten with a dreadful shocking disease and is particularly applicable to leprosy as we noted earlier. He was "smitten by God" and afflicted, i.e. He is one bowed down by suffering. 

That Jesus was so punished is true but the punishment was for our sins and not for his own. Yet the Jewish people, in striking fulfillment of this prophecy, have taught for centuries that Jesus deserved to die the death he did. They have called him Poshe - the transgressor - who well deserved the violent death he suffered. The Talmud puts Jesus in hell along with Titus and Balaam. Imagine how they will answer to him at the Judgement Seat.  

Those who adhere to more modern versions of the view that Jesus deserved to die should consider carefully what they are teaching in the light of this passage. It is contrary to the whole thrust of this passage to claim, as do the Christadelphians that the Messiah dies for his inherent sin nature. They have God punishing Jesus for something inherent within himself. Talk of a "sin-nature" in the Messiah is foreign to this and all other scriptures. Isaiah 53:5 again re-iterates the substitutionary nature of the Messiah's sufferings. It was for "our transgressions", "our iniquities". The chastisement, which resulted in our peace, was upon Him. 

We note here the important word "peace", a common theme in this section of Isaiah. "There is no peace to the wicked." is the message of Isaiah 48:22 and Isaiah 57:21. Isaiah 57 foresees times when God will speak peace "to him who is far off and to him who is near". Paul refers to this verse in Ephesians chapter 2 when he explains that God has made Jews and Gentiles part of the one body of the Messiah through the cross. Surely Isaiah 53:5 is at the forefront of his thinking here. 

Isaiah 53:6 shows the necessity of the vicarious sufferings of the Messiah. Mankind in general, both Jew and Gentile have become totally alienated from God - Yehovah. There is no thought here or elsewhere that man by his own efforts can turn back to God - Yehovah of his own accord. The image of a flock of sheep without a shepherd graphically illustrates what men have done concerning the things of God. Sheep will wander all over the place without a shepherd to guide them and such has been the experience firstly of the Jews, but also of Gentile so-called believers. 

All of these iniquities have been "laid on him" by God - Yehovah. The term "laid on him" is more literally rendered "caused to alight on him" and is in Hebrew a term of some violence. It is used in I Samuel 1:15 "Go near and fall upon him; and he smote him that he died." B.W.Newton comments on this expression, "In other passages, our iniquity is spoken of as resting on the Holy One, and He bore it. Here it is spoken of as coming upon him like a destroying foe and overwhelming him with the wrath that it brought with it." The word avon rendered "iniquity" denotes firstly the transgression itself, secondarily the guilt which arises as a result and thirdly to the punishment which it incurs. 

THE MESSIAH'S GENTLENESS, DEATH, AND BURIAL

Isaiah 53:7-9 sets forth the attitude of the Messiah towards his sufferings stressing the voluntary nature of them and describes the judicial process by which He was executed and the nature of his burial. It is the passage that the Ethiopian eunuch was reading when Philip was directed to join him and from which he preached the gospel. The New Testament always applies this chapter to Jesus something which modern liberal commentators are loath to do.

 Isaiah 53:7 and 8 are beset with translation difficulties beginning with the first part of verse 7. The Hebrew term niggas (rendered "he was oppressed") sometimes means the rigorous exaction of debts. It is used in this sense in Deuteronomy 15:2,3. "Every creditor that lendeth aught to his neighbor shall (on the seventh year) release it; he shall not exact it of his neighbor or his brother, because Yehovah's release has been proclaimed. Of a foreigner, you mayest exact it again." The word is also used of the Egyptian taskmasters exacting the full quota of bricks from the Israelites. (Exodus 3 and 4) The oppression then is oppression of a judicial nature and was amply fulfilled in the trials of Jesus before Caiaphas and Pilate. 

All of this suffering was entered into voluntarily by the Messiah emphasized by the second half of Isaiah 53:7 "Yet he opened not his mouth." The gospels record that Jesus did not make any replies in his defense and only responded to the High Priest's questions when he was put under oath to do so. He was completely non-resistant. We should point out that the apostle Peter clearly brings out the non-resisting character of the Lord Jesus and urges Christians to follow the same example (I Peter 2:21-25) Suffering and persecution should be borne patiently following the Messiah's own example. The Sermon on the Mount enjoins the same attitude on disciples (Matthew 5:38-42) as does the Apostle Paul in Romans 12:17-21. A violent Christian is a contradiction in terms. We simply must not offer violence or hostility of any kind when we meet with persecution.  

Commentators emphasize the difficulties of translating Isaiah 53:8, which reads in the KJV, "He was taken from prison and from judgment." The NASB reads ""By oppression and judgment he was taken away" while the NEB has "Without protection, without justice, he was taken away." The same version adds a footnote, "After arrest and sentence, he was taken away." David Baron comments: "The idea that is most prominent in the word luqqach ("taken away"), is that of being snatched or hurried away. The word otser (rendered "prison") primarily means a violent constraint Here, as in Psalm 107:39, it signifies a persecuting treatment which restrains by outward force, such as that of prison or bonds...The word mishpat (judgment) refers to the judicial proceedings, in which he was put upon his trial, accused, and convicted as worthy of death - in other words, to his unjust judgment... Hostile oppression and judicial persecution were the circumstances out of which He was carried away by death."

The phrase "and who will declare his generation?" is also difficult and is variously rendered by different translations. The NASB renders this "And as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, for the transgression of my people to whom the stoke was due." The word translated "generation" usually means "an age" or "the men living in a particular age" and by extension a group of people bound together by similarity of circumstances or moral character. In this latter sense, a generation can be coeval with the present evil age. Baron points out that the words rendered "declare" in the KJV can also mean to speak to complain or lament and is also used in a few passages to describe prayer (Psalm 55:17). He suggests that the meaning of this passage is "As for His generation - who (among them) poured out a complaint" (i.e. at his treatment); or "who among them uttered a prayer?" (i.e. on His behalf.) This could be an allusion to a Jewish custom in capital trials of calling upon all who had anything to say on behalf of the accused to come forward and "declare it" or "plead" on his behalf. If this is the case, it means that no one was called upon to speak for Jesus at His trial as would normally be the case, and ties in well with the first part of the verse. 

The substitutionary nature of his death is again mentioned at the end of the verse. The stroke that was properly due to the people fell on him. To be cut off is a biblical expression meaning to be executed. It is found in Daniel 9:26 where it is again used for the cutting off of the Messiah. 

The burial of the Messiah is the subject of the first part of Isaiah 53:9. The word "grave" here is not the Hebrew word "sheol" meaning the general grave of mankind but rather refers to a sepulcher or tomb. It was the custom of the Jews to give criminals an ignominious burial as Josephus records. "He that blasphemes God - Yehovah let him be stoned and let him hang upon a tree all that day and let him be buried in an ignominious and obscure manner."  Since the Jews condemned Jesus as a blasphemer this would no doubt have been His fate had not God miraculously intervened. The time of the Messiah's humiliation and sacrifice was now over, and God honored his Son by providing a rich man, Joseph of Arimathea to arrange for His burial in his own new tomb. 

The sinless nature of the Messiah is the subject of the last part of Isaiah 53:9. Peter quotes this verse giving it a different rendering. "Because he had done to violence, for was any deceit in his mouth" becomes in I Peter 2: 22 "Who committed no sin, nor was guile found in his mouth." 

THE MESSIAH'S EXALTATION

The last section of this great prophecy begins with a review of his sufferings and sacrifice. The word translated "bruise" means literally "to crush". "He has put Him to grief" means to afflict with sickness and reminds us again of verse 4. Two translations of the phrase "When you shall make his soul an offering for sin" are possible. The first is to translate as above and take the phrase as a statement made to God. The second view renders it as "When his soul shall make an offering". The NASB prefers this rendering and in addition, takes the word "soul" as equivalent to the personal pronoun "himself". Members of this audience will not need to be reminded that this is a legitimate and common use of the word "nephesh" throughout the Old Testament. Nephesh refers to the whole person and not to a supposed immortal substance that survives in a conscious state after death. It is closely connected with the blood in Leviticus 17:11 and verse 10 links the idea of the blood of the sacrificial animals with the common New Testament references to "the blood of the Messiah." The offering for sin referred to here is the trespass offering, the asham, the law concerning which is found in Leviticus 5:1-13 and Leviticus 7:1-10. The verse provides the important basis for the common New Testament doctrine that the Messiah was a sin-offering sacrifice. 

"He shall see His seed", has been taken by some Jewish interpreters in its natural sense of posterity or offspring and used to refute the idea that it is fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth who had no natural offspring. This section of Isaiah, however, recognizes the important theological concept of the seed of Abraham (41:8,43:5, 44:3, 48:19), and the fulfillment of the covenant blessings. Paul shows in Romans 9 that Abraham's seed does not mean descendants according to the flesh; rather those who have the faith of Abraham are the children or seed of Abraham. The Messiah himself is the seed as stated by Paul in Galatians 3:16, a truth which is also found in the Old Testament. Psalm 72 applies the wording of the Abrahamic covenant to the Messiah (verse 17). Those who have been baptized into the Messiah are the seed of Abraham. 

Seeing his seed occurs after he became a sin-offering, in other words after his death. The seed then does not refer to literal descendants but to the spiritual seed of Abraham. Psalm 22:30 is parallel with this verse in describing his seed as one of the blessings following his sufferings and death. The last part of verse 10 could only refer to the resurrection. It is reminiscent of Psalm 16 and Psalm 21:4, "He asked life from you and you gave it to him, length of days forever and ever." Jewish writers have commented that the phrase length of days refers to the life of the age to come. Following his resurrection God's will will prosper in his hands. 

The Jewish commentator Abrabanel paraphrases the first part of verse 11 thus. "He shall see the travail of his soul, i.e. his seed; he shall be satisfied, i.e. with length of days." One of the results of his travail is found in the second part of verse 11. David Baron translates this as follows, "By his knowledge shall make righteous (or, bring righteousness) the Righteous One (My Servant) many." It is possible to take "his knowledge" in both the subjective sense of the knowledge that he has, or in the objective sense of the knowledge of Him on the part of others. If the former is correct then it could well mean that those who are made righteous, are made so through the knowledge that Jesus himself had, in other words, they will believe what He believed. This seems incorrect, however, and more likely refers to the fact that the righteous must know him. Knowledge then would be synonymous with faith, a meaning which it seems to have in several passages. (Hosea 4:6, John 17:3) The construction of "the Righteous One, my servant" is unusual in placing the adjective before the noun contrary to normal Hebrew practice. The definite article is also omitted from both words, the whole construction emphasizing the unique character of the Servant. 

We have already referred to Baron's translation of Isaiah 53:11. Contrary to the impression given in most translations, justification is not the subject here. It is the righteousness that springs from that justification and forgiveness which is being spoken of. The Bible requires that God's people are actively righteous. Indeed as Paul says in Romans 8:4 it is in them alone that the righteousness of the Law can be fulfilled. It is clear that this verse was in Paul's mind as he was writing Romans as he virtually quotes it in Romans 5:19." For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one man's obedience many will be made righteous." 

The "many" referred to here are the mass of mankind and not just the Jews. We encountered this word in chapter 52:14,15 and it appears in significant New Testament passages bearing on the atonement. The Lord Jesus uses in Matthew 20:28 in what is really a commentary on this passage and Paul uses it extensively in Romans 5:12-21. 

The word "many" occurs again in the Hebrew of verse 12 where it is rendered "great" in English translations. They are those who share with him in his inheritance as described in Psalm 2. "Ask of me and I will give you the nations for your inheritance and the ends of the earth for your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron you shall dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel." The application to the Messiah is clear but he makes this same promise to those who overcome. (Revelation 2:27) They will be partners with him in the glory of the Kingdom of God. This is because "He poured out his soul unto death and bore the sins of many." The blessings of the Kingdom would be impossible without the death of the Messiah as our sin-offering sacrifice. 

The final statement of the chapter returns to the priestly theme hinted at in chapter 52. There the Messiah sprinkled all nations. Now he makes intercession for transgressors, standing between them and God. The priestly function of the Messiah is mentioned also in Psalm 110:4 and Zechariah 6:13 and is fully developed in the letter to the Hebrews. 

SUMMARY

In conclusion, the Message of this chapter is closely intertwined with the gospel of the Kingdom. A summary of the gospel preached by the apostolic church is given in Acts 8:12 and Acts 28:23,31 as the Kingdom of God and the Name of Jesus the Messiah. We could paraphrase this as "The Kingdom and the Cross". This must be the message that we preach to the world, for until the sin question is dealt with, none of God's blessings are remotely possible. Only the sin-offering sacrifice of the Messiah can deal with sinfulness and give us a right standing with God so that we can inherit the blessings of the Kingdom.

THE CHRISTIAN HOPE

Life in the land of the promise made to Abraham

In one of the most solemn declarations of all time, Yehovah promised to give to Abraham an entire country. On a mountaintop somewhere between Bethel and Ai, in the land of Canaan, God commanded "the Father of the faithful" (Romans 4:16) to "look from the place where you are, northward, southward, eastward and westward: For the entire land you are looking at I will give to you and to your descendants forever" (Genesis 13:14, 15). As an additional assurance of God's gift to him, God then instructed Abraham to "arise, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I will give it to you" (Genesis 13:17).

Abraham's conception of the ultimate reward of faith was firmly linked to the earth. As he looked northward Abraham would have seen the hills of Judea marking the border with Samaria. Towards the south, the view extended to Hebron where later the Patriarchs were to be buried in the only piece of the land ever owned by Abraham. To the east lay the mountains of Moab and to the west the Mediterranean Sea. God’s oath guaranteed to Abraham perpetual ownership of a large portion of the earth. Later the promise was repeated and made the basis of a solemn covenant:

"And I will establish my covenant between me and you, and between your offspring after you, throughout their generations as an everlasting covenant to be as God for you and to your offspring after you. And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land in which you are living as an alien, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting property. And I will be to them as God" (Genesis 17:7, 8).

Traditional Christian theology has almost no interest in the land promised to Abraham, as can be seen by inspecting the indexes of standard systematic theologies, Bible dictionaries, and commentaries. And yet, as Gerhard von Rad says, in the first six books of the Bible "There is probably no more important idea than that expressed in terms of the land promised and later granted by Yehovah." The promise is unique. "Among all the traditions of the world, this is the only one that tells of a promise of land to a people.” Because the land is promised on oath Davies suggests that it might more properly be called "The sworn Land." So compelling was the promise of land to Abraham that it became "a living power in the life of Israel.” “The promise to Abraham becomes a ground for ultimate hope.... There is a gospel for Israel in the Abrahamic covenant." (Cp. Paul's statement that "the gospel was preached in advance to Abraham," Galatians 3:8) W.D. Davies points out that large sections of the law make "the divine promise to Abraham the bedrock on which all the subsequent history rests." Von Rad maintains that "the whole of the Hexateuch [Genesis to Joshua] in all its vast complexity was governed by the theme of the fulfillment of the promise to Abraham in the settlement in Canaan." We might add that the Abrahamic covenant permeates the whole of Scripture.

That the patriarchs expected to inherit a portion of this planet is obvious not only from Yehovah’s promises made to them but also from their zeal to be buried in the land of Israel (Genesis 50:5). The land promise to Abraham and his offspring runs like a golden thread throughout the book of Genesis. The key words in the following passages are "land" "give," "possess," "heir," "covenant."

The Promise to Abraham

"Go to the land I will show you (Genesis 12:1). All the land which you see I will give to you and your offspring forever (Genesis 13:17). A son coming from your own body will be your heir (Genesis 15:4). I am Yehovah who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldees to give you this land to take possession of it (Genesis 15:7). On that day Yehovah made a covenant with Abram and said, to your descendants I give this land (Genesis 15:18). I will make nations of you and kings will come from you. I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. The whole land of Canaan where you are now an alien, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you and I will be their God (Genesis 17:6-8). Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him. For I have chosen him... (Genesis 18:18, 19). Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies (Genesis 22:17). God promised me on oath, saying, 'to your offspring, I will give this land' (Genesis 24:7). {Abraham] is a prophet" (Genesis 20:7).

Isaac

"I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him... My covenant I will establish with Isaac (Genesis 17:19, 21). Through Isaac, your offspring will be reckoned (Genesis 21:12). To you and your descendants, I will give all these lands and will confirm the oath which I swore to your father Abraham (Genesis 26:3).

Jacob

"May God give you and your descendants the blessing given to Abraham, so that you may take possession of the land where you now live as an alien, the land God gave to Abraham (Genesis 28:4). I will give you the land on which you are lying.... I will bring you back to this land (Genesis 28:13, 15). ...the land I gave to Abraham and Isaac I also give to you, and I will give this land to your descendants after you" (Genesis 35:12).

The Twelve Tribes

"God will surely come to your aid and take you up out of this land to the land He promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob" (Genesis 50:24).

The promise to the nation of Israel received a primary fulfillment under Joshua's leadership (Joshua 21:45). Long after the death of the patriarchs, both the Law and the writings of the prophets of Israel express the conviction that Israel's settlement of the land under Joshua was only an incomplete fulfillment of the covenant made with Abraham. It was clear that the patriarchs had never gained possession of the land. A further and final fulfillment was to be expected. The point is a simple one with momentous implications for New Testament Christians who become heirs to the Abrahamic covenant. Von Rad points out that

"Promises which have been fulfilled in history are not thereby exhausted of their content but remain as promises on a different level...." "The tradition, however, changed, continued to contain the hope of life in the land. Deuteronomy makes it clear that there is still a future to look forward to: the land has to achieve rest and peace.... The land looks forward to a future blessing."

Thus, in the Old Testament the hope of an ultimate and permanent settlement in the land, accompanied by peace, remains in view:

"My people shall live in peaceful dwelling places, in secure homes, in undisturbed places of rest" (Isaiah 32:18).

"...descendants from Jacob and Judah...will possess My mountains [i.e., the land]; My chosen people will inherit them and there will My servants live" (Isaiah 65:9).

"Then all your people will be righteous, and they will inherit the land forever" (Isaiah 60:21).

"Israel will possess a double portion in their land; everlasting joy will be theirs" (Isaiah 61:7).

"Thus, they shall inherit the land a second time, and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads" (Isaiah 61:7, LXX).

"But the man who makes me his refuge will inherit the land and possess my holy mountain" (Isaiah 57:13).

"The righteous shall never be removed: but the wicked will not inherit the land" (Proverbs 10:30).

"Dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.... The meek will inherit the land and enjoy great peace... The inheritance of the blameless will endure forever.... Those Yehovah blesses will inherit the land... Turn from evil and do good, then you will dwell in the land forever... The righteous will inherit the land and dwell in it forever... God will exalt you to inherit the land; when the wicked are cut off you will see it... [Note carefully that the righteous should not expect to inherit the land before the wicked are cut off. There is a caution for dominion and reconstructionist theologies here!] There is a future for the man of peace" (Psalm 37:3, 11, 18, 22, 27, 29, 34, 37).

"The days are coming, declares Yehovah, when I will bring my people Israel and Judah back from captivity and restore them to the land, I gave their forefathers to possess" (Jeremiah 30:3).

The integrity of Yehovah's word is at stake in this question of the future of the promised land. It was obvious to all that Abraham had never received the fulfillment of the covenant promise that he would possess the land. Moses was not allowed to enter the promised land and Israel was eventually expelled from her homeland.

Based on the Abrahamic covenant, however, the faithful in Israel clung with passionate tenacity to the expectation that the land of Israel would indeed become the scene of ultimate salvation. That hope remained as the beacon light not only of the prophets but also of the original Christian faith as preached by Jesus and the Apostles; until it was extinguished by the intrusion of a non-territorial hope; "heaven when you die."

A non-biblical view of the future, divorced from the land and the earth, was promoted by Gentiles unsympathetic to the heritage of Israel, for whom the promise of the land to Abraham was the foundation of the nation’s deepest aspirations. In direct contradiction of Jesus, the pagan-influenced Gentile church father’s Christianity has substituted "heaven at death" for the biblical promise of life in the land God promised Abraham. The message of Jesus' famous beatitude, "Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the land" (Matthew 5:5) can no longer be heard above the din of endless funeral sermons announcing that the dead have gone to heaven!

Gentile antipathy to the covenant made with Abraham has rendered large parts of the Old Testament meaningless to churchgoers. Worse still, it has put the New Testament under a fog of confusion, since the New relies for its basic understanding of the Christian faith on the promises of God given to Israel through Abraham. All the major doctrines of the faith are adversely affected when the Abrahamic Covenant is disregarded or misinterpreted.

The "murder of the [Old Testament biblical] text" by critical scholarship was later equally responsible for the suppression of the biblical hope of "life in the land" based on the promise made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, promises which according to Paul, Jesus came to "confirm" or "guarantee" (Romans 15:7). Fragmenting the Old Testament text in the interests of a theory of composition, scholarship lost sight of what James Dunn calls the Pauline presupposition about the authority of Scripture, "that a single mind and purpose (God's) inspired the several writings [the Scriptures]."

After nearly two thousand years of uncomprehending Gentile commentary, the promise to Abraham of progeny, blessing and land must be reinstated as the coherent and unifying theme of New Testament faith in God and the Messiah and the essential core of the Christian Gospel of the Kingdom of God. The Gospel rests on the promise to Abraham that in the Messiah all the faithful will possess the land forever (Matthew 5:5, Revelation 5:10). Not only will they possess the land, but that "future inhabited earth" will be under the authority of the Messiah and the saints (Hebrews2:5). This concept is what the writer to the Hebrews calls the "greatness" or "importance" of salvation which we ought not to neglect:

"How shall we escape if we disregard so great a salvation.... For God did not put the coming society on earth under the authority of angels but the Son of Man" (Hebrews 2:5ff.)

The results of the inexorable process of dismantling the divine Revelation to Abraham can be seen in the comments of the Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 13:14, 15. The problem for the commentator (who sees no relevance in the land promises for Christians) is to reconcile God's declaration, "I will give the land to you [Abraham]" with the assertion made by Stephen some two thousand years later that God "did not give Abraham any inheritance [in the land of Palestine]; not even a square foot of land, but he promised to give it to him as a possession [kataschesis; cp. LXX Gen. 17:8, 'everlasting possession'] and to his descendants with him." How is the apparent contradiction to be resolved? The Pulpit Commentary offers two solutions. Firstly a retranslation so that the promise of Genesis 13:15 reads: "To you I will give the land, that is to say, to your descendants." In this way the failure of Abraham to receive the land personally will be explained: God promised it only to his descendants and they received it under Joshua. But this is no solution at all. Throughout God's dealings with Abraham, the promise of land to the Patriarch himself is repeatedly made. Genesis 13:17 reads: "Walk through the length and breadth of the land; to you I will give it." Abraham would have every right to complain if this were to mean that he personally should not expect to inherit the promised land!

The commentary offers a second way around the difficulty. It maintains that the land did in fact belong to Abraham during his lifetime. "The land was really given to Abram as a nomadic chief, in the sense that he peacefully lived for many years, grew old, and died within its borders." However, this is to contradict the emphatic biblical assertions that Abraham definitely did not possess the land. Genesis 17:8 specifically reports that God said to Abraham:

"And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your descendants after you in their generations to be a God to you and your seed after you. And I will give to you and to your seed after you the land in which you are a stranger-all the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession" (Genesis 17: 7, 8).

These, then, are the biblical premises: Abraham is to possess the land forever. He lived out his life as a stranger owning none of the land (except for a small piece of property bought from the Hittites as a burial site for Sarah, Genesis 23:3-20). Abraham himself confessed to the Hittite inhabitants of Canaan: "I am an alien and a stranger among you" (Genesis 23:4). As the New Testament witnesses: "God gave Abraham no inheritance here [in Palestine], not even a foot of ground. But God promised him that he and his descendants after him would possess the land" (Acts 7:5, NIV).

How then is the covenant grant of land to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to be fulfilled? The answer to the problem throws a flood of light on the Christianity of the New Testament. There is only one way in which the Covenant can be realized: by the future resurrection of Abraham, enabling him to inherit the promised land forever. To Abraham and his descendants, the land belongs forever by covenant-oath. Abraham died. Abraham must therefore rise from the dead to receive the "land of the promise," which is Canaan, the land to which he ventured forth from Babylon and in which he lived as a foreigner. The promise to Abraham will be fulfilled, as Jesus said, when "...many will come from the east and the west and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the Kingdom of God" (Matthew 8:11 and Luke 13:28, 29).

The absolute necessity for resurrection in the divine plan was the point of Jesus' important interchange with the Sadducees, who did not believe in any resurrection and thus denied the covenant hope of life in the land for the Patriarchs and all the faithful. Jesus' response to their inadequate understanding of eschatology and consequent failure to believe in the future resurrection of the faithful to inherit the land involved a stern rebuke that they had departed from God's revelation:

"You are in error because you do not know the Scripture or the power of God. At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. But about the resurrection of the dead; have you not read what God said to you: 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. He is not the God of the dead but of the living" (Matthew 22:29-32).

The logic of Jesus' argument was simply that, since Abraham Isaac and Jacob were then dead, they must live again through resurrection in the future so that their relationship with the living God could be restored and they could receive what the covenant had guaranteed them.

Hebrews

The Book of Hebrews expounds the drama of Abraham's faith in the great promises of God making a future resurrection the only solution to the mystery of Abraham's failure as yet ever to own the land.

"By faith Abraham when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance..." (Hebrews 8:11).

So, the story begins. Abraham's inheritance, we observe, is to be the "place to which he was called," i.e., the land of Canaan. This is exactly what the Genesis account describes. That very land Abraham was destined to receive "later," but how much later we are not yet told. The writer continues: "By faith, Abraham made his home in the land of the promise like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents as did Isaac and Jacob who were heirs with him of the same promise" (Hebrews 11:8, 9). Abraham, Isaac Jacob and other heroes of faith "died in faith not having received the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance and admitted that they were aliens and strangers in the land (v. 13). Note that the wrong idea is suggested by our versions when they translate "in the land" as "on the earth," giving the impression that the Patriarchs were expecting to go to heaven! However, the point is that people who say they are aliens in the land "show that they are looking for a country of their own" (Hebrews 11:13, 14), i.e., the same land renewed under the promised government of the Messiah.

The important truth about the land promise has been rescued by George Wesley Buchanan:

"This promise-rest-inheritance was inextricably tied to the land of Canaan, which is the place where the Patriarchs wandered as sojourners (Hebrews 11:13). It was called the land of the promise (Hebrews 11:9) and the heavenly country (Hebrews 11:16) .... This does not mean that it is not on earth any more than the sharers in the heavenly calling (Hebrews 3:1) who had tasted the heavenly gift (Hebrews 6:4) were not those who lived on earth. Indeed, it was the very land on which the patriarchs dwelt as 'strangers and wanderers' (Hebrews 11:13). ['Heavenly'] means that it is a divine land which God himself has promised."

"Heaven" will be on earth.

It is important to note the evasion by popular Christianity of the implications of Hebrews 11:8, 9. To preserve the tradition that heaven is the reward of the faithful, it is argued that the geographical land of Canaan is a type of "heaven" to be gained at death. However, this New Testament passage specifically says that Abraham actually lived in the place designated as his future inheritance. "He made his home in the promised land" (Hebrews 11:9, NIV) and this was on the earth! "Heaven," therefore, in the Bible is to be a place on this planet, our own earth renewed and restored. The promised land in this New Testament comment on the Old is still the geographical Canaan and it is precisely that territory which Abraham died without receiving. Resurrection in the future is the only path by which the Patriarch can achieve his goal and possess the land which he has never owned. Indeed, as Hebrews emphasizes, none of the distinguished faithful "received what had been promised"-the inheritance of the promised land (Hebrews 11:13, 39). They died in faith fully expecting later to receive their promised possession of the land. This is a very far cry from the idea, which so many have accepted under the pressure of post-biblical tradition, that the Patriarchs have already gone to their reward in heaven. Such a theory invites the rebuke of Paul who complained that some had "wandered away from the truth" by saying that "the resurrection has taken place already" (2 Timothy 2:18). The loss of faith in the future resurrection destroys the fabric of biblical faith.

Paul and Abraham

Paul treats the story of Abraham as the model of Christian faith with no hint that Abraham's inheritance is different from that of every Christian believer. In fact, the very opposite is true: Abraham is "the father of all who believe" (Romans 4:11) Abraham demonstrated Christian faith by believing in God's plan to grant him land, progeny, and blessing forever. Abraham's faith was demonstrated in his willingness to respond to the divine initiative; to believe God's declaration of His plan to give Abraham and his descendants the land forever. This is the essence of biblical faith. Justification means believing like Abraham in what God has promised to do (Romans 4:3, 13). This entails more than the death and resurrection of Jesus. Apostolic faith requires belief in the ongoing divine plan in history, including the divinely revealed future. Grasping what God is doing in world history enables a man to attune his life to God in the Messiah. A Christian according to Paul is one who "follows in the footsteps of the faith of our father Abraham" (Romans 3:12). Abraham's faith "was characterized by (or based on) a hope which was determined solely by the promise of God... Abraham's faith was firm confidence in God as the one who determines the future according to what he has promised." So Jesus summons us to faith, first of all, in the Gospel of the Kingdom of God (Mark 1:14, 15; cp. Acts 8:12) which is to be nothing less than the final fulfillment of the covenant made with Abraham and his (spiritual) offspring. Paul defines the promise. It was that Abraham should be "heir of the world" (Romans 4:13). As James Dunn says:

"The idea of 'inheritance' was a fundamental part of the Jewish understanding of their covenant relationship with God, above all, indeed almost exclusively, in connection with the land; the land of Canaan theirs by right of inheritance as promised to Abraham... [This is] one of the most emotive themes in Jewish national self-identity.... Central to Jewish self-understanding was the conviction that Israel was Yehovah's inheritance… Integral to the national faith was the conviction that God had given Israel the inheritance of Palestine, the promised land. It is this axiom, which Paul evokes and refers to the new Christian movement as a whole, Gentiles as well as Jews. They are the heirs of God. Israel's special relationship with God has been extended to all in the Messiah. And the promise of the land has been transformed into the promise of the Kingdom... That inheritance of the Kingdom, full citizenship under the rule of God alone, is something still awaited by believers.

Paul links the Christian faith directly to the promise made to Abraham. As Dunn says:

"The degree to which Paul's argument is determined by the current self-understanding of his own people is clearly indicated by his careful wording which picks up four key elements in that self-understanding: the covenant promise to Abraham and his seed, the inheritance of the land as its central element.... It had become almost a commonplace of Jewish teaching that the covenant promised that Abraham's seed would inherit the earth.... The promise thus interpreted was fundamental to Israel's self-consciousness as God's covenant people: It was the reason why God had chosen them in the first place from among all the nations of the earth, the justification for holding themselves distinct from other nations, and the comforting hope that made their current national humiliation endurable...."

Dunn goes on:

"...Paul's case...reveals the strong continuity he saw between his faith and the fundamental promise of his people's Scriptures... Paul had no doubt that the Gospel he proclaimed was a continuation and fulfillment of God's promise to Abraham. But he was equally clear that the heirs of Abraham's promise were no longer to be identified in terms of the law. Genesis 15:6 showed with sufficient clarity that the promise was given and accepted through faith, quite apart from the law in whole or in part."

The point to be grasped is that Paul does not question the content of the promise. How could he without overthrowing the whole revelation given by the Bible? The territorial promise was clearly and repeatedly spelled out in the Genesis account and was his people's most cherished national treasure: To faithful Israel, represented first by Abraham, God had given assurance that they would inherit the land. Paul introduces a revolutionary new fact- that this grand promise is open to all who believe in the Messiah as the seed of Abraham. For it was to Messiah, as Abraham's seed, that the promises were made, as well as to Abraham himself. Gentile Christians, if they believe the promise of the Messiah, may claim a full share in the same promised inheritance. Paul reaches a triumphant moment in his argument when he declares to his Gentile readers that "if you are in the Messiah then you count as Abraham's descendants and are heirs [of the world, Romans 4:13] according to the promise [made to Abraham]" (Genesis 3:29).

The promises, however, are certain only, as Paul says, to "those who are of the faith of Abraham" (Romans 4:16), i.e., those whose faith is of the same type as his, resting on the same promises. Hence Paul speaks of the need for Christians to be "sons of Abraham" (Galatians 3:7), "seed of Abraham" (Galatians 3:29, Romans 4:16), and to reckon Abraham as their father (Romans 4:11), to walk in his steps (Romans 4:12) and consider him the model of Christian faith (Galatians 3:9), because the Gospel had been preached to him in advance (Galatians 3:8). But how much do we now hear about the Gospel about the coming Kingdom of God as defined by the promises made to Abraham? The "blessing given to Abraham" (Galatians 3:14) which is now available to both Jews and Gentiles in the Messiah is described by Genesis 28:4. It is to "take possession of the land, where you now live as an alien, the land God gave to Abraham." Speaking to Gentile Christians, Paul states that "the blessing given to Abraham" (exactly the phrase found in Genesis 28:4) has now come to the believers in the Messiah (Galatians 3:14).

We mustn't add alien material to Paul's exposition of God's salvation plan. The promise to Abraham and to his offspring is that he and they are to be "heir of the world" (Romans 4:13). Paul has not abandoned the account in Genesis from which he quotes explicitly (Romans 4:3, Galatians 3:6 from Genesis 15:9). Since the promised land of Canaan would be the center of the Messianic government it was obvious that inheritance of the land implied inheritance of the world. But the promise remains geographical and territorial corresponding exactly with Jesus' promise to the meek that they would "inherit the land/earth" (Matthew 5:5), His belief that Jerusalem would be the city of the Great King (Matthew 5:35), and that believers would administer a New World Order with Him (Matthew 19:28; Luke 22:28-30; Revelation 2:26, 3:21, 5:10, 20:1-6). In short, the promise of the land, which is fundamental to the Christian Gospel, is now the promise of the Kingdom of God; the renewed "inhabited earth of the future" (Hebrews 2:5), which is not to be subject to angels but to the Messiah and the saints, the "Israel of God" (Galatians 6:16) who are heirs of the covenant. Such a hope corresponds exactly with the hope of the Hebrew prophets. J. Skinner observes that "the main point [of Jeremiah's hope for the future] is that in some sense a restoration of the Israelite nationality was the form in which he conceived the Kingdom of God." Paul in Romans 11:25, 26 expected a collective conversion of the nation of Israel at the Second Coming. The Church, however, in Paul's thinking, would be leaders in the Messianic Kingdom (I Corinthians 6:2, 2 Timothy 2:12). In this way the Abrahamic Covenant guarantees a part in the Messianic Kingdom for all who now believe the Gospel and it assures us that there will be a collective return to the Messiah on the part of a remnant of the nation of Israel (Romans 11:25-27). This hope is seen clearly in Acts 1:6, where the Apostles asked when the promised restoration of Israel might be expected. Since they were hoping to be kings in the Kingdom, and the holy spirit (Acts 1:5) was the special endowment of kings, they naturally expected an immediate advent of the Kingdom. In His mercy, God has extended the period of repentance.

Worldwide Inheritance

It was common to Jewish thinking and Paul, as well as to the whole New Testament that the whole world was involved in the promise made to Abraham that he would inherit "the land of the promise." This is seen in biblical and extra-biblical texts:

Psalm 2:6: "I have installed my King on Zion... Ask of Me [God] and I will make the nations your [Messiah's] inheritance and the ends of the earth your possession. You will rule then with an iron scepter; you will dash them to pieces like pottery" (See Revelation 12:5 and 2:26, 27-the latter passage includes the Christians in the same promise).

Jubilees 22:14: "May [God] strengthen you, and may you inherit all the earth."

Jubilees 32:19: "And there will be kings from you [Jacob]. They will rule everywhere that the tracks of mankind have been trod. And I will give your seed all the land under heaven, and they will rule in all nations as they have desired."

I Enoch 5:7: "But to the elect, there shall be light, joy, and peace, and they shall inherit the earth."

4 Ezra 6:59: "If the world has indeed been created for us, why do we not possess our world as an inheritance. How long will this be so?"

2 Baruch 14:12, 13: "The righteous...are confident of the world which you have promised to them with an expectation full of joy."

2 Baruch 51:3: "[The righteous] will receive the world which is promised to them."

Paul's definition of the promise to Abraham that he "would be heir to the world" (Romans 4:13) fits naturally into texts such as these and is implied by the covenant made with Abraham. Henry Alford comments on the connection between Paul's view of the future and Jewish hopes:

"The Rabbis already had seen, and Paul who had been brought up in their learning, held fast to the truth, that much more was intended in the words 'in you, or in your seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed,' than the mere possession of Canaan. They distinctly trace the gift of the world to this promise. The inheritance of the world... is that ultimate lordship over the whole world which Abraham, as the father of the faithful in all peoples, and Christ, as the Seed of promise, shall possess...."

H.A.W. Meyer notes that to be the "seed of Abraham" meant that one was destined to have "dominion over the world," based on Genesis 22:17ff: "Your descendants shall gain possession of the gates [i.e., towns] of their enemies." With this promise in mind, Jesus envisages the faithful assuming authority over urban populations (Luke 19:17, 19).

The International Critical Commentary on Romans 4:13 speaks of the promise that Abraham's seed [in Christ] should "enjoy worldwide dominion” "the right to universal dominion which will belong to the Messiah and His people," and "the promise made to Abraham and his descendants of worldwide Messianic rule." Something of the fervor of Israel for the land may be seen in the 14th and 18th Benedictions repeated in the Synagogue since AD 70:

"Be merciful, O Lord our God, in your great mercy towards Israel Your people and towards Jerusalem, and towards Zion the abiding place of your glory, and towards your temple and your habitation, and towards the kingdom of the house of David, thy righteous anointed one. Blessed are you, O lord God of David, the builder of Jerusalem your city." "Bestow your peace upon Israel your people and upon Thy city and upon your inheritance, and bless us, all of us together. Blessed are you, O Lord, who makes peace."

Even where the land is not mentioned directly, the land is implied in the city and the Temple which became the quintessence of the hope for salvation. Exactly the same hope is reflected in the New Testament:

"The Lord [Yehovah] God will give [Jesus] the throne of His father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his Kingdom will never end" (Luke 1:32)

"[God] has helped His servant Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants forever, even as He said to our fathers" (Luke 1:55).

"[God] has raised up a horn [political dominion] in the house of His servant David...to show mercy to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, the oath He swore to our father Abraham" (Luke 1:69, 72, 73).

"[Simeon] was waiting for the consolation of Israel" (Luke 2:25).

"[Anna] gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem" (Luke 2:38).

"Blessed is the coming Kingdom of our father David" (Mark 11:10).

"Joseph of Arimathea [a disciple of Jesus i.e., a follower of Jesus, Matthew 27:57], a prominent member of the Council..., was himself waiting for the Kingdom of God" (Mark 15:43).

"We [disciples of Jesus] had hoped that [Jesus] was the one who was going to redeem Israel" (Luke 24:21).

The Apostles asked: "Is this the time that you are going to restore the Kingdom to Israel?" (Acts 1:6.)

"It is because of my hope in what God has promised our fathers that I am on trial today. This is the promise our twelve tribes are hoping to see fulfilled as they earnestly serve God day and night" (Acts 26:6,7).

The Bible does not for a moment abandon or replace these hopes based on the great covenant made with Abraham. The disciples closest to Jesus, who were the products of his careful tuition over several years and for six weeks after the resurrection (Acts 1:3), obviously look forward the "restoration of the Kingdom to Israel" (Acts 1:6). It had not entered their heads to abandon the territorial hopes of the prophets. Paul insists that he is on trial "because of my hope in what God has promised our fathers. This is the promise our twelve tribes are hoping to see fulfilled as they earnestly serve God day and night" (Acts 26:6). The nature of this hope is expressed in a Rabbinical saying of the third century reflecting the ancient expectation of life in the land held in common with the New Testament:

"Why did the patriarchs long for burial in the land of Israel? Because the dead of the land of Israel will be the first to be resurrected in the days of Messiah and to enjoy the years of Messiah" (Gen. Rabbah, 96:5)

Paul's statement in Acts 26:6,7 (above) expressly defines the Apostolic Christian hope as the same as the hope held by the ancient synagogue -- the prospect of worldwide dominion for the faithful in the Messiah's kingdom. New Testament Christianity confirms this interest in the unfulfilled promises to the patriarchs with its expectation of a restoration of the Kingdom to Israel. Jesus promises the land to the meek (Matthew 5:5) and locates the Kingdom of the future "on the earth" or perhaps "in the land" (Revelation 5:10). It makes little difference whether we render "epi tes gys" "in the land" or "on the earth," because the Kingdom is destined to extend to the "uttermost parts of the earth" (Psalm 2:8). The promise to Abraham is to be fulfilled in the Messiah when the latter is invited to "Ask of me [God] and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession" (Psalm 2:7, 8). All these blessings are contained in Paul's phrase "inheritance of the world" (Romans 4:13) which he sees as the essence of the promise made to Abraham-the promise to which Gentile believers should cling since in Christ they are equally entitled to it:

"If you are the Messiah's, then you are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise" (Galatians 3:29).

"Heaven"

References in the New Testament to "heaven" are limited to contexts in which the future reward of believers is said to be preserved now as treasure with God in heaven. "Heaven" as a place removed from the earth is, however, never the destination of the believer in the Bible; neither at death nor at the resurrection. Christians must now identify with their reward, at present stored up in heaven for them, so that they may receive it when Jesus brings it to the earth at His Second Coming (Colossians 1:5, I Peter 1;4, 5). That reward was made known to the converts when the Christian Gospel of the Kingdom of God was preached to them (Matthew 1:14, 15; Luke 4:43; Acts 8:12, 19:8, 20:25, 28:23,31). Belief in the Gospel in Apostolic times was not confined to belief in the death and resurrection of Jesus but included the whole invitation to prepare for a place in Messiah's worldwide dominion to be realized on earth.

The situation is very different today when little or nothing is preached about inheriting the earth with Jesus. There is an urgent need for believers to heed Paul's warning not to be "moved away from the hope held out in the Gospel" (Colossians 1:23). The loss of the Kingdom in the Gospel is symptomatic of the loss of the roots of Christianity in the Old Testament.

Faith in God's World Plan

Nonsense is made of the New Testament scheme, and God's plan in world history, when it is proposed that the Christian destiny is to be enjoyed in a location removed from the earth. This destroys at a blow the promises made to Abraham and his descendants (i.e., the Messiah and the faithful) that they are to inherit the land and the world. The substitution of "heaven" at death for the reward of inheriting the earth nullifies the covenant made with Abraham. That covenant is the foundation of the New Testament faith. The repeated offer of "heaven" in popular preaching renders meaningless the whole hope of the prophets (based on the Abrahamic promise) that the world is going to enjoy an unparalleled era of blessing and peace under the just rule of the Messiah and the resurrected faithful-those who believe in "the Kingdom of God and the name [i.e., the Messiahship and all that this entails] of Jesus," and who are baptized in response to that early creed in Acts 8:12:

"When they believed Philip as he proclaimed the Gospel about the Kingdom of God and the name of Jesus the Messiah, they were being baptized both men and women."

This text remains a model for evangelism and calls the contemporary church back to its roots in the Covenant made with "the father of the faithful" which can be fulfilled only in Messiah Jesus. For the fulfillment of that plan, we are to pray, "Your Kingdom come," and strive to conduct ourselves "worthy of God who is calling us into His Kingdom and glory" (I Thessalonians 2:12). The truth about our Christian destiny will be reinstated when we return to the biblical language about "entering the Kingdom," "inheriting the earth" (Matthew 5:5), and ruling on earth (Revelation 5:10 The way will then be open for us to understand that Christianity is a call to Kingship and that a saint – holy one is one appointed to rule on the earth in the coming Kingdom of the Messiah, as a co-ruler with him. (Daniel 7:18, 22, 27).

"The general tenor of prophecy and the analogy of the divine dealings point unmistakably to this earth, purified and renewed, and not to the heavens in any ordinary sense of the term, as the eternal habitation of the blessed."

"May God give you the blessing of Abraham my father, to you and to your seed with you-the inheritance of the land in which you now reside as a foreigner, the land which God gave to Abraham" (Jacob).

"The blessing of Abraham [will come] to the Gentiles in the Messiah."

The above article was taken from:

http://focusonthekingdom.org/articles/christianhope.htm

(This article appeared in A Journal from the Radical Reformation, Vol. 2, No. 4.)