Profile of the Prophet Isaiah
But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. Isaiah 53:5
A man who worked in a large office building printed out this verse on a plain piece of paper without giving its source. He showed it to many different people in his building, asking if they could tell him the origin of the quotation. Again and again, he was told that the verse was from the New Testament and that it was about Jesus.
The Holy Spirit revealed the Savior to Isaiah and inspired him to describe Him and His work so clearly and vividly that anyone who reads of Jesus in the four Gospels will recognize Him as the one Isaiah wrote about hundreds of years before Jesus walked this earth.
In this week’s series of devotions we have noted that Isaiah was shown visions; He saw things that God Himself revealed to him. We see this especially in what Isaiah records in chapter 52:13-53:12. The prophet wrote as an eyewitness testifying to what he saw. He wrote in the past tense, describing things as though they had already taken place: the passion, death, burial, and exaltation of Christ. He also revealed the meaning of those events. By His suffering and death Christ took our sins upon Him and atoned for them. In Him we are healed and have peace with God.
These prophecies and their fulfillment in Jesus assure us that the events of the passion history were not the result of chance happenings or human designs. Jesus was crucified, buried, and arose from the dead according to the “determined purpose and foreknowledge of God.” (Acts 2:23)
Lord, by the prophecies and their fulfillment in Your marvelous Word assure us of Your great love for us and give us an earnest desire for our salvation. Amen.