In a world where truth is constantly debated and values shift with the tides of culture, we return to the ancient prophecies to find constancy and direction. Join us as Rabbi Schneider delves into the profound message of messianic prophecies, focusing particularly on the powerful words from Isaiah 53. Discover how Jesus embodies these prophecies, affirming his role and mission in the world as our savior.
People are oftentimes afraid to speak the truth. What happens to people that speak the truth to power? They’re rejected, they’re despised. And so Jesus, too, was a man that spoke truth to power, and as a result of that, he was hated. One of the things that has shifted in our culture is that there is no longer an agreed upon set of values or of truth. What is happening today is that anybody can get online and propagate anything at all. And if it’s said long enough, people will unfortunately oftentimes begin to believe that it’s truth. You’ve heard the saying before, if a lie is repeated enough, eventually people lose sight of the fact it’s a lie and they begin to accept it as truth. We’re living in a society which makes it very difficult to understand what is truth. Of course, this question, what is truth? It’s a question that has been a millennial years in the asking as Yeshua stood before Pilate and Yeshua stood before him saying, I have come into the world to bear witness to the truth. Pilate said, what is truth? well today that question is even more contested and the reason that i’m bringing it up beloved on today’s show is because when we study messianic prophecy what we’re doing is we’re going back hundreds and thousands of years ago to see what the prophets of god proclaimed and then are seeing visibly how the prophet’s words predicting the future came to pass. And we’re focusing, of course, today on how Yeshua HaMashiach brought the words of the prophets to pass in his own life and ministry. The point is, is that when we see a prophecy that was given thousands of years ago, and then you see Yeshua specifically fulfill it in a detailed way, we see this is truth. It’s not simply subjective, which most prove today is subjective. It changes with the culture. The concept of what’s right and wrong, it’s no longer objective, it’s subjective. It changes as the world modernizes. But God’s Word does not change with the times. God’s Word is the same yesterday, today, and forever. And one of those cutting edge ways that we see this is in the area of messianic prophecy, once again. We look at the words of the prophets that prophesied thousands of years ago, and then we see how Yeshua fulfilled those words that were spoken way before his lifetime in a scientific, measurable way. And so we are in our series on Messianic prophecy, and I left off last time, I was talking about the words of the prophet Isaiah in the 53rd chapter. Now let me say that Isaiah is one of the books most frequently quoted in the Bechad Hashah in the New Testament. In fact, one of my favorite prophecies from the book of Isaiah that’s quoted in the book of Matthew is in Matthew chapter eight. Yeshua had just got done preaching his longest recorded sermon recorded in the gospels. It was on the sermon of what we call the mount, the sermon of the mount. Jesus was preaching from the mountaintop. After he preached again this longest sermon that’s recorded in the New Testament, he came down the mountain. And as he was coming down the mountain, he started running into all these people that needed a physical healing, one after another after another. One person came to him that needed to be delivered from a demon. And finally, after many episodes had taken place, different episodes along the pathway where Jesus had physically healed or delivered somebody, we finally get to the climax of this, and it begins here. In Matthew 8, verse number 16, hear the word of God. When evening came, they brought to him many who were demon-possessed, and he cast out the spirits with the word and, listen, healed all who were ill. So now he’s already delivered many people, healed many people, time is moving on, and now it’s the evening. Everybody was coming to him. They brought to him many people that were demon-possessed and physically ill. And the Bible says Jesus healed all who were ill and he cast out the demons with the word. Now listen to the next verse that Matthew records here. This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah. He himself took our infirmities and carried away our diseases. This is an exact quote from the book of Isaiah chapter 53 verse four. I love the book of Isaiah because what Isaiah shows us, particularly at the end of chapter 52 and all through chapter 53, is that Jesus, who knew no sin, became sin on our behalf, that Jesus took our sin in his own body on the tree, and he gave us instead his righteousness and his health. By his stripes, we are healed. It’s the principle of substitutionary sacrificial atonement. Jesus, the innocent one who knew no sin and had no illness in his body, died on the cross in our place, taking our sin and our sickness in his body and giving us back his righteousness and his health instead. So Isaiah 53 is one of the most transactional chapters in the Word of God. It shows how we went from darkness to light. It all is summed up in the atonement of Jesus. Now, Messianic prophecy, I believe, finds its climax in Isaiah chapter 53. So I want to take just a few minutes today, beloved one, And I wanna read the last few verses of Isaiah chapter 52. And then I’m gonna read all through Isaiah 53. I just want you to absorb it. We’re studying messianic prophecy. And to me, this is the most complete profound messianic portion in the entire Tanakh, in the entire Hebrew Bible, even though there are many prophetic messianic portions in the Hebrew Bible. But I believe messianic prophecy finds its climax at the end of Isaiah chapter 52 in through Isaiah 53. Now keep in mind, it’s just a tidbit of information, when the scroll of Isaiah was first written, there was no chapter divisions. In other words, when Isaiah recorded his prophecy, he didn’t write 52, Isaiah 52. It was just all one scroll. But later, the scribes added chapters and verses so that people could easily find their place in reference and be on the same track with one another. In other words, you can go to your Bible today and you can go to Isaiah 52, verse 13, and you can find it precisely where I’m going to begin. I remember a funny story that I witnessed one time where the person that was standing in the synagogue, he was reading the Torah portion for the day, and he was reading through the Torah and he lost his place. And he said, I lost my place because there’s no markings in the Torah. And the person a little bit off to the side said, well, it’s the place where it says, the Lord said to Moses. And the joke is, when you read through the Torah, you see that phrase over and over and over and over again, the Lord said to Moses. But if you said a specific chapter and verse, Deuteronomy chapter 31, verse 2, then you could easily get to that place. So again, just a little explanation to the fact that there were originally not chapters and verses, but these were added by the translators so that we could all be on the same page and find our place together.
SPEAKER 01 :
You’re listening to Discovering the Jewish Jesus with Rabbi Schneider, and he’ll be right back. But first, did you know that this program is available in Hebrew, Russian and Spanish? If you know somebody who speaks one of these languages, now’s your chance to share the blessing. To access the language version that’s right for them, just go to discoveringthejewishjesus.com and click the watch forward slash listen tab and choose an available alternate language channel right there. For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? Friends, this verse in Romans shows us that when the Jewish people come to Christ, we too will be blessed. The church will experience a spiritual awakening. Help us fulfill this calling to reach Israel. We can’t do it without your faithful support, so partner with us today by visiting us online at DiscoveringTheJewishJesus.com. And now, back to Rabbi Schneider.
SPEAKER 03 :
Let’s open our hearts now to hear the Word of God. Behold, my servant will prosper. Now remember, this is all about Jesus. Behold, and how do we know it’s all about Jesus? Because I just read from the book of Matthew chapter eight, and he was quoting from this portion that I’m about to read, and he was saying this was all about Jesus. So we interpret the Hebrew Bible or the Tanakh through the lens of the Brit Kadashah or the New Testament, because we know that prophecy finds its climax in the New Testament through whom all of the Hebrew Bible aimed towards. Let’s start again. Behold. my servant will prosper. He will be high and lifted up and greatly exalted. Just as many were astonished at you, my people, so his appearance was marred more than any man, and his form was more than the sons of men. Thus he will sprinkle many nations. Kings will shut their mouths on account of him. For what had not been told them, they will see. And what they had not heard, they will understand. Who has believed our message? And so let me simply say here that Isaiah is delivering this tremendous secret that’s about to be revealed. And he’s talking about this one emerging whom people wouldn’t recognize, that his face would be marred, but this was the one that held the key to the nations and was the secret to victory. But now Isaiah is going to continue in Isaiah 53.1. He’s going to say, even though this one that I’m declaring and describing is the key, he’s the mystery of mysteries. He’s the one that unlocks everything. All the treasures of mystery are found in him. Isaiah said, the problem was that people didn’t recognize him. And so Isaiah continues in Isaiah 53. Who has believed our message? and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For he grew up before him like a tender shoot. Notice here, it’s he, speaking of Yeshua, growing up before him, the Father. For he grew up before him like a tender shoot and like a root out of parched ground. In other words, he was a human being. In his flesh, he was just like every other man. There was nothing special about his flesh. You know, as an infant, he still looked helpless. And so he grew up like a tender shoot, like a root out of parched ground. He has no stately form or majesty that we should look upon him. nor appearance that we should be attracted to him. There was nothing special in Yeshua’s physical appearance because his power and his genius was not in his physical appearance. It was what was inside. He was clothed with humanity, but inside there was divinity. He was despised and forsaken of men. You know, when truth confronts power, truth is despised. That’s why we live in such a politically correct society today, because people are oftentimes afraid to speak the truth. What happens to people that speak the truth to power? They’re rejected. They’re despised. They’re ganged up on. And so Jesus, too, was a man that spoke truth to power. And as a result of that, he was hated. The Bible says that darkness hates the light. And so Jesus was despised and rejected of men. He was despised and forsaken of men. A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. and like one from whom men hide their face. And let me just take a step here for a second and just go off to the side and make an application for you and I. This is specifically speaking of Jesus, but we’re His body. And I wanna prepare you, beloved one, I wanna prepare you, church, that if you’ll continue to stand for Yeshua, if you’ll continue to stand for Jesus, and you’ll continue to have a bold testimony in this generation moving forward, if you’ll continue to declare that Yeshua is the only way to heaven, as the Word of God teaches, if you’ll continue to declare biblical morals, I want to tell you, you too will be rejected. You too will be despised. You too will become like one who men don’t want to associate with. Because we live in a wicked culture. We live in a godless generation. We live in an era where people are swimming in iniquity. And when you speak truth to vileness, when you speak truth to a society that is entrapped in wickedness, when you speak truth and light into the darkness, it’s going to react and jump and gang up on you. People today, unfortunately, are afraid to speak the truth because the enemy tries to silence them. But let me tell you, it doesn’t take a majority to carry the day. It only takes a majority that keeps their mouth silent for a minority to sway and change the world. We must not keep silent. We must be bold. We must stand and take our place in Messiah Yeshua, speaking the truth, naming his name as the name above all names, and speaking truth into a godless world and coming against the moors of this world, standing on the ancient foundation. Even if it means we are rejected. Because Jesus said, if they hated you, know that it hated me before it hated you. Jesus said, blessed are you when you’re rejected. And men speak all kinds of insults about you because of me. For great is your reward in heaven. But if we keep silent… if we don’t be who Jesus called us to be, the light of the earth, the light of the world and the salt of the earth, if we don’t be like those that are on a mountaintop shining as light so people can see, then what good are we, Jesus said? We need to stand for the truth down here, even if it means we’re rejected, just like was the case with King Jesus himself. So let’s go on. We’re simply saying that Isaiah declared what would happen when Messiah came, that he’d be despised and rejected. And I just simply made the application, beloved one, that you and I as his body, if we walk in his light, if we reflect his nature, if we declare his words, the same thing that he faced, we will face. We are rejected with him. All that desire, the scripture says, to live godly in Christ Jesus shall be persecuted. He was despised and forsaken of men. A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief and like one from whom men hide their face. He was despised and Isaiah said, we did not esteem him. But surely, he continues in verse number four, our griefs he himself bore and our sorrows he carried, yet we ourselves esteemed him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted. In other words, Isaiah was saying, you don’t get it. Yeah, he was marred. Yes, his face was distorted because of what people did to him as a result of his testimony. But Isaiah’s telling us here, it was because of your sin that this happened to him. Verse five, but he was pierced through for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The chastening for our well-being fell upon him. And by his scourging, Isaiah says, we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, and each of us has turned to his own way. But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on him. He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth. He stood before Pilate, he kept silent, like a lamb that is led to the slaughter. like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, so he did not open his mouth. And Isaiah just continues on to talk about how this was God’s purpose, to allow his son to be crushed and put to death, to be scourged, whipped, pierced through in his hands and feet. Why? Beloved ones, because he was taking our sin in his own body on the tree. Jesus is the Messiah. We’re not looking for some other type of messianic figure. We’re not looking for some new world leader to bring peace and harmony. It will never happen. We’re not looking for someone to come and tell us that everything’s okay. To include everybody, I read yesterday about a situation in California where there was a situation where a pedophile, a homosexual pedophile abused a small child and the judges were told by somebody in government not to be too hard on this case because we don’t want to be too hard on the LGBT community. for fear that we’re going to get repercussion from that. Everybody is stepping back and saying instead, everything’s okay. Everything’s okay. Let’s just bless it all. Let me tell you, the Messiah is not coming in some future political leader that blesses everything without boundaries and the absolute morals of the Word of God. No, Messiah has already come. And his name is Jesus, Yeshua HaMashiach. And Yeshua said, straight and narrow is the way that leads to life. And few there be that find it. Jesus said, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the Pharisees, you shall in no wise enter the kingdom of God. We don’t have to do it alone, but we have to call out for mercy, call out for help, accept God’s written word of God as the standard for morality and right and wrong and the call of righteous upon our life and seek, beloved, strive, Jesus said, to enter in. Jesus has come once and for all. And beloved, we must receive him now. Today is the day of salvation, not tomorrow. Beloved, it’s important that we put God first in every area of our lives. It concerns me that it seems that so many people today are trying to use God for an experience, but they’re not being obedient. I think of many, many people that are going to churches, they love the worship music, but they’re not being obedient to God’s word. Jesus said, unless a man picks up his cross, denies himself and follows me, he cannot be my disciple. Sacrificial obedience is the only way to truly walk hand in hand with God. This is why it’s important how we handle our finances. Going back to the first book of the Bible with Abraham, all the way through the New Testament, we see that those that truly walk with God honor him in every area of their lives, including their finances. I want to just ask you today, if discovering the Jewish sheaths is being used by Father God in your life to be a blessing, would you honor him with your finances through this ministry? Thank you for your love and for your financial support.
SPEAKER 01 :
Amen. And you can give a financial gift of any amount to Discovering the Jewish Jesus just by visiting us online at discoveringthejewishjesus.com. And if it’s easier for you, give us a call. Our number is 800-777-7835. You can also send your generous financial donations in the mail today. just send them to Discovering the Jewish Jesus, PO Box 777, Blissfield, Michigan, 49228. And if you’ve never become a monthly partner with us, I want to encourage you, become a monthly partner. We just got back from Nigeria where God touched thousands of lives. So if you’ve never partnered with us before and supported us on a monthly basis, I want to encourage you to seek the Lord and ask Him if He would have you to make that decision today. I want you to know that we couldn’t do this without you. And when you become a monthly partner, we actually have a special gift that we’d like to send you. It’s an authentic, handcrafted shofar that’s actually made in Israel. And, you know, the shofar, it announces the presence of God. Every time we’re overseas at one of these festivals and rabbis preaching, We’re always blowing the shofar and the crowd roars with excitement with the announcement of God’s presence there. We want you to know that when you partner with us, you’re enabling us to announce Jesus is Messiah to the whole world. So partner with us today. Again, you can partner at discoveringthejewishjesus.com or call 800-777-7835. Now here’s Rabbi with the Aaronic Blessing.
SPEAKER 03 :
In the book of Numbers, chapter six, we find a personal blessing from God our Father. This blessing should touch our hearts because it’s so personal. Father God wants to intimately bless you, so receive his blessing into your life today with gladness and an open heart.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yevah Recheche Yahweh vayishmarecha Shalom.
SPEAKER 03 :
The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift you up with His countenance. And the Lord give you, beloved one, His peace. God bless you and shalom.
SPEAKER 01 :
This program is produced and sponsored by Discovering the Jewish Jesus. And I’m your host, Dustin Roberts. Make sure to join us tomorrow when Rabbi Schneider explains the greatest prophecy foretold centuries before Jesus came and carried out in perfect fulfillment. That’s Thursday on Discovering the Jewish Jesus.
