What Isaiah Said About the Coming Messiah
Isaiah tells Hezekiah God will grants him 15 more years of life.
Isaiah lived from 740 BC to 681 BC
The writings of the prophet Isaiah are full of prophecies of the coming Messiah. Below are several listed that clearly describe the purpose and character of the Messiah. Isaiah 53 is a very detailed vision of how God would redeem Israel of her sins by the sufferings of the Messiah. Isaiah 52:13-15 also deals with the extent of the Messiah’s physical sufferings.
Isaiah 9:6-7
For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
His government and its peace will never end. He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David for all eternity. The passionate commitment of the Lord of heaven’s armies will make this happen!
Isaiah 52:13-15
See, my servant will prosper; he will be highly exalted.
But many were amazed when they saw him. His face was so disfigured he seemed hardly human, and from his appearance, one would scarcely know he was a man.
And he will startle many nations. Kings will stand speechless in his presence. For they will see what they had not been told; they will understand what they had not heard about.
Isaiah 11:1-6
Out of the stump of David’s family will grow a shoot— yes, a new Branch bearing fruit from the old root.
And the Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
He will delight in obeying the Lord. He will not judge by appearance nor make a decision based on hearsay.
He will give justice to the poor and make fair decisions for the exploited. The earth will shake at the force of his word, and one breath from his mouth will destroy the wicked.
He will wear righteousness like a belt and truth like an undergarment.
In that day the wolf and the lamb will live together; the leopard will lie down with the baby goat. The calf and the yearling will be safe with the lion, and a little child will lead them all.
Isaiah 42:1-9
Look at my servant, whom I strengthen. He is my chosen one, who pleases me.
I have put my Spirit upon him. He will bring justice to the nations.
He will not shout or raise his voice in public.
He will not crush the weakest reed or put out a flickering candle. He will bring justice to all who have been wronged.
He will not falter or lose heart until justice prevails throughout the earth. Even distant lands beyond the sea will wait for his instruction.
God, the Lord, created the heavens and stretched them out. He created the earth and everything in it. He gives breath to everyone, life to everyone who walks the earth.
And it is he who says, “I, the Lord, have called you to demonstrate my righteousness. I will take you by the hand and guard you, and I will give you to my people, Israel, as a symbol of my covenant with them. And you will be a light to guide the nations.
You will open the eyes of the blind. You will free the captives from prison, releasing those who sit in dark dungeons.
I am the Lord; that is my name! I will not give my glory to anyone else, nor share my praise with carved idols.
Everything I prophesied has come true, and now I will prophesy again. I will tell you the future before it happens.”
Isaiah 53
Who has believed our message? To whom has the Lord revealed his powerful arm?
My servant grew up in the Lord’s presence like a tender green shoot, like a root in dry ground. There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance, nothing to attract us to him.
He was despised and rejected - a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief.
We turned our backs on him and looked the other way. He was despised, and we did not care.
Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down.
And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for his own sins!
But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed.
All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on him the sins of us all.
He was oppressed and treated harshly, yet he never said a word. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter. And as a sheep is silent before the shearers, he did not open his mouth.
Unjustly condemned, he was led away. No one cared that he died without descendants, that his life was cut short in midstream. But he was struck down for the rebellion of my people.
He had done no wrong and had never deceived anyone. But he was buried like a criminal; he was put in a rich man’s grave.
But it was the Lord’s good plan to crush him and cause him grief.
Yet when his life is made an offering for sin, he will have many descendants. He will enjoy a long life, and the Lord’s good plan will prosper in his hands.
When he sees all that is accomplished by his anguish, he will be satisfied. And because of his experience, my righteous servant will make it possible for many to be counted righteous, for he will bear all their sins.
I will give him the honors of a victorious soldier, because he exposed himself to death. He was counted among the rebels. He bore the sins of many and interceded for rebels.
Isaiah’s Messiah Summary
The writings and visions of the prophet Isaiah describe a Messiah to come in his future that would suffer physical torture so horribly that he would hardly be recognizable as a human. Isaiah states that this suffering would be to pay the price for the sins and transgressions of God’s children, not his own. Isaiah plainly tells us that this suffering Messiah would be a descendant of King David, and he would have an eternal righteous kingdom. Isaiah said the Messiah would grow up unnoticed among his people and be filled with the spirit of wisdom and understanding. The Messiah that Isaiah predicted would open the eyes of the blind, bring glory to Israel, and be the hope of the Gentile nations. Isaiah clearly stated that the Messiah would be rejected and despised by his own people. Finally, Isaiah tells us that in the end, the Messiah would bring Israel back to the Promised Land, reunite the tribes, and usher in a never-ending kingdom of peace and justice where the lion and the lamb lie together in peace.
Isaiah's Messiah Prophecy
Isaiah writes that the Messiah would be a descendant of King David and that he would suffer and die as a sin offering for other people’s sins -- not his own. Isaiah prophesied that the Messiah would be rejected by his own people and become the hope of the Gentiles. Like King David, Isaiah described a very exact description of Jesus’ torture and execution at the hands of the Romans.
In Other Words:
The Messiah would be a descendant of King David. The Messiah would suffer torture and crucifixion. He would become a human Passover lamb for forgiveness of sins. He would be rejected by his own people, but be the hope of the Gentiles.
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