Nature's Laws

[Jenny A]

But Jesus was tortured to death by way of crucifixion--a Roman form of torture and execution.  I don't think that Jesus (if He were not God in the flesh) could have known that crucifixion would be the method that the Jewish leaders would be using to kill Him.

Um, I don't see anything in Isaiah 53 about crucifixion.  Surely, if it were a real prophecy, it would be rather more specific.  And, it also says a number of things that don't really fit:

He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.

Jesus may have been crucified by the Romans, but he doesn't appear to have been a man a suffering generally.  Nor was he rejected in the way this verse implies.  He had disciples and attracted admiring crowds.

He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth;

But he did speak extensively, and on the cross too.

Therefore I will allot him a portion with the great

But according to you Christians Jesus was always there at god's right had being god.  So how would he a allotted a portion "with the great."  Isn't he supposed to be god?

When you make his life an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring, and shall prolong his days;

What offspring?  Jesus had none.

And then there's the problem of tense.  Isaiah 53 writes about the servant's suffering in the past tense and his exhalation in the future tense, an odd proceeding if it was really intended to be prophecy of suffering.

It does make sense however, as interpreted by the Jews.  They see Isaiah 53 as part of the four suffering servant hymns.  The servant is the Jewish nation, not the messiah.  If you read Isaiah as whole, particularly in a Jewish translation, you will see that this makes sense as the Jewish nation is often referred to as the servant of god by Isaiah.  http://www.aish.com/sp/ph/Isaiah_53_The_...rvant.html  The suffering was and had happened, the exaltation was to come.

As prophecies go it's no great shakes:


1. It is hardly specific.

2. It was interpreted differently both before and after being attached to Jesus by early Christians.

3. Much of it makes no sense as a prophecy of Jesus.