 This presentation is a response to Dr. Brown's presentation entitled The Real Jewish Messiah Part 1. Dr. Brown begins that presentation by telling us that he accepts the roles assigned to the Messiah by traditional Judaism. Namely, the ingathering of the Jewish exile, the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem, ushering an era of peace and universal knowledge of God. However, Dr. Brown tells us that Judaism, the Jewish people, have missed a critical aspect, a critical element of the Messiah's mission. According to Dr. Brown, the Messiah is first supposed to accomplish atonement for the sins of mankind through his vicarious death, and only afterwards will he return to fulfill the messianic expectations of traditional Judaism. This debate between Judaism and Christianity is not merely a debate about the roles of the Messiah, are there four functions to the Messiah or five? Is the Messiah supposed to come once as per traditional Judaism, or is he supposed to come twice as per Christianity? This is a debate about faith and worship. Dr. Brown believes that the Messiah already fulfilled this first function to be an all-atoning sacrifice, and Dr. Brown believes that all of humanity needs to put their faith and trust in this atoning sacrifice of the Messiah, or else they are unsaved and unredeemed. From a Jewish perspective, what we hear Dr. Brown telling us is that our love for God, our faith in God, our trust in God is inadequate and incomplete because we do not trust in the atoning sacrifice of his Messiah. So this is not a debate about numbers, this is a debate about faith and worship. The Jewish rejection of the Christian position is not something that is peripheral to Judaism. The Jewish rejection of the Christian position cuts to the core and the heart of our standing as a covenant nation before God. The prophet Isaiah tells us that we are God's witnesses. God taught us that there is but one God, and that is our testimony to the world. Unto you it was shown in order that you know that the Lord is God, there is no other. That's a quote from Deuteronomy 435. Through the Exodus experience, through the Sinai Revelation, the Jewish people came to know that there is but one God, and that's our testimony to the world. And that means that all trust and all worship ought to be directed to God and to him alone, and he is sufficient. Trust in him is completely adequate. There's nowhere else to put your trust but in him and if you put your trust in him, you don't need to put your trust anywhere else or in anything else. So there's a question about faith and trust. Is the trust and faith that the Jewish people have in God inadequate and incomplete as Dr. Brown would have us believe? Or is it our faith in God, our trust in God, adequate and true as Judaism affirms? Now the prophets settled this argument a long time ago, and they settled it decisively with clarity and with force. The prophets taught us that the Jewish trust in God will be vindicated at the end of the age. When the Messiah comes, all the nations of the earth will see that our trust in God is true and adequate. Not only that, the prophets took this one step further. The prophets tell us that Israel's trust in God, the trust that the Jewish people have in God, is a lynchpin in God's plan for the salvation of humanity. It is through the vindication of Israel's trust in God that the nations of the world come to know God. The prophet Micah, chapter 7, describes how Israel, while she is suffering in the darkness of her pain in her exile, while she is suffering for her sins, she trusts in God, and in that darkness God is her light. And then the prophet goes on to describe how that trust that Israel has for God is vindicated to the eyes of her enemies, and that's how her enemies learn to fear God. Psalm 102 tells us what process God will use to bring knowledge of God to the nations of the world. The Psalmist tells us that the nations will fear God and God will be seen in his glory because, in other words, why will the nations learn to fear God? How will the nations learn to fear God? Because God has built Zion, he is seen in his glory. God turned to the prayer of the destitute, that's the Jewish people, and he has not despised their prayer. So it's when God answers the prayer of the Jewish people, when the prayer of the Jewish people, when the hope and yearning of the Jewish people is vindicated, that's when the nations will come to know God. And you know exactly who it is that the Jewish people are praying to, and you know who they are not praying to. This theme, this concept that the knowledge of God comes to the nations of the world through the vindication of Israel's trust in God is not something that the prophets said once or twice. This is something that they repeated dozens of times throughout Scripture. In many places throughout Scripture we learn that when Israel's prayer is answered, when their trust is vindicated, when their enemies are put to shame, that's when the nations of the world will come to know God. Because knowledge of God is not merely knowing that God exists. Knowledge of God means knowing and understanding that you could come to God with all of your problems, even your worst sins. You can bring them directly to God. Knowing God means that every cause for trust and for worship resides with Him and with Him alone. Knowing God means that He answers every prayer. He hears every prayer of all who turn to Him with sincerity and He despises no prayer. Knowing God means knowing that those who trust in Him and in Him alone will not be shamed. So the prophets openly and explicitly settled this argument. They told us clearly that Israel's trust in God will be vindicated, it's adequate, it's true, and not as Dr. Brown would have us believe that it's inadequate and incomplete. So where does Dr. Brown see the need for this trust in the atoning sacrifice of a Messiah in the pages of Scripture? Here we have on the one side all of these explicit passages which tell us that the Jewish trust for God is exalted. It's the salvation of humanity. So where does Dr. Brown get this trust in the atoning sacrifice of a Messiah? Where do you find it in the pages of the Jewish Scriptures? There is not one place, not one explicit passage in all of Scripture where Dr. Brown could point to, even according to his own interpretation which tells us that we need to put our trust in the atoning sacrifice of a Messiah. What Dr. Brown is doing is he's pointing to gaps in the scriptural narrative, places concepts that the prophets left unsaid. He's weaving an interpretation to fill those gaps and he's telling us that his interpretation points to the need for this trust in the atoning sacrifice. So what do we have over here? Here we have the explicit word of the prophets of God repeated many times over on the one hand. And then we have Dr. Brown's interpretation on the other hand. And Dr. Brown wants us to reinterpret the explicit word of God repeated many times over on the basis of his tenuous interpretation. That's not reading Scripture. That's imposing theology on Scripture. So which passages is Dr. Brown pointing to? Where does he see anything about this trust in the atoning sacrifice of the Messiah? Well, Dr. Brown points to the suffering servant of Isaiah. In Isaiah chapter 52 verse 13 through 53 verse 12, the prophet Isaiah describes a suffering servant of God. This suffering servant is suddenly exalted to the eyes of the kings of all the nations. And then the kings of the nations realize and confess that this servant whom they had despised and believed to be subhuman was really suffering for their sins all along. So here we have it, Dr. Brown says. Here we have vicarious suffering. The suffering servant of God is atoning for the sins of the kings of the nations. Now, before we point to the flaws in Dr. Brown's interpretation, let's step back and realize what it is that the prophet left unsaid even according to Dr. Brown's flawed interpretation. The prophets did not tell us that this servant is the Messiah. Dr. Brown is telling us that the servant is the Messiah. That's not something that the prophet bothered to tell us. The prophet did not tell us that the atonement provided by the suffering servant is the only valid form of atonement, the final form of atonement, the all-encompassing form of atonement as Christianity would have us believe. That's something that the prophet left unsaid. And finally, and most significantly, nowhere does the prophet say that we need to trust in the sacrifice of the servant in order to receive this atonement. The prophet left that unsaid. How strange. According to Dr. Brown, these are some of the most critical teachings in the whole Bible. This is the salvation of humanity relies on these teachings and the prophet couldn't find the room to tell this to us. Remember, the prophet told us many times how important Israel's trust to God is and how significant that is and how it will be vindicated at the end of the age, many times over. The prophet found the room to tell us that. But he didn't find the room to tell us that we need to trust in the atoning sacrifice of the servant. Why not? Dr. Brown argues that the prophet tells us that the servant is perfectly sinless. Sinless to the degree that's basically above human. Now, where does Dr. Brown see this in the passage? Dr. Brown points to two verses, to verse 9 and to verse 11. In verse 9, the prophet tells us that the servant had committed no violence and no deception was found in his mouth. That's verse 9. And in verse 11, the prophet tells us he used the word saddik, righteous one, to describe the servant. According to Dr. Brown, that means perfect sinlessness. Dr. Brown's interpretation has no basis in the reality of Scripture. If we read verse 9 from the beginning till the end, we see that what the prophet is saying, he's not talking about perfect sinlessness. He's talking about unjust accusation. The prophet begins by telling us that the persecutors of the servant treated him as if the servant was guilty of certain crimes. So he was being persecuted for no crime that he had committed. The prophet is simply telling us that the servant is innocent of the crimes that his persecutors are accusing him of. The prophet is not telling us anything about sinless perfection. And the word in verse 11, saddik, righteous one, doesn't mean sinless perfection. In fact, in Isaiah chapter 26, verse 2, this very same word is used to describe the nation of Israel. The nation of Israel, gait saddik, a righteous nation. Israel is far from sinless. Israel is not sinless. Israel is considered righteous because it has some degree of trust in God. We see that the word saddik is not a word that denotes perfect sinlessness. So the prophet said nothing about the sinlessness of the servant. So who is this servant? Who is this suffering servant of Isaiah 53? Before we get to that question, let me share a thought with you. The prophet said nothing about the identity of the servant. But the prophet brought us a message from the servant. In Isaiah chapter 50, verses 4 through 11, the prophet brings us a message from this suffering servant. We have the same suffering servant. In that section of Isaiah, the servant has not yet been vindicated. He is still suffering and he tells us that he knows that he will be vindicated. He assures us that he will be vindicated and he tells us he is confident that he will be vindicated. Do you know why he is so confident that he will be vindicated? Because he trusts in God and then he brings us a message. He turns to his listeners and he tells us that his message for his listeners is that they put their trust in God. So it's not so important for the prophet to tell us who the servant is. It's more important for the prophet to tell us to bring us this message from the servant. And whoever you believe the servant to be, ask yourself who did the servant pray to? Who is the servant praying to? Who is the servant trusting in? And the servant's message to you, to me, to all of us is that we put our trust in the same God that he is praying to. And the same God that he is trusting in. That is the servant's message for us. But who is the servant? I believe that the servant is Israel. Not all of Israel. But those amongst Israel who are worthy of being called God's servant, those who trust in God. One second. How can I say that the servant is Israel? Didn't Dr. Brown tell us that the focus of the prophet fades away from the nation of Israel in the chapters preceding Isaiah 53? Now let me stop to explain this because at this point Dr. Brown is actually using a valid method of scriptural interpretation. He's applying it inaccurately, but his method in this case right over here is actually a valid method. So in chapters 40 through 48 the prophet is focusing on the people of Israel. And accordingly we find that there are over 50 references to the word Israel and Jacob. The word Israel and Jacob appears over 50 times in Isaiah chapters 40 through 48. But in chapters 49 through 52 the chapters leading up to the suffering servant passage, the references to Israel and Jacob diminish considerably. There are less than 10 quote Israel and Jacob in those few passages. So this would seem to tell us that the prophet's focus is fading away from the people of Israel and he's directing our attention elsewhere. The problem is with Dr. Brown's interpretation, with Dr. Brown's application of this valid scriptural method is that the prophet has many other ways of referring to the people of Israel. The word Zion, Jerusalem, God's nation, the nation that has God's teaching in their heart, seekers of justice, seekers of God. These are just some of the nouns, some of the metaphors that the prophet uses to describe the people of Israel. There are certain pronouns that the prophet uses such as the female you or the plural we, the plural you, the plural them. That tells us that the prophet is talking about the people of Israel. And in chapters 49, Isaiah 49 through 52, those chapters that lead up to the suffering servant passage, the prophet uses over 150 nouns, metaphors and pronouns describing the people of Israel. So according to Dr. Brown's own scriptural interpretation, the prophet is not fading his attention away from the people of Israel. He is zooming in on the people of Israel. This is a textual indicator that the suffering servant is the people of Israel. Another textual indicator, a textual cue to tell us that the servant is the people of Israel. In the beginning of chapter 53, the arm of the Lord is revealed on behalf of the servant. Only a few verses earlier, the arm of the Lord is revealed on behalf of Israel. A straightforward reading of scripture tells us that this revelation of the arm of the Lord is one and the same. It's not two different revelations at the arm of the Lord. Yet another textual cue, a scriptural cue that tells us that the servant is Israel is because the prophet tells us that the way the kings of the nations hear and see the exaltation of the servant is because they hear the report. Who would have believed our report? Shemua Seino. So this is a report that goes to the ends of the earth informing the earth of the exaltation of the servant. In Isaiah chapter 48 verse 20, we learn exactly what report it is that goes to the ends of the earth. In chapter 48 verse 20, Isaiah tells us that the report that goes to the ends of the earth is that God redeemed his servant, Jacob. So there's another textual cue that tells us that the servant is Israel. Yet another textual cue that tells us that the servant is Israel. The last metaphor that the prophet uses right before Isaiah 53 to describe the people of Israel is bearers of the vessels of the Lord or armor bearers of the Lord. Which tells us that Israel plays an active role in God's plan for humanity and God's plan for the salvation of mankind. We are so to speak God's helpers. And Isaiah 53, the suffering servant is someone who has the purpose of God succeed through his hand. So we have these textual cues and quite a few other textual cues that tell us that the servant is Israel. The overwhelming weight of the textual indicators point to Israel. The Christian cannot argue with this national interpretation that the servant is Israel on the text on textual grounds. It's a theological problem that Christianity has with the interpretation that the servant is Israel. Because Christianity cannot imagine how Israel suffers for the sins of the world. This is a theological problem, not a textual problem. The interpretation that Christianity is proposing comes with a slew of its own theological problems which are far more serious. We're dealing with questions like idolatry, directing, worship. So there's no textual advantage, no theological advantage in the Christian interpretation. Besides, the prophet is telling us that we will not understand the theology of the suffering of the servant until the servant is actually exalted, which didn't happen yet. So I think it's unwise to base the whole theological construct on a theology that the prophet is telling us that we will not so easily understand. So what is the theological explanation of this passage? I will share it with you in the notes to this lecture, the notes to this presentation. And in fact in the notes to this presentation I go into many more details. I try to respond to every point that Dr. Brown raised in his previous presentation. I would like to get to one more point. Dr. Brown told us that the Jewish people do not accept the priestly role of the Messiah. This is untrue. Of course we accept the priestly role of the Messiah. After all, Messiah is the king of Israel and Israel is a priestly nation. Exodus 19.6 and Isaiah 61.6 tell us that Israel is a priestly nation. But how are we a priestly nation? How is the Messiah a priestly king? The priests are the repositories for God's truth. That's what the prophet Malachi says in chapter 2. The lips of the priests preserve knowledge, guard knowledge and teaching is sought from his mouth. And that's precisely the role that God assigned to the Jewish people. It's the knowledge of God. We are the nation that has God's Torah in our hearts. That's Isaiah 51. There are many other references in Scripture that tell us that we are the repository to God's knowledge. And the knowledge that we carry, the knowledge that our king carries, the Messiah carries, that is relevant to the nations is that all of your trust belongs to God. And all of your worship belongs to God, to the God that the Jewish people pray to. And when you put all of your trust in God and you will learn to bring all of your problems to God, all of your sins directly to God, you will learn to declare, just as our king declared before us, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. You will realize that you are missing nothing.