Messianic Prophecies 1 worksheet

The Suffering and Exaltation of the Messiah

MP1.jpg

Old Testament prophecies

The passage of Isaiah 52:13 through 53:12 (NIV) is the most well-known passages of the Old Testament, pointing to Jesus. However, most Jews who rejected Jesus as their promissed Messiah avoid reading and teaching this passage.

In the NIV translation we read:

13See, my servant will act wisely; he will be

and lifted up and highly exalted. 14Just as there were many who were appalled at him—his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being and his form marred beyond human likeness— 15so he will sprinkle many nations, and kings will shut their mouths because of him. For what they were not told, they will see, and what they have not heard, they will understand.

1Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? 2He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. 3He was

and by mankind, a man of , and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. 4Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. 5But he was for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and we are healed. 6We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. 7He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. 8By oppression and judgment he was taken away. Yet who of his generation protested? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was punished. 9He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth. 10Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life , he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand. 11After he has suffered, he will see the and be satisfied; by his knowledge my servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities. 12Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.


Q1 This prohecy was inspired by God and written down by the Prophet Isaiah in about 700 BC. Why do you think the text was written in the past tense?


Q2 In 53:8 we read that he was cut off from the land of the living. What does that mean?


Q3 Read again 53:10. What means “his offspring”? And what means “prolong his days”?


Q4 In 53:11 we read that He would see the light of life. What is this predicting?


Q5 Below you see again the prophetic timeline, with 5 dispensations.
dispensations.pngIn which dispensation did Isaiah prophecy this prophecy?


New Testament fulfillments

1 Peter 2:22-25 (NIV) says:
22“He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in

.” 23When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. 24“He himself ” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his you have been healed.” 25For “you were like sheep going astray,” but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
Q7 Describe in the blue box below, in your own words the fulfillments mentioned in this passage. In which dispensation?

Romans 5:6-8 (NIV) says:
6You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still

, Christ for us.
Q8 Describe in the blue box below, in your own words the fulfillments mentioned in this passage. In which dispensation?

Philippians 2:6-11 (NIV) says:
6Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; 7rather, he made himself

by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross! 9Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Q9 Describe in the blue box below, in your own words the fulfillments mentioned in this passage. In which dispensation?


Q10 Where do you see exaltation in both prophecy and fulfillment? Who exalted whom? And for which reason?


Q11 Is there any prophecy from the Isaiah passage that still needs to be fulfilled?