Jesus, The One Foretold

Isa 53:10, “Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days.”
53:12, “Because he poured out his life unto death and was numbered with the transgressors.”

Up until the first century AD, Jewish scholars taught this verse referred to Messiah. Then the Christians took it up to show how Jesus fulfilled these prophecies. (Subsequent to this, the Jewish scholars no longer think this refers to Messiah but rather to Israel in general.) Isaiah would have had in his mind what he was writing when he wrote about the “Guilt Offering”. It was standard knowledge:

Lev 5:14, “[the sinner] is to bring to the Lord as a penalty a ram from the flock, one without defect… it is a guilt offering.”

The connection goes deeper. In Genesis, God tested Abraham and told him to sacrifice Isaac, his “son, his only son” (God uses this reference three times) on mount Moriah. Moriah is a hill near of modern Jerusalem.

Gen 22:7-8, “[Isaac said] the fire and the wood are here, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering.”

God stopped Abraham as he was about to strike down Isaac. God said to him:

Gen 22:12 “I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.” Abraham looked up and there in the thicket he saw a ram caught by its horn.

Is it possible that Abraham sacrificed the ram (the first guilt offering) on the same mountain as Jesus was crucified (the true Guilt Offering)? Whether it was the same mountain or not, the connection is undeniable. Abraham knew God would either raise Isaac from the dead or provide another sacrifice. God looked through time and saw two sacrifices and was no doubt making a statement. “I will not allow you to sacrifice your son here but I will sacrifice mine, I will provide the Guilt Offering.”

Gen 22:14, “So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”