Finding Jesus the Messiah in Isaiah 53 with Mottel Baleston

Key Verse: Isaiah 53:4-6 Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; but the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him.

Explanation: This passage—let alone the entirety of this chapter in Isaiah—is so clear in its prophetic reference to Jesus Christ, that Jews are discouraged from reading it for themselves. Those who do suspect that Christians have somehow altered the original text to insert unmistakable prophecies pointing to the Christian Messiah.

Obviously, this text is original to Isaiah, as Mottel came to understand. Christian editors, following their habit, have inserted a thematic title to this chapter (or sometimes inserted just prior to 52:13). The title they typically employ? “The Suffering Servant.”

Jewish expectations focused on the glorious prophetic images of a messiah who would come to reign, restoring Israel to prominence in the world and sweeping away evildoers. Their traditions came to teach that the various prophecies pointed to two (or more) messiahs: Messiah ben Joseph and Messiah ben David. The “ben Joseph” messiah would be meek and humble, fulfilling passages like Zechariah 9:9-10. The king Zechariah describes in those verses brings salvation but is “humble, and mounted on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”

Then in 14:2-4and 8-9, Zechariah’s description shifts to a warrior king who is anything but meek and humble. He “will go forth and fight against [the nations gathered against Jerusalem]” defeating all His enemies in an epic battle and then reigning as “king over all the earth; in that day the Lord will be the only one, and His name the only one.”

Other passages deepen the mystery. Micah 5:2 describes the Messiah as being born in Bethlehem, while Daniel 7:13 says that “one like a Son of Man” will come with the clouds of heaven. Isaiah 9 describes the Messiah emerging from the land of Naphtali (around the Sea of Galilee) and ruling as a mighty king forevermore, while chapter 53 describes a much different messiah.

Two messiahs? Or one Messiah who came once and is coming again?

Clearly, the message of the Gospel is contained in Isaiah 53. Jesus did come—humbly and bringing salvation. He exemplified servanthood—stooping low to wash His disciples’ feet. And He did suffer and die. He was “cut off” and assigned a rich man’s borrowed grave. In His suffering, He was afflicted by God for our transgressions.

The beautiful message of Isaiah is not merely an ancient myth hidden away in clay pots in a desolate desert. It is the power of God manifested in the person of Jesus Christ.

Key Verse: Isaiah 61:1-2 The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives and freedom to prisoners; to proclaim the favorable year of the LORD and the day of vengeance of our God…

Explanation: When Jesus stood in the synagogue at Nazareth to launch His public ministry, He chose to read from this passage. Many people know that observant Jews read a weekly portion of Scripture. It is called the Parashat HaShavua or “parashah” (sometimes called “Sedra”) and represents a portion of the Torah—the first five books of the Old Testament. That portion would have been read prior to Jesus’ teaching that Sabbath day. After the parashah, a rabbi would be allowed to choose a reading from one of the prophetic books. Called the “haftarah,” this passage could be interspersed with commentary.

Following this custom, Jesus chose to read Isaiah 61:1-2a, as recorded in Luke 4:17-19. He stopped midsentence in the passage from Isaiah, closed the book, and sat down. His next words are described by Luke as well-spoken and gracious. He said, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:20-22).

Jesus said that the promises for blessing and graciousness, for liberty and freedom, and for the favorable year of the Lord were fulfilled that day. His entire ministry is encapsulated in that prophetic passage, which is why He could reassure John in Matthew 11:4-5 and Luke 7:22 that He was fulfilling what Isaiah had prophesied.

But He pointedly stopped reading halfway through what we call verse 2 in Isaiah 61. The next portion foretells “the day of vengeance of our God.” So, while Jesus—the humble, gracious, and suffering servant described in Isaiah 53—came to bring salvation to the downtrodden, He is coming again to pour out the wrath of God on all who reject His salvation.

Within these 2 verses in Isaiah 61 is the foreshadowing of Jesus’ ministry following His first Advent and His glorious second coming when He returns to reign with a rod of iron.

Grace or wrath. Those words represent Jesus first and second appearing. They also represent the options facing every person who will ever live. If you reject Jesus as Messiah—even if you choose not to decide—your choice will lead to eternal separation from God in the fires of Hell. But if you choose wisely, you will live forever with our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Tim Moore: Today we’ll hear from an expert in Hebrew who realizes how significant Isaiah is to Gentiles and to Jews. He is a passionate advocate of the Word of God and the Jewish Messiah all of God’s Word points to. Messianic Rabbi, Mottel Baleston is a Bible teacher who instructs using the Hebrew background of the Bible. He was born into a Jewish home in New York and came to faith in Messiah, Jesus over 30 years ago. He is engaged with Jewish and Gentile skeptics in a winsome and Christ honoring manner. Mottel, I’m so glad you could join us today.

Mottel Baleston: Fellas, I’m really glad to be here and to be able to join your audience as we hold up the Word of God. And as we recognize that throughout the Hebrew Scriptures, the Jewish Scriptures, the Old Testament, Messiah Jesus is seen.

Tim Moore: Well, tell us Mottel how you came to know Jesus, Yeshua as the Jewish Messiah. And tells us why your own theme verse, I love this, as indicated on your e-mail signature block is Isaiah 62:1.

Mottel Baleston: Well, I was born into a traditional Jewish home in New York City, in the holy land of Brooklyn, New York. And all four of my grandparents came from Traditional Orthodox homes in Eastern Europe all of them immigrated to this country around 1910. And as a result, I was brought up with a lot of Yiddishkeit, a lot of Jewish flavor. One of the things that you are told as a young child is that you stay away from Christianity, because the experience of my grandparents was nothing but violent persecution. But I was resolved that I wanted to understand what was so Jewish about Jesus. And so, I simply turned to the first page, I went to the public library in Brooklyn, turned to the first page of this forbidden book, this New Testament. And on the very first verse where I had been told it was anti-Semitism, it was hatred, this is what I found in Matthew 1:1, “This is the book of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham.”

And so, as you continue to read, you are reading a Jewish story, of a Jewish boy born into a Jewish home, who one day walks into a synagogue where He had been brought up and announced that He was the long awaited Messiah. I was finally able to find someone who was able to explain these things to me, showing them to me both in the English translation and the Hebrew Scriptures, and clearly there was no doubt that if Jesus was not that promised Messiah, there would never be a Messiah. And so, over 30 years ago, as a young man I placed my faith in Jesus as my Messiah, my Jewish Messiah, as my Savior. And was involved in the dental industry at that time, and very quickly the Lord moved us into full-time ministry. My wife is also a Jewish believer in Jesus, and we’ve had a very effective ministry here in the Northeast for over 25 years.

Tim Moore: Certainly have.

Nathan Jones: Wow, praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Well, we are in the book of Isaiah and Isaiah is one of the best books of the Bible for having Christophanies, typologies, everything that points to Jesus, but prophecies made 700 years before Jesus was actually born. Can you give us a few of your favorite prophecies?

Mottel Baleston: Well, you know Isaiah is rich in those passages that speak of Mashiach, which is the Hebrew word for Messiah. And throughout the book, hope is held out. Our Jewish people were facing a very difficult time, as the book of Isaiah is being written, but God wants to hold out hope that a better day is coming.

So, for instance in Isaiah chapter 7, verse 14 it is a very controversial passage and one that is disputed by the mainstream Jewish community. “Behold the virgin shall be with child and will bear a Son.” If you talk to mainstream Rabbis they will say that only had application in the day of Hezekiah. But that actually ignores the Hebrew of the text. When you go into the Hebrew there is a very jarring change from the singular, where the generation of Hezekiah is being spoke to, versus a future application that is the hope of Israel. And so, when the promise that a Messiah is coming is given, “behold the virgin,” “alma,” “will be with child,” it is in the plural, it is a message to the entire house of Israel. So, it moves from the immediate context, historically, and it moves to the future. And if people understood that from the Hebrew text, when you only read it from the English it can be ambiguous, but in the Hebrew actually the Messianic implication is even stronger. And so, Isaiah 7:14 prophesized the virgin birth, and there’s really no question about that when you honestly look at the original Hebrew of the text.

Tim Moore: Well, Mottel we continually grapple with the reluctance of many Jewish people to embrace what they perceive of as a Christian Messiah, in other words, as you were warned even as a child. And we recognize, regrettably that many Christians have demonstrated a great Antisemitism over the years, and throughout the ages, but what explains this continuing resistance to even read the passages that clearly point to the Jewish Messiah?

Mottel Baleston: Oftentimes it is the result of the behavior of large institutional churches that have wandered far from the Word of God. You know when Jewish people actually open up the book of Matthew and start reading there is nothing objectional there. Again, this is a Jewish story which takes place in the Jewish providence of Judea among Jewish people. It’s only the Medieval Church History, which was fraught with Antisemitism.

So, for instance if Jewish people simply go and read a passage like Isaiah 9, where it says, “Onto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given, and these shall be His attributes Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.” When you simply read that passage isolated, when you look at these titles that a child, a baby, a Jewish baby is going to be born, but yet these are going to be His attributes. Well invariably it causes you think of the deity claims; divine claims of Jesus not only being Messiah, but of being God. And so, once again here in Isaiah chapter 9, verse 6, once you examine the Hebrew it is indisputable that the Messiah will have all of the attributes of deity. And so, to answer your question when you actually look at the Bible passages apart from the horrible history of violent Antisemitism, that many of the institutional apostate churches have engaged in. When you just simply look at the Scripture portions they are all pointing to the idea of Yeshua, of Jesus being the long promised Messiah.

Tim Moore: Certainly.

Nathan Jones: Excellent. Well, brother I am from the other side of the river I used to live in Philadelphia, and I had many Jewish friends, both Jewish and Messianic Jews. And they always were training us how, when I was back in Bible college there at Philadelphia Biblical University, how to witness to Jews. So, I went to your website which is: messiahnj.org, which I assume New Jersey, .org and saw that you have the Jewish way back to God. Can you share how can we as Gentiles witness to Jewish people?

Mottel Baleston: Well, you know oftentimes people have talked about the Romans Road, and that is fine, but Jewish people don’t have Romans in their Bible; there is no New Testament in their Bible. And so, on that page: messiahnj.org, there is a simple pathway through Isaiah that demonstrates a key principle that is in dispute in the Jewish community and that is: Are people naturally sinful and in need of a Savior? That is a big divide between the mainstream Jewish community and biblical faith. Biblical faith clearly shows us that we are sinners by birth, and by choice and we need a Savior. Judaism today is divided on this issue, it really is. Liberal Judaism, Reformed Judaism would say, “No, mankind is inherently good and just need to get gooder,” to use a phrase, that is their view. But when you really talk to the Orthodox they understand that people have this sinful nature, and they need atonement of some sort. So, what is in question is the nature of that atonement.

So, in attempting to have a person who is from a non-Jewish background. Let me give you a quick example of a lady who happens to be in Texas. I have a good friend in Texas by the name of Jackie and she is from a Gentile background. But she has made it her business there in Central Texas to befriend the significant Jewish community in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. She extends friendship to them. Real friendship that is not dependent upon whether they agree with her or not. Over the years so many people in the Jewish community have seen her sincerity, her love for Israel, and her backing of Jewish causes, that she has earned the right to share her faith. She’s not seen any longer as an outsider, she is seen as an insider to the Jewish community and they fully understand she is a Born Again Evangelical Christian, with a love for Israel. And that has earned her incredible opportunities to share Messiah, Yeshua with her friends. And that is really the pathway that we need to start on, genuine, unconditional friendship regardless of what their immediate response will be, because typically for Jewish people it is going to take them awhile to warm up to the idea that this Jesus of Christendom, supposedly that which has persecuted the Jewish people, is actually the Messiah that they have been waiting for.

Tim Moore: You could almost say genuine unconditional love is what we are expressing and showing the love of Christ. Well, Mottel one more question about Antisemitism. We’ve seen a precipitous rise in Antisemitism around the world. You know several generations ago the world recoiled in horror at some of the atrocities of the Nazis regime in Germany, the Soviet Union, but of late even here in the United States we’ve seen our own government deny the reality of attacks that are targeting Jewish people, how do you respond?

Mottel Baleston: You know Antisemitism is increasing across the world and that has been delineated and documented by many independent agencies. That is not us complaining, that is not a figment of our imagination. But as Bible believers that doesn’t surprise us because we are in the last days. One of the things that is most disturbing of all of this is the extent in which some Evangelical Believers seem to entertain false conspiratorial theories about the Jewish people. If you go online you will find all sorts of videos made by believers who have an Antisemitic racist sort of twist to them against the Jewish people. They’ll talk about the Talmud and they’ll pull verses out of context, and they’ll use that as justification for what is nothing more than a racist bigoted attitude. These videos are false. They start out with prejudice; they start out with Antisemitism and they go looking for verses to pull out of context.

If you look at all of the verses of what the New Testament says about the Jewish people, if you look at Romans 11 you see of God’s unconditional love for Israel, and He actually warns Gentile believers in Romans 11 against harboring any sort of Antisemitism. So, this needs to start among believers. We need to excise out all evidence of this racial bigotry and recognize that while Jewish people are called the Chosen People, that does not grant them individual salvation. And here is a very important point: we want to love the Jewish people, but ultimately it is not love for them if we withhold from them the only thing that saves which is the name of Messiah, Yeshua. So, ultimately true love is first expressed in unconditional friendship, but then it is expressed in sharing with them the Good News of the arrival of Yeshua the Messiah. In a way that is sensitive, in a way that understands the background and understands the history but truly wants to see them come into a relationship, not with a foreign religion, but with their own God.

Tim Moore: Amen.

Nathan Jones: Amen. And so many prophecies seem to point to the fact that one day the Jewish people, a remnant is going to be saved and exalted. And it’s interesting when God talks about these prophecies He uses what is called proleptic statements, He gives a prophecy about the future but He says it in kind of a past tense like Zechariah 12:10, “…look on Me whom they pierced.” Now, that is a prophecy hundreds of years before Jesus was even crucified. Why does God speak about future prophecy as if it is already done?

Mottel Baleston: Well, fancy theologians would say that is a case of what is called past-perfect, where something is so sure that it is going to be done that God speaks of it in the past tense. And that’s the case certainly there in Zechariah, “…they will look upon Me whom they have pierced.” Interesting though in Isaiah 53 you have a similar sort of example except what that passage is doing is it is recording the future words of the Jewish nation when they finally recognize Jesus, Yeshua as the Messiah because they say in astonishment, they look up to heaven and they say, “Who would have believed this? To whom was this revealed? He grew up in before us as a nothing, He was a shot out of dry ground. We looked upon Him to be the stricken one, smitten of God and afflicted, but He was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities.”

So, the Isaiah 53 passage is actually recording the words of a future nation of Israel when they come to recognize at the end of the Tribulation, when they come to recognize that Yeshua is the Messiah. And that is when that Isaiah 53 passage and the Zechariah passage come together, “they will look upon Him whom they have pierced,” they will accept Him, they will mourn for Him. And that is another portion of Isaiah it says, “Can a nation be born in a day?” That’s when the nation is born in a day, and that is when we see the fulfillment of Isaiah 11 when it says, “all Israel will be saved,” that is a reference to ethnic Israel at the end of the Tribulation coming to recognize Yeshua as Messiah.

Tim Moore: Well, Mottel speaking of that end of Tribulation and the things that are to come, Isaiah served the Lord in an era when Israel and Judah their situation was very dire and getting worse, almost like today if you want to look around at the world. And so many people right now focus on the gloom that we see evidence of, and yet we know that light has already pierced the darkness, and that we have a Blessed Hope. So, what are some of the signs that you can discern that indicate we are living in the season of the Lord’s return?

Mottel Baleston: You know if you would have 150 years ago, if you pointed to all of these passages as indicating a future re-establishment of Israel people would have mocked you, scientists would have said, “No, no the Jews are very happy in Europe.” In 1890 when you looked around Europe Jews were making advances in Prague, in Berlin, in Budapest, in all of these cities Jews were entering government, they were doctors, they were university professors.

Well, fast forward to 1945 Europe lay in ruins, six million of our Jewish people had been murdered in the Holocaust, and people were trying to get to Israel as fast as they could. So, all those people, all the Amillennial people, the people who don’t believe in a literal understanding of the Bible dismissed Bible prophecy back in the 1890s and they were going toward sort of an allegorical interpretation. But the reality train came down the tracks and hit them and they realized that God’s prophecies are yea, and amen. And so, to answer your question the very establishment of the state of Israel, and the fact that we actual have a functioning Jewish government in Israel today is one of the pre-requisites that are needed for the events of the last days to occur.

And brothers, that is where we are right now. We can cast our eyes toward Israel, and we see the literally working out of the beginnings of prophecy. Now, the Israel of today is not the Israel of the Messianic Kingdom, we don’t make that mistake, and that is a mistake that is made in some extreme circles. No, we recognize that they are gathered together just as the Lord had said. But there will be many events, dramatic events during the Tribulation, but a day is coming when all of Israel will be saved. It is still yet future, and this is not the current “Medinat Yisrael,” the current state of Israel, but the future Israel will come out of that.

Tim Moore: Amen.

Nathan Jones: Amen. And do you see any other Messianic foreshadowing’s in the book of Isaiah?

Mottel Baleston: Well, one of the interesting things for your audience to do is take a look at the break between Isaiah chapter 39 and chapter 40. From chapter 1-39 there is a lot of gloom and doom, but yet there are these highlights of Messianic hope. But all of a sudden in chapter 40 it says, “na·ḥă·mū, na·ḥă·mū” in Hebrew; comfort, comfort ye My people. Say to them that their iniquity is forgiven, that a day is coming.” And as you read on you see all of those concepts, that the Messianic hope from Isaiah 40 onward is expressed very clearly.

Isaiah 49 you have a marvelous passage that talks about Jew and Gentile being together as one. They don’t lose the distinction of being either Jewish or Gentile, people after coming to faith remain either Jewish or Gentile, but the body is brought together as one body. And that’s prophesied in Isaiah chapter 49:5-6, it’s a miraculous passage. Many believers, many who even fancy themselves to be Bible scholars are simply unaware of.

So, you have passages like that. Of course, the Isaiah 53 passage. And there are the other passage that you mentioned that I use as a theme verse, which is Isaiah chapter 62, verse 1 which says, “For Zion’s sake I will not keep quiet. For the sake of Israel, I will not keep silent, until her righteousness goes forth like brightness, and her salvation like a torch that is burning.” That is a passage that looks forward to the ultimate salvation of Israel. God is drawing people out from Israel; He is drawing them to faith. So, while His relationship with Israel today is based on the Abrahamic Covenant it doesn’t grant individual salvation. Individual Jewish people, just like anyone else, need to come to an individual embrace of the fact that Messiah, Jesus is the only atonement available to us today. The Isaiah 62:1 passage looks forward to a time when the salvation of Israel will be upon us.

Tim Moore: Amen, Mottel you are so articulate in pointing out the Jewishness of our Jewish Messiah, but how that blessing is for all peoples, Jew and Gentile. And so, we look forward to the day when ten Gentile men will grab the cloak of every Jew and say, “Let us go with you for we have heard that God is with you.” And we praise the Lord that He certainly is with you and that you are serving Him faithfully. How can our viewers connect to your ministry and continue to appreciate just the depth of wisdom that you are sharing?

Mottel Baleston: We have a growing list of articles on the website: messiahnj.org. But probably that fastest and the most popular way these days is just simply through YouTube. If you put my name into the YouTube search bar there are many Bible teaching videos, that some I’ve made independently, some with good partners like Lamb & Lion and so, we want to get those out. And I’ll tell you very frankly what’s happened is we have Gentile believers who share my testimony video with Jewish friends, and they’ll say, “I want you to take a look at this fella. This fella has four Jewish grandparents. He was born in Brooklyn into a Jewish home. This is his story.”

The one that went viral, the version of my testimony that went viral is six minutes. It was very dramatically produced by some believers in Israel. They’ve got fancy music. It takes six minutes. After those six minutes, it is impossible for a Jewish friend or neighbor to say, “Jews don’t believe in Jesus.”

Tim Moore: Well, Mottel you have certainly come to us today in the name of Yeshua, our Blessed Lord, so we are grateful for Him pouring blessing through you. Many blessings be on you, Brother.

Mottel Baleston: Thank you. Thank you, Nathan and Tim.

Tim Moore: Godspeed.

Closing

Tim Moore: What a blessing it was to connect with Mottel Baleston. His passion for the Messiah as a Jew sparks great joy in us.

Nathan Jones: As Gentile believers of Jesus Christ, we are thrilled that more and more Jews are embracing Yeshua Hamashiach—our Jewish Messiah.

Tim Moore: The title of this episode focusing on Isaiah is “Pointing to the Messiah”. In addition to the passages we’ve discussed today, Isaiah’s description of the suffering servant in chapter 53 is so clear and compelling in pointing to Jesus that Orthodox Jewish rabbis ignore it altogether—and liberal theologians falsely claim that it was written after Jesus suffered and died.

Nathan Jones: Sort of like replacement theologians who want to ignore God’s continuing promises to the Jewish people in Romans 9-11.

Tim Moore: Right. We’ll return to Isaiah next week. For now, read chapters 53 and 61 and let the Holy Spirit reveal Jesus in those Old Testament passages. Until then, I’m Tim Moore.

Nathan Jones: And I’m Nathan Jones, saying, Look up and be watchful, for the Lamb of God who was pierced for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities is drawing near!

End of Program