Dear Refiner's Fire...

Hi. I am from Cuba and wanted you to know that all of you are in my heart and in my prayers every day. I have a comment about Isaiah 53 and that the Jews think this refers to Israel:

10 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief.

Did the Jewish people (including the men, women and children who died in the Holocaust) die for the sin of gentile nations? And was the LORD pleased to do this? Have the rabbis noted what are they saying?

When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed,

The Orthodox Jews say that YESHUA is not the Messiah because he had no descendants (he shall see his seed); but I ask, why don't they read the whole verse?

When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, (after he has been killed) he shall see his seed (He will have carnal children? Who can have children after his death?)....It seems to me that these children are spiritual, not carnal children, because is impossible for someone to have children after he has died.

12 Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong;

The rabbis are saying that this verse is about Israel. It seems to me that if this applies to Israel, this passage is saying the same thing that Hitler said to justify his criminal intentions: that the Jews (Israel, instead of MESSIAH) will rule the world. I'm wondering if the rabbis have truly noted what are they saying?

Regards, Pedro

Our Response....

Dear Pedro,

Thank you for writing to The Refiner's Fire! And thank you for your prayers. Trust me when I say we NEED them, as we get attacked by both, the Orthodox Jews and the Christians who think we are "under the law"!

Anyway, you've asked some great questions, and I will do my utmost to give you a proper response. I always have to chuckle to myself when I see people trying to disprove Yeshua by twisting New Testament Scripture and taking it out of context.

Reference Isaiah 53:12 - 12 Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong;

I don't know whether you've read my responses to basically the same question at Justin's Rebuttal, and also Question #3 at Challenging Shraga Simmons. But, Isaiah 53 can ONLY be about our Messiah!

Reference Isaiah 53:10 - You are perfectly right in saying that His "seed" is spiritual. His "seed"/offspring (as it is referred to in Stern's Complete Jewish Bible) are all those who have accepted Yeshua as Messiah and have "died" and been "born again" in Him. Yeshua had no physical descendants because He was a perfect Being and a virgin. He wasn't supposed to, nor did He NEED to have physical descendants because His purpose on earth was to teach us about God and how to live with each other in a Godly way, and then to become the final SIN sacrifice - not to marry and have physical offspring, which would have turned God into just another human being like everybody else. He was God Incarnate; not simply a weak, carnal being who required sex and offspring! (Matthew 4 gives us an idea about how hard Satan tried his best to appeal to Yeshua's human nature, but failed miserably!) Yeshua NEVER succumbed to sin of any kind....

The following Old Covenant prophecies were fulfilled in the New Covenant and prove that Yeshua alone COULD and DID fulfill the Messianic prophecies: