Isaiah 53:10 Meaning
Isaiah 53:10 The meaning, as normally understood, puts God in a rather bad light – He would kill His own Son! Shouldn’t we look for an understanding that is consistent with an ever-merciful God of infinite love?
Below is an excerpt from the book “Did God Kill Jesus Instead of Killing Us?” I am including this as it is a very good explanation (including historical evidence) by Kevin Mullins of https://lastmessageofmercy.com/ for a verse (Isaiah 53:10) which many understand to be indicating that God directly killed His Son.
You can also view my YouTube Short video here: (Coming soon)
Here is what Kevin wrote:
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It Pleased the LORD to Bruise Him
“Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.” (Isaiah 53:10)
Again, this should be interpreted as God giving Jesus over to be bruised by man. George Whitehead wrote:
“There are still those that reject and disesteem Christ, and that esteem him smitten or plagued of God, and even to have undergone the wrath and vengeance of his Father in their stead … Whereas, first, God had never any such wrath nor revenge, against his innocent Son, to execute upon him; nor will he so clear the guilty in their sins: It pleasing the Lord to bruise him, was neither in wrath, nor to take vengeance on him, nor yet actually or immediately by himself to bruise him, but permissively.” (George Whitehead, The Nature of Christianity, in the True Light Asserted: in Opposition to Anti-Christianism, Darkness, Confusion and Sin-pleasing Doctrines, 1833, p. 25)
And Samuel Whitman further explains:
“An objection no doubt will be raised, founded upon the fifty third chapter of Isaiah, the ninth and tenth verses. ‘He had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief.’ It is asserted, you say, by the prophet, that it pleased the Lord to bruise his well beloved Son. Answer; and it is equally true, that God said, that the serpent [Satan] should bruise him [Genesis 3:15; Revelation 12:9]. From this, it is evident, that in whatever sense the hand of God might be concerned in the event, it was not from his immediate hand, but by the power of Satan through divine permission.” (Samuel Whitman, A Key to the Bible Doctrine of Atonement and Justification, 1814, pp. 298, 299)
Although the Hebrew word חָפֵ ץ (chaphets) can mean “to be pleased” or “delighted”, it also carries the meaning of “to incline” or “bending down.” Here’s what Strong’s Concordance says:
A primitive root; properly, to incline to; by implication (literally but rarely) to bend; figuratively, to be pleased with, desire — X any at all, (have, take) delight, desire, favour, like, move, be (well) pleased, have pleasure, will, would.
This meaning of “to incline” or “to bend” is intended to communicate that God was willing or allowing this bruising to go on. The International Standard Version has it: “Yet the LORD was willing to crush Him …” Again, the true meaning here is that God was willing or allowing this crushing or bruising to take place by fallen man, not that God was directly killing His Son.
But why is He pleased or willing to do this? The answer is in the phrase, “He shall see His seed.” He is pleased or willing to have Him suffer because He knows the results of what this will accomplish. Justice appeased? No! Christ will see His seed, or His spiritual offspring. His life and death will draw people to the Father:
“And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.” (John 12:32)
“… God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.” (2 Corinthians 5:19)
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There is more detail to explain Isaiah 53:10 in Kevin’s book which also includes quotations from spiritual authors showing that many actually do believe that God killed Jesus.
Thank you, Kevin, for that very good explanation showing that God did not desire or require the death of His Son.
Return to the list of Biblical events.
November 5, 2024 @ 9:29 am
What an awesome God we serve! …that He spared not His own Son “, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? ” Romans 8:32
“Giving him up”,
separation from God brings destruction/bruising/wounding
November 8, 2024 @ 3:09 am
An awareness and understanding of what has been termed the “Hebrew idiom of permission” is vital in correctly understanding Hebrew and Greek scripture. The overwhelming majority of translators do not appear to have been aware of this pervasive idiom.
For those who are familiar with Seventh Day Adventist church, it is notable that an official 1986 document* by this denomination notes the importance of taking the idiom of permission into account when interpreting scripture. However, while this denomination makes reference to this in their documentation, unfortunately this has not yet translated into widespread practice within that denomination.
* Section 4 subpoint p: Methods of Bible Study viewable at https://www.adventistbiblicalresearch.org/materials/methods-of-bible-study/
November 8, 2024 @ 3:31 am
A further key point that is vital to keep in mind when interpreting scripture is that God is attempting to help us understand His ways that are “higher” and therefore beyond what we are familiar with. Yet, at the same time, we can only understand what we are familiar with. This is why God is often anthropomorphised in human terms – not as a statement of equivalence, but as a starting point for then considering carefully how God’s form of certain attributes might be differently occurring. God’s “wrath” is but one example of such.
With regard to God being “pleased”, within scripture this is yet another anthropomorphic expression and one that always refers to activities and dynamics occurring that are in harmony with God’s core attribute of beneficence – advancing the authentic best interests of all created beings. Thus, the things which are needed to bring about the actual redemption of the human race – which also co-necessitates the restoration of each and every individual member of the human race who is willing to participate in redemption-restoration.
Thus, God, along with Jesus and the Holy Spirit, was ‘pleased’ to undertake all that was needed in order to bring about that actual redemption-restoration – namely, Jesus authentically becoming humanity’s ‘Second Adam’ who, unlike the first Adam, successfully resisted every temptation to depart from absolute allegiance to the vital principle of beneficence (as per Romans 5:19). Scripture describes this as Jesus being ‘obedient’ even unto death on a cross (Philippians 2:8) – hence the inherent bruising and crushing in so doing.