Fulfilled prophecies are powerful arguments for the inspiration of the Bible. It is impossible to conceive how the prophecies of the Old Testament could have been fulfilled apart from Divine guidance controlling the hands of the authors as well as controlling the events of history. Isaiah was one of the prophets that spoke frequently and vividly of Messiah and His work. Read on!
“Behold! My Servant whom I have chosen, My Beloved in whom My soul is well pleased! I will put My Spirit upon Him, And He will declare justice to the Gentiles. He will not quarrel nor cry out, Nor will anyone hear His voice in the streets. A bruised reed He will not break, And smoking flax He will not quench, Till He sends forth justice to victory; And in His name Gentiles will trust.” (Isaiah 41.1-4 as quoted in Matthew 12.18-21). Our comments will of necessity be short but pointed.
The Gentiles had no Savior; the Jews were, for the most part, an arrogant people who reveled in being God’s “favorites” while relegating the Gentiles to a demeaned position as an inferior race. This was not God’s plan! His plan was, rather, to save both Jew and Gentile by means of the Messiah whose birth, life, and work were foretold in the Old Testament. The Isaiah text clearly describes His work among the Gentiles in declaring justice as well as their response, i.e. “…in His name Gentiles will trust.”
Jesus was not a revolutionary (i.e. He did incite others to rebel against authority in order to get their way), but He had revolutionary ideas and goals. Notice how Isaiah spoke of His demeanor: “He will not quarrel nor cry out, Nor will anyone hear His voice in the streets. A bruised reed He will not break, And smoking flax He will not quench.” In our verbiage, it was the intention of Jesus to keep a low profile and just go about doing His Father’s business.
Yet, once His fame was spread abroad, this became more and more difficult. The passage in Matthew 12 is an example of just how difficult this became. Mark adds details to Matthew’s account that point out even more clearly the plight Jesus faced in this quest. The Pharisees saw Jesus heal the man with the withered hand and sought to destroy Him. Jesus knowing their designs withdrew with His disciples to the sea (see Mark 3.7). But, they were far from being alone. Huge multitudes followed them there; people from Galilee, Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, beyond the Jordan, as well as those from Tyre and Sidon (see Mark 3.8). The fact that Matthew cited one of Isaiah’s prophecies that mention Jesus’ work among the Gentiles is highly significant. Without a doubt, the crowds which followed Jesus on some occasions were mixed Jews and Gentiles. This was the case here and His actions among the mixed multitude are particularly noteworthy.
Read Matthew’s account: “…great multitudes followed Him [to the sea], and He healed them all. Yet He warned them not to make Him known, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah…” If the words of Matthew are to mean anything, they state that Jesus made no distinction between the Jews and Gentiles and healed any and all who had need of His miraculous touch! Having done so, He was forced to warn them to keep the events quiet else He could not fulfill the predicted quiet and unassuming demeanor which had been prophesied.
Like tiny and indiscriminate details of a 10,000 piece jigsaw puzzle, the pieces of biblical prophecy come together in Jesus. He declared justice to the Gentiles and they believed on Him! That is a miracle at which we can still marvel. It is also a miracle to which we owe our Christian heritage!
Questions:
1. What plan did God have for the Jews as regards salvation from sin? How about the Gentiles? What was the difference, if any, between the plan for the Jews and the plan for the Gentiles.
2. According to Matthew, how many of the multitude did Jesus heal? Read it again? How many did He heal? How does this differ from the would-be healers of today?
3. Why did Jesus find it necessary to warn the multitudes not to make His miraculous deeds known?
4. As Gentiles, how significant is the fact that He came to save both Jew and Gentile? Do you think that believers should be careful not to appear arrogant to the unsaved? Why or why not?