the dimension of prophecy

We have been surveying the prophet Isaiah in our Mini Bible College class on Sunday mornings.  It has been eye-opening to see how many precise predictions Isaiah made about events that were to happen anywhere from 100 years to 700 years after Isaiah's lifetime and beyond, even to the second coming of the Lord, which lies ahead of us!  Here's one passage from Isaiah, chapter 53:

⁴ Surely he took up our infirmities
       and carried our sorrows,
       yet we considered him stricken by God,
       smitten by him, and afflicted.

 ⁵ But he was pierced for our transgressions,
       he was crushed for our iniquities;
       the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
       and by his wounds we are healed.

 ⁶ We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
       each of us has turned to his own way;
       and the LORD has laid on him
       the iniquity of us all.

 

Those words could have been written by a reporter from "Christianity Today" assigned to cover Jesus' crucifixion rather than someone who lived 700 years before the event.

As I consider the impact of such accurate prophecy it occurs to me that the remarkable plan of God is confirmed and given great depth.  We shouldn't be surprised that this would happen.  After all, God is sovereign over time and events.  He knows what will happen before it does and He has a plan which is being worked out over the centuries that man walks the earth.  It is good to be shaken out of my narrow "here and now" approach to living and refocus on the one true God who holds history in His hands and the future in His plans.

 

blessings,

Rob Smith