Preaching in the synagogue in Antioch of Pisidia, Paul quoted three passages, proving from the Old Testament that the Messiah must rise from the dead and be made immortal (Acts 13:32-37). His quotations from Psalm 2 and 16 are readily seen to prove the point. His quote from Isaiah 55:3, however, seems obscure: “And as for the fact that he raised him up from the dead, no more to return to decay, He has spoken in this way, ‘I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David” (v.34).
Paul helps with Isaiah
Reading Isaiah 55:3 without Paul’s help, we might not see in it a promise concerning the Messiah. On Paul’s inspired authority, however, we need to examine the passage in this light.
The “holy and sure blessings of David” (“the sure mercies of David” KJV) are clearly a reference to the everlasting covenant God made with David (II Sam. 7:10-16, noting especially verse 15 which uses the same word for “mercy”). The covenant promised that the great seed would reign on David’s throne “forever.” This word, “forever,” indicates that the coming king would reign in the “power of an indestructible life” (Heb. 7:16). In other words, he would be “raised up from the dead, no more to return to decay.” Here is why Paul would see a promise of incorruption in the “sure mercies of David.”
Furthermore, Paul’s quote of Isaiah 55:3 teaches that the offer of the Davidic covenant was not to mankind in general, but to Christ in particular. Upon close examination, we see there is a change in who is addressed between verses two and three. “Ho! everyone who thirsts, come to the waters…why do you spend…your wages for what does not satisfy” (vs. 1-2). This is the condition of mankind in general but was never true of the Messiah. These words were thus not addressed to the Christ.
In verse 3, God speaks to the Christ: “Incline your ear and come to me, listen that your soul may live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the faithful mercies shown to David.” The change is confirmed by verse 4 which begins, “Behold, I have made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander for the peoples.” Who is the “him” that is made “leader and commander?” It is the Christ who was addressed in verse 3.
Quick switches common
It is not out of character for the text to have such unnotified changes in the one addressed. The same thing happens between verses 4 and 5. In verse 4, God speaks to man at large again but then turns to speak directly to Christ in verse 5: “Behold, you will call a nation you do not know, and a nation which knows you not will run to you…for He has glorified you.”
The last phrase, “for He has glorified you,” fits very well with Paul’s interpretation of verse 3. In verse 3, God offers Jesus the resurrection, to corrupt no more and verse 5 speaks of the glorification being accomplished.
Messiah needed salvation
Without the inspired pointers, we could have difficulty applying verse 3 to Messiah as it urges, “Listen, that you may live.” Some 1900 years after his glorification, we are not used to thinking of Jesus in the position of needing salvation. Upon reflection, however, we must conclude, even without Paul’s guidance on this passage, that God would have to make such an offer to Jesus at some point in his early life.
Jesus was not the second person of a trinity and did not pre-exist as an angel before he was born. Upon his birth, as with any other child, he needed to grow and increase in wisdom (Lk. 2:40,52). The gospel needed to be presented to him when he was old enough to comprehend it. In addition, Jesus was not a robot who automatically fulfilled the purpose that God had for him. He had to hear the word and choose, of his own freewill, to serve God and patiently trust in the covenant.
Being so familiar with the accomplished fact of Jesus’ perfect obedience and glorification, we often forget that there was a moment in time in Jesus’ early life when he first heard the gospel message and made that choice to walk in the narrow and difficult path to life. This choice would then have to be reinforced on a daily basis as he continually had the opportunity to walk after his own way.
Prophetically, this is explained in Isaiah 50:4-5: “The Lord GOD has given me the tongue of disciples…He awakens me morning by morning, He awakens my ear to listen as a disciple. The Lord GOD has opened my ear; and I was not disobedient, nor did I turn back.”
An early decision
It is worthwhile to consider the child Jesus making the choice to serve his Father after hearing the gospel. We do not know at what age this occurred, but we do know that it was very early. By the age of 12, he had already absorbed much divine instruction (Lk. 2:41-52). It appears from the passage just quoted from Isaiah 50 and from Psalm 22 that his instruction must have begun at the earliest possible age through his parents and probably angels. “Thou didst make me trust when upon my mother’s breasts” (Psa. 22:9-10). It was not unusual in those days for a mother to breast feed her child until the age of three or even older. This Messianic Psalm reveals that Jesus was being taught even as a suckling infant.
When Jesus reached this age of comprehension, he found himself under racial condemnation, as is any other son of Adam. He was “born of a woman” and was under “the dominion of death” (Gal. 4:4; Rom. 6:9). He found himself in need of salvation. He needed to be “saved from death” (Heb. 5:7). God met this need with the offer of eternal life through the everlasting covenant: “Incline your ear and come unto me; listen that your soul may live. And I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.” Considered in this light, we can see how appropriately Isaiah 55:3 applies to our Lord.
The same point in Hebrews
Hebrews 6:12-20 teaches the same thing. Paul states how we are patiently to trust in the sure fulfillment of the everlasting covenant made to Abraham. He writes that this hope enters within the veil (the immortal state) and that Jesus has gone before us as a forerunner (v.20).
This means that Jesus walked the same path that God has set before us. As we have fled to the covenant for refuge, so, too, did Christ. As we hold on to this hope as an anchor of the soul, so, too, did Christ (“listen that your soul may live”). All of this must be true if he was truly our “forerunner.”
When he fulfilled God’s will, he “obtained eternal redemption,” and was “brought again from the dead through the blood of the everlasting covenant” (Heb. 9:12; 13:20).
God remembered the covenant that He made with His son (Is. 55:3) and brought him again from the dead “no more to return to decay” (Acts 13:34).
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One