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Jeshua the Messiah (Jesus Christ) said to His disciples;" 'O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into His glory?' And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning Himself."Luke 24:25-27

After reading this reproof from the Resurrected Christ Himself, I was challenged to find those very prophecies, in particular those respecting His Resurrection.

I invite you as believers or unbelievers to search with me "all" those versus so important to Jesus that He gave a Bible study to His disciples as proof of His Resurrection before being exalted to His glorious position at the Right Hand of the Father. It should be noted that Jesus did not take these doubting disciples to his empty tomb or even show them His wounds as He did for Thomas thus giving the church the basis for establishing the Resurrection coupled with believing without seeing.

Preface

( you may skip the preface and go directly to the key prophecies of Jesus Resurrection scriptures, cross references, and commentaries by clicking above to page 6 or downnload the entire study from the upper right side of the column on the right side of this webpage )

In this first portion of the prophecy study I have compiled various Messianic Resurrection texts with commentaries based on the most ancient Old Testament scriptures used by the Church, The Greek "Septuagint" Old Testament. These ancient scriptures in the greek (and it's translations into the vernacular) are quoted in the New Testament more often than not and are thereby worthy of diligent consideration and study for our own edification and to be able to teach the unlearned.

It has been documented extensively that Jesus Himself, the Apostles, and the early "fathers" more often than not relied on Old Testament prophetic texts that were the same or closer to the LXX (Septuagint) than that of our relatively "modern" Hebrew texts translated much later by the "Massoretic" Jews.

A Jewish (believer in Christ) fisherman of men, Peter, gives us a background of the historical nature of the search for the Messiah's glorious resurrection as we read in vs.10-11 (but especially in.vs.11) of 1 Peter chapter 1; "Of this salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come to you:

Vs. 11 Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ who was in them did signify, when he testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow."

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F.F. Bruce says in his book "The New Testament Documents" ; "For various reasons it was necessary for the Church to know exactly what books were divinely authoritative. The Gospels, recording 'all that Jesus began both to do and to teach', could not be regarded as one whit lower in authority than the Old Testament books. And the teaching of the apostles in the Acts and Epistles was regarded as vested with His authority. It was natural, then, to accord to the apostolic writings of the new covenant the same degree of homage as was already paid to the prophetic writings of the old. Thus Justin Martyr, about AD 150, classes the 'Memoirs of the Apostles' along with the writings of the prophets, saying that both were read in meetings of Christians (Apol i. 67). For the Church did not, in spite of the breach with Judaism, repudiate the authority of the Old Testament, but, following the example of Christ and His apostles, received it as the Word of God. Indeed, so much did they make the Septuagint their own that, although it was originally a translation of the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek for Greek speaking Jews before the time of Christ, the Jews left the Septuagint to the Christians,.."

I. Watts wrote around 1800 A.D. ; ".how much we are indebted to God for the revelation of the New Testament, which teaches us to find out the blessings that are contained in the Old, and to fetch out the glories and treasures which are concealed there? The writers of the gospel have not only pointed us to the rich mines where these treasures lie, but have brought forth many of the jewels and set them before us. It is this gospel that brings life and immortality to light by Jesus Christ , 2 Timothy 1 :10. It is this gospel that scatters the gloom and darkness which was spread over the face of the grave, and illuminates all the chambers of death. Who could have found out the doctrine of the resurrection contained in that word of grace given to Abraham, "I Am thy God," [my ft]

[ft] Watts is quoting the Septuagint here as the Massoretic text (Hebrew Old Testament) has "And when Abram was ninety and nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said to him, I am the Almighty God; (the italisized "am" here signifies that this word is not found in the Hebrew text but rather has been added) walk before me, and be thou perfect." (Genesis 17:1) where the LXX (Septuagint) has ; "And Abram was ninety-nine years old, and the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, I Am thy God, be well-pleasing before me, and be blameless." The "I Am..." being found in the Greek Old Testament is just one of many small yet significant differences between the Greek and Hebrew texts.

if Jesus, the great Prophet, had not taught us to explain it thus, Matthew 22:31? "God is not the God of the dead, but of the living."

We who have this happiness to live in the days of the Messiah, know more than all the ancient prophets were acquainted with, and understand the word of their prophecies better than they themselves ; ." (see 1 Peter 1:10-11 )

"But we read all this fairly written in the gospel. Do you think that good David could have explained some of his own Psalms into so divine a sense, or Isaiah given such a bright account of his own words of prophecy, as St. Paul has done in several places of the New Testament, where he cites and unfolds them?"

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The Apostle Paul, originally called Saul, is a shining example of a proven and Holy Spirit-anointed writer of Holy Scripture under the New Covenant as he was acknowledged by the Jews themselves of his Judaic Biblical abilities [ft.]

[ft] Acts 23:6 But when Paul perceived that one part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, "Men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee; concerning the hope and resurrection of the dead I am being judged!"

and was an eye witness of the risen Messiah, Jesus Christ, [ft]

[ft] Acts 9:1 "And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disiples of the Lord, went unto the high priest,"

2 And desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem.

3 And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven:

4 And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?

5 And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.

6 And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do."

Paul was himself tried, as it were through fire, in many persecutions (too numerous to mention here) and ultimately died a martyr's death believing in and preaching about the Lord Jesus Christ. His rightly-dividing the Word of God and his untarnished witness attest once more that the Gospel story of Christ Jesus' resurrection is truth with solid testimony of not only this Apostle but many others who failed not their Lord and Saviour, faithful to the end.

From the Introduction to the Old Testament in Greek, Swete says ; "St. Paul, as we know from the Acts, could speak in the Hebrew (i.e. the Aramaic) tongue, and doubtless could read his Hebrew Bible, yet as a missionary to Greek lands, he made the Septuagint his companion, and more than half of his Old Testament quotations are drawn directly from it. In fact, as Professor Deissmann said in Cambridge last summer, "St. Paul is not comprehensible without the Septuagint." It may be added that in his missionary work St. Paul would have been badly crippled had the Greek Bible been taken from him. Greek was in his time the usual language of communication throughout the Roman Empire, as French was until recent years in Europe, and Italian in the Levant. Even in Cicero's day, as the great Latinist confesses, "Greek was read by almost all the world, and Latin confined to narrow limits." The heart of the empire was no exception. St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans is written in Greek, and forty years later, when Clement of Rome wrote in the name of his Church to the Church at Corinth, Greek is again the language employed. Indeed, there is reason to think that the Roman Church continued to be a Greek-speaking community, headed by Greek-speaking Bishops, offering a Greek liturgy, and using Greek Scriptures, until nearly the end of the second century. The only Latin-speaking Church in the second century of which we have any knowledge is the Church of Carthage; at Rome and at Lyons, as well as at Alexandria, Corinth, and Ephesus, Greek was the official language of the Christian societies, and the Greek Bible of Alexandria was the Bible of the Church as it had been of the Hellenistic Synagogue.[my ft]

[ft] Jews of the "Diaspora" who had adopted the Greek language

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Indeed, it was to the Alexandrian translators that the early Church of the Roman empire owed her possession of a Bible. It must be remembered that at first the Christian Church had no writings of its own which were recognised as sacred; until after the middle of the second century there was no New Testament, no sacred canon of books which ranked with the Jewish canon. It was to the Old Testament that the first preachers of the Gospel appealed, and to the Old Testament in its Alexandrian Greek dress.[my ft]

[ft] "dress" i.e. directing words toward other people ; as in "address"

Even when, in the second half of the second century, the New Testament emerged into sight as a canon of Holy Scripture, there was no disposition to substitute it for the 0ld; the Church was content to place it by the side of the Septuagint as another collection of equal value and authority. Irenaeus, for instance, who is the first Christian writer to quote the Gospels and Epistles with any freedom, scarcely falls behind Justin in the frequency of his appeal to the Greek Law, Prophets, and Psalms. When the more learned teachers of the Church began to enrich her literature with commentaries on the Scriptures, they commented as freely on the Old Testament as on the New, though with two or three exceptions they were unable to have recourse to the Hebrew original, and their commentaries on the Old Testament are in fact commentaries on the Septuagint version of it. Moreover, in her official acts of worship the early Church used the Greek Old Testament ; out of it she sang the psalms, and read the lessons at the Sunday Eucharist. Lastly, when the non-Hellenic Churches within the Empire, such as Latin-speaking Carthage and Coptic-speaking Egypt, began to translate the Scriptures into their own tongues, they translated the Old Testament as well as the New, and they translated the Old Testament from the Greek and not from the Hebrew, of which, in fact, they knew nothing. The Hebrew Bible was indeed as good as non-existent to the Church of the Empire ; its Old Testament was a Greek book, and the inspiration of the Hebrew writers was unconsciously transferred to the Alexandrian translators, who had to all intents taken their place.".

Elswhere Swete says; "To Tertullian and Cyprian, as well as to Clement and Barnabas, Justin and Irenaeus, the Septuagint was the Old Testament authorized by the church, and no appeal lay either to any other version or to the original.".

"Nor was this tradition readily abandoned by the few who attained to some knowledge of Hebrew. Origen, while recognizing the divergence of the LXX from the Hebrew, and endeaverouring to reconcile the two by means of the Hexapla, was accustomed to preach and comment upon the ordinary Greek text."

And "No question can arise as to the greatness of the place occupied by the Alexandrian Version in the religious life of the first six centuries of it's history. The Septuagint was the Bible of the Hellenistic Jew, not only in Egypt and Palestine, but throughout the Western Asia and Europe. It created a language of religion which lent itself readily to the service of Christianity and became one of the most important allies of the gospel. It provided the Greek-speaking Church with an authorized translation of the Old Testament, and when Christian missions advanced beyond the limits of Hellenism, it served as a basis for fresh translations into the vernacular."

Edersheim points out the consequences of the ignorance of the scriptures concerning the Messiah on the part of the grieving disciples after His death and their foolish disbelief ; "...Their sorrow arose from their folly in looking only at the things seen, and this, from their slowness to believe what the prophets had spoken. Had they attended to this, instead of allowing themselves to be swallowed up by the outward, they would have understood it all. Did not the scriptures with one voice teach this twofold truth about the Messiah, that He was to suffer and to enter into His glory? Then why wonder-why not expect, that He had suffered, and that Angels had proclaimed Him alive again?

He spake it, and fresh hope sprang up in their hearts, new thoughts rose in their minds. Their eager gaze was fastened on Him as He now opened up, one by one, the Scriptures, from Moses and all the prophets, and in each well-remembered passage interpreted to them the things concerning Himself.

Oh, that we had been there to hear -though in the silence of our hearts also, if only we crave for it, and if we walk with Him , He sometimes so opens from the Scriptures-nay, from all the Scriptures, that which comes not to us by critical study: ' the things concerning Himself."

Alfred Edersheim aptly points out; "...First and foremost, we learn the insufficiency of even the most astounding miracles to subdue the rebellious will, to change the heart, or to subject a man unto God. Our blessed Lord Himself has said of a somewhat analogous case, that men would not believe even though one rose from the dead. (Luke 16:31) And His statement has been only too amply verified in the history of the world since His own resurrection. Religion is matter of the heart, and no intellectual conviction, without the agency Of the Holy Spirit, affects the inmost springs of our lives."

The second century martyr, Justin, comments on Jesus teaching the prophecies of His resurrection ; ".after He was crucified, even all His acquaintances forsook Him, having denied Him, and afterwards when He had risen from the dead and appeared to them, and had taught them to read the prophecies in which all things were foretold as coming to pass, and when they had seen Him ascending into heaven, and had believed, and had received power sent thence by Him upon them, and went to every race of men, they had taught these things, and were called Apostles."

Justin, as found in the "Ante-Nicene Fathers" (volume 1, pages 234 and 235) also decries that already some Messianic prophetic words found in the Septuagint (Greek text) were be being deleted from the scriptures by the unbelieving Jews. "But I am far from putting reliance in your teachers, who refuse to admit that the interpretation made by the seventy elders who were with Ptolemy[king] of the Egyptians is a correct one; and they attempt to frame another. And I wish you to observe, that they have altogether taken away many Scriptures from the translations effected by those seventy (from which the term Septuagint is derived from) elders who were with Ptolemy, and by which this very man who was crucified is proved to have been set forth expressly as God, and man, and as being crucified, and as dying; but since I am aware that this is denied by all of your nation,."

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Regarding the the New Testament writers use of Messianic prophecies (Psalm 16:8-11 -Acts2:25-28 one writer (Herrick Th.M) concludes the following concerning the Apostle's use of the LXX, according these versus to the Messiah's Resurrection ;

" Though the texts (MT and LXX) differ, and the LXX lends itself more readily to Peter's meaning in a resurrection context, the point could be made from the MT. Concerning the expression of this truth, Peter did not hesitate to employ Jewish hermeneutical methods (midrash/pesher) such as were consistent with his audience's understanding."

The Septuagint was the "vernacular" Bible of it's day and no doubt had been found in the hands of the Grecian philosophers and the Sybill (some of the sybill may have been legitimate pre-church and early church prophetesses).

Philip Schaff, a church historian gives the historic background of the use of the greek language by the new testament writers who often employed the use of the greek Septuagint Old Testament. ; " ..."Greece gave the apostles the most copious and beautiful language to express the divine truth of the Gospel, and Providence had long before so ordered political movements as to spread that language over the world and to make it the organ of civilization and international intercourse, as the Latin was in the middle ages, as the French was in the eighteenth century and as the English is coming to be in the nineteenth. "Greek," says Cicero, "is read in almost all nations; Latin is confined by its own narrow boundaries." Greek schoolmasters and artists followed the conquering legions of Rome to Gaul and Spain. The youthful hero Alexander the Great, a Macedonian indeed by birth, yet an enthusiastic admirer of Homer, an emulator of Achilles, a disciple of the philosophic world-conqueror, Aristotle, and thus the truest Greek of his age, conceived the sublime thought of making Babylon the seat of a Grecian empire of the world; and though his empire fell to pieces at his untimely death, yet it had already carried Greek letters to the borders of India, and made them a common possession of all civilized nations. What Alexander had begun Julius Caesar completed. Under the protection of the Roman law the apostles could travel everywhere and make themselves understood through the Greek language in every city of the Roman domain."

Alfred Edersheim in his " History of the Old Testament" elects the Septuagint over the Massoretic texts, [ft]

[ft] most "Protestant" Bibles have the Massoretic Texts know as the "MT" as their Old Testament source

in several passages in 1 Samuel chapter 17 ; " * There is considerable difficulty about the text as it now stands. That the narrative is strictly historical cannot be doubted. But, on the other hand, vers. 12-14, and still more vers. 55-58, read as if the writer had inserted this part of his narrative from some other source, perhaps from a special chronicle of the event. The LXX solves the difficulty by simply leaving out vers. 12-31, and again vers. 55-58; that is, they boldly treat that part as an interpolation; and it must be confessed that the narrative reads easier without it. And yet, on the other hand, if these verses are interpolated, the work has been clumsily done; and it is not easy to see how any interpolator would not have at once seen the difficulties which he created, especially by the addition of vers. 55- 58.

Besides, the account, vers. 12-31, not only fits in very well with the rest of the narrative . but also bears the evident impress of truthfulness. The drastic method in which the LXX. dealt with the text, so early as about two centuries before Christ, at least proves that, even at that time, there were strong doubts about the genuineness of the text. All this leads to the suggestion, that somehow the text may have become corrupted, and that later copyists may have tried emendations and additions, by way of removing difficulties, which, as might be expected in such a case, would only tend to increase them. On the whole, therefore, we are inclined to the opinion that, while the narrative itself is strictly authentic, the text, as we possess it, is seriously corrupted in some of the expressions, especially in the concluding verses of the chapter.."

The Dead Sea Scrolls, found in the caves of Qumran near the Dead Sea in Israel in the late 1940's-early 1950's quite often substantiate the Septuagint readings of the Scriptures.

What has become so strikingly apparent to me in my studies of the Messianic prophecies in the Old Testament, in particular His Resurrection, is that many versus in the Septuagint and corraborated in the Dead Sea Scrolls (written before the Messiah's birth) are directly speakin of or figuratively pointing to the Messiah to rise from the dead but are strangely lacking in the Massoretic texts. As one example, see Isaiah 53:11 in this study in this "Messiah Resurrection Prophecies Christ's Resurrection In Accordance With the Greek Scriptures"

In conclusion to the question of which texts, the Hebrew/Massoretic texts, the Greek Septuagint, or the Dead Sea Scrolls (of which they are generally in close agreement) are more genuine (closest to the original "autographs") may it be agreed that we must didligently adhere to the following scriptures to gain scholarly insight and spiritual discerment :

"Study to show thyself approved to God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." ( 2 Timothy 2:15) and as another scripture instructs us : "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God." (Romans 8:14).

God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him, not those who do so half-heartedly. If we apply these truths then we are assured that the Holy Spirit will guide us into all truth.

I have spent several years of study in this important search of those scriptures that Jesus expounded on the road to Emmaus after His resurrection with the foolish, doubting, ignorant, and slow of heart to believe (the prophetic scriptures of His resurrection) disciples and I believe I have found treasure in my search. Jesus today is still willing to expound those scriptures to us by His Holy Spirit. If he did so for those disciples then certainly He will do the same for us if we ask and search.

One more conclusion that I came to is that for me, the "Authorized"/Massoretic Old Testament texts are no longer my "default" Old Testament but rather the Greek Septuagint (original language as well as translated to English) Nevertheless, along with the ancient Greek texts I will continue to consult the Hebrew/Authorized version as well as the Dead Sea Scrolls.

This website and my study CDrom uses all three texts as it's sources with the majority of the texts derived from those used almost exclusively for over 1500 years by the Christian Church and it's "fathers" as well as the majority of New Testament writings (Matthew being the exception), the Septuagint (LXX).

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Isaiah 53:11 LXX Thomson's Version; " Moreover it is the determination of the Lord to remove him from the trouble of his soul-to shew him light and fashion him for knowledge -to justify the Righteous One who is serving many well, when he shall bear away their sins"

Isaiah 53:11 Dead Sea Scroll ; "Of the toil of his soul he shall see light and he shall be satisfied and by his knowledge shall he make righteous even my righteous servant for many and their iniquities he will bear."

The Greek is:

(you must have GraecaII fonts installed on your computer to be able to "see" the original Biblical language. Copy and paste the selected text into your editor ie. M.S. Word , etc. then convert the text there by highlighting it and selecting the GraecaII font , if the greek font is installed on your computer)

avpo. tou/ po,nou th/j yuch/j auvtou/ dei/xai auvtw/| fw/j kai. pla,sai th/| sune,sei dikaiw/sai di,kaion eu= douleu,onta polloi/j kai. ta.j a`marti,aj auvtw/n auvto.j avnoi,sei

For an online photo of thie Great Isaiah scroll go to : http://www.ao.net/~fmoeller/qum-44.htm

and it's translation at: http://www.ao.net/~fmoeller/isa53trn.h

cross references:

2 Timothy 1:10 "but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel,"

Ephesians 5:14 says ; "Wherefore He saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light."

John 12:24 "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit."

2 Corinthians 4:6 "For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to [give] the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."

Psalm 85:11 Truth has sprung up out of the earth; and righteousness has looked down from heaven."

Job 33:28, LXX ; "Deliver my soul, that it may not go to destruction, and my life shall see the light."

Proverbs 16:15, LXX ; "The son of a King is in the light of life; and they that are in favour with Him are as a cloud of latter rain."

Peter 1:19 "And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts;"

Ephesians 5:14 "Therefore He says: "Awake, you who sleep, Arise from the dead, And Christ will give you light."

Psalm 4:6 LXX ; "Many say, Who will shew us good things? the light of thy countenance, O Lord, has been manifested towards us."

Our spiritual resurrection union with Christ's Resurrection is seen here in Ephesians as "light" just as " Christ's resurrected glorified life is seen in the word " light" in Isaiah 53:11. The Dictionary of Biblical imagery confirms this type ; ".Therefore it is said, 'Awake O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.'..The implied maessage is clear: if God is light, to come to God is to come to the lightand to receive light. We might note also the echo of Christ's resurrection in the picture of the sleeper's arising from the dead."

The "Dead Sea Scrolls" or "Qumran" scrolls also confirm that the word "light" is in the manuscripts written before Christ's birth..."Of the toil of his soul He shall see light and He shall be satisfied and by His knowledge shall He make righteous even My Righteous Servant for many and their iniquities He will bear."

F.F. Bruce , in his book "Paul" comments ; "The noun 'light' evidently dropped our of the Massoretic text at some stage, but it was retained in the LXX and is attested by two pre-Christian Hebrew manuscripts found in Qumran Cave (1QIsa , 1QIsb )."

The early church "father' Clement quotes this verse as "And the Lord is pleased to relieve Him of the affliction of His soul, to show Him light, and to form Him with understanding, to justify the Just One who ministereth well to many; and the Himself shall carry their sins."

and Justin (Martyr) ; " And the Lord is pleased to cleanse Him from the stripe. If He be given for sin, your soul shall see His seed prolonged in days. And the Lord is pleased to deliver His soul from grief, to show Him light, and to form Him with knowledge, to justify the righteous who richly serveth many. And He shall bear our iniquities."

The " Interpreters Commentary declares ; " ... the Dead Sea Manuscript and the LXX verse 11 (a) is rendered 'after His travail He shall see light' ; for this phrase indicates the idea of a new coming to life..." [my ft]

[ft]cf. Isaiah 60:1 Dead Sea Scroll ; "Rise, shine; for your light is come, the glory of YHWH is risen upon you."

Gesenius' Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon confirms the parallel definition in the following context ; ".Used of the eyes of a faint person when he begins to recover,."(see #215 p.23 ; for the online version of this copy and paste this URL address: http://books.google.com/books?id=dxCBQLh9-9kC&pg=PA1&dq=gesenius&as_brr=1#PPA26,M1 ) [my ft]

[ft] Of coarse Jesus had more than "fainted" ( He expired) and His "recovery" was no less than resurrection from the dead.

The online version of the Gesenius Lexicon contains this additional definition :"...light of life Isaiah 26:19 ("God's dew will refresh those raised from the dead...dew of light"[ http://books.google.com/books?id=dxCBQLh9-9kC&pg=PA27&dq=Isaiah+26:19&as_brr=1 ]

Lactantius : "And therefore the Sibyl said, that after three days sleep he would put an end to death:

'And after sleeping three days, He shall put an end to the fate of death; and then, releasing Himself from the dead, He shall come to light, first showing to the called ones the beginning of the resurrection.' "

For He gained life for us by overcoming death. No hope, therefore, of gaining immortality is given to than, unless he shall believe on Him, and shall take up that cross to be born and endured."

The Day of Resurrection

St. John of Damascus. Tr. John Mason Neale (circa 780 A.D.)

'TIS the day of resurrection,?

Earth, tell it out abroad,?

The passover of gladness,

The passover of God.

From death to life eternal,

From this world to the sky,

Our Christ hath brought us over

With hymns of victory.

Our hearts be pure from evil,

That we may see aright

The Lord in rays eternal

Of resurrection-light,

And, listening to his accents,

May hear, so calm and plain,

His own "All hail!" and, hearing,

May raise the victor-strain.

Now let the heavens be joyful,

Let earth her song begin,

Let the round world keep triumph

And all that is therein,

Invisible and visible,

Their notes let all things blend;

For Christ the Lord hath risen,

Our joy that hath no end

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Kittel's Theological Dictionary of the New Testament in ancient references to "light" says; "...separation from it (is) death, ." "...The deliverer appears as light ." "...Light accompanies the manifestation of the divine, ..." ".The verb "to shine" denotes the break of day, 2 Samuel. 2:32, the brightening of the eyes, 1 Samuel 14:27, 29, cf. .. Ps. 13:3. has a transf. sense at Is. 60.1]." "...Light characterises natural life, Ps. 38:10; 56:13, and also spiritual life, Ps. 37:6; 97:11; 112:4; 119:105. God enfolds Himself in light, Ps. 104:2 � 320, 4. He is the light of the righteous, ... and the possibility of life: In His light we see light, Ps. 36:9..." "...Light is a term for life in the absolute sense, not as mere existence, but as possibility. It thus denotes salvation, cf. light and life in Psalm. 36:9; 56:13. To see light (� 313, 6 ff.) is to live, Job 3:16; 33:28, 30. Part of salvation is to be in the light.."

Even an ancient "Rabbi" used "light" in a similar fashion that does the Apostle Paul ; the former concerning Moses birth, the latter concerning Yeshua (Jesus) as being "Firstborn from the dead":

Light surrounds the birth of the man of God, the son (Moses),'

cf. Colossians 1:18 "And He is the head of the body, the church, Who is the beginning, the Firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence."

Isaiah 53:11 John Gill instructs us so diligently as he was apt to: "He shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be "satisfied", &c. "The travail of his soul" is the toil and labour he endured, in working out the salvation of his people; his obedience and death, his sorrows and sufferings; particularly those birth throes of His soul, under a sense of divine wrath, for the allusion is to women in travail; and all the agonies and pains of death which He went through. Now the fruit of all this he sees with inexpressible pleasure, and which gives Him an infinite satisfaction; namely, the complete redemption of all the chosen ones...he shall have all his children with Him in glory; see Hebrews 12:2. (see ft2)

(ft2 Hebrews 12:2 "Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.")

The words are by some rendered, "seeing Himself" or "His soul freed from trouble, He shall be satisfied" ..so He saw it, and found it, when He rose from the dead, and was justified in the Spirit; ascended to His God and Father, was set down at His right hand, and was made glad with His countenance, enjoying to the full eternal glory and happiness with Him: and by others this, "after the travail of His soul, He shall see 'a seed', and shall be satisfied"; as a woman, after her travail and sharp pains are over, having brought forth a son, looks upon it with joy and pleasure, and is satisfied, and forgets her former pain and anguish; so Christ, after all His sorrows and sufferings, sees a large number of souls regenerated, sanctified, justified, and brought to heaven, in consequence of them, which is a most pleasing and satisfactory sight unto Him.."

Matthew Henry observed: "Come, and see how Christ loved us! We could not put Him in our stead, but He put Himself. Thus he took away the sin of the world, by taking it on Himself. He made Himself subject to death, which to us is the wages of sin.

Observe the graces and glories of His state of exaltation. Christ will not commit the care of His family to any other. God's purposes shall take effect. And whatever is undertaken according to God's pleasure shall prosper. He shall see it accomplished in the conversion and salvation of sinners."

Keil and Delitzsch in their " Commentary on the Old Testament" critique this verse with "...Let us remember also that the Servant of Jehova, whose priestly mediatorial work is unfolded before us here in Chapter 53, upon the ground of which He rises to more than regal glory..." and "...The dead yet Living One, because of His one self-sacrifice, is an eternal Priest, Who now lives to distribute the blessings that He has acquired."(ft3)

[ft3] as Justin says ; "He who shall shine an eternal light in Jerusalem; this is He who is the King of Salem after the order of Melchizedek, and the eternal Priest of the Most High."

Keil and Delitzsch summarize the verse : "...His continued lading of our trespasses upon Himself is merely the constant presence and presentation of His atonement, which has been offered once for all. The dead yet living One, because of His one self-sacrifice, is an eternal Priest, Who now lives to distribute the blessings that He has acquired."

Hengstenberg ; "...overlooked by nearly all interpreters, that the figure of a husbandman {ft]

[ft] farmer, tiller of the ground, and also master of a family; see Webster's original Dictionary

lies at the foundation, Who, cultivating His land with labour and care, first beholds with pleasure the ripe fruit, then gathers in the harvest and satisfies Himself ; He has sown in tears, and now reaps in joy."'

Matthew Henry ; "He shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied'. He shall see it beforehand (so it may be understood); He shall with the prospect of His sufferings have a prospect of the fruit, and He shall be satisfied with the bargain. He shall see it when it is accomplished in the conversion and salvation of poor sinners. Note, [1.] Our Lord Jesus was in travail of soul for our redemption and salvation, in great pain, but with longing desire to be delivered, and all the pains and throes He underwent were in order to it and hastened it on. [2.] Christ does and will see the blessed fruit of the travail of His soul in the founding and building up of His church and the eternal salvation of all that were given Him. He will not come short of His end in any part of his work, but will Himself see that He has not laboured in vain. [3.] The salvation of souls is a great satisfaction to the Lord Jesus. He will reckon all His pains well bestowed, and Himself abundantly recompensed, if the many sons be by him brought through grace to glory. Let Him have this, and He has enough. God will be glorified, penitent believers will be justified, and then Christ will be satisfied. Thus, in conformity to Christ, it should be a satisfaction to us if we can do any thing to serve the interests of God's kingdom in the world. Let it always be our meat and drink, as it was Christ's, to do God's will. 2. He shall have the glory of bringing in an everlasting righteousness; for so it was foretold concerning Him, Daniel 9:24. [my ft]

[ft] Daniel 9:24 LXX ; "Seventy weeks have been determined upon thy people, and upon the holy city, for sin to be ended, and to seal up transgressions, and to blot out the iniquities, and to make atonement for iniquities, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal the vision and the prophet, and to anoint the Most Holy."

And here, to the same purport, "By His knowledge (the knowledge of Him, and faith in Him) shall my righteous Servant justify many; for He shall bear the sins of many", and so lay a foundation for our justification from sin. Note, (1.) The great privilege that flows to us from the death of Christ is justification from sin, our being acquitted from that guilt which alone can ruin us, and accepted into God's favour, which alone can make us happy. (2.) Christ, who purchased our justification for us, applies it to us, by His intercession made for us, His gospel preached to us, and His Spirit witnessing in us. The Son of man had power even on earth to forgive sin. (3.) There are many whom Christ justifies, not all (multitudes perish in their sins), yet many, even as many as He gave His life a ransom for, as many as the Lord our God shall call. He shall justify not here and there one that is eminent and remarkable, but those of the many, the despised multitude. (4.) It is by faith that we are justified, by our consent to Christ and the covenant of grace; in this way we are saved, because thus God is most glorified, free grace most advanced, self most abased, and our happiness most effectually secured. (5.) Faith is the knowledge of Christ, and without knowledge there can be no true faith. Christ's way of gaining the will and affections is by enlightening the understanding and bringing that unfeignedly to assent to divine truths. (6.) That knowledge of Christ, and that faith in Him, by which we are justified, have reference to Him both as a servant to God and as a surety for us. [1.] As one that is employed for God to pursue His designs and secure and advance the interests of His glory. "He is My Righteous Servant, and as such justifies men." God has authorized and appointed Him to do it; it is according to God's will and for His honour that He does it. He is Himself righteous, and of His righteousness have all we received. He that is Himself righteous (for he could not have made atonement for our sin if He had had any sin of His own to answer for) is made of God to us righteousness, the Lord our righteousness. [2.] As one that has undertaken for us. We must know Him, and believe in Him, as one that bore our iniquities-saved us from sinking under the load by taking it upon Himself. 3. He shall have the glory of obtaining an incontestable victory and universal dominion," Acts 26:23 ; " that the Messiah must suffer, and that, by being the first to rise from the dead, He would proclaim light both to our people and to the Gentiles."

In Acts 26:23 we read of the historic event of all times, the Lords redemptive work completed. The Resurrected Messiah who was shown the light of life, declared Himself resurrected, and proclaimed this light of the Gospel, that we might be shown the light of life."

Spurgeon ; " To the wheat the barn is the place of security. It dreads no mildew there; it fears no frost, no heat, no drought, no wet, when once in the barn. All its growth-perils are past. It has reached its perfection. It has rewarded the labor of the Husbandman, and it is housed. Oh! long-expected day, begin!

Oh! brethren, what a blessing it will be when you and I shall have come to our maturity, and Christ shall see in us the travail of His soul!"

Elsewhere Spurgeon says ; "...'He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied.' "You know the meaning of the suggestive figure couched in those words: the soul of Christ was in pangs, like a woman in travail, for these souls, and they are born to eternal life as the result of his soul's labor; and then, as the mother sees the child, and remembereth no more her sorrow for joy that a man is born into the world, so does the Savior see each one of his beloved ones born to himself, and feels a joy so great that he is more than recompensed for having died on the cruel tree. Oh, the joy of Christ over a soul that turns to him! O my hearer, think of it! Consider! Is it really so? You are capable of making the heart of Christ to throb with joy unspeakable even now!"

F.F. Bruce : " In Jesus the promise is confirmed, the covenant is vindicated, salvation is brought near, sacred history has reached its climax, the perfect sacrifice has been offered and accepted, the great priest over the household of God has taken His seat at God's right hand, the Prophet like Moses has been raised up, the Son of David reigns, the kingdom of God has been inaugurated, the Son of Man has received dominion from the Ancient of Days, the Servant of the Lord, having been smitten to death for His people's transgression and borne the sin of many, has accomplished the divine purpose, has seen light after the travail of His soul and is now exalted and extolled and made very high."

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Deuteronomy 18:15, LXX ;" The Lord thy God shall raise up to thee a prophet of thy brethren, like me; him shall ye hear:"

and

Deuteronomy 18:18, LXX (Thomson version) ; "I will raise up for them, from among their brethren, a prophet like thee, and I will put my words in his mouth, and he will speak to them as I command him:"

Cross references :

John 5:45-47 "Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father: there is {one} that accuseth you, {even} Moses, in whom ye trust. 46 For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote concerning me. 47 But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?"

Acts 7:37 This is that Moses, who said to the children of Israel, A prophet will the Lord your God raise up to you of your brethren, like me; him will ye hear.

Matthew 17:5-6 5 While he was yet speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold, a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased: hear ye him. 6 And when the disciples heard {it}, they fell on their face, and were in great fear."

Acts 3:22-26 "For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; Him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever He shall say unto you."

23 And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people.

24 Yea, and all the prophets from Samuel and those that follow after, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days.

25 Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed.

26 Unto you first God, having raised up His Son Jesus, sent Him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities."

John 12:49-50 ; "For I have not spoken from myself; but the Father who sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak.

50 And I know that his commandment is life everlasting: whatever I speak therefore, even as the Father said to me, so I speak."

Hebrews 3:1-6 ; "Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus;

2 Who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses {was faithful} in all his house.

3 For this {man} was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who hath built the house, hath more honor than the house.

4 For every house is built by some {man}; but he that built all things {is} God.

5 And Moses verily {was} faithful in all his house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were {afterwards} to be spoken.

6 But Christ as a son over his own house: whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence, and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end."

John 5:45-46, Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father: there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust.

Vs 46 For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote concerning me."

Matthew Henry ; "That God would raise Him up from the midst of them. In His birth He should be one of that nation, should live among them and be sent to them. In His resurrection He should be raised up at Jerusalem, and thence His doctrine should go forth to all the world: thus God, having raised up His Son Christ Jesus, sent Him to bless us."

John Gill ; "...the Messiah, with whom the whole agrees; and upon this the expectation of a prophet among the Jews was raised, John 6:14 and is applied to Him, and referred to as belonging to Him in Acts 3:22 ; 7:37, who was a prophet mighty in word and deed, and not only foretold future events, as His own sufferings and death, and resurrection from the dead, the destruction of Jerusalem, and other things; but taught and instructed men in the knowledge of divine things, spake as never man did, preached the Gospel fully and faithfully, so that as the law came by Moses, the doctrine of grace and truth came by him; and He was raised up of God, called, sent, commissioned and qualified by Him for the office of a prophet, as well as was raised from the dead as a confirmation of His being that extraordinary person: from the midst of thee; He was of Israel, according to the flesh, of the tribe of Judah, and of the house of David, born of a virgin in Bethlehem, preached only in Judea, and was raised from the dead in the midst of them, and of which they were witnesses:"

Spurgeon ; "...In all respects our Lord was raised up from the midst of us, one of our own kith and kin. "For this cause He is not ashamed to call us brethren." He was our Brother in living, our Brother in death, and our Brother in resurrection; for after His resurrection He said, "Go, tell my brethren;" and He also said, "My Father, and your Father; my God, and your God." Though now exalted in the highest heavens He pleads for us and acts as a High Priest who can be touched with a feeling of our infirmities. God has graciously raised up such a Mediator, and now He speaks to us through Him. O sons of men, will ye not hearken when such an One as Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of man, is ordained to speak of the eternal God? Ye might be unable to hear if he should speak again in thunder, but now he speaketh by those dear lips of love, now he speaketh by that gracious tongue which has wrought such miracles of grace by its words, now He speaketh out of that great heart of His, which never beats except with love to the sons of men-will ye not hear Him?

Surely we ought to give the most earnest heed and obey His every word."

Gill on verse 18 'I will raise them up a prophet from among their brethren like unto thee,' &c.] "So that it seems this promise or prophecy was first made at Mount Sinai, but now renewed and repeated, and which is nowhere else recorded; see Deuteronomy 18:15 when they were not only made easy for the present by appointing Moses to receive from the Lord all further notices of his mind and will, but were assured that when it was his pleasure to make a new revelation, or a further discovery of his mind and will, in future times, he would not do it in that terrible way he had delivered the law to them; but would raise up a person of their own flesh and blood, by whom it should be delivered, which was sufficient to prevent their fears for the future:

and will put my word in his mouth; the doctrines of the Gospel, which come from God, and are the words of truth, faith, righteousness, peace, pardon, life, and salvation; and which Christ says were not his own, as man and Mediator, but his Father's, which he gave unto him, and put into his mouth, as what he should say, teach, and deliver to others; .

and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him; nor did he keep back, but faithfully declared the whole counsel of God; and as he gave him a commandment what he should say, and what he should speak, he was entirely obedient to it; ."

Hengstenberg ; ".Moses had Christ here in view, though not merely in reference to his visible manifestation, but also to his previous invisible influence ; as the Spirit of Christ is said by Peter to have spoken through the prophets. He does not indeed speak of the prophets as a collective body, to which Christ also in the end incidentally belonged, as Calvin and other commentators supposed ; but the prophetic order appeared to him personified in Christ, in whom his idea of it was completely realized. There is then here a reference to the other prophets also,."

"It was His Spirit that gave them their being."

Keil and Delitzsch ; " ...This prophecy, therefore, is very properly referred to Jesus Christ in the New Testament, as having been fulfilled in Him. Not only had Philip this passage in his mind when he said to Nathanael, "We have found Him of whom Moses in the law did write, Jesus of Nazareth," whilst Stephen saw the promise of the prophet like unto Mos