"Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me?" (John 8:46)
 
  The Jews of Jesus day rejected him as messiah. One of their usual arguments was that He was a sinner. And since he was a sinner, he could not be messiah! One who is a law breaker cannot possibly be the one who fulfils the law.

We see throughout the gospels where they constantly tried to accuse him of any number of things. He is mad, he is a drunkard, a friend of sinners, he breaks the traditions, he violates the Sabbath, he has a devil, he doesn't pay taxes, he wants to overthrow the law, he was born in fornication, he contradicts the writings of Moses, etc, etc. And did you see what happened when he went into the temple?

Unbelieving Jews of today still use this tactic. I came across it while following an online discussion group several years ago. This group included Christians, Orthodox and Messianic Jews debating various bible topics. Among them was, naturally, Isaiah 53, commonly considered a proof text of Jesus' messiah ship. The Orthodox Jews were going to great lengths to find alternate interpretations of Isaiah 53 or to argue that it did not refer to Jesus.

One writer made issue of Isaiah 53 verse 8b, " and who shall declare his generation? For he was cut off out of the land of the living: … " And then making reference to Genesis 1:28 "

And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth (Genesis 1:28) The line of thinking went like this. If Isaiah 53 refers to Jesus, as Christians claim, it refers to his death in verse 8 by saying "he was cut off out of the land of the living". And it alludes to the fact that he died without having any offspring by saying "Who shall declare his generation?" That is to day, he died without any children, so no one can declare his generation since he had no descendants.

So how could Jesus have been sinless and have fulfilled the law when he failed to obey the very first commandment, given in Genesis 1:28, to be fruitful and multiply?

So what’s wrong with this kind of argument? Primarily that it is overly literal and superficial in its rejection of the truth of scripture. [The entire gist if the re-interpretation of Isaiah 53, however is very allegorical. Is essence they claim the suffering servant of Isaiah 53 is not Jesus but Israel itself.]

Let's look at two points. Who shall declare his generation? And did Jesus obey Genesis 1:28?

Did Jesus obey Genesis 1:28?

Genesis 1:28 is a commandment given to Adam. It consists of two parts. A. "Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it " and B. have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth."

We know that Adam failed to carryout part B and though he was fruitful and multiplied and replenished the earth, he did not subdue it. Instead he yielded dominion to satan.

Now the bible tells that Jesus was the second Adam. This commandment is then one that must be fulfilled as part of his mission.

And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.
The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. (1 Corinthians 15:45-47) The last or second man Adam is Jesus. Now does Jesus have dominion over all? Of course He does. He obtained it by being fully obedient to the Father and suffering death on the cross. We read in Matthew: And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. (Matthew 28:18) And in Acts we read: For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand,
Until I make thy foes thy footstool.
Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ. (Acts 2:34-36) I think that takes care of the question of dominion. To answer the first part we must consider the next question.

Who Shall Declare His Generation?

At the beginning of Isaiah 53 it says:

"Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?" (Isaiah 53:1) And later in verse 8 the prophet asks " and who shall declare his generation?": Here we have three questions, who, to whom, and who. The who that these questions refer to is the same in all three cases. The members if the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ are who; that’s who!
Who hath believed our report?
Well we need to ask some more questions here. What exactly what is the 'our report' spoken of here. Could it be the Gospel? Could the prophet be referring not only to his own writings but to the Word of God as a whole, i. e. the Bible? Of course, he is saying who believes the bible, who obeys the word of God?

What is the arm of the Lord that is revealed? Often in scripture the arm of the Lord or the hand of the Lord, or especially the right hand of the Lord are terms used to refer to the second person in the trinity, Jesus. The Arm of the Lord is the active principle in the godhead.

"So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it." (Isaiah 55:11) Here the Lord is saying he sends his word to do or accomplish some thing. This speaks of the Father sending forth Jesus on a mission. Jesus is the Word of the Lord, the Messenger of the Lord, the Angel of the Lord, the Servant in whom he delights. He is the Right Hand of the Father and He is The Arm of the Lord.
To whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?

Thus when we are asked "to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?" , we are asking who is it that receives Jesus Christ. The answer is the same. Those that believe in Him.

Who shall declare his generation?
Now can we say who shall declare his generation? Those same believers are his generation!

Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. (1 John 3:2) And we declare his generation every time we give our testimony or witness for the Lord. So Jesus' generation, his spiritual offspring, are everyone who has or will yet follow him through the veil into the Holy of Holies. Thus the word of God does not return to him empty or void, but bearing a precious harvest of redeemed souls.

Did Jesus obey Genesis 1:28?

Yes He did; and is still doing. He was fruitful and multiplied producing millions and millions of spiritual children. He will subdue the earth in the final judgments and replenish the earth in the millenium. He has taken dominion over all the creatures of the sea, air and land.

What has this got to do with End Time Prophetic Vision?

Lets look back at the three "who"s. Who hath believed our report? To whom much is given much is required. The endtime Church will operate in a special level of faith and understanding of the Word of God. We will believe the report like no other generation before us.

To whom is the Arm of the Lord revealed? This speaks of two features of the end times. One is the Revelation of Jesus Christ. Having the arm of the Lord revealed to you is to have a Revelation of Jesus Christ, with all that implies for the end times. The End Time Church will have a revelation of Jesus Christ like no other.

The second is the Power of God implied by the phrase 'arm of the Lord''. The end time Church is destined to operate not just in a new level of faith, but this naturally brings with it a new level of Power. Power that we will be accountable for, but which will be unprecedented in comparison with earlier generations.

And who shall declare his generation? We will. The End Time church will be the generation to preach the good news to all the world for a witness to the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings!

All the creatures.

He has taken dominion over all the creatures of the sea, air and land. This also has a special end time application. This refers to putting his enemies under his feet. The creatures of the sea speak of Leviathan, the dragon in the sea; i.e. the devil. The fowls of the air, speak of demonic principalities and powers, rulers of wickedness in high places. And the beasts of the earth are the lower level demonic power that directly attack men. The little foxes that spoil the vine are the beasts of the field, and the vine is the Church. The demon power that afflict the Church, in other words. All of these will be put under his feet.
As the feet are the last part of the body, so the End Time Church is the last part of the body of Christ. So these will be put under our feet.

"And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen." (Romans 16:20) [Previous Article] [Next Article]

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