Reader’s Guide: “The Word for Today” Wednesday, April 10, 2013 Read – Isaiah 49 While there is much benefit in reading all of Isaiah 40 – 66 in light of the story of Jesus, we move forward today to pick up another of the “servant songs” in Isaiah 49. And once again, we see how these ancient words helped believers in Jesus describe what happened in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. I need to repeat myself. I don’t think it is proper to simply say that Isaiah wrote these words to “predict” what would happen to Jesus. Sometimes prophecy is treated in this way – as if the words had no meaning to either Isaiah or to those to whom he wrote. Nothing could be further from the truth and when Christians treat the Old Testament as if its only function was to “predict” the future and then think that they can use those very texts as “proof texts” about Jesus, they do a great injustice to the Bible. It would be very much worth our while to attempt to understand Isaiah in light of his own time. Space does not allow that here and that is not my purpose. The purpose here is to imagine how the first followers of Jesus read the Old Testament with new eyes in light of their experience of Jesus. While doing that is a proper exercise – simply using the Old Testament as a “proof” about Jesus isn’t. So, when we read Isaiah 49 through the lens of “Messianic Exegesis” we do see how the words of Isaiah do help us to understand and recognize Jesus. And we do hear Isaiah’s vision of a light that shines upon all nations and all people – the very thing that Jesus came to accomplish.