Scholars Are Divided - The Prophets
“Scholars are divided” is an ideal way to introduce
controversy and back away from it. The Rationalists, who place human reason
over the Scriptures, will claim something like “There are two different
Isaiahs, the second one starting at Isaiah 40.” If they are challenged for asserting
that in church or seminary, they will say, “Scholars are divided.” Every topic
in the Bible has been discussed and debated from the earliest days. A German
journal summarizes a given issue in articles that are 100 pages long. Many
so-called problems in the Scriptures were addressed and answered
centuries ago, but they are often brought up again. “Scholars are divided” is a
true statement, but the claim is not honest when used to cloud a concept.[1]
The Two Natures of Christ – Divine and Human
Many consider the Book of Isaiah the grandest and most
glorious of the four major prophets, which include Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and
Daniel. The Two Natures of Christ are taught with great clarity in this book,
and the importance of John as the forerunner to the Messiah is also predicted.
Messianic Promises often leap out of the Biblical texts,
going from an ordinary setting to the distant future, from current events to
God’s far-seeing plan. That is why Luther found the Bible similar to the mines
his father developed. In mining, veins are followed for their enormous value,
especially precious metals. However, the Bible is a mine where the spiritual
treasures are never depleted and actually increase over time as the sources are
explored.
The Virgin Birth is a perfect example of the mundane
being turned into a future miracle beyond and above human reason. The prophet with
King Ahaz with a command from God. He must ask for a miracle, either in sky
above or the depth below.
KJV
Isaiah 7:11 Ask thee a sign of the Lord thy God; ask it either
in the depth, or in the height above.
King Ahaz is a doubter,
so he covers that up with his arrogant, holier-than-thou reply –
KJV
Isaiah 7:12 But Ahaz said, I will not ask, neither will I
tempt the Lord.
This was not a divine
suggestion, something to debate, but a direct command from God. The response
expresses the wrath of God from having His gracious offer refused piously.
KJV Isaiah
7:13 And he said, Hear ye now, O house of David; Is it a small thing for you to
weary men, but will ye weary my God also? 14 Therefore the Lord himself
shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and
shall call his name Immanuel.
God’s response is pivotal for modern theologians and clergy, who
reduce the Biblical message to their shrunken view of God’s power in the Word.
The initial modernist triumph was changing the Revised Standard Version of verse
14 to something like this –
RSV Isaiah 7:14 Therefore
the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, a young woman[b] shall conceive and bear[c] a son, and shall call his name Imman′u-el.[d]
The current RSV notes are –
- Isaiah 7:14 Or virgin
- Isaiah 7:14 Or is with child and
shall bear
- Isaiah 7:14 That is God is with
us
When the RSV came out, a product of the Left-wing National Council
of Churches, Isaiah 7:14 translated the Hebrew word almah as “young
woman.”[2]
Blowback from all over the US led them to replace young woman with virgin, and
the change was footnoted “or young woman,” a clever trick to reduce their claim
and to come back later with the original. This method is quite popular in all
the modern translations. The notes have no information, so the reader is
supposed to trust these Bible-makers, these steadfast scholars.
No one needs an education
in Hebrew or an elaborate explanation to see that the RSV and its clones
created a clumsy contradiction. God offered King Ahaz the greatest possible
miracle while assuring him of future peace. However, Azaz haughtily refused.
Are we to assume that an even greater miracle, a direct sign from God, would be
a young woman having a baby? As winsome as that image might be, it clashes with
the context of the original command – Ask for a miracle. And then the
modernists assume, in the future, the New Testament would quote and reference
Isaiah 7 in error, turning a young woman’s pregnancy into the Virgin Birth of
Christ! Although that never happened in the Greek New Testament (or the latest
hip paraphrases), it did take place in the Unitarian-style teaching of the first
bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Herb Chilstrom, a former
professor and bishop. Doubts about the Bible have consequences, and doubts turn
into anti-Christian dogma.[3]
Isaiah 9 confirms
the divinity of Messiah. The critics work Isaiah 7 over with their opposition to
the Virgin Birth, passing by “God with us” – Immanuel – as if insignificant. However,
there is method in their mad pursuit of almah – they distract people from
the contradictions of their traditional birth advocacy. Even better, they do
not argue both points, almah and Immanuel, but the trigger on the death
trap - those who doubt the harmony of God’s Word and God’s will.
Isaiah
9:6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the
government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful,
Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. 7 Of
the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne
of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment
and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of
hosts will perform this.
So
much can be said about the grand titles, but the first one is the answer for
the Virgin Birth and the Immanuel name. This person to be born and yet born of
a Virgin, is human but God-with-us, the Mighty God, the Prince of Peace.
[1]
One liberal pastor tried to tell an adult class that the Gospel of John was
written centuries after Christ. When a class member objected, for various
reasons, the visitor said, “Scholars are divided.”
[2]
Denial of the Virgin Birth in the much-anticipated RSV, in the 1950s, was a
major scandal in the US. Everyone talked about it and spoke against it. I
remember it being discussed when I was a young lad. Unfortunately, there was no
repentance, only a smokescreen, replacing the Virgin Birth but footnoting – or a
young woman. The erosion was gradual and helped by the intellectuals’ adoration
of Karl Barth and his mistress Charlotte Kirschbaum. They were adept at doctrinal
double-talk.
[3]
The claim that the Virgin Birth is only found in Matthew and Luke will be
explored later in this book.
