Prophecy #14:
And He appointed Him His grave with the wicked, but He was with a rich man in His death; though He had done no violence, and deceit was not in His mouth. Isaiah 53:9 [LITV]
He had done no wrong and had never deceived anyone. But he was buried like a criminal; he was put in a rich man’s grave. [NLT]
You do not usually get this combination coming together. If one is a wicked, convicted criminal ,you are not normally joined together with the rich and the affluent in death. This is a very specific statement of what happened at the death of Jesus Christ. Died with the wicked and was buried with the rich. Not a usual process.
Let me give you a little peek behind the scenes of what I am doing. Several have asked, so I will unvail the secret. (Pun intended) I wrote the above few italicised sentences when I included this series in God’s Awesome Book. On the occasions when people asked for more explanation, I explained it fully. For this series in the Nuggets, I am giving a fuller explanation. As I lay in bed last night God was filling my mind with His principles.
Just think for a moment of the statement of the prophecy in Isaiah. You have to admit that is not normal. Punished like a criminal, despite having done no wrong; yet buried with the rich, buried in a rich man’s tomb. Come on! How is that possible? This prophecy is outlandishly difficult to fulfil. Impossible they would have said. Why? Let’s just pause for a moment and ponder the statement made by Isaiah as to what would happen to the Suffering Servant (Messiah) at His death. He would be treated like a criminal; yet buried like a rich man. Yeah Nah. Come on, what is that all about? Are criminals buried in a rich man’s tomb? Of course not! It’s just not done. In those biblical days, criminals were buried as paupers in mass, unmarked graves; left to die a criminal’s death. Only the rich were buried in sepulchres marked with grand ,embellished, marble tombstones or buried in tombs hewn out of the rock. A criminal in a rich man’s tomb? Impossible the crowd would say.
But let’s explore this concept more fully. Why would a person who was honest and upright and had never deceived anyone be buried like a criminal? Honest and upright people grow up to be rich and famous don’t they? Criminals, who rob, steal and kill are the ones who end up in a criminal’s grave aren’t they? “No Ian! It seems the opposite is true.” Criminals end up with the rich marble tombstones and honest people are often buried like paupers. Isn’t that what the Psalmist was talking about in Psalm 73? Isn’t that the way of the world? Maybe, in a world that is not biblical, that could be true. But in a world which is governed by God’s principles the expectation should be good honest people, who have never done anyone any wrong, prosper while wicked people are punished and end up penniless. That is the idea behind life lived biblically. How so, you ask?
It is all to do with God’s laws of Restitution, Reset & Jubilee.
Restitution
Have you ever thought of why Zacchaeus paid back what he had taken four fold? (Luke 19:1-10) Simply because that was the principle for money gained by theft, robbery or under false pretences. The principle in God eyes is if we unintentionally harm a person or their property we need to make restitution. If I mistakenly hit his animal with my cart and it dies then I must recompense him for his loss. In other words I should pay with one of my animals for the animal he lost. If I were to be generous then I would add 10% to cover the extra costs. If I broke down his front door accidentally, I would need to make restitution and fix it up like new. But if I broke into his house in order to steal his belongings and by so doing destroyed his front door in the process and part of his wall then a different set of laws apply. I clearly behaved like a criminal and have to pay four fold for what I have taken and fully make restitution.
Why did I chose the above example? Because at the moment in New Zealand there are a spate of ram raids taking place where teenagers are using stolen vehicles to smash and grab high end goods from shops and malls. You can see that is a very different situation from doing something accidentally. In biblical terms you would need to pay for the stolen car damaged in the process, as well as the doors and the walls which need rebuilding and fully recompense those from whom you have stolen. If it were a minor who did the deed, in other words as yet under the age of accountability, then the father would be held responsible. That is biblical justice!
Let’s explore this further in terms of land and rents or land confiscated due to a criminal act. There are times in life when land is seized or property is rented out under contract for a person to use legally for a period of time. You can tell where I am heading I’m sure. If the property is damaged due to accident basically the above principle of restitution kicks in. But if the property damage borders on criminal, done wilfully, then the second set of requirements kick in. Four fold restitution applies: the reasonable agreement has been broken and the damage has been done deliberately. You get the idea; it’s simple really.
Reset
This principle works on the sabbath or seventh day / year cycle. I am not intending to go into great detail here but to explain a simple principle. It applies to land ownership, produce from the land and the process of allowing the land to regenerate. It is a universal principle. Every seventh day you take a break from working in the fields. Every seventh year you allow the land to lie fallow and regenerate. Every seven times seven years (49 years) full rest kicks in. In the Jubliee year (50th year) land lies fallow for the year and goes back to the original owner and we start again. Under the above principle, the poor are allow to glean every seven days or at the end of a harvest, or when the land lies fallow. The widows and the poor can go into the fields and pick up the grain left-over after threshing or the windfall fruit and use it.
Do we operate that way these days? No! The rich get richer and keep putting up the prices of their produce with little regard to those who are poor or those who have lost their property because of something they have done in the past. At Jubilee the property would be returned to the original owners. Oh just think on that principle for a moment. The Indians living on reservation lands in America would find their original land restored to them again. The matter of land settlement related to Maori land (in New Zealand) or Aboriginal land in Australia would be returned to its rightful owners.
When I was a young boy, probably 8 or 9 years of age, I was rather free to roam with my friends. We would often go down to the Wairau Creek, near my house and play on and in the stream. Fishing for eels and building tinnies (canoes made from corrugated iron, patched with tar). We also roamed on both banks of the stream; playing in the native bush on one side of the stream building huts and having wars while on the other side we had Mr Vaughan’s orchard. Do I need to say more? I am sure you get the picture. It was rather an idyllic life. Lying on the forest floor eating a peach while the fantails were flitting around us.
One day I snuck into Trevor Vaughan’s orchard to steal fruit but he caught me and gave me a right telling off. He knew full well what we did; that the local kids took fruit from his orchard. He explained to me that day the difference between stealing and gleaning. He asked if I knew what windfall fruit was and explained that he didn’t mind if we came into the orchard and picked up the ripe fruit on the ground which the wind had blown off. That was fair game, that was gleaning. But to climb the tree to pick the big ripe peach at the end of the bough or to shake it off by jumping on the bough was not on. That was not only stealing but it also ruined the other fruit which prematurely fell off as well and then lay there to rot on the ground. He didn’t like that practice of ours. I got the message and told the others. Some years later when I was older, he hired me to pick fruit in his orchard. Mr Vaughan was my rugby coach for one year until I changed to real football and he also taught me boxing for a brief period of time. Although he scared us all at first, I came to learn that he was a very fair-minded man and treated people with dignity. I didn’t realise it back then, but before I knew anything about the Bible he was teaching me Bible principles.
This is a longer Nugget than usual, sometimes I do this. Include an Ian story to illustrate Nuggets as well as Gems. Those Ian Stories are then automatically available on the Stories tab on the top bar of the Gems and Nuggets. I am sure you get the reason why I told this story in this Nugget. Lying in bed awake last night and wondering about this Nugget related to Jesus and this prophecy of Isaiah the Mr Vaughan story came to mind. I trust it has been helpful to you. Now let me return to the probability factor related to this prophecy from the Book of Isaiah.
What probability should we assign to this Messianic prophecy? Now that you understand the implications embedded in this prophecy clearer let’s consider what the likelihood of this statement coming to pass would be. It would be a very rare occurrence. For one tried and found guilty as a criminal to be buried in a rich man’s tomb would be highly unlikely. Very rare indeed. I think if we were to assign a probability factor of one in a thousand people, that would be realistic. I think that would a good estimate. A probability coefficient of 1:1,000.