Subject: Isaiah 52:14 has "my people" - why? |
Bible Note: Most Bibles translate Cain using the term "my punishment" in Genesis 4:13. And 1 John 3:12, 15 indicate Cain was "of the evil one and slew his brother," and "everyone who hates his brother is a murderer; and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him." So, he was certainly punished by God and destroyed (perished). (2 Peter 3:9) The unbelieving Jews were punished also. When saying "remain unpunished," I meant they would be called to account for their rejection, although God's people. Regarding the expression "God's people," Isaiah goes on to say: "We did not esteem Him. Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried; yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray." (Isaiah 53:3-6) So, Jesus was sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, but, of course, those in John 8:44 followed the course of the Devil, because they initially believed, but then rejected the Messiah. Yet, in Acts 2:36-38, 41, Peter invites "all the house of Israel," whom he said "crucified" Jesus, to "repent" and "those who had received his word were baptized." So, it depends what we understand "God's people" to encompass. Jews who knowingly reject Jesus and the truth prove to be not; those who repent at the invitation are. I understood it as refering to the "house" of Israel as a nation by citing Matthew 23:38, not as individuals as in John 8. (See Romans 9:6-8; 11:1-5, 14.) |