Since Isaiah 53 is a prophecy about the coming of Christ, why is it written in the past tense?<\/p>\n\t
One way God emphasizes the certainty of what He declares about the future is to express it as if it has already occurred. Scholars call this the “prophetic perfect tense.”<\/p>\n
Speaking of the future destruction of Tyre, God spoke of it as already being destroyed:<\/p>\n
“By the multitude of your iniquities, in the unrighteousness of your trade you profaned your sanctuaries. Therefore I have brought fire from the midst of you; It has consumed you, and I have turned you to ashes on the earth in the eyes of all who see you. All who know you among the peoples are appalled at you; you have become terrified and you will cease to be forever<\/em>” (Ezekiel 28:18-19).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
What would happen to the Messiah was a certainty, which is why Isaiah 53 is in the past tense.<\/p>\n\t
Response:<\/h2>\n
Thank you for the clarification.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: Since Isaiah 53 is a prophecy about the coming of Christ, why is it written in the past tense? Answer: One way God emphasizes the certainty of what He declares about the future is to express it as if it has already occurred. Scholars call this the “prophetic perfect tense.” Speaking of the future…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[169],"class_list":["post-97872","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-prophecy"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3281,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-could-peter-say-that-god-has-given-us-everything-through-the-bible-prior-to-the-bibles-completion\/","url_meta":{"origin":97872,"position":0},"title":"How could Peter say that God has given us everything through the Bible prior to the Bible’s completion?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 14, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Was the New Testament written prior to A.D. 70? I realize scholars claim the Book of Revelation was written around A.D. 95, but if that were so, does it pertain to life and godliness? I Peter 1:3 says, \"According as his divine power hath given unto us all things\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":67907,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/has-that-which-is-perfect-always-been-the-bible\/","url_meta":{"origin":97872,"position":1},"title":"Has “that which is perfect” always been the Bible?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 3, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, I have a question regarding whether \"that which is perfect\" has always been the New Testament. Before the question, let's consider some verses of Scripture, Jas 1:25 But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2067,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-we-experience-god-in-a-present-way-or-only-in-the-past-tense\/","url_meta":{"origin":97872,"position":2},"title":"Do we experience God in a present way or only in the past tense?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 28, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Good day, Is the church not to experience God in a \"present way,\" or does it only need to be in a past tense manner through the Bible? Thanks. Answer: I had difficulty with your question because it was worded vaguely. The meaning changes depending on how you define\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11386,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/could-the-perfect-be-the-kingdom\/","url_meta":{"origin":97872,"position":3},"title":"Could the perfect be the kingdom?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 3, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Please, what would be wrong to interpret \"that which is in part\" in I Corinthians 13:10 to mean the kingdom of God instead of the Word of God? Answer: \"Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":42583,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-do-you-say-the-blood-moon-prophecies-are-false-when-they-are-coming-true\/","url_meta":{"origin":97872,"position":4},"title":"Why do you say the blood moon prophecies are false when they are coming true?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 17, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I've just read a column on your website about the four blood moon\u00a0and I was confused. How can it be a\u00a0false prophecy when it had occurred on the exact date that pastor John Hagee had prophesied years ago? I am a member of a church of Christ and in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":35825,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-the-fact-that-blasphemed-is-in-the-aorist-tense-make-a-difference\/","url_meta":{"origin":97872,"position":5},"title":"Does the fact that “blasphemed” is in the aorist tense make a difference?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 14, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, I have looked at Luke 12:10 in Greek. I have been trouble by this because \"blasphemed\" appears to be in that past tense in English and in Young's Literal Translation of the Bible. In Greek, the tense is Aorist participle. I am not sure exactly what that means.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97872","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97872"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97872\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97872"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}