Isaiah 53

Watch our October 30, 2022 adult Sunday school class taught by Tom Cantor (Matthew 26:36-46)

Watch our October 30, 2022 adult Sunday school class taught by Tom Cantor from Matthew 26:31-46.

First, Tom read Matthew 26:34-46. He connected this passage to Isaiah 53 and Zechariah 13:7. He noted that the amount of olives was a place where there were not only olive trees but Gethsemane means all of the mail in Hebrew. This was a place where all of us were oppressed. He made this comparison as a sort of parable as to what Jesus was going through and would go through. He also connected it to Romans 11:17.

Tom also compared and contrasted this experience on the mount of olives with the mount of transfiguration.

As an analogy to what Jesus was going through, Tom spoke of some cancer victims in his family and compared this experience to a lethal dose of chemotherapy. Another analogy Tom used was the Halloween celebrators in South Korea Who were crushed by the crowd. Tom also connected this passage to New testament passages Luke 22:53, Matthew 27:46, and John 12:31. He also connected it to Old Testament passages like Psalm 16:3, 18:4-5, 42:7, 55:5, 69:1-3, 88:3, and Jonah (specifically 2:4-5).

Tom also use the comparison of David and Goliath and noted how this would culminate in the fulfillment of Genesis 3:15, the prophecy about the seed of the woman crushing the head of the serpent while being bruised in his heel.

Isaiah 53 Gospel Tract by Tom Cantor

Here is an Isaiah 53 gospel tract by Tom Cantor. This chapter of the Old Testament (Hebrew Bible or Tanakh [Tanach]) been called “The Fifth Gospel.”

Tom Cantor is a Jewish believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. Tom is also a teacher at Mission Valley Community Chapel. He usually teaches our adult Sunday school class. He also gives the sermon on the first, third, and any fifth Sunday of the month.

You can read it at Israel Restoration Ministries

Isaiah 53 Gospel Tract Cover
Isaiah 53 Gospel Tract

This tract presents seven references from this passage to present the gospel of Jesus Christ (the Messiah). It is a good tract that you could share with someone this Passover/Easter season. We also have a variety of gospel tracts at the Chapel.

This tract uses verses from this prophecy to give the sacrifice needed, the sacrifice presented, the sacrifice examined, the sacrifice offered, the sacrifice’s purpose, the sacrifice accepted, and the sacrifice personalized. Its focuses on the Lord Jesus Christ and his work. It concludes with our need for him as our Savior and Lord.

Here here’s a blog post we have on a booklet on Isaiah 53 How a Jew Learned the Meaning of Isaiah 53 by Tom Cantor

Read more posts on Jewish Evangelism

“Science Scripture Salvation Outreach” Local Apologetic/Evangelistic Outreach by David Hall

Here’s another update from David Hall’s apologetic and evangelistic outreach in Balboa Park “Science Scripture Salvation Outreach” on Facebook.

Visit David’s Science Scripture Salvation in the park on Saturdays at the Bea Evenson Fountain area get directions here. Look for the display of posters about science and prophecy like the ones in the below video –

In this video, David shares the Gospel using Messianic prophecies and the Gospel of John

It was from David and the free material at his outreach that I found out about these motion tracts the size of a business card that we will be giving out this Halloween from our homes.

Read “Frequently Asked Questions By Jewish People” by Tom Cantor

Here is the introduction to Tom Cantor’s useful little book “Frequently Asked Questions By Jewish People.” It is available free online at Israel Restoration Ministries

Print copies may be purchased at the Creation and Earth History Museum The book is also available for purchase there in Spanish Preguntas Frecuentes Hechas Por El Pueblo Judio 

“Introduction

This section will demonstrate how the Hebrew Scriptures prove that a Jewish Messiah would be both God and man and come to redeem His people. In order to understand what the Scriptures teach, prejudices against the person of the Lord Jesus Christ must be set aside and the scriptures approached with an open mind and a teachable spirit, allowing God to illuminate and teach through His Word.

“Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” (Psalm 119:105)

The goal of Bible study is to identify the Jewish Messiah and to understand how to attain salvation from the judgment of sin and to become reconciled to God through the Messiah. The Apostle Paul assured Timothy:

And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.  All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.” (2 Timothy 3:15-17)

Paul stated that the Scriptures were at that time able to make Timothy wise unto salvation. The Greek Scriptures, however, were at that time not yet complete, so the only means Timothy had available to learn of salvation were the Hebrew Scriptures. The Old Testament is also called the Hebrew Scriptures or Old Covenant and the New Testament is also called the Greek Scriptures or New Covenant.

The men on the road to Emmaus

On the road to Emmaus, two men conversed with the Jewish Messiah after He rose from the dead. After they informed Him of the preceding days’ events, the Lord Jesus Christ expounded everything about the Messiah to them without using the Greek Scriptures, since they had not yet been written. He said to them:

“O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.” (Luke 24:25-27).

Using only the Hebrew Scriptures, the Lord Jesus Christ was still able to teach the men about Himself. The men then said to each other:

“Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?” (Luke 24:32)

Speaking to the Jews

“Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.” (John 5:39)

The Lord Jesus Christ must have been referring to the Hebrew Scriptures, for not a single page of the Greek Scriptures had been written.

The record of the Ethiopian Eunuch

“And the eunuch answered Philip, and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this? of himself, or of some other man? (Acts 8:34)

The Ethiopian Eunuch bought a copy of the book of Isaiah while in Jerusalem, which he read as he returned home. After reading Isaiah 53, he was confused about the subject of the passage. God intersected the Eunuch’s journey with Philip’s, and when Philip learned of the Eunuch’s confusion, he helped the man to understand, demonstrating his knowledge of Scripture.

“Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus.” (Acts 8:35)

Believers in the Lord Jesus Christ who live in the Scriptures see the Lord Jesus Christ in all the Scriptures and are always ready to answer questions. Philip, not surprised or concerned by the eunuch’s question, was able to explain that Jesus was the Messiah prophesied in Isaiah. Without using the Greek Scriptures, he preached the Lord Jesus as the Savior of mankind. This section is designed for exactly that purpose. Using only the Hebrew Scriptures, the following pages will answer questions commonly asked by Jewish people who want to know who is the Lord Jesus Christ and how can one know He really is God and the Jewish Messiah…”

Continue reading the following topics at Israel Restoration Ministries

  1. Do the Hebrew Scriptures support the tri-unity of the Godhead?
  2. Is the Jewish Messiah God as a man?
  3. Is the Lord Jesus Christ God?
  4. Is it possible for a man to see God the Son?
  5. How can the Jewish Messiah be identified?
  6. Do the Hebrew Scriptures support the virgin birth?
  7. Do all men have a sinful nature?
  8. Is there a mediator between God and man?
  9. What is the difference between a Gentile and a Christian?
  10. What is the difference between Israel and the church?
  11. What is a Jew?
  12. Is it possible to be both Jewish and a Christian?
  13. Why did rabbis never tell Jewish people about Jesus, the Messiah?
  14. Why do some Jewish people doubt the existence of God?
  15. Do the Hebrew Scriptures teach on Heaven and Hell?
  16. What is God’s plan for the salvation of the Jewish people?
  17. Is baptism a Jewish ritual?
  18. Is it worth it for a Jewish person to receive the Lord Jesus Christ?
  19. What is God’s purpose for the Jewish people?
  20. What peace did Messiah bring to earth?
  21. Do Jewish people automatically go to Heaven?
  22. Where was God during the Nazi disaster?
  23. Can man write and say the name of God?
  24. Why is the name of Jesus Christ not found in the Hebrew Scriptures?
  25. Can someone understand the Scriptures without knowing Hebrew?
  26. Is God needed to understand the truths of the Scriptures?
  27. Was an oral law given to the rabbis separate from the written law of Moses?
  28. Who really killed the Lord Jesus Christ?
  29. Haven’t Christians been responsible for persecuting the Jewish people?
  30. Does a Jewish person cease to be Jewish by following the Lord Jesus Christ?
  31. Why do English Bibles translate some prophecy differently than the Hebrew?
  32. Who is the Servant?
  33. Does God ever use numbers to send secret messages (numerology) as the Kabbalah and other Jewish mysticism writings teach?
  34. What does it Mean to Have Eternal Life or to be Saved?

Read “Yom Kippur or Olam Kippur?” by Tom Cantor

Tomorrow, September 16, is Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. Read “Yom Kippur or Olam Kippur?” by Tom Cantor. Tom is a Jewish believer in the Lord Jesus Christ.

“God designed our annual Yom Kippur or Day of Atonement to prepare His Ancient people to receive, by repentance, the eternal atonement or the Olam Kippur.  God’s eternal atonement is a gift from God and this gift is God Himself…”

Read the rest at Israel Restoration Ministries

Tom Cantor usually teaches our adult Sunday school class and gives the sermon on the first, third, and any fifth Sundays of the month. He is currently teaching through the Gospel of Matthew in Sunday school and preaching from the Book of Daniel for worship services.

Watch our August 29, 2021 Worship service, sermon by Tom Cantor on Rumble, too

Watch our August 29, 2021 Worship service including singing, announcements, a report from and prayer for a missionary who is heading back to the field, a musical special, and a sermon by Tom Cantor.

Tom preached from Daniel chapter 9. The topics he covered included the glory of God, Bible prophecy, intercessory prayer, the problem of evil, and Messianic prophecy.

“The glory of God is the explanation of who God is.“ – Tom Cantor

The Chapel emphasizes the Lord Jesus Christ through Missions, a report from and prayer for a missionary who is heading back to the field, Prayer, and the Word of God.

We are a Bible believing Christian church, an Open Plymouth Brethren assembly. All leadership is volunteer, enabling the majority of our giving to go to evangelists and missionaries worldwide. There are opportunities to serve for those interested in participating, including outreach, hospitality, and music.

Watch our August 29, 2021 Worship service, sermon by Tom Cantor

Watch our August 29, 2021 Worship service including singing, announcements, a report from and prayer for a missionary who is heading back to the field, a musical special, and a sermon by Tom Cantor

Tom preached from Daniel chapter 9. The topics he covered included the glory of God, Bible prophecy, intercessory prayer, the problem of evil, and Messianic prophecy.

“The glory of God is the explanation of who God is.“ – Tom Cantor

Local Apologetic/Evangelistic Outreach by David Hall

David Hall runs an apologetic/evangelistic outreach in Balboa Park. He does not go to the Chapel, though his daughter and her family did before they moved north for more musical training – https://www.delamottestrings.com

Here’s a link to an update about his latest outreach https://www.facebook.com/1226810861/posts/10226976149929508/

I (Paul) have had the opportunity to help out with this outreach on a couple of occasion. It’s really great. It includes evidence from creation and the Bible to point people to Christ. It is a unique outreach in that has evidence from creation, prophecy, typology, and legal evidences all pointing people to the Good News of the Lord Jesus Christ. But after all, isn’t that like the kind of reasoning the apostles did in the book of Acts?

If you’re ever in Balboa Park on a Saturday, you can stop by at the Bea Evenson Fountain area https://goo.gl/maps/ZRwbW1CVGSy5neja6

You’ll see a bunch of posters set up with pictures from science and prophecy. They are pictures like the ones on these free hand outs –

How a Jew Learned the Meaning of Isaiah 53 by Tom Cantor

“Even though I was taught the Bible in Synagogue as a Jewish child, I never understood the meaning of Isaiah 53. But the story of a Japanese boy helped me understand the full and beautiful meaning of this Scripture passage.
The following is a true story of a boy in Japan named Nozomi…”

Read the rest of How a Jew Learned the Meaning of Isaiah 53

The author, Tom Cantor, is a Jewish believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, the founder of Israel Restoration Ministries, and a teacher at Mission Valley Community Chapel. He is also the founder of Scantibodies Laboratory.

I find it interesting that the kind act of a Japanese boy helped this Jewish man understand the meaning of Isaiah 53. I think this is because God is the God of all nations, and we are all created in his image. Also, the Lord Jesus Christ is both God and man. When we act in a kind or a good way, we are being godly, which points back to the original, God, and “the image of the invisible God, the Firstborn,” the Lord Jesus who is God in the flesh.

Tom has told another story that gives good advice he learned in Japan. In Japan after a big success with his business, he went out to dinner with some Japanese businessmen. They told him the Japanese proverb, “After a victory, tighten the straps on your helmet.“ This is the advice that after a great victory is often when we’re most vulnerable.

Remember how the Prophet Elijah got so down after his victory over the prophets of Baal when he found out Jezebel was out to kill him? We need to understand that after a victory is when the enemy may attack, and we may feel the least prepared for such an attack. This is good, practical advice to remember.

You can more articles and links on our blog HERE at Jewish evangelism