Isaiah 53 and Zechariah 12:10 are key Old Testament Scriptures that prophesied the coming of Jesus Christ. Christianity is, of course, the fulfilment of Judaism. The Jewish people were, and still are, awaiting their Messiah. When Jesus came and fulfilled the prophecy, many Jews recognised Him as such and converted to Christianity. However, others, notably the Pharisees, rejected Him believing that their 'messiah' would bring earthly rewards.
That God chose to appear in the flesh as a Jew indicates the important and unique role those people have in the history of mankind. However, it's not just the Jewish prophets who were foretold about the coming of Jesus! In Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis wrote this about God's plan for us:
'He sent the human race what I call good dreams: I mean those queer stories scattered all through the heathen religions about a god who dies and comes to life again and, by his death, has somehow given new life to men.'
Lewis argued that God wasn't idle with the rest of humanity whilst focusing on the Israelites; instead, He planted "splinters of light" in heathen mythologies, such as dying-and-rising gods like Osiris, Adonis, or Baldr, which echo the Christian narrative of sacrifice and resurrection. These weren't meant to compete with the Gospel but to prime the human imagination for when the myth became fact in Christ.William Stukeley, a pioneer of archeology, interpreted pagan beliefs such as triadic deities, soul immortality, or sacrificial rites, as shadowy anticipations of Christian truths, which facilitated the conversion of ancient Britons.
Isaiah 53
Who has believed our message
and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by mankind,
a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.
4 Surely he took up our pain
and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
8 By oppression[a] and judgment he was taken away.
Yet who of his generation protested?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
for the transgression of my people he was punished.[b]
9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in his mouth.
10 Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the Lord makes[c] his life an offering for sin,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.
11 After he has suffered,
he will see the light of life[d] and be satisfied[e];
by his knowledge[f] my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,[g]
and he will divide the spoils with the strong,[h]
because he poured out his life unto death,
and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors.
Zechariah 12:10
“And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son."
