Isaiah 53 and the Messiah: A Jewish Writer and a Pastor in Honest Dialogue
The short answer: Isaiah 53 describes a servant who is despised, pierced for our transgressions and makes many righteous by bearing their iniquities. Pastor Chris reads it as a portrait of Yeshua; classical Jewish commentary reads it as the suffering of the nation of Israel. In this conversation with Orthodox writer Eliyahu Berkowitz, the two men disagree honestly about Isaiah 53, the new covenant and the identity of the Messiah, and model how to do it with love.
A conversation between friends
Eliyahu Berkowitz, an Orthodox Jewish writer living in Israel, had already joined Pastor Chris twice to talk about the red heifer and the Temple. This time Pastor Chris asked him a direct question: who is Isaiah 53 talking about?
Eliyahu set the tone before answering: "Two things will happen at the end of this. I will still not believe in Jesus, and I will still love you." What followed was one of the most honest Jewish–Christian dialogues on this channel.
Reading Isaiah 53 together
Pastor Chris read the passage aloud: a servant who grew up like a root out of dry ground, with no beauty that we should desire him, despised and rejected, a man of sorrows. "Surely He has borne our sickness and carried our suffering… He was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought our peace was on Him; and by His wounds we are healed" (Isaiah 53:2–5).
He pointed out that the passage speaks of an individual, and that "we" are the ones who considered him stricken by God (53:4) and "we all like sheep have gone astray" (53:6).
The Jewish reading
Eliyahu explained that most classical Jewish commentaries read the servant as the nation of Israel, suffering among the nations. He encouraged everyone to study the passage in Hebrew, which carries nuances English translations miss. He also noted that crucifixion was a Roman punishment, not one Jewish courts were permitted to use.
Even granting that Isaiah 53 speaks of the Messiah, he said, that would not prove the Messiah is Yeshua, and it would certainly not prove the Messiah is divine. For him, that idea contradicts the Shema: "Hear, Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one" (Deuteronomy 6:4), and the statement that "God is not a man, that He should lie" (Numbers 23:19).
Pastor Chris's response
Pastor Chris agreed with Eliyahu on one thing: much of what drove Jewish people away from Yeshua was not Yeshua Himself, but the Roman, Gentile picture of Him that was built up over centuries and stripped Him of His Jewish identity.
He described Yeshua not as a second God beside the One God, but as the visible manifestation of the invisible God, the Word made flesh (John 1:14), "the image of the invisible God" (Colossians 1:15). Eliyahu responded that this description came "light years closer" to something Judaism could discuss than the way the church has often presented it, though he still could not accept a divine Messiah.
Pastor Chris also pointed to prophecies he sees fulfilled in Yeshua, including His birth in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2) and His entry into Jerusalem on a donkey (Zechariah 9:9). And he left Eliyahu with Yeshua's own words: "He who has seen Me has seen the Father" (John 14:9). Either Yeshua told the truth, or He did not, and the resurrection, witnessed by more than five hundred people at once (1 Corinthians 15:6), is the answer.
The new covenant: with whom?
The conversation turned to Jeremiah 31:31–34: "Behold, the days come, says the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah… I will put My law in their inward parts, and I will write it in their heart."
Eliyahu pressed the point: the text names Israel and Judah. Where do Gentiles come in? For him, Jewish identity is tribal and ancestral, not something a person acquires by belief, and Christians who say "we are Israel now" are erasing the Jewish people.
Pastor Chris answered that the covenant was given to Israel and Judah, but its purpose was always to bless all nations through Abraham's seed (Genesis 12:3), and that Gentile believers are grafted into Israel's olive tree, not given a separate tree or a replacement one (Romans 11:17–18). He also believes many descendants of the scattered northern tribes are among the nations today, unaware of their heritage.
Where they agreed
Replacement theology is wrong. The church never replaced Israel.
Yeshua must be understood within His Jewish world and the Torah, not through later Roman traditions.
The Sabbath and the feasts of the Lord matter; God calls them "My appointed times" (Leviticus 23:2).
How Christians treat Israel and the Jewish people is a real test of faith in these days.
Even if we totally disagree on the deepest level, if it's in love and respect, it brings us closer.
Planting seeds
Is it important to Pastor Chris that Eliyahu accepts Yeshua? He answered honestly: no one can change another person's heart. His task is to plant seeds and let God bring the growth (1 Corinthians 3:6). "My sheep hear My voice" (John 10:27).
Isaiah 53 ends not with death but with life: after the suffering of His soul, the servant will see light and be satisfied, and His days will be prolonged (Isaiah 53:10–11). Pastor Chris believes that describes the empty tomb, and that one day the Messiah who was pierced will be recognized by His own people (Zechariah 12:10).
Frequently asked questions
Who is Isaiah 53 about?
Christians read Isaiah 53 as a prophecy of the Messiah's suffering, fulfilled in Yeshua. Classical Jewish commentary generally reads the servant as the nation of Israel.
Why do Jewish people not accept Jesus as Messiah?
In this dialogue, Eliyahu Berkowitz says the main obstacle is the belief that the Messiah is divine, which he sees as contradicting the Shema (Deuteronomy 6:4).
Who is the new covenant made with?
Jeremiah 31:31 names the house of Israel and the house of Judah. Pastor Chris teaches that Gentile believers are grafted into Israel's olive tree through Yeshua (Romans 11:17–18), not replacing Israel.
What is replacement theology?
The belief that the church has replaced Israel in God's plan. Both Pastor Chris and Eliyahu reject it.
Take the next step
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