The Messianic Servant’s Spiritual Seed

This post is a continuation and further elaboration of my following article: Whose Seed Shall the Messiah See?

According to Isaiah 53, the Messianic Servant will be rewarded for his sacrificial death to justify sinners by beholding seed:

“And Jehovah hath delighted to bruise him, He hath made him sick, If his soul doth make an offering for guilt, He seeth seed -- he prolongeth days, And the pleasure of Jehovah in his hand doth prosper.” Isaiah 53:10 Young’s Literal Translation (YLT)

This shows that the Servant will not remain dead, but will live again and see the fruit of his suffering, namely, all the redeemed.

The seed that the Messianic Servant will behold are not his physical offspring but rather spiritual ones. The seed are the Messiah’s disciples, the ones who come to saving faith through him and become his spiritual brothers and sisters:

“But we do see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he suffered. Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters.

“He says, ‘I will declare your name to my brothers and sisters; in the assembly I will sing your praises.’ And again, ‘I will put my trust in him.’ And again he says, ‘Here am I, and the children God has given me.’

“Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham’s descendants. For this reason he had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.” Hebrews 2:9-18 New International Version (NIV)

“There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens everyone. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to what was His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:9-14

“But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’ Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.” Galatians 4:4-7  

In fact, the Greek rendering of this verse provides further corroboration for this interpretation:

“The Lord also is pleased to purge him from his stroke. If ye can give an offering for sin, your soul shall see a long-lived seed (sperma makrobion):” Isaiah 53:10 LXX

According to the Greek New Testament, the sperma are the believers who become God’s children by the work of Christ in destroying the power of the Devil and the influence of sin in them:

“The one who does sin is of the devil, because the devil sins from the beginning. The Son of God was manifested for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil. Everyone who has been born of God does not sin, because His seed (sperma autou) abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God. By this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifested: everyone who does not do righteousness is not of God, as well as the one who does not love his brother.” 1 John 3:8-10

Both Isaiah and the Hebrew Bible identify the disciples and followers of the prophets as their sons/children:  

“Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples. And I will wait for Yahweh who is hiding His face from the house of Jacob; and I will hope for Him. Behold, I and the children whom Yahweh has given me are for signs and wonders in Israel from Yahweh of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion.” Isaiah 8:16-18

Behold, I and the children etc.. They are the disciples, who are as dear to me as children; they shall be for signs and wonders that the Torah will survive [in Israel through them]. (The Complete Jewish Bible with Rashi Commentary: https://www.chabad.org/library/bible_cdo/aid/15939/showrashi/true#v18; emphasis mine)

Here we have a renowned medieval rabbi identifying Isaiah’s sons as the prophet’s disciples, not his biological offspring.

And:  

“Now fifty men of the sons of the prophets went and stood opposite them at a distance, but the two of them stood by the Jordan. And Elijah took his mantle and folded it together and struck the waters, and they were divided here and there, so that the two of them crossed over on dry ground.

“Now it happened when they crossed over, that Elijah said to Elisha, ‘Ask what I shall do for you before I am taken from you.” And Elisha said, ‘Please, let a double portion of your spirit be upon me.’ And he said, ‘You have asked a hard thing. Nevertheless, if you see me when I am taken from you, it shall be so for you; but if not, it shall not be so.’ As they were going along and talking, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire and horses of fire, and it separated the two of them. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind to heaven. And Elisha was seeing this and he was crying out, ‘My father, my father, the chariots of Israel and its horsemen!’ And he saw Elijah no more. Then he took hold of his own clothes and tore them in two pieces. He also took up the mantle of Elijah that fell from him and returned and stood by the bank of the Jordan. And he took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him and struck the waters and said, ‘Where is Yahweh, the God of Elijah?’ Indeed, he himself also struck the waters, and they were divided here and there! And Elisha crossed over.

“Then the sons of the prophets who were at Jericho opposite him saw him and said, ‘The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha.’ And they came to meet him and bowed themselves to the ground before him. Then they said to him, ‘Behold now, there are with your servants fifty excellent men, please let them go and search for your master, lest the Spirit of Yahweh has taken him up and cast him on some mountain or into some valley.’ And he said, ‘You shall not send.’ But when they urged him until he was ashamed, he said, ‘Send.’ They sent therefore fifty men; and they searched three days but did not find him. So they returned to him while he was staying at Jericho; and he said to them, ‘Did I not say to you, “Do not go”?’” 2 Kings 2:7-18

The phrase “sons of the prophets” refers to the order of prophets. These so-called sons were prophets in training who were being discipled by a prophet who, in this case, was Elijah. This is why Elisha called Elijah his father and asked him for a double portion of his Spirit, meaning the Holy Spirit, which is the right of the firstborn son:

“If a man has two wives, the one loved and the other unloved, and both the loved and the unloved have borne him sons, if the firstborn son belongs to the unloved, then it shall be in the day he wills what he has to his sons, he cannot make the son of the loved the firstborn before the son of the unloved, who is the firstborn. But he shall recognize the firstborn, the son of the unloved, by giving him a double portion of all that he has, for he is the first of his vigor; the legal judgment for the firstborn belongs to him.” Deuteronomy 21:15-17

Elisha was basically claiming to be Elijah’s spiritual firstborn son and the heir of his prophetic office.

This concept of disciples being the spiritual children of their leaders/teachers is carried over into the New Testament:

“I do not write these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children. For if you were to have countless tutors in Christ, yet you would not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me. For this reason I have sent to you Timothy, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, and who will remind you of my ways which are in Christ, just as I teach everywhere in every church.” 1 Corinthians 4:14-17  

“Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus according to the commandment of God our Savior, and of Christ Jesus, our hope, To Timothy, my genuine child in the faith: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.” 1 Timothy 1:1-2

“My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous;” 1 John 2:1

Note that converts are described as the spiritual offspring of the one that converted them, and disciples are called the children of those discipling them.   

The foregoing cases strengthen our interpretation that the seed of Isaiah 53:10 are all those who put their trust in the Messiah and submit to his commandments.

Unless indicated otherwise, scriptural references taken from the Legacy Standard Bible (LSB).