Hi Everyone,

Hope all is well in your world. I am studying the “spirits in prison” conundrum and am getting some clarity as I move along your site, for which I am more grateful than words can express. I came across Isa 53:8 which seems to suggest that Christ was in prison. Could you add your thoughts to this scripture? I appreciate as always the fantastic contribution y’all are making to the study of God’s word.

Yours in Christ,
J____

Hi J____,

Thank you for your question. It is very encouraging to know that you are being blessed by what you are reading.’
You ask about the meaning of this verse:

Isa 53:8  He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.

This verse, like all prophecy of the scriptures, has an is, was and will be characteristic to it which causes it to apply to both Christ and to each of us. This is what we are told about Christ and His Words;

Joh 6:63  It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

Christ’s words are spirit.

Rev 1:4  John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace [ be] unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne;

Both Christ and His word Are, Were and Will Be true and applicable in every generation of mankind. Christ both literally and spiritually came up out of Egypt.

Mat 2:15  And was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son.

And Christ was literally and spiritually in prison as Isa 53:8 declares.

Mat 26:48  Now he that betrayed him gave them a sign, saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is he: hold him fast.
Mat 26:49  And forthwith he came to Jesus, and said, Hail, master; and kissed him.
Mat 26:50  And Jesus said unto him, Friend, wherefore art thou come? Then came they, and laid hands on Jesus, and took him.

Being “in prison” is not a matter of being in a certain facility labeled ‘Jerusalem Prison’. Being in prison is simply a matter of being restrained. “Then came they, and laid hands on Jesus, and took him.” So Christ was, in that sense, literally imprisoned. But Christ’s imprisonment is ongoing, simply because both He and His word are ongoing and of an “is, was and will be” nature.

Mat 24:35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

Until we learn the depth of the truth of the words of this next verse, we will never understand how Christ “is, was and will be” in prison.

Act 22:8  And I [ Saul of Tarsus, who later became the apostle Paul] answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest.

Saul of Tarsus had supervised the death of Stephen, but he had never physically laid a hand on Jesus of Nazareth. Yet according to Jesus Himself, Saul of Tarsus was persecuting “Jesus of Nazareth”. Who is going to argue with Christ? It will, Lord willing, never be me! If Jesus of Nazareth says that you and I are Jesus of Nazareth, then that is good enough for me. This isn’t the first time He had said this. He also said that you and I have “visited Him in prison”.

Mat 25:31  When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:
Mat 25:32  And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth [ his] sheep from the goats:
Mat 25:33  And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.
Mat 25:34  Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
Mat 25:35  For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
Mat 25:36  Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
Mat 25:37  Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed [ thee]? or thirsty, and gave [ thee] drink?
Mat 25:38  When saw we thee a stranger, and took [ thee] in? or naked, and clothed [ thee]?
Mat 25:39  Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?
Mat 25:40  And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done [ it] unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done [ it] unto me.

There it is. I hope this all helps you to see that you may never actually go to a physical prison, but if you ever minister to any of the body of Christ, you are ministering to Christ Himself, and if that ministry helps to lead that person out of the darkness that is this world into the glorious freedom that is Christ, then you have “visited Christ while He was in prison”.

Luk 4:18  The Spirit of the Lord [ is] upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
Heb 13:3  Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; [ and] them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body.

Your brother in Christ,
Mike