And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.
Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand (Isaiah 53.9-10)
What did Isaiah mean that Christ would “see his seed” when He would “make his soul an offering for sin” in Gethsemane? Elder Merrill J. Bateman interpreted this passage in the following way: “In the garden and on the cross, Jesus saw each of us,” and therefore “the Savior’s atonement in the garden and on the cross is intimate as well as infinite. Infinite in that it spans the eternities. Intimate in that the Savior felt each person’s pains, sufferings, and sicknesses.” 1
Elder McConkie made this statement:
With our Lord’s seed thus clearly identified, let us note the time and circumstances under which he will see them… In other words, he shall see his seed after he has worked out the infinite and eternal atonement. He shall see his seed after he has sweat great drops of blood in Gethsemane; after he has been crucified by wicked men; after he has said, “It is finished”; after he has voluntarily let his spirit leave its mortal tenement.
What was it that then occurred which enabled him to see his seed? His own declaration, made while on the cross itself, was that he would go that very day to paradise. (Luke 23:40-43.) Peter affirmed that he did in fact go to a world of waiting spirits, to those who were awaiting the day of their resurrection, to those who felt themselves imprisoned because of the long absence of their spirits from their bodies, and that there he preached the gospel. (1 Pet. 3:18-20; 4:6.) In his glorious vision of the redemption of the dead, President Joseph F. Smith saw what transpired when the Messiah visited the departed dead. “The eyes of my understanding were opened, and the Spirit of the Lord rested upon me,” he said, “and I saw the hosts of the dead, both small and great. And there were gathered together in one place an innumerable company of the spirits of the just, who had been faithful in the testimony of Jesus while they lived in mortality. . . . All these had departed the mortal life, firm in the hope of a glorious resurrection, through the grace of God the Father and his Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ.” (D&C 138.11-14)
The promise was that when his soul should be made an offering for sin, then he would see his seed, which seed consisted of all the righteous persons who had departed this life up to that time. How wondrously this prophecy was fulfilled reminds us anew of the depth and glory of the Messianic utterances which deal with Him who has adopted us into his family.
This vision of what Isaiah meant by the Messiah seeing his seed gives sense and meaning to the balance of the prophetic statement: “When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.” (Isa. 53:10.) If this prophecy was meant to be fulfilled during his mortal sojourn on earth, we would list it as having failed. He did not prolong his days; a voluntary death overtook him in the prime of life. Nor did the pleasure of the Lord find full fruition while he dwelt in a state where death lies in wait for the weary pilgrim. It is only in the resurrection that the pleasure of the Lord is perfected, for it is only when “spirit and element” are “inseparably connected” that either God or man can “receive a fulness of joy.” (D&C 93:33.) Thus, having made his soul an offering for sin; having seen his seed—all the righteous dead from the days of Adam to that moment—as they assembled to greet and worship him in the paradise of their Lord; and having thereafter risen in glorious immortality to live and reign forever, our Messiah truly fulfilled the prophetic utterance, for then his days were prolonged forever and the pleasure in his hand was infinite.
There is one other Old Testament passage that speaks of Christ’s seed, this time with a different emphasis. It is not a prophecy in which our Lord sees and rejoices in his righteous family members, but one in which they pledge allegiance to him as he is loved, served, and worshiped by them. As part of a great Messianic Psalm, David looks forward from the sorrow and seeming defeat of the cross to the millennial triumph of truth and righteousness. He speaks of the praise the Crucified One shall receive when “all the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before” him; when “the kingdom is the Lord’s: and he is the governor among the nations.” In that day—”A seed shall serve him. . . . They shall come, and shall declare his righteousness.” (Psalm 22.) Needless to say, those who are now his seed look forward with rejoicing and fervently pray that his kingdom may come and that there will soon be ushered in that day in which all shall love and serve him without molestation or hindrance of any sort. 2
I like Elder McConkie’s interpretation. I would add perhaps one thing. Perhaps Jesus did see his seed during his tribulation, perhaps this is what strengthened him as he suffered such incomprehensible pain. Perhaps it was him seeing you that gave him the strength to carry forward. May we be the same, dedicated and separated from the world, working to preserve his seed. May we encourage each other in our struggle towards the light. 3
Notes
- Merrill J. Bateman, “The Power to Heal from Within,” Ensign, May 1995, 14; emphasis added.
- Elder McConkie, The Promised Messiah, p.359-362.
- Bruce C. Hafen tends to support this idea when he said: Perhaps from a similar perspective, Abinadi said that “when [Christ’s] soul has been made an offering for sin he shall see his seed”—those “whose sins he has borne.” I have wondered if somehow, in the great eternal present tense of the Atonement, the Savior in Gethsemane was able to “see” in some way all those who would accept His sacrifice. And if so, is there some reciprocal gift of sight that would let us “see” or visualize Him as He drinks His bitter cup—for us, and with us? And when He said, “You will remember that I was with you and drank with you of this cup,” could that mean that He “sees” us drink our bitter cups? See: Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel, Volume 16, No. 2, “Peter, Priesthood, the Temple, and Christ’s Atonement,” p. 20.