Bishop Alexander (Mileant).
Translated by Nicholas Semyanko/ Donald Shufran
Contents: Introduction. Survey of the Messianic prophesies. The Prophecies within the Books of Moses. The Prophecies of King David. The Prophecies of Isaiah. The Suffering Messiah. The Resurrection of the Messiah. The Prophecies of Daniel. The Last and “Lesser” Prophets. Awaiting the coming of the Messiah. The Fulfillment of the Old Testament Prophecies. Distorted Notions concerning the Messiah.
Within the Appendix: Prophecies concerning the Church and New Testament Times, Two Paschas (Easters). The Forthcoming Conversion of the Jewish folks to Christ.
The Index of the Messianic Prophecies a) by content material, and b) by creator in chronological order.
The central theme of the Old Testament Holy Books is the coming of the Messiah and the institution of the Kingdom of God among people. We gathered herein the main Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah, the Savior of the World, with the intention of discussing their contents and to show how they were fulfilled within the Lord Jesus Christ and in the brand new Testament Church.
Despite their great antiquity, the Old Testament prophecies have on no account misplaced their actuality. They assist the believing individual to understand their religion more deeply and totally. To the unbelieving individual, they function proof of the existence of God and His participation in human life. Just the fact that the prophets might prophesy the occurrences of the longer term, with such accuracy and with such detail, tons of and 1000’s of years upfront, offers witness that God spoke by them. For the Jews who acknowledge God and seek the reality, we hope this booklet will assist them to know more clearly the Holy Writings of their nice ancestors and to see Who, in accordance with the prophets, is their lengthy-awaited King and Savior.
Besides that, the achievement of the Old Testament prophecies within the Lord Jesus Christ, as we shall see, precludes any possibility of another messiah. There could only be one True Messiah He Who has already come. All other pretenders to this title, up to now and in the future, are impostors, frauds and “wolves in sheeps’ clothing.” The final false-Messiah, who will come previous to the end of the world, would be the Antichrist. In accordance with the prophecies of the historical prophets and apostles, many individuals will come to believe in him, as an ingenious chief and a “Savior” of mankind. But he will carry solely grief and destruction to the world.
Survey of the
The Old Testament books, as we shall see, are stuffed with prophecies concerning the Messiah and His blessed Kingdom. The aim of the Old Testament prophecies was to arrange the Jews, and through them all of mankind, for the coming of the Savior of the world, in order that when He got here, He might be acknowledged and they might consider in Him. Yet, the task of the prophets was troublesome for several causes. Initially, the Messiah was to be not solely an amazing particular person, but at the identical time God, or – the God-individual. Because of this, the prophets had been confronted with the task of showing the Godly nature of the Messiah, however in such a manner, that it didn’t give rise to polytheism, to which historical people have been so prone, Jews included.
Secondly, the prophets had to show that the work of the Messiah would consist not solely of the external enhancements of dwelling situations: within the abolition of sickness, dying, poverty, social inequality, crime and so forth. The objective of His coming into the world in the primary place was to assist individuals rid themselves of interior evils – sin and passions – and to indicate the strategy to God. Truly, physical evil is barely the result of ethical evil – sinful deprivation. Why even a wound can’t be healed by making use of grafted pores and skin to it, before the infection is cleaned out. For that reason the Messiah would have to begin the act of salvation of individuals by destroying evil at its very root – in the soul of the particular person. Without this no external, synthetic or obligatory modifications in residing situations might deliver happiness to humanity.
However, spiritual rebirth is not possible with out the free will and active participation of the particular person himself. From this stem all the difficulties of the Messiah’s task: an individual should be saved by means of his personal voluntary participation! For the reason that particular person is offered with the freedom to decide on between good and evil, then it follows that common happiness isn’t possible, as lengthy because the righteous and sinners coexist. In the long run there must come a range between one or the other. Only after God’s interference within the destiny of humanity by universal judgment and choice, can a brand new life begin for the spiritually reborn, in which happiness, peace, eternal life and different blessings will reign. The Old Testament prophecies encompass all the facets of this lengthy and advanced spiritual-physical process associated with the coming of the Messiah.
After all, the majority of individuals during the Old Testament times could not ascend to a transparent understanding of the purpose of the approaching of the Messiah. For that reason God, by means of the prophets, gradually revealed to people the identity of the Messiah and the order of His Kingdom, in accordance with the diploma to which people, utilizing the spiritual experience of previous generations, reached a better spiritual degree. The period of messianic prophecies encompassed many millennia – starting with the foreparents Adam and Eve and extending to occasions close to the approaching of the Lord Jesus Christ, in the beginning of our period.
In the Old Testament books, several hundred prophecies concerning the Messiah and His blessed Kingdom can be found. They are scattered all through almost all the books of the Old Testament, beginning with the Five Books of Moses and ending with the final prophets Zachariah and Malachi. The Prophet Moses, King David, the Prophets Isaiah, Daniel and Zachariah wrote essentially the most about the Messiah. We’ll mention only crucial prophecies, and along the best way will stress those major ideas that are touched upon by them. Setting these prophecies, for essentially the most half, in chronological order, we shall see how they steadily revealed to the Jews newer and newer details about the approaching Messiah: about His God-particular person nature, about His character and course of action, about many details of His life. Sometimes, the messianic prophecies consisted of symbols and allegories. We’ll focus on these throughout the examination of the prophecies.
Often the prophets in their prophetic visions compound events which may be separated one from the other by many eras and even millennia into one picture. Those studying the prophets’ writings should turn into used to seeing these events in such a multi-period perspective, by which the beginning, middle and end of a long and complex spiritual course of are proven concurrently.
The phrase “messiah” (meshiah) – is from the Hebrew and means “anointed,” i.e. anointed by the Holy Spirit. Within the Greek translation it is written “Christos.” In historic instances, the anointed have been known as kings, prophets and High Priests, because throughout their ordination to those positions holy oil was poured on their heads, as the symbol of the grace of the Holy Spirit, which they received so as to efficiently execute the duty placed on them. Within the capacity of a proper title, the prophets all the time related the phrase “Messiah” to the sure Anointed of God, the Savior of the world. We’ll use the title Messiah, Christ and Savior alternately, having in view One and the identical Being.
within the Books of Moses
The Prophet Moses, residing 1500 years earlier than the birth of Christ, recorded in his books probably the most historic prophecies about the Savior of the world, which within the course of many millennia had been kept through the oral legends of the Jews. Our foreparents, Adam and Eve, heard the primary prediction of the Messiah in Eden, proper after their savoring of the forbidden fruit. Then God instructed the satan, who had taken on the appearance of a snake: “And I will put enmity between thee and the girl, and between thy seed and her seed: it shall bruise [destroy] thy head, and thou shalt bruise His heel” (Gen. 3:15). With these words the Lord passed judgment on the devil and consoled our foreparents with the promise that at some time a Descendant of the Woman will strike the “head” itself of the snake-devil, who tempted them. But along with this, the woman’s Descendant Himself will suffer from the snake, who will as if “bruise his heel,” i.e., will cause Him physical suffering. Noteworthy additionally on this first prophecy is the nomenclature of the Messiah because the “Seed of the Woman,” which points to His extraordinary birth of a Woman, Who will conceive without the participation of a man. Here the absence of a bodily father is important contemplating in Old Testament instances descendants have been always recognized paternally, not maternally. The given prophecy about the extraordinary beginning of the Messiah is supported with a later prophecy of Isaiah (7:14), which we’ll discuss additional on. Based on the translations of the Targums of Onkelos (quite a few translations or paraphrases of the various divisions of the Hebrew Old Testament within the Aramaic language) and of Jonathan, the Jews at all times thought-about the prophecy of the Seed of the Woman as pertaining to the Messiah. This prophecy about bruising was fulfilled, when the Lord Jesus Christ, having suffered on the Cross along with his body, defeated the devil – that “old serpent” (Rev. 20:2) and took away from him any energy over the human race.
The second prophecy in regards to the Messiah is also discovered within the book of Genesis and speaks of the blessing, which can lengthen to all individuals from Him. This is spoken to the righteous Abraham, when he, by his willingness to convey his solely son Isaac as a sacrifice, revealed his excessive devotion and obedience to God. Then God via an Angel promised to Abraham: “And in thy Seed shall all of the nations of the earth be blessed; as a result of thou hast obeyed my voice” (Gen. 22:18).
In the unique textual content of this prophecy the word “Seed” stands within the singular, thus indicating, that on this promise the question is not about many, but about one particular Descendant, from Whom the blessing will extend to all individuals. The Jews at all times attributed this prophecy to the Messiah, understanding it, however, in the sense that the blessing must prolong mainly on the chosen folks. Within the sacrifice, Abraham was the prototype of God the Father, and Isaac – of the Son of God, who would endure on the cross. This parallel is talked about within the Gospel, the place it is said: “For God so beloved the world, that he gave his solely begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him mustn’t perish, however have eternal life” (John 3:16). The importance of this prophecy about the blessing of all nations within the Descendant of Abraham is evident from the actual fact, that God confirmed His promise with a vow.
The third prophecy concerning the Messiah was pronounced by the patriarch Jacob, the grandson of Abraham, when earlier than his demise, he blessed his 12 sons and predicted the future destiny of his descendants. For Judah he predicted: “The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his ft, until Shiloh come, and unto him shall the gathering of the folks be” (Gen. 49:10). In accordance with the translation of the 70 interpreters this prophecy has the following alternative: “until comes He, to Whom it’s given (decided) to return, and He will be the hope of nations.” Here the scepter symbolizes power. This prophecy states that the descendants of Judah may have their own leaders and lawgivers until the time when the Messiah-Shiloh (Conciliator) comes. The word Shiloh (Conciliator) reveals a new feature within the characterization of His activities: He will get rid of the enmity between folks and God, arising as a result of sin (the Angels sang about this elimination of hostility between heaven and earth when Christ was born: “Glory to God in the very best, and on earth PEACE, good will towards men” (Luke 2:14).
The Patriarch Jacob lived more than two thousand years before the birth of Christ. From then on the tribe of Judah was King David, the descendant of Judah, dwelling more than one thousand years earlier than the delivery of Christ. From then on, the tribe of Judah had its kings, then, after the Babylonian captivity, its leaders right up to Herod the good, who ascended the throne in Judea in 47 B.C. Herod, being the son of the Idumean Antipater, was the first overseas king over the Jews. During his time the tribe of Judah completely misplaced its self-governing status and Jesus Christ was born as predicted.
It could be fitting at this point to mention an historical fragment found in Mishnah, one of the oldest parts of the Talmud, the place it says that the members of the Sanhedrin [in 30 Ad, when the fitting of criminal justice was taken from them, more than 40 years before the destruction of the temple], clothed in rags and tearing at their hair, cried: “Woe to us, woe to us: lengthy has the king from Judah been impoverished, however the promised Messiah has not but come!” Of course, they expressed themselves this manner because they did not acknowledge in Jesus Christ that Peacemaker, whom the patriarch Jacob had prophesied.
It ought to be confused that because two millennia have passed since the tribe of Judah has lost all its civil authority and the Jews as a tribal entity have lengthy intermixed by blood with other Hebrew tribes and even different nations, to use the given prophesy of Jacob to any new candidate to the messianic title – is utterly impossible.
The next prophesy concerning the Messiah represented as a “Star” rising from the descendants of Jacob, was pronounced by the prophet Balaam, a contemporary of the prophet Moses, greater than 1500 years BC. At that time the princes of Moab invited the prophet Balaam to curse the Hebrew nation, which threatened to invade their land. The princes hoped that this curse by the prophet would help them defeat the Israelites. The prophet Balaam, trying on the approaching Hebrew folks from a hill, in a prophetic vision also saw afar the distant Descendant of this individuals. In spiritual ecstasy, as a substitute of a curse, Balaam exclaimed: “I shall see him, however not now: I shall behold him, but not nigh: there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the kids of Sheth” (Numbers 24:17). The symbolic naming of the Messiah as a star and sceptre point to His guiding and hierarchical significance. Balaam foretells the defeat of the princes of Moab and the descendants of Seth in an allegorical method, having in mind right here the defeat of the powers of evil, taking up arms in opposition to the Kingdom of the Messiah. In this fashion, the current prophesy of Balaam supplements the more ancient prophesy of the bruising of the head of the snake (Gen. 3:15). He will bruise not solely the “serpent,” but in addition his servants.
The prophesy of Balaam about the Star from the tribe of Judah gave delivery to the conviction, among the Israelites (as effectively as the Persians, from whom came the clever men of the Gospel), that the approaching of the Messiah will be prefaced by the appearance of a vibrant star in the sky. Such an unusually brilliant star, as we know, really began to shine within the sky not lengthy before the delivery of Christ.
The fifth and last prophecy about the Messiah, which we find in the books of Moses, is claimed by God to the prophet Moses himself, when the earthly life of this nice leader and lawgiver of the Hebrew nation was coming to its close. The Lord promised Moses, that at a while He will raise as much as the Hebrew nation another Prophet, much like him in significance and spiritual power, and the He (God) will converse through the lips of this Prophet. “I will increase them up a Prophet from amongst their brethren and will put My phrases in his mouth; and he shall speak unto all of them that I shall command Him. And it shall come to go, that whosoever won’t hearken unto my words which he shall communicate in my name, I would require it of him” (Deut. 18:18-19). The postscript, made at the top of the e book Leviticus by the contemporaries of Ezdra more than 450 years B.C., bears witness to the fact that, among the various prophets with which the Hebrew nation abounded during the course of its many-centuried historical past, not one prophet may very well be found comparable to Moses. It follows, then, that the Hebrew individuals from the time of Moses anticipated to see in the individual of the Messiah the best prophet-lawgiver.
Ralbag (Gersonides, historical rabbinik literature) comments on the above text: “A prophet from the midst of thee. In reality the Messiah is such a Prophet… “
To sum up the aforementioned prophecies recorded by Moses, we see, that lengthy earlier than the formation of the Hebrew nation, still in the patriarchal time, the ancestors of the Jews knew many worthwhile and important info concerning the Messiah, specifically: that He will defeat the devil and his servants, will carry a blessing to all nations; He will be the Peacemaker and Leader, and His Kingdom will be eternal. This information was passed on to many heathen nations from the Hebrews, the Hindus, Persians, Chinese, and later – the Greeks. It was handed on in the type of people tales and legends. True, with the passing of ages the notion of the Savior of the world among the heathen peoples turned dulled and distorted, however still the unity of the origin of those legends is certain.
of King David
After the demise of Moses and the occupation of the Promised Land by the Jews, the prophecies in regards to the Messiah disappear for a lot of centuries. A new sequence of prophecies about the Messiah come up in the course of the reign of David, a descendant of Abraham, Jacob and Judah, who ruled the Hebrew nation greater than 1000 years BC. In these new prophecies the Kingly and Godly qualities of Christ are revealed. The Lord guarantees David through the lips of Nathan to ascertain an eternal Kingdom in the Personage of His Descendant: “I will establish his throne for ever. I will likely be his Father, and he shall be my Son” (1 Chron. 17:12-13).
This prophecy concerning the eternal Kingdom of the Messiah is paralleled by a collection of prophecies, which should be discussed more completely. So as to know and to correctly assess the which means of these prophecies, it is essential to no less than briefly familiarize oneself with the life of King David. King David, having been anointed by God as a king and prophet, was the prototype of the upper King and Prophet – Christ.
David was the youngest son of the massive family of the poor shepherd Jesse. When the God-despatched prophet Samuel got here to the house of Jesse, in an effort to anoint the king for Israel, the prophet thought to anoint one of many older sons. However the Lord revealed to the prophet that the younger son, still a younger boy, David, is chosen by Him for this high service. Then, in obedience to God, Samuel pours the holy oil on the top of the youngest son, thus performing the anointment to the throne. From that moment, David became the Anointed of God, the messiah. But David didn’t immediately set about to truly govern. A protracted highway of ordeals and unfair persecution lay earlier than him, put forth by the then King Saul, who had a deep hatred of David. The rationale for this hatred was jealousy, as a result of as a boy David defeated the previously unbeaten Philistine big Goliath with a small rock and thus gained victory for the Hebrew army. After this the folks said: “Saul hath slain his 1000’s, and David his ten thousands” (1 Sam. 18:7). Only his robust faith in God the Intercessor helped David endure all the various persecutions and dangers to which he was subjected by Saul and his servants within the course of nearly 15 years. Often, when wandering for months within the wild and impassable desert, King David would pour out his grief to God in impressed psalms. With time, the psalms of David grew to become an essential factor and an embellishment of each the Old Testament, and later in the new Testament religious providers.
Upon being enthroned in Jerusalem after the loss of life of Saul, king David turned probably the most excellent king ever to rule Israel. He had mixed within himself many priceless qualities: love for the people, fairness, knowledge, courage, and, most significantly – a strong religion in God. Before deciding any state query, King David at all times zealously prayed to God, asking for understanding. The Lord all the time helped David and blessed his 40-yr reign with major successes, in each inner and exterior politics.
But David didn’t evade severe ordeals. His deepest grief was the army uprising, headed by his own son Absalom, who wished to develop into king before his time. In this instance, David experienced all the bitterness of villainous ingratitude and treachery amongst his subjects. But, as before with Saul, faith and hope in God helped David. Absalom died ingloriously, although David tried to save lots of him by all means. He additionally forgave the other mutineers. Afterward David clearly portrayed his enemies’ senseless and insidious revolt in his Messianic psalms.
While attending to the fabric well-being of his folks, David imparted nice which means to its spiritual life. Often he headed religious holidays, bringing sacrifices to God for the Hebrew people and putting together his inspired religious hymns – psalms. Being a king and a prophet, and likewise to a sure extent a priest, King David grew to become the prototype (a mannequin), as a precursor of the greatest of Kings, Prophet and High Priest – Christ the Savior, the descendant of David. The non-public experience of King David, and also the poetic reward with which he was endowed, gave him the chance to explain the character and feat of the approaching Messiah in a whole row of psalms with unprecedented readability and vividness. For instance, in his 2nd psalm king David foretells the enmity and uprising against the Messiah on the a part of his enemies. This psalm is written within the type of a discussion among three entities: David, God the Father, and the Son of God, anointed by the Father to the Kingdom. Listed here are the primary excerpts from this psalm:
King David: “Why do the heathen rage, and the people think about a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, towards the Lord, and in opposition to his anointed.”
God the Father: “Yet have I set My king upon my holy hill of Zion.”
The Son of God: “I will declare the decree: the Lord hath stated unto Me, Thou artwork My Son; at the present time have I begotten thee.”
King David: “Kiss the Son, lest He be indignant, and ye perish from the way” (verses 1-2, 6-7 and 12).
What’s most remarkable in this psalm is the reality, revealed right here for the first time, that the Messiah is the Son of God, the Hill of Zion, on which stood the temple and the city of Jerusalem, symbolizing the Kingdom of the Messiah – the Church.
David writes more about the Godliness of the Messiah in several subsequent psalms. For instance, in the 45th psalm David, addressing himself on the coming Messiah, cries out:
“Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: the scepter of thy kingdom is a right scepter. Thou lovest righteousness and hatest wickedness. Therefore God, thy God has anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows” (verses 6-7).
Revealing the difference between Faces in God, between the God anointing and the God anointed, the given prophecy laid the foundation for religion in the Triad (having three-hypostatic Persons).
Psalm 40 factors out the insufficiency of Old Testament sacrifices for redemption (forgiveness) of human sins and bears witness to the impending sufferings of the Messiah. In this psalm the Messiah Himself speaks by way of the lips of David:
“Sacrifice and offering thou (God the Father) didst not want; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required. Then mentioned I, Lo, I come: in the scroll of the Book (in the pre-eternal determination of God) it’s written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God” (verses 6-8).
A separate chapter might be devoted to the redeeming sacrifice of the Messiah. Here we’ll only mention that, in accordance with the 110th psalm, the Messiah shouldn’t be solely the sacrifice, He’s the Priest offering the sacrifice to God – Himself. Within the 110th psalm are repeated the primary thoughts of the 2nd psalm in regards to the Godliness of the Messiah and the hostility towards Him. But several new pieces of data are added, for example, the start of the Messiah, the Son of God, which is portrayed as a pre-eternal prevalence. Christ – is eternal, as is His Father.
“The Lord mentioned unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool… from the womb of the morning: thou has the dew of thy youth. The Lord hath sworn, and is not going to repent, Thou are a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek” (As defined by the Apostle Paul, Melchizedek, about whom it is written within the e-book Genesis 14:18, was the prototype of the Son of God, the eternal priest, see Hebrews chapter 7).
Psalm 72 presents itself as a hymn of reward of the Messiah. In it we see the Messiah in His full glory. This glory can be realized at the end of the instances, when the Messianic Kingdom will triumph and evil might be destroyed. Listed below are a number of verses from this joyful psalm.
“Yea, all the kings shall fall down before him: all nations shall serve him. For he shall deliver the needy when he crieth; the poor additionally, and him that hath no helper… His identify shall endure ceaselessly, his title shall be continued as lengthy as the sun, and men shall be blessed in him, all nations shall call him blessed” (Ps. 72:11-12, 17).
The Kingdom of the Messiah will be discussed extra in depth within the appendix. For now, in order that the reader could have an concept how huge and detailed are the prophecies about the Messiah in the psalms, we will cite a listing of those prophecies in the order of their content: About the approaching of the Messiah – psalms 17, 49, 67, 95-97. Concerning the Kingdom of the Messiah – 2, 17, 19, 20, 45, 65, 72, 110, 132. In regards to the priesthood of the Messiah – 110. About the sufferings, demise and resurrection of the Messiah – 16, 22, 31, 41, 41, 65, 68, 98. In psalms 41, fifty five and 109 – about Judas the traitor. In regards to the ascension of Christ to Heaven – 68. Christ – the foundation of the Church – 118. Concerning the glory of the Messiah – 8. Concerning the last judgment – 97. Concerning the inheritance of the righteous eternal peace – 94.
In order to understand the prophetic psalms one must keep in mind that David, like different nice righteous men within the Old Testament, represented the prototype of Christ. For that reason typically, when he writes in the primary individual, as if about himself, for example, about sufferings (Psalm 22), or about glory (in regards to the resurrection from the useless in Psalm 16), they refer to not David, but to Christ. The 16th and 22nd psalms shall be studied in additional detail in Chapter 5.
In this way, the messianic prophecies of David, recorded in his God-impressed psalms, laid the muse for faith within the Messiah as a true and coexistent Son of God, King, High Priest and Expiator of Mankind. The affect of the psalms on the faith of the Old Testament Jews was significantly nice, because of the large use of psalms in personal life and religious companies of the Hebrew folks.
of Isaiah
As we talked about earlier, the Old Testament prophets had the immense job of holding the Hebrew nation believing in a single God, and to arrange the muse for religion in the coming Messiah as a Being who had, moreover the human, also a Godly nature. The prophets had to speak in regards to the Godliness of Christ in such a approach that it would not be understood by the Jews in heathen phrases, that’s, as polytheism. Because of this the Old Testament prophets revealed the key of the Godliness of the Messiah gradually, in preserving with the measure of perception in a single God instilled in the Hebrew nation.
King David was the primary to prophesy concerning the Godliness of Christ. After him there began a 250 year lull in prophecies, and the prophet Isaiah, living over seven centuries before the beginning of Christ, began a brand new series of prophecies about Christ, wherein His Godly nature is enormously manifested.
Isaiah is essentially the most outstanding prophet within the Old Testament. The e book written by him, consists of such a large number of prophecies about Christ and about occurrences in the brand new Testament, that many call Isaiah the Old Testament Evangelist. Isaiah prophesied throughout the bounds of Jerusalem through the reign of the Judean king Ozziah, Ahaz, Hezekiah and Manasseh. The defeat of the Israeli military occurred during Isaiah’s lifetime in 722 BC, when the Assyrian king Sargon took the Hebrew nation occupying Israel into captivity. The Judean empire existed another 135 years after this tragedy. The prophet Isaiah suffered martyrdom through the reign of Manasseh, being sawed in half with a wooden noticed. The e book of the prophet Isaiah is famous for elegant Hebrew and possesses excessive literary merits, which is carried over even in translations of his e book into different languages.
The prophet Isaiah wrote about the human nature of Christ, and from him we be taught that Christ was to be born in a miraculous style from a Virgin: “Therefore the Lord Himself shall offer you an indication; Behold, a Virgin shall conceive, and bear a Son, and shall name his identify Immanuel,” which suggests: God is with us (Isaiah 7:14). This prophecy is advised to King Ahaz with the aim of convincing the king that he and his home will not be destroyed by the Syrian and Israeli kings. Just the opposite, the design of the enemies will not come to move, and one of the descendants of Ahaz will be the promised Messiah, Who might be born miraculously from a Virgin. As Ahaz was a descendant of King David, the current prophecy confirms the previous prophecies that the Messiah will arise from the line of King David.
In his following prophecies Isaiah reveals new details concerning the miraculous Child, who might be born from a Virgin. Thus, in his eighth chapter, Isaiah writes that the individuals of God should not concern the intrigues of their enemies, because their plans is not going to be realized: “Take counsel together, and it shall come to naught; speak the phrase, and it shall not stand: for God is with us (Immanuel)” (Isaiah 8:10). In the next chapter Isaiah speaks of the characteristics of the Child Immanuel: “For unto us a toddler is born, unto us a son is given: and the federal government shall be upon his shoulder: and his identify shall be known as Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The eternal Father, The Prince of Peace” (Is. 9:6). The name Immanuel, in addition to the opposite names given right here to the Child, do not seem as correct names, of course, but point out the traits of His Godly nature.
Isaiah predicted that the Messiah will teach within the northern sections of the Holy Land, in the boundaries of the tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali, which was referred to as Galilee:
“Nevertheless the dimness shall not be corresponding to was in her vexation, when at the primary he calmly stricken the land of Zebulun and the Land of Naphtali, and afterward did extra grievously afflict her by the best way of the sea, beyond Jordan, in Galilee of the nations. The those who walked in darkness have seen a terrific light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined” (Is. 9:1-2).
This prophecy was mentioned by the Evangelist Matthew, when he described the sermon of Jesus Christ on this a part of the Holy Land, which was notably ignorant religiously (Mt. 4:16). In the Holy Writings mild is the image of religious knowledge, fact.
In later prophecies Isaiah typically calls the Messiah by yet one more identify – Branch. This symbolic identify confirms earlier prophecies concerning the miraculous and unusual beginning of the Messiah, specifically, that it will happen with out the participation of a man, similar to how a branch, without a seed, is born instantly from the foundation of the plant. “And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse (so was known as the father of David) and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of knowledge and understanding, the spirit of knowledge and of the concern of the Lord” (Is. 11:1). Here Isaiah predicts the anointment of Christ with the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, that’s, with the full grace of the Spirit, which happened in the day of His baptism within the river Jordan.
In different prophecies, Isaiah speaks of the deeds of Christ and His qualities, specifically, of His mercy and meekness. The prophecy introduced here gives the phrases of God the Father: “Behold My servant, whom I uphold; Mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put My spirit upon him: he shall carry forth judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor trigger His voice to be heard in the street… A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench” (Is 42:1-3). These last words speak of the nice persistence and condescension to human weakness, with which Christ will treat repentant and destitute folks. A similar prophecy Isaiah pronounced considerably later, saying from the title of the Messiah: “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me; because the Lord hath anointed Me to preach good tidings unto the meek;’ he hath sent Me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound” (Is. 61:1-2) These phrases exactly determine the goal of the approaching of the Messiah: to heal the spiritual ailments of individuals.
Besides spiritual ills, the Messiah had as His task the healing of bodily infirmities, as Isaiah predicted: “Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams within the desert” (Is. 35:5-6). This prophecy was fulfilled when the Lord Jesus Christ, instructing the Gospel, healed 1000’s of people of myriad illnesses, these born blind, and those possessed. Along with his miracles He certified the reality of His teachings and His Oneness with God the Father.
By God’s plan, the salvation of people ought to have been realized within the Kingdom of the Messiah. This blessed Kingdom of the faithful was generally compared by the prophets to a harmonious building (see the appendix for prophecies in regards to the Kingdom of the Messiah). The Messiah, being, on the one hand, the founder of the Kingdom of God, and, then again, the foundation of the true religion, is called the Stone by the Prophets, that’s, the foundation, on which the Kingdom of God relies. This symbolic nomenclature of the Messiah is found in the next prophecy: “Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a basis, a tried stone, a precious nook stone, a certain basis: he that believeth shall not act hastily” (Is. 28:16). Zion was referred to as the mountain (hill), on which stood the Temple and town of Jerusalem.
It’s remarkable that, on this prophecy the significance of faith within the Messiah is emphasised for the primary time: “He that believeth shall not act hastily!” In the 118th psalm, written after Isaiah, this Stone is talked about: “The stone which the builders (masons) refused is change into the pinnacle stone of the nook (cornerstone). This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes” (Ps. 118:22-23, see additionally Mt. 21:42). That’s, notwithstanding that “builders” – people, standing at the helm of power, rejected This Stone, God still placed Him as the foundation of the blessed structure – the Church.
The subsequent prophecy supplements previous prophecies, wherein it speaks of the Messiah as a Conciliator and a source of blessing not just for Jews, but additionally for all nations: “And he said, It is a light factor that thou shouldest be My servant to boost up the tribes of Jacob, and to revive the preserved of Israel: I may also give Thee for a gentle to the Gentiles, that Thou mayest be My salvation unto the tip of the earth” (Is. 49:6).
But no matter how great the spiritual mild emanating from the Messiah, Isaiah foresaw that not all Jews will see this light by reason of their spiritual callousness. Here is what the prophet writes regarding this: “Hear ye certainly, however understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and listen to with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed” (Is. 6:9-10) By reason of their focus solely on earthly well-being not all Jews acknowledged their Savior in the Lord Jesus Christ, promised by the prophets. As if foreseeing the lack of religion of the Judeans, King David, having lived earlier than Isaiah, in one in every of his psalms called to them with these phrases: “To day if ye will hear his(the Messiah’s) voice, Harden not your heart, as within the provocation, and as within the day of temptation in the wilderness” (Ps. 95:7-8). That is: while you hear the sermon of the Messiah, consider in His phrase. Do not persist, as did your ancestors below Moses within the desert, who tempted God and grumbled against Him (see Exodus 17:1-7), “provocation” means “reproach.”
The Suffering Messiah
Cleansing sacrifices occupied the central place in the religious life of the Hebrew folks. Every orthodox Hebrew knew from childhood the law that sin will be ironed out solely by a redeeming bloody sacrifice. All the excessive holy days and family occasions had been accompanied by sacrifices. The prophets did not clarify whereby lay the cleansing power of the sacrifice. However, from their predictions about the sufferings of the Messiah it’s obvious that Old Testament sacrifices pointed to the good expiatory Sacrifice of the Messiah, which He was to convey for the remission of the sins of the world. From this great Sacrifice the Old Testament sacrifices drew their meaning and strength. The internal connection between sin and the next sufferings and loss of life of a person, in addition to between the voluntary sufferings and subsequent salvation of individuals – to today isn’t fully understood. Here we won’t try to elucidate this interior bond, but will dwell on the actual predictions concerning the Messiah’s forthcoming sufferings for our salvation.
The most vivid and detailed prediction in regards to the sufferings of the Messiah is the prophecy of Isaiah, which occupies one and a half chapters of his ebook (the top of the 52nd and all the 53rd). This prophecy incorporates such particulars of the sufferings of Christ, that the reader gets the impression that the prophet Isaiah wrote it on the foot of Golgotha, though, as we all know, the prophet Isaiah lived over seven centuries BC. We current right here this prophecy.
“Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? For He shall grow up earlier than Him as a tender plant, And as a root out of dry floor. He has no type or comeliness; And after we see Him, There is no such thing as a beauty that we should desire Him. He’s despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, because it had been, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and bothered. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we’re healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; We’ve got turned, every one, to his personal means; And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and He was troubled, Yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep earlier than its shearers is silent, So He opened not His mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment, And who will declare His era? For He was reduce off from the land of the living; For the transgressions of My folks He was stricken. And so they made His grave with the wicked; But with the wealthy at His dying, Because He had accomplished no violence, Nor was any deceit in His mouth. Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. Once you 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. He shall see the labor of His soul, and be glad. By His information My righteous Servant shall justify many, For He shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the good, And He shall divide the spoil with the robust, Because He poured out His soul unto demise, And He was numbered with the transgressors, And He bore the sin of many, And made intercession for the transgressors” (Is. 53:1-12).
The introductory phrase of this prophecy (who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed) witnesses the extraordinary nature of the described occasion, demanding considerable willful effort on the part of the reader in order to believe it. Truly, the previous prophecies of Isaiah spoke of the greatness and glory of the Messiah. The current prophecy speaks of His voluntary humiliation, suffering and dying! The Messiah, being completely clean of non-public sins and holy, endures all these sufferings for the cleansing of human lawlessness.
King David also described the sufferings of the Savior on the Cross very vividly in his 22nd psalm. Although the speech is in the first particular person on this psalm, King David could not write about himself of course, because he did not bear such sufferings. Here he, because the prototype of the Messiah, prophetically attributed to himself that, which in reality referred to his Descendant – Christ. It is exceptional that several of the words of this psalm had been repeated exactly by Christ during his crucifixion. We current here several phrases from the 22nd psalm and the parallel Gospel textual content:
Seventh verse: “All that see Me giggle Me to scorn,” evaluate to Mark 15:29.
16th verse: “They pierced My arms and My feet,” evaluate to Luke 23:33.
18th verse: “They part My garments amongst them, and solid heaps upon My vesture,” evaluate to Matthew 27:35.
8th verse: “He trusted on the Lord that He would ship him: let Him deliver Him.” This phrase was repeated word for word by the High Priests and the scribes, Gospel of St. Matthew 27:43.
1st verse: “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?” – so exclaimed the Lord earlier than His death, see Matthew 27:46.
In addition, the prophet Isaiah wrote the following details concerning the sufferings of the Messiah, which have been additionally fulfilled precisely. The speech is in the first particular person: “The Lord God hath given me the tongue of the discovered, that I should know how to talk a word in season to him that is weary… I gave My again to the smiters, and My cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not My face from shame and spitting. For the Lord God will help me; therefore shall I not be disgraced” (Is. 50:4-7), examine to Matthew 26:67.
In the light of these prophecies concerning the sufferings of the Messiah, the ancient enigmatic prophecy of the patriarch Jacob turns into comprehensible, as instructed to his son Judah, which was already partially mentioned within the second chapter. Here we give the prophecy of Judah totally: “Judah is a lion’s whelp: from the prey, my son, thou artwork gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up? The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh comes; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be. Binding his donkey unto the vine, and his ass’s colt unto the selection vine; he washed his garments in wine, and his clothes within the blood of grapes” (Gen. 49:9-11). In this prophecy the Lion together with his greatness and energy symbolizes the Messiah, Who was to be born of the tribe of Judah. The question of the patriarch about who will increase the sleeping Lion, allegorically refers back to the demise of the Messiah, named in the Holy Scriptures “the Lion of the tribe of Juda” (Rev. 5:5). The following prophetic words of Jacob concerning the cleansing of the raiments within the juice of the grapes additionally communicate in regards to the death of the Messiah. Grapes are the symbol of blood. The phrases concerning the feminine donkey and the ass’s colt have been fulfilled, when the Lord Jesus Christ earlier than His sufferings on the cross, sitting on an ass’s colt, rode into Jerusalem. The prophet Daniel additionally prophesied in regards to the time when the Messiah was to endure, as we shall see in the following chapter.
The prophecy, no less definite, of Zechariah, residing two centuries after Isaiah (500 years BC), needs to be added to those historical affirmations concerning the sufferings of the Messiah. Within the third chapter of his book the prophet Zechariah describes the imaginative and prescient of the good priest Joshua, dressed at first in bloody, then later in gentle vestments. The clothes of the priest Joshua symbolizes the ethical condition (state) of the folks: at first sinful, then later – righteous. Within the imaginative and prescient described there are lots of attention-grabbing particulars relating to the sacrament of redemption, but we’ll here current solely the concluding phrases of God the Father: “For, behold, I will deliver forth my servant the Branch. For behold the stone that I have laid earlier than Joshua; upon one stone shall be seven eyes; behold, I will engrave the graving thereof, saith the Lord of hosts, and I’ll remove the iniquity of that land in at some point… they usually shall look upon Me whom they have pierced, and so they shall mourn for Him, as one mourneth for his only son… In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness” (Zech. 3:8-9; 12:10-13:1).
The identify Branch we’ve already seen in the Prophet Isaiah. It refers back to the Messiah, as does the symbolic naming of Him as the (nook) stone. It is noteworthy that, according to the prophecy, the forgiveness of the sins of the folks will occur in a single day. In other words, one explicit Sacrifice will carry out the redemption of sins! The second a part of the prophecy, discovered in the 12th chapter, speaks of the sufferings of the Messiah on the Cross, of His being pierced by a spear, and of the repentance of the people. All these events did happen and are described within the Gospels.
Irrespective of how difficult it was for the Old Testament particular person to rise to the idea within the necessity of those expiatory sufferings of the Messiah, still, a number of Old Testament Judean writers accurately understood the prophecy within the 53rd chapter of the book of Isaiah. We current right here beneficial ideas on this subject from historic Hebrew books. “What is the Name of the Messiah?” is requested within the Talmud, and the reply is: “The compassionate one, as it is written “These sins of ours He carries and feels compassion for us” (tractates (Massektoth), Talmud Babli. In one other part of the Talmud it says: “The Messiah takes unto Himself all the suffering and torture for the sins of the Israelites. Had He not taken unto Himself this suffering, then not one individual in the world may have stood the unavoidable execution as a consequence for breaking the law” (Jalkut Chadach, fol. 154, col 4, 29, Tit). The Rabbi Moshe Goddarshan writes in the Midrash (the ebook, decoding the Holy Scripture):
“The Holy and Blessed God made the next settlement with the Messiah, saying to Him: Messiah My Righteous One! The sins of the people will probably be imposed upon you as a heavy yoke: Thine eyes shall see no mild, Thine ears shall hear terrible curses, Thy mouth shall taste bitterness, Thy tongue shall cleave to Thy throat… and Thy soul shall succumb from anguish and gasping. Are You reconciled to that? In case you settle for to take upon Yourself all these sufferings: very properly then. If not, then I shall this minute annihilate mankind – sinners. To this the Messiah answered: Lord of the universe! I gladly settle for all these sufferings on one condition, that Thou shall resurrect from the useless during My time, starting with Adam and to at the present time, and shall not solely save only them, but in addition all those that you simply had deliberate to create and haven’t created as yet. To that the Holy and Blessed God answered: sure, I agree. In that instant the Messiah gladly took upon Himself all the suffering because it was written: “He was tortured, but suffered willingly… as a sheep led to slaughter” (from discussions on the book of Genesis).
These testimonies of orthodox Hebrew specialists of the Holy Scriptures are helpful, because they present how great a significance the prophecy of Isaiah had for strengthening faith in the facility of the sufferings of the Messiah on the Cross to convey salvation.
The Resurrection
of the Messiah
However, in talking of the necessity and salvation because of the Messiah’s suffering, the prophets also predicted His resurrection from the useless and His subsequent glory. Isaiah, describing the sufferings of Christ, concludes his narration with the following phrases: “When Thou shalt make His soul an providing for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand. He shall see the travail of His soul, and shall be happy: by His data shall My righteous servant justify many; for He shall bear their iniquities. There’ll I divide Him a portion with the nice, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong” (Is. 53:10-12). In different words, the Messiah after demise will come to life, with a purpose to head the Kingdom of the righteous and will likely be morally happy with the results of His ordeals.
King David also predicted the resurrection of Christ in his 16th psalm, by which within the voice of Christ it says: “I have set the Lord always earlier than me: because He is at my proper hand, I shall not be moved. Therefore my coronary heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh additionally shall relaxation in hope. For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in Thy presence is fulness of joy; at Thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16:8-11). Within the prophet Hosea there is a point out of a three-day resurrection, although the wording on this prophecy is within the plural: “Come and let us return unto the Lord: for He hath torn, and He will heal us; He hath smitten, and He will bind us up. After two days will He revive us: within the third day He will raise us up, and we shall stay in His sight” (Hosea 6:1-2, see 1 Cor. 15:4).
Besides the direct prophecies about the immortality of the Messiah, in truth, all those places in the Old Testament, during which the Messiah is known as God, attest to this (for example in Ps. 2, Ps. 45, Ps. 110, Is. 9:6, Jer. 23:5, Mic. 5:2, Mal. 3:1). God by His very essence is immortal. The immortality of the Messiah can also be concluded after we learn the predictions of His eternal Kingdom (for example in Gen. 49:10; 2 Sam. 7:13; Ps. 2, Ps. 132:11; Eze. 7:27; Dan. 7:13). For an eternal Kingdom presumes an eternal King!
In this fashion, summing up the contents of this chapter, we see that the Old Testament prophets very undoubtedly spoke of the expiatory sufferings, demise, and then – of the resurrection and glory of the Messiah. He was to die for the redemption of human sins and rise to head the eternal Kingdom of those He saved. These truths, first revealed by the prophets, later formed the idea of the Christian religion.
The Prophecies
of Daniel
The Patriarch Jacob, as we showed within the second chapter, coincided the instances of the approaching of the Conciliator with the time that the descendants of Judah would lose their political independence. The time of the coming of the Messiah was defined extra precisely by the prophet Daniel in his prophecy of the seventy weeks.
The Prophet Daniel wrote the prophecy of the time of the Messiah’s coming whereas he and other Hebrews have been in Babylonian captivity. The Hebrews had been led into captivity by the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar, who destroyed town of Jerusalem in 588 BC. The prophet Daniel knew, that the 70 year time interval of captivity predicted by the prophet Jeremiah (within the twenty fifth chapter of his e book), was coming to an end. Desiring a speedy return of the Hebrew nation from captivity to its native land and the restoration of the Holy City of Jerusalem, St. Daniel often started to ask God for this in fervent prayer. At the end of one of those prayers the Archangel Gabriel all of the sudden appeared before the prophet and said, that God had heard his prayer and can quickly help the Hebrews restore Jerusalem. Together with this, the Archangel Gabriel announced even more glad tidings, specifically, that from the time of the issuance of the decree to restore Jerusalem, the calculation of the 12 months of the coming of the Messiah and the establishment of the brand new Testament would start. Here is what the Archangel Gabriel said to the Prophet Daniel:
“Seventy occasions seven “weeks” has been designated on your people and your Holy City, so that the crime is likely to be veiled, the sins sealed and lawlessness erased in order that eternal truth could be led to and the prophet and prophecies would be sealed and the Holy of Holies anointed. Therefore know and comprehend: that from the second that the decree is given for the restoration of Jerusalem up until the approaching of the Lord Jesus Christ will be 7weeks and sixty two weeks. The folks shall return and streets and walls shall be rebuilt in tough instances.
At the top of the time of 62 weeks Christ shall be delivered for loss of life, and shall not exist: but the town and temple shall be ruined by the people of the commander who shall come and whose end shall be as from the flood and until the end of the struggle there shall be devastation. During one seventh shall affirm the new Testament for many, And in the half of the seventh sacrifice and choices shall stop, and at the entry of the sanctuary there shall be abomination and desolation and a remaining predestined perdition shall befall the ravager” (Dan. 9:24-27).
In this prophecy, the whole time from the decree to revive Jerusalem to the establishment of the brand new Testament and the second destruction of this city is divided into three intervals. The time frames of every interval are measured in “week” years, i.e. seven-12 months spans. The Hebrew word for “week” is “shavua” and literally means “seven.” Seven is a holy number, symbolically that means fullness, completeness.
The that means of the given prophecy is that this: for the Judaic nation and for the holy metropolis are determined 70 “weeks” (70×7= 490 years), until the coming of the Holy of Holies (Christ), who will erase lawlessness, convey eternal truth and fulfill all the prophecies. The order for the new development of Jerusalem and the temple will function the beginning of those weeks, and the top – a second destruction of each. In the order of occasions these weeks are divided in the next manner: during the primary seven “weeks” (i.e. 49 years) Jerusalem and the Temple will likely be rebuilt. Then, towards the end of the 62 weeks (i.e. 434 years) Christ will come, however He will endure and will probably be put to loss of life. Finally, within the course of the last “week” the new Testament will probably be established and in the course of this “week” common sacrifices within the Temple of Jerusalem will stop, and there will probably be abomination of desolation within the sanctuary. Then will come a folks, guided by a leader, who will destroy the holy metropolis and the Temple.
It’s interesting and instructive to trace, how in truth the historic occasions unfolded in the time period designated by the Archangel Gabriel. The decree for the restoration of Jerusalem was issued by the Persian king Artaxerxes of the dynasty Archaemenidae in 453 BC. This momentous event is described in depth by Nehemiah in the 2nd chapter of his e book. The enumeration of Daniel’s “weeks” should begin from the second of the issuance of this decree. By the Greek method of numbering the years, this was the third 12 months of the 76th Olympiad, by the Roman technique – the 299th 12 months after the founding of Rome. The restoration of the partitions and Temple was protracted for a about forty or 50 years (seven “weeks”) as a result of a number of heathen nations, dwelling in the areas neighboring Jerusalem, hindered the restoration of this metropolis in each doable approach.
In accordance to the prophecy, the Messiah was to undergo for the cleansing of human sins in the period between 69 and 70 weeks. If one adds to the 12 months of the issuance of the decree of the restoration of Jerusalem 69 weeks, i.e. 483 years, then this equals the thirtieth 12 months of the Christian methodology of numbering years. It was around this time, from 30 to 37 Ad, based on the prophecy, that the Messiah was to undergo and die. The Evangelist Luke writes that the Lord Jesus Christ came out to preach in the 15th 12 months of the rule of the Roman emperor Tiberius. This coincides with the 782nd yr from the founding of Rome or with the thirtieth yr after the birth of Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ taught three and a half years and suffered within the 33rd or 34th year of our era, precisely through the time, indicated by St. Daniel. The Christian faith started to spread in a short time after the Resurrection of Christ, so that, truly, the final, 70th Week involved the establishment of the new Testament among many individuals.
Jerusalem was destroyed a second time in the 70th year of this period by the Roman army chief Titus. In the course of the siege of Jerusalem by the Roman legions, complete chaos dominated this city because of the discord among the many Judean leaders. Because of this strife, religious providers in the Temple have been conducted very irregularly, and finally, within the Temple, as predicted by the Archangel to the prophet Daniel, reigned “abomination of desolation.”
The Lord Jesus Christ in one in all His discussions reminded Christians of this prophecy and warned His listeners, that, when they may see in the Holy Place “abomination of desolation,” they need to run from Jerusalem as soon as possible, as a result of the tip has come to it (Mat. 24:15). Christians residing in Jerusalem did just that, when the Roman armies, due to the election of a new Emperor, by the order of Vespasian, temporarily lifted the siege of town and retreated. Because of this Christians did not suffer throughout the subsequent return of the Roman army and destruction of Jerusalem and, on this manner, prevented the tragic fate of many Judeans remaining in town. The prophecy of Daniel about the weeks involves an finish with the destruction of Jerusalem.
In this manner, the coincidence of the given prophecy with the subsequent historic occasions in the life of the Hebrew nation and with the narration of the Gospel is astonishing.
Here it should be mentioned that the Hebrew rabbis fairly often forbade their fellow countrymen to rely the weeks of Daniel. The rabbi of Gemar even subjected those Hebrews, who would calculate the yr of the approaching of the Messiah, to the following curse: “May the bones shake of these, who calculate the occasions… Perish all those that calculate the end, for males will say, since the predicted end is here and the Messiah has not come, he won’t ever come!” (Sanhedrin 97b). The severity of this ban is understandable. For the Daniel weeks level on to the time of the activity of Christ the Savior, which for those not believing in Him is unpleasant to admit.
In the Prophet Daniel we also find extra prophetic evidence concerning the Messiah, written within the type of a imaginative and prescient, wherein the Messiah is portrayed because the eternal Sovereign. This is written in the seventh chapter of his guide. “I saw within the night visions, and behold, One like the Son of man got here with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, they usually introduced Him near earlier than Him. And there was given Him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that every one individuals, nations, and languages, should serve Him: His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not move away, and His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed” (Dan. 7:13:14).
This imaginative and prescient speaks of the final fates of the world, of the termination of the existence of the earthly kingdoms, of the final judgment of the nations, gathered before the throne of the Ancient of Days, i.e. God the Father. and of the start of the glorious time for the Kingdom of the Messiah. The Messiah right here is known as “Son of man,” which points to His human nature. As we know from the Gospels, the Lord Jesus Christ often called Himself the Son of man, with this title reminding the Jews of the prophecy of Daniel (Mat. 8:20, 9:6, 12:40, 24:30 and so forth).
The prophecies of the opposite two nice prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel are found in the appendix, where the prophecies concerning the Kingdom of the Messiah are listed. To conclude this chapter we present solely the prophecy of Baruch, pupil of Jeremiah, during which he writes of the coming of God to earth: “This is our God, and there shall none different be of compared him. He hath came upon all the way in which of knowledge, and hath given it unto Jacob his servant, and to Israel his beloved. Afterward did he shew himself upon earth, and conversed with men” (Bar. 3:36-38). Unfortunately, in the occasions of the Babylonian captivity the Hebrew unique of the prophet Baruch was misplaced, which is why the Greek translation of his e book was placed on the checklist of non-canonical books. Because of this, the prophecy of Baruch doesn’t obtain the prestige it deserves amongst Biblical specialists of different faiths.
Prophesies of the
“Lesser” Prophets
Besides the books of the “great” Prophets to which belong the books of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel, there are among the many Old Testament Holy Books some other 12 books, i.e. of the lesser Prophets. They’re called “lesser” as a consequence of the truth that their books are significantly smaller in proportion and consisting of only a number of chapters. Some “lesser” prophets who wrote in regards to the Messiah had been Osee, Joel, Amos and Micheas, – contemporaries of the prophets Isaiah who lived some 700 years B.C., as well as the prophets Aggeus, Zacharias and Malachias who lived following the Babylonian captivity in the course of the sixth and 5th century B.C. During the time of the final three prophets there was a second Temple of the Old Testament being built in Jerusalem on the site of the demolished Temple of Solomon. The Old Testament Scripture ends with the e-book of Malachias.
The prophet Micheas wrote the well known prophecy relating to Bethlehem which was quoted by the Judaic scribes when king Herod asked them where Christ was purported to be born. “And Thou, Bethlehem Ephrata, artwork a baby among the many hundreds of Juda: out of thee shall He come forth to Me that is to be ruler in Israel: and His going forth is from the beginning, from the times of eternity” (Micheas 5:2) Here the prophet Micheas discusses the fact that although Bethlehem was thought of to be probably the most inconsequential cities of Juda, it could turn into worthy to be the place of the Messiah’s start, and the reality of this event shall extend into eternity. Genesis, as we all know, exhibits the distinctive nature of God’s essentiality. Therefore this prophecy witnesses the eternal and consequently the oneness of the Messiah with God the Father (remember that Isaiah referred to as the Messiah “Everlasting Father” (Isaiah 9:6).
The next prophecy of Zacharia and Amos are directed towards the final days of the earthly life of the Messiah. The prophecy of Zachariah particulars the triumphant entry of the Messiah astride an ass’s foal.
“Rejoice vastly, O daughter of Zion, Shout O daughter of Jerusalem: Behold your King is coming to you;…He shall speak peace to the nations; His dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth” (Zach.9:9-10).
The she-ass is a symbol of peace, whereas the horse is a logo of battle. In accordance with this prophecy the Messiah was to proclaim peace to mankind – reconciliation with God and the cessation of enmity among folks. The second a part of the prophecy, relating to the release of the captives from the pit, foretold the discharge from hell of the souls of the lifeless because of the redeeming sufferings of the Messiah.
In the next prophecy, Zachariah foretold that the Messiah would be betrayed for thirty items of silver. In the prophecy the discourse emanates from the identify of God, Who offers the Judean commanders to designate to Him a cost for all that He did for their people: “If it is agreeable to you, give Me My wages; and if not, refrain” so that they weighed out for My wages thirty pieces of silver. And the Lord said to me “throw it to the potter – that princely worth they set on Me.” So I took the thirty items of silver and threw them into the home of the Lord for the potter” (Zach. 11:12-13). As we all know from the Gospel that for thirty pieces of silver Judas Iscariot betrayed his Teacher. However Judas did not expect that Christ could be condemned to demise. Having heard of this, he regretted his deed and threw away in the temple the coins that were given to him. For those thirty items of silver, the high ranked priests bought from the potter a chunk of land for the burial of strangers, just as Zachariah had predicted. (Mat. 27:9-10).
The prophet Amos foretold of the eclipse of the solar, which happened throughout Christ’s crucifixion. “And it shall come to go in that day” says the Lord God, That I’ll make the sun go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in broad daylight” (Am. 8:9). We discover a similar prophecy in Zachariah: “It shall come to cross in that day that there will probably be no gentle…It shall be sooner or later which is known to the Lord: Neither day nor evening. But at evening time it shall happen that will probably be light” (Zach. 14:6-9).
The oldest prophecies relating to the Messiah by the Prophets Aggeus, Zachariah and Malachias have a close bearing to the erection of the second Temple of Jerusalem. Having returned from captivity, the Jews began with little enthusiasm to erect a new Temple on the site of the ruined Temple of Solomon. The whole nation was devastated and plenty of Jews most popular to rebuild their own properties first. It turned obligatory for the prophets after that point of captivity to urge the Jews towards the building of the House of God. With the intention to encourage the builders, the prophets said that though its outer facade ceded to that of Solomon, its spiritual that means would by far excel it. The reason for the glory of the Temple being constructed will be, that it will be frequented by the Messiah. We deliver here for instance to that reality the prophesy of Aggeus, Zachariah and Malachias since they complement one another. God speaks via the mouths of prophets:
“Yet one little while, and I will move the heaven and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land, And I will transfer all nations, – And the desired of all Nations shall come: and I’ll fill this home with glory, saith the Lord of hosts… Great shall be the glory of this last house, more than the primary…” (Aggeus 2:6-7).
“Behold the Man whose title is the Branch, From His place He shall branch out, and He shall build the Temple of the Lord… He shall be a priest on His throne” (Zach. 6:12-13).
“Behold I send My Angel (the prophet John) and he shall prepare the best way earlier than My face and presently the Lord whom you search shall unexpectedly come into His temple, and the Angel of the Testament whom you desire. Behold He comes, saith the Lord of Hosts” (Mal. 3:1).
God the Father calls the Messiah “The desired of all Nations,” “Branch,” “Lord” and “Angel of the Testament.” These names of the Messiah which had been recognized to the Jews from previous prophecies bound all of the numerous previous prophecies relating to Christ into an entire. Malachias was the final Old Testament prophet. His prophecy relating to the sending of the “Angel” to prepare the path for the Lord Who was to follow shortly, ends the mission of the Old Testament prophets and begins the interval of awaiting the approaching of Christ.
We will only comply with the prophecy introduced forth by Zacharias that the Messiah was to discovered the Lord’s Temple. Here the discourse is not in regards to the founding of a stone Temple (which could not presumably hold all peoples) but of a spiritual one – Churches of the Faithful. Since God inhabits the souls of the faithful as in a Temple. (Lev. 26:12).
Awaiting the
Coming of the Messiah
In summing up the contents of the Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah, we see that the Jews, possessing such an abundant and thorough description of His character and many occasions of His life, might with out issue acquire a true faith in Him. Partly they should have recognized, that the Messiah was to have two natures: human and Divine, that He could be the greatest Prophet, King and High Priest, anointed by God (the Father) for these providers, and could be an excellent Shepherd.
The prophecies additionally attested to the very fact, that the primary objective of the Messiah would be the defeat of the devil and his servants, the redemption of mankind from sins, the healing of their spiritual and bodily ailments and reconciliation with God; that He will sanctify the faithful and establish a brand new Testament, and His spiritual blessings will prolong to all humanity.
The prophets also revealed many events in the life of the Messiah, specifically: He might be descended from Abraham, from the tribe of Judah, from the road of King David, might be born to a Virgin in town of Bethlehem, will preach peace to individuals, heal illnesses, shall be meek and compassionate, will be betrayed, condemned though innocent, will endure, shall be pierced (by a spear), will die, might be buried in a new grave, during the time of His crucifixion darkness will descend. Then the Messiah will descend into hell and can lead the souls of individuals from it, after which He will rise from the lifeless; they also predicted that not everyone will acknowledge Him because the Messiah, but some will even feud with Him, though without success. The result of His redemption would be the spiritual renewal of the faithful and the outpouring of the grace of the Holy Spirit on them.
Finally, the prophets determined that the time of His coming will coincide with the top of the political independence of the tribe of Judah, which can occur no later that 70 “weeks” (70×7= 490 years) after the issuance of the decree to restore the city of Jerusalem, and no later than the destruction of the second Temple in Jerusalem, that He will destroy the antichrist, that He will come again in glory. The final result of His activity will be the attainment of justice, peace and happiness.
Also, those names, which the prophets gave to Him, attest to the nature of the Messiah and the greatness of His deeds, resembling: Lion, David, Branch, Mighty God, Emmanuel, Adviser, Leader of the World, Father of the future age, Conciliator, Star, Seed of the Woman, Prophet, Son of God, King, Anointed (Messiah), Redeemer, God, Lord, Servant (of God), Righteous, Son of man, Holy of Holies.
All this abundance of prophecies about Christ in the Old Testament Holy books reveal to us the nice significance the prophets assigned to their mission of educating the Jews to believe appropriately in the approaching Christ. As well as, the hope that at some time an extraordinary Person will come, Who will ship people from disasters, unfold from the Jews amongst many nations, which is why Haggai call Christ “Desire of all nations.” Truly, among many historical peoples (Chinese, Hindus, Persians, Greeks and others), there existed a legend about the coming of a God-person into the world lengthy before the start of Christ. Some referred to as Him “Holy,” others – “Savior.”
Thus the Old Testament prophets prepared the necessary circumstances for the successful spreading of the new Testament faith. Truly, many historical written monuments of the time interval between 200 BC until the start of the 2nd century Ad witness that, during that time, the Hebrew nation intensely awaited the approaching of the Messiah. Among these written monuments will be talked about the Book of Enoch, the Book of Baruch, the Wisdom of Solomon, Sibyl Oracles, the historical components of the Talmud, the Dead Sea Scrolls, the notes of Joseph Flavian (a Jewish historian of the first century of our period) and others. Quotes from these sources would require an excessive amount of space. Reading these ancient written monuments, it may be concluded, that the faith of the Jews in the Messiah sometimes reached superb proportions. Thus, for examples, several historic writers referred to as the approaching Messiah the Son of Man and the Son of God, existing prior to the appearance of the world, king and choose righteous, rewarding the nice and punishing the evil (in the second a part of the guide of Enoch).
The Fulfillment of the
Prophecies about the Messiah
The numbers of Hebrews that have been spiritually prepared for the acceptance of the Messiah can be seen from the primary chapters of the Gospel of St. Luke. There, the Holy Virgin Mary, the righteous Elizabeth, the priest Zechariah, the righteous Simeon, the prophetess Anna and many residents of Jerusalem linked the beginning of Jesus with the success of the historical prophecies about the approaching of the Messiah, of the forgiveness of sins, of the overthrow of the proud and the elevation of the meek, in regards to the restoration of the Testament with God, in regards to the service of Israel to God with a pure heart. After Jesus Christ began to preach, the Gospel witnesses the convenience with which many sympathetic hearts of the Jews recognized in Him the promised Messiah, which they associated to their acquaintances, for instance, the apostles Andrew and Philip, later – Nathaniel and Peter (John 1:40-44).
Jesus Christ declared Himself the Messiah and attributed the predictions of the prophets to Himself, for example: the prediction of Isaiah about the Spirit of the Lord, https://instantspacebar.com/ Which was to descend on the Messiah (Is. 61:1; Luke 4:18). He alluded to Isaiah’s prediction concerning the healing of the infirm by the Messiah (Is. 35:5-7; Mt. 11:5). Jesus praised Apostle Peter for calling Him Christ, the Son of the Living God, and promised to construct His Church on religion in Him (Mt. 16:16). He told the Judeans that they should delve into the Scriptures, because the Scriptures witness of Him (John 5:39). He additionally said that he is the Stone, Who is to sit on the best hand of the Father, alluding to Psalm one hundred ten (Mt. 22:44). Jesus Christ additionally said that He was the “Stone” forged out by the “builders,” alluding to the properly-known prediction in Psalm 118 (Mt. 21:42). Before His sufferings Jesus Christ reminded His followers that “that this that’s written should but be accomplished in me” (Luke 22:37, Is. 53rd ch.). During the trial before Caiaphas, to the direct query of the excessive priest whether he is “Christ, the Son of God,” Christ answered within the affirmative and reminded him of the prophecy of Daniel in regards to the Son of Man (Matt. 26:63-64, Dan. 7:13), and His acknowledgment served because the formal motive for His condemnation to dying. After His resurrection type the dead, Christ reproached His apostles for being “slow of heart to consider all that the prophets have spoken” (Luke 24:25). In a phrase, Jesus Christ proper from the beginning of His public service, even to His sufferings of the Cross and after His resurrection, declared Himself the Messiah, promised by the prophets.
If Christ shunned referring to Himself directly as the Messiah when among people, and solely cited prophecies about Him, He did this by cause of the coarse and distorted representations of the Messiah which had grow to be established among the many folks. Christ in each way avoided worldly glory and interference in political life.
Due to their belittling dependence on Rome, many Jews wished the Messiah to be a mighty warrior-king, who would give them political independence, glory and earthly blessings. Jesus came to be able to evince in folks a spiritual rebirth. He promised heavenly blessings, not earthly blessings, as a reward for a virtuous life. This was the explanation why many Jews rejected Christ.
Although the apostles before the crucifixion of Christ faintheartedly wavered of their faith in Him, after the resurrection of Christ from the lifeless they no longer had any doubts that He was the Messiah promised by God. After the resurrection their religion in Him was so strengthened, that they had been prepared to offer and really gave their lives for Christ. The apostles in their letters continuously talked about the historical prophecies about the Messiah so as to persuade the Jews of the verity of the Christian faith. Because of this, their phrase, however the disbelief and opposition primarily of the excessive priests and scribes, had such nice success at first among the many Jews, then later – among the many Gentiles. Toward the top of the first century the Christian religion had spread to virtually all the ends of the vast Roman empire.
Distorted Notions
About the Messiah
Notwithstanding the abundance of prophecies in regards to the Messiah within the Old Testament writings, throughout the earthly lifetime of Christ, most of the Jews did not have the precise notions about him. The rationale for this was that many Jews couldn’t rise to the spiritual understanding of the messianic prophecies, for example, concerning the Godly nature of the Messiah, about the necessity of moral rebirth, concerning the grace of God working within the Kingdom of the Messiah
The period from the 3rd century BC to the beginning of 2nd century Ad was a time of intense struggle of the Hebrew nation for its political independence. This tough wrestle and the hardships related with it helped to develop among many Jews the hope for better instances, when the Messiah will defeat the enemies of the Hebrew nation. They envisioned that with the enthroning of the Messiah glad times will start, filled with the fabric abundance of life. Because of such narrow nationwide and utilitarian needs, as we have now already mentioned, the Lord Jesus Christ avoided publicly proclaiming Himself the Messiah. Alternatively, He often quoted the ancient prophecies that spoke about the Messiah as a spiritual leader, and with this returned the faith of the Jews to the correct path (See Matt. 26:54, Mark 9:12, Luke 18:31, John 5:39).
However the Jews, desiring to have in the Messiah a worldly king and dreaming of earthly blessings, had been irritated by the meek and at instances humble appearance of Jesus Christ. His teachings of meekness, of like to the enemies, in regards to the striving for the Heavenly Kingdom – was entirely alien to them.
The Jewish leaders within the course of several years did not know tips on how to do away with this undesirable instructor/miracle-worker. The feared the loss of their very own influence on the individuals, as most of the widespread folks believed in Jesus Christ. Finally, a convenient opportunity arose when Judas, one of many 12 apostles, supplied the High Priests his providers and helped them deliver Jesus Christ to judgment. At the trial, although, the judges could not supply an accusation for which He could possibly be sentenced to death. Only after Jesus answered the query of Caiaphas, whether or not He considers Himself the Christ (Messiah), the Son of the Living God, within the affirmative, was He accused of blasphemy. This “sin,” by legislation, was punishable by loss of life. But by themselves the Jewish leaders weren’t allowed accomplish this sentence, since Judea was beneath Roman rule. As we know from the Gospel, Pilate, against his personal wishes, fearing for his fate, confirmed the death sentence of the Judean leaders – the high priests and members of the Sanhedrin. Christ was crucified on the eve of the Jewish Passover within the 33rd or 34th 12 months Ad. In the face of those circumstances the Hebrew nation, represented by their leaders, rejected the God-despatched Messiah.
But, by awaiting a Messiah King-conqueror, both before Jesus Christ, in addition to, particularly, in the first and 2nd centuries after Him, there was created a convenient foundation for the looks of all kinds of self-proclaimed messiahs among the many Jews. In spite of everything, that was the time, in accordance with the prophecies of the patriarch Jacob and the prophet Daniel, when the true Messiah was to return. Within the historical past of the Hebrew nation there were practically sixty false messiahs. They have been, primarily, each doable type of adventurer: sometimes – merely a leader of a band of robbers, generally – one of the more seen navy leaders, generally – religious fanatics and reformers.
Essentially the most outstanding of those false messiahs was Bar-Kochba, heading a determined battle with Rome in 132-135 Ad. He referred to as himself the Star of Jacob (referring, most likely, to the prophecy in Numbers, 24:17) and the messiah-deliverer. He possessed an iron will and managed to utterly subject the Jewish inhabitants in Palestine. He was an absolute grasp, of the property in addition to of the lives of his topics. Jews blindly believed in his messianic calling, and had been ready to sacrifice the whole lot so as to comprehend their dreams of the messianic fortunate times. But for little Judea the task of taking on highly effective Rome was too nice. The war ended with terrible destruction all through Palestine. A substantial a part of the inhabitants died on this conflict, the remainder were taken into captivity and bought in the slave markets. Bar-Kochba himself died. (A author of the second century, residing in Palestine, Justin the Philosopher, relates of the brutality of Bar-Kochba through the peak of his power. He demanded of Christians that they deny Christ and disparage His identify. Those who refused to take action he committed to excruciating suffering and loss of life. He didn’t spare neither girls, nor children, Apologia 1, par. 31).
In the course of the course of the next centuries Jews, being scattered all through the world, directed all their forces to preserving their Old Testament religion and nationalism. In this they succeeded. But, while not accepting Christ and His teachings, Jews deprived themselves of that which was the most useful left them by the prophets – hope of spiritual rebirth.
After the Second World War, some Jews developed a yearning for their Messiah – Jesus Christ. Active missionaries sprung up amongst them, attracting their fellow countrymen to the Christian religion. The missionary work went very successfully because they resorted to the messianic predictions of the Old Testament prophets. It should be mentioned that the Holy Scriptures, even among those Jews indifferent to God, are highly revered. This fashion, the writings of the prophets, notwithstanding the elapsed centuries, stay the residing and functioning word of God.
It appears, that the tough task of exposing the falsity of the approaching final false messiah – the Antichrist – will lie on these new Christians from among the Jews. This impostor, just like the historic false messiahs, will promise earthly blessings and happiness. In accordance to predictions, many will blindly come to believe in him, and he will obtain appreciable political success, however not for lengthy. Later he will die, simply as did the extra historical impostors.
Christians have no have to show that Jesus Christ is the true Messiah. Yet, acquaintance with the historic prophecies is beneficial for all. This familiarity, on the one hand, enriches religion in Christ, then again, affords the means of converting to religion the doubtful and disbelieving. We must be grateful to the Old Testament prophets that they so clearly and in such element related about Christ. Due to them, our religion in Him is established on laborious rock, and with this faith we acquire salvation.
Prophecies regarding
the brand new Testament Times
In line with the prophets, the goal of the Messiah’s coming into the world was the founding of the Kingdom of God, into which a new, spiritually renewed Israel ought to have entered. The prophets described this Kingdom pretty completely. In this article we’ve taken as a objective to current the prophecies relating to the Messiah, and to point out how they were fulfilled in Jesus Christ. We’ll present the prophecies referring to His Kingdom here fleetingly, dwelling solely on the principle and most common qualities of this Kingdom.
When talking of the Messianic Kingdom, the prophets portrayed it as a society of spiritually renewed individuals. As well as, apart from the Jews, different nations were to enter into this society as properly. The main distinctive feature of this Kingdom was to be the abundance of the gifts of grace within it. Receiving its starting from the time of the Messiah’s coming to earth, ultimately of the world’s existence and after the universal judgment of God of the nations, it was to be reworked in its exterior appearance. Then, on the brand new, transfigured earth, all physical distresses will disappear, and there’ll reign among the citizens of this Kingdom bliss, immortality and the fullness of God’s blessings. This, in a number of words, is the essence of those prophecies. Now we’ll dwell on several particulars.
Speaking of the messianic occasions, the prophets pointed out, that they would be the times of a new Testament (Covenant) between God and other people. As we know, the Old Testament between God and Israel was concluded within the presence of Moses at Mount Sinai. At the moment, the Jews promised to fulfill the commandments written on the stone tablets, and so they obtained the land, promised to Abraham (the Promised Land), as a reward from God. Here is what is written about the new Covenant by the Prophet Jeremiah:
“Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I’ll make a brand new covenant with the home of Israel, and with the home of Judah: Not in response to the covenant that I made with their fathers within the day that I took them by the hand to convey them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I used to be an husband unto them, saith the Lord: But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the home of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my legislation of their inward components, and write it of their hearts; and can be their God, they usually shall by my folks. And so they shall teach no extra each man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord; for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the best of them, saith the Lord: for I’ll forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more” (Jer. 31:31-34).
The prophet Isaiah calls the brand new Covenant eternal: “Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall reside; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the certain mercies of David” (Is. 55:3, see Acts 13:34).
The distinguishing characteristic of the brand new Covenant, as in comparison with the Old, was that different nations might be referred to as to it moreover the Jews, who all collectively will type a brand new Israel, the blessed Kingdom of the Messiah. The prophet Isaiah thus wrote about this summoning of the heathen nations in the title of God the Father:
“It is a light factor that thou shouldest be my servant to boost up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will even give thee for a gentle to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the tip of the earth” (Is. 49:6).
A little bit further on the Prophet Isaiah expresses joy on this occasion:
“Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth in to singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with baby, for extra are the kids of the desolate than the children of the married spouse…For thou shalt break forth on the fitting hand and on the left; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited” (Is. 54:1,3, see Gal. 4:27).
Here the prophet portrays the Old Testament Hebrew Church in the form of a married girl, and the heathen nations – within the type of a barren girl, who will later bear more kids than the first spouse. Osee also predicted the calling of the Gentiles to take the place of the Judeans fallen from the Kingdom (Os. 1:9 and 2:23). In the Old Testament interval the affiliation with the Kingdom depended on nationality. In the brand new Testament times the required requirement for belonging to the Kingdom of the Messiah would be faith, about which wrote Habbakuk: “The just shall dwell by his faith” (Hab. 2:4, Is. 28:16).
In distinction to the Old Testament laws, written on stone tablets, the new regulation of God will be written on the hearts themselves of the brand new Israel, that is, the desire of God will change into an inseparable part of their being. This inscribing of the legislation on the hearts of the renewed Israel will probably be carried out by the Holy Spirit, of which write the prophets Isaiah, Zechariah and Joel. As we shall see, the prophets, when speaking of the grace of the Holy Spirit, typically name it water. Grace, like water, refreshes, cleanses, and gives life to a person’s soul.
The prophet Isaiah first prophesied concerning the spiritual renewal: “For I’ll pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring” (Is. 44:3). In Zechariah we read: “And I’ll pour upon the home of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: they usually shall look upon me whom they’ve pierced, they usually shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his solely son…In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness” (Zech. 12:10-13:1, 14:5-9, Is. 12:3).
A commentary from Sukkah 52a (ancient Hebrew writing on Zechariah 12:10): “What is the reason for the mourning…It is nicely according to him who explains that the trigger is the slaying of Messiah the son of Joseph, since that effectively agrees with the Scriptural verse, And so they shall look upon me because they’ve thrust him by means of, they usually shall mourn for him as one mourneth for his solely son.”
Here, as well as, is predicted that penitent grief which the inhabitants of Jerusalem skilled after the demise of Christ on Golgotha (see John 19:37, Acts 2:37). The prophet Ezekiel also wrote in regards to the spiritual renewal:
“For I’ll take you from among the heathen, and collect you out of all international locations, and will convey you into your own land. Then will I sprinkle clear water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A brand new heart additionally will I give you, and a new spirit will I put inside you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and that i will give you an heart of flesh (flesh–comfortable, type). And I’ll put My spirit inside you, and trigger you to stroll in My statutes, and ye shall keep My judgments, and do them” (Eze. 36:24-27).
The subsequent prophecy of Joel supplements the three earlier predictions:
“And it shall come to pass afterward, that I’ll pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream goals, your younger males shall see visions: And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit. And I will shew wonders in the heavens and within the earth, blood, and fireplace, and pillars of smoke. The solar shall be become darkness, and the moon into blood, earlier than the great and the terrible day of the Lord come. And it shall come to cross, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered” (Joel 2:28-32).
These predictions started to be fulfilled on the fiftieth day after the resurrection of Christ (see Acts 2). Compare additionally with Isaiah 44:3-5, Eze. 36:25-27 and Rom. 10:13. The top of the prophecy of Joel in regards to the darkening of the solar refers to occasions before the tip of the world.
The Messianic Kingdom is generally portrayed by the prophets within the form of a excessive mountain. This image, taken from the holy Mount Zion, is comparable to the Messianic Kingdom because it, like a mountain, leaning on the earth, leads individuals to the heights, to Heaven. Here is how the Prophet Isaiah writes of the Kingdom of the Messiah: “And it shall come to move in the final days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the highest of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall circulate unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and allow us to go as much as the mountain of the Lord, to the home of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his methods, and we are going to stroll in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the regulation, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem” (Is. 2:2-3). The prophets known as Jerusalem not solely the capital metropolis of the Hebrew nation, but also the Kingdom of the Messiah. So, for example, Isaiah cried out:
“Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cowl the earth, and gross darkness the people: however the Lord shall come up upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising. Lift up thine eyes round about, and see: all they collect themselves together, they come to thee.” (Is. 60:1-4).
This allegorical portrayal of the Messianic kingdom is repeated with new details in a vision of the prophet Daniel. In his prophecy, besides a mountain, he speaks of a stone, which tore itself from the mountain and destroyed the image (idol) standing in the valley. The stone, as we have already defined, symbolizes the Messiah. Here is the outline of the imaginative and prescient:
“The stone cleaved from the mountain with out the help of palms, it hit the idol’s iron and clay toes and shattered them. Then, all the pieces broke into items: iron, clay, copper, silver and gold turned as mud on the summer time threshing floors, and the wind scattered them, and no hint was left of them, but the stone having shattered the idol became a terrific mountain and stuffed the whole earth.”
Farther on the prophet Daniel explains this imaginative and prescient: “And in the days of these kings [Babylonian, later – Persian, Greek, and at last, Roman] shall the God of heaven arrange a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other folks, but it shall break in items and eat all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever” (Dan. 2:34, 44).
Here the idol represents earthly kingdoms. No matter how a lot the enemies of the Messiah would feud towards His Kingdom, their efforts won’t achieve success. All of the earthly kingdoms sooner or later will vanish, only the Messianic kingdom will last without end.
Sometimes, as we shall see, the prophecies about the Messianic kingdom converse of splendid residing conditions on the earth, joy and bliss. Here the reader may begin to have the following doubts: are these descriptions of the Kingdom an impracticable dream? Or, possibly, the brand new Testament Church itself does not have the appropriate to lay declare to the title of the Kingdom of God, since in its historical past there were so many deviations from that best which is outlined in the prophecies?
In order to appropriately perceive the prophecy of the Messianic Kingdom, one should remember, that often completely different epochs are united in them, separated one from the opposite by many centuries, and sometimes – millenniums. For within the Messianic kingdom the external is decided by the interior: happiness, immortality, bliss, full harmony, peace and other blessings usually are not implanted forcibly and mechanically. They are the results of the voluntary interior renewal, by way of which the members of this kingdom must go. The means of spiritual renewal was to start immediately at the moment of the approaching of the Messiah, however will conclude at the top of the world’s existence.
Because of this, the prophetic visions of the blessed kingdom of the Messiah encompass in a single grandiose image many eras of its existence – the instances close to to the prophets and to the approaching of the Messiah, and, concurrently, occasions far sooner or later, regarding the epoch of the tip of the world and the beginning of a new life. This comparability of the close to and distant futures in one image may be very characteristic of prophetic visions, and if one remembers this, then the reader could accurately perceive the which means of the prophecies concerning the Messianic kingdom.
In the following prophecy Isaiah writes in regards to the joyous circumstances in the triumphant kingdom of the Messiah.
“… with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked… The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the younger lion and the falling collectively; and somewhat little one shall lead them…They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord, because the waters cover the sea. And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the folks; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious” (Is. 11:4-10, see Is. 43:16-28, see Rom. 15:12).
Here the “wicked” who will likely be slain by the Messiah, must be understood because the final and greatest of the wicked – the Antichrist. Listed here are two extra predictions of the nice prophets, referring to this similar period:
Prophet Jeremiah: “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and that is his name whereby he shall be referred to as, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS” (Jer. 23:5 and 33:16).
Prophet Ezekiel: “And I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd. And i the Lord can be their God, and my servant David a prince amongst them.” (Eze. 34:23-24). And David my servant shall be king over them; and they all shall have one shepherd: they shall also stroll in my judgments, and observe my statutes, and do them” (Eze. 37:24).
Among the Old Testament prophets, the approaching Kingdom of the Messiah results in the hope of overcoming the ultimate evil of humanity – death. The resurrection of the lifeless and eternal life is the final victory of the Messiah over evil. Chapters 25 to 27 within the guide of the prophet Isaiah contain a track of praise of the Church to God, rejoicing over the victory over dying:
“Therefore shall the strong folks glorify thee, town of the terrible nations shall fear thee. For thou hast been a energy to the poor, a power to the needy in his distress…And on this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all individuals a feast of fats things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things filled with marrow, of wines on the lees nicely refined. And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the masking forged over all folks, and the vail that’s spread over all nations. He will swallow up dying in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his individuals shall he take away from off all the earth…Lo, that is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the Lord; we’ve waited for him, we might be glad and rejoice in his salvation. For on this mountain shall the hand of the Lord relaxation…Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth might enter in. Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: as a result of he trusteth in thee…Let favour be shewed to the wicked, yet will he not study righteousness” (Is. 25:3-10 and from the 26th chapter).
The prophet Osee also wrote concerning the victory over dying: “I will ransom them from the facility of the grave; I will redeem them from dying: O loss of life, I might be thy plagues; O grave, I will likely be thy destruction” (Hos. 13:14). The hope of resurrection was expressed by the living in historical occasions the muchsuffering Job in the next words: “For I do know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: And though after my skin worms destroy this physique, but in my flesh shall I see God: Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and never another” (Job 19:25-27).
In conclusion we will current the next prophecy, relating to the second coming of the Messiah:
“Behold, one just like the Son of man got here with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and so they brought him close to before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that each one individuals, nations, and languages, and eternal dominion, which shall not cross away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed” (Dan. 7:13-14, see Matt. 24:30).
Summarizing right here the given prophecies concerning the Messianic Kingdom, we see that all of them converse of spiritual processes: concerning the necessity of religion, the forgiveness of sins, cleansing of the heart, spiritual renewal, the outpouring of blessed gifts on the faithful, the data of God and His legislation, the eternal covenant with God, the victory over the devil and the forces of evil. The eternal blessings – victory over death, the resurrection of the useless, the renewal of the world, the restoration of justice, and, lastly, eternal bliss will come as a reward for virtue.
If the prophets, in portraying future bliss, used expressions akin to wealth, abundance and related worldly terms, they did this as a result of the human language doesn’t contain the required words to describe that blessed state in the spiritual world. It was these particular phrases in regards to the external blessings, understood by some of their crude materialistic that means, that served as the grounds for all types of distorted representations concerning the earthly messianic kingdom.
It have to be mentioned, that not only the Jews of the times of Christ incorrectly visualized the messianic instances in the form of worldly nicely-being. Similar ideas continue to arise to this day among the many sectarians within the form of, for example, the teachings of the 1000-year kingdom of Christ on earth (chiliasm). The prophets, Jesus Christ and the Apostles predicted the transfiguration of the physical world, after which full justice, eternal life and heavenly bliss will probably be realized. These universally desired blessings will come solely after this material world, poisoned by sins, is transfigured by the ability of God into “new heaven and new earth, by which resides reality.” Then a brand new, eternal life will start.
Those desiring to inherit the transfigured Kingdom of the Messiah should go to this new life by the narrow path of self-reformation, as Christ taught. There isn’t a other means.
Two Paschas
Definitely, the most important occasion in the life of the Hebrew nation was the exodus from Egypt and the reception of the Promised Land. The Lord saved the Hebrew nation from backbreaking slavery, gave it His Godly commandments on Mt. Zion, concluded an alliance with it and lead it into the land promised to its forefathers. All these nice events in the life of the chosen people had been concentrated in the vacation of Passover. On this holiday the Jews annually commemorated the innumerable blessings of God, rendered to the Hebrew nation.
Now we are going to contrast the Hebrew Old Testament Passover with the best occasion of the brand new Testament. The Lord Jesus Christ endured suffering, died on the Cross and was resurrected from the useless exactly in the times of the Hebrew Passover. This concurrence of those two utmost occasions – the formation of the Old Testament Israel and the founding of the brand new Testament Church – cannot be accidental! It exhibits that there exists a deep inside connection between the Paschal events of the Old and New Testament, specifically: the greatest occasion within the life of the Hebrew nation was the prototype of the brand new Testament occasions. So as to see this spiritual connection, we’ll compare these occasions.
The Old Testament Passover
The brand new Testament Easter
The slaughter of the pure lamb by whose blood had been redeemed the Israelite first-born.
The crossing of the Red Sea by the Jews and deliverance from bondage.
Entrance in alliance with God on the 50th day after their exodus from Egypt and reception of God’s Commandments.
Wanderings in the desert and numerous trials.
Partaking of the Manna miraculously sent by God.
The erection of the copper serpent, by looking at which the Jews were healed from snake bites.
The entrance of the Jews into the promised land.
The demise on the cross by God’s Lamb, by whose blood are redeemed the primary-born of the Christians.
Baptism frees people from the bondage of sin.
The descent of the Holy Spirit on the 50th day after Passover, by which was established the brand new Testament.
A Christian’s life amidst trials and sorrows.
The partaking by the faithful of the “Bread of Heaven,” Body and Blood of Christ.
Christ’s Cross, by looking at which, the faithful save themselves from the snares of the satan.
The reception by the faithful of the Kingdom of Heaven.
Truly, the similarities are putting! The Lord Jesus Christ himself, in addition to His apostles, pointed out the existence of these parallels between the Old Testament and the new Testament occasions connected with Pascha. This fashion, we see that, not solely the prophets wrote about the Messiah and about the brand new Testament times, however the whole religious life of the Hebrew nation in the Old Testament period was most intimately linked to the matters of the Messiah. This reality signifies to us the complete spiritual unity of the new Testament Church with the Old Testament Israel. For this reason, all the prophecies in which are mentioned the names Israel, Jerusalem, Zion and so on, have a full and full realization in the blessed Church of Christ.
The forthcoming conversion
of the Hebrew nation to Christ
As now we have already written, the vast majority of Jews on the time of Christ did not acknowledge Him as the Messiah promised by God and rejected Him. They wanted because the Messiah a strong king-conqueror, who would achieve fame and fortune for the Hebrew nation. Christ, however, taught voluntary poverty, meekness, love in the direction of ones enemies, which for many was unacceptable. With the centuries the religious angle of the Hebrew nation modified little, and the Jews continue not to acknowledge Christ. Yet, the Holy Apostle Paul clearly predicted that within the last occasions there will likely be a mass conversion of Jews to Christ. This confession of Christ and religion in Him because the Savior of the world by many Jews will coincide with a drastic discount of faith and mass digression amongst Christian peoples.
The prediction of St. Paul in regards to the conversion of the Hebrew nation to religion is discovered in the tenth and eleventh chapters of his letter to the Romans. These two chapters are penetrated with great sorrow for the religious bitterness of the Jews contemporary to him.
We’ll current right here probably the most pertinent ideas in the prophecy of Apostle Paul: “For I wouldn’t, brethren, that ye needs to be ignorant of this thriller, lest ye ought to be sensible in your individual conceits; that blindness partially is occurred to Israel, till the fullness of the Gentiles be come in (to the Church). And so all Israel (of the last occasions) shall be saved: as it’s written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob” (Rom. 11:25-26). Who might be this “Deliverer” – the apostle doesn’t outline: Christ Himself, or the prophet Elias, who in response to legend is supposed to come before the end of the world, to be able to expose the falsity of the Antichrist, or someone from the Hebrew nation?
Within the last 30-forty years there have appeared signs of the start of the rebirth of faith in Christ among Jews. In a complete row of large cities within the USA, missionary centers of Jewish Christians have appeared, instructing among their brothers by blood faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is vitally interesting and enlightening to familiarize oneself with their brochures and books on religious themes. It’s apparent that the compilers of those brochures distinctly perceive the Holy Scriptures and the Old Testament Jewish religion. They explain the predictions of the prophets concerning the Messiah and about His blessed Kingdom clearly and convincingly.
Currently, all through the world, there are nearly 200 Messianic Jewish congregations – Christian Jews that observe their national customs. In phone books, their communities appear underneath the rubric – Jewish Messianic. The following are Jewish Christian societies which are in existence: Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations, the Fellowship of Jewish Congregations, International Alliance of Messianic Congregations and Synagogues, Messianic Jewish Alliance of America, Jews for Jesus, The Chosen People, American Board of Mission to the Jews, and others. In confessing to the cardinal Christian dogmas, members of those congregations strive to preserve their national identity and proceed to observe ancient Jewish holidays and customs, like the Sabbath (Saturday), circumcision, Pascha (Passover), and others.
Supplementary data on the Messianic movement can be discovered within the books Return of the Remnant by Michael Schiffman and Elliot Klayman, Lederer Publications, Baltimore, Maryland, 1992, and Messianic Jews by John Fieldsend, Marc Olive Press, Monarch Publications,1993. Some Messianic congregations are lively in publishing journals and books, wherein they convincingly prove – on the basis of the Old Testament prophesies – to their fellow Jews that the Lord Jesus Christ is the promised Messiah. This type of literature might be received, for instance, from the publisher Jews for Jesus, 60 Haight St., San Francisco, CA 94102, tel. (415) 864-2600.
We pray God to help the Jews see their Savior and to start to serve Him as fervently as their glorious ancestors had served God!
Index of
Messianic Prophecies
a) Prophecies by content material
The prophets wrote that the Messiah would have two natures: a human (Gen. 3:15, Is. 7:14, Gen. 22:18, Ps. 41:7, Dan. 7:13) and a Godly (Ps. 2; Ps., 45; Ps, 110; Is. 9:6; Jer. 23:5; Bar. 3:36-38; Mic. 5:2; Mal. 3:1), that He could be the greatest prophet (Deut. 18:18); king (Gen. 49:10; 2 Samuel 7:13; 1 Chron. 17:12-13; Ps. 2, Ps. 132:11, Ez. 37:24; Dan. 7:13) and High Priest (Ps. 110; Zach. 6:12), anointed by God (the Father) for these duties (Ps. 2, Ps. 45; Is. 42; Is. 61:1-4; Dan. 9:24-27), and can be a sort Shepherd (Ez. 34:23-24, 37:24; Mic. 5:3).
The prophecies additionally witness that the main role of the Messiah will likely be to defeat the devil and his powers (Gen. 3:15; Num. 24:17), redeem folks from sin and to heal their bodily and spiritual illnesses (Ps. 40; Is. 35:5-7, 42:1-12, 50:Four and the 53rd chapter and 61:1-3; Zach. 3:8-9) and to reconcile them with God (Gen. 49:10; Jer. 23:5 and 31:34; Ez. 36:24-27; Dan. 9:24-27; Zach. 13:1); that He will sanctify the faithful (Zach. 6:12), will establish a brand new Covenant in place of the previous (Is. 42:2, 55:3 and 59:20-21; Dan. 9:24-27), and that this covenant can be for eternity (Jer. 31:31; Is. 55:3). The prophets predicted the calling of the Gentiles to the Kingdom of the Messiah (Ps. 72:10; Is. 11:1-11, 43:16-28, 49:6 and 65:1-3), the spreading of faith, starting with Jerusalem (Is. 2:2), that His spiritual blessings will extend to all humanity (Gen. 22:18, Ps. 132:11; Is. 11:1, 42:1-12 and 54:1-5; Ez. 34:23 and 37:24; Amos 9:11-12; Ag. 2:6-7; Zeph. 3:9, Zach. 9:9-11), and the spiritual bliss of the faithful (Is. 12:3).
The prophets additionally revealed many particulars concerning the coming of the Messiah, specifically: that He can be descended from Abraham (Gen. 22:18), from the tribe of Judah (Gen. 49:9), from the road of king David (2 Samuel 7:13; 1 Chron. 17:12-13), will be born of a Virgin (Is. 7:14) in town of Bethlehem (Mic. 5:2), will unfold spiritual gentle (Is. 9:1-2), will heal the infirm (Is. 35:5-6), will suffer, be pierced, die, be buried in a brand new grave, then will rise from the useless (Gen. 49:9-11; Ps. 41:7-10; Is. 50:5-7 and the 53rd chapter; Zach. 12:10; Ps. 16:9-11), will lead souls from hell (Zach. 9:11); they even predicted, that not everyone will recognize Him because the Messiah (Is. 6:9), but that some would even feud with Him, though unsuccessfully (Num. 24:17; Deut. 18:18; Ps. 2; Ps. 95:6-8; Ps. 110:1-4; Is. 50:8-9 and 65:1-3). Isaiah wrote in regards to the meekness of the Messiah (42:1-12).
The fruits of His redemption might be spiritual renewal of the faithful and the outpouring of the grace of the Holy Spirit on them (Is. 44:3 and 59:20-21; Zach. 12:10; Joel 2:28; Eze. 36:25). In addition they spoke of the necessity of faith (Is. 28:16; Hab. 3:11).
The prophets decided, that the time of His coming will coincide with the loss of the tribe of Judah’s political independence (Gen. 49:10), that this may happen no later than 70 “weeks” (490 years) after the decree to restore the town of Jerusalem (Dan. 9:24-27) and no later than the destruction of the second Temple in Jerusalem (Ag. 2:6, Mal. 3:1). The prophets predicted that He will annihilate the antichrist (Is. 11:4), will come once more in glory (Mal. 3:1-2). The end results of His exercise will be the attainment of justice, peace and happiness (Is.