Messianic Prophecy: Part Two

The Old Testament book of Isaiah is abundant with prophetic references---many of them pointing to Jesus Christ as the Messiah. Here are just a few of the proofs we have for Christ as God as prophesied by Isaiah, more than 600 years before Jesus walked the Earth!

The Virgin Birth/Jesus called Immanuel
Isaiah 7:14:"Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel"


This is fulfilled in Matthew 1:20-23. Joseph was visited in a dream by an angel quoting the verse from Isaiah. His soon-to-be-wife was the prophesied virgin. "Immanuel" means "God with us". Like the names given for Messiah in Isaiah 9:6 (Wonderful Counselor, Prince of Peace, etc.), Jesus wasn't actually given the name "Immanuel" as his birth name. This is not what the passage means. Instead, it is saying that this is a term people will use to reference Jesus for the rest of eternity. People will say that Jesus is God in the flesh--God with us.

Messianic Prophecy: Part Three

Tonight I studied a couple of Messianic Prophecies in the Old Testament book of Zechariah. The prophet Zechariah wrote about Messiah approximately 500 years before the birth of Christ.

I was especially blessed tonight by two specific prophecies found in this book.

Zechariah 9:9: Messiah would enter Jerusalem on a donkey
"Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; He is just and endowed with salvation. Humble, and mounted on a donkey. Even on a colt, the foal of a donkey."
This was fulfilled in Matthew 21:1-9. While reading the verse above, the critical voice in me spoke up to point out that Jesus, having been schooled with the rabbis from an early age, would have been familiar with this verse and could have found himself a donkey on which to ride into Jerusalem in order to fulfill the prophecy.
However, once I read the verses in Matthew, I became aware of two reasons why this prophecy can be taken for truth. For one thing, Matt. 21:2 tells us that Jesus sent two disciples on ahead to fetch the donkey and colt. The verse says, "Go into the village opposite you and immediately you will find a donkey tied there and a colt with her." God had revealed to Jesus where he would find a donkey on which to ride before he even got to town. Secondly, verse 9 says that the crowds were shouting, "Hosanna to the Son of David; Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord; Hosanna in the Highest". There is no way that the prophet Zechariah, nor Jesus Himself, could have predicted how the crowd would react. Verse 8 says, "Most of the crowd spread their coats in the road." This tells us that at least the majority of the people were treating Him as royalty. This is especially significant as these are likely the same people who, only days later, were shouting, "Crucify him!" (Matt. 27:22-23)

Zechariah 11:12-13 Messiah would be betrayed for 30 pieces of silver
"I said to them, 'If it is good in your sight, give me my wages; but if not, never mind!' So they weighed out thirty shekels of silver as my wages. Then the Lord said to me, 'Throw it to the potter, that magnificent price at which I was valued by them'. So I took the thirty shekels of silver and threw them to the potter in the house of the Lord."
This portion of Zechariah is...weird. It's language and context definitely warrant more study! These verses actually point out two instances of fulfilled prophecy. First of all, Matt. 26:15 tells us that Judas accepted 30 shekels of silver to betray Jesus to the chief priests. Secondly, Matt. 27:5-10 tells us that is was unlawful for the chief priests to put blood money into the temple treasury. Therefore, after the guilt-ridden Judas threw the money back at them, they decided to use it to buy the Potter's Field as a burial place for strangers. Furthermore, Acts 1:18-20 seems to allude to the possibility that it was in this field that Judas committed suicide.
It's also important to point out that this isn't the only place in the Old Testament that discusses Jesus' betrayal. Psalm 41:9 says, "Even my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted up his heel against me."

Thank you, God, for revealing so much to your people so long before the events really took place. It's instances like these in the Old Testament that can help us to cement our faith in the New Testament and in Jesus as our Messiah!

Messianic Prophecy: Part One

There's six days until Easter and I'm thinking about some of the Old Testament prophecies about Jesus that have been fulfilled in the New Testament. I bet there's a lot of people who don't realize how many times the Old Testament talks about Messiah---or don't understand why that's even a big deal.

The big deal is that the most recent Old Testament book was written over 400 years before Christ was born---and many of them were written a thousand years or more before His birth. Scholars have estimated there to be around 300 Messianic prophecies in the Old Testament--many of them are contained in those books that are a thousand years older than the Messiah they reference. This is all a big deal because this gives us more evidence for a solid belief in the truth of the Bible and the truth of Jesus as the Messiah the Jews were looking for!

Tonight I took some time to study Psalm 22. This was written by David, right around 1,000 years before Jesus' birth. I've copied the Psalm in it's entirety at the end of this post for your reference. Here are some of the ways in which God speaks through David to describe the Messiah's death---each of these are things that Jesus actually experienced, 10 centuries later, on the cross:

*v. 22:1--"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Jesus said this as He was dying on the cross. See Matthew 27:46.

*v. 22:6-7--"despised by the people, sneered at Him" The four New Testament gospels are full of instances where Jesus was despised by the people. In fact, when Pilate asked the crowd whether he should release the murderer Barabbas or Jesus, the crowd shouted for the release of Barabbas. Pilate asked them what evil He had done and they had no answer but to demand his crucifixion: see Luke 23:15-24.

*v. 22:8--"Commit yourself to the Lord; let Him deliver him; let Him rescue him, because He delights in him". This is almost word for word what the mockers at the cross say in Matthew 27:43.

*v. 22:14--"poured out like water" Water poured from Jesus' side after the soldier stabbed him in John 19:34; "all my bones are out of joint" Imagine how Jesus' body was pulled out of joint as he was yanked around and fastened to the cross. Imagine how many places his arms were pulled out of joint as the weight of His body strained them once He was upright.

*v. 22:16--"They pierced my hands and my feet" The very act of crucifixion.

*v. 22:18--"They divide up my clothing/cast lots" This detail is interesting---I wonder if God just put it there as a minor issue to solidify this prophecy years later. This is mentioned in all four gospels: Matt 27:35; Mark 15:24; Luke 23:34 and John 19:24.

I hope this short study inspires you to do your own investigation and see what other Old Testament prophecies about Jesus you can find!

Psalm 22 (New American Standard Bible)

A Cry of Anguish and a Song of Praise.

For the choir director; upon Aijeleth Hashshahar. A Psalm of David.

¹My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?
Far from my deliverance are the words of my groaning.
²O my God, I cry by day, but You do not answer;
And by night, but I have no rest.
³Yet You are holy,
O You who are enthroned upon the praises of Israel.
⁴In You our fathers trusted;
They trusted and You delivered them.
⁵To You they cried out and were delivered;
In You they trusted and were not disappointed.
⁶But I am a worm and not a man,
A reproach of men and despised by the people.
⁷All who see me sneer at me;
They separate with the lip, they wag the head, saying,
⁸"Commit yourself to the LORD; let Him deliver him;
Let Him rescue him, because He delights in him."
⁹Yet You are He who brought me forth from the womb;
You made me trust when upon my mother's breasts.
¹⁰Upon You I was cast from birth;
You have been my God from my mother's womb.
¹¹Be not far from me, for trouble is near;
For there is none to help.
¹²Many bulls have surrounded me;
Strong bulls of Bashan have encircled me.
¹³They open wide their mouth at me,
As a ravening and a roaring lion.
¹⁴I am poured out like water,
And all my bones are out of joint;
My heart is like wax;
It is melted within me.
¹⁵My strength is dried up like a potsherd,
And my tongue cleaves to my jaws;
And You lay me in the dust of death.
¹⁶For dogs have surrounded me;
A band of evildoers has encompassed me;
They pierced my hands and my feet.
¹⁷I can count all my bones.
They look, they stare at me;
¹⁸They divide my garments among them,
And for my clothing they cast lots.
¹⁹But You, O LORD, be not far off;
O You my help, hasten to my assistance.
²⁰Deliver my soul from the sword,
My only life from the power of the dog.
²¹Save me from the lion's mouth;
From the horns of the wild oxen You answer me.
²²I will tell of Your name to my brethren;
In the midst of the assembly I will praise You.
²³You who fear the LORD, praise Him;
All you descendants of Jacob, glorify Him,
And stand in awe of Him, all you descendants of Israel.
²⁴For He has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted;
Nor has He hidden His face from him;
But when he cried to Him for help, He heard.
²⁵From You comes my praise in the great assembly;
I shall pay my vows before those who fear Him.
²⁶The afflicted will eat and be satisfied;
Those who seek Him will praise the LORD
Let your heart live forever!
²⁷All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the LORD,
And all the families of the nations will worship before You.
²⁸For the kingdom is the LORD'S
And He rules over the nations.
²⁹All the prosperous of the earth will eat and worship,
All those who go down to the dust will bow before Him,
Even he who cannot keep his soul alive.
³⁰Posterity will serve Him;
It will be told of the Lord to the coming generation.
³¹They will come and will declare His righteousness
To a people who will be born, that He has performed it.