Jesus is the Messiah
Author: - Berkana
Mar 23, 04 | 3:20 am
I hope you don't mind my contributing the Christian perspective on your forum for the sake of a spirited discussion from many perspectives. I found this article, and felt that you might appreciate knowing why Christians would have as the centerpiece of their religion the crucifixion and murder of the founder of their religion. The gospels record that Jesus taught that his purpose was primarily to bear the punishment for the sins of the world, and that teaching and healing was secondary. Not suprisingly, this is totally counterintuitive, but this not something that was made up by people (and who would make up such a thing as the Messiah being crucified?): it was foretold in prophecy.
In the scroll of Isaiah, written nearly 700 years before Jesus was born, it is written (posted in 2 parts):
Isaiah 52:13-53:6
See, my servant will act wisely;
he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted.
Just as there were many who were appalled at him-
his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man
and his form marred beyond human likeness-
so will he sprinkle many nations,
and kings will shut their mouths because of him.
For what they were not told, they will see,
and what they have not heard, they will understand.
Who has believed our message
and to whom has the arm of YHWH been revealed?
He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.
Like one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Surely he took up our infirmities
and carried our sorrows,
yet we considered him stricken by God,
smitten by him, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to his own way;
and YHWH has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
Isaiah 53:7-12
He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before her shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
By oppression and judgment he was taken away.
And who can speak of his descendants?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
for the transgression of my people he was stricken.
He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in his mouth.
Yet it was YHWH's will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though YHWH makes his life a guilt offering,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days
[offspring are not necessarily descendants; his followers can be considered offspring],
and the will of YHWH will prosper in his hand.
After the suffering of his soul,
he will see the light of life and be satisfied;
by knowledge of him my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will bear their iniquities.
Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,
and he will divide the spoils with the strong,
because he poured out his life unto death,
and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors.
This prophecy detailed the suffering of Jesus Christ with uncanny precision, in spite of the fact that it was written 700 years before Jesus fulfilled every prediction perfectly! Jesus was "assigned a grave with the wicked" but was laid to rest in Yusef of Aramathea's tomb cut out of rock, being "with the rich in his death". He rose from the dead on the third day, "seeing the light of life" after his suffering. We know for a fact that this was written long before Jesus fulfilled these things because the Dead Sea Scrolls found in the caves of Qumran included in their scriptorium a complete scroll of Isaiah written aproximately 700 years before Christ. This prophecy is not alone; several other prophecies in the Old Testament also speak of the suffering and death of the Messiah, which was counter intuitive, and was simply dismissed by the Jews when Jesus fulfilled them. But it happened none the less, and was documented not only in the Bible, but in the writings of several non biblical historians of the day.
Here's another prophecy from the Bible, for your consideration. The prophet Daniel wrote the following prophecy about 500 years before Jesus was born with uncanny precision:
Daniel 9:20-27 (the Prophecy of the seventy sevens)
While I was speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel and making my request to YHWH my God for his holy hill- while I was still in prayer, Gabriel, the man I had seen in the earlier vision, came to me in swift flight about the time of the evening sacrifice. He instructed me and said to me, "Daniel, I have now come to give you insight and understanding. As soon as you began to pray, an answer was given, which I have come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed. Therefore, consider the message and understand the vision:
"Seventy 'sevens' are decreed for your people and your holy city
* to finish transgression,
* to put an end to sin,
* to atone for wickedness,
* to bring in everlasting righteousness,
* to seal up vision and prophecy and
* to anoint the most holy.
"Know and understand this: From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven 'sevens,' and sixty-two 'sevens.' It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble. After the sixty-two 'sevens,' the Anointed One will be cut off, but not for himself. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed. He will confirm a covenant with many for one 'seven.' In the middle of the 'seven' he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on a wing of the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him.
The years spoken of in prophecy seem to be 360-day years. (Revelation 11:3, 12:6, correlated with Daniel 7:25, 12:7) If the 'sevens' in this prophecy correspond to seven year periods, then the Anointed One's coming can be calculated.
Daniel 9:25 says "From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven 'sevens,' and sixty-two 'sevens.' "
7(7) + 62(7) = 483 years
483 prophetic years * 360 days per prophetic year = 173,880 days = 476 solar years and 3 weeks
It can be shown from ancient Persian inscriptions and calendar calculations that from the day the decree was issued to rebuild Jerusalem by Artaxerxes (King of Persia) in April of 445 b.c. to the day Jesus was killed ("cut off, but not for himself", verse 26), on Passover day of 30 a.d., spanned exactly 173,880 days! (The biblical record of the decree to rebuild Jerusalem is found in Ezra 7:11-26, and Nehemiah 1.) Of course, the ancient Hebrews didn't call the month "April" on their lunar calendar. Their month of Nisan, which had the feast of Passover, overlapped part of March and part of April. The incredible precision of this prophecy is uncanny. No other messianic claimant even comes close to fulfilling this prophetic qualification. (Even if all calculations are dismissed as being too tenuous, the prophecy declares that the messiah would come between the time that Jerusalem was rebuilt after the Babylonian exile and the time that "the people of the ruler who will come. . . destroy the city and the sanctuary." The Anointed One had to have come in the window of opportunity between 445 b.c. and 70 a.d. when Titus and the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple.)
But all this aside, the prophecy says that the Anointed One was to come and be "cut off, but not for himself". And that's what happened when Jesus put up no resistance and gave himself to be executed on the cross to atone for our sins. (The remainder of the prophecy has yet to be fulfilled; it speaks of the Antichrist, who will come, whom Jesus shall defeat when he returns.)
The concept of Jesus being the Son of God is not a recent concept that was established at the coucil of Nicea in A.D. 320, and educated Christians are not in denial of history. It was recorded that Jesus taught this teaching about himself, and the people found it objectionable. Behold:
The following Old Testament prophecies teach the divinity of the Messiah. These were all written at least hundreds of years before Jesus Christ was born; we know that we have them uncorrupted because the dead sea scrolls testify to this fact.
Mar 23, 04 | 3:20 am
I hope you don't mind my contributing the Christian perspective on your forum for the sake of a spirited discussion from many perspectives. I found this article, and felt that you might appreciate knowing why Christians would have as the centerpiece of their religion the crucifixion and murder of the founder of their religion. The gospels record that Jesus taught that his purpose was primarily to bear the punishment for the sins of the world, and that teaching and healing was secondary. Not suprisingly, this is totally counterintuitive, but this not something that was made up by people (and who would make up such a thing as the Messiah being crucified?): it was foretold in prophecy.
In the scroll of Isaiah, written nearly 700 years before Jesus was born, it is written (posted in 2 parts):
Isaiah 52:13-53:6
See, my servant will act wisely;
he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted.
Just as there were many who were appalled at him-
his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man
and his form marred beyond human likeness-
so will he sprinkle many nations,
and kings will shut their mouths because of him.
For what they were not told, they will see,
and what they have not heard, they will understand.
Who has believed our message
and to whom has the arm of YHWH been revealed?
He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.
Like one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Surely he took up our infirmities
and carried our sorrows,
yet we considered him stricken by God,
smitten by him, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to his own way;
and YHWH has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
Isaiah 53:7-12
He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before her shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
By oppression and judgment he was taken away.
And who can speak of his descendants?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
for the transgression of my people he was stricken.
He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in his mouth.
Yet it was YHWH's will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though YHWH makes his life a guilt offering,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days
[offspring are not necessarily descendants; his followers can be considered offspring],
and the will of YHWH will prosper in his hand.
After the suffering of his soul,
he will see the light of life and be satisfied;
by knowledge of him my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will bear their iniquities.
Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,
and he will divide the spoils with the strong,
because he poured out his life unto death,
and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors.
This prophecy detailed the suffering of Jesus Christ with uncanny precision, in spite of the fact that it was written 700 years before Jesus fulfilled every prediction perfectly! Jesus was "assigned a grave with the wicked" but was laid to rest in Yusef of Aramathea's tomb cut out of rock, being "with the rich in his death". He rose from the dead on the third day, "seeing the light of life" after his suffering. We know for a fact that this was written long before Jesus fulfilled these things because the Dead Sea Scrolls found in the caves of Qumran included in their scriptorium a complete scroll of Isaiah written aproximately 700 years before Christ. This prophecy is not alone; several other prophecies in the Old Testament also speak of the suffering and death of the Messiah, which was counter intuitive, and was simply dismissed by the Jews when Jesus fulfilled them. But it happened none the less, and was documented not only in the Bible, but in the writings of several non biblical historians of the day.
Here's another prophecy from the Bible, for your consideration. The prophet Daniel wrote the following prophecy about 500 years before Jesus was born with uncanny precision:
Daniel 9:20-27 (the Prophecy of the seventy sevens)
While I was speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel and making my request to YHWH my God for his holy hill- while I was still in prayer, Gabriel, the man I had seen in the earlier vision, came to me in swift flight about the time of the evening sacrifice. He instructed me and said to me, "Daniel, I have now come to give you insight and understanding. As soon as you began to pray, an answer was given, which I have come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed. Therefore, consider the message and understand the vision:
"Seventy 'sevens' are decreed for your people and your holy city
* to finish transgression,
* to put an end to sin,
* to atone for wickedness,
* to bring in everlasting righteousness,
* to seal up vision and prophecy and
* to anoint the most holy.
"Know and understand this: From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven 'sevens,' and sixty-two 'sevens.' It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble. After the sixty-two 'sevens,' the Anointed One will be cut off, but not for himself. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed. He will confirm a covenant with many for one 'seven.' In the middle of the 'seven' he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on a wing of the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him.
The years spoken of in prophecy seem to be 360-day years. (Revelation 11:3, 12:6, correlated with Daniel 7:25, 12:7) If the 'sevens' in this prophecy correspond to seven year periods, then the Anointed One's coming can be calculated.
Daniel 9:25 says "From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven 'sevens,' and sixty-two 'sevens.' "
7(7) + 62(7) = 483 years
483 prophetic years * 360 days per prophetic year = 173,880 days = 476 solar years and 3 weeks
It can be shown from ancient Persian inscriptions and calendar calculations that from the day the decree was issued to rebuild Jerusalem by Artaxerxes (King of Persia) in April of 445 b.c. to the day Jesus was killed ("cut off, but not for himself", verse 26), on Passover day of 30 a.d., spanned exactly 173,880 days! (The biblical record of the decree to rebuild Jerusalem is found in Ezra 7:11-26, and Nehemiah 1.) Of course, the ancient Hebrews didn't call the month "April" on their lunar calendar. Their month of Nisan, which had the feast of Passover, overlapped part of March and part of April. The incredible precision of this prophecy is uncanny. No other messianic claimant even comes close to fulfilling this prophetic qualification. (Even if all calculations are dismissed as being too tenuous, the prophecy declares that the messiah would come between the time that Jerusalem was rebuilt after the Babylonian exile and the time that "the people of the ruler who will come. . . destroy the city and the sanctuary." The Anointed One had to have come in the window of opportunity between 445 b.c. and 70 a.d. when Titus and the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple.)
But all this aside, the prophecy says that the Anointed One was to come and be "cut off, but not for himself". And that's what happened when Jesus put up no resistance and gave himself to be executed on the cross to atone for our sins. (The remainder of the prophecy has yet to be fulfilled; it speaks of the Antichrist, who will come, whom Jesus shall defeat when he returns.)
The concept of Jesus being the Son of God is not a recent concept that was established at the coucil of Nicea in A.D. 320, and educated Christians are not in denial of history. It was recorded that Jesus taught this teaching about himself, and the people found it objectionable. Behold:
John 8:49-59
"I am not possessed by a demon," said Jesus, "but I honor my Father and you dishonor me. I am not seeking glory for myself; but there is one who seeks it, and he is the judge. I tell you the truth, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death." At this the Jews exclaimed, "Now we know that you are demon-possessed! Abraham died and so did the prophets, yet you say that if anyone keeps your word, he will never taste death. Are you greater than our father Abraham? He died, and so did the prophets. Who do you think you are?"
Jesus replied, "If I glorify myself, my glory means nothing. My Father, whom you claim as your God, is the one who glorifies me. Though you do not know him, I know him. If I said I did not, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and keep his word. Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad." "You are not yet fifty years old," the Jews said to him, "and you have seen Abraham!" "I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "before Abraham was born, I am!" At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds.
John 10:24-33However, if this were all there is, it would hardly validate Jesus' claims to divinity. In fact, there is much more to validate Jesus' divinity, and the validation comes in the form of prophecies from the Old Testament. I will post them shortly.
The Jews gathered around him, saying, "How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly."
Jesus answered, "I did tell you, but you do not believe. The miracles I do in my Father's name speak for me, but you do not believe because you are not my sheep. My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand. I and the Father are one."
Again the Jews picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus said to them, "I have shown you many great miracles from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?"
"We are not stoning you for any of these," replied the Jews, "but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God."
The following Old Testament prophecies teach the divinity of the Messiah. These were all written at least hundreds of years before Jesus Christ was born; we know that we have them uncorrupted because the dead sea scrolls testify to this fact.
Isaiah 9:6-7
For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his government and peace
there will be no end.
He will reign on David's throne
and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
with justice and righteousness
from that time on and forever.
The zeal of YHWH Almighty
will accomplish this.
Micah 5:2
"But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
though you are small among the clans of Judah,
out of you will come for me
one who will be ruler over Israel,
whose origins are from of old,
from days of eternity."
Psalm 110:1, 4 [a psalm of Daud]Psalm 110:1 and 110:4 seem cryptic at first, but the following examinations of their meaning from the New Testament indicate that they suggest Messianic divinity.
YHWH says to my Lord:
"Sit at my right hand
until I make your enemies
a footstool for your feet."
YHWH has sworn
and will not change his mind:
"You are a priest forever,
in the order of Melchizedek."Matthew 22:41-46The Messiah was to sit at the right hand of God; the fact that David (Daud) calls his heir "lord" indicates that the Messiah was more than just the son of David; the Spirit of God came upon Mary (Maryam) and she conceived--the Messiah was thus the Son of God. Jesus was the son of David because Mary was descended from David, and Joseph (Yusef), Mary's husband, was also an heir of David. But there's more. . .
While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, "What do you think about the Messiah? Whose son is he?"
"The son of David," they replied.
He said to them, "How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him 'Lord'? For he says,
" 'The Lord said to my Lord:
"Sit at my right hand
until I put your enemies
under your feet." '
If then David calls him 'Lord,' how can he be his son?" No one could say a word in reply, and from that day on no one dared to ask him any more questions.
Psalm 110:4 is also suggestive of Messianic divinity because a priest's office ends upon his death, whereas the Psalm says that the Messiah will be a priest forever. This can only be so if the Messiah is immortal. For the Messiah to fulfill the role of a priest, He had to be a man, but had to be immortal, and had to be more than merely the Son of David:Hebrews 7:13-28
He [the Messiah] of whom these things are said belonged to a different tribe, and no one from that tribe has ever served at the altar. For it is clear that our Lord descended from Judah, and in regard to that tribe Moses said nothing concerning priests. And what we have said is even more clear if another priest like Melchizedek appears, one who has become a priest not on the basis of a regulation as to his ancestry but on the basis of the power of an indestructible life. For it is declared:
"You are a priest forever,
in the order of Melchizedek." [Psalm 110:4]
The former regulation is set aside because it was weak and useless (for the law made nothing perfect), and a better hope is introduced, by which we draw near to God. And it was not without an oath! Others became priests without any oath, but he became a priest with an oath when God said to him:
"The Lord has sworn
and will not change his mind:
'You are a priest forever.' " [Psalm 110:4]
Because of this oath, Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant.
Now there have been many of those priests, since death prevented them from continuing in office; but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.
Such a high priest meets our need--one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself. For the law appoints as high priests men who are weak; but the oath, which came after the law, appointed the Son, who has been made perfect forever.
posted by Timothy at 10/23/2005 03:59:00 AM
1 Comments:
I thought this was such a great posting when I ran across it that I decided to post it here on my blog. As with anything in the scripture or anything that is written (including my own writings), I would urge all readers to thouroughly examine these teachings in order to discover the accuracies and inaccuracies.
As I was reading over this, this is probably some of the best and the most honest debate that I have ever read. This is also where I got the above journal entry and was introduced to the research and writings of quite a scholar. Not that that is an honor for him but rather from God, for who has knowlege that hasn't received that knowlege from God.
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