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What
Is Christianity Explained Information?
What Is Religion and Where Did It Originate?
What Is the Bible, and How Relative Is It to My Life?
What Are Messianic Prophecies?
Who Was Jesus of Nazareth, Really?
Why Are There So Many World Religions?
Why Are There So Many Christian Denominations?
What Is the Law and How Does It Apply to Me?
What's All This About the End of the World and End-time Prophecies?
Isn't the Book of Daniel a Closed Book?
Revelation: How can anyone understand all that symbolism?
Who or What Was Jesus' Mother, Mary?
Didn't Darwin Disprove Creation?
What's the Truth About Faith and Works?
Christian E-mails: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Complete Directory of Articles/Studies
Title Abbreviations for Books of the Bible
Genesis
- Ge
Exodus - Ex
Leviticus - Le
Numbers - Nu
Deuteronomy - De
Joshua - Jos
Judges - Jud
Ruth - Ru
I Samuel - 1sa
II Samuel - 2sa
I Kings - 1ki
II Kings - 2ki
I Chronicles - 1ch
II Chronicles - 2ch
Ezra - Ezr
Nehemiah - Ne
Esther - Es
Job - Job
Psalm - Ps
Proverbs - Pr
Ecclesiastes - Ec
Song of Solomon - So
Isaiah - Isa
Jeremiah - Jer
Lamentations - La
Ezekiel - Eze
Daniel - Da
Hosea - Ho
Joel - Joe
Amos - Am
Obadiah - Ob
Johah - Jon
Micah - Mic
Nahum - Na
Habakuk - Hab
Zephaniah - Zep
Haggai - Hag
Zechariah - Zec
Malachi - Mal
Matthew - Mt
Mark - Mr
Luke - Lu
John - Joh
Acts - Ac
Romans - Ro
I Corinthians - 1co
II Corinthians - 2co
Galatians - Ga
Ephesians - Eph
Philippians - Php
Colossians - Col
I Thessalonians - 1th
II Thessalonians - 2th
I Timothy - 1ti
II Timothy - 2ti
Titus - Tit
Philemon - Phm
Hebrews - Heb
James - Jas
I Peter - 1pe
II Peter - 2pe
I John - 1jo
II John - 2jo
III John - 3jo
Jude - Jude
Revelation - Re
Messiah:
Past,
Present, or Future?
Mes·si·ah 
(mi s#ÆÃ), n.
1. the promised and expected deliverer of the Jewish people.
2. Jesus Christ, regarded by Christians as fulfilling this promise and expectation. John 4:25, 26.
3. (usually l.c.) any expected deliverer.
4. (usually l.c.) a zealous leader of some cause or project.
5. (italics) an oratorio (1742) by George Frideric Handel.
Also, Douay Bible, Mes·si·as (mi s#ÆÃs)
(for defs. 1,2). [< LL (Vulgate) Mess#!s < Gk Mess€!s < Heb m!sh#aˆ lit., anointed]
—Mes·siÆah·shipÅ, n.
—Mes·si·an·ic (mesÅ"
anÆik), adj.
—MesÅsi·anÆi·cal·ly, adv.
xyXm
Mashiyach
(maw-shee'-akh); Noun Masculine, Strong #: 4899
- anointed,
anointed one
- of the Messiah, Messianic prince
- of the king of Israel
- of the high priest of Israel
- of Cyrus
- of the patriarchs as anointed kings
KJV Word Usage and
Count
anointed
37
Messiah
2
proph·e·cy 
(profÆÃ s"), n., pl.
-cies.
1. the foretelling or prediction of what is to come.
2. something that is declared by a prophet, esp. a divinely inspired prediction, instruction, or exhortation.
3. a divinely inspired utterance or revelation: oracular prophecies.
4. the action, function, or faculty of a prophet.
Now you know about the Messiah and prophecy. Let's get down to the story.
Conflicting Visions
The Jews saw a Messiah who would defend Israel against all comers and defeat their enemies in battle. He would establish his throne in Israel forever, a descendant of David, whom they consider to be their greatest King.
The Christians, however, saw the Messiah as saving mankind from eternal death, the wages of sin. The Messiah defeated Satan by sacrificing himself on calvary, and by doing so, he provided a way for all humans to be brought back into fellowship with the Creator God.
We'll look at what scripture actually says about the promised anointed one. Needless to say, I probably won't re-type all 456 verses of scripture that may be Messianic (a number mentioned by one pastor).
Please notice that in some places I have included surrounding verses so that you can understand, at least somewhat, the context in which the various terms associated with the Messiah were written. Feel free to read entire passages surrounding the listed verses if you like.
The point here, however, is to learn which verses are commonly associated with the concept of Messiah as they seemed to be fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth, even if they were also fulfilled to some extent by someone in a time-frame closer to the time when the prophecy was given.
God's Dealings With Mankind
When God set apart the Israelites and established them in their own land, it was, in my humble opinion, to provide a vision of heaven for the whole world. God wanted to demonstrate to the other nations how wonderfully his laws establish and keep peace and happiness so that all would decide that God's way is best. The idea was for the Jews to actually remain faithful to the Lord.
Jewish history proved, however, that humans fail miserably--and we all do, not just the Jews--at remaining faithful, at changing our selfish natures, at becoming righteous, and especially at sharing God's true message with the rest of the world. We cannot redeem ourselves; Lord knows the Jews tried.
| Ex 19:8 | Then all the people answered together and said, "All that the Lord has spoken we will do." So Moses brought back the words of the people to the Lord. |
Knowing in advance that the people couldn't keep their word, God sent his Son to "deliver" us from ourselves as well as from Satan. After all, if sin spontaneously rose up in a righteous being in heaven, in the very presence of God, how could mankind, on earth, in a sinful environment, develop righteousness?
Here's how it all happened.
When God created the angels and the great city in which they would dwell with him, everything was perfect. When he created the earth and all the animals and humans, everything was perfect. Then Lucifer, also called "Satan" and "that old serpent the Devil" but formerly the chief of all angels, described as perfect in all his ways until iniquity was found in him (Isaiah 14:12-14; Ezekiel 28:12-16), allowed his pride to lead him into rebellion against God's peaceful, loving, selfless society.
God had a choice to make. Evil and righteousness are mutually exclusive. A righteous God cannot have a little evil in him or he is no longer a righteous God. A righteous place cannot have a little evil in it or it is no longer a righteous place. Remember the admonition that you cannot be a little bit pregnant--either you're pregnant or you're not? Well, evil and righteous beings are the same way. Either they're evil or they're righteous. The vast majority of humans, by reason of our selfishness, are evil. The angels in heaven are righteous, by reason of their selfless service to God, each other, and the human race (yet another study).
God's choice was to either wipe out Satan (evil) or to quarantine evil to one place in the universe for a specific period of time so that the righteous beings (and the evil beings as well) could see why even a little evil cannot be tolerated in a righteous universe. Anyone who really looks at the history of the Jews and at the history of all civilizations on this earth should have some idea of the concept that one bad apple, if allowed to remain, can spoil the whole bushel.
Anyway, God chose to allow Satan to live, and to allow sin to play out on the great stage of earth, so that once he destroyed sin and sinners, no one would doubt that his decision was the right one. Instead of crushing Satan like a bug, he "threw" him out of heaven and down to the earth.
Satan went into the Garden of Eden, where God had placed man and woman, and seduced Eve with his lies. He knew that if the humans voluntarily followed him, rather than living by the instructions of God, they would be placing themselves in bondage to him.
Do you not know that to whom you present
yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one's slaves whom you obey,
whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to
righteousness?
Six Promises or Prophecies Concerning the Messiah
1. The Messiah would be human, not an angel.
And I will put
enmity between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed;
He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel."
2. The Messiah would be a Jew, not a Gentile.
| Ge 12:1 | Now the Lord had said to Abram: "Get out of your country, From your family And from your father's house, To a land that I will show you. |
| Ge 12:2 | I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. |
| Ge 12:31 | I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." |
But God said to
Abraham, "Do not let it be displeasing in your sight because of the lad
or because of your bondwoman. Whatever Sarah has said to you, listen to
her voice; for in Isaac your seed shall be called.
"In your seed
all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed
My voice."
"And I will make
your descendants multiply as the stars of heaven; I will give to your
descendants all these lands; and in your seed all the nations of the
earth shall be blessed;
"Also your
descendants shall be as the dust of the earth; you shall spread abroad
to the west and the east, to the north and the south; and in you and in
your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.
First, God gave the promise to Abram that "in you shall all nations be blessed." Then he gave the same promise to Isaac and to Jacob. Jacob's name was changed by God to Israel, whence the country of the Jews (once called Israelites) gets it's name. The name "Jews" comes from the fact that the tribe of Judah was the last to be overcome by the Gentiles and dispersed amongst them.
3. The Messiah would be from the tribe of Judah, not just any tribe of the Israelites.
| Ge 49:10 | The scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor a lawgiver from between his feet, Until Shiloh comes; And to Him shall be the obedience of the people. |
| hlyX Shiyloh (shee-lo'); , Strong #: 7886 |
- he whose it is, that which belongs to him, tranquillity
- meaning uncertain
| KJV Word Usage and Count | |
| Shiloh | 1 |
Since the word "Shiloh" only appears once in all of scripture, it's meaning cannot be certain, but the above explanation, he to whom the scepter belongs (Messiah) seems logical.
4. The Messiah would be from the family of David.
David had lots to say about his relationship with God.
"I will declare
the decree: The Lord has said to Me, 'You are My Son, Today I have
begotten You.
Ask of Me, and I
will give You The nations for Your inheritance, And the ends of the
earth for Your possession.
You shall break
them with a rod of iron; You shall dash them to pieces like a potter's
vessel.' "
Now therefore,
be wise, O kings; Be instructed, you judges of the earth.
Serve the Lord
with fear, And rejoice with trembling.
Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory
rejoices; My flesh also will rest in hope.
For You will not leave my soul in Sheol, Nor
will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.
But since the things he had to say did not come to pass in his reign or that of his son's, the meaning must have been attached to a future generation of David's line.
In fact, these are the promises of God:
"When your days
are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed
after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish his
kingdom.
"He shall build
a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom
forever.
"I will be his
Father, and he shall be My son. If he commits iniquity, I will chasten
him with the rod of men and with the blows of the sons of men.
"But My mercy
shall not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I removed from
before you.
"And your house
and your kingdom shall be established forever before you. Your throne
shall be established forever." ' "
"And it shall
be, when your days are fulfilled, when you must go to be with your
fathers, that I will set up your seed after you, who will be of your
sons; and I will establish his kingdom.
"He shall build
Me a house, and I will establish his throne forever.
"I will be his
Father, and he shall be My son; and I will not take My mercy away from
him, as I took it from him who was before you.
"And I will
establish him in My house and in My kingdom forever; and his throne
shall be established forever."
"I have made a
covenant with My chosen, I have sworn to My servant David:
'Your seed I
will establish forever, And build up your throne to all generations.' "
Selah
His seed also I
will make to endure forever, And his throne as the days of heaven.
Once I have sworn by My holiness; I will not
lie to David:
His seed shall endure forever, And his throne
as the sun before Me;
It shall be established forever like the moon,
Even like the faithful witness in the sky." Selah
As you can see, some verses dealt specifically with David and Solomon, but others must have referred to a future Messiah, because they were not fulfilled in the lifetimes of these two men, nor is there a "king" from the line of David on a "throne" in Israel today.
The Messiah would be born of a virgin.
| Isaiah 7:14 | "Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel. |
This was given to Ahaz in the context of helping God's people believe in his prophecies. When Ahaz refused to "test the Lord" by asking for a sign, the Lord offered to give "the house of David" a sign that could not be faked--a virgin conceiving. Then the prophecy concerning the destruction of the remainder of Israel was given.
It is felt that this prophecy was spiritually fulfilled in the birth of Jesus and in the "final" destruction of the Jewish religion because they refused their Messiah when he came to them.
Why, you might ask, was God so particular about the virgin birth?
Well, for one, the Messiah was to be the seed of woman . . . not the seed of man.
But did you know about the curse of Jeconiah? Jeconiah was a king who was cursed by God who said that no one in his line could ever be King of God's people. Guess who was descended from King David via Jeconiah? (Matthew 1:1-17) Guess who was descended from King David but not through Jeconiah? (Luke 3:23-37)
While by Jewish law Jesus' genealogy would be through his father, his blood-line was solely through his mother.
6. The Messiah would be born in Bethlehem
| "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Though you are little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of you shall come forth to Me The One to be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth are from of old, From everlasting." |
Back to Messiah means "anointed".
Since the word anointed was used in reference to priests, prophets, and kings, and specifically King David, one must carefully study all the verses where the concept of annointed ones appears. There are plenty of verbs about anointing people, places, and things as a means of consecrating them to God; however, God chooses his anointed ones. No congregation or king or committee elects God's anointed ones.
"For you are a
holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to
be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on
the face of the earth.
"you shall
surely set a king over you whom the Lord your God chooses; one from
among your brethren you shall set as king over you; you may not set a
foreigner over you, who is not your brother.
Speaking of the sons of Levi, whom God named priests for Israel, scripture says that although Moses actually did the anointing, God was considered to have anointed them himself.
"For the Lord
your God has chosen him out of all your tribes to stand to minister in
the name of the Lord, him and his sons forever.
The Lord
commanded this to be given to them by the children of Israel, on the
day that He anointed them, by a statute forever throughout their
generations.
The prophets also were considered anointed because they were chosen of God.
Saying, "Do not
touch My anointed ones, And do My prophets no harm."
for prophecy
never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were
moved by the Holy Spirit.
So, if the prophets predicted the coming of the Messiah, then you can bet the Messiah would come!
Some scriptures are said to predict a conquering Messiah.
| "I see Him, but not now; I behold Him, but not near; A Star shall come out of Jacob; A Scepter shall rise out of Israel, And batter the brow of Moab, And destroy all the sons of tumult. | |
| "And Edom shall be a possession; Seir also, his enemies, shall be a possession, While Israel does valiantly. | |
| Out of Jacob One shall have dominion, And destroy the remains of the city." |
But others predict a man of sorrows.
He is despised and
rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we
hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not
esteem Him.
The actual word "Messiah", is only mentioned in the Bible four times.
1 and 2. Daniel was given a time frame in which the Messiah would appear. If the Messiah did not appear within this time frame, then Daniel was not a prophet. He joins the "Anointing of the Most Holy" with the coming of "Messiah the Prince".
| Da 9:24 | "Seventy weeks are determined For your people and for your holy city, To finish the transgression, To make an end of sins, To make reconciliation for iniquity, To bring in everlasting righteousness, To seal up vision and prophecy, And to anoint the Most Holy. |
| "Know therefore and understand, That from the going forth of the command To restore and build Jerusalem Until Messiah the Prince, There shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; The street shall be built again, and the wall, Even in troublesome times. | |
| "And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself; And the people of the prince who is to come Shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end of it shall be with a flood, And till the end of the war desolations are determined. | |
| Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week; But in the middle of the week He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate, Even until the consummation, which is determined, Is poured out on the desolate." |
The Day-for-a-year Concept
The explanation of this time prophecy involves weeks of years and the day-for-a-year concept presented in Numbers and Ezekiel.
| Nu 14:34 | "According to the number of days in which you spied out the land, forty days, for each day you shall bear your guilt one year, namely forty years, and you shall know my rejection" |
| Eze 4:6 | "And when you have completed them, lie again on your right side; then you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days. I have laid on you a day for each year. |
According to this principle, Jesus is the only figure in history claiming to be the Messiay who could have actually been the Messiah!
The order for Jerusalem to be rebuilt was given in 445 BC. Jesus rode into Jerusalem where the crowds proclaimed him to be the Messiah in AD 32. His ministry was 3 1/2 years long, and 3 1/2 years later, at the stoning of Stephen, the Gospel was taken to the Gentiles because it had been rejected by the Jewish leaders--not by individual Jews, just by their leaders. Individual Jews are what made up the "Christian sect" of Israel, which grew by leaps and bounds in those years until persecution by the leaders slowed it down. Did you know that Jewish leaders pronounced a curse on anyone who reads Daniel because they know it points to the Messiah?
3. The disciples recognized Jesus as something more than a prophet, as demonstrated by Andrew when he told his brother Simon (later renamed Peter), about Jesus.
| He first found his own brother Simon, and said to him, "We have found the Messiah" (which is translated, the Christ). |
"Christ" is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew word Messiah. Christ also means the anointed one.
4. Jesus proclaimed himself the be the Messiah, the Christ.
The woman said to Him, "I know that Messiah is
coming" (who is called Christ). "When He comes, He will tell us all
things."
Jesus said to her, "I who speak to you am He."
There is no other choice!
Just the last 24 hours of Jesus' life and his death reflect 29 possible "Messianic Prophecies".
| Incident | In Jesus' Life | Apparent Prophecy |
| Betrayed by a Friend | Matthew 10:4 | Psalm 41:9 |
| Sold for 30 pieces of silver | Matthew 26:15 | Zechariah 11:12 |
| Betrayal money to be thrown into God's House | Matthew 27:3-5 | Zechariah 11:13 |
| Price given for potter's field | Matthew 27:5 | Zechariah 11:13 |
| Forsaken by his disciples | Matthew 26:31; Mark 14:27, 50 | Zechariah 13:7 |
| Accused by false witnesses | Matthew 26:59, 60 | Psalm 35:11 |
| Silent before his accusers | Matthew 27:12 | Isaiah 53:7 |
| Wounded and bruised | Matthew 27:26 | Isaiah 53:5; Zechariah 13:6 |
| Smitten and spit upon | Matthew 26:67; Luke 22:63 | Isaiah 50:6; Micah 5:1 |
| Mocked | Matthew 27:29, 41-43 | Psalm 22:7, 8 |
| Fell under the burden of the cross he was carrying | Matthew 27:31, 32; John 19:17; Luke 23:26-27 | Psalm 109:24, 25 |
| His Hands and feet were pierced | Luke 23:33; John 20:25 | Psalm 22:16; Zechariah 12:10 |
| Crucified with thieves | Matthew 27:38; Mark 15:27, 28 | Isaiah 53:12 |
| Made Intercession for his persecutors | Luke 23:34 | Isaiah 53:12 |
| Rejected by his own people | John 7:5, 47-49; Matthew 21:42, 43; John 1:11 | Isaiah 53:3; Psalm 69:8; Psalm 118:22 |
| Hated without cause | John 15:25 | Psalm 69:4; Isaiah 49:7 |
| Friends stood afar off | Matthew 27:55, 56; Mark 15:40; Luke 23:49 | Psalm 38:11 |
| People shook their heads | Matthew 27:39 | Psalm 109:25; Psalm 22:7 |
| Stared upon | Luke 23:35 | Psalm 22:17 |
| Garments Parted and lots cast: | John 19:23-24 | Psalm 22:18 |
| Suffer thirst | John 19:28 | Psalm 69:21 |
| Gall and vinegar offered to him | Matthew 17:34; John 19:28-29 | Psalm 69:21 |
| Forsaken cry | Matthew 27:46 | Psalm 22:1 |
| Committed himself to God | Luke 23:46 | Psalm 31:5 |
| Bones not broken | John 19:33 | Psalm 34:20 |
| Heartbroken | John 19:34 (water and blood came from his pierced side as evidence of burst heart) McDowell pg 191) | Psalm 22:14 |
| Side pierced | John 19:34 | Zechariah 12:10 |
| Darkness over the land | Matthew 27:45 | Amos 8:9 |
| Buried in a rich man's tomb | Matthew 27:57-60 | Isaiah 53:9 |
Coincidence?
Manipulation?
The Bible says that in the last days, knowledge will increase. Everyone on the face of the earth will have the opportunity to accept or Reject the evidence of the existence of the triune godhead. Each person, individually, will determine his or her own destiny based on the choice each makes concerning Jesus.
The Bible says your "works" express your faith, faith without works is dead, and lying works won't save you. You might hazard a guess about the decision I've made concerning Christ, the Messiah, but, unable to see the motives of my heart, you could be wrong. I don' need to know your decision. The only one who needs to know our decisions is God, and he does. He sees both the works of our lives and the motives of our hearts.
Related Links
Written in the HeartThe Truth About Mary Magdalene
Scriptures:
Within Text:
Psalm
2:7-11
Psalm 16:9-10
Romans 6:16
Genesis 3:15
Genesis 21:12
Genesis 22:18
Genesis 26:4
Genesis 28:14
Numbers 24:17
Numbers 24:19
II Samuel 7:12-16
I Chronicles 17:11-14
Psalm 89:3-4
Psalm 89:29
Psalm 89:35-37
Further Study:
name chap:verse-s