Does Prophecy Support Jesus As The Messiah

QUESTION: Does prophecy support Jesus as the Messiah?

ANSWER:

Does prophecy support Jesus as the Messiah? Any analysis of Old Testament prophecies regarding the Messiah must necessarily be conducted through the discipline of faith. The Messiah is a term for the “Anointed One” who was to come and bring deliverance to the world; first to the nation of Israel, then to all others. Faith is required to accept the fact that there was such a need. There must be recognition of the hopeless state of mankind, that man was alienated from God and had no means of reconciliation. “When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners” (Romans 5:6).

There are many prophecies concerning the Messiah; the first may be found in the first book of the Bible: “From now on, you and the woman will be enemies, and your offspring and her offspring will be enemies. He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel" (Genesis 3:15). But, to whom do the Scriptures point as this coming, Anointed One who will crush the enemy’s head?

Does prophecy support Jesus as the Messiah? Besides the many verses throughout the Old Testament that are commonly viewed as Messianic prophesies, a case should be made that the entire Old Testament contains a prophetic overtone. In the ancient Scriptures, we are shown the absolute holiness of Jehovah God, the repeated sinning and backsliding of the nation of Israel, and God’s resolute determination to redeem and reconcile lost mankind to Himself. The Messiah was to be God’s means of this reconciliation.

A careful study of even a few of the prophecies of old will clearly show that this Messiah did come and, that, in the person of Jesus of Nazareth.

The birth of Jesus Christ to the virgin girl Mary was a miracle. This was clearly foretold in Scripture. “All right then, the Lord himself will choose the sign. Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel -- 'God is with us'” (Isaiah 7:14).

“But while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant by the Holy Spirit. As he considered this, he fell asleep, and an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. ‘Joseph, son of David,’ the angel said, ‘do not be afraid to go ahead with your marriage to Mary. For the child within her has been conceived by the Holy Spirit’” (Matthew 1:18b, 20).

From this miracle of His birth to His earthly ministry, His humiliation and suffering unto death, and His ultimate resurrection and ascension, the pattern of the life of the expected Anointed One is reflected gloriously through Jesus. The historical records of His life leave no room for speculation that Jesus was anyone but who He claimed to be.

“John the Baptist, who was now in prison, heard about all the things the Messiah was doing. So he sent his disciples to ask Jesus, ‘Are you really the Messiah we've been waiting for, or should we keep looking for someone else?’ Jesus told them, ‘Go back to John and tell him about what you have heard and seen -- the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, and the Good News is being preached to the poor” (Matthew 11:2-5).

Jesus fulfilled the mighty acts expected of that coming One. The nation of Israel as a whole were blinded to many elements of His ministry and personality, thus they rejected Him and still look for the Messiah to still come at some time in the future. Nevertheless, eyes full of faith will be able to see who He, Jesus really was...and is!

“And tell him: 'God blesses those who are not offended by me'" (Matthew 11:6).