Jesus the Messiah

The Anointed King

The Old Testament promises a coming King, one who is "Anointed:"

"You love righteousness and hate wickedness;
Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You
With the oil of gladness more than Your companions." (Psalm 45:7).

"I have found My servant David;
With My holy oil I have anointed him,
With whom My hand shall be established;
Also My arm shall strengthen him." (Psalm 89:20).

. . .as were the Kings of ancient Israel:

“Then Samuel took a flask of oil and poured it on his head, and kissed him and said: ‘Is it not because the LORD has anointed you commander over His inheritance?’" (1 Samuel 10:1).

The word 'Messiah' means 'Anointed One,' as the king is called in Hannah's Song: “The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken in pieces; from heaven He will thunder against them. The Lord will judge the ends of the earth. He will give strength to His king, and exalt the horn of His anointed [משׁיח mashiyach].” (1 Samuel 2:10). The Greek word from which 'Christ' is derived literally translates the Hebrew term. This new David will liberate His people,

“‘For it shall come to pass in that day,’ says the Lord of hosts, ‘That I will break his yoke from your neck, and will burst your bonds; foreigners shall no more enslave them. But they shall serve the Lord their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up for them.” (Jeremiah 30:8-9).

This King will shepherd God's people in the latter days:

"Because you have pushed with side and shoulder, butted all the weak ones with your horns, and scattered them abroad, therefore I will save My flock, and they shall no longer be a prey; and I will judge between sheep and sheep. I will establish one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them—My servant David. He shall feed them and be their shepherd. And I, the LORD, will be their God, and My servant David a prince among them; I, the LORD, have spoken." (Ezekiel 34:21-24).

The Messiah is to be prophet, priest and king. Prophet: "The LORD your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren." (Deuteronomy 18:15), and priest:

"The LORD has sworn
And will not relent,
You are a priest forever
According to the order of Melchizedek." (Psalm 110:4).

And king. If it may seem these offices do not go together, Philo points out that Moses held them as well, the "me" of "a Prophet like me:" ". . .for I conceive that all these things have fitly been united in him, inasmuch as in accordance with the providential will of God he [Moses] was both a king and a lawgiver, and a high priest and a prophet, and because in each office he displayed the most eminent wisdom and virtue." (Philo Judaeus, The Life of Moses, Book II, Chapter 1). These office holders may also be anointed for service, "You shall anoint them, consecrate them, and sanctify them, that they may minister to Me as priests." (Exodus 28:40); "Also you shall anoint Jehu the son of Nimshi as king over Israel. And Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel Meholah you shall anoint as prophet in your place." (1 Kings 19:16).

It is apparent from the Old Testament that there must be two advents, because God's Anointed comes once with glory, and once in humiliation:

That this passage describes the Messiah's travails is admitted by the Talmud, which adds its own diagnosis, "What is his [the Messiah's] name?. . .The Rabbis said: His name is 'the leper scholar,' as it is written, 'Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him a leper, smitten of God, and afflicted.'" (Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Sanhedrin, 98b). By contrast with the Suffering Servant's obscure and ignominious life, Daniel's Son of Man comes in glory:

While the two figures, the Suffering Servant and the Son of Man, are one and the same, the occasion of their appearing cannot be the same. The rabbis noticed the discrepancy, without resolving it successfully:

"R. Alexandri said: R. Joshua b. Levi pointed out a contradiction. it is written, in its time [will the Messiah come], whilst it is also written, I [the Lord] will hasten it! — if they are worthy, I will hasten it: if not, [he will come] at the due time. R. Alexandri said: R. Joshua opposed two verses: it is written, And behold, one like the son of man came with the clouds of heaven whilst [elsewhere] it is written, [behold, thy king cometh unto thee … ] lowly, and riding upon an ass! — if they are meritorious, [he will come] with the clouds of heaven; if not, lowly and riding upon an ass." (Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Sanhedrin, 98a).

This cannot be the same occasion, though it is the same Messiah; God does not give either/or prophecies. The Suffering Servant shares His grave with the wicked: "He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment, and who will declare His generation? For He was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgressions of My people He was stricken. And they made His grave with the wicked—but with the rich at His death, because He had done no violence, nor was any deceit in His mouth." (Isaiah 53:7-9). But Daniel's Son of Man reigns forever, over an "everlasting dominion." With whom can He make His grave while He is reigning forever? Some Jewish interpreters, like Isaac Luria, have split the one Messiah into two: Messiah son of Joseph and Messiah son of David. This way, one of the two can die: and the Bible is clear that the Messiah must die:

"The rabbis taught: The Messiah b. David, who (as we hope) will appear in the near future, the Holy One, blessed be He, will say to him: Ask something of me and I will give it to thee, as it is written [Ps. ii. 7-8]: 'I will announce the decree. . . .Ask it of me, and I will give,' etc. But as the Messiah b. David will have seen that the Messiah b. Joseph who preceded him was killed, he will say before the Lord: Lord of the Universe, I will ask nothing of Thee but life.' And the Lord will answer: This was prophesied already for thee by thy father David [Ps. xxi. 5]: 'Life hath he asked of thee, thou gavest it to him.'" (The Babylonian Talmud, edited by Michael L. Rodkinson, Volume VII, Section Moed, Tract Succah, Chapter V, Kindle location 29946)

A better approach is, as Jesus explained to His accusers, that the occasion Daniel describes is yet to come. Amidst the speculations of the Rabbis, this idea too is found, "Now this disagrees with Samuel. For Samuel said, This world differs from the Messianic era only in respect to servitude of the exiled, for it is said, For the poor shall never cease out of the land. This supports R. Hiyya b. Abba, who said, All the prophets prophesied only for the Messianic age, but as for the world to come, the eye hath not seen, O Lord, beside thee [what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him]." (Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Shabbath 63a); i.e., the Messianic age is one thing, and the world to come, brought in by the cataclysm of the Day of the Lord, is another thing. This corresponds to the Christian understanding that there is a first advent of the Messiah, and then a second in glory, wherein He reigns eternally.

The resurrection bridges the two advents:

Born at Bethlehem

The person Daniel described, however, walked here in our midst. Prophecies fulfilled during Jesus' first advent include His birth at Bethlehem:

It's impressive to see a prophecy delivered centuries earlier fulfilled exactly in this way. The two sources who tell where Jesus was born agree that it was Bethlehem. Birth in this place requires nothing supernatural, and no contemporary source offers a counter-birth place. But if you think the way the 'higher critics' do, this in and of itself proves that. . .it never happened!:

"For wherever we find a narrative which recounts the accomplishment of a long-expected event, a strong suspicion must arise, that the narrative owes its origin solely to the pre-existent belief that that event would be accomplished. But our suspicion is converted into certainty when we find this belief to be groundless; and this is the case here, for the alleged issue must have confirmed a false interpretation of a prophetic passage. Thus this prophetic evidence of the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, deprives the historical evidence, which lies in the 2nd chapters of Matthew and Luke, of its value, since the latter seems to be built on the former, and consequently shares its fall." (David Friedrich Strauss, The Life of Jesus Critically Examined, Kindle location 5134).

The "prophetic evidence" deprives the "historical evidence" of its value, the historical evidence, the two gospels, thereupon falling! In other words, if it was prophesied, then it never happened. To this day they follow this regime. Is it rational?:

Pierced

The Messiah was to be "pierced," and our Lord was pierced, in hands, feet and side:

The 'mourning' mentioned by Zechariah is explained by some of the Rabbis as mourning for the deceased Messiah: "What is the cause of the mourning [mentioned in the last cited verse]? — R. Dosa and the Rabbis differ on the point. One explained, The cause is the slaying of Messiah the son of Joseph, and the other explained, The cause is the slaying of the Evil Inclination.

"It is well according to him who explains that the cause is the slaying of Messiah the son of Joseph, since that well agrees with the Scriptural verse, And they shall look upon me because they have thrust him through, and they shall mourn for him as one mourneth for his only son; but according to him who explains the cause to be the slaying of the Evil Inclination, is this [it may be objected] an occasion for mourning? Is it not rather an occasion for rejoicing?" (Babylonian Talmud, Sukkah, 52a).

The reference in Psalm 22 seems specific to crucifixion, a form of execution not yet practiced at the time of writing. So does Zechariah 13:6, "And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends." (KJV).

O God

The Messiah would be acclaimed as "God," as was our Lord:

Some people think that it means very little for a king to be acclaimed as "God," but in reality this is a title which God guards jealously:

His Bones

Though Jesus met with a violent death, not a bone was broken:

Cast Lots

The Messiah's enemies cast lots for His clothing:

Born of a Virgin

The Messiah would be born of a virgin:

Some readers object that the Greek word 'parthenos' (virgin), quoted by Matthew and found in the Septuagint for Isaiah 7:14, overstates the case, which is that a 'young woman' would conceive. However, given that it is the natural order of things for young women to bear children, it is far from obvious how this circumstance could be meant as a 'sign.'

Mother's Children

The Old Testament states that the Messiah's own brothers would reject Him. This did happen, though later on they 'got religion' after He rose from the tomb:

Lifted Up

The Old Testament states that the Messiah would be raised on high:

This is not such a common expression that it might seem a trivial coincidence: "For example, when John uses the verb υψουσθαι ('to be lifted up') with reference to death, after the reflexive of Aramaic seleq, he is apparently making a play on words by echoing Isaiah 52:13 from the LXX." (Moises Silva, Biblical Words and Their Meaning, Kindle location 1282). John is telling us that Jesus is the Servant of the Lord, 'ο παις μου και υψωθησεται' (LXX), whose lifting up to the cross is our redemption: "Behold, My Servant shall deal prudently; He shall be exalted and extolled and be very high. Just as many were astonished at you, so His visage was marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men. . ." (Isaiah 52:13-14).

In general, the Hebrew word for making an offering suggests the idea of lifting up: "The Hebrew word for 'offered' is alah, but it does not mean 'given' or 'presented' as we wuld expect. It means, 'to go up, ascend, climb, be taken or lifted up.' The idea is that when something is sacrificed, it is 'lifted' up to God." (A Father Offers His Son, Scott LaPierre, p. 22). This triple correspondence is noteworthy: the Old Testament says of the Messiah, that He will be lifted up, as is an offering, and the New Testament points out that, as a matter of fact, Jesus was lifted up upon the cross of Calvary, both literally and in full fulfillment of the type.

Stretched Out My Hands

The Old Testament says that God, in the person of the Messiah, would stretch out His hands to a rebellious people. This the Lord did when His hands were stretched out on the cross:

On a Donkey

The Old Testament says the Messiah would come to His people seated, not on a war-horse, but on a donkey:

There is an odd notice in the Talmud, that someone who dreams of this ass will see salvation: "If one sees an ass in a dream, he may hope for salvation, as it says, Behold thy king cometh unto thee; he is triumphant and victorious, lowly and riding upon an ass." (Babylonian Talmud, Tract Berakoth, 56b).

There is needless attention paid, on atheist web-sites, to the animal-count here under consideration. There are two ways to interpret Zechariah 9:9: first, that under the parallelism common in the Hebrew scriptures, the male 'donkey' and 'the foal of a (female) donkey' are one and the same animal, and second, that, under a literalist reading, there must be two animals to correspond to the two descriptions: "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Sion; proclaim it aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem; behold, the King is coming to thee, just, and a Saviour; he is meek and riding on an ass, and a young foal." (Zechariah 9:9, Septuagint). Both interpretations can be met by allowing two animals to join the parade; those observers who find one superfluous may simply ignore its presence as irrelevant to prophecy. Compare: "For the LORD will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard." (Isaiah 52:12). Since Jehovah is the God of Israel, does this simply mean that God, who is omnipresent, circles both before and behind His servants? Or might a trinitarian see two persons mentioned? An interpreter who understands, the one true and living God, who is omnipresent, and who is triune, encamps about His people, has met both readers' concerns.

Readers may object that these correspondences mean no more than that Jesus consciously patterned Himself after the Messianic prophecies, and intentionally did things the way the Messiah was supposed to do them. Certainly Jesus did understand Himself to be the Messiah; but many of these prophecies require, for their fulfillment, circumstances and actions by other people that would not have been under a mortal man's control. Were Jesus no more than a mortal man,-- an imposter,-- he could not have controlled what the soldiers did, nor where his mother bore him. To believers, it is perfectly understandable that the same Author who penned the prophecies can also underwrite the events which fulfill them. It is normal, however, for unbelievers to deny flat-out that any of these correspondences could actually have taken place; if they are reported, the events can only have been "invented:"

"That is, first-century Jews  sometimes intentionally modelled their own actions on those of biblical figures. It may well be that John the Baptist actually did dress like Elijah. It is likely that Jesus rode into Jerusalem on an ass, thus consciously recalling a prophecy in Zechariah. . .The more parallels there were between Jesus and characters or prophecies in Hebrew scripture, the more likely Matthew, Mark and Luke were to invent sill more. . .The clearest cases of invention are in the birth narratives." (E. P. Sanders, The Historical Figure of Jesus, pp. 84-85).

The reductio ad absurdum of this approach is found in contemporary author Joseph Atwill, who is obliged to deny much of the known history of first century Judaea. . .on ground that it conforms to Daniel's prophecy!:

In this case, there being nothing supernatural nor even difficult in riding a donkey, there does seem to be an element of 'symbolic speech' in the Lord's choice of mounts. He did it this way because so it was prophesied; He knew it and the crowds knew it. Nevertheless, He did ride a donkey. He did fulfill the prophecy.

Weeks

The synagogue as well as the church looks for the Messiah, the Savior:

"Speedily cause the offspring of David, Your servant, to flourish, and lift up his glory by Your divine help because we wait for Your salvation all the day. Blessed art thou, O Lord, who causes the strength of salvation (Yeshua) to flourish." (Eighteen Benedictions)

Latter-day Messianic claimants, like Sabbatai Sevi, Joseph Frank, and Menachem Schneerson, run into a time limit. Daniel told when the Messiah would reveal Himself to the people, and it was when the church acclaimed Him: the first century, not the twenty-first:

In a similar vein, Haggai consoled those disappointed by the second temple, that though it may not have been as impressive as Solomon's construction, it will have its day when Messiah steps inside:

“Who is left among you who saw this temple in its former glory? And how do you see it now? In comparison with it, is this not in your eyes as nothing?. . .For thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘Once more (it is a little while) I will shake heaven and earth, the sea and dry land; and I will shake all nations, and they shall come to the Desire of All Nations, and I will fill this temple with glory,’ says the Lord of hosts. ‘The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine,’ says the Lord of hosts. ‘The glory of this latter temple shall be greater than the former,’ says the Lord of hosts.” (Haggai 2:2-9).

Notice, please, that this temple has to be still standing when the Desire of Nations, the Messiah, comes, not 'some temple or other,' because it is this very "latter" temple which is to be filled with glory. Otherwise the contrast between this temple and the former one falls by the wayside. And so it was when Jesus stepped into that very temple, which was still standing, having been extensively renovated by Herod the Great. That window of opportunity closed in 70 A.D. That means the time clock has run out on Messiahs. Whom will you have: Sabbatai Sevi? Moses of Crete?

The Grave

The Old Testament promises the Messiah will not suffer the corruption of the grave:

Other verses which suggest the Messiah's resurrection include Psalm 118:17: “I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord.” If we understand such a verse in a trivial sense: 'I shall not die [now], but [later],' then it says very little. But what if it is are not meant in a trivial sense? Or, “'An evil disease,' they say, 'clings to him. And now that he lies down, he will rise up no more.'. . .But You, O Lord, be merciful to me, and raise me up, that I may repay them.” (Psalm 41:8-10). There are several such references in the psalms, “O Lord, You brought my soul up from the grave; You have kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit.” (Psalm 30:3). Another promise in the psalms which traditionally was read about David is Psalm 49:15: "But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave, for He shall receive me." Having consigned both the wise and the foolish both to the domain of death, who is this narrator who plainly has no intention of joining them? According to John Gill, ". . .or the words may be rendered, 'but God will redeem my soul from the power of hell'; and so the Targum, 'David said by the spirit of prophecy, but God will redeem my soul from the judgment of hell;'. . .'' (John Gill Exposition of the Old and New Testaments). It might seem arbitrary to the modern reader to find David in this psalm, but it is a striking jolt, in the midst of warnings against the greedy and arrogant who amass possessions as if they will never die, to stumble upon an explicit promise to the contrary. 'David' in prophecy is the Messiah, an interpretation which Christians did not invent. The Messiah's life-span is "forever and ever:" "He asked life from You, and You gave it to him — length of days forever and ever." (Psalm 21:5).

Thirty Pieces of Silver

The Old Testament prophesied that the Messiah would be valued at thirty silver pieces:

Light to the Gentiles

The Messiah was to enlarge the people of God, bringing in the Gentiles. James saw this prophecy happening:

You will often hear from Muslims that Jesus was the Messiah for one nation alone, Israel; but nothing could be clearer from scripture than that all the nations are the Messiah's inheritance:

Out of Egypt

The Messiah was to be called out of Egypt:

Readers may object, that Hosea 11:1 is not a prophecy of the Messiah, nor a prophecy of anything, but only a recapitulation of Israel's history. But it is certain that the evangelist Matthew perceived ancient Israel's exodus as a type of the Messiah's career. Readers who think Hosea is offering only a decontextualized history lesson are missing his meaning. His phrase, taken literally, refers to an individual. To Hosea, every believer is called to come out of Egypt. In his geography, the northern tribes who are destined toward Assyria are returning to Egypt: "They shall not dwell in the Lord’s land, but Ephraim shall return to Egypt, and shall eat unclean things in Assyria." (Hosea 9:3). If Ephraim marched due south to Assyria, they never got there; Hosea's 'Egypt' is, like John the Revelator's Egypt,— Jerusalem is, to him, the "city called Sodom and Egypt"— (Revelation 11:8), not so much a place on the map as a spiritual empire. But as it happens, the Lord fulfilled the type to the letter. In no case can the Messiah be separated from Israel:

House of David

The Messiah would be of the house of David:

Jesus was a descendent of David: "And the multitude rebuked them, because they should hold their peace: but they cried the more, saying, Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou Son of David." (Matthew 20:31); "Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers:. . .And again, Esaias saith, There shall be a root of Jesse, and he that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles; in him shall the Gentiles trust." (Romans 15:8-12).

Isaiah's name of the 'Branch' is a common designation of the Messiah: "In those days and at that time I will cause to grow up to David a Branch of righteousness; He shall execute judgment and righteousness in the earth." (Jeremiah 33:15); "Hear, O Joshua, the high priest, you and your companions who sit before you, for they are a wondrous sign; for behold, I am bringing forth My Servant the BRANCH." (Zechariah 3:8);

“Behold, the Man whose name is the BRANCH! From His place He shall branch out, and He shall build the temple of the Lord; yes, He shall build the temple of the Lord. He shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule on His throne; so He shall be a priest on His throne, and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.”’ (Zechariah 6:12-13).

References to the Messiah as the 'son of God,' though common in the Psalms, were hotly contested by the unlettered prophet of the Arabs, Mohammed ibn Abdallah, who freely concedes that Jesus was the Messiah, yet bitterly denies He is the son of God:

House of My Friends

The Messiah would suffer harm from those close to him:

With the Transgressors

The Old Testament says the Messiah would be numbered with transgressors. Before it happened, He reminded them: “For I say to you that this which is written must still be accomplished in Me: ‘And He was numbered with the transgressors.’ For the things concerning Me have an end.” (Luke 22:37).

By the standards of the German Enlightenment, if Jesus thought that Isaiah's Suffering Servant was the Messiah, then He was animated by a "lying spirit:"

"Isa. liii. refers decidedly to a collective subject perpetually restored to life in new members. . .Thus if a supernatural principle in Jesus— a prophetic spirit— caused him to discover a pre-intimation of his resurrection in these Old Testament histories and passages; then, as no one of them really contained such a pre-intimation, the spirit in him cannot have been the spirit of truth, but must have been a lying spirit, the supernatural principle in him, not a divine, but a demoniacal principle." (David Friedrich Strauss, The Life of Jesus Critically Examined, p. 583).

The stakes are very high indeed. For these people, the Suffering Servant has to be nation Israel. Can that interpretation really be rationally defended?

Eyes of the Blind

In the Messianic age the eyes of the blind were to be opened:

Here again, Critic David Friedrich Strauss informs us that, since the Jews expected the Messiah to open the eyes of the blind, reports that anyone has actually done so alerts us to the presence of the myth:

"We have already quoted the passage in which, according to the first and third gospels, Jesus in reply to the messengers of the Baptist who had to ask him whether he were the ερχομενος (he that should come), appeals to his works. Now he here mentions in the very first place the cure of the blind, a significant proof that this particular miracle was expected from the Messiah, his words being taken from Isa. xxxv. 5, a prophecy interpreted messianically; and in a rabbinical passage above cited, among the wonders which Jehovah is to perform in the messianic times, this is enumerated, that he oculos caecorum aperiet. . .Now if the Christian community, proceeding as it did from the bosom of Judaism, held Jesus to be the messianic personage, it must manifest the tendency to ascribe to him every messianic predicate, and therefore the one in question. (p. 445).

This procedural rule eliminates any possibility of there ever being any actual Messiah. . .or is it actually possible for a rule of procedure to do that? The reader is reminded that the great sage of the German enlightenment, Immanuel Kant, explained that we do not find law in nature, we give law to nature. For sure, they do, but people who give law to nature may find it prudent to invest in a tsunami-proof bunker. This procedural rule, if enforced, would indeed be an effectual anti-Messiah statute, but perhaps such litigation is over-ambitious.

Some readers may object that in Isaiah's prophecy it is God, not the Messiah, who is to 'come with vengeance' and open blind eyes and make the lame to leap. This is an astute observation:

With the Rich

The Messiah would make His grave with the rich:

I Thirst

In His agony the Messiah would thirst:

Darkness over the Land

God's judgment was to be accompanied by unnatural darkness during the day:

Gall and Vinegar

The Old Testament states that the Messiah would be given gall and vinegar:

It is, depending on your point of view, either an odd coincidence, or a fulfillment of prophecy, that the Jews had been conquered by the one population that, to my knowledge, has ever used vinegar as their common, daily drink, though you can find recipes in different cultures for switchel, etc., that have various other ingredients mixed in. The Roman legionaries used to drink posca on the march, a drink made with spoiled wine, i.e. vinegar, mixed with water. Some people actually liked the stuff, as did Cato the Elder:

"Water was what he drank on his campaigns, except that once in a while, in a raging thirst, he would call for vinegar, or, when his strength was failing, would add a little wine." (Life of Cato the Elder, Plutarch's Lives, 1).

It is reportedly refreshing, because astringent; however by that logic one might as well drink Moxie. Vinegar was considered one of the essentials: "The troops should never want wood and forage in winter or water in summer. They should have corn, wine, vinegar, and even salt, in plenty at all times." (The Military Institutions of the Romans, Flavius Vegetus Renatus, Book III, Kindle location 837).

Shame and Spitting

The Old Testament says that the Messiah would be struck and spat upon:

Another 'smiting' verse is Micah 5:1,

". . .they shall smite the judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek."

Familiar Friend

The Old Testament prophesies that the Messiah will be betrayed by one of His comrades:

Without Answering

The Old Testament states that the Messiah would not answer His accusers insult for insult:

The Rabbis concur that it is a righteous man who bears insult without insulting in return:

"Our Rabbis taught: Those who are insulted but do not insult, hear themselves reviled without answering, act through love and rejoice in suffering, of them the Writ saith, But they who love Him are as the sun when he goeth forth in his might. [Judges 5:31]" (Babylonian Talmud, Shabbath 88b).

Some of the Rabbis concur also that Isaiah 53 concerns the Messiah:

"What is his [the Messiah's] name? — ... The Rabbis said: His name is 'the leper scholar,' as it is written, 'Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him a leper, smitten of God, and afflicted.' [Isaiah 53:4]" (Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 98b).

This odd understanding of Isaiah 53:4 somehow made it into the Latin Vulgate: "...vere languores nostros ipse tulit et dolores nostros ipse portavit et nos putavimus eum quasi leprosum et percussum a Deo et humiliatum..." (Isaiah 53:4, Latin Vulgate).

Skeptics desperately insist that no Jew has ever held a Messianic interpretation of Isaiah 53: "But the Jews of Jesus's time had no conception whatsoever of a messiah who suffers and dies." (Reza Aslan, Zealot, p.182). To be sure, the range of Rabbinic opinion runs from one extreme, of total denial: "R. Hillel said: There shall be no Messiah for Israel, because they have already enjoyed him in the days of Hezekiah. R. Joseph said: May God forgive him [for saying so]." (Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Sanhedrin, 99a). . .to basic agreement with the New Testament authors as to which prophetic passages pertain to the coming Messiah. Targum Jonathan, for example, represents the passage thus, "Behold, My Servant the Messiah shall prosper." For those who accept the inspiration of the New Testament, it is not an open question whether Jesus is the suffering servant, because Philip takes the occasion of Isaiah's suffering servant passages to preach Christ:

"The place of the scripture which he read was this, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth: In his humiliation his judgment was taken away: and who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken from the earth. And the eunuch answered Philip, and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this? of himself, or of some other man? Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus." (Acts 8:32-35.)

It is difficult to deny that the facts fit the case.

Son of Man

Thus far the fulfilled Messianic prophecies have been witnessed, either by any interested member of the public, or by upwards of 500 persons in the case of the risen Christ. There are in addition many fulfilled prophecies which require insight or Holy Ghost revelation, such as Stephen's vision:

Den of Thieves

Zechariah prophesied that, in the Messianic era, the temple will be cleansed of merchants:

That the word 'Canaanite' in Zechariah's prophecy was understood by the Lord to mean 'merchant' is in keeping with tradition:

"...and in that day there shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the Lord of hosts; the Targum paraphrases it,

"'there shall be no more a merchant in the house of the sanctuary of the Lord;'

"in the temple, where were buyers and sellers of sheep, oxen, and doves, for sacrifice, such as our Lord drove out; but now there shall be no more of them, all legal sacrifices being at an end. The word here used does signify a merchant, and is so rendered in Ho 12:7 and by some here; and the Jews [T. Bab. Bava Bathra, fol. 75. 1.] have a saying, that

"'there are no Canaanites but merchants;'

"or the word always so signifies, referring to the above places, and having quoted Job 41:6...

"That the word Canaanite is here to be taken in a figurative sense is certain; for, literally understood, there is no such person in the world now, nor has been for many hundreds of years, even an inhabitant of Canaan, or one so called." (John Gill, Exposition of the Bible, online.)

This prophecy occurs during and extended section where Zechariah foretells various aspects of the Messianic age and the life to come. He specifically prophesies that, in the Messianic age, there will be no merchants in the Temple:

"On that day living waters shall flow out from Jerusalem, half of them to the eastern sea and half of them to the western sea; it shall continue in summer as in winter. And the LORD will become king over all the earth; on that day the LORD will be one and his name one. . .And there shall no longer be traders in the house of the LORD of hosts on that day." (Zechariah 14:8-21 NRSV).

And so it was. Merchants? Gone!:

“So they came to Jerusalem. Then Jesus went into the temple and began to drive out those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. And He would not allow anyone to carry wares through the temple. Then He taught, saying to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations’?  But you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’” (Mark 11:15-17).

It may be objected, a Messianic demonstration like the cleansing of the temple shows no more than that Jesus thought He was the Messiah and intended to be the Messiah. Like riding a donkey into Jerusalem, it has no independent evidentiary value because He is obviously patterning His behavior after Biblical expectations for the Messiah. A worthwhile point. Given His tendency to do things like this, it's surprising some people claim He did not see Himself as the Messiah. The traders did indeed abscond; it remains a fulfilled prophecy.

Afar Off

That the Messiah's friends and loved ones will, for a time, watch His sufferings from a distance is prophesied in Psalm 38:

E'er the Sun Was

Psalm 72 is a Messianic psalm that says the Messiah's name "shall be continued as long as the sun:"

Does this 'Continuance' run forwards only, or backwards as well? The Babylonian Talmud, which takes this as a proper name, understands the 'Continuance' as from "e'er the sun was:"

"What is his [the Messiah's] name? — The School of R. Shila said: His name is Shiloh, for it is written, until Shiloh come. The School of R. Yannai said: His name is Yinnon, for it is written, His name shall endure for ever: e'er the sun was, his name is Yinnon." (Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Sanhedrin, 98b).

Dissenters

As seen above, Jesus of Nazareth fulfilled many of the Messianic prophecies of the Old Testament in His first advent, although others remain to be fulfilled when He comes again. According to one popular modern Roman Catholic author, it is anti-semitic to point this out:

"Already we have seen the deeply problematic legacy of Jew hatred in foundational Christian texts, in the implicitly anti-Jewish Christian idea of revelation as prophecy fulfillment, and most damaging of all, in the dominant Christian theology of Jesus, not only as the enemy of the Jewish people but as the Son of God who obliterates the integrity of all other ways to God." (James Carroll, Constantine's Sword, p. 232).

As a Catholic this author does not believe the events the gospel writers record actually happened, rather that they made it all up. The completed prophecies listed on this page, in other words, represent 'prophecy historicized,' not events that actually happened in real life:

"Thus the story, especially the core of it known to us as the Passion narrative, was, in Oates's term, 'invented.'. . .It was at this point that the details 9f the narrative that had their origins not in the historical life of Jesus but in the Jewish Scriptures were reimagined as 'facts.' Now the Seamless Robe of Jesus, say, was understood as having actually existed, and the 'facts' of its seamlessness and of the centurions' having rolled dice for it were understood as 'fulfillments' of the Jewish Scriptures in which those details had first appeared. . .Such proof would have been unthinkable in the first years after the death of Jesus, not only because the invented character of the story was so well known, but because proof was unnecessary in any case, since Jesus was coming back so soon. . .

"The tragedy built into this process is the one Oates identified, namely, that people — especially those Gentiles who had no knowledge either of Jewish Scriptures or of the ways Jews used them — forgot that the Gospel was invented." (James Carroll, Constantine's Sword, pp. 562-564).

This author does not explain whether the Jewish anti-missionaries who deny that Jesus was the Christ on account of as-yet unfulfilled prophecies also have no knowledge of the ways Jews use scriptures. If the evangelists were shameless liars, as the Catholics claims, fine, let us join them in discarding their work; but what if they were not? The reader who takes the trouble to investigate will discover the sole evidence that these prophecy fulfillments were 'invented' is the fact that they are. . .prophecy fulfillments, which to the atheist mind is just not possible.

It goes without saying that if God through loving condescension were to enter His failing world, He could hardly avoid 'showing up' the futility of man-made salvation plans, as these are nugatory and of no avail. It is difficult moreover to understand what the author means by "the implicitly anti-Jewish Christian idea of revelation as prophecy fulfillment," inasmuch as this paradigm is not anything distinctively Christian; other Messianic claimants who have attracted a large Jewish following have also claimed to fulfill prophecy, indeed many of the very same prophecies. Moreover, unconvinced evaluators who have dismissed these claims have done so on no other basis than failure to fulfill prophecy, which is, after all, the way such claims are evaluated; what can possibly be 'antisemitic' about it is far from clear:

Immanuel Kant set the tone for the German enlightenment by explaining that man does not find law in nature, man gives law to nature. The higher critics picked up this football and ran with it. The very many Old Testament Messianic prophecies fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth were received as proof, not that Jesus was the promised Messiah. . .but that none of it ever actually happened, it's all a myth:

"The knowledge of the fact, that the Jews were fond of representing their great men as the children of parents who had long been childless, cannot but make us doubtful of the historical truth of the statement that this was the case with John the Baptist; knowing also that the Jews saw predictions everywhere in the writings of their prophets and poets, and discovered types of the Messiah in all the lives of holy men recorded in their Scriptures; when we find details in the life of Jesus evidently sketched after the pattern of these prophecies and prototypes, we cannot but suspect that they are rather mythical than historical." (David Friedrich Strauss, The Life of Jesus Critically Examined, Kindle location 2161).

In other words, when the gospel narratives testify that Jesus fulfilled the prophecies, then those narratives are to be re-classified as 'myths.' This is a tidy way to make sure no evidence ever rocks the boat of your world-view: any non-conforming evidence is simply discarded.