Messianic Prophecies

Who will the Messiah be?
From David. Jer 23:5; Lk 3:31; Mt 1:1; 9:27; Mk 10:47-48; Jn 7:42; Acts 13:22-23; Rev 22:16 Many Jewish Talmuds say the Messiah will come from David's line
A priest after Melchizedek. Ps 110:4; Heb 5:6
Son of God. Ps 2:7 Mt 3:17; 16:16-17; 27:54; Mk 9:7; Lk 9:35; Jn 1:34; Acts 13:33; Heb 5:5. The Dead Sea Scroll 4QFlorilegium recognizes Ps 2:7 and 2 Sam 7:14 as Messianic.
Lord said to my Lord. Ps110:1; Mt22:43-45; Mk12:36-7; Lk 2:11; 20:42-44. Midrash Tehillim, Commentary on Psalms, (200-500 A.D.) recognizes as Messianic
Called 'God with us' (dual fulfillment). Isa 7:14; Mt 1:23; Lk 7:16; ~Jn 20:28
Child called Mighty God, Prince of Peace, etc.. Isa 9:6. Messianic according to the Yemenite Midrash 349-350 and the Pereq Shalom p.101
Seed of the woman will crush Satan's head. Gen 3:15. Messianic according to Targum Pseudo-Jonathan
Born of a virgin (dual fulfillment). Isa 7:14; Mt 1:18,25; Lk 1:26-35. Virgin according to the Septuagint
 
Where will the Messiah be?

Born in Bethlehem in Judah. Mic 5:2; Mt 2:1,5-8; Jn 7:42; Lk 2:4-7. Targum Isaiah says Messianic
Minister in Galilee. Isa9:1-2; Mt4:12-16; Mk 1:14;Lk 4:31;Jn4:43
Enter Temple in Jerusalem. Mal 3:1; Mt21:12; Mk11:15
 
When will the Messiah come?

The scepter will not depart. Gen 49:10; Lk 3:23,33 Messianic according to Babylonian and Jerusalem Talmuds, Targum Jonathan, Targum Pseudo-Jonathan, Targum Onkelos, Dead Sea Scroll Commentary, and the Aramaic Targum. Jews lost the right to execute people in 11 A.D. according to the Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin chapter 4.
Israel abandoned until the Messiah comes. Mic 5:3
Before the Temple is destroyed (70 A.D.). Mal 3:1
After a forerunner. Isa 40:3; Mt 3:1-3;11:10; Lk 1:17; Jn 1:23
Killed 32/33 A.D. Dan9:20-27+Neh 2:1-10 (445/4 B.C.) Messianic according to Maimonides in Igeret Teiman, Rabbi Moses Abraham Levi in The Messiah of the Targums, Talmuds and Rabbinical Writers
 
What will the Messiah do?

Ministry of miracles. Isa 35:5,6a; Mt 9:6-7,22,32-35; 11:4-6; 12:13; Jn 5:5-9; 9:6-11, etc.
Carried our diseases. Isa53:4; Mt 8:17; Mk2:10-12;Lk5:13;Jn5:5-9
Teach in parables. Ps 78:2; Mt 13:34
Enter as a king on a donkey. Zech 9:9; Lk 19:35-37; Mt 21:5-9; Jn 12:15
Stumbling block to cornerstone. Ps 118:22-23; Isa 8:14-15; 28:16; Mt21:42; Mk12:10-11; 1Pet2:6-8; Acts4:11
Not abandoned to death. Ps 16:8-11; 30:3; Acts 2:31; 13:33; Mk 16:6; Mt 28:6; Lk 24:46
Zeal for His Father's house. Ps 69:9; Jn 2:17
Spirit of the Lord will be on Him. Isa 11:2; Mt 3:16; Mk 1:10-11; Lk 4:15-21,32; Jn 1:32 Messianic according to Targum Isaiah, the Babylonian Talmud, and a Dead Sea Scroll commentary.
Mt shows Christ's life parallels the Israelite people (Jer 31:15 and Mt 2:18, Hos 11:1 and Mt 2:15, Isa 9:1,2 and Mt 4:15-16; etc.)
 
Reactions of the People

Hated without cause. Ps 35:19; 69:4; Isa 49:7; Jn 15:25
Some plotted Jesus' ruin. Ps 38:12; Mk 11:18
Betrayed by a friend. Ps 41:9; Mt 10:4; 26:48-50; Mk 14:43-44; Lk 22:47-48; Jn 18:3,5
Rejected by His own people. Isa 53:3-4; Ps 69:8; Jn 1:11; 7:5; Mt 21:42-44
Gave Him gall for his drink. Ps 69:21; Mt 27:48;
Even friends stood afar. Ps 38:11; Mt 27:55; Mk 15:40; Lk 23:49
After shepherd struck, sheep scattered. Zech 13:7; Mk 14:27,50; Mt 26:31
Rejected by government. Ps 2:1-2; Acts 4:25-28
 
How will the Messiah die?

Sold for 30 pieces of silver. Zech 11:12-13; Mt 26:15
Threw, not placed, coins in temple. Zech11:13b;Mt27:5a
Money for a potter. Zech 11:13; Mt 27:7
Unjustly taken away. Isa 53:7-8; Mt26:60;Mk 14:55; Lk 23:4
False witnesses. Ps 35:11; Mt 26:60
Silent before his accusers. Ps38:13-14; Isa53:7; Mt 27:12
Asked why God forsook Him. Ps 22:1; Mt 27:46; Mk 15:34 Pesikta Rabbati 37:2, written about 845 A.D. (Answering Jewish Objections to Jesus vol.2 p.230,309).
 
Mocked. Ps 22:7,8 Mt 27:31,39; Mk 15:31-32;
Heart like wax. Ps 22:14b; Jn 19:34
Pierced for us. Ps 22:16; Isa 53:5; Zech 12:10; Mt 27:26 Targum Jonathan (See The New Testament Background p.314-315 for more info. In later times, the Tractate Sanhedrin and Talmud Bavli also mention this. (Answering Jewish Objections to Jesus vol.2 p.224,307). In the Middle Ages, the Jew Nachmanides, in his debate with a Catholic, said that Isaiah 53 referred to the Messiah, but claimed that the Messiah was willing to die, but did not actually die. (Answering Jewish Objections to Jesus vol.2 p.226).
; Jn 19:34
People stared at him. Ps 22:17; Lk 23:35
Cast lots for his clothes. Ps 22:18; Mk 15:24; Lk 23:34; Jn 19:23,24
No bones broken. Ps 22:17; Ps 34:20; Jn 19:33
Struck, spit on Him. Isa50:6;Mic5:1;Mt26:67;Lk22:63
Killed with transgressors. Isa53:12; Mt27:38; Mk15:27
Interceded for transgressors Isa 53:12b; Lk 23:34
Buried in a rich man's grave. Isa 53:9; Mt 27:57-60
Bore our sins as a guilt offering. Isa 53:5,6,10-12; Jn 1:29; 1 Cor 15:3; 1 Jn 2:2; 4:10
Jesus died with a Psalm on his lips. Ps 31:5; Lk 23:46
 
Many Jews missed seeing the Messiah because they were looking for a political Savior, and could not distinguish between His first and second coming.

 

The Details of Daniel 9:20-27

Do the math!
 
69 x 7 religious yrs ½ 360 days ½ modern yr 476.06
¾ ¾ ¾ ¾ ¾ ¾ ¾ ¾ ¾ ¾ ¾ ¾ ¾ ¾ ¾ ¾ ¾ ¾ ¾ = modern yrs
½ religious yr ½ 365.25 days

 
Starting point was the decree to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. Nehemiah 2:1-10 Mar/Apr 444 B.C.
 
476 years - Mar/Apr 445 B.C. + 1 = Mar/Apr 33 A.D.
(+ 1 is because 1 B.C to 1 A.D. is one year, not two.)
 
9 Objections to Daniel 9

 
Objection 1:
This must have been written after Christ.
Answer:
The Septuagint, written centuries before Christ, has this prophecy in it. Among the Dead Sea Scrolls, there are eight separate copies of Daniel, the oldest of which is dated 120 B.C. Finally, the Jews themselves accept this as a prophecy from before Christ. Here is what some of them said:
The word Messiah is used in Daniel 9:25,26. In addition, the famous Medieval Jewish teacher Maimonides said, "Daniel has elucidated to us the knowledge of the end times. However, since they are secret, the wise [rabbis] have barred the calculation of the days of Messiah's coming so that the untutored populace will not be led astray when they see that the End Times have already come but there is no sign of the Messiah" (Igeret Teiman, Chapter 3 p.24.)
Rabbi Moses Abraham Levi said, "I have examined and searched all the Holy Scriptures and have not found the time for the coming of Messiah clearly fixed, except in the words of Gabriel to the prophet Daniel, which are written in the 9th chapter of the prophecy of Daniel (The Messiah of the Targums, Talmuds and Rabbinical Writers, 1971) p.141-142.
On the other hand, after Christ came, the Jewish work Seder Olam Rabbah (about 160 A.D. with possible later edits) claimed the seventy weeks were seventy years of exile in Babylon and 420 years until the destruction of the temple in 70 A.D. It calculates 420 years as 34 years for the Persian Empire, 180 years for the Greeks, 103 for the Maccabees, and 103 years for the herods. However, these years are too low for the dominance of the respective nations, and 34 years was way too low for the Persians. See an article by J. Paul Tanner, "Is Daniel's Seventy-Weeks Prophecy Messianic? Part 1" in Bibliotheca Sacra vol.166 (April-June 2009) p.181-200 and part 2 in Bibliotheca Sacra vol.166 (July-September 2009) p.219-335 for more info.
 
Objection 2:
Maybe a week here is not seven years.
Answer:
In Daniel 9:25, it would be hard to rebuild the city in just 7 days. Hard Sayings of the Bible p.318-320 says that since the whole sabbatical year was laid out in terms of sevens, equating the "sevens" with years was not a problem for Jewish listeners, especially since the Jubilee was once every seven years in Leviticus 25.
 
Objection 3:
Perhaps this is not the correct decree.
Answer:
There were in fact three decrees: For the Jews to return in 538/7 B.C., Artaxerxes' decree in 458 B.C. for the Jews to get back the gold and silver from their Temple, and Artaxerxes' decree in 444 B.C. However Daniel 9:25 explicitly says the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem (not the Temple), and Artaxerxes' decree of 444 B.C. is the only decree that fits this description.
 
Objection 4:
How do we know the decree in the 20th year of Artaxerxes I was 444 B.C., and how do we know it was not Artaxerxes II?
Answer:
When Artaxerxes became king by defeating his brother Hystaspes in Bactria, this was immediately known in Egypt by January 2/3, 464 B.C., as evidence by the Elephantine Papyrus Cowley #6. This first "reigning year" was counted as starting April 13, 464 B.C. The fired Athenian general Thucydides, who was also a historian, wrote about Artaxerxes I, as did the historians Ctesias and Diodorus Siculus (1st century B.C.).
We know this was Artaxerxes I because a Papyrus found in Elephantine Island, Egypt (Cowley #30), dated 407 B.C. mentions the sons of Sanballat, the governor or Samaria. (There was a Persian fort made up of Jewish mercenaries at Elephantine.)
See Persia and the Bible p.242,247-248 for more info.
 
Objection 5:
Why use a 360-day year?
Answer:
Why use a 365.25-day year, since the Bible never does? The Jewish religious year was always 12 months of 30 days each. Periodically the Jews added an extra month to get the calendar back in sync with the seasons. In the Bible, a 30-day month goes back to Noah in Gen 7:11,24; 8:3-4. Besides all the references to religious months in the Old Testament, in the New Testament 30 days is a month in Revelation 11:3,4.
 
Objection 6:
Why a gap before the 70th week?
Answer:
Nothing in Daniel indicates the last sevens is immediately after the 69 sevens. In contrast, the 7 sevens and 69 sevens are combined as one unit. After the 69th seven, a number of events are listed that are after the 69 sevens and before the final seven. Finally, the silence on this gap was a mystery God purposely did not reveal until later. What to them was a mysterious, secret future time period, we today call the Church Age.
 
Objection 7:
How does this square with the view that Jesus was born 4-5 B.C?
Answer:
This prophecy neither supports nor refutes that view. The Bible does not say Jesus was thirty when he began his ministry. Rather, Luke 3:23 says that Jesus was about thirty years old
 
Objection 8:
Prophecies do not prove Jesus was God, because Jesus was an alien! (I actually heard this from a college student who was into Star Trek and the Church of Scientology.)
Answer:
If Jesus were an extra-terrestrial, he would have to be highly intelligent being to be able to have all these prophecies come true. In fact, compared to us, he would appear all-knowing. Jesus would also have to be an extremely powerful alien to do all the miracles he did, including rising from the dead. We would view them as all-powerful. For Him to teach man the teaching that Jesus taught, he would have to be morally very good, nearly perfect. So if you think Jesus might be an All-knowing, All-powerful, morally perfect being not from this world, who came to show us the truth, I agree!
 
Objection 9:
Even if true, this does not really matter.
Answer:
Do you have any factual evidence for saying that? It mattered very much to Jesus, the way he tirelessly preached, warning people, even crying over Jerusalem, and dying for what He stood for. It mattered to Peter who begged people to save themselves. You have to decide: either you think they knew what they were talking about, or you think they didn't.
  A pesher commentary found at Qumran called 4QFlorilegium also brings Psalm 2:7 and 2 Samuel 7:14 together as talking about the Messiah. See The Expositor's Bible Commentary vol.98 p.426 for more info.
  Habakkuk 1:5 refers to the Messiah according to the Dead Sea scroll 1QHab. See The Expositor's Bible Commentary vol.9 p.427 for more info.
 

False Prophecies of Other Religions

These people have made the following claims.

...Christ returned
Grigori Rasputin (at least some others claimed this)
Rev. Jim Jones of Jonestown (died 11/16/1978)
Rev. Moon of the Unification Church
Jacob Katzan (1977-)
Guru Maharah Ji of the Divine Light Mission
Many Hindu and New Age gurus
...A Jewish Messiah Come the First Time
Sabbatai Sebi/Zvi In Sept. 1666 A.D. he was forced to become Muslim
Rabbi Schneerson of New York (now dead)
Probably Theudas in Acts 5:36. He claimed to be someone great
...The Messiah, or Mahdi in Islamic Religions
Imam al Husayn bin al-Kasim al-'Iyani (1010-1013 A.D.) (Husayniiya Zaydite sect)
First Fatimid caliph 'Obaidallah/'Ubaydullah (909-933/934 A.D.)
The Bahaullah (Baha'is) (1817-1892)
Husayn 'Ali Nuri Baha', half-brother to the Baha'ullah
Sliman Murshad of Syria (1900-1949)
The Mahdist movement in Sudan
Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (1879, Ahmadiyya Movement)
Many others
...God
Lord Hakim (Druse worship him as visible God)
'Ali is divine according to the 'Ulyaniyya/'Alaya'iyya
Mohammed is worshipped as visible God by Muhammidiyya
'Ali bin Abi Talib and Saliman al-Farisi (They did not claim to be God, but long after their death some 'Alewite sects worshipped them as sort of a Muslim Tritheism.
God existed in the form of all the prophets according to the Rizamiyya / Muslimiyya Shi'ite sect

For many religions,
the idea that a faith can be verified by prophecy is an unknown concept for them.
 
Rev. Moon
: the Bible says Christ will come back in the clouds. Since one verse in the entire Bible, Heb 12:1, mentions clouds of witnesses as groups of people, Christ will come among crowds of people. Rev. Moon's followers believe him to be the Lord of the Second Advent, Christ returned, visible God. Rev. Moon is getting old now, and some of his followers are realizing that he is not going to usher in a new age.
 
Jehovah's Witnesses
are famous for predicting when Christ will return in 1874, 1914, 1918, 1925, and 1975. Some say he did return in 1918, but you had to have "spiritual eyes" to see him. Other Jehovah's Witnesses admit the Watchtower has been wrong on predicting Christ's return, but justify that by saying Nathan the prophet was wrong too.
 
Mormon
founder Joseph Smith did not make many prophecies, but in Doctrines and Covenants section 87:1-8, written Dec. 25/1832 he prophesied a rebellion in South Carolina, which at that time war will be poured out upon all nations. There will also be plague, earthquake, and thunder of heaven, and vivid lightning also, until the consumption decreed has made a full end of all nations. In fact, a tariff was passed in 1832 that on Nov 24th South Carolina declared unacceptable. However, the Civil War did not start until 30 years later. This prophecy was actually removed from the History of the Church, and only added back later in 1852.
 
Polygamy, and the blacks being denied the priesthood
were two LDS doctrines that Joseph Smith said would never change. Polygamy was an "everlasting covenant" in Doctrines and Covenants sections 132. Brigham Young banned polygamy on earth when a U.S. army was about to enter Salt Lake City. The anti-black doctrine, given in the Mormon Book of Abraham 1:25-27, was repealed in June 1978.
 
The Mormon Book of Abraham
was Joseph Smith's greatest boondoggle. In July 1835, Joseph Smith saw some Egyptian scrolls, which he said were the same language "Reformed Egyptian" as the Book of Mormon. He said they were written by Abraham, and proceeded to make "A Translation of some ancient Records ... the writings of Abraham written by his own hand, upon papyrus." Nobody in America back then could read ancient Egyptian and say whether he was right or wrong. However, he have the scrolls today, and three of the four original manuscripts of the Mormon Book of Abraham have the Egyptian hieroglyphs written right next to them. Joseph Smith made up an average of 110 words where there should have been only one word.
 
Joseph Smith III
was appointed by Joseph Smith to be the Second prophet of the Mormon Church, - unless he was a wicked man, and then he would die at a young age. Joseph Smith III lived to be over 70 years old, but Brigham Young took most of the Mormon Church away from him in 1844. Today, the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints follows Joseph Smith III and his successors as prophets.
 
Finally,
30 days before a mob murdered Joseph Smith in a jail, Joseph Smith said, "I have more to boast of than any man ever had. I am the only man that has ever been able to keep a church together since the days of Adam.... Neither Paul, John, Peter, nor Jesus ever did it. I boast that no man ever did such a work as I. The followers of Jesus ran away from him; but the Latter-day Saints never ran away from me yet." (History of the Church volume 6 p.408-409.)

Details on Genesis 49:10


The Jews themselves understood Gen 40:10 as a Messianic prophecy. In the Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin, Chap.4 following 37, recto. Rabbi Rachman said, "When the members of the Sanhedrin found themselves deprived of the/their right over life and death, a general consternation took possession of them; they covered their heads with ashes, and their bodies with sackcloth, exclaiming: 'Woe unto us, for the scepter has departed from Judah, and the Messiah has not come!'"
In a Dead Sea Scroll Commentary on Genesis (4Q252 [=4QpGena), fragment 2 in discussing Genesis 49:10, says "Whenever Israel rules, there shall [not] fail to be a descendant of David upon the throne. For the ruler's staff is the Covenant of kingship, [and the clans] of Israel are the divisions, until the Messiah of Righteousness comes, the Branch of David." See The Dead Sea Scrolls in English 4th ed. p.300-302, which also points out that this commentary sees the Jewish Hasmonean kings as illegitimate rulers, since they were not from Judah.
Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 98b, Rabbi Johanan wrote, "The world was created for the sake of the Messiah, what is this Messiah's name? The school of Rabbi Shila said 'his name is Shiloh, for it is written; until Shiloh come."
Jerusalem Talmud, Sanhedrin folio 24. "A little more than forty years before the destruction of the Temple, the power of pronouncing capital sentences was taken away from the Jews."
Targum Onkelos says, "The transmission of dominion shall not cease from the house of Judah, nor the scribe from his children's children, forever, until Messiah comes."
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on Genesis 49:11a, "Kings and rulers shall not cease from the house of Judah ... until King Messiah comes"
An additional Jewish source that indicates the Jews understood this was a Messianic prophecy are Targum Jonathan on Genesis 49:10,11a.
 

General Objections on Bible Prophecy

Objection: Can a prophet be wrong, as Nathan was in 2 Sam 7:3, and still be a true prophet? (Jehovah's Witnesses sometimes bring this up.)
Answer:
In 2 Samuel 7:3, Nathan was not speaking as a prophet. David asked Nathan if building the temple was OK, and Nathan said it was. Nathan gave his own opinion, nowhere saying God told him to say this. Immediately afterward, God did speak to Nathan, and Nathan returned to David telling him that God did not want Nathan building the Temple. In summary, a true prophet could have wrong opinions, but a true prophet would never be wrong when he is speaking as a prophet.
 
Objection:
Does the Bible have a false prophecy about Tyre in Ezek 26:14,19-21?
Answer:
No, and one can call this question "the tale of three cities".
Tyre #1 (Old Tyre)
originally was only a mainland city build by Phoenician colonists from Sidon. Nobody actually conquered this city until 573 B.C., when Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians destroyed the mainland city after a 13-year siege. Today it is uninhabited, bare rock east of the modern city called Tyre (Sur in Arabic).
Tyre #2 (New Tyre)
However, during those 13 years, the Tyrians in Old Tyre moved almost everything of value to the new Tyre on the island half a mile from the mainland city. Alexander built a causeway connecting New Tyre and Old Tyre. The landscape has changed almost beyond recognition, as silt built up along the causeway, and now there is no island, only a peninsula. What was the major, southern harbor has now filled up with sand, making it a good place to spread nets, but a poor place to have buildings or to launch ships.
Tyre #3 (modern Sur in Arabic)
is between the two Tyres. It is on the causeway and the northern part of what was once the island. It is a fishing village with a population of 16,483 in 1972, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica.
The Bible
is very precise in what it said about Tyre's future.
Ezekiel 26:14 does not say not a soul would live there, but that the city would never be rebuilt.
Ezekiel 26:19 says the city will be laid waste, like cities that are not inhabited. The deep will come over Tyre.
Ezekiel 26:21 says that the city of Tyre will be no more, and never be found again.
Today there is a different landscape, a different people, in a different city, that was built over where there used to be water.

References

Brown, Michael L. Answering Jewish Objections to Jesus (3 volumes) Baker Books 2003.

Eastman, Mark Eastman and Chuck Missler The Creator Beyond Time and Space

Longenecker, Richard N. The Expositor’s Bible Commentary vol.9 Zondervan Publishing House 1981 p.426.

Kaiser, Jr., Walter et al. Hard Sayings of the Bible

McDowell, Josh Evidence That Demands a Verdict Here's Life Publishers, Inc. 1979.

Notes

Dead Sea Scroll 4QFlor 10-14 cites 2 Samuel 7:14 as a title for the Messiah, and calls the Messiah “Son” and “branch. See The Expositor’s Bible Commentary vol.8 p.276 for more info.


For more info please contact Christian Debater™ P.O. Box 144441 Austin, TX 78714 www.BibleQuery.org

by Steven M. Morrison, PhD.