Faith #7: Messianic Prophecy

Number seven on my list of reasons for faith in our Lord Jesus is the set of Messianic prophecies found in the Hebrew scriptures of the Old Testament. Jewish Rabbis and Church Fathers both recognized these prophecies as Messianic, but the fulfillment of these prophecies in the life of Jesus reveal the astonishing surprise ending.

The Old Testament or Covenant between God and Israel was given to Moses as recorded in the Torah or Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible. The books of history, poetry, and prophecy comprise the rest of what we call the Old Testament, and many of these books contain prophecies of the Messiah as a "man of sorrows." The Jewish Rabbis did not understand these messianic prophecies and would not accept their fulfillment in the life of Jesus. Yet the prophecies still testify to this day to Jews and Christians alike for those who choose to study them.

Here are the verses that are most compelling to me:

Genesis 22 - The Sacrifice of the only Son

He said, “Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you.” Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son, and he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So the two of them walked on together. Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” And he said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” Abraham said, “God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” So the two of them walked on together.

Christians recognize this story as foreshadowing God's sacrifice of his own Son for our sins. The location of Moriah is understood to be Zion, where Jesus carried the wood for his own sacrifice on the cross. It was a very specific place God had in mind for this sacrifice, and Abraham presented the perfect picture of what a great sacrifice this was for a father to give his only son whom he loved.

God did provide a ram for the sacrifice, and as the writer of Hebrews says, He gave Isaac back to his father as a foreshadowing of the resurrection. The Lamb of the final sacrifice would be fulfilled in Jesus, and His resurrection would demonstrate that He alone has become Redeemer and Lord of all creation.

Psalm 22 - The Crucifixion of Christ

For dogs have surrounded me; A band of evildoers has encompassed me; They pierced my hands and my feet. I can count all my bones. They look, they stare at me; They divide my garments among them, And for my clothing they cast lots.

Psalm 22 is a graphic prophecy of the crucifixion of Messiah Jesus. It is quoted in the New Testament in the last words of Jesus on the cross - "My God, my God, why have you forsaken Me?" There is astonishing detail here written about this cruel execution method, thousands of years before the Romans used it in Judea. Here's a good post on Psalm 22 from Jews for Jesus.

Isaiah 49-53 - The Suffering Servant

But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him. He was despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; And like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted.

This One who is called the arm of the LORD - the Servant of YHWH - is prophesied in these chapters of Isaiah to suffer in our place and bear our iniquity. These most treasured scriptures give a clear description of substitutionary sacrifice, demonstrating the goodness and righteousness of God in scriptures that were hidden in plain sight for hundreds of years before Christ.

Daniel 9 - The End of Sin and the New Covenant

“Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy. So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; it will be built again, with plaza and moat, even in times of distress. Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. And its end will come with a flood; even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined. And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate.”

These verses in Daniel are difficult to understand but are clearly Messianic prophecy, repeated by Jesus himself in reference to the destruction and desolation of Jerusalem. The end of the Old Testament system of ritual sacrifice is accompanied by a New Covenant initiated by the blood of the perfect Lamb of God, which is an everlasting covenant of righteousness, based not on our works, but the finished work of Christ on the cross.