The Old Testament (Tanakh in Hebrew)* contains many prophecies about the (first) coming of the Messiah, which means Christ or ‘anointed one’. In prophecies God shows what He wants to do and in Jesus these prophecies have all come true. The name of Jesus, in Hebrew Yeshua, means ‘he will save’. Yeshua fulfilled so many prophecies from the Tanakh that we can no longer speak of coincidence.
- The core of the Apostolic witness
- Messiah (Christ)
- Anointed One
- An Anointed One sent by God
- Earthly salvation
- Tanakh prophecies fulfilled by Yeshua / Old Testament prophecies fulfilled by Jesus
- Emmausgoers
- Political-national role
- Universal role of the Messiah
- The scriptures testify about Jesus
The core of the Apostolic testimony
These prophecies form the DNA profile of the Christ, the Messiah. There is only one who matches this and that is Yeshua of Nazareth, He is the Christ. That Yeshua is the Christ, the long-awaited Messiah, is also the core of the Apostolic testimony.
,When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, ‘Who do people say that the Son of Man is?’ They replied, ,Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, some Jeremiah or one of the other prophets., Then he asked them, ,And who do you think I am?, Simon Peter replied, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” (Matthew 16:13-16) Yeshua answered affirmatively, “Then Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven.” So Yeshua knew very well who he was; he did not hide his identity.
“Jesus performed many other miraculous signs for his disciples, which are not written in this book, but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life through his name.” (John 20:30-31)
“They [the apostles] continued to teach daily in the temple or in someone’s home and continued to proclaim the good news that Jesus is the Messiah.” (Acts 5:42)
“Philip went into the city of Samaria and proclaimed to them the Messiah.” (Acts 8:5)
Messiah (Christ)
Anointed One
The Greek christos is the translation of the Hebrew word mashiach . In Dutch this is Messiah and that means ‘anointed one’. In the age of the Tanakh, priests and kings were appointed and anointed by God; that is pouring with oil. That always happened with important people. This anointing was an open sign that a person had been appointed by God as a priest or king and no one took it lightly. For example, David says in 1 Samuel 24:7, ,And he said to his men, ‘The LORD forbid that I should harm my king, God’s anointed, or lift up my hand against him, for he is the king of the LORD himself. .,
An Anointed One sent by God
The expectation that a messiah will come, an Anointed One sent by God, who will bring about the liberation of the people of Israel, is strong in Judaism. “I believe with perfect confidence in the coming of the Messiah, and although he may delay, I expect him every day,” reads one of the twelve tenets of the Rambam, an “acronym of Moshe ben Maimon, one one of the greatest medieval Jewish scholars, also known as Maimonides. Especially in times of oppression or domination, belief arose in a Savior or Messiah, who would restore the kingdom of David.
Earthly salvation
From a Jewish perspective, the Messiah will be a human being who will bring earthly salvation. Some therefore came to see Yeshua as the savior who would free the Jews in Israel from the yoke of the Romans. They could not believe that there would first be a suffering Messiah and then a conquering King (at the second coming of Yeshua). One Messiah, two roles: a suffering and a conquering Messiah. In Isaiah 53 we see the image of the suffering Messiah and Zechariah 12:10 and Revelation 1:7 point to his second coming.
There were many Jews who did not accept Yeshua as the Messiah, the anointed one. In the centuries that followed, people sometimes arose who were seen by some Jews as the Messiah. For example, in the 130s the rebel leader Simon ben Kosiba was honored by Rabbi Akiba as Simon bar Kochba, which means star son, one of the titles of the messiah. Later in history, other colorful figures emerged who were considered by some to be the messiah. I mention David Reubeni, a mysterious figure who first appeared in Jerusalem in 1523. He set himself up as the Messiah and in Rome he even managed to convince Pope Clement VII that he would liberate Palestine from the Ottomans. In Portugal he gained a lot of support among the Marranos, forcibly baptized Jews who secretly remained faithful to their Jewish faith. Ultimately it was Charles V who had him handcuffed and burned at the stake.
Tanakh prophecies fulfilled by Yeshua / Old Testament prophecies fulfilled by Jesus
Emmausgoers
Three days after Yeshua’s crucifixion, two of his disciples were on their way to Emmaus, a place not far from Jerusalem:
,They were talking to each other about all that had happened. While they were thus talking to each other, Jesus himself came to them and walked with them, but their vision was clouded, so that they did not recognize him. He asked them, ,What are you talking about?, Then they stood there in a somber mood, and one of them named Cleopas answered, ,Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know what has happened there these days?, Jesus asked them, ,What then?, They answered, ,What happened to Jesus of Nazareth, a prophet mighty in word and deed in the sight of God and of all the people. Our chief priests and leaders condemned him to death and had him crucified. We lived in hope that he was the one who would deliver Israel, but now it is the third day since all this happened. Moreover, some women from among us have confused us. When they went to the tomb early this morning, they did not find his body there and They came and said that angels had appeared to them. The angels said that he is alive. Then some of us also went to the tomb and found it as the women had said, but they did not see Jesus., Then he said to them, ,Are you so ignorant and slow of understanding that you do not believe all that the prophets have said? Didn’t the Messiah have to undergo all that suffering to enter into his glory?, Then he explained to them what was written about him in all the Scriptures, beginning with Moses and the Prophets.” (Luke 24:13-27)
Political-national role
Yeshua told the disciples at Emmaus why they do not believe in everything the prophets said. They thought that the kingdom of God would soon dawn and that Yeshua would deliver them from foreign domination. The Messianic Kingdom would be ushered in, a new era would dawn. And now all hope was gone. Yeshua had been dead for three days and after three days the soul would have disappeared from the body according to Eastern views. The disciples at Emmaus were only fixated on one role or aspect of the Messiah, namely the political-national one, as is also put forward in the Tanakh:
Then I will rebuild the fallen house of David, I will restore the walls and build up what has been thrown down , I will restore it to its former splendor. (Amos 9:11)
When that time comes, declares the LORD, I will gather the lame, I will gather those who are scattered, and I will unite those who I have harmed. I will spare the lame, I will make the outcasts a great nation, and the LORD will be their king in Zion from henceforth even forever. And you, watchtower of the flock, fortress of Zion, you will regain your former dominion; to you, O Jerusalem, belongs the kingdom. (Micah 4:6-8)
The liberation of the Jewish people and the restoration, the restoration of the kingship. However, that is one side of the coin. On the other side Yeshua points out to them: the suffering and death of the Messiah, the suffering Messiah. In Isaiah 53 we encounter the image of the Messiah who would suffer and die for the sins of His people Israel and the world, more than 700 before Yeshua walked the earth. The image of the suffering Messiah also appears in Psalm 22. Yeshua came the first time as a servant and he will only appear as king and high priest at his second coming. Two sides of the same coin.
Universal role of the Messiah
In Isaiah 49:6 we read that the role of the Messiah is universal: not only to deliver the people of Israel, but to bring salvation to the entire world. What was accomplished on the cross is crucial to God’s plan for people.
The scriptures testify about Jesus
The prophecies in the Tanakh that point to Yeshua are wonderful and fascinating at the same time. The Scriptures testify about Yeshua. (John 5:39) Only in the life of Yeshua can we understand the messianic prophecies. All aspects in the prophecies such as the Suffering Servant of the Lord (Jeremiah 53) and the Son of man (Daniel 7:14-14) come together in life, work, teaching and the person of Yeshua.
Note:
(*) The Jews divide the Tanakh (also called ‘Tanach’ in English) into three divisions: the Torah (Teachings – the five books of Moses), Nevi’im (Prophets) and Ketuvim (Writings). T aN aK h is an acronym for Torah, N evi’im and K etuvim.
read more
- Prophecies of Jesus Old Testament: descent and birth
- Isaiah 53: Old Testament Prophecies Fulfilled by Jesus
- Predictions of Jesus in the Tanakh: life/suffering/dying