The Bible (Old Testament) both according to Christianity and Rabbinic Hebraism has the purpose of presenting all prophecies of the coming Messiah, the Son of God. What is really astonishing is the level of the datails related to the prophecies which anticipate the teachings, miracles, life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Messiah. It is clear that God the Almighty made everything possible to persuade the people of Israel. Because he knew how headstrong they were, especially the scribes and the rabbis!For further information see the book by Hal Lindsey “ The late great planet Earth” (Zondervan,1970).
TWO PORTRAITS
In the Bible there are two different portraits of the Messiah in the biblical prophecies.
THE SUFFERING MESSIAH
(example: Isaiah 53) – One portraits the Messiah as a humble servant who will suffer for others and will be rejected by his own countrymen. The Messiah would deliber the people from their sins by bearing the penalty of death for them. As such the Messiah would be a “Spiritual Deliverer”.
THE REIGNING MESSIAH
(example: Zachariah 14, Isaiah 9:6,7) -The second prortraits the Messiah as a conquering king., who comes suddendly on Earth at the eigth of a global war and saves mankind from a global destruction. The reigning kind would conquer Israel’s enemies and bring world peace. He would therefore be a “Political Deliverer”.
WHY DID THE MAJORITY OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE REJECTED JESUS OF NAZARETH?
Despite the fact that:- the Jewish people knew well both type of propheciesand that:- Jesus Himself pointed out the prophecies which referred to Himthey took literally the view of the Reigning Messiah. This because they hoped for a delivery from the Roman empire and the establishment of the kingdom of Israel.
THE CRISIS OF PHARISAIC TRADITION AND THE NEW INTERPRETATION OF THE COMMANDMENTS
Following Moses times, the Jewish religious leaders had developed a tradition of interpreting God’s laws as mere external formalistic rules (Mark 7:1-15) regarding: – personal hygene- dressing- food (kosher)- social behavior among Jews- social behavior with respect to non-Jews.However, while rejecting all formalistic Pharisaic rules, Jesus pointed out the true meaning of God’s laws. The Commandments were given to us to show how perfect we would have to be in order to earn acceptance by God. He showed that God looks upon hearts and not just of outward performance of actions. Thus:- to avoid the sin of murder it is just not enough to avoid killing, but also angering without cause with your neighbour (Matthew 5:21,22). – to avoid the sin of lust, it is not enough to avoid committing it in proper physical sense but also thinking of it with determinate and conscious desire, such as looking with lust at a woman (Matthew 5:27-32). – to avoid a capital vice, for example slander, for which no moral justification is admissible, it is not enough not to physically realize it. In fact, also the very conscious thought of it would be capital sin.- all sins, except the Original Sin, are not inherited from our parents. Therefore we bear responsibility and penalty only for our sins.
THE CRUCIFIXION AND THE SUFFERING
Jesus told his disciples that there were predictions of his sufferings in the Psalms (Like 24; 44-46). In fact one of the predictions in the Psalms was written by King David himself (Psalm 22) and is very moving. From it one can understand why King David was and is so special to God. In fact he speaks of the crucifixion of the Messiah as he were on the cross himself, living all the suffering and seeing the people watching him on the cross. Speaking of the Spirit of the Messiah, David says “I am poured out like water” (the Spirit of God is the Spirit of life and the Spirit of Wisdom of the Bible).He tells of the intense thirst and “my tongue cleaveth to my jaws”. Jesus said on the cross ” “I thirst”.”For dogs have compassed me the assembly of the wicked have enclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet. I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me. They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture” (Psalm 22: 16-18 KJV). “Dogs” are the Gentiles in the common language of Jews at the time of King David and also of Jesus himself (look at how things have changed, now we are brothers!). As perfect as this passage is in its prophetic accuracy, it gains additional importance if we realize that crucifixion was not known at the times of King David (1000 years before Christ) and was to be introduced only much later by the Roman Empire.There are many more references to the Bible prophecies to be found in the book:Hal Lindsey “ The late great planet Earth”, Zondervan (1970).