Greetings to all, It has become obvious that we have to establish who Jesus Christ is from OT Scripture. If we can come to this agreement, I am of the opinion that this one point would overcome so many objections.

In my research & readings it has been pointed out that there are at least 7 aspects to this picture.

 I find in these types of exercises it is best to work with a geometrical figure, so lets start with a  large circle & slowly shade in each part of this circle as we go along.  Remembering that the first part of this figure is a large circle.  I haven't figured how to do this on the email, so please would you draw your self a big circle with 7 segments within this circle.

Scripture states that Messiah HAD to become a HUMAN Being. No sooner did Adam & Eve Transgress, Yahweh made a promise in Genesis 3:15

“And I WILL put my enmity between thee & the woman, & between they seed; it shall bruise they head, & thou shall bruise His heel”. Please note that Messiah will be BORN Of Women

Here, the Messiahs HUMANITY is prophetically spoken of. God here pronounces judgement against the serpent – following the fall of Adam & Eve.

 His incarnation, HE should be the SEED of a Woman. Therefore giving the woman the “honor” - & that HE would be HUMAN Being. We find this fulfilled in Galatians 4:4-5 .

When the fullness of time was come, God sent forth His Son, “MADE OF WOMAN”, made under the LAW.  To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive redemption of sons.” Please read verse 6 also.

This is so important – That He Should be A Seed of a woman. We Humans bear the sin of Adam for his transgressions, yet God promise's that Messiah would be a seed from woman. How could this be ?? Right!

Well, the sin passed along the MALE line & not women. Even though woman carries the baby inside the womb for 40 weeks – the foetus feeds through the umbilical cord, “BUT” the mother's blood does not enter the foetus while inside the womb & in turn the baby does not inherit the mothers sinful nature. It is only the father's blood that carries the sinful nature & in turn the sin is passed through the fathers line only.

You can check this out with any good medical practitioner.

Women conceived Jesus – but the father was GOD. God is sinless, which in turn made the Messiah a SINLESS HUMAN & GOD at the same time (Philippians 2: 6-9).

Therefore, when God states that HE will place enmity between the woman's seed & the devil. HE is saying that the Messiah will be human being.

 Messiah Had to be Jewish i.e.. He had to be a descendant of Abraham, Isaac & Jacob.
 This narrows the circle considerably. Of “ALL” the people / humans who ever lived  - ONLY Jewish humans would qualify. This really narrows the circle.

The Father of Jewish people is Abraham & in Genesis 12:1-3 Yahweh makes a covenant with Abraham.

“Lord said to Abraham, Get the out of they country; & from they kindred, & from they fathers house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, & I will bless the, & make they name great: & thou shalt be a blessing. And I will bless them that bless thee & curse that curseth the: & in thee shall ALL families of earth be blessed.’

In Genesis 28:10-15 we read about Jacob's Ladder.

 Jacob left Beer- Sheba & went toward Haran. He come to certain place, took some stones & lay his head & fell asleep (paraphrased by me). In v –12 we read  - “And he dreamed, & behold a Ladder set upon earth, & the top of it reached to heaven; & behold the angels of God ascending & descending on it. v-13 And behold, The Lord stood above it, & said, I am
the Lord of Abraham thy father, and the god of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, to they seed. V-14 And they seed shall be as the dust of the earth, & thou shalt spread abroad to the west, & to the east, & to the north, & to the south. And they seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. V-15 And, behold, I am with the & will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, & will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of”.

These passages indicate that the promised seed in Genesis 3:15 was to come through the line of Abraham, Isaac & Jacob.

Not only that - but in  12 Jacob saw Ladder which reached from earth to heaven, angels ascending * descending upon it, & God himself at the head of it.

The meditation of Christ, the Divine nature: or the former in His Humiliation, the latter in His exaltation. We have no way of getting to heaven, but by this ladder: which is Christ. If we climb any other way we are thieves & robbers.

We read in John 1:51 – where Jesus speaks to Nathaniel “ Verily, verily, I say to you, hear after ye shall see heaven open, & the angels of God ascending & descending upon the Son of Man”.

The Jacob's vision alludes to John 1:51.

 The Circle gets even narrower when we consider that the Messiah had to come from the Tribe of Judah.

In Genesis 49:10 we read:

“The Sceptre Shall NOT depart from Judah, Nor a lawgiver from between His feet, until Shiloh come: & unto Him shall the gathering of the people be”.

Here Jacob on his death bed & before he dies – hr for tells & affirms that the Sceptre ( of the ruling Messiah) would be from the tribe of Judah.

It’s a Royal Tribe of Judah from which Messiah the Prince Should Come. Which was Fulfilled in David.

Scriptures tells us this, which NARROWS THE CIRCLE EVEN FURTHER.

We read in 2 Samuel   7:16

“And thine house (David’s) & they kingdom shall be established for ever before thee: They throne shall be established for ever.”

In Jeremiah 23:5-6 we read.

“Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that” I will raise” unto David a righteous branch, & a king shall reign & Prosper, & shall execute judgement & justice in the earth. v-6 – In His days, Judah shall be saved, & Israel shall dwell safely; & this is His name, ‘THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS’.”

Clearly stating that the ruling Messiah had to come from the Family of David.

THE CIRCLE GETS EXTREMELY NARROW when we take into account the above mentioned prophecies & now we consider the Messiahs Birthplace.

The scripture tells us clearly that the Messiah was to be borne in Bethlehem. This narrows the circle  of possible candidates for the Messiah tremendously – like finding a needle in a hay stack.

In Micah 5:2 we read birthplace of king predicted.

“But thou, Beth- lehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of the shall  he  come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting..”

Bethlehem signifies the House of Bread, the “First” place for Him to be born in who is the bread of life. And, because it was the city of David, by a special providence it was ordered that He should be born there.

Regarding the Messiahs Manner of Life, Rejection, & Death point to Jewish person to Isaiah 53. Please note the following excerpts.

v-1, Who hath believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the lord revealed? Compare Romans 10:16-20, John 12: 37-43.

v-2, For he shall grow up  before him as a tender plant, as a root out of a dry ground: He hath form nor comeliness; & when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him. Compare Isaiah 11;1, Mat 1:1, Rev 5:5

v-3, He is desired & despised & rejected of men; a man of sorrows & acquainted with grief: & we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, & we esteemed him not. Compare Psalm 22:6-7, Mat 16:21, Luke 18:31-34.

v- 4, Surely he hath borne our grief's, & carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, & afflicted.  Compare Mat: 8:17,  1:21-22, John 19:7

v –5, But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities the chastisement of our peace was upon him; & with his stripes we are healed. Compare 1 Corinthians 15:3, Heb 5:8-10,& 9:28, 1 Peter 2: 24-25.

v-7, He was oppressed, & he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to slaughter, & as a sheep people before here shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. Compare Mat 27:12-14, Luke 23:9, Acts 8:32-33.

v - 8, He was taken from prison & from judgement: & who shall declare his generation ? For he was cut off the land of the living: for the transgressions of my people was stricken. Compare psalm 89:5, Acts 832-33

v– 9, And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. Compare Mat 27:57-60, 1 Peter 2:22.

 In Daniel 9:24 –26 we read.

“Seventy weeks are determined  upon they people & upon they holy city, “TO FINISH” the transgressions, & to make an ends of sins, & to make reconciliation for iniquity, & righteousness, & to seal up the vision & prophecy, & to anoint the most holy.”

“Know therefore  & understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore & to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the prince shall be seven weeks: & the street shall be built again, & the wall, even in troublous times.”

“And after threescore & two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: & the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city & the sanctuary: & the end thereof shall be with a flood, & unto the end of the war desolation are determined.” See also verse 27.

Most important – Messiah had to come & die prior to the destruction of the second temple. Which occurred in AD 70.

Clearly, we can see from the above facts - that the CIRCLE of potential Candidates Narrows quite considerably. Is there anyone who has fulfilled ALL these conditions??

Is there anyone who was a Human being, a Jew, from the Tribe of Judah & Family of David, Born in Bethlehem, was Despised & Rejected by the Jewish People, Died as a result of a Judicial Proceeding, was Guiltless, & Came & Died Before the Destruction of the Second temple in AD 70?

To further demonstrate that Jesus Fulfilled the messianic prophecies of Old Testament, note the following facts.

God’s Ability to Foretell the future events is one thing that separates Him from ALL False gods. Addressing the polytheism of Isaiah's time, God said:

“And who, as I, shall call, and shall declare it, & set it in order for me, since I appointed the ancient people? And the things that are coming, & shall come, let them show unto them. Fear ye not, neither be afraid: have not I told thee from that time, & have declared it ? ye are even my witnesses. Is there a God beside me? Yea, there is no God: I know not any.” Isaiah 44:7-8

“Tell ye, and bring them near; yea, let them take counsel together; who hath declared this from ancient time?
Who hath told it from that time? Have not I the Lord? And there is no God else beside me; a just God and Saviour; there is none beside me.” Is 45:21.

“I have declared the former things from the beginning; and they went forth out of my mouth, and a shewed them; I did them suddenly, and they came to pass. I have even from the beginning declared it to thee; before it came to pass I shewed it thee; lest thou shouldest say, Mine idol hath done them, and my grave image, and my molten image, had commanded them.” Is 48:3&5

Of course anyone can make predictions – that is easy, as we have seen WT do many times. But having them fulfilled is another story altogether. The more statements one makes about the future and the greater the detail, the better the chances are that one will be proven wrong.  But God was never wrong; all the messianic prophecies in the OT were fulfilled specifically and precisely in the person of Jesus Christ.

Jesus often indicated to listeners that He was the specific fulfilment of messianic prophecy. Let’s examine just a few.

“Do not think  that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have not come to abolish but to FULFIL them. Mat 5:17 Compare to John 10:30, Duet 6:4, Luke 4:18-21, Is 61:1&2.

“But this shall take place that the writings of the prophets might be fulfilled.” Mat 26:56

“This is what I told you while I was still with you; EVERYTHING MUST BE FULFILLED that is written about me in the Law of Moses the prophets and the Psalms.” Luke 24:44 Compare to Psalms  2 , 16, 22, 69, 110 and 118.

“You diligently study the Scriptures that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.” John 5:39-40 Compare Romans 2:7-29, Acts 13:27-31.

“If you believe Moses you would believe me, for he wrote about me. But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say? John 5:46-47 Compare Gen. 3:15, Acts 26:22-23, John 4:21-26.

 Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, and he began by saying to them, TODAY THIS SCRIPTURE IS FULFILLED IN YOUR HEARING.” Luke 4: 20-21 also read John 17: 3, Mark 14:61-62, Mat 16:16, and John 11:25-27.

Some may ask why Jesus didn’t explicitly claim more often to be the prophesied Messiah.
 

In the early days Jews of the first century regarded the Messiah primarily as Israel's national deliver from the yoke of gentile oppression. Evidence on the other hand suggests that He acknowledged He was the Christ only where there was little or no danger of His claim being politicized  - as in the case in the Samaritan woman, in a private conversation with His disciples (at the same time demanding that they tell no one that He was the Messiah) , in semi private prayer, or before Sanhedrin when silence no longer mattered or served Hispurpose.

 Isaiah 42: 2 tells us that HE WASN'T GOING TO SHOUT in the streets proclaiming WHO HE IS. In verse 4 tells us that HE WILL NOT FALTER NO matter what people say about Him.

YHWH always wanted His people to BELIEVE in HIM By their Faith, Just like Abraham did & Not MIRACLES. Yet they continually denied Him & Disobeyed him No matter what He did for them.

There are a number of authors and books that can be obtained from Dr Ron Rhodes and Robert L. Reymond on the above subject.   I believe that this might help us in getting closer to a better understanding of the Messiah's work and the FULFILMENT of the OT prophesies and writings about Him.

Yours in the Messiah's service

Ps Scriptures taken from KJV Bible, NIV and some parts paraphrased by me to save typing time.