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In the last study, we talked about a couple of the prophecies the Bible gave us that foretold the exact date Jesus would begin His ministry as the Messiah. But there is so much more to discover.
Revelation 19:10
10 And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.
Every prophecy is a revelation of Jesus. Every step along the prophetic timeline testifies to who He is. That means prophecy is not primarily about timelines, governments, or world events. It is a revelation of Jesus—who He is, why He came, and what He was sent to do.
We know when the Old Testament said He would come from our last study. But what exactly was He supposed to do when He arrived?
Two Stages of the Messiah’s Coming
The expectation the Jewish people had for their Messiah was that He would be a conquering king, restoring their kingdom to glory. He would set up righteous judgment and restore spiritual order. In short, they expected a king.
Isaiah 9:6–7
6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.
Jeremiah 23:5-6
5 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. 6 In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, The Lord Our Righteousness.
Micah 5:2
2 But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.
The irony is that the Jewish people were not wrong. The Scriptures do tell us this Messiah would be a king from the line of David. They tell us He would come out of Bethlehem. And they tell us He would be eternal—God with us.
The prophecies were clear. But the understanding of those it was given to was not.
Isaiah 11:10-12
10 And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious. 11 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea. 12 And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and shall gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.
They were right to expect the Messiah to gather the children of Israel and restore the kingdom. These are just a few of the Old Testament prophecies they expected to be fulfilled by the Messiah—and it was indeed supposed to be His mission.
But while they cherished these prophecies, this was only half of the story.
The Hidden Half: Suffering and Salvation
Genesis 3:15
15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
The first prophecy of the coming Messiah was that He would conquer the serpent. But what the Jewish people missed is that in doing so, He would also be injured. This pattern appears throughout the prophecies, yet it was overlooked by many.
The mission of the Messiah was not just to rule. It was also to save His people from their sins. To accomplish this, He would have to turn the judgment of God against sin away from us. He would have to be the one to take our place.
The Jewish expectation focused on political victory, but the prophecies show that the Messiah would first be rejected, beaten, and killed—fulfilling a mission they largely ignored. After all, what pride can one take in a king who is beaten, crucified, and killed?
So the Jewish people did not apply these prophecies to their Messiah. They looked for others to fulfill them instead. Some interpretations they developed to justify their ignorance even became outright blasphemy. That’s what happens when you try to understand the scriptures with the wisdom of men.
Old Testament Prophecies About Jesus: Expectation vs. Rejection
Here is a brief list of what they thought was the complete mission of the Messiah:
- A Davidic King – 2 Samuel 7:12–16; Isaiah 9:6–7; Jeremiah 23:5–6; Ezekiel 37:24–25
- From Bethlehem, tribe of Judah – Micah 5:2; Genesis 49:10
- Righteous Judge and Lawful King – Isaiah 11:1–5; Psalm 72:1–4; Deuteronomy 18:15–18
- Restorer of Israel and National Sovereignty – Amos 9:11–15; Isaiah 11:11–12; Ezekiel 36–37
- Conqueror of Israel’s Enemies – Numbers 24:17–19; Psalm 2:1–9; Zechariah 14:3–4
- Universally Recognized and Honored – Psalm 72:8–11; Isaiah 60:3; Daniel 7:13–14
- Speaks with God’s Authority – Deuteronomy 18:15–18; Isaiah 42:1–4
- Warrior King – Isaiah 63:1–6; Psalm 110:1–2; Psalm 2:9
Here is a brief list of what they did not expect in His mission:
- Rejected by His own people – Psalm 118:22; Isaiah 49:7
- Humble arrival – Zechariah 9:9; Isaiah 42:1–4
- Opposed and betrayed – Zechariah 11:12–13; Psalm 41:9
- Mocked and publicly shamed – Psalm 22:6–8; Isaiah 50:6
- Suffering and afflicted – Isaiah 53:3–5; Psalm 69:7–12
- Cut off before completing His mission – Daniel 9:26; Isaiah 52:14; Isaiah 53:8–9; Isaiah 53:12
- Endures before triumph – Isaiah 53:7; Isaiah 52:13–15
- Is raised from the dead – Psalm 16:10; Isaiah 53:10–11; Hosea 6:2
Those two lists do not seem to completely match, do they? How can He be universally recognized and honored if He is rejected by His own people? How can He restore Israel to an everlasting kingdom if He is betrayed, beaten, and killed before His mission is finished?
The answer lies in timing. The Messiah did not have to fulfill everything at once.
Luke 4:17-21
17 And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, 18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, 19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. 20 And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. 21 And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.
The passage Jesus read from did not end where He stopped. That verse continues in Isaiah where He read from:
Isaiah 61:2
2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;
After this verse, the prophecy continues to speak of the restoration of Israel to glory—things the Messiah was also supposed to do. But Jesus did not read that part. He stopped before telling of the coming day of vengeance. He stopped in the middle of the mission.
Daniel 9:25-26
25 Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. 26 And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.
Daniel said He would be cut off. At what point was He to be cut off, and at what point was He to finish His mission? Jesus stopped in Isaiah because He had not come to fulfill the rest of the Messiah’s mission at that time. He came to be cut off and killed. He would finish it after being raised from the dead.
What we see in the Scriptures is two distinct appearances. First, He was to come as the suffering Messiah, who would have our sins laid upon Him and be nailed to the cross. He was to be beaten, killed, and then raised from the dead. These were the prophecies the Jewish people failed to recognize.
Instead, they focused on His second appearing. What they did not realize is that the second part of His mission could not be completed until God had brought the Gentiles into covenant with Him.
The first stage was to suffer, die, and rise again; the final stage would come later, after the gospel reached the Gentiles. The first half of His mission confirms His identity and sets the stage for the final completion.
Acts 1:6-8
6 When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? 7 And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. 8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
We now stand at the edge of the end. Jesus has fulfilled the first half of His mission as the Messiah. He is currently fulfilling the last half. That last half was to bring in all who would believe and be saved. It was to be the time in which the gentiles would seek Him. That is where we are now.
Matthew 24:14
14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.
We are currently living in the time of grace when God is drawing all men to Himself. But there is a time set when He will no longer strive with man. He will then return again to complete the final stage of the mission as the returning King.
It Has to Be Jesus
Since the Bible specifically tells us when the Messiah would arrive and when He would be cut off, only someone who arrived 483 years after the command to rebuild Jerusalem went out could fulfill the requirements of the prophecy. Only someone who was killed three and a half years into His ministry from that time could be the Messiah.
Jesus is the only one in history who meets these qualifications. And it is now too late for anyone else to fulfill them. He came and did exactly what the Bible said He would. He was killed and raised again, confirming that He would complete the rest of the mission in due time. There is no one else but Jesus who could be the Messiah.
But now we wait for His second coming. Until then, we live in a time when God is working in the hearts of people, bringing salvation to them. At the appointed time, this age of grace will give way to the day of judgment.
Just as He gave us prophecy to know when His first coming would occur, He has not left us without prophecy to know when His second coming will be near. With that said, it is time to begin charting the timeline of prophecy, starting in the next study.
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