Messiah
Revealed

NOTE: The following is a slightly condensed,
and formatted version of an article written by Sam Shamoun entitled 'The
Identity of the Jewish Messiah Revealed.'
We have been granted
permission to host this article on the Jesus Plus Nothing website, for
which we are very grateful!

Contents Include:

Messiah would be the Lord God

Messiah would be the Son of God

Messiah would be born in Bethlehem

Messiah is both Priest and King

Messiah would suffer for our sins

Psalm 22 - The crucifixion of the Messiah

The timeline of Messiah

Appendix A: Isaiah 53 Of whom does the prophet
speak?

Appendix B: Messiah and the Second Temple

Check these out
also:

This article makes reference to the following
resources which are very interesting articles and well worth reading
-

Dear Rabbi - a series of letters between a
Jewish Believer in Jesus and a Rabbi concerning the person of
Jesus.

Talmudic evidence which shows that God stopped
accepting the Jewish sacrifices 40 years before the destruction of
the second temple in 70AD. Definitely worth reading!

The following study will be a comparison between the concept of
Messiah as outlined in the Hebrew Scriptures and that of the Christian New
Testament documents. The purpose of this exposition will be to expound
upon the Jewish teaching on Messiah in contrast with that of Christianity.
The Hebrew Bible gives a clear outline as to who, what, where and how the
Messiah will appear. For this reason, we begin with an examination of the
Hebrew Scriptures in order to see if whether the Tanakh supports the fact
that the Messiah of God is both divine and human, one Person having two
natures. We will also examine the Hebrew Bible for the evidence that the
Messiah would not only reign as king, but also die a substitutionary death
on behalf of sinners, making atonement for sin. As this is being done, we
will see if Jesus fits the outline of Messiah presented to us in the
Hebrew Bible.

Messiah would be the LORD
God

Isaiah 9:6 For to us a child is born, to us a son
is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be
called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince
of Peace."

This verse points out the inescapable fact
that the Messiah is God Almighty appearing in human form. That this
passage was considered Messianic is evident from the fact that verse7 says
that the Child would sit on the throne of David forever, a description
which only fits the Messiah.

In the Targum of Isaiah we read:
"His name has been called from old, Wonderful Counselor,
Mighty God, He who lives forever, the Anointed One (Messiah),
in whose days peace shall increase upon us."

Pereq
Shalom: R. Yose the Galilean said: "The name of the Messiah is
Peace, for it is said, "Everlasting Father, Prince of
Peace."

Midrash Mishle, S. Buber
edition: The Messiah is called by eight names: Yinnon,
Tzemah, Pele ["Miracle"], Yo'etz ["Counselor"], Mashiah ["Messiah"],
El ["God"], Gibbor ["Hero"], and Avi 'Ad Shalom ["Eternal
Father of
Peace"]

Whoever this Child is one thing remains certain - This Child must shine
forth from Galilee according to Isaiah 9:1:
'Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who
were in distress. In the past He humbled the land of Zebulun and the land
of Naphtali but in the future He will honor Galilee of the
Gentiles, by the way of the sea along the
Jordan...'

NOTE: In an attempt to avoid the impact of
this passage’s significance to the divinity of the Messiah, certain Jewish
Publications have translated it in a way as to suggest that the divine
titles are not messianic in nature. Rather, they are descriptions of
God:
For a child has been born to us, a son has been given to us,
and the dominion will rest on his shoulder; the Wondrous Adviser, Mighty
God, eternal Father, called his name Sar-shalom [Prince of peace]. (This
appears as Isaiah 9:5 in the Stone Edition Tanakh, Arts Scroll Series,
published by Mesorah Publications Ltd.; Brooklyn, NY,
1998)

The great rabbi Ibn Ezra responds: There are some
interpreters who say that ‘wonderful, counselor, mighty God, everlasting
Father’ are the names of God, and that only ‘prince of peace’ is the name
of the child. But according to my view, the right interpretation is
that they are all the names of the child. (Walter Riggans, Yeshua Ben
David [Wowborough, East Sussex; MARC, 1995], p. 370)

Jeremiah 23:5-6 'The days are coming,' declares the
Lord, 'When I will raise up to David a righteous Branch, a king who will
reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land. In His days Judah
will be saved and Israel will live in safety. This is the name by which He
will be called; The Lord our Righteousness (YHVH
Tseidkeynu).'

The Targums concluded that this passage
was speaking of Messiah.

For instance, the great Rabbi David
Kimchi wrote in reference to this verse, 'By the righteous Branch
is meant Messiah.' The compilers of the Targum agreed with
Kimchi since they introduced Messiah by name in this passage. (David
Baron, Rays of Messiah’s Glory: Christ in the Old Testament [Grand
Rapids, MI; Zondervan, 1886], p. 78)

Hebrew scholar
Alfred Edersheim quotes other Rabbinic writings in reference to this
passage:
On Jer. xxiii, 5, 6 the Targum has it: ‘And I will
raise up for David the Messiah the just.’ This is one of the
passages from which, according to Rabbinic views, one of the names
of the Messiah is derived, viz.: Jehovah our Righteousness. So in
the Talmud (Babha Bathra 75b), in the Midrash on Ps. xxii.1,
Prov.xix.21, and in that on Lamentations I 16. (Edersheim, Life and
Times of Jesus the Messiah [Grand Rapids, MI; Eerdmans, 1972], pt.
2, p. 731).

Hence, we find the Hebrew Scriptures testifying to the fact that
Messiah would be the Lord Himself. (Hebrew YHVH /
Adonai)

Messiah would be the Son of
God

Psalm
2:7-8 "I will proclaim the decree of the Lord: He said to me, 'You
are My Son; Today I have begotten thee. Ask of me and I will make the
nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession.'
"

The above passage tells us that the Messiah would be
the Son of God.

This fact is also related in the
Talmud, Sukkah 52a, Soncino translation:

"Our Rabbis
taught, the Holy One blessed be He, will say to the Messiah,
the Son of David (may He reveal Himself speedily in our days), 'Ask
of Me and I will give to Thee,' as it is said [Psalm 2:7-8]: 'I will
tell of the decree; the Lord hath said unto Me, "Thou art My Son;
This day I have begotten Thee, ask of Me and I will give the nations
for thy inheritance." ' "

The Midrash reaffirms the
view that Messiah is God’s Son when commenting on another messianic
Psalm:

Rabbi Nathan said that God spoke to Israel
saying, ‘As I made Jacob firstborn, for it is written Israel is My
son, even My firstborn" (Exodus 4:22), So also will I make
Messiah My firstborn as it is written, " I will make Him My
firstborn.’ (Commentary on Psalm 89:27 taken from Midrash Rabbah
Shebot )

Messiah would be
born in Bethlehem Ephratha

Micah
5:1 "But thou Bethlehem Ephratha, which art little to be among
the thousands of Judah, out of thee shall One come forth unto Me that is
to be Ruler in Israel; whose goings forth are from old, from Ancient of
Days."

This verse emphatically states that
Messiah would be born in Bethlehem while also having been existing from
eternity.

The Targum Jonathan (second century A.
D.) :
And You Bethlehem Ephrath, you who were too small to
be numbered among the thousands of the house of Judah, From you
shall come forth before Me The Messiah, to exercise dominion
over Israel, He whose name was mentioned from before, from the Days
of Creation.

Messiah is both Priest and
King

Zechariah 3:8-9 NIV 'Listen, O high priest Joshua
(Heb.- Yeshua) and your associates seated before you, who are men symbolic
of things to come: I am going to bring my servant, the Branch. See,
the stone I have set in front of Joshua! There are seven eyes on that
stone, and I will engrave an inscription on it,’ says the LORD Almighty,
‘and I will remove the sin of this land in a single day.’”

Zechariah 6:9-13 NIV “The word of
the LORD came to me: ‘Take silver and gold from the exiles Heldai,
Tobijah, and Jedaiah, who arrived from Babylon. Go the same day to the
house of Josiah son of Zephaniah. Take the silver and gold and make a
crown, and set it on the head of the high priest, Joshua son of
Jehozadak. Tell him this is what the LORD Almighty says: “Here is the
man whose name is the Branch and he will branch out from his place and
build the temple of the LORD. It is he who will build the temple of the
LORD, and he will be clothed with majesty and will sit on his throne.
And he will be a priest on his throne. And there will be harmony
between the two.” ’”

Joshua is portrayed as a type of
the Messiah who was to come. Hence, just as Joshua is pictured as being
both a priest and king, the Messiah would also be a priest who reigns on
God’s throne as king. In fact, the name “Joshua” is the same Hebrew name
for “Jesus”, Yeshua!

The fact that these passages are
clearly messianic in nature can be seen in the title given to the
one to come, i.e. the Branch.
The rabbis universally
have held that this title refers to the Messiah-King.

Another passage indicating that the Messiah would be both priest and
king is Psalm 110:1, 4:

“The LORD said to
my Lord: ‘Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for
your feet’… The LORD has sworn and will not change his mind: ‘You are a
priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.’ “
NIV

In fact, David’s sons were also called
priests:

“David reigned over all Israel,
doing what was just and right for all his people. Joab son of Zeruiah was
over the army; Jehosphat son of Ahilud was recorder; Zadok son of Ahitud
and Ahimelech son of Abiathar were priests; Seraiah was secretary; Beniaha
son of Jehoiada was over the Kerethites and Pelethites; and David’s
sons were priests (cohanim).” 2 Samuel
8:15-18

Since the Messiah is David’s son, this would
indicate that he too would be a priest much like his ancestors that
preceded him.

Messiah would
Suffer

While the Hebrew
Scripture portrays the Messiah as a glorious King as well as both a human
and divine figure, the Bible also indicates that He will suffer and be put
to death only to rise miraculously:

Isaiah 52:13-53:12 “See my servant will act wisely; he
will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted. Just as there were many
who were appalled at him - his appearance was disfigured beyond that of
any man and his form marred beyond human likeness - so will he sprinkle
many nations, and kings will shut their mouths because of him. For what
they were not told, they will see, and what they have not heard, they will
understand.

Who has believed our message and to whom has the
arm of the LORD been revealed? He grew up before him like a tender
shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to
attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire
him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and
familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he
was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he took up our
infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by
God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our
transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that
brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We
all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way,
and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was
oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a
lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he
did not open his mouth.  By oppression and judgment he was taken
away. And who can speak of his descendants? For he was cut off from the
land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was
stricken. He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with
the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any
deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the LORD’S will to crush him and
cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD
will prosper in his hand. After the suffering of his soul, he will
see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous
servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities.
Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will
divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto
death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of
many, and made intercession for the transgressors.”

Amazingly, this passage declares the fact that the
suffering servant is being crushed for the sins of Isaiah’s people,
eventually being put to death. Yet, vv. 10-11 emphatically state that this
servant would once more see “the light of life” and reign in order to
justify “his offspring and prolong his days,” and that “the will of the
LORD” will “prosper in his hand”. This seems to imply a bodily
resurrection. The only way for the servant to be “assigned a grave with
the wicked and with the rich in his death” and then “see the light of
life” is if He were to be miraculously raised from the
dead!

NOTE: That this too was considered a messianic
prophecy becomes obvious when one reads the rabbinic commentaries.
However, in order to avoid the obvious Christian implications, rabbis such
as Rashi (Rabbi Solomon Izaak, circa 1040-1105 A. D.) referred this
passage to the sufferings of the nation of Israel, despite the fact that
rabbis such as the great Maimonides and Crispin thought it was wrong to
apply this to Israel. They rather maintained the belief that this passage
of Scripture was about Messiah. The reason for Rashi’s attempt to make
Israel the central focus of this passage was due to his seemingly
anti-Christian bias, a fact to which he freely
admitted:

“Since Christians interpret Isaiah 53 as being a
prophecy concerning Jesus, we maintain that this is a prophecy concerning
the people of Israel.” (Steve Schwarz, “Dear Rabbi,” p.15)

Rabbi Moishe Alshekh, famous rabbinic
scholar who lived in 16th century Sfat states: "Our Rabbis with
one voice, accept and affirm the opinion that the Prophet (Isaiah)
is speaking of King Messiah."

Furthermore, Rabbi
R. Elyyah de Vidas sights,  “The meaning of ‘he was wounded for
our transgressions, ... bruised for our iniquities’ is, that since
the Messiah bears our iniquities, which produce the effect of
His being bruised, it follows that whoever will not admit that
the Messiah suffers for our iniquities must endure and suffer for
themselves.”

Ninth century poet, Eliazer Hakalir,
paraphrases Isaiah 53 in a prayer that comprises a part of some
Jewish sects’ traditional liturgical prayers recited on Yom Kippur
(the Jewish Day of Atonement). The prayer begins: “We are
shrunk up in our misery even until now! Our Rock hath not come nigh
to us; Messiah our righteousness, hath turned from us; we are in
terror, and there is none to justify us! Our iniquities and the
yoke of our transgressions He will bear, for He was wounded for our
transgressions; He will carry our sins upon His shoulder, that
we may find forgiveness for our iniquities; and by his strips we are
healed ...” (Baron, Rays of Messiah’s Glory, pp. 225-230)

Midrash Tanhuma and Yalkut, vol. 2, par. 338 on Isaiah
52:13 states that the expressions "exalted, and extolled and be very
high" indicates that, “Messiah shall be more exalted than Abraham...
more extolled than Moses... and be very high; that is higher than
the ministering angels...”

This again demonstrates
that Isaiah 52:13-53:12 was viewed by rabbis as a messianic
prophecy.

Also:  “… the weight of Jewish authority
preponderates in favor of the Messianic interpretation of this
chapter… that until recent times this prophecy has been almost
universally received by Jews as referring to Messiah is evident from
Targum Jonathan who introduces Messiah by name in chp. LII.13; from
the Talmud (Sanhedrin vol. 98b); and from the Zohar... In fact,
until Rabbi Rashi [Rabbi Solomon Izaak (1040-1105)], considered the
originator of the modern school of Jewish interpretation], who
applied it to the Jewish nation, the Messianic interpretation of
this chapter was almost universally adopted by Jews..." (Baron,
Rays of Messiahs Glory, pp. 225-229)

Interestingly, Isaiah
53 is almost never read in the synagogues, as it is consistently neglected
during the Haftorah readings. This is amazing in light of the fact that
the chapters preceding and following Isaiah 53 are recited during these
special readings. The following list illustrates this
point:

Haftorah for Ekeb - Isaiah 49:14-51:3
Haftorah for
Shofetim - Isaiah 51:12-52:12
Haftorah for Noah - Isaiah
54:1-55:5
Haftorah for Sephardi ritual - Isaiah 54:1-10
Haftorah for
Hi Tetze - Isaiah 54:1-10
Haftorah for Re’eh - Isaiah 54:11-55:5

Herbert Lowe, a Cambridge University Rabbinics Professor
notes: “Quotations from the famous 53rd chapter of Isaiah are rare in
the Rabbinic literature. Because of the Christological interpretation
given to the chapter by Christians, it is omitted from the series of
prophetical lessons (HAFTORAH) for the Deuteronomy Sabbaths. The
omission is deliberate and striking.” (Schwarz, “Dear Rabbi,”
p.16)

It should also be pointed out that the Haftorah
readings are the same throughout synagogues and temples all over the
world.

NOTE - There is evidence that the
servant of Isaiah 53 was believed to be referring to national Israel by
the Jews even before Rashi. The Church Father Origen
writes:

“I remember that once in a
discussion with some whom the Jews regard as learned I used these
prophecies. At this the Jews said that these prophecies referred to the
whole people as though of a single individual, since they were
scattered in the dispersion and smitten, that as a result of
the scattering of the Jews among other nations many might become
proselytes.” [Origen, Contra Celsum, I., p. 55 A.D.
248]

Hence, Rashi was seemingly not the
first rabbi that tried to apply Isaiah 53 to national
Israel.

Zechariah 12:10  "And I
will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Israel a spirit
of grace and supplication. They will look to Me, the One they have
pierced, and mourn for Him as one mourns for an only child and
grieve bitterly for Him as one grieves for a firstborn Son."

An astonishing prophecy indeed! God claims that they
will personally pierce Him. Yet, at the same time God refers to the
pierced One as someone that is personally distinct from Him for whom the
nations mourn and weep as for a firstborn Son.

This prophecy is confirmed by the
Rabbis to be referring to the other “Messiah” which the Talmud
calls Messiah Ben Joseph, the suffering Messiah. (T.V. Moore,
Zechariah, Haggai and Malachi [Carlisle, PA; Banner of Truth Trust,
1974], p.199)

Edersheim states that this prophecy
“is applied to the Messiah the son of Joseph in the Talmud
(Sukk.52a) and so is verse 12…” (Edersheim, The Life and Times
of Jesus the Messiah, [one volume edition], p.737)

T.V. Moore substantiates Edersheim’s statement by
declaring: “… the later interpreters explaining it of Messiah
Ben Joseph, or the suffering Messiah, whom they invented to meet the
passages of Scripture that speak so clearly of this characteristic
(i.e.,… the sufferings) of the promised redeemer. But as they
believed that this Messiah son of Joseph was a mere man, the
difficulty met them that Jehovah declared ‘they shall look on ME
whom they have pierced’, so that if it refers to the Messiah he
cannot be a mere man, but must be divine.” (Ibid., pp.199-200)

Rabbi Moshe Alshekh also confirms the messianic
overtones of this prophecy:

“I will do yet a thing, and
that is, that ‘they shall look unto me for they shall lift up their
eyes unto me in perfect repentance, when they see Him whom they have
pierced’, that is Messiah, the son of Joseph; for our Rabbis, of
blessed memory, have said that He will take upon Himself all the
guilt of Israel, and shall then be slain in the war to make
atonement in such manner that it shall be accounted as if Israel had
pierced Him, for on account of their sin He has died; and
therefore, in order that it may be reckoned to them as a perfect
atonement, they will repent and look to the blessed One, saying,
that there is none beside Him to forgive those that mourn on account
of Him who died for their sin: this is the meaning of ‘they shall
look upon me.’” (Schwarz, “Dear Rabbi,”
p.10)

The only person who ever claimed to be both God and the Son of God, as
well as being the only self-professed Messiah that was pierced, was Jesus
Christ. (cf. John 10:30; Mark 14:61b-62; Luke 24:44-47).

He
is the only self-professed Messiah to be born in Bethlehem and to come
forth from Galilee. (cf. Matthew 2:1,22; Luke 2:4-7; Mark 1:9)  The
life of Jesus the Messiah is the only one that bears an amazing
correlation to the Hebrew passages being studied. An examination of Psalm
22 and the events surrounding the crucifixion of Jesus as recorded in the
New Testament solidifies this point:

Psalm 22 - The Cucifixion
of Jesus

Old Testament
Prophecy - Psalm 22

New Testament
Comparison

v. 1: "My God, My God why
have you forsaken me?"

Matthew 27:46: "About the
ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, 'Eloi, Eloi lama
sabacthani?,' which means, 'My God, My God why have you forsaken
Me?' "

6-8: "But I am a worm and
not a man, scorned by men and despised by people. All who see me
mock me. They hurl insults shaking their heads; 'He trusts in the
Lord, let the Lord rescue Him. Let Him deliver Him, since He
delights in Him.'"

Matthew 27:41-44: "In the
same way the chief priests, the teachers of the Law and the Elders
mocked Him. 'He saved others.' they said, 'But He can't save
Himself! He's the King of Israel! Let Him come down now from the
cross, and we will believe in Him. He trusts in God, let God rescue
Him now if He wants Him, for He said "I am the Son of God." ' In the
same way the robbers who were crucified with Him also heaped insults
on Him."

14-15: "I am poured out
like water, and all my bones are out of joint, my heart has turned
to wax; it has melted away within me. My strength is dried up like a
potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; you lay me
in the dust of death."

(NOTE
- This is a precise description of the crucifixion process where
the hanging weight of a person's body would eventually cause his
bones to come out of joint, and would make him as one lying in the
"dust of death")

John 19:34: "Instead one
of the soldiers pierced Jesus' side with a spear, bringing a sudden
flow of blood and water."

(NOTE - Medically the flow of blood and water would
mean that the heart of the person had literally burst , i.e. had
"turned to wax" and "melted away", in complete fulfillment of this
verse of the Psalm!)

John
19:28: "Later, knowing that all was completed, and so that the
scripture may be fulfilled, Jesus said, 'I am thirsty.' "

16: "Dogs have surrounded
me; a band of evil men have encircled me; they have pierced (kaaru)
my hands and feet."

(NOTE - This prediction was made when
crucifixion did not even exist at the time!)

17-18: "I can count all my bones;
people stare and gloat over me. They have divided my garments and
cast lots for my clothing."

John 19:23-24: "When the
soldiers crucified Jesus, they took His clothes, dividing them into
four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining.
This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom.
'Let's not tear it,' they said to one another, 'let's decide by lot
who will get it.' "

Even more amazing still is the fact that the Psalmist indicates that
after suffering all this pain and torture which eventually causes the
sufferer to lie in "the dust of death", the sufferer will then be able to
proclaim the name of God in the sacred assembly:

"I declare your name to my brothers; in the congregation I
will praise You" (v. 22)

The only way for the
sufferer to die and yet give glory to God in front of his brethren is if
he were to be resurrected! Jesus Christ is the only man in history to have
been raised from the dead to immortal glory.  In fact, upon rising
from the dead Jesus proceeded to declare God's name to His unbelieving
brethren who became the Apostles that helped evangelize the world!
Therefore, He is the only one who has fulfilled this prophecy.

The Pesikta Rabbati, Piska 36: 1-2:
affirms that Psalm 22 was viewed as a messianic prophecy:

"(At the time of the Messiah's creation) the Holy One,
blessed be He, will tell Him (Messiah) in detail what will befall
Him: There are souls that have been put under My throne, and it is
their sins which will bend Thee under a yoke of iron and make thee
like a calf whose eyes grow dim with suffering... During the seven
year period preceding the coming of the Son of David, iron beams
will be brought and loaded upon His neck until Messiah's body is
bent low... It was the ordeal of the Son of David that David
wept, saying, 'My strength is dried up like a potsherd.'”

In refutation of certain Jewish claims that Psalm
22:16 should more correctly read as lions (kaari), instead of
pierced (kaaru), we find this passage in the Yalkut Shimoni (687):
"'Many dogs have encompassed me'- this refers to Haman's sons.
'The assembly of the wicked have enclosed me'- this refers to
Ahasuerus and his crowd. 'Kaari my hands and feet'- Rabbi
Nehemiah says, 'They have PIERCED my hands and feet in the
presence of Ahasuerus.'”

(NOTE- It should be stated
that the early Greek Septuagint [compiled nearly three centuries
before the birth of Christ], Syriac and Latin versions of the Hebrew
Scriptures all read “pierced.”)

Alfred Edersheim observed a
remarkable comment in Yalkut on Isaiah 60 which applies this
passage in Psalm 22 to the Messiah, and uses almost the same
words as the Gospel writers in describing the mocking behavior of
the surrounding crowds. (Edersheim, The Life and Times of Jesus the
Messiah, p. 718)

This is a clear indication that certain rabbis viewed Psalm 22 as a
messianic prophecy.

This apparent paradox has puzzled the
Jews from the very beginning, since they could not understand how a
triumphant King-Messiah could suffer and die. As noted earlier, this
paradox led to the belief that there would be two distinct Messiahs to
fulfill two distinct roles; the Suffering-Messiah Ben Joseph, and
King-Messiah Ben David.  Yet the truth is that there is only Messiah,
Yeshua ha-Mashiach whose mission has been to fulfill both these roles. The
first mission was to fulfill the role of the Suffering Servant, while his
role as reigning King is to be fulfilled at his Second Coming. (Cf.
Matthew 24:27-35).

The Timeline of
Messiah

Through the prophet
Daniel we receive a timeline of when Messiah would
appear:

(Daniel 9:24-26) "Seventy
sevens are decreed for your people and the Holy city to finish
transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in
everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint
the most Holy. Know and understand this; from the issuing of the
decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One
(Messiah), the Ruler comes, there will be Seven sevens and Sixty-two
sevens. After the sixty-two ‘sevens,’ the Anointed One will be cut off
and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will
destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War
will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed. "

Daniel is given the allotted time for a) the decree of the
rebuilding of both the city and the temple, b) the time it would take for
the Messiah to appear after this decree, as well as c) the destruction of
the temple and the termination of the Messiah’s life. Several dates
have been given as a starting point for the period of time stated in the
book of Daniel (7 * 7 = 49 + 62 * 7 = 434 - total = 483).

One such date is King Cyrus’s decree to rebuild the temple
in 539 B. C. Yet, none of these dates are correct since the dates that are
commonly given refer to the rebuilding of the temple, not the city. The
prophecy clearly states that the time frame would begin only when the
decree goes forth for the rebuilding of the city and its walls. The only
decree that fits the context of the prophecy is that of Artaxerxes to
Nehemiah in 444 B. C. (Nehemiah 2:1-8), since this decree included the
restoration of the city and the city gates as well as its walls.

The following quotation from the book “Evidence That Demands a
Verdict” by Josh McDowell, helps illustrate Daniel’s amazing timeline:

JPN
Note:
The Hebrew and Babylonian calendar at that time used a
360 day year. The use of this 'prophetic year' in these prophecies
is confirmed by comparing the 1,260 days (Rev 11:3, 12:6) with the
42 month (Rev 11:2, 13:5) and with the 'time, times, and half a
time' or three and a half years of Dan 7:25, 12:7, Rev 12:14).

“If Daniel is correct, the time from the edict to restore and rebuild
Jerusalem (Nisan 1, 444B.C.) to the coming of the Messiah to Jerusalem is
483 years (69 * 7), each year equaling the Jewish prophetic year of 360
days (173,880). The terminal event of the 69 weeks is the presentation of
Christ Himself to Israel as the Messiah as predicted in Zechariah 9:9. H.
Hoehner, who has thoroughly researched this prophecy in Daniel and the
corresponding dates, calculates the date of this
event:

‘Multiplying the sixty-nine weeks by seven years for
each week by 360 days gives a total of 173,880 days. The difference
between 444B.C. and A.D.33 then is 476 solar years. By multiplying 476 by
365.24219879 or by 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, 45,975 seconds (there
are 365 ¼ days in a year), one comes to 173,885 days, 6 hours, 52 minutes,
44 seconds, or 173,885 days. This leaves only 25 days to be accounted for
between 444B.C. and A.D.33. By adding the 25 days to March 5 (of 444B.C.),
one comes to March 30 (of A.D.33) which was Nisan 10 in A.D.33. This is
the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem.’” (McDowell, p.
173)

This prophecy once again predicts Messiah’s brutal
death:

"After the sixty-two sevens, the
Anointed One will be cut off (yikaret) and have nothing. The people of the
ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary (temple)."
(cf. Daniel 9:26)

The Hebrew term, yikaret, implies a
sudden, violent death. This is a precise description of Jesus’ brutal
death on the cross.  Another astonishing aspect deals with the fact
that the Temple was destroyed some forty years after Christ's crucifixion;
clearly fulfilling Daniel’s prediction of the "sanctuary" being demolished
right after the death of the Messiah!  Hence, Jesus must be the
Messiah since the prophecy clearly states that the Messiah must appear
before the destruction of the second Temple. The only person who fits
the bill is Jesus Christ, since He is the only one who claimed that his
death was essential in providing the atonement that was both necessary to
usher in God’s everlasting righteousness and to eradicate
sin.

Furthermore, any denial of Jesus’ Messiahship is
essentially a denial of Daniel’s authenticity as a prophetic book since
the condition of the prophecy rests upon the arrival of the Messiah before
the Temple’s destruction. Yet, if Jesus is not Messiah then Daniel is
proven to be a false prophet since the Temple has been destroyed and the
Messiah has not come.  Hence, once the weight of historical
occurrences and mathematical calculations is thrown behind the prophecies
of the Bible, it becomes increasingly impossible to deny the fact that
Jesus is the promised Messiah.

Additional confirmation of the
messianic overtones of Daniel 9:25-27 comes from the Talmud
itself:

“In Daniel is delivered to us the end [‘the
time of His appearance and death’ - Rabbi Jarchi] of the
Messiah.” The Talmud also records that about the time of the
Roman general Titus’ destruction of the Temple (70 A. D.), the
Messiah was believed to have already come, yet His identity was
concealed from the Jews until they were rendered more worthy of His
appearance!” (Frank Delitzch and Paton Gloag, The Messiahship of
Christ / The Messianic Prophecies of Christ [Minneapolis, MN; Klock
& Klock, 1983 rpt.], pt. 2, p. 226)

Rabbi Moses
Abraham Levi stated: “I have examined the Holy Scriptures, and
have not found the time for the coming of the Messiah, clearly
fixed, except in the words of Gabriel to the prophet Daniel,
which are written in the ninth chapter of the prophecy of
Daniel.”

Rabbi Azariah states in the words of
Daniel: “To seal the vision and prophecy, and to bring in
Messiah our righteousness.”

Rabbi Nachmonides
claims: “This Holy of Holies is the Messiah who is sanctified
more than the sons of David.”

Finally, in the words of
Jonathan ben Uzziel: “That the ‘vision and prophecy’ may be
fulfilled even unto Messiah, the Holy of the
Holies.”

This again strengthens the case for the
Messiahship of Jesus since He is the only person that both claimed
to be the suffering Messiah that was to die and who appeared before
the year 70 AD.

In fact Rabbi Nehumias, who lived 50
years before Christ, is cited as saying that the time given by
Daniel for the Messiah’s appearance could not go beyond fifty
years! (Ibid.)

LOOK: Another amazing fact is
that the Talmud admits that forty years prior to the destruction
of the Temple, God refused to accept the high priestly
sacrifices:

“Our Rabbis taught that throughout the
forty years that Shim’on the Tzaddik served ... the scarlet cloth
would become white. From then on it would sometimes become white and
sometimes not ... Throughout the last forty years, before the
Temple was destroyed ... the scarlet cloth never turned white.”
(Yoma
39a-39b)

Is
it then a mere coincidence that approximately forty years prior to the
Temple’s destruction, Yeshua the Messiah offered himself as the final and
perfect sacrifice, making void all other sacrifices offered up by the
cohen ha-gadol (the high priest)? The Talmud alludes to the reason
why God allowed the Temple to be destroyed:

“Why was the
Second Sanctuary destroyed, seeing that in its time they occupied
themselves with studying Torah, obeying mitzvot and practicing charity?
Because in it prevailed hatred without a cause.” (Yoma
9b)

This echoes Jesus’ very own words as recorded in the
Gospel of John:

“But now they (the Jewish ruling council)
have seen these miracles and yet they have hated both me and my Father.
But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: ‘They hated me
without reason.’” John 15:24b-25

Thus, the evidence from
the rabbinic commentaries points to the same inescapable conclusion.
Namely, that Jesus of Nazareth is the prophesied Jewish Messiah. To
make the case for the Messiahship of Jesus that much stronger, we provide
the additional prophecies and their fulfillment in the life of Jesus.

Genesis 49:10: “The scepter shall not depart
from Judah, nor a Law-giver from between His feet until Shiloh
come.”

Targum Onkelos states: “He who
excerciseth dominion shall not pass away from the house of Jehuda,
nor the saphra from his children’s children until the Messiah
come.”

Additionally, the Targum Jerusalem declares
that, “Kings shall not cease from the house of Jehuda… until
the time that the King Meshiha shall come… How beauteous is the
King Meshiha who is to arise from the house of Jehuda.”

Finally, the Targum Palestine indicates:  “Kings
shall not cease, nor rulers from the house of Judah ... nor sapherim
teaching the Law from his seed, till the time that the King the
Messiah shall come, who will arise from Jehuda.”

In
fact one of the names of Messiah is Shiloh, a name derived from this
very passage: R. Johannan asked what was the name of the
Messiah; they of the school of R. Schilo answered, “His name is
Shiloh, according to that which is written, ‘until Shiloh come.’”
(Sanhedrin 98b)

Thus, according to this passage, two things would take place following
the appearance of the Messiah:

1. Removal of the scepter or
identity of Judah.
2. Suppression of the judicial
power.

NOTE: Although Israel suffered 70 years of
captivity under Babylonian rule, it never ceased from having its “tribal
staff,” since they still had their own lawgivers and judges. (cf. Ezra
1:5, 8) The removal of Judah’s scepter came during the reign of Herod
the Great who, having no Jewish blood, succeeded the last reigning Jewish
leaders in Jerusalem; the Maccabean princes of Judah. Secondly, the
legal right of pronouncing death upon criminals was stripped away from the
Jews in 7 AD., approximately 23 years before Christ’s crucifixion. This
nullified their judicial authority to execute lawbreakers.

The Talmud itself admits this: “…
a little more than forty years before the destruction of the Temple,
the power of pronouncing capital sentence was taken away from the
Jews.” (Sanhedrin, Fol. 24, recto.)

NOTE:
The Jews realized the significance and impact of the situation as
Rabbi Rachmon notes:

“When the members of the
Sanhedrin found themselves deprived of their right over life and
death, a general consternation took possession of them; they
covered their heads with ashes, and their bodies with sackcloth,
exclaiming: Woe unto us, for the scepter has departed from Judah,
and the Messiah has not come!’” (Babylonian Talmud, San. Chpt.
4, Fol. 37, recto.)

The fact of the matter was that the Messiah had already arrived and was
a young 12 year old Jewish boy living in Nazareth whose name was Jesus!
(For further reading see Evidence That Demands a Verdict, vol. 1,
pp.168-170)

Jewish Scriptures
& Thought

New Testament
Comparison

Other quotations taken from the Jewish
Scriptures include the promise of Isaiah 42:1-9 that God’s Spirit
would dwell on the Messiah. One Targum state "Behold my Servant
Messiah, I will draw Him near, My chosen One, in whom my
Memra (Aramaic- “word”) is well pleased."

The identification of God’s Word with
the Messiah is similar to what the Apostle John states in his
prologue:

"In the beginning was the Word, and
the Word was with God, and the Word was God… and the
Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us.” John 1:1,
14

Another tradition states that the world
was created for Messiah:

"Rabbi Yohanan taught that
all the world was created for Messiah. What is His name? The
school of Sheeloh taught; His name is Shiloh as it is written (Gen.
49:10)." Sanhedrin 98b

This also agrees with what the New
Testament states:

"For by Him (Jesus) all things
were created: Things in heaven and on earth, visible and
invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities;
all things were created by Him (Jesus) and for Him (Jesus)."
Colossians 1:16-17 (cf. John 1:1-4; Hebrews 1:2)

The Yalkut states:

" 'And
God saw the light and it was good.' This is the Light of the
Messiah... to teach you that God saw the generation of Messiah
and His works before He created the universe, and He hid the
Messiah... under His throne of Glory. Satan asked God, Master of the
Universe: 'For whom is this light under your throne of Glory?' God
answered him, 'It is for... [the Messiah] who is to turn you
backward and who will put you to scorn with shamefacedness."
(Sanhedrin 99a; Berachot 34b; Shabbat 63a)

Compare this with Jesus’ statements:

"While I (Jesus) am in the world, I am the Light of
the world." John 9:5 (cf. John 1:4-5)

Finally, the Rabbis confirm that the
prophets wrote only in regards to the future advent of the
long-awaited Messiah:

“Rabbi Chiyya ben-Abba said in
Rabbi Yochanan’s name: ‘All the prophets prophesied [the good
things] only for the days of the Messiah…’” (Sanhedrin 99a;
B’rakhot 34b)

In the words of Jesus Christ himself:

“You diligently study the Scriptures because you think
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

From the preceding examples and prophecies one thing remains certain.
Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God. As the High Priest himself
found out when questioning Jesus at His trial:

“Are You the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?”

To which Jesus replied:

"I AM, and you will see the Son of Man sitting at the
right hand of the Mighty One and coming with the clouds of heaven.”
Mark 14:61b-62

He's coming back! Are you prepared to
meet Yeshua ha-Mashiach, Ha Adonai, Ben Elohim? We pray that you are.

Appendix A
Isaiah 53: Of Whom Does The Prophet
Speak?

We present additional Jewish references
that uphold the messianic interpretation of Isaiah 53.

According to an ancient Jewish tale,
God asked Messiah if he wanted to take upon himself the suffering
for Israel’s sins. The Messiah replied,

“With gladness
in my soul and with joy in my heart I accept it, so that not a
single one of Israel should perish; and not only those who will be
alive should be saved in my days, but even the dead who have died
from the days of Adam the First man until now.” (Raphael Patai, The
Messiah Texts, citing Pesikta Rabbati, pp.
161a-b)

Sanhedrin 98b:The rabbis say: “The Leprous of
the House of study is his name, as it is said, verily he has borne
our diseases and our pains - he carried them and we thought him
stricken, smitten of God and afflicted.”

According to
another legend, Elijah will take the head of the dead Messiah Ben
David, placing it on his lap and say: “Endure the suffering and
the sentence of your Master who makes you suffer because of the
sin of Israel.”

The story then concludes with a
quotation from Isaiah 53:5:  “… he was wounded for our
transgressions.” (Patai, The Messiah Texts,
p.115)

Midrash Rabbah on Ruth 2:14: He is speaking
of the King Messiah: “Come hither” draw near to the throne and “dip
thy morsel in the vinegar,” this relates to the chastisements as it
is said, “But he was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for
our iniquities.”

Midrash Tanhuma, Parasha Toldot,
(end of section), states:  “Who art thou, O great mountain?”
(Zech. 4:7) This refers to King Messiah. And why does he call him
the “great mountain?” Because he is greater than the patriarchs, as
it is said, “My servant shall be high, and lifted up, and lofty
exceedingly.” He will be higher than Abraham who said, “I raise
high my hand unto the Lord” (Gen. 14:22), lifted up above Moses, to
whom it is said, “Lift it up into thy bosom” (Num. 11:12), loftier
than the ministering angels, of whom it is written, “Their wheels
were lofty and terrible” (Ezek. 1:18). And out of whom does he come
forth? Out of David.

Jewish educator Herz Homberg
(1749-1841) states: According to Ibn Ezra, it relates to Israel
at the end of their captivity. But if so, what can be the meaning of
the passage, “He was wounded for our transgressions?” Who was
wounded? Who are the transgressors? Who carried out the sickness
and borne the pain? The fact is that it refers to the King
Messiah.

Nachmanides (R. Moshe ben Nachman) (13th
c.) notes: “The right view respecting this Parasha is to
suppose that by the phrase ‘my servant’ the whole of Israel is
meant... As a different opinion, however, is adopted by the
Midrash which refers to the Messiah, it is necessary for us
to explain it in conformity with the view there maintained. The
prophet says, The Messiah, the son of David of whom the text speaks,
will never be conquered or perish by the hands of his enemies. And,
in fact the text teaches this clearly... And by his stripes we are
healed - because the stripes by which he is vexed and distressed
will heal us; God will pardon us for his righteousness, and we
shall be healed both from our own transgressions and from the
iniquities of our fathers.” (S. R. Driver and A. Neubauer, ed.,
The Fifty-third Chapter of Isaiah According to the Jewish
Interpreters [2 volumes, NY; Klav, 1969], p. 78 f.)

The
Karaite Yefeth ben Ali (10th c.) states: As to myself, I am
inclined, with Benjamin of Newahend to regard it as alluding to the
Messiah, and as opening with a description of his condition in
exile, from the time of his birth to his ascension to the throne:
For the prophet begins by speaking of his being seated in a position
of great honour, and then goes back to relate all that will happen
to him during the captivity. He thus gives us to understand two
things: In the first instance, that the Messiah will only reach
his highest degree of honour after long and severe trials; and
secondly, that these trials will be sent upon him as a kind of sign,
so that, if he finds himself under the yoke of misfortunes whilst
remaining pure in his actions, he may know that he is the desired
one... (Ibid., pp.19-20)

Again from Ali: By the
words “surely he hath carried our sicknesses,” they mean that the
pain and sickness which he fell into were merited by them, but that
he bore them instead... And here I think it necessary to pause for a
few moments, in order to explain why God caused these sicknesses to
attach themselves to the Messiah for the sake of Israel... The
nation deserved from God greater punishment than that which actually
came upon them, but not being strong enough to bear it...God
appoints his servant to carry their sins, and by doing so lighten
their punishment in order that Israel might not be completely
exterminated. (Ibid., p. 23, f.)

And, “And the
Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all.” The prophet does not
say avon meaning iniquity, but punishment from iniquity, as in
the passage, “Be sure your sin will find you out.” (Num. Xxxii. 23)
(Ibid., p. 26)

Maimonides himself affirmed the
messianic interpretation of Isaiah 53. (Ibid., vol.1, p.
322)

Finally, the idea that God would place the sins of
Israel upon an innocent man is alluded to in this
Midrash: Moses spake before the Holy One, blessed be he, ‘Will
not a time come upon when Israel will have neither Tabernacle nor
Temple? What will happen to them (as regards atonement)?’ He
replied, ‘I will take a righteous man from amongst them and
make him a pledge on their account, and I will atone for their
iniquities.’ (Midrash on Exodus
35:4)

Hence,
there can be not one single doubt remaining as to whom Isaiah speaks of:
namely, the Messiah whose name is Jesus.  Another attempt to avoid
the messianic overtones of these biblical passages is the argument that
the passages in question speak of these events as having already been
transpired. These prophecies are in the past, and therefore cannot be
referring to the future advent of the Messiah. The problem with this
argument is that biblical Hebrew does not have a past tense since it is
not a “tense” language. Hebrew scholars have come to recognize that
biblical Hebrew is an “aspectual” language. This implies that the same
form of the verb can be translated as past, present, or future depending
on the context and various grammatical constructions.

Hence,
it is simply wrong to argue that because these prophecies are spoken of as
having already transpired that it does not refer to the Messiah. In fact,
there are many examples in the Hebrew Bible where the “past tense” form
(called “the perfective” or “perfect”) is used for future time. In support
of this, we quote the following Rabbis and Grammarians:

David Kimchi on the prophets’ use of
the perfect tense for future events: “The matter is as clear as
though it had already transpired.” (Kimchi, Sefer Mikhlol as cited
in Bruce K. Waltke and Michael Patrick O’Connor, An Introduction to
Biblical Hebrew Syntax [Winona Lake, IN; Eisenbrauns, 1990], p.64,
n. 45)

Rabbi Isaac Ben Yedaiah (13th c.): [The
rabbis] of blessed memory followed, in these words of theirs, in the
paths of the prophets who speak of something which will happen in
the future in the language of the past. Since they saw in
prophetic vision that which was to occur in the future, they spoke
about it in the past tense and testified firmly that it had
happened, to teach the certainty of his [God’s] words- may he be
blessed- and his positive promise that can never change and his
beneficent message that will not be altered. (Marc Saperstein, “The
Works of Rabbi Isaac b. Yedaiah.” Ph.D. dissertation, Harvard
University, 1977, pp. 481-82 as cited by Robert Chazan in Daggers of
Faith [Berkeley; UC Press, 1989], p. 87)

Contemporary Jewish
commentator Nahum Sarna on Exodus 12:17: “This is an example of
the ‘prophetic perfect.’ The future is described as having
already occurred because God’s will inherently and ineluctably
possesses the power of realization so that time factor is
inconsequential.” (Exodus: The Traditional Hebrew Text with the New
JPS Translation [Philadelphia; Jewish Publication Society, 1991], p.
59)

Gesenius’ Hebrew Grammar (sec. 106n, pp.
312-3113): More particularly the uses of the perfect may be
distinguished as follows:-... To express facts which are undoubtedly
imminent, and therefore in the imagination of the speaker, already
accomplished (perfectum confidentiae), e.g., Nu 17:27, behold we
perish, we are undone, we are all undone. Gn 30:13, Is. 6:5 (I am
undone), Pr 4:2... This use of the perfect occurs most frequently in
prophetic language (perfectum propheticum). The prophet so
transports himself in imagination into the future that he describes
the future event as if it had been already seen or heard by him,
e.g. Is 5:13 therefore my people have gone into captivity; 9:1ff.,
10:28, 11:9...; 19:7, Jb 5:20, 2 Ch. 20:37. Not infrequently the
imperfect interchanges with such perfects either in the parallel
member or further on in the
narrative.

Appendix B
The Messiah and the Second
Temple

As we have already indicated, the Hebrew
Bible in such passages as Daniel 9:26 clearly place the appearance of the
Messiah before the destruction of the second temple. This fact is clearly
brought out in the following two passages:

Zech 2:1-9 “On the twenty-first day of the seventh month,
the word of the LORD came through the prophet Haggai: ‘Speak to Zerubbabel
son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, to Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high
priest, and to the remnant of the people. Ask them, “Who of you is left
who saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Does
it not seem to you like nothing? But now be strong, O Zerubbabel,”
declares the LORD. “Be strong, O Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest.
Be strong, all you people of the land,” declares the LORD, “and work. For
I am with you,” declares the LORD Almighty. “This is what I covenanted
with you when you came out of Egypt. And my Spirit remains among you. Do
not fear.” This is what the LORD Almighty says: “In a little while I will
once more shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. I
will shake all nations, and the desired of all nations will come,
and I will fill this house with glory,” says the LORD Almighty. “The
silver is mine and the gold is mine,” declares the LORD Almighty.

Haggai 2:1-9 NIV “The glory of
this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house,”
says the LORD Almighty. “And in this place I will grant peace,” declares
the LORD Almighty.’”

God declares that the
second temple would be greater in glory than that built by Solomon. This
is due to the coming of the one who is called “the desired of the
nations.” Some translators view the statement in v. 7 as not referring to
the Messiah, but rather the splendor in which the second temple would be
adorned with, i.e. the gold and silver of the nations. The only
problem with this view is that this in no way would make the second temple
greater than the first. The reason is that Solomon’s temple was also
arrayed with the finest and most precious materials. Furthermore, the
visible manifestation of the glory of God appeared in the form of a cloud
and filled the entire sanctuary. (Cf. 1 Kings 8:10-11)

Yet,
God specifically states that the glory of the second temple would be
greater than the first. What could possible be greater than the cloud
descending on Solomon’s temple than God appearing as man in the person of
the Messiah at the second one? In the words of Yeshua:

“I tell you that one greater than the temple is here.”
Matthew 12:6

That Haggai 2:6-9 was viewed as a
messianic prophecy can be seen in this citation from Sanhedrin
97b:
“Rabbi Akibah made the inference, from the verse, ‘Yet
once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the
earth, and the sea, and the dry land’ (Haggai 2:6), that Simon
Bar Koziba was the Messiah, though he reigned only for two and
half years.”

In spite of Akibah’s error that Koziba
was the Messiah, his usage of Haggai 2:6 clearly affirms that at
least one rabbi understood this passage as
messianic.

The prophet Malachi predicted that God
would personally appear at the second temple:
“See I will send my messenger who will prepare the way
before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his
temple; the messenger of the covenant whom you desire will come,
says the LORD Almighty.” Malachi 3:1

According
to this prediction, the Lord himself was to come and enter his
temple.

Rabbi Mosheh ben Maimon applied this to the
Messiah: “What is to be the manner of Messiah’s coming,
and where will be the place of his first appearance? He will make
his first appearance in the land of Israel, as it is written,
‘The LORD whom ye seek will come suddenly to his
temple.’”

In fact, some rabbis were of the opinion
that the Messiah had even been born during the destruction of the
second temple:
“Rabbi Shemuel bar Nehmani said: On the day
when the Temple was destroyed Israel suffered much for their sins...
And from whence do we know that on that day (when the Temple was
destroyed] Messiah was born? For it is written, ‘Before she
travailed, she brought forth [the Messiah].’ ” Bereshit Rabbati 133
(Isaiah 66:7)

The Talmud of Babylon declares: “R.
Hillel says there will be no Messiah for Israel, because they have
enjoyed him already (fol. 99, col. 1) in the days of Hezekiah. Said
Rav. Joseph, may God pardon R. Hillel. When was Hezekiah? In the
first house, but Zechariah (9:9) prophesied in THE SECOND
HOUSE Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout O daughter
of Jerusalem; Behold thy King cometh unto thee; He is just and
having salvation; lowly, and riding on an ass, and upon a colt, the
foal of an ass.’ “ (Sanhedrin fol. 99, c.
1)

The only person who claimed to be the divine Messiah and appeared while
the second temple was still standing is Yeshua
Messiah:

“When the time of their
purification according to the Law of Moses had been completed, Joseph and
Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord… Now there was a man
in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was
waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon
him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not
die before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. Moved by the Spirit, he went
into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus
to do for him what was the custom of the Law required, Simeon took him in
his arms and praised God, saying: ‘Sovereign Lord, as you have promised,
you now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your
salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all people, a light of
revelation to the Gentiles and for the glory to your people Israel.’”
Luke 2:22, 25-32

“After the feast
was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed
behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. Thinking he was in their
company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among
their relatives and friends. When they did not find him, they went back to
Jerusalem to look for him. After three days they found him in the temple
courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them
questions. Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and
his answers. When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His
mother said to him, ‘Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father
and I have been anxiously searching for you.’ ‘Why were you searching for
me?’ he asked. ‘Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?’
But they did not understand what he was saying to them.” Luke
2:43-48

“When it was almost time
for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple courts
he found men selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables
exchanging money. So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the
temple area, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money
changers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves he said,
‘Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father’s house into a
market!’ His disciples remembered that it is written: ‘Zeal for your
house will consume me.’” John 2:13-17

Hence, if Jesus is not the Messiah there will be no
Messiah. This is based on the testimony of the Hebrew Bible that
the Messiah had to come before the destruction of the second temple. We
are thankful to God that he did arrive before the temple’s destruction, as
was predicted.

AMEN, COME LORD JESUS.

JPN
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