Signs of the Messiah
Signs of the Messiah
“Ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times?”
Matthew 16:3
24 “Seventy weeks are determined For your people and for your holy city,
To finish the transgression,
To make an end of sins,
To make reconciliation for iniquity,
To bring in everlasting righteousness,
To seal up vision and prophecy,
And to anoint the Most Holy.”
25 “Know therefore and understand, That from the going forth of the command To restore and build Jerusalem Until Messiah the Prince, There shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; The street shall be built again, and the wall, Even in troublesome times.”
26 “And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself; And the people of the prince who is to come Shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. [Matt. 24:2; Mark 13:2; Luke 19:43, 44]
The end of it shall be with a flood, And till the end of the war desolations are determined”[1]
What is the seventy weeks?
Gen 29:26-28 - And Laban said, It must not be so done in our country, to give the younger before the firstborn. 27 Fulfil her week, and we will give thee this also for the service which thou shalt serve with me yet seven other years. 28 And Jacob did so, and fulfilled her week: and he gave him Rachel his daughter to wife also.
What about the seven and sixty two weeks?
The rebuilding of the temple
1) Cyrus’ decree in 538 b.c. (2 Chron. 36:22-23; Ezra 1:1-4; 5:13).
2) Decree of Darius I (522-486) in 520 b.c. (Ezra 6:1, 6-12).
Finances for animal sacrifices at the temple
3) Decree of Artaxerxes Longimanus (464-424) in 457 b.c. (Ezra 7:11-26).
* These three say nothing about the rebuilding of the city itself.
Decree of Artaxerxes Longimanus, issued on March 5, 444 b.c. (Neh. 2:1-8). Granted Jews permission to rebuild Jerusalem’s city walls. Referred to in Daniel 9:25.[2]
DESTROYED AGAIN:
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.” - Matt. 23:37-38
“Verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.” - Matt. 24:2
“This destruction was accomplished by Titus in a.d. 70 when he destroyed the city of Jerusalem and killed thousands of Jews. But that invasion, awesome as it was, did not end the nation’s sufferings, for war, Gabriel said, would continue until the end.”[3]
“Since Daniel 9:24–27 speaks of events that must be fulfilled before the destruction of the Second Temple… the question that must be asked… If Jesus did not fulfill Daniel 9:24, who did? Who was it that ushered in everlasting righteousness and made atonement for iniquity before 70 C.E. if not Jesus the Messiah? In reality, if Jesus did not fulfill Daniel 9:24, then no one fulfilled it and the prophecies of Daniel cannot be trusted.”[4]
MORE SIGNS OF THE MESSIAH:
Gen. 49:10 - The scepter shall not depart from Judah,
Nor a lawgiver from between his feet,
Until Shiloh comes;
And to Him shall be the obedience of the people. [5]
What or who is Shiloh?
Vulgate translates Shiloh as “he who is to be sent,”
Others say the word means “until he who is to come has come.”
NIV says, “until he comes to whom it [the ruler’s staff] belongs.”[6]
The Jews Understood This
R. Huna said: The Messiah has been given seven names, and these are: Yinnon, Our Righteousness, Shoot, Comforter, David, Shiloh, Elijah.[7]
Fragmentary Targum
King shall not cease from the house of Judah, nor scribes who teach the Torah from his children’s children, until the time of the coming of the King Messiah, to whom belongs the Kingdom, and to whom all dominions of the earth shall become subservient.[8]
Targum Onkelos
The transmission of dominion shall not cease from the house of Judah, nor the scribe from his children’s children, forever, until the Messiah comes to whom the kingdom belongs, and whom nations shall obey.[9]
Illus: Mourning priests story
One of the saddest aspects is the blindness of Israel. Even the Orthodox Jews, who strongly affirm their belief in the Old Testament Scriptures, seem unable to see what the Scriptures clearly show, that their Messiah has come and gone… Ancient Jewish commentators agreed that Shiloh was another name for Messiah, but the scepter (the symbol of rule) did depart from Judah.
6-7 A.D. Judah loses power to Romans p. 1631 in Archaeological Study Bible
How Judea succumbed to Roman rule
When the Romans took judicial control of Judea that the priest put on sackcloth and ashes. Roaming the streets they mourned “The scepter has passed from Judah, and Shiloh has not come.” Now this is significant, as priests were not permitted to mourn even a son or family member. What they didn’t know was that Shiloh had come! He was living among them… a baby had been born in Bethlehem roughly 10 years earlier as the prophets had foretold.
In 70 A.D., the records and the Temple were destroyed, so that no later claimant to the title could ever prove his right to the throne. Messiah had come, and was slain, so the scepter departed from Judah until He comes again. It is certain that Jesus was, indeed, the Jews' promised Messiah, and we should pray that God will soon open their eyes to see and believe. HMM Our Daily Bread, Saturday, August 1.
OT Tells Us the Messiah would be:
· Linage: Seed of Abraham (Gn. 22:18); Son of Isaac (Gn. 21:12); Son of Jacob (Nm. 24:17); Tribe of Judah (Mc. 5:2); Line of Jesse (Isa. 11:1); House of David (Jer. 23:5)
· Birth: Born of a virgin (Isa. 7:14) Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.; Born in Bethlehem (Mc. 5:2) 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.
· Other details:
Will heal people (Isa. 35:5) behold, your God will come… and save you. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.
Come to Jerusalem on a donkey (Zec. 9:9) Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, Lowly and riding on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey.
30 pieces of silver (Zec. 11:12-13) …So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver. And the LORD said unto me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was prised at of them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the LORD.
Hands and feet pierced (Ps. 22:16) [Before crucifixion]
Cast lots for His garments (Ps. 22:18)
Side pierced (Zec. 12:10)
Just to fulfill 8 prophecies: (Peter Stoner) - 1 in 1017
To fulfill 48 of the prophecies: (Peter Stoner) - 1 in 10157
- Some have identified 300 or more prophecies that Jesus fulfills!!!
CONCLUSION:
· Did they understand whom they worshipped at the triumphal entry?
o History tells us some were expecting Him at this very period of time
o Many rejected Him because He wasn’t what they expected of Messiah
· What about us here today?
§ Hindsight & opportunity to evaluate scripture @ Messiah
§ According to scripture the time is past for Messiah
o If NOT Jesus then WHO???
§ AND He is the only one to fit scriptural conditions of the Messiah!!
§ He is the ONLY religious leader to rise from the dead… Defeated Death!
EITHER HE HAS ALREADY COME OR THERE IS NO MESSIAH!
AND ALL OF SCRIPTURE IS UNTRUSWORTHY!
BUT
ONE MAN FITS ALL OF THE CRITERIA FOR THE MESSIAH!!!
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[1]The New King James Version. (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), Da 9:24-27.
[2]John F. Walvoord, Roy B. Zuck and Dallas Theological Seminary, The Bible Knowledge Commentary : An Exposition of the Scriptures (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1983-c1985), 1:1362.
[3]John F. Walvoord, Roy B. Zuck and Dallas Theological Seminary, The Bible Knowledge Commentary : An Exposition of the Scriptures (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1983-c1985), 1:1364.
[4]Michael L. Brown, Answering Jewish Objections to Jesus, Volume 3: Messianic Prophecy Objections (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Books, 2003), 92.
[5]The New King James Version. (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), Ge 49:10.
[6]James M. Freeman and Harold J. Chadwick, Manners & Customs of the Bible, "Rewritten and Updated by Harold J. Chadwick"--Cover.; Includes Index., Rev. ed.]. (North Brunswick, NJ: Bridge-Logos Publishers, 1998), 90.
[7]Tom Huckel, The Rabbinic Messiah (Philadelphia: Hananeel House, 1998), Ge 49:11.
[8]Tom Huckel, The Rabbinic Messiah (Philadelphia: Hananeel House, 1998), Ge 49:11.
[9]Tom Huckel, The Rabbinic Messiah (Philadelphia: Hananeel House, 1998), Ge 49:10.