The Jewish Bible prophetically foretold that the Messiah would go through terrible suffering and humiliation, and in so doing, he would take upon himself all our evil and take the punishment for it, on behalf of humankind. The prophet Isaiah prophesied through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit before the coming of the Messiah:
“And the will of the LORD will succeed by His hand.” (Is 53:10)
The Messiah, through his death, would defeat the very power and rule of death itself.
The Scriptures prophesied about the resurrection of the Messiah from the dead, demonstrating his righteousness. Death could not hold him.
And whoever calls his name, God will immediately consider him righteous. He can have confidence that he will rise again from the dead, just as Yeshua did.
Even though the God of Abraham prepared the Children of Israel in advance about the Messiah through the prophets, the Jewish people were still shocked and found it hard to believe that Yeshua was the Messiah. In the seventh century BCE the prophet Isaiah wrote:
“He will be a Sanctuary, but a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.” (8:14)
In what way would the House of Israel and Judah fail? In the horrific death of the Messiah – the “crucifixion”. Such a death for the Jews is very embarrassing and humiliating, so it is an obstacle to faith to think that the promised Messiah would die on a cross. That is why the religious Jews refrain from reading Isaiah 53 in synagogues to this day. It is known as “the forbidden chapter”. History tells us that Yeshua was crucified during the era of the Roman Empire – he suffered and died for us exactly as God promised. Yeshua is their promised messiah!
And with the Muslims, the crucified Messiah is a “rejected idea” because it is impossible that God would allow the Messiah to die on a cross – it is a direct humiliation to God and the Messiah himself. I dedicated a video to this subject with the title: “The Shockwave of the Resurrection”.
Some 700 years after the time of Isaiah the prophet, Yeshua the Messiah began his ministry in the Galilee and Jerusalem. There he rebuked the Jewish leaders with some harsh words:
“Woe to you, Torah scholars and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut people out of the kingdom of heaven. For you do not enter yourselves, nor do you let those enter who are trying to go in.” (Matt 23:13)
In another case Jesus challenged the chief priests who had the Bible in their hands, without seeing the plan of God that was revealed in it.
“He said: You search the Scriptures because you suppose that in them you have eternal life. It is these that testify about Me.”
Friends, the book of the New Testament is the natural continuation of the Bible and does not contradict the Jewish Scriptures that came before it at all. The time has come for you to examine the book for yourself – to find reliable evidence of God's thoughts toward you. Think it through for yourself, and don’t allow anyone else to make your decisions for you.
Two thousand years ago, Jesus warned the chief priests and said:
“You’ve gone astray, because you don’t understand the Scriptures or the power of God.” (Matt 22:29)
And gave this parable:
“They are blind guides of the blind. And if a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit.” (Matt 15:14)
Please, think about your eternal life, so that no one will steal this gift of God from you, which Jesus bought for you in His death on the cross.
“There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved!” (Acts 4:12)
“He is the One ordained by God as Judge of the living and the dead. All the prophets testify about Him—that everyone who puts his trust in Him receives forgiveness of sins through His name.” (Acts 10:42-43)
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