Jesus The Messiah: Prophecies Of The Christ

Jesus the Messiah
Prophecies of the Christ

He was born in an obscure village.
He worked in a carpenter shop until He was thirty.
He then became an itinerant preacher.
He never held an office.
He never had a family or owned a house.
He never went to college.
He had no credentials but Himself.
He was only thirty-three when the public turned against Him.
He was turned over to His enemies.
He was deserted by his friends.
He went through the mockery of a trial.
He was nailed to a cross between two thieves.
While He was dying, His executioners gambled for His clothing, the only property He had on earth.
He was laid in a borrowed grave.
Twenty Centuries have come and gone, and today
He is still the central figure of the human race.
All the Armies that ever marched,
all the Navies that ever sailed,
all the Parliaments that ever sat,
and all the Kings that ever reigned
have not affected the life of man on this earth
as much as that ONE SOLITARY LIFE. (From a 1926 sermon by James A. Francis).

What do you think of Jesus Christ? Who was he? I have asked that same question to many people over the years. The responses to that question are varied.

He was a good man.

He was a teacher.

He was a rebel.

He was crazy.

He was a prophet. In asking people their opinion of Jesus, I have often been given the reply, “I don't like to discuss religion.” Yet that same person is often willing to discuss Buddha or Confucious or Islam of Charles Darwin. What is it about Jesus that engenders such a response?

Perhaps it is because of the fantastic claims Jesus made about Himself. He said things about Himself that went far beyond those made by any other religious leader of history. He said that God was His Father. He claimed to be the unique Son of God. He said that his death would pay for the sins of the world. He promised eternal life to thsoe who believe in Him. Who is Jesus? Who is this man that so drastically changed the face of the world? On the afternoon following His resurrection, Jesus appeared to two of His disciples as they walked along the road to Emmaus. They did not recognize Him and when Jesus asked about their conversation, they related the evens of the past week and how their hopes had been dashed by the turn of those events. At this, Jesus rebuked them for their lack of understanding of the Old Testament.

25 And He said to them, “O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?” 27 And beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures. (Luke 24:25-27).

Notice the repetition of the word “all.” Jesus used both the writings of Moses and all the prophets to show that He was revealed by all the prophets in all the Scriptures. This suggests that a proper understanding of the Old Testament will not really be a proper understanding unless it includes a portrait of Jesus.