How can you know for certain that Jesus is the Promised Messiah?
The Bible is the only prophetic book that is absolutely 100% accurate because it is inspired by God who exists outside of our time and space created universe and who sees human history from Genesis to Revelation as if it is already completed. That being so, we can trust that the prophecies contained in the Bible will happen just as predicted even though we are not privileged to know the precise time and day in advance. Timing remains one of God’s many mysteries.
That said, prophecies about Jesus as Messiah are abundant and scattered throughout various books of the Bible. Now to know specifically that Jesus was and is in fact the promised Messiah we need to ‘Dial’ into only a few of the over 300 prophecies about Him.
Think about it this way for a moment. There are over 8 billion people on planet Earth and a vast majority have cell phones. So, if we want to connect with someone, we start with a country code or area code. That alone cuts down the number of people into a specific geographic area. Then say we ‘dial’ in the next three digits and the field of possibilities greatly shrinks again. Finally, as we dial in the last four numbers we find a person we are looking to talk with. So, with only a total of 10 or 12 numbers we get the person. That’s really amazing.
Using that analogy, we can search the “Biblical prophetic phone directory” and search for who might be the Messiah. So, let’s begin the quest and see if we can find Him.
- Country/ Area code. Micah 5:2, Bethlehem-Ephrata in Israel which is a few miles south of Jerusalem. Not Bethlehem, Pa., or the other Bethlehem in northern Israel.
- Male or female? Isaiah 7:14, A virgin will bear a son who will be called Emmanuel, God with us.
- Genesis 22:18 & 49:10, the Messiah would be a descendant of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and come from the line of Judah or king David. Both Mary and Joseph were from the line of David.
- When will the Messiah have appeared on the planet? Before 70 A.D. as that’s when the Romans destroyed the Temple and the city. Jesus said that would happen and He spent considerable time at the temple. Mark13:2
- How did the Messiah die? Isaiah 53:12 & Psalm 22:16, Romans used crucifixion to kill the condemned. History says Jesus was killed, crucified in 30 A.D. This prophecy was made 700 years before crucifixion was adopted as a method of killing criminals.
So from these six prophecies alone, we have identified the place he was born, that Messiah is a male, from the lineage of David, he lived before 70 A.D. and he was crucified by the Romans in 30 A.D. His death was also reported by the secular historians Josephus and Tacitus.
Now for the logic and the facts. No one gets to choose the place they are born, their gender or parents or ancestors, what time they would live on the planet and how they would die. And remember these six prophecies were made many hundreds of years before the Messiah was born.(Note-He just didn’t appear one day down from the heavens, although He will come again one day that way as He said so himself.)
So, the only person that could possibly fit these few prophecies as Messiah is Jesus Christ. If you are still not convinced, explore another six or so of the 300 other Old Testament prophecies to convince yourself of this truth. God promises to reveal the Messiah to those that diligently want to know Him. Wise men and women still seek Jesus the Messiah for salvation and eternal life. Finally, remember life is full of choices but eternity only two. Choose wisely!