The Hebrew people at the time Yeshua Hamashiach was living on earth couldn’t seem to comprehend the idea of their God being trinitarian even though it was very plainly prophesied in the canon they had at the time. They also couldn’t seem to grasp the idea that God would die so that we sinners could be saved from our transgressions. That has been debated among Abrahamic religions for thousands of years, and the subject of it being predicted long before the Messiah was even born is what we’ll be discussing today.

Though many disbelieve that the Old Testament predicts the Messiah being God Himself, that doesn’t mean it is untrue. Truth is not dictated by what we believe; instead, the objective reality is displayed. Often in my own life, I have to let God explain Himself in His Word and my circumstances. The truth withstands all questioning and judgment; it has nothing to fear from the lies the devil likes to convince people of. It is put in God’s word what the Messiah would come to do and who He would be. I’m hoping to reveal that to all who doubt it.

Isaiah 42:1-4

‘”Behold! My Servant whom I uphold, My Elect One in whom My soul delights! I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles. He will not cry out, nor raise His voice, Nor cause His voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed He will not break, And smoking flax He will not quench; He will bring forth justice for truth. He will not fail nor be discouraged, Till He has established justice in the earth; And the coastlands shall wait for His law.’”

• I recommend reading this whole chapter, but I’ll break down some of the prophetic pieces for you.
• “My servant whom I uphold,” Jesus called Himself a servant of the Father, doing His will in everything. He pointed to the Father as sovereign over Himself, even knowing the glory He would receive in His sacrifice.
• “My Elect One,” Jesus was predestined for glory. He was named King of kings long before He was made manifest as a human on earth.
• “He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles.” This is something that the Pharisees overlooked. When Jesus began to support and heal the Gentiles, they saw Him as a heretic. Because He sought to have a relationship with them, they saw Him as an unclean blasphemer.

Isaiah 42:16

“I will bring the blind by a way they did not know; I will lead them in paths they have not known. I will make darkness light before them, And crooked places straight. These things I will do for them, And not forsake them.”

• Jesus not only literally brought sight to the blind but also to the spiritually blind!
• Isaiah specifies that God will make darkness light before those who see in the spirit, allowing them to see the truth as it is. Those who have not been given sight will be unable to see or understand, as they will still live in darkness.

Isaiah 35:5-6

“Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, And the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then the lame shall leap like a deer, And the tongue of the dumb sing. For waters shall burst forth in the wilderness, And streams in the desert.”

• Jesus, in His ministry, physically healed multiple blind people and one deaf/mute man. These can be seen in Mark 7:33-35, Luke 18:35, Mark 10:46, and Matthew 20:34.
• In John 9:41, Jesus calls the Pharisees out for their spiritual blindness. Though they could physically see, they were more blind than those He had healed. Because, for them, it was a refusal to see the truth and accept their sin, they were guilty of more than those He had healed.

Isaiah 42:21

“The Lord is well pleased for His righteousness’ sake; He will exalt the law and make it honorable.”

• Jesus, in the sermon on the mount (Matthew 5:1-48), glorifies and gives an understanding of God’s moral law.
• For many years, Pharisees, Sadducees, and other Jewish leaders used the law and supposed righteousness to put down any who didn’t follow it to the level they were.
• Jesus, as predicted of Him, clarified the law for us. We no longer have to live with anxiety because we aren’t perfect! Instead, because of Jesus, we can have peace, knowing we are protected by God’s grace through our faith in His sacrifice! By repentance of our sins, led by the conviction of the Spirit, we can learn to change and grow in Him.

Isaiah 43:1-3

“But now, thus says the Lord , who created you, O Jacob, And He who formed you, O Israel: ‘Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; You are Mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, Nor shall the flame scorch you. For I am the Lord your God, The Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I gave Egypt for your ransom, Ethiopia and Seba in your place.’”

• Many claim that the Messiah is not part of the Godhead, but even in the Old Testament, God told us what He would do!
• Jesus came to redeem Israel and the Gentiles, calling them their given name and claiming them as His own.
• The Lord calls Himself the Savior of those willing to receive His saving.

In His sacrifice, He became man—flesh bearing the image of sinful flesh—and was raised on a cross. Just as Moses raised the serpent on the tree, Jesus was raised as a ransom for our sins; His body was broken for our healing. He made way for our salvation and paid the wages for our transgression in full! Now we can rejoice freely, even in struggle, knowing that we’ll have an eternity of joy with our God!

Isaiah 53:3-6

“He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”

• This is another chapter I recommend reading in full (why even say that? All of scripture is valuable!) as it is filled with multiple vivid predictions for the Messiah!
• Many in His region rejected and hated Jesus during His ministry on earth, which is documented in Flavius Josephus’ accounts of Jesus’ life. There are also records of His crucifixion by Tacitus in AD 115. Nobody widely liked by the Roman people is humiliated and crucified in such a way.
• He knew grief: He was close friends with John the Baptist and Lazarus, both of which were known to die in His lifetime. He witnessed and experienced the sorrows of the persecuted people in His region. He was also betrayed by one of His disciples with a kiss.
• He bore stripes so we could be healed physically and spiritually. He allowed His flesh to be broken so we could be healed. We deserved the suffering He took— He paid the wages of our sin, “The chastisement for our peace was upon Him.”
• Because we went astray, He had to take on the wages so we could be forgiven. That’s how much our God loves us: to reveal it in a humiliating sacrifice that no false Messiah would be willing to perform! Recognize this and repent for your sin to accept the pain He bore on our behalf!

Numbers 24:17-19

“‘I see Him, but not now; I behold Him, but not near; A Star shall come out of Jacob; A Scepter shall rise out of Israel, And batter the brow of Moab, And destroy all the sons of tumult. And Edom shall be a possession; Seir also, his enemies, shall be a possession, While Israel does valiantly. Out of Jacob One shall have dominion, And destroy the remains of the city.’”

• This is a direct and easily interpreted prophecy that the Messiah will be a man from Israel, more specifically Judah, who will conquer sin!
• According to Genesis 49:10, “The scepter shall nor depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh comes; And to Him shall be the obedience of the people.” The scepter will be from Judah and will be the lawgiver. Shiloh is Hebrew for gift from God or peaceful one — Fitting for Jesus isn’t it? He was and is obeyed by many and will soon be obeyed by all!
• God granted Lordship to the Messiah: Jesus Christ of Nazareth. He was named King of kinds, Lord of lords, and was given dominion over the heavens and earth!

“‘On that day I will raise up the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down, and repair its damages; I will raise up its ruins, and rebuild it as in the days of old; That they may possess the remnant of Edom, and all the Gentiles who are called by My name,’ says the Lord who does this thing.”- Amos 9:11-12

The Pharisees and current hypocritical leaders cringe(d) at the idea of imperfect unbelievers, Gentiles, becoming fully forgiven believers who are called by the Holy Messiah. As we see now, He has called some of the most sinful people and redeemed them from their personal Egypts! He has made the tabernacle (the home of the Holy Spirit in the temple) within us and made us the dwelling place. He fulfilled this at Pentecost in Acts 2:1-4.

Psalm 118:20-23

“This was the Lord ’s doing; It is marvelous in our eyes. The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone. This is the gate of the Lord , Through which the righteous shall enter. I will praise You, For You have answered me, And have become my salvation.”

• “Jesus in John 10 calls Himself the door to heaven. He is the literal gate to the Lord where the righteous will enter. God tells us that without Him and repentance for sin we are not righteous. He makes us righteous to enter the door. Jesus cleanses us of our sin!
• God became our salvation! The psalmist speaks to the gate in that statement and calls Him our salvation. The Lord calls Himself our Savior, our salvation, and this is another verse confirming it.
• The Lord knew He would be rejected by the people who tend His temples and are supposed to look after His sheep. He also knew that He is the chief cornerstone of His church and despite the rejection, no one can argue with that.

Psalm 118:27 is another prophecy of the Messiah: “God is the Lord, and He has given us light; Bind the sacrifice with cords to the horns of the altar.” Jesus calls Himself the light of the world and did many miracles to confirm His status. This verse tells us that the light will become the Passover sacrifice for the sins of man — directly referring to Jesus. John 10:18 states: “‘No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father.’” He willingly laid His life down for all who were willing to accept the sacrifice.

Genesis 17:19

“Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, ‘Shall a child be born to a man who is one hundred years old? And shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?’”

• This is God fulfilling His promise at long last! He sent Jesus, a descendant of Isaac, to be the Messiah, the rightful King of Israel. He was sent as our Savior from sin and the curse that came because of it.
• This is the everlasting covenant that our souls be saved from the wrath of God by the purifying blood of His Son, who made a sacrifice that paid for the sins of every person who would accept it.
• Jesus was the descendant of King David, who was prophesied from the beginning.
• Romans 9:7 speaks of Him. Just because many are descendants of Abraham doesn’t mean all are the ones that are talked about. Jesus fulfilled all the prophecies and followed God’s will sinlessly.
• Though the Laws were written hundreds of years after the covenant of Abraham, that doesn’t mean that the moral laws replaced the covenant. The deal between Israel and God was one of faith, not the works of the law. The pharisaical Israelites began applying the intricacies of the law to everything and making God’s forgiveness about their works when it was always about faith.

Isaiah 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.”

• Our Lord was born miraculously from a virgin— fulfilling and proving that God is with us. He gave us a clear sign as promised!
• Virgin Mary had a Son named Jesus (meaning to deliver, to rescue; God saves) and Immanuel (meaning God with us). This is one of God’s ways of telling us that He was with us on earth, residing in the newborn King Jesus.
• The Holy Spirit made Mary conceive so that the Messiah, made to live a holy life, would be born in the most pure, sacred way, utterly devoid of worldly lust.

Hosea 2:16-23

“‘And it shall be, in that day,’ Says the Lord, ‘That you will call Me ‘My Husband,’ and no longer call Me ‘My Master,’ for I will take from her mouth the names of the Baals, and they shall be remembered by their name no more. In that day I will make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, with the birds of the air, and with the creeping things of the ground. Bow and sword of battle I will shatter from the earth, To make them lie down safely. I will betroth you to Me forever; Yes, I will betroth you to Me in righteousness and justice, in lovingkindness and mercy; I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness, and you shall know the Lord . It shall come to pass in that day that I will answer,’ says the Lord; ‘I will answer the heavens, and they shall answer the earth. The earth shall answer with grain, with new wine, and with oil; They shall answer Jezreel. Then I will sow her for Myself in the earth, And I will have mercy on her who had not obtained mercy; Then I will say to those who were not My people, ‘You are My people!’ And they shall say, ‘You are my God!’”

• God promises to redeem His creation and betroth us to Him for the rest of eternity.
• In the days Jesus walked the earth, many believed that the Messiah would come to free them from the Romans. This passage tells us He would come to bring liberation from the idols so many choose to worship and to set a new covenant with His creation.
• Jezreel means “God will sow.” Because of the new covenant with the earth, the curse that Adam and Eve brought will be broken, and the earth will respond with new, clean fruits.
• Verse 23 speaks of the mercy and grace God brought through Jesus’ sacrifice to those who don’t deserve mercy. He will tell those who weren’t His (Gentiles) that they are now His, and faith in Him will spread.
• The fulfillment of this passage is mentioned in 1 Peter 2:10.

Micah 5:2-5

“‘But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to Me The One to be Ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting.’ Therefore He shall give them up, until the time that she who is in labor has given birth; Then the remnant of His brethren shall return to the children of Israel. And He shall stand and feed His flock In the strength of the Lord , in the majesty of the name of the Lord His God; And they shall abide, for now He shall be great to the ends of the earth; And this One shall be peace.”

• “Whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting.” This speaks of the Messiah and how His ways are from eternity, from the old. In Isaiah 55:8-9 God tells His people that His ways are not like our own, that they are higher and mightier than our own. It is because He is from of old and everlasting: He is bound to be wiser than us.
• “He shall stand and feed His flock in the strength of the Lord.” I believe that God is intentional in how He translates His word and the fact that He says “in” not “from/by” sounds to me like He means Jesus will feed the flock in God’s strength. The prophets did things from and by God’s strength, but Jesus lives within God and God within Him. God’s strength is in Him.
• “For now, He shall be great to the ends of the earth;” Who else would God lift up to be great besides Himself? Who else’s name is known by nearly everyone, slandered, worshipped, feared, and loved? It’s not Mohammed, Allah, Satan, or Molech! There have been more writings and influences by Jesus than anyone else in human history!

Genesis 15:4-5

“And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, ‘This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir.’ Then He brought him outside and said, ‘Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.’ And He said to him, ‘So shall your descendants be.’”

• According to John 1:1-5, the Word of the Lord came to show us who God is: a lesson brought by the Lord Himself. “The Word was with God, and the Word was God.” In Genesis 15, the Word of God came to Abraham, the father of our faith.
• The Word became Jesus: our King came to take His place as the King on earth through Jesus.
• Jesus Christ was a descendant of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, then of David, who was a true King of Israel.
• The Word later says in verse seven that He is the Lord, confirming what is said in Isaiah 42, 43, Romans 10:9, and Philippians 2:10.

Exodus 12:5

“Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats.”

• Initially, the idea of animal sacrifice to pay for sin was so that God could forgive the Israelites for a short period of time. They had to sacrifice a pure animal regularly, and at Passover, it had to be a male lamb of the first year.
• Just as in our modern system, to pay our fine for crime indefinitely, the person needs to be innocent of the crime. Jesus(the Word) was sent to live an innocent, Holy life so that He could pay our eternal wages for sin.
• Hebrews 9:14 explains Jesus’ sacrifice as the lamb presented by God in our place for sin.

Psalm 40:6-9

“Sacrifice and offering You did not desire; My ears You have opened. Burnt offering and sin offering You did not require. Then I said, ‘Behold, I come; In the scroll of the book it is written of me. I delight to do Your will, O my God, And Your law is within my heart.’ I have proclaimed the good news of righteousness In the great assembly; Indeed, I do not restrain my lips, O Lord , You Yourself know.”

• The scrolls tell of His coming as a sacrifice. Because God no longer required our sacrifices, He knew they weren’t enough to pay the eternal fine. He chose to pay it himself.
• Jesus delighted in God’s will, and because God’s law was written in His heart, He was able to fulfill it to the fullest extent.
• Jesus proclaimed His gospel to the multitudes: the Pharisees, Sadducees, Jewish people, and even the Gentiles.
• Hebrews 10:5-7 repeats and explains these verses for us. Jesus came to see the will of God through for our sake.

Isaiah 8:14

“He will be as a sanctuary, but a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense to both the houses of Israel, as a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.”

• The messiah was always meant to be our peace, Savior, and sanctuary, but to those who don’t believe, He is a stone of stumbling. He divides culture, changes hearts, and transforms society.
• After the Pharisees rejected Jesus and had Him killed, the second temple in Jerusalem was destroyed just as predicted by Jesus in Luke 21:5, Mark 13:1-2, and Matthew 24:1-2.
• Jesus tells us in Matthew 10:34-37 that He didn’t come just to bring peace to the world (that’s for a later time). He came to divide us all — those who believe from those who don’t. He will separate the wheat from the chaff.
• He never promised those of us who know HIm an easy life, He knew that we would be attacked, persecuted, and killed because of our faith in Him. But He offers us peace during the struggle because we know He is waiting for us in heaven.

So, as you can see, these are many Old Testament examples of the Messiah. All of these prophecies were fulfilled by one man, and that man wasn’t just some normal old Joe: He was God incarnate! The odds of anybody besides the Messiah Himself fulfilling those prophecies (at least 300 of them) are 1 in 10