God promised Israel a messiah (a savior) through them. This messiah was to save them from their enemies and set up his earthly kingdom and rule. 2,000 years ago, the Jews were under Roman rule. They were somewhat oppressed by the Romans, and had to pay hefty taxes to the Roman government. They didn’t like it – at all. The Jews thought that when the messiah arrives, he will get rid of their enemies and set up his earthly kingdom there in Israel. But God had bigger plans…
The truth is, is that God actually first promised a messiah to Adam and Eve, after the devil had gotten them to sin in the garden of Eden: Genesis 3:14-15 — So the Lord God said to the serpent [Satan]: “Because you have done this [gotten Adam and Eve to sin], You are cursed more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you shall go, And you shall eat dust All the days of your life. And I will put enmity Between you and the woman [Eve], And between your seed and her Seed [the messiah]; He shall bruise your head [defeat Satan at the cross], And you shall bruise His heel [put Him on the cross].”
This messiah was to come from the Jews, coming from children of the forefather of the Jews – Abraham. But as I said earlier – God had bigger plans than to just save Israel and the Jews. He had plans to save the entire world – Jews and gentiles (anyone that’s not a Jew) alike: Genesis 17:3-4 — Then Abram [Abraham – the father of the Jews] fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying: “As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you [Abraham] shall be a father of many nations (not just Israel). Genesis 22:18 — In your [Abraham] seed [through the Jewish lineage] all the nations of the earth shall be blessed [have access to salvation through the Jewish messiah], because you have obeyed My voice.”
This Jewish messiah did indeed come already 2,000 years ago. This Jewish messiah was indeed – Jesus.
Several Old Testament prophecies concerning the birth and coming of the messiah are given:
A virgin will conceive the messiah — This Scripture points to the manner in which he will be born, and also to one of the names given to Christ: Immanuel, meaning God with us. This was pointing to both his human birth and his divine nature. This was written over 700 years before Christ was born.
Old Testament Prophecy: Isaiah 7:14 — “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.”
New Testament Fulfillment: Luke 1:26-38 — Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!” But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was. Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus [meaning — God is salvation]. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.” Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I do not know a man [have never had sex]?” And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren. For with God nothing will be impossible.” Then Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.
The messiah will be born in Bethlehem — this Scripture tells us in advance the place Jesus would be born. This prophecy was written by Micah approximately 800 years before Christ was born.
Old Testament Prophecy: Micah 5:2 — “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Though you are little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of you shall come forth to Me The One [the messiah Jesus] to be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth are from of old, From everlasting.”
New Testament Fulfillment: Matthew 2:1 — Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem,
So Jesus the messiah was born of a virgin in Bethlehem, as prophesied. He grew up to about 30 years old when He began to start His ministry, teaching and performing many miraculous signs and wonders over the next few years to prove that He was indeed the messiah from God – as no mere man could perform those miracles without the hand of God on Him. You can read all about these many miracles in the first four books of the New Testament Bible: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John – which pick up from where the Old Testament left off and document the life and ministry of Jesus on earth.
After about 3 years of Jesus’ ministry, many Jews were convinced that He was indeed the messiah to come, and tried to set Him up as King. As stated earlier, they thought Jesus was going to save them from the Roman oppression and set up His earthly kingdom and rule them. Again, as stated earlier, God had bigger plans – plans to not just merely save the Jews from earthly oppression, but plans to save the entire world from their sins, so that the whole world (Jews and gentiles) might receive eternal life (rather than just a “comfortable” life while alive on earth)! However, to accomplish this, it would mean that He would have to sacrifice Himself on the cross and shed His blood – to become the ultimate sacrifice for all of humanities’ sin. *See the note, “How the Cross Works” for more detail on how actually Jesus dying on the cross paid for our sins.
A few days after Jesus was brought to Jerusalem by the Jews to be made King, the religious leaders of the Jews (the Pharisees and Sadducees) who hated Jesus convinced the Jews that He was a fraud and that He should be crucified and put to death by the Romans for claiming to be God. This eventually happened on Passover, where Jesus fulfilled the feast of Passover by becoming the perfect, unblemished lamb of God, sacrificed for our sins, shedding His blood, that whoever should “cover themselves by His blood” by believing in His sacrifice should be protected from death (the second death that is – hell) and receive eternal life.
After Jesus died on the cross, He was buried in a tomb for 3 days (fulfilling the feast of Unleavened Bread) proving He was dead, and on the third day He was raised back to life (fulfilling the feast of Firstfruits – the firstfruits of many to be resurrected from the dead) proving His sacrifice was accepted by God for our justification.
After He rose from the dead, He stayed around on earth for around 40 more days, witnessed by the apostles and over 500 others, and then ascended back into heaven, where He would spend the next 2,000 years building His church of true believers that have faith in His death, burial and resurrection. At the end of the 2,000 years, He will come again at His 2nd coming to defeat the antichrist and Satan, and will then set up His earthly kingdom and will rule all the nations for 1,000 years in what’s called the “Millennial Kingdom.” *See the note, “The Book of Revelation” for more details on the end times and 2nd coming, including the Millennial Kingdom.
There’s another major prophecy in Isaiah 53 in the Old Testament, prophesying of what the messiah would do for humanity on the cross roughly 700 years before Jesus was born:
Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? He [Jesus] grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away. Yet who of his generation protested? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was punished. He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand. After he has suffered, he will see the light of life and be satisfied by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities. Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.