Finding Messiah in the Prophets

 

Yeshua (Jesus) said many things. To some, He was soft and gentle. To others, He was straight to the point and what some would consider harsh. One thing He was always doing was pointing His listeners back. What did the prophets foretell?

His disciples understood this. They never asked Messiah if He had come to bring some new personal salvation to individuals that asked Him into their heart. They asked Him “Master, are You restoring the kingdom to Israel at this time?” (Acts 1:6) The work of Messiah was much, much bigger than any mere individual.

This is, of course, why He clearly stated (repeatedly) that He had no intention to rid His father’s People of the Torah and the Prophets. In fact, He came to fully exemplify them both, in human form in order to demonstrate what a perfectly obedient Son looks like. It’s not that no other man before Him *could not* do it. Rather, they *would not* do it. He chose to become a suffering servant, by will and obedience.

Yeshua’s entire purpose and function was clear. We see this everywhere we look, in the accounts of Yeshua’s life. As in Matthew 15:24, He told us that He was “sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” He knew the prophecies of Jeremiah and Ezekiel. And He not only knew them, from studying the Torah His entire life, He embodied them perfectly.

So, what about us? Will we literally learn from, and live by, we read or will we too be guilty of being slow of heart to place our trust in what the prophets foretold? The entire Word agrees. The New Testament Gospel must be what the prophets foretold or it is not the Gospel. Period. There is no other. Let us labor to be found rightly dividing the Word of Truth. Selah.