April 1
Deut 18:1-20:20 | PS 73:1-28 | Prov 12:10 | Luke 9:28-50
There are multiple prophecies regarding the appearance of the Messiah. In Daniel 9:24-26 (written over 500 years before Jesus fulfilled this), the timing of the Messiah declaring Himself King, took place exactly on when Jesus entered Jerusalem that Palm Sunday. The religious leaders knew this passage to be Messianic ." In the 12th Century A.D., Rabbi Moses Ben Maimon (Maimonides), in reference to Daniel's prophecy, said: "Daniel has elucidated to us the knowledge of the end times. However, since they are secret, the wise (rabbis) have barred the calculation of the days of the Messiah's coming so that the untutored populace will not be led astray when they see that the End Times have already come but there is no sign of the Messiah." In Genesis 49:10, there is another reference to the timing of the Messiah's appearance, "The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh comes; and to him shall be the obedience of the people". This scepter did not pass from Judah until 6 - 7 C.E., as written by Josephus (Antiquities 17;13). In the Babylonian Talmud, chap.4, folio 37, Rabbi Rachmon states: "When the members of the Sanhedrin found themselves deprived of their right over life and death, a general consternation took possession of them: they covered their heads with ashes, and their bodies with sackcloth, exclaiming: 'Woe unto us for the scepter has departed from Judah and the Messiah has not come.' " Yet, Jesus was indeed in their midst, but they failed to recognize Him. In Haggai 2:6-9, there is another very specific reference to the timing of Messiah's appearing, which had to occur prior to the destruction of the second temple in 70 AD. There were many religious leaders which verified this portion of Scripture as Messianic in nature.
With this in mind, we need to read soberly the words in Deuteronomy 18:18-22, "I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren, and will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him. And it shall be that whoever will not hear My words, which He speaks in My name, I will require it of him. But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in My name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.’ And if you say in your heart, ‘How shall we know the word which the Lord has not spoken?’— when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing does not happen or come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him." This future prophet spoken about here (in 18:18-19) is none other than Jesus.
Since the Jewish people are still waiting for their Messiah, there is a problem. Many of their renowned prophets made very specific prophecies. The portion mentioned above includes only four: Jacob, Moses, Daniel, and Haggai. But a careful inspection of the Scriptures will reveal over 300 prophecies that have been fulfilled in Jesus' first coming. Most of these prophecies will be impossible to come true at some later date, and the qualifications of the Messiah, being born in Bethlehem (Micah), of specific lineage, etc will be unable to be verified now that the ancient lineages were lost at the time of the burning of the second temple. This would mean that all of their prophets, all of the authors of the Old Testament, by their own writings would be rendered false prophets, having made prophetic predictions which did not come true, according to them. We, on the other hand, have no problem. We know, and I mean know, that Jesus is who He said He was, Messiah. He was and is the one the prophets spoke about. As such, for us, as a result of this, the prophets were indeed prophets, and God's Word as written by these men, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, remain true and can be trusted.
Messages from Pastor Lloyd Pulley: