Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Prophecies Concerning The Messiah's Birth

The Messiah would be a descendant of Judah:

"The scepter will not depart from Judah,
    nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet,
until he to whom it belongs shall come
    and the obedience of the nations shall be his."
- Genesis 49:10

Jesus is a descendant of Judah (Matthew 1:3; Luke 3:33).

The Messiah would be a descendant of David (the son of Jesse):

"A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;
    from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.
  The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—
    the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
    the Spirit of counsel and of might,
    the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord
  and he will delight in the fear of the Lord."
-Isaiah 11:1-3

Jesus is a descendant of David (Matthew 1:6; Luke 3:31-32)

The Messiah would come from Bethlehem:

“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
    though you are small among the clans of Judah,
out of you will come for me
    one who will be ruler over Israel,
whose origins are from of old,
    from ancient times.”
- Micah 5:2

Jesus was born in Bethlehem (Matthew 2:1; Luke 2:1-7)

The Messiah would be born of a virgin woman:

"Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel."
- Isaiah 7:14

Jesus was born of a virgin woman (Matthew 1:18-25; Luke 1:26-38)

The Messiah would come and then be put to death 40 years before the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem:

“Seventy ‘sevens’ are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the Most Holy Place.
“Know and understand this: From the time the word goes out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven ‘sevens,’ and sixty-two ‘sevens.’ It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble.  After the sixty-two ‘sevens,’ the Anointed One will be put to death and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed.  He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven.’  In the middle of the ‘seven’ he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And at the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him."
- Daniel 9:24-27

“'I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,' says the Lord Almighty."
-Malachi 3:1

Jesus was born near the end of the reign of King Herod the Great, approximately 75 years before the destruction of the Temple by the Romans in 70 CE (Matthew 2:1).  He was crucified approximately 40 years before the destruction of the Temple (Luke 3:1-2, 23).