The Comparatively Clear Prophecies of the Messiah

Let us move now to comparing these alleged prophecies with those of the Messiah (Al-Masih) in the Hebrew scriptures. We will start with the most famous prophecy, found in `Īsāiah 53. For those familiar with the details of Jesus’ life, it is truly remarkable that this passage, written hundreds of years earlier, is so abundantly clear:

Who has believed our message

and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?

He 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 men,

a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.

Like one from whom men hide their faces

he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Surely he took up our infirmities

and carried our sorrows,

yet we considered him stricken by God,

smitten by him, and afflicted.

But he was pierced for our transgressions,

he was crushed for our iniquities;

the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,

and by his wounds we are healed.

We all, like sheep, have gone astray,

each of us has turned to his 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 her shearers is silent,

so he did not open his mouth.

By oppression and judgment he was taken away.

And who can speak of his descendants?

For he was cut off from the land of the living;

for the transgression of my people he was stricken.

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 a guilt offering,

he will see his offspring and prolong his days,

and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.

After the suffering of his soul,

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.

Recent discoveries have unearthed a complete scroll of `Īsāiah (containing this passage) from 100 years before Jesus’ birth. Below are a sample of the other different prophecies about this Messiah, dealing mostly with his arrest, trial and death. They are all taken from the different books of the prophets who were from the line of Abraham, `Īsāac and Jacob and were written from 1000 to 500 years before the birth of Jesus. The scripture reference for both the prophecy and its fulfillment is given below:

1. A Descendent of David
(2 Samuel 7:12-14; Zechariah 12:10; see Luke 3:31)

2. Born in Bethlehem
(Micah 5:2; see Luke 2:4-7)

3. Born of a virgin
(Isaiah 7:14; see Luke 1:34-38)

4. Bringing salvation for all peoples
(Isaiah 49:6; see Luke 2:30-32, John 3:16)

5. Would ride into Jerusalem on a colt
(Zechariah 9:9; see Luke 19:28-36)

6. Betrayed by a friend
(Psalm 41:9; see Matthew 10:4)

7. Sold for 30 pieces of silver (not gold)
(Zechariah 11:12; see Matthew 26:15)

8. Money thrown (not placed) into God’s house
(Zechariah 11:13b; see Matthew 27:5a)

9. Money used to buy Potter’s field
(Zechariah 11:13b; see Matthew 27:7)

10. Silent before accusers
(Isaiah 53:7; see Matthew 27:12-19)

11. Wounded and bruised
(Isaiah 53:5; see Matthew 27:26)

12. Smitten and spit upon
(Isaiah 50:6; see Matthew 26:67)