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This article is written from a Christian perspective presenting passages found in the Christian edition of the Old Testament that may be intepreted as prophecies regarding a Messiah. It also presents New Testament items which may be interpreted to fulfil the Old Testament prophecies about a Messiah.

Since Judaism does not accept the validity of the New Testament and rejects the claim that Jesus was a messiah, see the beliefs of Judaism in Judaism's view of Jesus, Jewish eschatology and the Jewish Messiah.

Christianity and Jewish prophecy is Old Testament Bible prophecies interpreted by some to concern a Messiah which are thought by many Christians, to be fulfilled by Jesus and his actions, as described in the New Testament. Almost all non-Christians reject these claims, with some arguing that the description of Jesus in the New Testament was deliberately contrived to match prophecies, rather than reflecting Jesus accurately.

This shows Christian interpretations of selected verses from the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible, Old Testament), which they hold to be prophetic claims that Jesus has been promised by God to be born as a human, and would be the Messiah.

Here is a list of verses often held by Christians to be messianic prophesies:

Claimed Prophecy Old Testament New Testament
His pre-existence;
God would provide Himself a Lamb as an offering
The sacrificial lamb
Heir to the throne of David
From the tribe of Judah
Of the seed of Abraham
Born of the seed of a woman
Born of a virgin
His name called Immanuel, "God with us"
Called "The mighty God, The everlasting Father"
Born in Bethlehem
Presented with gifts;
Slaughter of the children
Called out of Egypt
Would be a Nazarene; ;
Would be a Prophet of the children of Israel
Priest after the order of Melchizedek; ;
Preceded by a messenger to prepare his way
His messenger before Him in spirit of Elijah
Messenger crying "Prepare ye the way of the Lord"
Declared to be the Son of God
All nations blessed by Abraham's seed ;
No bones broken ;
Gentiles flock to Him ; ; ; ; ;
LORD said unto Him, "Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool" ; ;
Soldiers gambled for his garment
People sat there looking at Him
Hated without a cause ;
He is the stone which the builders rejected which became the headstone ; ;
People would hear not and see not
A stone of stumbling to Israel
Brought light to Zebulon & Naphtali, Galilee of the Gentiles
People give God lip service
People trust in traditions of men
Heal blind/deaf/lame/dumb ;
God delights in Him ;
Would not strive or cry
Given for a covenant ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
Rejected by His own ; ; ; ;
He bore our sickness
Wounded for our sins
He bore the sins of many
Preached to the poor/brokenhearted/captives
Messiah not killed for Himself
Smitten on the cheek
Came to bring a sword, not peace
He entered Jerusalem as a king riding on an ass
Sold for 30 pieces of silver ;
The 30 pieces of silver given for the potter's field
The 30 pieces of silver thrown in the temple
Forsaken by his disciples
Betrayed by a friend
Accused by false witnesses
Silent to accusations
Spat upon, smitten and scourged; ;
Thirsty during execution
Given vinegar and gall for thirst
Crucified with criminals
Side pierced
His body was pierced;
People mocked: He trusted in God, let Him deliver him!
He cried: My God, my God why hast thou forsaken me?
Darkness over the land
Buried with the rich;
Resurrected from the dead;
Ascended to right hand of God
His coming glory
He will be killed

Criticisms

Critics of Bible prophecy hold that the verses are often shorn of their original context, in which there is no obvious indication that they were actually predicting anything. Occasionally statistical arguments are made, involving the improbability of someone fulfilling all these prophesies: such arguments are heavily criticised because the list of prophesies was chosen on the basis of having been fulfilled. Most books of the Hebrew Bible were written hundreds of years, and some parts possibly thousands of years, before the birth of Jesus. Many of the verses above were not widely held to be "prophecies" until after the New Testament had been written. Others were thought to be prophecies, but not necessarily connected with the idea of a "messiah". Almost all non-Christians do not believe that these verses prove Jesus was the Messiah, and many non-Christian scholars argue that Jesus' actions are just contrived to deliberately fit into the Old Testament mould - much like someone claiming to have fulfilled a prophecy about a poor loner when all they have done is thrown their money out of the window and told their friends to go away for a few months.

See also

Sources

External links

Christian viewpoints | Christian philosophy | Jewish Christian topics | Prophecy

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "List of Christian claims of fulfilled Old Testament prophecies".

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