Inspirational

A study of Jesus Christ, the Messiah

Written by Janine van Niekerk on 7 April 2021

It is amazing to what extreme lengths God went to make sure that only one person in all of history could ever qualify as His Messiah, the world’s only Savior – Jesus Christ.

God gave very specific information about the Messiah’s birth, His life, His ministry, and then even more detail about exactly how He would die, why, and that He would be raised from the dead. Most of what God specified was totally out of anyone’s control so that no one could ever read the prophecies given, and just enact them somehow.

He also imparted little bits of this information over thousands of years to various prophets, so that none of them had any idea what their piece of the puzzle meant. It only made sense to everyone once Jesus was raised from the dead, and God opened minds to fit all the puzzle pieces together, and voila! Jesus Christ, the original Passover lamb, paid for all the sins of everyone who had ever lived and would ever live with His sinless blood, as was God’s perfect plan from the beginning!

He did it all this way, not only to prove that Jesus Christ was His Messiah, but also to prove that He is the only true God and that His way to salvation was far beyond human understanding.

Jesus Christ, the only Messiah

Having said that: do you want to see a few of those irrefutable bread crumb prophecies God had dropped through the ages?

The Messiah would be:

from Abraham’s lineage – Genesis 12:3
from the tribe of Juda – Genesis 49:1
a descendant of King David – 2 Samuel 7:12–13
born in Bethlehem – Micah 5:2
born of a virgin – Isaiah 7:14

He would:

flee to Egypt because of the slaughter of babies – Hosea 11:1, Jeremiah 31:15
come back and live in Nazareth – Matt 2:23
be preceded by a forerunner – Isaiah 40:3–4
be recognized when the Holy Spirit alighted on Him like a dove – John 1:32-34

More details:

His ministry would begin in Galilee – Isaiah 9:1–2.
He would speak in parables – Psalm 78:1–2.
He would have a supernatural ministry – Isaiah 35:5–6.
His earthly purpose was to pay for our sins in a very specific way – Psalm 40:6–8.
He would enter Jerusalem triumphantly on a donkey’s foal – Zechariah 9:9.
He would be betrayed for 30 pieces of silver, which would pay for the Potters field – Zechariah 11:12–13.
All his followers would abandon Him when he was caught – Zechariah 13:7.
He would be despised and rejected – Isaiah 53:3.
He would not defend Himself, but stay quiet – Isaiah 53:7b, Psalm 38:12–13.
They would beat His back, spit on him and tear out His beard – Isaiah 50:5-7.
He would be pierced in His hands and feet – Psalm 22:16.
They would cast lots for his garment – Psalm 22:18.
His legs would not be broken (contrary to custom) – Exodus 12:46.
He would be counted amongst the criminals – Isaiah 53:12b.
He would be condemned even though He was obviously innocent – Isaiah 53:9.
The sun would go dark – Amos 8:9.
His body would be laid in a rich man’s tomb – Isaiah 53: 9c.
He would be raised from the dead on the third day – Psalm 16:9–11, Hos 6:1-2.