Messianic Prophecies, Part 1 by Myra Kahn Adams for Town Hall
Thanks for joining our Christmas weekend Bible study. Today we celebrate the birth of baby Yeshua (Jesus’s name in Hebrew) that begins a two-part discussion of Messianic prophecies found in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament.
First, we read what Jesus said about the prophecies, and a VIP guest offers some meaningful insight. Then a review of what was written in the Hebrew Bible relevant to Christmas and the lineage of Jesus. Next week we will examine prophecies about His life, identity, torment, death, and overall mission.
We begin in John’s gospel, where Jesus chastised His people for persecuting Him after healing a life-long invalid on the Sabbath. The temple leaders were also trying to “kill him” because Jesus was “calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God” (John 5:18). Below is a short segment of what Jesus said to the leaders:
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“’You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life’” (John 5:39-40).
Those verses refer to what Jesus famously said earlier in John:
“‘For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life’” (John 3:16).
Furthermore, Jesus’s earthy ministry — a ministry exclusive to the Jewish people — points to the significance of John 5:39 with Jesus referencing “the very scriptures that testify about me,” while confronting the Jewish leaders.
Jesus next mentioned the prophecies shortly after His Resurrection when He is seen for the second time in a passage called the “Road to Emmaus” — after initially appearing to Mary Magdalene near the tomb. Here is the story:
