WHAT THE ANCIENT JEWS BELIEVED
ABOUT THE M
A Study by
Gary Ray Branscome
Everyone
familiar with the Biblical record of Christ’s birth knows that the wise men
were told that the Messiah (Christ) would be born “In Bethlehem of Judea” (Matthew 2:5). However, the High Priest’s
directive to Jesus, “Tell us whether you
are the Messiah, the Son of God,” reveals the fact that the Jewish scholars
of that time also believed that the Messiah (the Christ) would be the “Son of God” (Matthew 26:63).
The Son of God
Their
belief that the Messiah would be the Son of God came from the second Psalm,
where we read. “The rulers conspire
together, against the LORD [Jahweh], and against His Messiah… The LORD has said
to me, You are my Son; this day have I begotten you. Ask me, and I will
give you the heathen for your inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth
for your possession. You will break them with a rod of iron; you will smash
them to pieces like a potter’s vessel. Therefore be wise, O you kings, be
warned, you judges of the earth. Serve the LORD with fear, and… embrace the
Son, lest He be angry… Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him”
(Psalm 2:2-12). In those verses, the two that the rulers are conspiring against
are the LORD and His Messiah. And, the LORD says of His Messiah, “You are my Son; this day have I begotten
you”.
The High Priest was well aware
of these verses when he asked Jesus if He was “the Messiah, the Son of God” (Matthew 26:63). And, Christ’s answer
to the High Priest’s question “It is as
you say” affirmed the fact that He was the Messiah spoken of in the second
Psalm. However, His words, “After this
you will see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in
the clouds of heaven,” also claimed that the words of Daniel 7:13-14, spoke
of Him: “I saw one like the Son of man
coming with the clouds of heaven… And He was given dominion, and glory, and a
kingdom, so that all people, nations, and languages, should serve Him;” and
having heard that, “the high priest tore
his clothes, yelling, He has spoken blasphemy” (Matthew 26:65).
What I have just said makes it
clear that the ancient Jews regarded both the second Psalm and Daniel 7:13-14
as references to the Messiah. The second Psalm identifies the Messiah as the
Son of God, Daniel seven as the son of man, but both describe Him as wielding
the power and authority of God. For that reason, the words, “You, who are a man, claim to be God,”
tell me that the Jews Justified their rejection of Christ’s claim by assuming
that the Messiah could not possibly look like an ordinary person (John 10:33).
However, the motivation for their rejection was envy (Mark
The Son of David
The ancient Jews also believed
that the Messiah would be a descendant of King David (both true God and true
man). For it is written, “Behold, the
days come, says the LORD, when I will raise to David a righteous Branch,
who will reign as King and prosper, and will execute judgment and justice in
the earth. In His days
Because they believed that the
Messiah would be both a descendant of David and the Son of God, they knew that
the words of Isaiah 9:6-7 were speaking of the Messiah. “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the
government shall be upon His shoulder: and His name shall be called Wonderful,
Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end.” [They also wrongly assumed that this child [the
Messiah] would begin to reign visibly not long after His birth.]
A similar reference to the
deity of the Messiah is found in the words of Isaiah
The Promised Redeemer
One well known prophecy of the
Messiah comes from Job, who said “I know
that my redeemer lives, and that He will stand at a future time upon the earth”
(Job
Regarding the time of the
Redeemer’s advent, Daniel wrote, “Seventy
weeks are decreed concerning your people and your holy city, to bring an end to
rebellion, and a finish to sin, and to make reconciliation for iniquity… Know
therefore and understand that there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks
from the time the command to restore and rebuild
This prophecy uses the cryptic
phrase, “Seventy weeks,” to identify
a period of time that was to remain undefined until the events took place.
However, the important thing to notice is that the Messiah was to be “cut off” before the temple (sanctuary)
was destroyed, and it was destroyed in 70 A.D.
The Salvation of Our God
Of the
Messiah Isaiah wrote, “All the ends of
the earth will see the salvation of our God… My servant will be successful, He
will rise, be lifted up on high, and exalted. Many were amazed at Him; His
appearance was more disfigured than any man, and His form more than the sons of
men… He is despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, who knew suffering:
and we hid as it were our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not value
Him. Surely He has taken on himself our pains, and carried our sorrows: yet we
regarded Him as condemned, struck down by God, and afflicted. But He was
wounded for our transgressions; He was bruised for our iniquities: the punishment
that brought us peace was upon Him; and by His stripes we are healed. Like
sheep we have all 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 He was
mistreated, 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. He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who at that time
understood? For He was cut off from the land of the living: and struck down for
His people’s sins. And He made His grave with the wicked, and with the rich in
His death; because He had not committed any crime, nor was any deceit in His
mouth. Yet it was the will of the LORD to bruise Him; He has caused Him to suffer:
and when you make Him an offering for sin, He will see His seed, He will
prolong His days, and the will of the LORD will succeed by His hand. He will
see it out of His anguish, and will be satisfied: by His knowledge my righteous
servant will justify many; for He will bear their iniquities. Therefore I will
give Him many people as His share, and He will divide the spoil with the
strong; because He has poured out His life in death: and lets Himself be
numbered with the transgressors; while He takes on Himself the sins of many,
and makes intercession for the those who rebel” (Isaiah 52:10 - 53:12).
Conclusion
The
enemies of God falsely claim that Christ’s followers invented everything the
New Testament says about His deity. However, the passages that I have just
quoted show that to be a lie. Not only does the Old Testament clearly reveal
the deity of Christ, but it was written to testify to His deity (John
I quoted the second Psalm in
which God says of the Messiah, “You are
my Son, this day have I begotten you.” And in the third chapter of
John, Christ identifies Himself as that Son. For He said, “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son
of man be lifted up, that whosoever believes on Him should not perish, but
have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only
begotten Son, that whosoever believes on Him should not perish, but have
everlasting life. For, God did not send His Son into the world to
condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who
believes on Him is not condemned: but he who does not believe is condemned
already, because he has not believed on the name of the only begotten Son of
God” (John