Question:

I have many Jewish friends. How can I prove that Jesus is the Son of God
and the Messiah?

Answer:

Good question! Let me make a couple of suggestions:

1. Purchase a book on Judaism and its relationship to Christianity. My
favorite is “You Bring the Bagels, I’ll Bring the Gospel” by Barry
Rubin. It is important that you have a genuine interest and good
knowledge of Judaism in order to influence Jews for Jesus.

2. Consider getting a copy of my book “From Shadow to Reality.” This book
does a very thorough job of showing how we can know for sure that the
entire Old Testament is about Jesus Christ. This book is available at
www.ipibooks.com. Perhaps you could even share this with your Jewish
friends.

3. Do a study with your Jewish friends on the messianic prophecies. I am
copying and pasting below a study which uses some of the more important
prophecies of Jesus (“From Shadow to Reality” has a more thorough study).
I am also copying and pasting a WORD file of the same.

John Oakes

MESSIANIC PROPHECIES

Purpose: To help those who are either skeptical or lack sufficient faith
to move past some point in their Bible study.

John 5:39,40 Question: What is Jesus claiming here? He is claiming
that the Old

Testament, written hundreds of years before he was born, was written

about him! Imagine the implications of this claim.

Luke 24:44 Jesus is claiming to have fulfilled all the prophecies of
the Messiah!

The point: If Jesus? claims above are true, then that would surely imply
that he is the Messiah and that the Bible is the inspired Word of God. In
that case, the Bible would be unlike any other book ever written and Jesus
would be a totally unique figure in history. There are only two
possibilities: Jesus? claim is either true or false. Our job is to
investigate this claim. We will examine the question by taking the point
of view of a die-hard skeptic. As you look at the following Old Testament
prophecies and their fulfillment in the New Testament, for each one, ask
yourself the following questions:

When was the prophecy written down?
Was this clearly a prophecy about the Messiah, or could it be just a
random passage taken out of context, but not obviously about the Messiah?
Can we really be sure that Jesus actually did these things? Are they
recorded in historical records outside the Bible?
Could Jesus have simply done these things so he could manipulate his way
into a false claim to be the Messiah?

As to the first question, the skeptic could argue with the conservative
dates we will supply for the writing of the books involved, but they
should be aware that the entire Old Testament was translated into the
Greek in what is known as the Septuagint Translation by around 200 BC.
Even the skeptic would have to admit that we know without a doubt that
these prophecies were written down at least 250 years before they were
fulfilled.

Isaiah 53:1-9 Written about 750 BC. It should be noted that the Jews
themselves

considered this passage to be about the Messiah.

a. v3 The Messiah to be despised and rejected. Fulfilled in Luke
23:18-24 and

many other places.

b. v5 The Messiah to be “pierced” for our sins. Fulfilled in John
19:31-37.

c. v7 The Messiah will be silent and meek when accused and led to
his death.

Fulfilled in Mark 14:60,61, Mark 15:1-5 and other places.

These prophecies are a great inspiration to believers, but what about the
questions of the skeptics? Knowing the Old Testament, if Jesus was trying
to manipulate his followers, he could have fulfilled v3 and v7, but what
about v5? Could he have arranged to have been pierced when he was already
dead? Hmmm? Well, yes, he could have if he was truly the son of God as
he claimed, then he could arrange for this. If he was just a man, he
surely could not have caused this.

Psalm 22:15-18 Written about 1025 BC. None of these events
occurred during David?s life, so who is he talking about? This must be a
Messianic prophecy.

a. v15 Thirsty. Fulfilled in John 19:28.

b. V16 The Messiah to be crucified. Fulfilled in Mark 15:25. It
should be noted

That crucifixion was not invented for about six hundred years after David
lived.

c. v17 No bones broken. Fulfilled in John 19:32,33, when they
broke the bones

of the thieves, but not of Jesus, because he was already dead.

d. v18 Divided up and gambled for the Messiah?s clothing. These
seem

contradictory, yet both were fulfilled in John 19:23,24.

Comment: The crucifixion of Jesus is an historical fact which even the
die-hard skeptic cannot deny. Jesus could not have arranged for the
fulfillment of any of these prophecies.

Zechariah 11:12,13 Written about 520 BC. Careful study of v7-11 shows
this to be a prophecy about the Messiah.

a. v12 The Messiah will be “priced,” ie. sold for thirty pieces of
silver. Fulfilled in Matthew 26:14-16.

b. V13 The money will be thrown into the Lord?s house and “to the
house of

the potter.” Fulfilled in Matthew 27:3-10.

Comments: Jesus certainly was not there when Judas came to the Jewish
council, suggesting the price of 30 pieces of silver. Neither were the
chief priests trying to fulfill this prophecy. How did Zechariah know
about the potter?s field?

Micah 5:2 Written about 750 BC. This was a well-known Messianic prophecy
to the Jews in Jesus? day.

a. The Messiah must be born in Bethlehem. Fulfilled in Matthew 2:1.

Comments: This event is a matter of historical record. Unless Jesus is
deity, he could not arrange where he was born! By the way, there were two
towns called Bethlehemin Israel, but Jesus was born in the one known as
Bethlehem Ephrathah.

Isaiah 9:1 Written about 750 BC. See v 6,7 to show this is a prophecy of
the Messiah.

a. Despite Micah 5:2, the Messiah must be raised in Galilee.
Fulfilled in Matthew

4:12-15.

Comments: Again, this is a matter of historical record, and if Jesus was
a human, he obviously could not have arranged this fulfillment. If you
look closely at a map of the tribal territories, finding the border
between Zebulun and Naphtali, and compare it to a map which includes
Nazareth, you will see that the town where Jesus was raised is on the
border of these two territories.

Daniel 9:24,25 Written about 550 BC. This is a prophecy concerning “The
Annointed One.” The Hebrew word Messiah means literally the anointed one.

The Messiah will appear in Jerusalem”seventy sevens” (490
years) after the

decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem. This decree was issued by the
Persian

king Artaxerxes in the seventh year of his reign (Ezra 7:8-26), which was
458 BC.

Counting 490 years from 458 BC brings one to the year 33 AD[1]. In other
words,

the Messiah would come to Jerusalemto bring in forgiveness of sins in
about 33

AD.

Comments: The modern-day Jews claim to be waiting for the appearance of
the promised Messiah, yet Daniel predicts he will come in about 33 AD.
Who, then, are the Jews waiting for? Clearly, this fulfillment is a
matter of historical record.

Summary. According to the Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah, he
must:

be despised and rejected.
be
pierced.
be crucified.
have people divide and gamble for his clothing at his crucifixion.
be born in Bethlehem.
be from Galilee, in the vicinity of Nazareth.
be sold for thirty pieces of silver.
come to Jerusalemabout 33 AD.
etc?. There are many other messianic prophecies.

As he claimed in Luke 24:44, Jesus fulfilled all these prophecies and many
more. Many of these events are a matter of historical record, not just
from the Bible. Many or most could not have been fulfilled on purpose by
a manipulative fake. Is there any other conclusion to all these facts
except that:

Jesus is the Messiah, sent by God and

The Bible is the inspired Word of God

Question: Can you think of any other logical explanation of the facts?

Question: Do you see any implications for your life?

Challenge: Begin reading the Bible every day for yourself to “see if what
Paul said was true” (Acts 17:11)

[1] 458-490 = -32, but because there was no year 0 BC, the result is AD 33
rather than AD 32.

John Oakes, PhD