What Do the Scriptures Say About the Messiah?

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Consider a sampling:</p> </div> </div> <div id="section2" class="section"> <h2 id="p5" data-pid="5"><strong>What did God promise Abraham about the Messiah?</strong></h2> <div class="pGroup"> <p id="p6" data-pid="6" class="sb">God told faithful Abraham that the Messiah—the promised “seed”— would be one of his descendants. “By means of your seed all nations of the earth will certainly bless themselves due to the fact that you have listened to my voice.”—<a href="/en/wol/bc/r1/lp-e/1102012657/1/0" data-bid="2-1" class="b">Genesis 22:18</a>.</p> </div> </div> <div id="section3" class="section"> <h2 id="p7" data-pid="7"><strong>What did God tell Isaac?</strong></h2> <div class="pGroup"> <p id="p8" data-pid="8" class="sb">God reiterated to Isaac the promise He had made to Abraham: “I will carry out the sworn statement that I swore to Abraham your father, ‘. . . by means of your seed all nations of the earth will certainly bless themselves.’”—<a href="/en/wol/bc/r1/lp-e/1102012657/2/0" data-bid="3-1" class="b">Genesis 26:3, 4</a>.</p> </div> </div> <div id="section4" class="section"> <h2 id="p9" data-pid="9"><strong>What did Moses say about the Messiah?</strong></h2> <div class="pGroup"> <p id="p10" data-pid="10" class="sb">When Israel was about to enter the Land of Promise, Moses told the nation: “A prophet from your own midst, from your brothers, like me, is what Jehovah your God will raise up for you—to him you people should listen.”—<a href="/en/wol/bc/r1/lp-e/1102012657/3/0" data-bid="4-1" class="b">Deuteronomy 18:15</a>.</p> </div> </div> <div id="section5" class="section"> <h2 id="p11" data-pid="11"><strong>What did God promise David about the Messiah?</strong></h2> <div class="pGroup"> <p id="p12" data-pid="12" class="sb">“I shall certainly raise up your seed after you, which will come out of your inward parts; and I shall indeed firmly establish his kingdom. . . . Your very throne will become one firmly established to time indefinite.”—<a href="/en/wol/bc/r1/lp-e/1102012657/4/0" data-bid="5-1" class="b">2 Samuel 7:12,</a><a href="/en/wol/bc/r1/lp-e/1102012657/4/1" data-bid="5-2" class="b"> 16</a>.</p> <p id="p13" data-pid="13" class="sb">“I myself shall place him as firstborn, the most high of the kings of the earth. To time indefinite I shall preserve my loving-kindness toward him, and my covenant will be faithful to him. And I shall certainly set up his seed forever and his throne as the days of heaven.”—<a href="/en/wol/bc/r1/lp-e/1102012657/5/0" data-bid="6-1" class="b">Psalm 89:27-29</a> [89:28-30, <em>TNK</em>].</p> </div> </div> <div id="section6" class="section"> <h2 id="p14" data-pid="14"><strong>How did the prophet Jeremiah confirm these promises?</strong></h2> <div class="pGroup"> <p id="p15" data-pid="15" class="sb">“‘I shall make sprout for David a righteous sprout,’ . . . for this is what Jehovah has said, ‘There will not be cut off in David’s case a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel.’”—<a href="/en/wol/bc/r1/lp-e/1102012657/6/0" data-bid="7-1" class="b">Jeremiah 33:15,</a><a href="/en/wol/bc/r1/lp-e/1102012657/6/1" data-bid="7-2" class="b"> 17</a>.</p> </div> </div> <div id="section7" class="section"> <h2 id="p16" data-pid="16"><strong>What would the Messiah be like?</strong></h2> <div class="pGroup"> <p id="p17" data-pid="17" class="sb">“Upon him the spirit of Jehovah must settle down, the spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the spirit of counsel and of mightiness, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of Jehovah . . . And with righteousness he must judge the lowly ones, and <span id="page24" class="pageNum" aria-hidden="true" data-no="24" data-before-text="24"></span>with uprightness he must give reproof in behalf of the meek ones of the earth. . . . To him even the nations will turn inquiringly.”—<a href="/en/wol/bc/r1/lp-e/1102012657/7/0" data-bid="8-1" class="b">Isaiah 11:1, 2,</a><a href="/en/wol/bc/r1/lp-e/1102012657/7/1" data-bid="8-2" class="b"> 4,</a><a href="/en/wol/bc/r1/lp-e/1102012657/7/2" data-bid="8-3" class="b"> 10</a>.</p> </div> </div> <div id="section8" class="section"> <h2 id="p18" data-pid="18"><strong>Where would the Messiah be born?</strong></h2> <div class="pGroup"> <p id="p19" data-pid="19" class="sb">“You, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, the one too little to get to be among the thousands of Judah, from you there will come out to me the one who is to become ruler in Israel, whose origin is from early times, from the days of time indefinite.”—<a href="/en/wol/bc/r1/lp-e/1102012657/8/0" data-bid="9-1" class="b">Micah 5:2</a> [5:1, <em>TNK</em>].</p> </div> </div> <div id="section9" class="section"> <h2 id="p20" data-pid="20"><strong>When would the Messiah arrive?</strong></h2> <div class="pGroup"> <p id="p21" data-pid="21" class="sb">“There are seventy weeks that have been determined . . . From the going forth of the word to restore and to rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Leader, there will be seven weeks, also sixty-two weeks. . . . After the sixty-two weeks Messiah will be cut off, with nothing for himself. And the city and the holy place the people of a leader that is coming will bring to their ruin. . . . And until the end there will be war.” (<a href="/en/wol/bc/r1/lp-e/1102012657/9/0" data-bid="10-1" class="b">Daniel 9:24-26</a>) Thus, it was foretold that the Messiah was to appear before the destruction of the Second Temple.</p> <p id="p22" data-pid="22" class="sb">The “seventy weeks” of years—490 years—began in 455 B.C.E., the year that Persian King Artaxerxes gave Nehemiah the commission to restore and rebuild Jerusalem. The 69 weeks “until Messiah the Leader” ended in 29 C.E.<a id="footnotesource1" data-fnid="1" class="fn" href="/en/wol/fn/r1/lp-e/1102012657/0">a</a></p> </div> </div> <div id="section10" class="section"> <h2 id="p23" data-pid="23"><strong>Why would the Messiah have to die?</strong></h2> <div class="pGroup"> <p id="p24" data-pid="24" class="sb">Isaiah foretold that the Messiah would be rejected, “severed from the land of the living ones,” and his life would serve “as a guilt offering.” He would “bring a righteous standing to many people; and their errors he himself [would] bear.” (<a href="/en/wol/bc/r1/lp-e/1102012657/10/0" data-bid="11-1" class="b">Isaiah 52:13–53:12;</a><a href="/en/wol/bc/r1/lp-e/1102012657/10/1" data-bid="11-2" class="b"> Leviticus 7:1</a>) He would provide the sacrifice “to finish off sin, and to make atonement for error.”—<a href="/en/wol/bc/r1/lp-e/1102012657/11/0" data-bid="12-1" class="b">Daniel 9:24</a>.</p> </div> </div> <div id="section11" class="section"> <h2 id="p25" data-pid="25"><strong>How would the Messiah “cause sacrifice and gift offering to cease”?—</strong><a href="/en/wol/bc/r1/lp-e/1102012657/12/0" data-bid="13-1" class="b"><strong>Daniel 9:27</strong></a><strong>.</strong></h2> <div class="pGroup"> <p id="p26" data-pid="26" class="sb">After the Messiah’s perfect sacrifice, other sacrifices would no longer be needed nor mandated by God. That is why God could allow the temple to be destroyed and its sacrifices to cease.</p> </div> </div> </div> <div class="groupFootnote"><div id="footnote1" data-fnid="1" class="fn-ref"><p id="p28" data-pid="28"><a href="#footnotesource1" class="fn-symbol">a</a> See <a href="/en/wol/pc/r1/lp-e/1102012657/0/0"><em>Insight on the Scriptures,</em> Volume 2, pages 899-904</a>, published by Jehovah’s Witnesses.</p></div> </div> <div class="boxSupplement"><aside><div id="p30" data-pid="30" class="boxTtl rule"><h2><span id="page25" class="pageNum" aria-hidden="true" data-no="25" data-before-text="25"></span><strong>What Do You Think?</strong></h2></div> <div class="boxContent"><p id="p31" data-pid="31" class="sc"> Over time, many have claimed to be the Messiah or have been hailed as the Messiah by their followers.</p> <h3 id="p32" data-pid="32"><strong>Has anyone ever fit the prophetic picture?</strong></h3> <p id="p33" data-pid="33" class="sc"> Many people thought Jesus did so, since he appeared at the right time and place and was a descendant of David. (<a href="/en/wol/bc/r1/lp-e/1102012657/13/0" data-bid="14-1" class="b">Matthew 1:6,</a><a href="/en/wol/bc/r1/lp-e/1102012657/13/1" data-bid="14-2" class="b"> 16;</a><a href="/en/wol/bc/r1/lp-e/1102012657/13/2" data-bid="14-3" class="b"> Luke 2:4-7</a>) Despite the negative image his name evokes for some, it is instructive to consider what he said and did.</p> <h3 id="p34" data-pid="34"><strong>What did he <em>really</em> teach?</strong></h3> <p id="p35" data-pid="35" class="sc"> He never claimed to be God, but said: “The Father is greater than I am.”—<a href="/en/wol/bc/r1/lp-e/1102012657/14/0" data-bid="15-1" class="b">John 14:28</a>.</p> <p id="p36" data-pid="36" class="sc"> The principles he taught were all in line with the Hebrew Scriptures. He said: “Do not think I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I came, not to destroy, but to fulfill; for truly I say to you that sooner would heaven and earth pass away than for one smallest letter or one particle of a letter to pass away from the Law.”—<a href="/en/wol/bc/r1/lp-e/1102012657/15/0" data-bid="16-1" class="b">Matthew 5:17, 18</a>.</p> <p id="p37" data-pid="37" class="sc"> He would never have approved the shocking things that Christendom’s churches have taught and done—supposedly in his name.</p> <p id="p38" data-pid="38" class="sc"> He was fair and honest as well as kind to women, children, and the sick. He defended the poor and the oppressed.</p> <p id="p39" data-pid="39" class="sc"> People of all kinds were drawn to his good qualities and his teaching.</p> </div> </aside></div> <div class="boxSupplement rule"><aside><div id="p41" data-pid="41" class="boxTtl emphasized"><h2><strong>A Time Line of Messianic Prophecies</strong></h2></div> <div class="boxContent"><ol class="timeline"><li class="timeBCE"><p id="p42" data-pid="42" class="sc">2000 B.C.E.</p> </li> <li class="timeBCE"><p id="p43" data-pid="43" class="sc">1943 B.C.E.—Abraham enters Promised Land</p> </li> <li class="timeBCE"><p id="p44" data-pid="44" class="sc">1858 B.C.E.—Jacob born</p> </li> <li class="timeBCE"><p id="p45" data-pid="45" class="sc">1513 B.C.E.—Moses receives the Law</p> </li> <li class="timeBCE"><p id="p46" data-pid="46" class="sc">1077 B.C.E.—David anointed as king</p> </li> <li class="timeBCE"><p id="p47" data-pid="47" class="sc">1026 B.C.E.—First Temple inaugurated</p> </li> <li class="timeBCE"><p id="p48" data-pid="48" class="sc">c. 778-732 B.C.E.—Isaiah prophesies</p> </li> <li class="timeBCE"><p id="p49" data-pid="49" class="sc">c. 647-580 B.C.E.—Jeremiah prophesies</p> </li> <li class="timeBCE"><p id="p50" data-pid="50" class="sc">c. 618-536 B.C.E.—Daniel prophesies</p> </li> <li class="timeBCE"><p id="p51" data-pid="51" class="sc">607 B.C.E.—First Temple destroyed<a id="footnotesource2" data-fnid="2" class="fn" href="/en/wol/fn/r1/lp-e/1102012657/1">b</a></p> </li> <li class="timeBCE"><p id="p52" data-pid="52" class="sc">515 B.C.E.—Second Temple inaugurated</p> </li> <li class="timeBCE"><p id="p53" data-pid="53" class="sc">455 B.C.E.—Commission to rebuild Jerusalem</p> </li> <li class="timeCE"><p id="p54" data-pid="54" class="sc">29 C.E.—“69 weeks” of Daniel’s prophecy end</p> </li> <li class="timeCE"><p id="p55" data-pid="55" class="sc">70 C.E.—Second Temple destroyed</p> </li> </ol> </div> <div class="groupFootnote"><div id="footnote2" data-fnid="2" class="fn-ref"><p id="p57" data-pid="57"><a href="#footnotesource2" class="fn-symbol">b</a> For evidence supporting this date, see the <a href="/en/wol/pc/r1/lp-e/1102012657/1/0">October 1</a> and <a href="/en/wol/pc/r1/lp-e/1102012657/2/0">November 1, 2011</a>, issues of <em>The Watchtower</em></p></div> </div> </aside></div> <p id="p58" data-pid="58" class="sb"></p>  <div class="pswp" tabindex="-1" role="dialog" aria-hidden="true"> <div class="pswp__bg"></div> <div class="pswp__scroll-wrap">  <div class="pswp__container"> <div class="pswp__item"></div> <div class="pswp__item"></div> <div class="pswp__item"></div> </div> <div class="pswp__ui pswp__ui--hidden"> <div class="pswp__top-bar"> <div class="pswp__counter"></div> <button class="pswp__button pswp__button--close" title="Close (Esc)"></button> <button class="pswp__button pswp__button--fs" title="Toggle fullscreen"></button> <button class="pswp__button pswp__button--zoom" title="Zoom in/out"></button> <div class="pswp__preloader"> <div 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What Do the Scriptures Say About the Messiah? — Watchtower ONLINE LIBRARY