In this episode of Discovering the Jewish Jesus, Rabbi Schneider delves into the fascinating world of Messianic prophecy. He discusses how prophecies in the Hebrew Bible foresaw the coming of Jesus, revealing him not only as a figure of historical significance but as a fulfillment of divine messianic predictions. Rabbi Schneider explores the unique, supernatural birth of Jesus, linking it to past miraculous births within the scriptures.
He didn’t come in like a king. He didn’t come in with a lot of pomp. He came in, the Bible says, gentle and humble, mounted on a donkey. We are continuing our study today in messianic prophecy. I laid such a foundation for how to understand what the New Testament writers meant when they quoted an Old Testament scripture and they said that this scripture had been fulfilled through Messiah Jesus. It’s a broad and it’s a deep subject and it’s not as simplistic as some people think. It’s not just arithmetic. There are many colors and nuances in which messianic prophecy is fulfilled in the person and by the ministry of Messiah Jesus. We are presently at this stage in our journey down the road of messianic prophecy. We’re looking at predictive prophecy. We’re not looking at types and shadows. We’re looking at specific prophecies that were in the Hebrew Bible that were scientifically, historically, visibly already fulfilled through Messiah Jesus. And then we’re going to also get into some future prophecies that we’re waiting yet to see fulfilled. But I want to go back and just briefly review some of the prophecies that have been fulfilled that I’ve already covered in the earlier episodes in this series in the previous seasons. We look, for example, at the fact that the Hebrew scriptures revealed that Messiah would be eternal, that he’s not just a man. He is the Son of God. He is God himself clothed in humanity. As the Hebrew prophet said, his goings forth are from long ago or from everlasting. So the Hebrew Bible specifically revealed the nature of Messiah, that he would be eternal. Now, why is this important? Because some of you may have never questioned or thought about the specific issue about the Hebrew Scriptures prophesying that Messiah’s goings forth would be from everlasting, from before time was. But the reason this is important to the study of Messianic prophecy is because in traditional Judaism today, the fact that Messiah is eternal is not taught. Rather, what traditional Judaism believes is that the Messiah would just be a man, although a highly anointed man, and that there is potentially a Messiah in every generation. This is rabbinic teaching, and it depends upon the behavior of the Jewish people whether the potential Messiah in every generation will in fact be revealed as the Messiah. And so rabbinic Judaism’s view of the Messiah is not that he’s eternal, but rather that he’s just a man that’s highly anointed. But we believe that the Hebrew scriptures taught that the Messiah would be more than just an ordinary man, that his goings forth would have been from everlasting, which they are, and that he is, in fact, eternal. And then we taught that Messiah in the Hebrew Bible is referred to as Emmanuel, meaning God with us, or specifically, with us is God. I love that. The Hebrew title of the Messiah, Emmanuel, is actually translated literally, With us is God. And so we read in the Hebrew prophet that his name shall be called Emmanuel, meaning God is with us. And of course, we see this fulfilled in the Gospels. We taught about that divine synchronicity between the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament once again in the earlier episodes. And then we taught that Messiah is actually called or revealed as the Son of God in the Tanakh or in the Hebrew Bible. And I showed you how that was fulfilled in the New Testament. Then we traced Yeshua’s genealogy from Abraham through the whole line of Isaac and Jacob and eventually coming through the tribe of Judah and being the offspring of David. Messiah is going to come from the line of David. So we traced his genealogy from the very beginning, showing how the Hebrew Bible gave us insight as to when Messiah would arise, how we would know he is the one by knowing his genealogy, where he would come from. And then we looked at the fact that Messiah would come into the world through a supernatural birth. And we talked about this whole concept of supernatural births rooted in the Torah, Or in the Tanakh, we look, for example, at Abraham impregnating his wife Sarah when Abraham was 100 and she was 90. And it was a scientific impossibility. This is why in the book of Bereshit, Genesis chapter 17 and 18, where the Lord reveals to Abraham that his wife’s going to conceive, when his wife Sarah heard about it, she laughed. And the Lord said, why did she laugh? Is anything too difficult? Is anything impossible for God? And so when we look at the forefather of all believers, Avraham, and the one that is called the first Jew, Abraham, we see that his progression, his genealogy happens supernaturally, meaning the genealogy going forward I’m referring to now, that his son, was brought into the world supernaturally because Sarah conceived when she was past the age of childbearing. And so we saw how this prophecy, if you will, this prophetic insight into the road that Yeshua would come into the world through was ultimately fulfilled when the most unique supernatural birth of all took place when Miriam, her Hebrew name, or Mary, conceived supernaturally by the Holy Spirit. So this is beyond just conceiving at age 90. She was still a young woman, but she conceived without ever having sexual relations with a man. And then we read in the book of Daniel, chapter 9, the prophecy that many see as given the time at which Messiah would come. In Daniel 9, we see that Messiah would come into the world before the destruction of the second temple. And then we continue by seeing where he would be born. that the Hebrew Bible specifically tells us that it would come from the town of Bethlehem. And all these scriptures, beloved, we see fulfilled in the brichadashah, a scientific impossibility that all these scriptures, many of them already known to be messianic prophecies, Yeshua fulfilled historically in literal time and literal space. And then we read in the Hebrew Bible, in the book of Malachi, that Yeshua or the Messiah’s coming into the earth would be preceded by a messenger. The Lord said that before he sent Messiah, before he sent his messenger, he would be preceded, the messenger would be preceded by Elijah. And so when Yeshua walked upon the earth, the rabbinic teachers and scholars came up to Jesus and his disciples and said, if you’re the Messiah, where’s Elijah? Because our prophets told us that before Messiah came, Elijah would come first. And Jesus said, John the Baptist is Elijah if you can receive it. You see, at the end of the day, we have to understand that there’s only one way to correctly interpret messianic prophecy, and that’s through the lens of the Lord. It’s through the eyes of God. And so if God says that this particular prophecy is fulfilled in Yeshua, Whether we thought it would be fulfilled in the way that it was fulfilled or not, we have to step back and say, God knew what he meant when he said that Elijah would come before Messiah. And he knew what he meant when he said, John the Baptist is Elijah who was to come. And so my point is, is that sometimes when the New Testament writers made claims that Yeshua had fulfilled a certain prophecy in the Hebrew Bible. Those that were alive at the time that had rejected Yeshua argued that Yeshua had not in fact fulfilled the Messianic prophecy. They said, well, that’s not what that Messianic prophecy meant, or Yeshua didn’t fulfill the Messianic prophecy in the way that we understood that the Messiah would fulfill the Messianic prophecy. But at the end of the day, When Father God gave the Messianic prophecy to the writers of scriptures, he knew what he meant when he had the prophet write it down. And when he gave the prophet the words of information to write, Father knew that the way that the scripture was going to be fulfilled was in Yeshua.
SPEAKER 01 :
You’re listening to Discovering the Jewish Jesus with Rabbi Schneider, and he’ll be right back. But first, a quick announcement.
SPEAKER 02 :
The Old Testament is more than a collection of traditions. Rather, it paints a rich and colorful picture of Jesus, proving that He is indeed the Messiah. Drawing from Hebrew tradition, where prophecy is multidimensional, in Messianic Prophecy Revealed, Rabbi Kurt Schneider unpacks Scripture that not only declares the future, but he reveals how the whole of Scripture points to Christ. Call 800-777-7835 or visit discoveringthejewishjesus.com and be absolutely confident that Jesus is the Messiah. Messianic Prophecy Revealed.
SPEAKER 01 :
This book really does build absolute confidence that the Hebrew Bible points to Jesus as Messiah. So make sure to get your copy of Messianic Prophecy Revealed. And now back to Rabbi with the second half of today’s lesson.
SPEAKER 03 :
All scripture needs to be interpreted through the lens of Yeshua and the brichadashah, the New Testament, because Yeshua is the fulfillment of it all. So even though some prophecy may not have been fulfilled like the Hebrew writers expected, Or sometimes the New Testament took out a portion from the Hebrew Bible and said Yeshua had fulfilled it, even though the writers of the Hebrew Bible, or those, I should say, rather, that read the Hebrew Scriptures during the time of Yeshua weren’t expecting a prophecy to be fulfilled. And I explained all this in the earlier episodes when, for example, I talked about How Matthew said concerning Jesus, out of Egypt did I call my son. Because remember, the angel of the Lord spoke to Joseph, Yeshua’s father, and said, take the child to Egypt because Herod was putting the male Hebrew children to death. And then after Herod had passed away, the angel again spoke to Joseph and said, take the child out of Egypt and bring him back to Israel. So Matthew quotes this scripture out of Egypt that I call my son, take it from the book of Hosea and applies it to Jesus and says, Jesus fulfilled the prophecy because Jesus was in Egypt with Joseph. And when Herod had passed, he brought Yeshua out of Egypt back into Israel. But upon first reading in the book of Hosea, when you read out of egypt did i call my son in the original context it didn’t appear that that was actually a prophecy pertaining to something in the future it seemed to be just a historical note that the lord was speaking about in referring to israel that out of egypt did he bring his people israel but matthew uses that scripture to say yeshua fulfilled it my point is beloved one that messianic prophecy ultimately has to be understood through the lens of Father God and the New Testament writers, regardless of what anybody thought the prophecy meant or didn’t mean at other times in history. Jesus is the fulfillment of all of scripture. That’s why Yeshua took his disciples on a journey beginning with the first book in the Hebrew Bible and showed them the things that concerned himself. Well, as we continued on, we said the Hebrew Bible talked about Messiah being a messenger of good news. And you know what? I’m so far into the review now, I’m just going to go right ahead into some new teaching today. We read in the Hebrew Bible, this is really important, that Messiah would enter Jerusalem seated… on a donkey. So I’m going to read from the Hebrew prophet Zechariah. I’m reading Zechariah chapter 9, verse 9. “‘Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you. He is just and endowed with salvation, humble and mounted on a donkey, even on a colt, the full of a donkey.'” So the king is coming. Behold, the prophet prophesies, your king is coming to you mounted on a donkey. And so we read in the New Testament, Yeshua is being led into Jerusalem on a donkey. I’m reading from the book of Matthew. We’re going to read a little bit of a lengthy section of scripture, but I want you to get this. Matthew 21. Verses one through nine, hear the word of God. When they had approached Jerusalem and had come to Bethphage at the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples saying to them, go into the village opposite you and immediately you will find a donkey tied there and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, the Lord has need of them and immediately he will send them. This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet. And so what is Matthew referring to here? He’s referring to the passage in Zechariah that I just read. And so Matthew continues once again. This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet. “‘Say to the daughter of Zion,’ here we go, “‘Behold, your king is coming to you, “‘gentle and mounted on a donkey, “‘even on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.'” And then he continues on to elaborate. And then in verse nine, he says, “‘The crowds going ahead of him “‘and those who follow were shouting, “‘Hosanna to the son of David, “‘blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'” And so this is really a remarkable insight into the nature of God. First of all, we’ve seen fulfillment of messianic prophecy. That alone should solidify your faith in Jesus, that he’s not one of many, he’s not a messiah that might be good for you, but he’s not necessarily the savior of people that live in other parts of the world that have grown up with different religions. No, the claims of Yeshua are exclusive. Unless you believe that I am he, you will die in your sins. God gave us, Father God gave us these messianic prophecies to solidify and secure our faith in the only begotten Son of God. There is no other way into heaven by which men could be saved. But I also want you to see insight into this text we’re looking at here. I want you to gain insight into the nature of God and of Mashiach, of Messiah. How did he enter Jerusalem? Riding on a donkey, a beast of burden, He came in humble. He didn’t come in like a king. He didn’t come in with a lot of pomp. He came in, the Bible says, gentle and humble, mounted on a donkey. It’s an amazing thing to realize and to seek to comprehend in a greater way that God, the all-powerful God, the one that has been from everlasting, the one that has always been, the one that could do anything he wants to do and no one can stop him or tie his hands, he is gentle and humble of heart. Yeshua said, learn of me for I am gentle and humble of heart and you will find rest for your souls. Yeshua said, humble yourself and you will be exalted. Jesus himself is gentle and humble. And so he comes into Jerusalem mounted on a donkey, a beast of burden, revealing the humble and the gentle nature of God. That the God of the universe, the eternal God, has put himself in a position that you and I can touch his heart. That when you and I choose to love him, When you and I choose to love Jesus, when you and I choose to sacrifice and choose to follow Jesus, even when it hurts, it moves the heart of God. He’s touched by our feelings. He’s touched by our love. We can actually add to his happiness when we choose to please him and love him. Even though God is complete and needs nothing, there’s a mystery here that he gets joy when you and I love him. The Bible says that all the angels in heaven rejoice when one sinner repents. God is moved, beloved ones, by our love. Why? Because he’s gentle and humble and has voluntarily put himself in a position. The all-powerful God has stooped down low and put himself in a position where you and I can touch him. We can make him weep. The Bible says that the Holy Spirit can be grieved. We see that when all the people were weeping because Lazarus had died, it says that Jesus wept. We can either move Him, beloved, to joy, or we can grieve the Holy Spirit and cause sadness in His heart. That is God’s genius in creating you and I in His own image. We can touch this humble one, this gentle one that rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. The question is, what will you do? Will you humble yourself too? Will we pull back and disconnect from everything that is causing us to be separated from the Lord? And will we say, Jesus, I want to love you. I want to touch your heart. I want to put you first. I want to do whatever I need to do so that you can experience my love and that we can be united together. Father God, prepare me to meet Jesus at the marriage supper of the Lamb and help me to walk with humility in gentleness of spirit, full of mercy and full of peace. Beloved, I remember over 40 years ago, reading in the book of Ephesians, that I had been raised up with Christ and was seated with Him there in heavenly places, and that literally changed my life. It brought me from looking down in defeat to looking up, realizing that I had victory in Jesus. And the same is true for every one of us that are His. I want to encourage you today, beloved ones, if you’re being blessed by the Lord through this ministry, to financially support it. The Bible tells us that when Abraham was called to offer up his son and he obeyed, the Lord’s response to him was this, because you have done this thing, Abraham, I will greatly bless you. And, you know, Jesus said to us that when we honor him with our finances, it comes back to us pressed down, good measure and running over into our lap. We’re instructed to financially support the teachers that are feeding us. I want to ask you today in sincerity and in truth, if God’s blessing you through this ministry, please honor him so we can continue to reach the world.
SPEAKER 01 :
Amen. And as the Lord leads you to support Discovering the Jewish Jesus today, give online at discoveringthejewishjesus.com or give us a call. Our number is 800-777-7835. And when you give to this ministry, we love blessing you right back. So we’ll send you Rabbi Schneider’s exclusive monthly teaching booklet. It’s packed with a lot of insights and a bonus lesson material. Plus, our latest newsletter will also send you and it keeps you connected with exclusive content and exciting ministry updates, just like the crusade in Nigeria we just completed. And then I also want to remind you that we’ve got a complimentary resource package that explores the wisdom of the Aaronic Blessing. This free gift includes a PDF guide along with an audio file that walks you through each beautiful phrase of this special blessing. And this blessing won’t be available for much longer. We’ve got a new free gift coming out in December. So make sure you get yours today. In it, you’ll discover these ancient words and how they influence and protect you today. I believe it’s an eye-opening resource. So make sure you get your copy for free at myfreegift.com forward slash peace. That’s myfreegift.com forward slash peace. And now let’s wrap up today’s message with that special blessing.
SPEAKER 03 :
Blessings trump curses, and in the book of Numbers chapter 6, we find the Aaronic blessing that God commanded Moses’ brother Aaron, the high priest, to speak over the children of Israel. There’s power in blessing, beloved ones, so take part in receiving Father’s blessing upon your life today.
The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift you up with His countenance. And the Lord give you, beloved one, His peace. God bless you and shalom.
SPEAKER 01 :
I’m your host, Dustin Roberts, and this program is produced and sponsored by Discovering the Jewish Jesus. Join us again next time when Rabbi Schneider talks about the rejected Messiah. That’s coming up Tuesday on Discovering the Jewish Jesus.
In this episode of Discovering the Jewish Jesus, Rabbi Schneider delves into the fascinating world of Messianic prophecy. He discusses how prophecies in the Hebrew Bible foresaw the coming of Jesus, revealing him not only as a figure of historical significance but as a fulfillment of divine messianic predictions. Rabbi Schneider explores the unique, supernatural birth of Jesus, linking it to past miraculous births within the scriptures.
