Rabbi Schneider - The Greatest Prophecy
Foretold by the Hebrew prophet David, fulfilled by Jesus Himself Messianic prophecy solidifies our faith. Isaiah tells us in Isaiah 53 that the one that came to bring salvation to the world would be rejected by the nation of Israel. Now listen, what John tells us in His gospel. I'm looking at the gospel of John 1:11. Hear the Word of God. John says, "He came to His own". Now, who's His own? "His own" are the Jewish people. Jesus was a Jew. Jesus came as the King of the Jews. "Jesus came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him". And so, by and large, even though some from the nation of Israel did believe in Jesus, the vast majority did not.
Just as Isaiah indicated would happen in Isaiah 53 and even as John said was fulfilled when Jesus came in the flesh, even to this day, many of you know most of the nation of Israel, most of the Jewish people do not believe that Jesus is the Messiah. So messianic prophecy solidifies our faith. When we read how a prophet that came hundreds and hundreds of years before Jesus said that when the Messiah came He'd be rejected by His own people, that the one that came to take their sin in His own body on the tree, the one that died on their behalf would be rejected by them, when you see how those words were fulfilled hundreds of years later at Yeshua's coming, specifically, in a detailed, scientifically measurable way, it builds faith for you to understand that this truly is not just another book, not just another religious book. No, this is the word of God, the absolute unique Word of God.
And so, as we continue to that study in messianic prophecy, I want you just to take that to heart. Because so many in our culture today, as I've said so many times, they're hesitant to declare that Jesus is the only way to heaven. But there is no name under heaven by which men can be saved but the name of Jesus. The Hebrew prophets declared what Messiah would do when He came. He would take our sin. There's never been another human being in the past that has taken in their own body the sin of mankind, nor will they'll be in the future. Jesus did it. And when He came, many rejected Him, including His own people. But that doesn't negate the fact that this is the Word of God and there will never be another Messiah, past, present or future. That's what the Bible says. That at the end of the age, every knee will bow, every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Yeshua HaMashiach is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
Let's continue on. We've seen so many instances of how Yeshua fulfilled messianic prophecy to the line. They would come through His genealogy to the place that he'd be born. Let's continue on now and see if the Word of God in the Tanakh, in the Hebrew Bible had anything to say about resurrection. Because the resurrection of Jesus is the pivotal prophecy that was fulfilled. Meaning this: if Jesus wasn't raised from the dead, then we really have no assurance that He's our Messiah. This is why Paul told us in the book of Corinthians that if Jesus has not been raised from the dead, Paul said, then we as followers of His are the biggest fools on the earth. Not only because we gave our life to a lie, because we're believing that Jesus rose from the dead.
Paul said, if he didn't rise from the dead, not only are we the biggest fools on earth for giving ourselves to a lie, but he said, even worse than that, we find ourselves to become liars against God. Because if we're telling people that Jesus rose from the dead, if, in fact, He didn't, we're telling people that God did something that He, in fact, didn't do. So Paul said this all hinges on the reality of Jesus' resurrection. If he did rise from the dead, then once and for all is forever settled in heaven and on earth that Yeshua HaMashiach is the only way to the Father and the only Savior of the world, because no one else has ever risen from the dead. But Paul said if He didn't rise from the dead, that our whole faith is in vain. And he went into great detail about this. He even went on to name all the people that Jesus appeared to after He rose from the dead. But did the Hebrew Bible say anything about the Messiah rising from the dead?
Well, let's go to the book of Psalms. We're looking at Psalm 16. And I'm going to be reading now from the ninth and the 10th verse. Hear the Word of God. David is speaking. "Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoices; my flesh also will dwell securely. For you will not". He's speaking to the Lord now. "For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol; nor will You allow Your Holy One to undergo decay". Now, what is David referring to here? He's referring to his confidence that the Holy One would be raised from the dead. When he says, "nor will you allow your Holy One to undergo decay," what he's talking about is that the physical body of Jesus will not decay in the ground and return to the dust. David saw in the spirit that Messiah would rise from the dead. And so, David said, "My heart rejoices". And I'm exceedingly glad because David knew he had a future.
Listen again. "Therefore, my heart is glad and my glory rejoices". Because David saw the ultimate victory. He knew that his life was not finished to death. "My flesh also will dwell securely". In other words, he knew that when he died, it wasn't going to be over. He knew that he would be bodily raised from the dead according to the book of Daniel. He continues on. He's speaking directly to the Lord now. He says, "For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol; nor will you allow your Holy One to undergo decay".
Once again, referring to Messiah Jesus, that His body would not undergo decay. He was going to physically and literally raised from the dead so that the disciples could even see Him being lifted off the ground at the mount of Olives. Now, how do we know for sure that David was referring to what I'm saying? We know, beloved, because the Word of God interprets the Word of God. And as I've said in the past, we look through the lens of the new testament to interpret the Old Testament. Remember when Yeshua, in the book of Luke, at the end of the book of Luke, He took His disciples on a journey through the law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms, and He uncovered for them all the things that had been written about Himself in the Hebrew Bible. In other words, Yeshua opened His disciples' eyes to be able to see Himself in the Hebrew Bible. He opened their eyes so that they could understand the Hebrew Bible correctly and see that it all pointed to Him.
So with that concept in mind, let's see what the book of Acts tells us. I'm going out to the book of Acts 2:22-32. Peter is declaring, "Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus, the Nazarene, Yeshua of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know, this man, delivered over by the predetermine plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death". He's speaking to Israel. "But God raised Him again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power". Now, what's going to happen now? Peter is going to take us back to this portion of Scripture that we've been studying. We're going to go back now to Psalm 16. Peter is going to quote it. "For David says of Him, 'I saw the Lord always in my presence, for He is at my right hand, so that I will not be shaken.'" Listen now. "Therefore, my heart was glad".
This is what I just read from Psalm 16. "Therefore my heart was glad and my tongue exulted; moreover my flesh also will live in hope because you will not abandon my soul to Sheol (to hades), nor will your holy one undergo decay". And then David just continues on and he speaks of the resurrection. "You have made known to me the ways of life; you will make me full of gladness with your presence. Brethren, I confidently say to you regarding the patriarch David, that he both died and was buried in his tomb is with us to this day.
And so, because he was a prophet and knew that God had sworn to Him with an oath to seat one of His descendants on His throne, He looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of Christ, of the anointed one, that He was neither abandoned to Hades, nor did His flesh suffer decay. This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses". So striking connection between Psalm 16, Peters words in Acts 2, and the reality of the physical resurrection of the Messiah King Jesus Himself, foretold by the Hebrew prophet David fulfilled by Jesus Himself. Again, a striking example of how the New Testament and the Tanakh fit together, beloved one, like a hand in a glove. They're not two separate Bibles. They fit together like a hand in a glove, all pointing to Jesus.
Finally, we see the prophecy in the Tanakh that although Israel right now has, in the vast majority of their population rejected Jesus as their Messiah, eventually there's going to be a critical mass of Jewish people that will believe Him and receive Him. I'm reading from the book of Zechariah 12:10. This speaks of the coming of Jesus. And what's going to happen when He appears in the sky? "Every eye will see Him," the scripture says. Listen, "I will pour out of the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem", the Lord is speaking, "the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced". This is the Old Testament. God is saying, "I'm going to pour out my Spirit on my people and they'll be able to look on Me whom they have pierced".
Who do they pierce? God said, "They pierced Me". That's Jesus, God clothed in humanity. "They will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him", He's speaking of the Son, God and the Son, "as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn". He continues in Zechariah 13:1. "In that day a fountain will be opened up for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for impurity". Israel is going to have their eyes open. When Jesus appears in the sky and every eye sees Him, Israel will weep when they see Jesus for who He is. Not some Gentile idol, but rather, the King of the Jews, the most Jewish being a person that ever lived that died in their place to redeem them.
I love the New Testament. In the book of Romans 11 beginning in verse 25, Paul says, "For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery-so you will not be wise in your own estimation-that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; and so then all Israel will be saved; just that is as written, 'The deliver will come from Zion, he will remove on godliness from Jacob. This is my covenant with them, when I take away their sins.'" God has a plan for Israel. His gift and calling upon Israel is irrevocable. And even though at times it feels like, will they ever believe? I mean, there's such resistance amongst the Jewish population towards Jesus. But God is going to break through that because things on planet earth are going to get a lot more difficult. And eventually God Himself will appear in the sky, and He will appear as the one that was pierced through for the salvation of His covenant people, Israel, and the entire world.
And at that point, Jewish people will see Him for who He is, not the God of the golem, not the God of the Gentiles, but God Himself clothed in humanity. God said, "They will look on me," in Zachariah, "whom they have pierced and they will mourn for me". They will be so sorry and regretful for what they did, what they thought, the things they said, and their rejection. Finally and lastly, beloved, I want to talk about prophecy concerning Messiah's second coming. I'm going straight away to the book of Daniel 7:13 and 14. Hear the Word of God. We're talking about Messiah second coming. Daniel speaking of the end of the age, one of the most profound visions in the entire Word of God. Jesus quoted Daniel in Matthew 24. When they asked Jesus about His second coming in the end of the age, Jesus said, "It's as the prophet Daniel said".
Now we're going to hear what Daniel said. "I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven one like a son of man was coming, and He came up to the Ancient of Days and was presented before Him. And to Him was given dominion, glory, and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations, and men of every language might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not pass away; and His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed". Daniel said, "Behold, I looked into the clouds and I saw one like the Son of Man coming". This one like the Son of man that was coming came up to the Ancient of Days. He came up to the Father and the Father gave over to the Son of Man all the kingdoms that they should worship Him and serve Him forever.
"His kingdom," Daniel concludes, "is one that will not pass away". Daniel literally saw the result of Jesus' second coming, the Father turning everything over unto Him and everybody and everything submitting to the Son of Man. This is a direct prophecy of the second coming of Jesus, of the return of the Lord. We find this written about in the book of Matthew 24:30 today, where Matthew says this. He's quoting the words of Jesus. Matthew is recording Jesus' words here. "And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear on the sky". Again, Jesus is answering the disciples' questions. "When will be your coming? And what are the signs of the end of the age". And Jesus answered and Matthew records it. "And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn".
Very similar to what Zachariah said: "They'll look upon Him and mourn for Him". "Then all the tribes will mourn, they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory". Jesus is coming back. And for me, it's easier now to have that resonating as a heartbeat within me when I see what is happening in the earth, the hatred, the division, the poison, the chaos, the breakdown of values. Beloved, Jesus is getting ready to return. I don't know if that's going to be tomorrow, next week. I don't know when it's going to be. all I know is I see it happening. I see the world getting more and more into a state of deep darkness. And that will be the state the world will be in before Yeshua returns.
What does that mean? It means that we need to get ready. I hope that you've taken away from this series that we've done on messianic prophecy that the word of God is true, it's reliable, you can trust it, it's your anchor and it's your lifeline. The saying of today that many roads lead us to the same destination, it's not true. Yeshua said, "I am the way, I am the truth, and I am the life. And no man," he said "comes to the Father but through Me". This series on messianic prophecy should help you, I pray, believe that. For Jesus to have fulfilled so many prophecies that were written hundreds and sometimes over a thousand years before His lifetime, to see Him literally fulfill it, to see the New Testament writers be able to go back into the ancient writings from the Hebrew Bible and show us how Jesus fulfilled it, that should strengthen our faith.
And so as you stand today as a witness for Jesus in a culture that by and large rejects Him and biblical values, beloved, be strong. God's people have always been a remnant. And if you're listening today and you've never received Jesus into your life, to be your Lord, if you've never received Him and asked Him to come into your life and forgive you, if you've never made a decision to leave everything else behind to follow Him, today is your day to do it. Simply say, "Jesus, forgive me. Come into my life. I want to follow you". If you've made that decision today, beloved, would you write us and let us know. We want to put some help into your hands.