HAVE FAITH IN GOD'S PROPHETIC WORD! -The Messiah Appears!

The prophet Daniel recorded a vital Messianic prophecy. In the first year of Darius the Mede, he realized that Jerusalem's 70-year desolation was near its end.  (Jeremiah 29:10; Daniel 9:1-4) While Daniel was praying, the angel Gabriel came and revealed that 'seventy weeks had been determined to finish off sin.'  The Messiah would be cut off in the middle of the 70th week.  "Seventy weeks of years" began in 455 B.C.E. When Persian King Artaxerxes I 'sent forth the word to rebuild Jerusalem.' (Daniel 9:20-27; Moffatt; Nehemiah 2:1-8) The Messiah would come after 7 weeks plus 62 weeks. These 483 years ran from 455 B.C.E. to 29 C.E., when Jesus was baptized and God anointed him as the Messiah, or Christ. (Luke 3:21, 22) Jesus 'finished off sin' by giving his life as a ransom in 33 C.E. (Mark 10:45) What sound reasons for having faith in God's prophetic word!" 

Faith in God's prophetic word makes it possible for us to identify the Messiah. Of the many Messianic prophecies recorded in the Hebrew Scriptures, a  number were directly applied to Jesus by writers of the Christian Greek Scriptures.  To illustrate: Jesus was born of a virgin in Bethlehem.  (Isaiah 7:14; Micah 5:2; Matthew 1:18-23; Luke 2:4-11) He was called out of Egypt, and babes were killed after his birth.  (Jeremiah 31:15; Hosea 11:1; Matthew 2:13-18)  Jesus carried our sicknesses.  (Isaiah 53:4; Matthew 8:16, 17) As foretold, he entered Jerusalem on the colt of an ass.  (Zechariah 9:9; John 12:12-15) The psalmist's words were fulfilled after Jesus' impalement when soldiers apportioned  his clothing among themselves and cast lots for his inner garment.  (Psalm 22:18; John 19:23, 24)  The fact that Jesus' bones were not broken and that he was pierced also fulfilled prophecy.  (Psalm 34:20; Zechariah 12:10; John 19:33-37) These are but a few examples of Messianic prophecies applied to Jesus by divinely inspired Bible writers. 

Next time: Half the Messianic King! 

From the Watchtower magazine, 2000