What is Messiah?
“Messiah” is from the Hebrew word “mashiaḥ”, “anointed”) and
“Christ” is the Greek equivalent, “Christos”, meaning “annointed one” or “chosen one.”
“Since we believe human testimony, surely we can believe the greater testimony that comes from God. And God has testified about his Son.
“All who believe in the Son of God know in their hearts that this testimony is true. Those who don’t believe this are actually calling God a liar because they don’t believe what God has testified about his Son.
“And this is what God has testified: He has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have God’s Son does not have life.
“I have written this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know you have eternal life.”
– 1 John 5:9-13
Snapshot.
The Holy Bible is God’s revelation to us about His identity, character or person, purpose, plan, and people. In it we learn that God created all people to know Him, have fellowship with Him, and experience the joy of following His design.
When Adam and Eve disobeyed God, choosing to follow their own desires instead of God’s design, God cast them out of the Garden of Eden and cursed the earth because of their sin. Every person since, all children of Adam, have been born outside of that garden, separated from fellowship with God, and have also chosen to go their own way in opposition to God’s design.
At the time of the first sins, God promised to send a Redeemer who would crush the head of the serpent.
The Bible records a progressive revelation of the identity of this person, telling people what to expect and where to look.
As it turns out in God’s story, the Redeemer is the triune God Himself, in the Person of Jesus Christ. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary, and thus, not a son of Adam, had none of Adam’s original sin. He lived a perfectly sinless life so He was not due the penalty of sin, which is death.
He willingly gave Himself up to die on the cross to satisfy justice against the sin of all people as our substitute.
Jesus Christ rose again from the dead, proving His identity and ability to offer eternal life to all people who will believe Him.
Jesus is not finished. He will be coming again. He will judge the whole earth. He will set up His global kingdom of Israel on earth for a thousand years. The Bible says that what is coming is so good as to be beyond human imagination. He will establish the new heaven and the new earth, where He will be with the people who love Him for all of eternity.
Timeline
Below is a historical timeline of things written, when they were written, and when they were fulfilled.
With this page I hope to show you how God revealed the identity of this person and God’s plan concerning Him. *
What is a Prophet?
God spoke through people to tell the rest of the world what He is doing and what He plans to do. He told them to write it down. Across thousands of years writing has been the most reliable and consistent medium for communicating across multiple generations of people. (Amazing! We’ve seen many other forms of media come and go in recent history, but not writing. For example… gramophone, phonograph, records 33, 45, 78, 8-track, ree-to-reel, cassette tapes, VHS, Beta, CD, DVD, Blue-Ray, MP3, etc.)
A Biblical prophet was not someone who shared his own ideas but someone who relayed messages from God.
There were false prophets at the same time as the true prophets, so God gave people a test they could apply to distinguish the prophets from the liars. Jeremiah 28:9; Deuteronomy 18:22; Isaiah 8:20; Matthew 7:15, 29; 1 Thessalonians 5:20-21; 2 Peter 1:20-21; 1 John 4:1
In a sense, prophets were press secretaries who released information God wanted all people to know.
From the very first sin, God has wanted people to know that He has a solution and that He has not forgotten His promises. The timeline below gives a glimpse of the hope God gave people over generations.
You can imagine the anticipation that was built up among the people who were paying attention.
Luke records some of the people who were paying attention.
- Mary – Luke 1:26-39
- Joseph – Matthew 1:18-25
- Elizabeth – Luke 1:39-45
- John the Baptist – Luke 1:41, John 1:29
- Shepherds – Luke 2:8-20
- Simeon – Luke 2:21-35
- Anna – Luke 2:36-38
- Wise men – Matthew 2:1-12
Leviticus 4:13-15, 27-29; 17:11; Hosea 6:6; Hebrews 9:22
The prophecies below are some of many reasons why they were living with such expectation.
What are all of those promises, when where they given by God, and when were they fulfilled?
It turns out that the Triune God Himself, in the person of Jesus Christ, would come to earth to fulfill the promises, pay the penalty for sin, and clothe all who believe Him in His own perfect righteousness so that we could live with Him forever.
Other people have calculated the mathematical probability of only eight of these prophecies being fulfilled in any one person to be astronomically impossible. Yet there are over three hundred prophecies that were fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ. Here are some of them…
Prophecies and Fulfillment
| ~Date | BCE | Prophecies Concerning Messiah | Prophecy | AD | Fulfillment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4000 | BC | Born of the Seed of Woman | Genesis 3:15 | ~ 4 BC | Galatians 4:4 |
| 2130 | BC | Son of Isaac | Genesis 21:12 | ~ 4 BC | Luke 3:23; Luke 3:34 |
| 2090 | BC | Seed of Abraham will bless all | Genesis 12:3 | ~ 4 BC | Luke 2:10 |
| 2090 | BC | Seed of Abraham * | Genesis 22:18 | ~ 4 BC | Matthew 1:1 |
| 1859 | BC | Tribe of Judah | Genesis 49:10 | ~ 4 BC | Luke 3:23; Luke 3:33 |
| 1410 | BC | Son of Jacob | Numbers 24:17 | ~ 4 BC | Luke 3:23; Luke 3:34 |
| 1407 | BC | Shall Be a Prophet | Deuteronomy 18:18 | ~ 4 BC | Matthew 21:11 |
| 1100 | BC | Born at Bethlehem | Micah 5:2 | ~ 4 BC | Matthew 2:1 |
| 1100 | BC | His Pre-Existence | Micah 5:2 | ~ 4 BC | Colossians 1:17; John 17:5 |
| 1060 | BC | Accused By False Witnesses | Psalm 35:11 | ~ 29 AD | Matthew 26:59-60 |
| 1060 | BC | Fell Under the Cross | Psalm 109:24-25 | ~ 29 AD | John 19:17 |
| 1060 | BC | People Shook Their Heads | Psalm 109:25 | ~ 29 AD | Matthew 27:39 |
| 1060 | BC | Committed Himself to God | Psalm 31:5 | ~ 29 AD | Luke 23:46 |
| 1045 | BC | Ascension | Psalm 68:18 | ~ 29 AD | Acts 1:9 |
| 1044 | BC | Son of God | Psalm 2:7 | ~ 29 AD | Matthew 3:17 |
| 1044 | BC | He Shall Be Called Lord | Psalm 110:1 | ~ 29 AD | Matthew 22:43-45 |
| 1044 | BC | Priest | Psalm 110:4 | ~ 29 AD | Hebrews 3:1 |
| 1044 | BC | King | Psalm 2:6 | ~ 29 AD | Matthew 27:37 |
| 1044 | BC | Stone of Stumbling to Jews | Psalm 118:22 | ~ 29 AD | 1PE 2:7 |
| 1044 | BC | Resurrection | Psalm 16:10 | ~ 29 AD | Acts 2:31 |
| 1044 | BC | Session | Psalm 110:1 | ~ 29 AD | Hebrews 1:3 |
| 1044 | BC | Mocked | Psalm 22:7-8 | ~ 29 AD | Matthew 27:29 |
| 1044 | BC | Hands and Feet Pierced | Psalm 22:16 | ~ 29 AD | Luke 23:33 |
| 1044 | BC | Stared Upon | Psalm 22:17 | ~ 29 AD | Luke 23:35 |
| 1044 | BC | Garments Parted and Lots Cast | Psalm 22:18 | ~ 29 AD | John 19:23-24 |
| 1044 | BC | His Forsaken Cry | Psalm 22:1 | ~ 29 AD | Matthew 27:46 |
| 1044 | BC | Bones Not Broken | Psalm 34:20 | ~ 29 AD | John 19:33 |
| 1044 | BC | Heartbroken | Psalm 22:14 | ~ 29 AD | John 19:34 |
| 1015 | BC | Presented with Gifts | Psalm 72:10 | ~ 29 AD | Matthew 2:1; Matthew 2:11 |
| 1015 | BC | His Zeal for God | Psalm 69:9 | ~ 29 AD | John 2:15-16 |
| 1015 | BC | Teacher of Parables | Psalm 78:2 | ~ 29 AD | Matthew 13:34 |
| 1015 | BC | Betrayed by a Friend | Psalm 41:9 | ~ 29 AD | Matthew 10:4 |
| 1015 | BC | Hated Without a Cause | Psalm 69:4 | ~ 29 AD | John 15:25 |
| 1015 | BC | Friends Stood Afar Off | Psalm 38:11 | ~ 29 AD | Luke 23:49 |
| 1015 | BC | To Suffer Thirst | Psalm 69:21 | ~ 29 AD | John 19:28 |
| 1015 | BC | Gall and Vinegar Offered to Him | Psalm 69:21 | ~ 29 AD | Matthew 27:34 |
| 1004 | BC | Son of David | 2 Samuel 7:12 | ~ 29 AD | Luke 3:31 |
| 766 | BC | Darkness Over the Land | Amos 8:9 | ~ 29 AD | Matthew 27:45 |
| 700 | BC | Silent Before Accusers | Isaiah 53:7 | ~ 29 AD | Matthew 27:12 |
| 700 | BC | Wounded and Bruised | Isaiah 53:5 | ~ 29 AD | Matthew 27:26 |
| 700 | BC | Smitten and Spit Upon | Isaiah 50:6 | ~ 29 AD | Matthew 26:67 |
| 700 | BC | Crucified with Thieves | Isaiah 53:12 | ~ 29 AD | Matthew 27:38 |
| 700 | BC | Made Intercession for His Persecutors | Isaiah 53:12 | ~ 29 AD | Luke 23:34 |
| 700 | BC | Rejected By His Own Countrymen | Isaiah 53:3 | ~ 29 AD | John 7:5; John 7:48 |
| 700 | BC | Buried in a Rich Man’s Tomb | Isaiah 53:9 | ~ 29 AD | Matthew 27:57-60 |
| 690 | BC | Born of a Virgin | Isaiah 7:14 | ~ 29 AD | Matthew 1:18 & 1:24-25 |
| 690 | BC | Family Line of Jesse | Isaiah 11:1 | ~ 29 AD | Luke 3:23; Luke 3:32 |
| 690 | BC | Shall Be Immanuel | Isaiah 7:14 | ~ 29 AD | Matthew 1:23 |
| 690 | BC | Special Anointing of the Holy Spirit | Isaiah 11:2 | ~ 29 AD | Matthew 3:16-17 |
| 685 | BC | Herod Kills Children | Jeremiah 31:15 | ~ 29 AD | Matthew 2:16 |
| 685 | BC | Judge | Isaiah 33:22 | ~ 29 AD | John 5:30 |
| 685 | BC | Preceded by a Messenger | Isaiah 40:3 | ~ 29 AD | Matthew 3:1-2 |
| 685 | BC | Ministry Began in Galilee | Isaiah 9:1 | ~ 29 AD | Matthew 4:12-13 & 17 |
| 685 | BC | Ministry of Miracles | Isaiah 35:5-6 | ~ 29 AD | Matthew 9:35 |
| 685 | BC | Light to Gentiles | Isaiah 60:3 | ~ 29 AD | Acts 13:47-48 |
| 680 | BC | Crucified with Thieves | Isaiah 53:12 | ~ 29 AD | Matthew 27:38 |
| 605 | BC | House of David | Jeremiah 23:5 | ~ 29 AD | Luke 3:23-31 |
| 480 | BC | He Was to Enter Jerusalem on a Donkey | Zechariah 9:9 | ~ 29 AD | Luke 19:35-37 |
| 480 | BC | Sold For 30 Pieces of Silver | Zechariah 11:12 | ~ 29 AD | Matthew 26:15 |
| 480 | BC | Money to Be Thrown into God’s House | Zechariah 11:13 | ~ 29 AD | Matthew 27:5 |
| 480 | BC | Price Given for Potter’s Field | Zechariah 11:13 | ~ 29 AD | Matthew 27:7 |
| 480 | BC | Forsaken by His Disciples | Zechariah 13:7 | ~ 29 AD | Mark 14:50 |
| 480 | BC | His Side Pierced | Zechariah 12:10 | ~ 29 AD | John 19:34 |
| 430 | BC | He Was to Enter the Temple | Malachi 3:1 | ~ 29 AD | Matthew 21:12 |