This Sunday October 4 I will be covering chapters 4 and 5 in my Sunday School class. We are having great discussions and I can get you mp3 files of those if you want. Here are my responses to some questions I posted from chapter 10.1. How much time do you think modern Jews spend teaching their children about the Messiah? I get the impression as Louis Lapides stated in this chapter that most Jews never really think about the Messiah or grow up studying the topic. Probably Orthodox Jews that may go on to be Rabbis or teachers are the only ones to give it much thought.
2. What opinion do you think most Jews have of Jesus? Most Jews would admit that Jesus was extremely influential on human history but have a negative view of him because they see him as someone who deceived people into thinking he was the Messiah when he really wasn't.
3. What are some objections Jews have with Christians about how we view the Messiah? I saw a Jew on Larry King Live that said they do not expect the Messiah to be God or the Son of God but just an exalted human being that God uses to deliver them. Since they are strict monotheists they are turned off by the Christian view of the Triune God.
4. What are some famous Old Testament Messianic prophesies you've heard? The most famous ones to me are Isaiah 53 with the suffering servant and Isaiah 7 and 9 that predict the virgin birth and Immanuel. Malachi's prediction of the Messiah being born in Bethlehem is also popular.
5. Could it be that Jesus just fulfilled these by accident or coincidence? You will see the odds against this are astronomical. Jesus fulfilled over 300 Old Testament prophesies.
6. Could it be that followers changed the biography of Jesus to make it look like he fulfilled prophesy when he really didn't? We have seen that the manuscripts of the New Testament are the most authentic we have in all of history so to doubt their wording would mean that we cannot know anything for sure about any of ancient history.
7. Could it be that Jesus studied these and then intentionally tried to fulfill them? I first saw this on a two hour Discovery special. An example they gave is that it was well known that the Messiah would ride a colt into a certain gate of the city proclaiming himself. So, this is what Jesus did in what we call the Triumphal entry on Palm Sunday. The problem I have with this is how did Jesus convince the crowd to praise Him. He had to have done other things to convince them. This explanation does not fit for prophesies he fulfilled that he had no control over. For instance, how did he choose where he would be born, or convince people he was born of a virgin? How did he get his parents to move to Galilee when he was just a toddler because the Messiah needed to have roots from there also? How did he control his genealogy so he would be a descendant of Abraham, Jacob, Judah, Jesse and David? Those are some pretty good magic tricks. Especially as you read the Gospel according to Matthew he emphasises how Jesus fulfilled prophesy from the Old Testament so you can see how a first century Jew knew what characteristics to look for.
8. Is it possible that Christians read these prophesies out of context and they really aren't Messianic prophesies at all? These prophesies are in the Jewish Old Testament and can be verified separately from Christianity when you look at what Jews expect from the Messiah. I went to the library the other day and got a copy of the Jewish Old Testament and it says on the inside cover that it is free from Christian contamination. Then opening up to those famous passages in Isaiah it says the same thing that the Messiah will be called Immanuel, Mighty God and by his stripes we will be healed. I find it fascinating that Jews do not anticipate the Messiah to suffer but to be a successful political leader.
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