the divinity of the Messiah?

Question

This is one question I have always wondered about. According to Christian theology the Messiah was divine and this divine person was Jesus.

If this is so then certainly their must be evidence in the Old Testament that states that the Messiah was to be divine.

I have yet to find any evidence to that effect if someone can show me how it was predicted that the Messiah was to be divine please post it.

Ps I will verify what you have to say and shoot it down if it dose not pan out.

NickofTyme, please explain me how that points to the Messiah's divinity?

Answer 1

You think that is weird? You should see what some of the fringe Chabadniks say about the Rebbe! For example, consider this article:
http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-4UIEqyQ0baNx3TDgfGQv0d.6MoP3a4w-?cq=1&p=5
which is entitled: "Proof that Melekh HaMoshiach is our Righteous Lord".

And look at this picture here:
http://failedmessiah.typepad.com/failed_messiahcom/2005/11/the_rebbe_is_hi.html

Or this site:
http://RebbeGod.blogspot.com/

Answer 2

If jesus was 'divine' then he couldn't technically have died on the cross because he wasn't human. (As a Christian) I've always thought that one of the greatest concepts of Jesus was that God was willing to, essentially, become HUMAN, to take such a lowly form. But yeah, i don't believe that there is any solid evidence in the old testament that Jesus was divine. The previously stated quotes, like, Eternal Prince of Peace, etc, mostly refer to Jesus in the spiritual realm, not the physical one. In the physical realm, Jesus was human. Also, keep in mind that in a lot of ways, the idea of the Messiah (in the old testament) was created because the Isrealites were suffering under rome and egypt, they needed the hope of a Messiah to keep them going, hence the title Prince of Peace - the Messiah would save them and their offspring from (physical) suffering forever. The Messiah IS a physical being more than anything in the old testament. In the New testament, however, Jesus is very philosophical, very much about the spirtual aspect of existence, and this is how Christians turned the idea of the Messiah into the saving of souls, per se. So Christians made the Messiah Divine, not the Bible

I apologize for not making too much sense, I have too many thoughts, but don't really know how to put them into cohesive sentences.

Answer 3

You can't prove the divinity of Jesus by the Old Testament alone. You need both the old and new testaments, plus a little bit of actual history, to properly understand the facts of the matter.

The chain of logic is fairly simple:

Numerous prophecies in the Old Testament, which were written about Messiah, hundreds and thousands of years before Christ, were perfectly and completely fulfilled by Jesus.

http://www.bible.org/page.asp?page_id=580

In the New Testament, Jesus Christ clearly states that he is the Son of God, he reveals things that only God's son could know, and then Jesus allows himself to be put to death, and three days hence, just as he predicted, raises himself up again.

Other than the evidence provided by the church via the bible and tradition, we have the accounts of the Roman sponsored, contemporary Jewish historian, Flavius Josephus,

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08522a.htm

we have official reports to the Roman Senate of Jesus' resurrection, accompanied by an actual petition to add Jesus to the long list of Roman gods, and we have further secular documentation about the life of Christ by several other historians and philosophers of the same period.

http://www.sonic.net/sentinel/naij3.html

To sum it up:

1) The Old Testament predicted over 200 key characteristics of Messiah, hundreds and thousands of years before they actually occurred.

2) Jesus fulfilled every single Old Testament prophecy to the letter. A true, billion to one shot.

3) During his public life, Jesus actually claimed to be God (John 10:30, 14:9-10 and numerous other passages) and he performed numerous miracles to prove it, the most important being his resurrection from death.

Additionally, only God could have, in the brief space of three years, without military conquest, without political power, without writing a single line, or traveling more than a few score miles, so profoundly affected the course of human events

4) While others, before and since, have also claimed to be Messiah, no one else has been able to fulfill more than a couple of the Old Testament prophecies, and no one at all has managed to raise himself up from the dead.

Since faith is still a critical requirement for all Christians, the choice is yours.

Was Jesus who he said he was, or not?

But please choose carefully. Your eternal destiny is at stake.

Answer 4

First show me the proof that he was divine. Or that he really existed. Show me the evidence they have dug up that proves any of that story. So far I have not heard of any such proof. Did you research how the bible was started? Those 3 men want you to believe that they had all the answers but they never knew the people who wrote those letters or books if you want. So how can someone be divine if we don't know whether or not he existed? And please don't tell me to have "faith", it does not answer anything. Faith is a man made word. Like religion and church are man made ideas.

Answer 5

Daniel chapter 9

24 Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.

25 Know therefore and understand, [that] from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince [shall be] seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.

26 And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof [shall be] with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.

BTW - These predict His death, to the exact day, over 600 years before it happened.

But that's another two points....

Answer 6

The term "Messiah" has existed prior to Christianity coming into this world. In Jewish belief, the "Messiah" was the "savior" of his people who would liberate his people from a corrupt king/kingdom. It had nothing to do with being divine, healing the sick, and so on. The Torah and Jews have recognized many people as being the "Messiah," prior to Jesus existing, in the scriptures of the Tanakh. The reason why Jews won't accept Jesus as the "Messiah" is because he never did fulfill the duties of a Messiah by saving the Jews.

I would also like to mention that Jesus's name isn't Jesus. There is no letter or sound of "J" in hebrew alphabet nor in the aramaic either. His real name is "Isa." He was given the title "Jesus" by Trinitatian Christians who believed Jesus to come from devine orgin, rather than the unitarians who believed he was a prophet, just like Moses. They first named him "Ze-Zues" meaning "The god" after the greek god Zues. Later, his name started to transform according to the dialect of the priests and it started to sound more like "Ze-Zus". The title "Christ" was also added to his name, and with the orginal word being "Christo" which is also Greek and means "The annointed one." So in total, his full title was "The God (who is) the annointed one."

The scriptures in Aramaic still refer to him as "Isa" and not the pagan name of "Zezus" (Jesus).

I would also like to note that the term "Christian" was used as an insult towards the followers of Isa after his ascension into heaven. Romans would call them "Christians" which meant "The Cult of Christ."

Answer 7

This voluntary self-abasement of the Messiah is thus described by the prophet Isaiah: "He hath no form nor comeliness, and when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him. He is despised and rejected of men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief … and we esteemed Him not. Surely He hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions; He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth … He was taken from prison and from judgment; and who shall declare His generation?" (Isaiah 53:2-8). With these concluding words the prophet was addressing the consciences of those who were to reject their Saviour, as if saying to them: You turn away in contempt from Jesus as He is mocked and beaten, but understand this, it is because of you sinners that He suffers so grievously. Contemplate His spiritual beauty, and maybe then you will be able to comprehend that He came to you from heaven.

Now where did Caiaphas, many of the Jews, and even demons (!) get the idea that the Messiah was to be the Son of God? There is just one answer: from the Holy Scriptures of the Old Testament. Its intent was to prepare the Jews and the whole world for this belief. Indeed, King David, who lived a thousand years before the birth of Christ, referred to the Messiah as God in three of his psalms; Psalms 2, 54 (55), and 108 (109). The prophet Isaiah, who lived seven-hundred years before the birth of Christ, revealed this truth even more clearly. Foretelling the miracle of the Incarnation of the Son of God, Isaiah wrote: "Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign: Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel" (which means "God with us," Isaiah 7:14). A little later the prophet reveals more precisely the character of the Son who would be born: "and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace" (Isaiah 9:6). These titles cannot apply to anyone other than God. The prophet Micah also wrote of the eternal character of the Child who was to be born: "But thou Bethlehem Ephrathah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall come forth unto Me He that is to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting" (Micah 5:2).

Answer 8

although he is a spirit, the claim by those of his divinity are not entirely untrue, it is their narrow definition of divine(deity, spirit creature etc.), that often causes contradictions.
Being divine, or a deity can include besides being Almighty God, these that live in the heavens as divine(spirit ) creatures. As these are always inferior to God, the fact that eludes the trinitarians is thus, yes Jesus is a spirit, no he is not Almighty God.

Answer 9

If you are that well versed in scripture then you dont need to ask do you?... as you have al ready made up your mind it would be pointless to reply... you do know that ony two who have walked the earth have truly known all the words of Scripture...I know for sure you are not Jesus The Christ, as He is the one who authored The Word... and the other is satan who has it all memorised. But, dose not understand it. and is incapable of doing so.

Answer 10

REad Issiah 9;6 Born in Bethlehem, (Jesus) given the titles Everlasting Father and mighty God. Mighty God is a title also applied to Jehovah(God) on the next page