Jewish Question: What Prophecies Didn't Jesus Fill?

Question

I just read an answer that said Jews don't believe Christ to be the Messiah because he didn't fill all the prophecies. What Prophecy didn't Jesus fill?

L'Chaim

Thanks for the in depth explanation.

As I Christian I don't agree of course but I do appreciate the thoroughness of your answer, it was just what I was looking for.

Answer 1

Messiah : The Criteria

Judge for yourself: Did Jesus fulfill ALL these criteria?

The Jewish tradition of "The Messiah" has its foundation in numerous biblical references, and understands "The Messiah" to be a human being - without any overtone of deity or divinity - who will bring about certain changes in the world and fulfill certain criteria before he can be acknowledged as "The Messiah".
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First of all, he must be Jewish - "...you may appoint a king over you, whom the L-rd your G-d shall choose: one from among your brethren shall you set as king over you." (Deuteronomy 17:15)

He must be a member of the tribe of Judah - "The staff shall not depart from Judah, nor the sceptre from between his feet..." (Genesis 49:10)

To be a member of the tribe of Judah, the person must have a biological father who is a member of the tribe of Judah.

He must be a direct male descendant of King David and King Solomon, his son - "And when your days (David) are fulfilled, and you shall sleep with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who shall issue from your bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will make firm the throne of his kingdom forever..." (2 Samuel 7:12 - 13)

The genealogy of the New Testament is inconsistent. While it gives two accounts of the genealogy of Joseph, it states clearly that he is not the biological father of Jesus. One of the genealogies is through Nathan and not Solomon altogether!

He must gather the Jewish people from exile and return them to Israel -"And he shall set up a banner for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth." (Isaiah 11:12)

Are all Jews living in Israel? Have all Jews EVER lived in Israel since the time of Jesus?

He must rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem - "...and I will set my sanctuary in their midst forever and my tabernacle shall be with them.." (Ezekiel 37:26 - 27)

At last check, there is NO Temple in Jerusalem. And worse, it was shortly after Jesus died that the Temple was DESTROYED! Just the opposite of this prophecy!

He will rule at a time of world-wide peace - "...they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore." (Micah 4:3)

Have you seen a newspaper lately? Are we living in a state of complete world peace? Has there ever been peace since the time of Jesus?

He will rule at a time when the Jewish people will observe G-d's commandments - "My servant David shall be king over them; and they shall all have one shepherd. They shall follow My ordinances and be careful to observe My statutes." (Ezekiel 37:24)

The Torah is the Jewish guide to life, and its commandments are the ones referred to here. Do all Jews observe all the commandments? Christianity, in fact, often discourages observance of the commandments in Torah, in complete opposition to this prophecy.

He will rule at a time when all people will come to acknowledge and serve one G-d - "And it shall come to pass that from one new moon to another and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before Me, says the L-rd" (Isaiah 66:23)

there are still millions if not billions of people in the world today who adhere to paganistic and polytheistic religions. It is clear that we have not yet seen this period of human history unfold.

All of these criteria are best stated in the book of Ezekiel Chapter 37 verses 24-28:

And David my servant shall be king over them; and they shall all have one shepherd. they shall also follow My judgments and observe My statutes, and do them. And they shall dwell in the land that I have given to Yaakov my servant, in which your fathers have dwelt and they shall dwell there, they and their children, and their children's children forever; and my servant David shall be their prince forever. Moreover, I will make a covenant of peace with them, it shall be an everlasting covenant with them, which I will give them; and I will multiply them and I will set my sanctuary in the midst of them forevermore. And my tabernacle shall be with them: and I will be their G-d and they will be my people. Then the nations shall know that I am the L-rd who sanctifies Israel, when My sanctuary will be in the midst of them forevermore.

If an individual fails to fulfill even one of these conditions, then he cannot be "The Messiah." A careful analysis of these criteria shows us that to date, no one has fulfilled every condition.

Certainly NOT Jesus.
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Answer 2

A more concise version of L'Chaim's great answer:

Is there universal knowledge of one G-d? (Jeremiah 31:33, Zechariah 8:23, 14:9, 14:16,
Isaiah 11:9, Isaiah 40:5, Zephaniah 3:9)
Were all Jews returned to Israel? (Isaiah 43:5-6, Isaiah 11:12, Isaiah 27:12-13)
Did he bring world peace? (Isaiah 11:6, Micah 4:3)
Were all weapons destroyed? (Ezekiel 39:9)
Did all warfare cease? (Isaiah 2:4)
Was the Temple rebuilt in it's place? (Ezekiel 37:24-28 Ezekiel 40-48, Isaiah 33:20, Micah
4:1)
Did he bring physical restoration to all who are sick or disabled in any way? (Isaiah
35:5-6)
Was he preceded by Elijah? (Malachi 3:23-24-- 4:4-5 in KJV)
Did the nations help the Jews materially? (Isaiah 60:5, 60:10-12, 61:6)
Does eternal joy and gladness characterize the Jewish nation? (Isaiah 51:11)
Are Jews sought for spiritual guidance? (Zechariah 8:23)
Is the Egyptian river dry yet? (Isaiah 11:15)
Do trees in Israel yield new fruit every month? (Ezekiel 47:12)
Did each tribe receive it's inheritance? (Ezekiel 47:13-14)
Is the enemy buried? (Ezekiel 39:12)
Did he accomplish these tasks without tiring or failing? (Isaiah 42:4)
Did death cease? (Isaiah 25:8)
Are the dead resurrected? (Isaiah 26:19, Daniel 12:2, Ezekiel 37:12-13)

He also needed to do all of these things BEFORE he died (Isaiah 42:4) so the "second coming" is irrevalent. In Judaism, it is highly illegal even touch or be in the same room with a dead person, let alone talk to them.

I also recommend reading this website, it's very good.
http://www.moshiach.com/questions/topten/jesus_as_the_messiah.php

Any comments or questions anyone, feel free to email me.

By the way, whoever up there said the Jews "misinterpreted the Bible"--first of all, we have nothing to do with your Bible, we have our Tanakh, which you can't even read properly because it's written in Hebrew. You have to rely on faulty translations, I can read it, can you? How dare you say someone interprets it "wrongly?" Differently, fine. We all have different interpretations, that's the point of calling it an INTERPRETATION. Wrongly? How dare you.

Answer 3

The white horse issue became 2 fold. First, there is quite lots in Isaiah about the fierce conflict the position the Messiah will overwhelm His enemies. yet in about ad 70-80, (or CE 70-80) Domitian (the Roman Emperor) had a huge journey like the Olympics (stated as the Domitian video games) and between the numerous activities became a horse race. 4 horses, to be genuine, each and each of a diverse colour. The white horse became continuously the favorite to win. John, the author of the Revelation, used a lot imagery from the reign of Domitian to inform the Christians about the signs and indications of the cases, and to shed more suitable ordinary on the top of all issues. yet, the e book of Revelation has a lot imagery, prophecy and historic previous-please don't have self belief absolutely everyone who tells you they have the completed issue discovered.

Answer 4

Jesus DID fulfilled all the prophecies:
he was born in Bethlehem, born of a virgin, descendant of Abraham, Isaac, and Judah, worshipped by shepherds, had a Galilean ministry, spoke in parables, healed blind, deaf and lame, ... and a very important one REJECTED BY HIS OWN PEOPLE (jews) . Isaiah 53:3 speaks of this prophecy and Jesus fulfilled it in John 1:11 and all throughout His life.

The main reason why Jews reject Jesus as their Messiah is because they are expecting someone "glorious" .. more like a King with power and wealth than a humble and meek carpernter like Jesus was.

The human eye want appearance but its the Heart that counts.

* Jesus fulfilled more then 300 prophecies about Him.

Answer 5

The point is that all the people is confused for so many years of mental slavery under control of the spagueti monster.

Many jew actually agree that he is the mesiah, there are some who say that he was the messiah for the goyim ajherim, and some higher cabalist say that he has been one of the messiah that have been, like moses , king David, eliyahu, abraham, etc. meaning that there is no one, but a lot of messiah, and thats clear when you read the bible, coz God talked of king David as his messiah.(ointed).

The point is, that a messiah is one that gets the people closer to God, like a man, that teaches Tora =P, so, i think he has been one of the messiah that had came to the worlds, to take the people closer to god. unfortunately the people misunderstood him, and thought he was God.

Answer 6

Difference of interpretation. The Jewish interpretation of the Messiah was a conquering hero who would free them from worldly bondage. Sort of a war-king, like the Jehovah of the O.T.

Christianity's interpretation is that Jesus was a spiritual savior, come to save His people from their sins and from death, but not necessarily from the oppressions of secular government.

Not Jewish...but that's my take on it.

Answer 7

Probably the prophecies about the Second Coming. The Jews misinterpreted the bible, and confused Christ's first coming with his second coming. But there could be other ones they are talking about.

Answer 8

the problem with christian "messianic" prophecies is that they could literally be talking about anybody (that's how vague they are), and they are not even prophecies. christians literally pore over the hebrew scriptures, looking for anything that even remotely resembles jesus, and claim it to be a "prophecy." hey, numbers 9:12 says that a passover sacrifice can't have any broken bones! jesus never broke any bones! it must be a messianic prophecy! - its virtually identical to the parable of shooting an arrow into a tree, and then drawing a bull's-eye circle around it.

jews, on the other hand, are a bit more picky with what we use as messianic prophecies. we don't use vague, isolated passages to prove the messiah. ours are very clear, and in fact, MOST of our messianic prophecies are not only one single unclear, isolated verse, but are corroborated by several different verses, and by several different prophets, as you can see by the lists of messianic prophecies by other posters before me. rather than drawing a circle around an arrow, we demand that the circle already be drawn first and the arrow hit it. and we have countless precise biblical scriptures which are not vague and which are clearly stated by an accepted prophet to be an actual messianic prophecy. and if the person does not fulfill what G-d through His prophets told us the messiah would do, then there is only one reason - he is NOT the messiah.

1. THE MESSIAH WILL BRING UNIVERSAL KNOWLEDGE OF G-D.

Jeremiah 31:33 - "And no longer shall one teach his neighbour or his brother, saying: "Know the Lord," for they shall know me from their smallest to their greatest, says the Lord."

Zechariah 8:23 - "And the Lord shall become King over all the earth; on that day shall the Lord be one, and His name one."

2. THE MESSIAH WILL BRING ALL THE JEWS BACK TO ISRAEL.

Isaiah 43:5 - "From the east I will bring your seed, and from the west I will gather you. I will say to the north, "Give," and to the south, "Do not refrain; bring My sons from afar and My daughters from the end of the earth."

Isaiah 11:12 - "And he shall raise a banner to the nations, and he shall gather the lost of Israel, and the scattered ones of Judah he shall gather from the four corners of the earth."

Isaiah 27:12 - "And it shall come to pass on that day, that the Lord shall gather from the flood of the river to the stream of Egypt, and you shall be gather one by one, O children of Israel. And it shall come to pass on that day, that a great shofar will be sounded, and those lost in the land of Assyria and those exiled in the land of Egypt shall come and they shall prostrate themselves before the Lord on the holy mount in Jerusalem."

3. THE MESSIAH WILL BRING WORLD PEACE AND ALL WARFARE WILL CEASE.

Isaiah 11:6 - "And wolf shall live with a lamb, and a leopard shall lie with a kid; and a calf and a lion cub and a fatling shall lie together, and a small child shall lead them."

Micah 4:3 - "And he shall judge between many peoples and reprove mighty nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation; neither shall they learn war anymore."

4. ALL WEAPONS WILL BE DESTROYED.

Ezekiel 39:9 - "The inhabitants of the cities of Israel will go forth and make fires and heat up with the weapons, the bucklers, and the encompassing shields, the bows and the arrows and the handstaves and the spears, and they shall burn them as fires for seven years."

5. THE TEMPLE WILL BE REBUILT.

Ezekiel 37:36 - "And I will form a covenant of peace for them, an everlasting covenant shall be with them; and I will establish them and I will multiply them, and I will place My Sanctuary in their midst forever."

Micah 4:1 - "And it shall be at the end of days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be firmly established at the top of the mountains, and it shall be raised upon the hills, and peoples shall stream upon it."

6. HE WILL CURE ALL THE SICKLY AND DISABLED.

Isaiah 35:5 - "Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then the lame shall skip like a hart, and the tongue of the mute shall sing, for water has broken out in the desert and streams in the plain."

7. HE WILL BE PRECEEDED BY THE PROPHET ELIJAH.

Malachi 3:23 (4:4 in KJV) - "Lo, I will send you the prophet Elijah before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord."

8. THE NATIONS WILL HELP THE JEWS.

Isaiah 60:5 - "Then you shall see and be radiant, and your heart shall be startled and become enlarged, for the abundance of the west will be turned over to you, the wealth of the nations will come to you."

Isaiah 60:10 - "And foreigners will build your walls, and their kings shall serve you, for in My wrath I struck you and in My grace have I had mercy on you."

9. ETERNAL JOY AND GLADNESS WILL CHARACTERIZE THE JEWISH NATION.

Isaiah 51:11 - "And the redeemed of the Lord shall return, and the will come to Zion with song and with everlasting joy on their heads; gladness and joy shall overtake them; sorrow and sighing shall flee.

10. TREES IN ISRAEL WILL YIELD FRUIT EVERY MONTH.

Ezekiel 47:12 - "But the stream, on its bank from either side, will grow every tree for food; its lead will not wither, neither will its fruit end; month after month its fruits will ripen, for its waters will emanate from the Sanctuary, and its fruit shall be for food and its leaves for a cure."

11. DEATH WILL CEASE.

Isaiah 25:8 - "He has concealed death forever, and the Lord God shall wipe the tears off every face, and the shame of his people he shall remove from upon the earth, for the Lord has spoken."

12. THE DEAD WILL BE RESURRECTED.

Isaiah 26:19 - "May Your dead live, 'My corpses shall rise; awaken and sing, you who dwell in the dust, for a dew of lights is your dew, and to the earth You shall cast the slackers."

Ezekiel 37:13 - "Therefore, prophecy and say unto them, So says the Lord God: Lo! I open your graves and cause you to come up from your graves as My people, and bring you home to the land of Israel. Then you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and lead you up out of your graves as My people. And I will put My spirit into you, and you shall live, and I will set you on your land, and you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken it and have performed it, says the Lord."

13. THE MESSIAH WILL NOT FAIL. HE WILL DO IT THE FIRST TIME AROUND.

Isaiah 42:4 - "Neither shall he weaken, nor shall he be broken."

14. THE MESSIAH WILL BE A KING AND A JUDGE IN THE LAND OF ISRAEL.

Jeremiah 23:5-6 - "Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous shoot, and he shall reign as king and prosper, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely; and this is his name whereby he shall be called, The LORD is our righteousness."

15. THE MESSIAH WILL BRING A TIME OF PERFECT TORAH OBSERVANCE.

Ezekiel 37:24 - "And My servant David shall be king over them, and they all shall have one shepherd; they shall also walk in Mine ordinances, and observe My statutes, and do them."

Answer 9

moses is the messiah. hesus never filled any prophecy

Answer 10

He fulfilled all prophecy. I do not know why they think that.