The Messiah is the most important human being. He alone is able to bring peace to all broken relationships – especially our most important relationship, the Creator-creature relationship. Because of Messiah, human beings can be reconciled to God. And we can be reconciled to one another. Because of the Messiah, nature will be completely restored one day and we will be at peace with nature. A time is coming when “shalom shalom” – perfect peace will characterize all relationships – with God, human beings, angels, nature – all because of the Messiah. It’s essential to know about the Messiah.

Christians and Messianic Jews claim that Yeshua is the Messiah. Here are six evidences: Messianic Prophecies; Yeshua’s Prophecies; Yeshua’s Miracles; Other Evidences; Yeshua’s Impact On The World; Yeshua’s Resurrection From Death.

1. Messianic Prophecies

The amazing Messianic prophecies that are found in the Tenach and fulfilled in the New Testament Scriptures demonstrate that the Bible is a supernatural book inspired by God, and that Yeshua is the Messiah.

• Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem and yet originate from the days of eternity (Micah 5:1-2). Yeshua was born in Bethlehem. See Matthew 2:1-6, Luke 2:1-20.
• Messiah had to be a Jewish man, from the tribe of Judah, and from the family of King David (Isaiah 9:7, 11:1-9, Jeremiah 23:5-6). Yeshua was! See Matthew 1:1-17.
• Messiah was to come before 70 AD (Daniel 9:24-27). Yeshua did. See Luke 1:5, 2:1-7.
• Messiah was to enter Jerusalem triumphantly, yet humbly on a donkey, (Zechariah 9:9). Yeshua did. See Matthew 21:1-9, John 12:12-16.
• Messiah was to be initially rejected by the majority of Israel, especially the leaders (Isaiah 53:1-3, Psalm 118:22). Yeshua was. See John 1:11, 12:37-43, Acts 4:1-12. The fact that the majority of Jewish people don’t believe in Him is a strong point for the fact that He is the Messiah!
• Messiah was to be tried and condemned even though He was innocent (Isaiah 53:8). Yeshua was. See Matthew 27:1-2, Luke 23:1-25.
• Messiah was to be silent before His accusers (Isaiah 53:7). Yeshua was. See Matthew 27:12-14, Mark 15:3-4, Luke 23:8-10.
• Messiah was to be beaten and spit upon (Micah 5:1-2, Isaiah 50:6). Yeshua was. See Matthew 26:67, Mark 27:30, Mark 14:65.
• Messiah was to be mocked and taunted (Psalm 22:7-8). Yeshua was. See Matthew 27:39-43, Luke 23:11, 35-36.
• Lots would be cast for Messiah’s garments (Psalm 22:18). They were. See Matthew 27:35, Mark 15:24.
• Messiah was to be pierced (Zechariah 12:10). Yeshua was. See John 19:18, 34-37.
• Messiah was to die by crucifixion (Psalm 22:14-17). Yeshua was. See Matthew 27:31, Mark 15:20, 25.
• Messiah was to wrongly suffer with transgressors yet pray for His enemies (Isaiah 53:12). Yeshua did. See Matthew 27:38, Mark 15:27.
• Messiah was to die as an offering for sin (Isaiah 53:5-6, 8, 10-12, Daniel 9:24-27, Zechariah 9:9, 12:10, Psalm 16:10, 22). See John 1:29, 11:49-52, 1 Corinthians 15:53.
• Messiah was to be raised from the dead (Isaiah 53:12, Zechariah 12:10, Daniel 9:24-27, Psalm 16:10, Psalm 22, Psalm 118:22-23). Yeshua was! See Matthew 28:1-10, Acts 2:22-32.
• Messiah was to be God born into humanity (Isaiah 9:6-7, Jeremiah 23:5-6, Psalm 110:1, Proverbs 30:4). Yeshua was and is Immanuel – God With Us! See John 1:1, 20:28, Hebrews 1:8.
• The Messiah was going to have a world-wide impact on the Gentile nations (Isaiah 49:6). Yeshua has! “Jesus has become the most popular, the most studied, the most influential figure in the religious history of mankind… No sensible Jew can be indifferent to the fact that a Jew should have had such a tremendous part in the religious education and direction of the human race…. Who can compute all that Jesus has meant to humanity? The love he has inspired, the solace he has given, the good he has engendered, the hope and joy he has kindled – all that is unequaled in human history… Rabbi Hyman Enelow, past president of the Central Conference of American Rabbis

The probabilities that any one human being could fulfill all these prophecies are infinitesimally small. Yeshua fulfilled these, and many other prophecies, so He must be the Messiah that God promised to send into this world!

2. YESHUA’S PROPHECIES

• Yeshua predicted His own death, along with many of its details, and amazingly, His own resurrection (John 2:19, 3:14, Matthew 20:17-19).
• Yeshua predicted that the Second Temple would be destroyed to such an extent that not one stone would be left on top of another (Matthew 24:1-2). When the troops of Roman General Titus broke through the walls and destroyed Jerusalem in 70 AD, the Temple was sacked, and subsequently disassembled stone by stone. The inside of the Temple had been with overlaid with gold, and a fire in the Temple caused the gold to melt. The Romans took every stone apart to retrieve as much gold as possible. Thus Yeshua’s prophecy was fulfilled concerning the destruction of the Temple, even to the detail of every stone being taken down.
• Yeshua predicted due to our lack of belief that He was the Messiah, and our rejection of Him, Jerusalem would be destroyed, we would be exiled among the nations, but eventually, we would return to Israel (Luke 21:23-24). This prophecy began in 70 AD when Jerusalem was destroyed, and then again in 135 AD, when the Jewish people revolted a second time against the Roman empire. We were scattered to the nations, and lost control of Jerusalem. There were always some Jewish people who remained in the land of Israel over the past 2000 years, but starting in the 1880’s, this prophesied regathering of Jewish people to Israel picked up speed. Now there is a reborn nation of Israel, with Jerusalem as its capital, with more than 5.5 million Jewish people regathered from more than 70 countries, just as Yeshua predicted.
• Yeshua predicted that His words would endure forever, and that His movement would succeed despite all opposition (Matthew 16:18, 24:35).

3. YESHUA’S MIRACLES

Few prophets in Israel’s long history ever performed miracles – Moses and Joshua, Elijah and Elisha, and a few others, but Yeshua’s miracles exceeded them all. He turned water into wine, walked on water, healed the sick, cleansed lepers, brought sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, fed five thousand men from a few loaves of bread and some fish, stilled the winds and waves with just a word, and raised the dead. This lets us know that Yeshua is the Messiah sent by God.

4. OTHER EVIDENCES

• The New Testament records that at the moment of Yeshua’s death, the huge, thick veil in the Temple was torn from top to bottom. There was also an eclipse, and an earthquake (Matthew 27:51, Mark 15:38, Luke 23:44-45).
• An evidence that Yeshua is the Messiah comes from the Talmud, in Yoma 39 A and B: “The Talmud records that four ominous events occurred approximately forty years before the destruction of the Temple. Those four events were to warn the rabbis of the Temple’s impending doom. According to Jewish tradition, all four of these signs came to pass. The four signs were:

1. The lot for the Lord’s goat did not come up in the right hand of the High Priest.

2. The scarlet cord tied to the door of the Temple on the Day of Atonement stopped turning white after the scapegoat had been cast over the precipice.

3. The westernmost light on the Temple candelabra would not burn.

4. The Temple doors would open by themselves. The rabbis saw this as an ominous fulfillment of Zechariah 11:1, ‘Open your doors, O Lebanon, that fire may devour your cedars.’ The opening of the doors to let in the consuming fire foretold the destruction of the Temple itself by fire.” (From pages 104-105 of The Fall Feasts of Israel, by Mitch and Zhava Glaser, Moody Press, 1987.

5. YESHUA’S IMPACT ON THE WORLD

The young rabbi from Nazareth never wrote a book, and yet the libraries in the world are full of books that have been written about Him. As far as we know, He never wrote a song, and yet more songs have been written about Him than anyone else. He never founded a college, yet all the schools put together can’t compare to the number of all His students. He never led an army, and yet no leader ever had more volunteers. He never studied psychology, and yet He has healed more broken hearts than all the psychiatrists and psychologists the world has ever produced. He was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. He grew up in another obscure village, where He worked in a carpenter shop until He was thirty. Then for three years He was an itinerant preacher. He never had a family or owned a home. He never traveled more than two hundred miles from His birthplace. He never wrote a book, or held an office. He did none of the things that usually accompany greatness. While still a young man, the tide of popular opinion turned against Him. His friends deserted Him. He was betrayed to His enemies, and went through a mockery of a trial. He was nailed to a cross between two thieves. While He was dying, His executioners gambled for the only piece of property He had – His coat. When He was dead, His body was taken down and place in a borrowed grave. Twenty centuries have come and gone, and today Yeshua is the central figure for much of the human race. All the armies that have ever marched, all the navies that have ever sailed, all the parliaments that have ever sat and all the kings that have ever reigned have not affected the lives of men as powerfully as this “One Solitary Life.”

Where Yeshua’s true disciples have been numerous, Yeshua’s influence has impacted their societies, especially in the areas of human rights and political freedom. Some examples are the anti-slavery and abolitionist movements in the United States, and social welfare movements, especially in England in the 18^th century.

We are now in the year 2014, which means that 2,000 years have passed since Yeshua came to Earth and clothed Himself with humanity. Much of the world marks time because of Yeshua’s impact on the world! 

 6. EVIDENCES FOR YESHUA’S RESURRECTION

The Resurrection of Yeshua is the central fact that establishes the Christian/Messianic Jewish faith. Our faith stands or falls on Yeshua’s resurrection. So, did Yeshua actually rise from the dead? Can we know if He did? Thanks be to God, there are many convincing evidences that let us know that Yeshua’s resurrection really happened.

The Evidence From The Prophets: Messiah’s death and resurrection were made known by God’s prophets centuries before they happened. For example, Isaiah 53: He was cut off from the land of the living … he was buried like a criminal. He was put in a rich man’s grave … Therefore, I will give Him a portion with the great, and He will divide the spoil with the strong because He poured out His life to death. Other prophecies about Messiah’s resurrection: Zechariah 12:10, Daniel 9:24-27, Psalm 118:22-23. Yeshua’s resurrection is consistent with this preparatory revelation.

The Evidence From Yeshua Himself: Yeshua repeatedly predicted that He would die and rise again. Two examples: In Jerusalem at Passover, after cleansing the Temple, Yeshua said to the leaders: Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. Matthew 16: Around Caesarea Philippi, after Yeshua asked His disciples who people were saying He was and Peter declared that He was the Messiah and the Son of God, Yeshua began to tell his disciples plainly that it was necessary for him to go to Jerusalem, and that he would suffer many terrible things at the hands of the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, but on the third day he would be raised from the dead. Yeshua’s resurrection is consistent with the prophetic knowledge He revealed about Himself.

The Evidence That Yeshua Really Was Dead: Yeshua was beaten, whipped and crucified. He was pierced by a spear. His legs were not broken to speed up His death because He was already dead. His death was verified by a Roman officer – a man who knew about death (Mark 15:44-46).

The Evidence Of The Empty Tomb: Yeshua’s body was placed in a tomb carved out of rock. The heavy stone at the entrance of the tomb prevented entry and exit. The tomb was guarded by soldiers, further preventing entry and exit. However, in spite of this, the stone was moved away from the entrance of the tomb and Yeshua’s body disappeared. The graveclothes that covered Yeshua’s body remained in the tomb and were undisturbed – but no longer contained a body.

The Evidence Of Yeshua’s Post-Resurrection Appearances: After Yeshua’s resurrection, He appeared to Mary (John 20:11-18), to other women (Matthew 28:8-10), to Peter (Luke 24:34), to two on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35), to 10 of the disciples (Luke 24:36-43), to 11 eight days later (John 20:24-29), to seven by the Lake of the Galilee (John 21:1-23), to 500 at one time (1 Corinthians 15:6), to James (1 Corinthians 15:7), and finally to Paul (Acts 9:1-16). The testimony of hundreds of reliable witnesses who all said they saw the resurrected Yeshua under different circumstances should be believed.

The Evidence That Women Were The First To Discover Yeshua’s Resurrection: The following quote is from Stephen Jordan, in 9 Evidences for the Resurrection of Jesus (moralapologetics.com/wordpress/2019/4/21/9-evidences-for-the-resurrection-of-jesus): “When dealing with historical events, one piece of evidence that lends credibility to an account’s authenticity is the inclusion of embarrassing details. All four Gospels mention that several women were the first to find the tomb empty, which makes them the primary eyewitnesses. This is significant because in first-century Jewish and Roman cultures, women were looked down upon by men and their testimony was frequently regarded as untrustworthy. If the writers of the Gospels were making up a story that they wanted people to believe, they would have stated that men were the first to find the tomb empty. Why didn’t they do that? Because they wanted to tell the truth (women were really the first to find the tomb empty).”

The Extra-Biblical Account Of Yeshua’s Resurrection By Josephus: Josephus was a reliable first-century Jewish historian. In his book, The Antiquities Of The Jews, he wrote about Yeshua’s resurrection.

The Existence Of The Church: If Yeshua didn’t rise from the dead, Messianic Judaism, Christianity, the Church, would never have been established. All the hostile Jewish and Roman authorities needed to do to end the movement of Yeshua’s followers – which they wanted to do – was produce His body, but they never did. If Yeshua wasn’t resurrected, He would have been another false messiah, who would have quickly been forgotten.

The Evidence Of Transformed Lives: Only Yeshua’s resurrection could have transformed dispirited, fearful disciples and hostile family members into those who were willing to give up their lives for the message about the risen Messiah. James, Yeshua’s brother, who at first didn’t believe in Him, became the leader of the Jerusalem community. Peter, who denied Him three times, became a fearless follower. Paul, deadly opponent of the Messianic Jews, turned into the greatest missionary the world has ever seen. And over the centuries, millions more have been transformed by Yeshua.

The Evidence Of Yeshua’s Impact On The World: Not only have millions of individuals been transformed by Yeshua, the world has changed because of Him – especially Western civilization. Western civilization can’t be understood apart from Yeshua. Consider this: This is the year 2024. Why 2024? Our calendar begins with Yeshua’s birth. It’s been 2024 years since Yeshua was born. Yeshua’s impact on the world has been so great that most of the world measures time because of Him. Rabbi Hyman Enelow, who was not a follower of Yeshua, wrote this: Yeshua “has become the most renowned, most studied and most influential figure in the history of mankind. The love He has inspired, the comfort He has given, the good He has engendered, the hope and joy He has kindled are unequaled in human history. No Jewish person should be indifferent to the fact that this one Jewish man has had such a tremendous part in the religious history of mankind.” Rabbi Enlow was right – yet sadly, never became a follower of Yeshua. The world would not have been impacted so greatly by Yeshua if He had not been raised from the dead.

The Implications Of Yeshua’s Resurrection

If Yeshua didn’t rise from the dead, the New Testament is a fraudulent document and our faith is worthless. But if Yeshua was resurrected, His resurrection is God’s seal of approval on everything that Yeshua did and taught.

It lets us know that Yeshua is the Son of God, the one and only Lord and Savior, and the coming king of Israel and the nations.

Yeshua’s resurrection lets us know that He is unique, that He is far greater than all of the prophets of Israel.

Yeshua’s resurrection sets Messianic Judaism/Christianity apart from all other religions and ideologies.

Yeshua’s resurrection is the basis for our resurrection. Yeshua said: I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying. Paul added this: If you openly declare that Yeshua is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

I hope you believe that Yeshua was resurrected, is alive and has ascended to the right hand of God the Father – that He’s there right now, full of life and grace and love and power.

However, it’s one thing to believe that Yeshua is alive and another thing to have Him living in us.

We can believe that Yeshua is risen from the dead and not be saved. The demons know Yeshua is risen from the dead – but they are not saved.

We can believe that Yeshua is risen from the dead and not be living a successful life.

We can believe that Yeshua was resurrected and live in such a way that for us, His resurrection never happened.

There is belief that is limited to the facts and there is belief that fills the mind and the heart.

We can participate in a beautiful Easter service, but if the Spirit of Yeshua is not living in us and we are not living in the Spirit, it doesn’t mean much.

We can say, “Christ is risen, He is risen indeed,” a dozen times on Easter, but if we’re not living in the Spirit, those words are meaningless.

We can have a delightful family Easter gathering, but if the Spirit of Yeshua is not living in us and we’re not living in the Spirit, our belief in Yeshua is useless.

In one sense, Yeshua’s resurrection is perfect and complete. It really happened. It accomplished God’s will. It will never happen again. However, in another sense, Yeshua’s resurrection is incomplete – for us as individuals – unless the risen Lord is living in us because His Spirit living in us.

The Spirit of Yeshua lives in us when we know who Yeshua is and make a serious commitment to follow Him. When we become loyal to Him, God gives us a new nature and the Spirit of Yeshua takes up residence in us and lives in us.

Then we live in the Spirit by reading the Bible, thinking about it and practicing it, by talking to God throughout the day, and by serving our brothers and sisters in a good community of Yeshua-followers.

When we live in the Spirit, we’re aware of God, we’re alive to God, and the Spirit will lead each step we take.

When we live in the Spirit, we will share the Son of God’s mind and heart.

We will have Messiah’s passion for proclaiming the message of salvation to a lost and dying world.

When we live in the Spirit, we will love our brothers and sisters in Messiah’s community and want to be with them and serve them and help them.

We will love and understand the Word of God. We will hunger and thirst for righteousness.

When we live in the Spirit we will have peace, even when going through trials.

We will enjoy a happiness that’s not dependent on circumstances.

When we live in the Spirit, our hope of living forever with the eternal God in His glorious kingdom will be very real and precious to us.

We will hate sin, disobedience and rebellion against God.

We won’t yield to the sinful desires of our old nature.

We won’t love this world and its corrupt values.

When we live in the Spirit, the fear of man and the desire for the approval of the majority will fade away.

May we be thoroughly convinced that Yeshua rose from the dead, and may we live in the Spirit and experience the power of Yeshua’s resurrection in our minds and hearts. Amen?