365 Messianic Prophecies – Episode #1 – What are the Rules of Play? – Rabbi Michael Skobac
There are supposedly over 300 messianic prophecies In the Jewish Scriptures that Jesus fulfilled! But what are the criteria for clarity when evaluating messianic prophecy? What are the guidelines by which they are either disregarded or validated?
Join us for this year’s Tanakh Tour of Israel!
Truth2U is made possible though your kind support. Click here to donate.
Dan.7 and 8 please
Thank you, Jono, for addressing this topic. I have been asking/wondering which Scriptures Jesus fulfilled for years now because they never quite made sense. Looking forward to hearing more from You and Rabbi Skobac.
I am also looking forward to the full series. However, I feel the comparison Michael draws with conspiracy theorists is amiss. It was challenging what I had been told that led me out of Christianity. When I looked and saw (to play to the analogy) that the hole in the Pentagon didn’t match the airplane that supposedly hit it, I started to dig in to find the truth. The analogy only works if we start from the position that questioning the official story is crazy or only done to muddy the waters. In my case the Church provided that official story. And my friends to think I’m crazy for questioning what really happened as I now seek to follow only YHVH.
I agree that, especially in messianic circles, that they pull out certain choice rabbinical teachings to muddy the water and to be able to claim “See? We didn’t just make this up. Even some of the ancient Jews thought messiah might come twice.” Then it didn’t matter if I could point out a greater majority that disagreed. So the point is made but the analogy can work both ways depending on where you start.
Come on with dat!
Aaron, the problem with the claim that “see the messiah might come twice” is that there have been many messiahs — including King David and Aaron (Moses’ brother). The term simply means “anointed one.” In the case of the two messiahs to whom missionaries normally refer (moshiach ben yosef and moshiach ben david) — if there is a moshiach ben yosef he will be alive at the same time as “the” messiah (not 2000 years before). He will be a warrior who dies in battle — and no Jew ever claimed moshiach ben yosef was “the” messiah. You might want to read R’ Moshe Shulman’s article http://www.judaismsanswer.com/yosef.htm
Aaron perhaps you are thinking of the fact that the messiah might come from a resurrected person? This is a debate among the sages — but it doesn’t help the Christian argument. Jesus was never a messiah the first time around (an anointed king or priest). That argument really doesn’t help a missionary.
I just listened to this introduction video on the series (I first listened to the other two that came after this) and I want to say what Rabbi Skobac said about a few things were very powerful in this audio. The first thing that he said that really, really hit home with me was that what Jesus needs to be evaluated on as far as his claims of being the Messiah is when he was alive claiming to be the Messiah and he explained that the most compelling messianic prophecies are the ones that don’t apply to while he was alive walking around claiming to be the Messiah… I had never thought about it like that before and that made a lot of sense… the other thing that he said that really resonated with me is that how he said a lot of believers in Jesus pretty much see him on every page of the Tanakh in the whole hints and foreshadowing thing and I am extremely guilty of this… as I get older I can really see how important it is to really read Bible information in context to the chapter or section. When he mentioned about that book by that author about Winnie The Pooh, the literary critic book about the series of essays being written proving that Winnie The Pooh was first one thing in one essay and then something else in another really hit home. I even looked up the book on Amazon and plan on ordering it because I can see where I am so guilty of reading things into Biblical texts that I want to see and if it can be done so easily with the book he was mentioning I can see how easily I could do it with something I want to be true… I have found Jesus’s personality so extremely likeable throughout life, even when he is telling people off, combined with his compassion, that I fear I may have been holding onto him just because I like him so much.. For example, someone from the New Testament that I have zero like for, Paul, who even as a child I found him extremely unlikeable, I have been able to look at his writings and critically analyze what he says with what the Tanakh says; however, I fear with Jesus that I have put off doing that because of my extreme like for his personality… Anyways, just wanted to say that listening to the three audios on this series so far has been extremely valuable to me personally and I look forward to more sessions :–)