Reverend Tony Zekveld

The idea of the Messiah is universal. It is present in all religions. Among the religions of mankind, we see a thirst, a hunger for redemption. We hear the cry for a Redeemer, a Saviour.

From where does this thirst come?

We have to go back to the beginning of the history of mankind. Adam is the father of us all. God talked with our first parents, Adam and Eve, in the Garden (paradise). The Bible says that Jesus, who is the Word, was the light and life of our first parents in the Garden. That's why our first parents knew God. They lived a life, pleasing and acceptable to Him. And they ruled over the world in a good and just way.

However, all this changed when man disobeyed God's command. God tells us in the Holy Bible that when Adam sinned and fell, the entire human race also sinned and fell with him. As a result, man is inherently sinful and corrupt. He is born this way. .The way into the Garden is closed because God who is holy and righteous cannot live with man, the sinner.

Man needs the light, the life. Man needs the Messiah. Our need for the Messiah can be summarized in this way: 1) I need a prophet. Why? Because I am ignorant without His teaching, 2) I need a priest. Why? Because I am sinful and guilty and need someone to die in my place, 3) I need a king. Why? Because I am helpless and He alone can protect me and save me.

Man needs One who is anointed by God to be 1) prophet, 2) priest, and 3) king. This is the meaning of Messiah. The word "Messiah" is a Hebrew word meaning "anointed". The Greek word is "Christ." Man needs the Messiah or the Christ to 1) show him the way into the paradise again (prophet), 2) to open the way into the paradise (priest), and, 3) take us and lead us into the garden (king).

His Name is Jesus.

The entire Old Testament is a prophecy, a foreshadowing, and an announcement of the coming of this Messiah. . The Old Testament tells how God prepared the way for the coming of the Messiah for the world!

If you read the Old Testament, you will read a lot about prophets, priests and kings and all their anointing. These all pointed to the need for the Messiah to come.

As soon as Abraham's family grew large enough to be a nation, God appointed prophets, priests and kings. The voice of Jesus was heard through their prophets, priest and kings. Though the Messiah was for the world, God's plan in history was that the Messiah of the world would be born from the descendants of Abraham.

Very simply then, what was the task of each in the Old Testament?

(1) The Prophets: Through the prophets, Jesus was showing the way to life with God through their teaching. God chose Moses as the first prophet among the people of Israel. All the prophets of the Old Testament time such as Nathan, Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, Jeremiah and Malachi and many more followed him. As the people of Israel heard the voice of Jesus the Messiah through Moses, so they would hear the voice of Jesus the Messiah from the prophets who came after him. This line would continue until the "last great prophet," Jesus the Messiah, came.

Moses speaks about the last great prophet. By the Spirit of Christ, the Bible tells us what he told the people of Israel, 1400 years before Christ was born "The LORD your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear... (Deuteronomy 18:14-22)!"

What was he saying here? 1) He is speaking about a future prophet, Jesus, who would be born 1400 years later. He and all the prophets under him in Israel foreshadowed the Messiah, the great Prophet, to come. 2) He would be born from among the brethren. This means from the descendants of Abraham, via the descendants of Isaac and Jacob. 3) He would be one like Moses. The Bible says that during the Old Testament time there had not been a prophet in Israel like Moses. The One who is compared to Moses in the Bible is Jesus Himself

Therefore, Moses, being the first prophet, commands Israel: "Him you shall hear!" In listening to the prophets, they were hearing Jesus. Moses said this to them because there were many prophets among the nations showing or telling their own way. But through Moses and all the prophets of the Old Testament, the Spirit of Christ, spoke: Don't listen to their voice! Because of man's sinful heart, the tendency was to go astray, following other voices. This is true today too.

Through the prophets of the Old Testament, the Spirit of Christ spoke: These words are life for you. Choose it (Me) and you will live. "More are they to be desired than gold; yea, than much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb" (Psalm 19:10).

Their words spoke of the Messiah to come, showing the people the way to life with God in the garden! But God also appointed priests for Israel.

(2) The Priests. Through the priests, God opens the way for His people to life with Him in the Garden again. How did He open the way into the Garden?

Through blood. If you read the Old Testament, you will read a lot about the sacrifices of lambs, goats and calves. There was a lot of blood and sacrifices. Why?

Because man is sinful and guilty and needs someone to die in his place.

So God appointed Aaron, Moses' brother, as the High Priest in Israel. The Bible says that Aaron and his sons after him were to be the priests in Israel. The priests belonged to the temple. His task was threefold: 1) to sacrifice, 2) to pray, and 3) to bless.

Deep inside the temple was a place called the Most Holy Place. Inside was a small object called the ark. This was a sign of God's presence on earth, living with His people. God commanded however that no man was allowed to enter the Most Holy Place. Only the High Priest. Only once a year. Only through the blood of lambs, goats and calves the way was open into the Most Holy Place to meet with God. Through the blood of the lambs, there was forgiveness for the priests and the people. Then the priests took the names of twelve tribes of Israel which were engraved on two precious stones. And they carried the names before the Lord. Then the priest lifted up his hands and blessed the people. This was repeated again and again, year after year.

The blood of animals, of course, cannot atone for sin. These were all temporary. The sacrifices, the priests, the temple and all its symbols was a portrayed and prophesied about the coming Messiah, Jesus Who will open the way to God through His blood! 1000 years before, He came, God spoke to the people through David and said about the coming Messiah, "The Lord has sworn, you are a Priest forever, according the order of Melchizek" (Psalm 110:1). The end of Aaron's line would come when the Messiah came. He would be priest forever. As priest, He will provide the sacrifice, the offering for sins. Of Him, the prophet Isaiah spoke 700 years before the coming of the Messiah: "All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all." (Isaiah 53:6).

But who would lead them on the right path, once they were forgiven. God, therefore, appointed kings over the people of Israel.

(3) Kings Through the kings, then, God led the people to live with God by guiding them on the path of faith and obedience. Their task was three fold: 1) to govern according to the word of the prophets; 2) to protect the helpless and 3) to fight against injustice.

Through the kings, then saw the rule of the coming Messiah portrayed and pictured. The kings knew that the people were inclined to follow their evil desires. The kings in the Old Testament were to take control of those desires, rule over these and rule according to God's law.

When Israel as a nation received their land God then appointed David as king over Israel. In the Bible we read that God told David that his descendants would continue to rule on the throne until a Son was born who would rule on His throne forever. The Messiah, the Bible foretold, would be the Son of David and He will reign forever! 700 years before the Messiah was born, God spoke through the prophet Isaiah, "For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder . . . of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end" (Isaiah 9:6-7). When God spoke to David, 1000 years before the Messiah came. He said, "I have installed My King  ....."'(Psalm 2:6). This is in the singular: "My King". David was not that King; neither were his descendants. But the rule of the Messiah was portrayed and announced through the rule of David and his sons.

When you read about the prophets, priest and kings in the Old Testament you will conclude that all of them had shortcomings. They were stained by sins. You will read about terrible sins which some of the kings committed. The prophets and priests were alike sinful. Through them the people heard the voice of the coming Christ, they saw the sacrifice of the coming Messiah and they saw the rule of the coming Messiah. But their prophets, priests and kings were not the Messiah

This only showed the need for the Messiah -- the perfect prophet, priest and king; the chief prophet, the only High Priest and the eternal king. For Him they were longing, yearning, and fainting. God was driving history forward toward this goal -- the coming of the Messiah -- the one who truly satisfies man's deepest longings and quenches man's dying thirst! And in the fullness of time, He came. In the New Testament, we read, "But when the time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman... "(Galatians 4:4).

Appendix 

I trust that this gives you an overview of the prophecy of Christ's coming announced on every page of the Old Testament. Following are some (not all) of the key or specific prophecies of Christ’s birth, death, burial, resurrection from dead and ascension (going-up) into heaven on His throne over all things.  About these prophecies, someone has written, “For even the blind themselves are able to see that the things predicted in them [the Holy Scriptures] do happen.”  In other words, those who do not believe them choose not to believe them and will make what is clear to say something that it does not say.

1. Genesis 3:15: immediately after the fall into sin our first parents, Adam and Eve, God announced the coming victory of Christ over Satan. Satan would strike Christ on the heel. This happened when He died on the cross by the hands of His enemies, but Satan would be crushed through Christ’s resurrection from the dead. To Satan, God says, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers, He (Christ) will crush your head, and you will strike His heel” 

 
2.  Isaiah 7:14:  700 years before Christ’s birth, God announced that the virgin would bear a child and His name would be Immanuel, “God with us”.  “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a Son, and will call Him Immanuel.”  These words are specifically referred to in Matthew 1:21-23 where we see its fulfillment!                                                   

3. Isaiah 9:7:  700 years before Christ’s birth, God announced the coming of Christ to His people Israel through His prophet Isaiah, “Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end. He will reign over David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.”  Fulfilled in Luke 1:31-33. 

4.  Micah 5:2:  500 years before Christ’s birth, God announced through His prophet Micah that Christ the King would be born in Bethlehem, “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for Me One who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.”  Read Luke 2:4-7 for its fulfillment.

5. Deuteronomy 18:15:  1400 years before the birth of Christ, God through Moses said in the hearing of Israel, “The LORD your God will raise up for you a  prophet like me from among your own brothers.  You must listen to Him.”          
 
6.  Isaiah 53:3,4,5, 7, 12:  About Christ’s suffering and death, God inspired  the prophet Isaiah to write vividly, “He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces He was despised and we esteemed Him not. Surely He took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered Him stricken by God, smitten by Him, and afflicted. But He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought us peace was upon Him; and by His wounds we are healed ...  He was oppressed and afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth, He was led like a lamb to the  slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so He did not open  His mouth.. . . Therefore I will give Him a portion among the great, and He will divide the spoils with the strong, because He poured out His life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.”  One should read Isaiah 53:1-12 to get the complete picture. 

  7. Zechariah 9:9:  This was a prophecy spoken through the prophet Zechariah who lived about 500 years before the coming of Christ.  It speaks of Christ’s entry into Jerusalem five days prior to His death on the cross as fulfilled in John 12:13-14: “Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem!  See, you king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” 

8.  Psalm 69:21:  King David wrote the following words which were fulfilled when Christ was on the cross (John 19:29):  “They put gall in My food and gave Me vinegar for My thirst.”

9. Psalm 22:18:  On the cross we also see the following words fulfilled, “They divide My garments among them and cast lots for my clothing.”  We read about this fulfillment in Mark 15:24                                           . 

10. Psalm 34:20: “He protects all His bones, not one of them will be broken.”  Fulfilled in John 19:33 when Christ was on the cross.                                                       .
11. Isaiah 53:9:  “He was assigned a grave with the wicked and with the rich in His death, though He had done no violence, nor was any deceit in His mouth.”  We see these words fulfilled in Matthew 27:57-60 at the time of Christ’s burial. 

12.  Psalm 16:10: “Because You will not abandon Me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay.”  These words are fulfilled in Matthew 28 at the time of Christ’s resurrection from the dead.  His body did not see decay!

13. Psalm 68:18:  “When You ascended on high, You led captives in Your train, You received gifts from men, even from the rebellious – that You, O LORD God, might dwell there.”  These words are fulfilled when Christ ascended bodily into heaven. Read Luke 24:50-51 and Ephesians 4:7-9.