Satan has blinded them to the truth

To start with, one whose mind has already been made up that Jesus is not the Messiah all the evidence in the world will not change their minds. Why, because Satan has blinded them to the truth. However, for those who are honest and searching with an open mind and heart, the evidence is very clear.

This is an excellent question because there have been false Messiahs in Jewish history. So, it’s not surprising that we should be seeking strong evidence for believing in Jesus as we have mistakenly followed false Messiah’s before.

The Hebrew Bible is full of the idea of a Messiah.

The Messiah’s identity is shown to us. The Bible tells us the identity of the Messiah, His ethnicity, where he was born, specific time of his arrival and many other identifying characteristics. This evidence enables us to recognize fake Messiah’s from the real Messiah. Although many will object that if this evidence is so clear, why didn’t the majority of the Jewish people believe in Jesus, and why were they so taken in by false Messiahs?

One must understand that by the time of Jesus arrival, the hope of the Messiah had become so politically engrained in their minds that they were seeking a deliverer from the tyranny of Rome. The victorious aspect of the victories of the Messiah instead of the sufferings of the Messiah the scriptures spoke about had become uppermost in the minds of the common people because of the Roman domination Their view of the Messiah and the politicization of the Messianic hope continues’ with the Jewish people until this day.

False hope

It’s this false hope of a political rather than a spiritual Messiah that contributes to both the acceptance of false Messiah’s, and the rejection of Jesus in his role as the true Messiah. Not all Jewish people rejected the claims of Jesus as the first followers of Jesus were Jews. The many Messianic prophecies which Christians proclaimed were fulfilled in Jesus concerned the rabbis of that time period and afterwards.

The Talmudic rabbis agreed that Isaiah 53 was a prediction of the Messiah, there became a lot of pressure from those applying this prophecy to Jesus. By medieval times the greatest medieval Biblical scholar Rashi reinterpreted the chapter and stating it referred to the nation of Israel not to the Messiah Jesus. Many Jewish scholars maintain this interpretation to this day, though it only dates back to the Middle Ages.

There are many credentials of the Messiah.

The early rabbis recognized that all of these passages were referring to the Messiah. A few of them are listed below:

• Messiah was to be born at Bethlehem: Micah 5:2 (Micah 5:1 in Hebrew Bible)
• Messiah would be from the tribe of Judah: Genesis 49:10
• Messiah would present himself by riding on an ass: Zechariah 9:9
• Messiah would be tortured to death: Psalm 22
• Messiah would arrive before the destruction of the Second Temple: Daniel 9:24-27 (That destruction happened in 70 AD by the Romans.)
• Descriptions of Messiah’s life include His suffering, silence at his arrest and trial, death and burial in a rich man’s tomb, and resurrection: Isaiah 52:13-53:12

Jesus’ lineage, birthplace, time, and lifestyle, match the Messianic expectations of the Hebrew Scriptures. The fulfillment of these prophecies can be found in the pages of the New Testament.

Other factors come together to further prove Jesus as the Messiah.

Jesus claimed to be the Messiah! When a woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming.” he replied, “I who speak to you am he.” His own claim lays the groundwork for the rest of the evidence. If Jesus had never made the claim to be the Messiah, why then are we trying to prove that he was? Jesus’ life is a positive demonstration of what we would expect the Messiah to do and is in sharp contrast to that of the false Messiahs. Thus, Jesus worked many miracles of healing, bringing wholeness into people’s lives, spiritually, physically, financially, forgiving sin and restoring relationships.

Jesus carried out the Law of Moses as a devout Jew. He also died, and was resurrected, in contrast with other false Messiahs. The resurrection is perhaps the most convincing vindication of Jesus’ claims. An assortment of explanations has been put forward throughout history to explain away the resurrection. But these explanations have not been successful. Think about the possibilities for yourself and see which makes the best sense.

• Why would the Roman authorities steal the body of Jesus from the tomb? When the word began to spread that Jesus had risen, wouldn’t they have produced it to prove it wasn’t true?
• Could the disciples have stolen the body? How could they have overpowered the Roman soldiers who were guarding the tomb without any of them getting killed?
• Three days earlier they were disillusioned, defeated believers who had hoped that Jesus would bring in changes to the government. But could such a fabrication on their part account for the change in their attitudes?
• How could their newfound hope come from a lie which they knew to be a lie? Their boldness in the face of official persecution and for the high ethical standards they set could only come from the truth that Jesus was resurrected and not a lie.

A Popular Idea

A popular idea was that Jesus never died but just fainted on the cross and revived in the tomb. However, what was overlooked is the fact that before the body could be taken down Pilot sent a Roman soldier to make sure Jesus was indeed dead. Also, when a body dies the blood congeals in the lower part of the body which is where the Roman soldier pierced Him in His side, and it would have drained the body of blood which most certainly would have killed Jesus.

Another point is, there was a contingent of Roman soldiers guarding the tomb and a huge stone blocked its entrance. There was no way that a resuscitated Jesus could have escaped and then convinced hundreds of skeptical eyewitnesses that he had conquered death forever!

Jesus was seen

Jesus was seen by a multiple of different people at various times of day in many different locations. Maybe you are able to fool one person, but can you realistically fool five hundred who saw him at one time? And these appearances of the resurrected Jesus stopped as suddenly as they started, forty days after the resurrection took place.

There’s no other satisfactory explanation except that the resurrection actually occurred, just as the scriptures say. It’s a solid reason for accepting Jesus as the true Messiah.

In Conclusion

To this very day Jesus transforms people’s lives. Because he provides atonement for sin and reconciliation with God, Jesus brings peace, joy and purpose into people’s lives. Apart from faith in him, there is no basis for true peace or direction, for as the psalmist says, “Man is estranged from the womb.” That this estrangement is healed by the reconciling ministry of Jesus is the common experience of those who believe in him.

So, between the objective evidence of the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament, and the subjective verification in our own lives we believe there’s ample evidence that Jesus was who he claimed to be!

Now God says in His Word “I place before you, life and death, choose life.” What will you choose; eternal life with God or death (which is eternal separation from God and in tormenting hellfire with Satan) for eternity.