The resurrection & Deut 13 - If a prophet says "Let us worship another god" - Do NOT follow him, even if he gives a sign/miracle

Question

It seems that Christian apologetics very much rests on the historical veracity of the resurrection. That is, if we can verify the resurrection, than we have an objective rationale to believe in the Christian faith.

Let's assume for a moment that William Craig is correct that there is good evidence for the resurrection. Even so, does this conclude that Jesus was in fact who he said he was, i.e. the son of God?

Deuteronomy 13:1-4 reads as follows:

If there appears among you a prophet or a dream-diviner and he gives you a sign or a portent, saying, “Let us follow and worship another god”—whom you have not known—even if the sign or portent that he named to you comes true, do not heed the words of that prophet or that dream-diviner. For the LORD your God is testing you to see whether you really love the LORD your God with all your heart and soul. Follow none but the LORD your God, and revere none but Him; observe His commandments alone, and heed only His orders; worship none but Him, and hold fast to Him.

And the resurrection served as a sign:

Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.” But he answered them, "An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. (Matthew 12:38-40)

As far as a Pharisee Jew is concerned, Jesus is certainly a god "whom you have not known"; Jesus and the Trinity were completely unknown to the Jews. Thus his sign should be disregarded.

Now you might be tempted to respond that Jesus is indeed the same God that they knew, but he just didn't come out of the closet as Jesus until later. The question would then be: how are we to know that Jesus is, in fact, the same god? For that Christian apologetics has turned to the resurrection as evidence.

But the verse clearly states: "even if the sign or portent that he named to you comes true, do not heed the words" thus excluding supernatural signs as evidence! (In fact, in Exodus 7:11 even Pharoah's sorcerers were capable of performing supernatural feats.)

So we are back to square one; first, we need evidence that Jesus was indeed the son of God. Then and only then, does the historicity of the resurrection have any relevance to affirming Jesus. Without prior evidence, it seems justifiable to write Jesus off as a false prophet.

Now many are quick to point out that Jesus claimed to be that very same god of the OT and even admonished Israel for not revering the god of the OT. Nonetheless, this doesn't prove that he is that very same god. Where are we to look for that verification? The resurrection? But that may just be another "sign" or "portent".

It seems that the only acceptable form of validation must come from the Old Testament itself i.e fulfilled messianic prophecies. That is, the historicity of a supernatural feat has no place in the debate between Christians and Jews.

Please note what I'm not saying:

1. Christianity therefore must be false
2. Deuteronomy 13 by definition must exclude Jesus
3. The purpose of the resurrection was to serve as "proof"

What I am saying:

The Resurrection in and of itself can be evaded on supernaturalistic grounds.

Answer 1

For mainstream Christian denominations (including Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, mainline Protestants, and Evangelicals), Resurrection is NOT the key to Jesus's identity. Rather, the resurrection shows the VICTORY of Jesus over the power of death due to His obedience to God the Father. If you read the four Gospels, the speeches in the book of Acts, and the letters of Paul, the identity of Jesus as the promised Messiah was determined based on the PROPHECIES in the Hebrew Bible (called the Old Testament by Christians now). There are overwhelming details in the prophecies that matched the details of Jesus's birth, ministry, suffering, and the manner of his death on the cross. See my answer to another question for a list of key Bible verses that Christians deem to point to Jesus.

Your charge that Jesus taught His disciples to worship another god is not true because Jesus worshiped the same God that Abraham and Moses worshiped. The writings in the New Testament consistently show that when the 12 apostles spread the good news (that God the Father has finally sent the messiah as He promised) and established churches throughout the Roman Empire, they exhorted the church members to worship the same God the Father as well (Example, see Romans 12-13:10 where Paul instructed the church in Rome to live in the manner pleasing to God the Father; Jesus was barely mentioned and out of focus).

Of course Christians also worship Jesus as Lord, because Christians believe that the essence of Jesus is the same as the essence of God the Father. But yes, the Pharisees in Jesus's generation didn't believe that it was God the Father who sent Jesus, so understandably this led to the charge that Jesus was a false prophet and more seriously that Jesus blasphemed God by claiming that He shared God the Father's essence. Even the famous missionary Paul (a Pharisee who studied under the famous Rabbi Gamaliel) also hunted down Christians before his conversion (possibly so the land was not polluted with their "sins" which could have led to the anger of God the Father). After Paul became Christian, the religious authorities in Jerusalem wanted to kill him too, just as they killed Jesus for blasphemy; see Acts 21:26-22:23.

I agree with you that the Resurrection on its own is not enough to determine Jesus's identity. So if you notice, in the Gospels Jesus explained, especially after his resurrection, how the prophecies pointed to Him (see for example Luke 24:13-53). Notice also how verse 53 says that not only Jesus's disciples worshiped God the Father for sending Jesus, they worshiped IN THE TEMPLE, where every Jew throughout the Roman Empire believed to have the presence of the God of Abraham, Jacob, David, etc. It is clear then, from the very beginning, how the earliest disciples never wavered from associating the God of Jesus with the God of their ancestors. The resurrection (along with the miracles which Jesus performed prior to his death) was simply to AUTHENTICATE that Jesus was who He said He was. If we believe the Gospels to be roughly historically accurate (i.e. not Legend), then we are left with the famous trilemma when considering Jesus's claim of who He is.

ADDENDUM

After further reading such as here, I can see how my answer above will not be sufficient for you, because Judaism's own presuppositions judge a priori (using Deut 13:1-5) how:

1. Christian's God the Father is considered a different God than Judaism's God, although both Paul and Jesus emphatically credit the God of Abraham, Jacob, Moses, David, Isaiah with all the miracles and the sending of the Messiah.

2. "God is not allowed" to update the Torah, so therefore Christian teaching of how Mosaic law has been superseded by the New Covenant is considered heretical outright, although according to Christians the laws that Christians are supposed to keep with the help of the New Heart (given by God) are purer and more universal.

3. Even if Jesus performed greater miracles than Elijah and Elisha to show that the power came from God the Father, Judaism will reject it as irrelevant, and uses Deut 13:1-5 to regard the miracles as lies and as coming from the devil, just as how the Pharisees claimed Jesus's power came from the devil, as in when Jesus healed a demon-possessed man.

As a result of the a priori rules above, it becomes a lot more complicated to make Christian teaching acceptable to adherents of Judaism. But I did find a blogger who in fact responded to a similar charge (that resurrection is irrelevant). I hope his answer helps!

On further reflection, I believe the root cause between the diverging interpretations of Deut 13:1-5 is simply a different hermeneutics when reading the Scriptures, especially because in Judaism there is Oral Torah and other authorities which significantly changes one's reading of the same passage. Yes, within Christian mainstream there are internal differences on how to interpret certain passages of Scriptures (also due to differences in hermeneutics), but they are VERY minor when compared to how Judaism reads the Hebrew Bible. Case in point: how very different Jewish interpretation of the prophetic verses commonly used by Christians to show as predicting Jesus. Another Jewish interpretation of the prophetic verses can be found here. (Both links are taken from the posts of JPH who initiated the "resurrection is irrelevant" discussion on the aforementioned blogger's site).

At this point I'm just satisfied to agree to disagree. God bless you!

Answer 2

Its hard to understand why you should think for a minute that Jesus taught anyone to follow any other god than the God of the Jewish Tanakh (ie the Old Testament). If you can add to your question to show how Jesus's teaching differs from the Tanakh then that would be helpful. As far as the Christian is concerned nothing Jesus taught contradicts the Tanakh, when the Tanakh is rightly understood: if you think it does then please tell us how.

Having said that, the Apostle Paul tells us that what the prophets of the Old Testament promised was that one day would be proclaimed "the gospel" (Romans 1:1,2). Now the gospel is a message. So what was promised was a new message from God. This is confirmed by the prophet Jeremiah:

Behold, the days come, says the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt .... for I will forgive their iniquities, and I will remember their sin no more. (Jeremiah 31:31-34)

The Apostle Paul further states that this gospel is concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; and declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead (Romans 1:3,4).

According to NT the resurrection is sufficient proof He is the Son of God.

According to the Apostle the resurrection declares Jesus is the Son of God.

The resurrection by itself shows that Jesus is from God, and that everything he said during his life was true, otherwise God would not have given a plain demonstration of his approval of Jesus by raising him from the dead. What the resurrection, by itself, cannot do is demonstrate that Jesus of Nazareth is that promised Messiah of the Old Testament. In order to demonstrate that the resurrection must fulfil the prophesies of it in the Old Testament.

This is my point, the Gospel is not "just" that Jesus is the Son of God: it is that he is the promised Messiah of the Old Testament; and the resurrection, like many other events in the ministry of Jesus, is prophesied in the OT and fulfilled in the ministry of Jesus.

When Paul preached to the Greeks in the midst of the Areopagus at Athens he felt no need to prove his beliefs by any reference to the Old Testament. And he finished his message saying:

The times of this ignorance God overlooked/winked at: but now he commands all men everywhere to repent: because he has set a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he has ordained. And of this he has given assurance (some versions say "proof") unto all men by raising him from the dead. (Acts 17:30,31)

The Old Testament, then, is not necessary to prove the resurrection, Paul made no use of it in his sermon to those Gentiles. But the resurrection must not contradict the OT, as Isaiah says:

To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word it is because there is no light in them (Isaiah 8:20).

It is not correct to claim that "In and of itself, the resurrection proves nothing. You must bring independent proof from outside the New Testament so as not to be guilty of circular logic." Paul brought no evidence from the OT when preaching to the Gentiles on Mars' Hill (Acts 17:22 etc).

And if it is circular logic to restrict to the NT alone then why isn't it circular logic to restrict to NT and OT alone? The NT has sufficient evidence within itself to prove it is the Word of God. But as Isaiah 8:20 shows what is needed is to show that the resurrection, and the NT and the OT all agree together, that the NT does not contradict the OT.

NT and OT are two witnesses

We do not have the NT as a solitary witness for the messiahship of Jesus of Nazareth, we have the OT also as an independent witness, that out of the mouth of two or three witnesses everything might be established (Deuteronomy 19:15, Matthew 18:16). And in that relgious Jews accept the OT (the Tanakh) and reject Jesus of Nazareth as their Messiah, the witness of the Tanakh is strengthened because there has obviously been no collusion between Christians and Jews in the making or preservation of the OT, seeing the two peoples oppose each other when interpretting its relevance to Jesus of Nazareth. It doesn't take too much effort to prove that the Jew's own book (- they themselves confirm the words written are from God -) points to Jesus of Nazareth as the promised Messiah.

The OT and the NT are thus two witnesses which are entirely independent.

Resurrrection is no proof to the rebellious

Of course, the resurrection is no proof to those who do not want to believe: nothing is. Jesus ended one of his parables with a man claiming:

"'But if someone goes to them from the dead then they will repent.' But he said to him 'If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded even if someone should rise from the dead'" (Luke 16:30,31).

Resurrection in the Tanakh/ Old Testament

Jesus brings us to the same God, because he, his death, and his resurrection fulfil the prophesies of the Tanakh:-

The resurrection is found in many places in the Tanakh such as here:

After two days will he revive us, in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight. Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the LORD... (Hosea 6:2,3).

Just as it was through suffering, the loss of a rib, that Adam gained a bride, so through suffering the Messiah would gain his Bride.. all those who would believe on him. And as Adam was raised out of his sleep to enjoy Eve, so Christ was raised out of death to delight in his Bride. And Eve was made because it was not good that man should be alone (Gen 2:18) because man was made in the image of God (Gen 1:26), from which we conclude that there is more than one person in the Godhead.

The resurrection is typified in Noah's Flood. The Flood typifies/represents the Day of Judgment when this world will be burned up (2 Peter 3:12-13, Rev 21:1, Isaiah 65:17). The world before the Flood represents This World, and the time after the Flood represents "the New Heavens and the New Earth" which God will create. The ark itself typifies the Saviour, only in him will anyone be rescued. The ark coming to rest on Mount Ararat signifies the Messiah entering into the rest of the New Heavens and New Earth before the new creation is yet fully ready for his people.

When the Israelites left Egypt God told Moses the first month would be Aviv or Abib, (literally "Spring"). "This month shall be the beginning of the months. It shall be the first month of the year for you" (Exodus 12:2). After the Babylonian captivity the month would be known as "Nisan". This is the month of the Passover which comes after the Spring Equinox.

Before the Exodus the Israelites followed the Egyptian Calendar where the first month was in the Autumn, and later called "Tishri" by the Jews; and Nisan was the seventh month. Our Lord was crucified on the fourteenth of Nisan, and rose again on the sixteenth Nisan. Noah presumably measured the first day of the month slightly differently to the Jews in New Testament times (and today), producing a difference of only one day (i.e. 17th not 16th).

"And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on the mountains of Ararat" (Genesis 8:4). The ark rested on the 17th Nisan. This represents the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth on the 16th Nisan.

Right back at the time of the Flood, God was prefiguring the resurrection of the Messiah!

(The typical nature of the ark's rest is taken from "The Law of the Offerings" by Andrew Jukes, Kregel, 1966, chapter "The Types in general", page 30).

The Gospel according to Moses

In the last fourteen chapters of Genesis, chapters 37 to 50, we have the life and ministry of Joseph. He was envied by his brothers (Genesis 37:11, Matthew 27:18), the children of Israel, because he was the favourite of his father; because they envied him they sold him for 20 pieces of silver into slavery (27:28, Matthew 26:15); by this, in a figure, they killed him so that Jacob said "Joseph is without doubt rent in pieces" (37:33). When Joseph was 30 years old (41:46, Luke 3:23) he was raised from the prison and he was elevated to the second highest position in Egypt (41:40, Matthew 28:18, 1 Corinthians 15:24-28); and Joseph used his position of power, not to get revenge on his brothers but, to save all the children of Israel from death. And when their father died Joseph's brothers came trembling to him for mercy: what Joseph said could equally come from the mouth of Jesus, "But as for you, you thought evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive. Now therefore, fear ye not: I will nourish you and your little ones. And he comforted them and spake kindly to them." (Genesis 50:20,21). The life of Joseph is a true history but it is also a gospel allegory, including salvation for the people of God by a figurative death and resurrection.

The Gospel according to Mordecai

The book of Esther is also the gospel in the form of an allegory. Just as Esther saved her people, the Jews, by her willingness to die, saying if I perish, I perish (Esther 4:16), so Christ saves his people by actually dying. As she suffered having requested that the Jews of Shushan neither eat nor drink for three days, night or day and promising I also and my maidens will fast likewise (Esther 4:16) and afterwards went into the secret place to intercede for her people, so Christ also suffered and was in the grave three days and three nights before his ascension to intercede in Heaven for his people. And just as Esther was related both the to the Jews and the King (by marriage), so Christ is related both to us, being made a man, and to the Father, being of the same nature, God made flesh. And just as Esther had neither mother nor father, so Christ had neither father nor mother, his human nature having no human father, and his divine nature having no divine mother. It was not the worthiness of the Jews that delivered them, rather it was the beauty of Esther; and it is not our worthiness that saves us, rather it is the spotless beauty of our Messiah.

And note that the time of the call to fasting "three days, night and day" by Esther (Esther 4:16) was at the time of Passover exactly the time when Christ was "three days and three nights in the heart of the earth" (Matthew 12:40, Mark 14:14) for Passover was always upon the 14th of Nisan (Exodus 12:6) and Haman's letter for the destruction of the Jews, upon which Mordecai immedately acted, was sent out 13th Nisan (Esther 3:7 & 3:12). It is quite possible then that Esther's fast began the same day of the year as the crucifixion and that Esther appeared before the King to intercede for the Jews on what Christians today call "Easter Sunday" or "Resurrection Sunday".

A gospel allegory in the book of Samuel

In the book of Samuel we have another picture of the resurrection. David is in a lot of trouble, his men are threatening to kill him, after he and his men return to Ziklag on the third day (1 Samuel 30:1) to discover that all their wives and children have been taken captive. But David and the people are all delivered in an unexpected way: a stranger whose name we even do not know, a suffering servant, who was despised and rejected, is brought back from the edge of death, when they gave him something to eat and drink his spirit came again to him: for he had eaten no bread, nor drunk any water, three days and three nights (1 Samuel 30:12,13). (The word "spirit came again" (KJV) probably means his "breathing returned to normal", his breathing had been very shallow, he was very close to death.) It was through this man, and through what this man said, that deliverance came. The same with Jesus of Nazareth: even though he might have seemed to be a nobody and a stranger to the Jews, yet it is through his resurrection, and the Gospel message that he gives, that deliverance comes to those who believe in him.

In summary, notice that in each of the three above cases not a single life was lost, every single life that was in danger, namely all the sons of Jacob and their families, all the followers of David and their families, and all the Jews in Esther's time, were delivered from death.

Pictures from the OT

When Adam and Eve sinned God promised them a Saviour, Genesis 3:15, who would bruise Satan's head but be bruised in the heel himself in the process. It was by faith in this promise of God that those before the time of Abraham were able to be saved, and call upon the name of the LORD (Gen 4:26).

Abraham was promised that this Saviour would be one of his descendants. And Abraham believed God's promises and this was what made Abraham righteous before God. And, as a token of the covenant He made with Abraham, God gave him the sign of circumcision to him and his descendants. God was pleased with Abraham because of Abraham's faith which he had before he was circumcised: Abraham believed God and He accounted it to him for righteousness (Gen 15:6). Circumcision, then, should act as a reminder of how Abraham pleased God.

David was promised one of his descendants would sit on his throne forever:

And when thy days be fulfilled, and you shall sleep with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, which shall proceed out of your bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. (2 Samuel 7:12-13).

This King would be from David's own body. He would live forever. No one today, in fact no one since the destruction of the Jewish public records in Jerusalem by the Romans (in either the first of second century), can actually prove they are a descendant of David.

David prophesied: The stone the builders rejected has become the head of the corner (Psalm 118:12) i.e. the builders are the Jewish religious authorities: the one rejected by them would be the Messiah.

And David prophesied that the Messiah would be resurrected physically soon after death:

Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices, my flesh also shall rest in hope. For you will not leave my soul in Sheol, neither will you let your Holy One see corruption [bodily decay]. Psalm 16:10

Isaiah tells us that a virgin will conceive and bear a son and his name shall be called Immanuel which means 'God with us' (Isaiah 7:14).

Isaiah also tells us a child will be born And his name will be called... Mighty God (Isaiah 9:6).

Isaiah also prophesies:

He is despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we did not esteem him.

Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted.

But he was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his stripes we are healed.

All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned ereryone to his own way; And the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; he was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent so he opened not his mouth.

He was taken from prison and from judgement, and who will declare his generation (offspring)? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people was he stricken.

And they made his grave with the wicked - but with the rich in his death, because he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.

Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he has put him to grief. When you make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days [ie he shall be resurrected after his suffering], and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. He shall see the travail of his soul [ie he shall see the souls saved as a consequence of his death, because he will be resurrected] and be satisfied.

By his knowledge my righteous servant shall justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities.

Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul unto death, and he was numbered with the transgressors, and he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. (Isaiah 53:3-12)

Isaiah also tells us what God said to his Messiah:

It is too small a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also give you to be a light to the Gentiles; that you should be my salvation to the ends of the earth (Isaiah 49:6).

And David prophesies, speaking of the Messiah's death:

They have pierced my hands and my feet (Psalm 22:16).

This reading is the reading of Psalm 22:16 in the Dead Sea Scrolls. The Hebrew of the Masoretic Text translates as "Like a lion are my hands and my feet", which makes very little sense. Either the text was changed to "they have pierced" before the time of Christ or the Masoretic Jews changed it to "like a lion" sometime between 100 BCE and 1000 CE. The Christian view makes most sense, the Jews changed it because they didn't like "they have pierced my hands and my feet" because it points to Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah.

Early in this long post reference was made to Jeremiah who had said that when the Messiah comes a new covenant will be made by God, not like the covenant made with them when He brought them out of Egypt, in which the LORD says I will forgive their iniquity and remember their sin no more (Jeremiah 31:31-34). Now if God has forgotten the sins of his people then why do they need to continue offering sacrifices? The implication of this is that the sacrificial system with its bulls and goats, etc, will no longer be needed. This is the argument of the author of the letter to the Hebrews 10:1-18, especially 10:16-18.

The TIMING of the Resurrection in the Book of Daniel

Daniel tells us that after the Messiah has come the city [of Jerusalem] and the Temple will be destroyed, and this shall be until the consummation [until the day of judgement] (Daniel 9:26-27). In other words the Temple will never be rebuilt: the sacrificial system of the Tanakh is no longer needed because the True Sacrifice, the Messiah, has been sacrificed.

[In addition, the law of God required that anyone wanting to serve as a priest in the Temple had to be able to prove their descent to be of the tribe of Levi, and if anyone could not prove it they were not permitted to serve in the Temple (Ezra 2:59-63). No one alive today can prove they are descendants of the priesthood: therefore even if the Temple in Jerusalem were to be rebuilt, no one would be able to serve in it. It seems plain to me, then, that the meaning of Daniel 9:27 "even until the consummation" is that the Temple will never be rebuilt, and the "consummation" is intended the Day our Lord comes to finally take his betrothed, the people of God, for his bride on the Last Day (Isaiah 54:5, Revelation 19:7).]

As you know the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 CE. So we need to find the Jewish Messiah before 70 CE.

Daniel tells us the Son of Man shall come in the days of the Empire of iron, the Roman Empire (Daniel 7:13,14).

In fact, Daniel tells us that 490 years after a decree to rebuild Jerusalem shall six very important things happen (Daniel 9:24). The decree of Artaxerxes (in Ezra 7) was given in 458 BCE. And 490 years after 458 BC is 33 C.E. when Christ was crucified; (there was no year zero).

In 1956 Richard A. Parker and Waldo Dubberstein published the second edition of their book on chronology calling it "Babylonian Chronology, 626 B.C. to A.D. 75" which has become the standard work on chronology for the period. In that work the dates for every new moon were recorded using Julian Calendar dating. The date for the departure of Ezra on the first of Nissan 458 B.C. (Ezra 7:9) is recorded in their book as 8th April 458 B.C.

In late 2006 (or early 2007) Pastor Derrick Walker in Oxford, England, realised that if you change the date from the Julian date in Parker & Dubberstein's book to the more accurate Gregorian date (where the length of a year is almost exactly the same as that of the solar year) then Ezra left Babylon to return to Jerusalem to rebuild under the decree of Artaxerxes on 3rd April 458 BC. (Later Rodger C. Young (rcyoung.org) and Pastor Steve Rudd (www.bible.ca) made the same discovery.) And 3rd April 458 B.C. is 490 years to the resurrection on 3rd April AD 33 (Gregorian) to the exact day.
When you go on a long journey which will take many hours then you tend to leave early in the morning. So not only was the day 490 years to the exact day, but probably it was close to the exact hour as well! Jesus resurrection is prophesied in the OT to the exact day and maybe the exact hour!!

If this is the intended interpretation then Daniel 9:24 is not directly pointing to the crucifixion: rather, it is pointing to the resurrection, as the sign demonstrating the efficacy of the crucifixion. (AD 33 is one of the few possible years of the crucifixion because in that year Passover fell on a Friday.)

Finally, after three days and three nights Jonah was spewed out of the great fish/whale (Jonah 1:17). He then went to Ninevah to tell them that in 40 days they were going to be destroyed. It is not correct to say he told them to repent. They asked him how he smelt so bad of fish, and maybe why he looked so strange, having been in a fish's belly for three days. He told them what had happened to him and why he had been in the fish... because of his rebellion against his God. We know the Ninevites learned these things about Jonah because Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites (Luke 11:30), meaning a sign of death and resurrection.

The Ninevites said: "We are in big trouble. Yet Jonah found mercy at the last hour by his repentance. It won't do us any harm to repent either. Who knows? Maybe God will have mercy upon us too, even though God has not promised mercy upon our repentance." So they repented, and God relented. For the Jews, it is the eleventh hour: but God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, offers forgiveness upon your faith in Jesus Christ and repentance back to God.

Jesus of Nazareth fulfils Daniel 9:26: he came before the destruction of the Temple. He fulfils Isaiah 49:6 because he is worshipped throughout the world as the Messiah. And he fulfils 2 Samuel 7:13,14 - he is a descendant of King David both through his mother (Luke's Gospel) and through his adopted father (Matthew's Gospel).

Both Luke and Matthew must have examined the public records in Jerusalem showing the ancestry of Jesus: the only thing Jesus's enemies, the Jewish religious authorities, had to do to show Jesus was not the promised Messiah was to demonstrate from those records that he was not a descendant of David. In that they never made that claim, and we instead only hear a deafening silence from them in this matter, then a very likely scenario is that they did indeed examine those public records and found precisely the same evidence as that found by Matthew and Luke.

Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah of the Tanakh, he rose from the dead the third day as the Tanakh prophesied.

The section I had near the beginning I will give again:

Resurrrection is no proof to the rebellious

Of course, the resurrection is no proof to those who do not want to believe: nothing is. Jesus ended one of his parables with a man claiming:

"'But if someone goes to them from the dead then they will repent.' But he said to him 'If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded even if someone should rise from the dead'" (Luke 16:30, 31).

The problem with many unbelieving Jews is not that they struggle with Deuteronomy 13:1-11... its that they don't believe Moses, Moses book(s), or even any of their own Old Testament. Moses said God made the world in 6 days and rested the 7th day: they believe in the Big Bang. Moses said God made all the animals after their kinds... but they believe in evolution. Moses said God lead them out of Egypt about 1446 BC.. they believe the writings of Moses were finished some time around 500 bc or even later and most of Moses works are historically entirely unreliable. And they certainly do not believe in a worldwide flood when all humanity was destroyed by the righteous wrath of Almighty God, or in the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah for their sexual immorality and greed.

Moses said there are two covenants to pay attention to not one (Deut 29:1)... but they only know the one covenant made at Horeb (Sinai), which is a covenant saying "Do all these good things and you shall live, but if you fail in one detail you shall be cursed"; they have no clue what Moses means by another covenant "made in the land of Moab" (Deut 29:1). This covenant is the covenant of grace, peace and everlasting life in which God will remember our sins no more if we turn back to God as beggars pleading mercy and peace on account of the sacrifice a fully sufficient Messiah, (who is "Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham" (Matthew 1:1)).

In this section of Moses writings he speaks of the Son of God coming down from Heaven, living a sinless life to be a perfect sacrifice for the sins of his people, dying, being resurrected from the dead, and giving salvation to all who believe in Him and trust in His sacrifice for their sin, and helping them to live for God and love God, by the pouring out of God the Holy Spirit into their hearts and lips (Deuteronomy 30:11-14).

I suspect many Jews know so very little about their own Book because: What is the point of studying a book which "so obviously isn't true"?

The real problem is some people prefer the comfort of the approval of friends and family rather than seeking of the truth, rather seeking the praise of men than the praise of God. But Jesus asks us all even now "What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and yet to lose his own soul?" And Jesus repeats the warning found at the end of the book of Isaiah, that those who prefer to proudly disbelieve and carry on in their own wilful rebellion will at the last Day of Judgement be looked upon by the Children of God:

"And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against me; for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring to all flesh." (Isaiah 66:24, Matthew 5:27-30, Mark 9:43-48).

To all the Jews who do not believe in Jesus, I say, give your own book, the Old Testament, the Tanakh, a fair chance - study it as if it is actually true, pray God would open your eyes and hearts, and make sure you read with a willingness to believe it, and may God, the God of your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, bless you.

Answer 3

The form of your logic seems to be as follows

Premise

Scripture teaches believers should not follow other gods, gods whom they have not known.

Deuteronomy 13:1“If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, 2and the sign or the wonder comes true, concerning which he spoke to you, saying, ‘Let us go after other gods (whom you have not known) and let us serve them,’ 3you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams; for the LORD your God is testing you to find out if you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. 4“You shall follow the LORD your God and fear Him; and you shall keep His commandments, listen to His voice, serve Him, and cling to Him.

Premise

Jesus is a God who is not recognised by Jews according to the description of God given in the Old Testament. In other words, he is a god whom they have not known.

Conclusion

Jesus is not God, even if you use resurrection as a criteria, because miracles are not the criteria, as pointed out by Deuteronomy 13.

The problem with the logic is that the teaching in Deuteronomy 13:1-4 is not about unknown gods, but about how to identify false prophets. The criteria is not that their predictions should come true, but that they should do not lead worshipers astray. Your second premise, that Jesus was not recognisable as God, based on the Old Testament description that the Jews believed had authority, has no relevance to the first.

The Resurrection falls in a category known as a great work of God. Abraham was saved from Pharaoh not because of his own efforts at survival, but because of a great work of God in giving Pharaoh a dream. When Abraham was saved on several occasions by similar great works of God, Abraham learnt two important lessons, lessons that Israelites who experienced similar great rescues did not learn. Abraham intuited that God required him to trust Him to be saved from danger. Second, these rescues were connected to the promise that the world would be blessed through him and his descendants. They were situations in which the great works of God would be displayed, so that those witnessing them would be motivated to serve God, like Abraham served God.

So when God asked Abraham to sacrifice Isaac as an offering, Abraham thought that the event was just another opportunity to display God's great work, believing that God would raise his son back from the dead.

Hebrews 11:19He considered that God is able to raise people even from the dead, from which he also received him back as a type.

You see similar parallels in the great works God empowered Moses and Christ with.

Exodus 4:1Then Moses said, “What if they will not believe me or listen to what I say? For they may say, ‘The LORD has not appeared to you.’” 2The LORD said to him, “What is that in your hand?” And he said, “A staff.” 3Then He said, “Throw it on the ground.” So he threw it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from it. 4But the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand and grasp it by its tail”—so he stretched out his hand and caught it, and it became a staff in his hand— 5“that they may believe that the LORD, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.”

John 9:1As He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. 2And His disciples asked Him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?” 3Jesus answered, “It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him.

So when you ask for baptism in the name of Christ, you are asking for God to give you Holy Spirit experiences that reveal the protection of God. When you receive these experiences, you are supposed to have a stronger faith, a different spirit.

Numbers 14:22“Surely all the men who have seen My glory and My signs which I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet have put Me to the test these ten times and have not listened to My voice, 23shall by no means see the land which I swore to their fathers, nor shall any of those who spurned Me see it 24But My servant Caleb, because he has had a different spirit and has followed Me fully, I will bring into the land which he entered, and his descendants shall take possession of it.

Then, learning obedience from suffering, like Abraham and Christ, you are supposed to voluntarily expose yourself to dangerous situations, pick up crosses, so that God's great works can be displayed in your life, even as Christ picked up crosses daily in confronting the Pharisees, and finally in the eponymous act of the crucifixion.

Hebrews 5:8Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered.

In other words, the world is blessed when people are motivated to follow God, when they see His great works of saving you, when you live selflessly.

John 15:13Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.

All Scriptural references from the NASB.

Answer 4

So we are back to square one; first we need evidence that Jesus was indeed the son of God. Then and only then, does the historicity of the resurrection have any relevance to affirming Jesus. Without prior evidence, it seems justifiable to write Jesus off as a false prophet.

I think you're getting this backwards. Let me start with the resurrection and work back to why Jesus was the Son of God. I think it will clear things up for you.

The resurrection is a massive stumbling block. Psalms 118:22 says

The stone that the builders rejected has now become the cornerstone.

I believe they're not just referring to Jesus there. 118:23 says

This is the Lord’s doing, and it is wonderful to see.

The problem with the resurrection is its premise is absurd. Nobody comes back from the dead. This law is inviolable. If someone claims they will come back from the dead, you generally wouldn't believe them because we have no verifiable instances of it. Yet Jesus made the bold claim he would bodily rise from the dead. If you're looking to make up a religion, this is the worst possible way to start. Jesus could have merely said he would rise spiritually and created a false religion easily enough.

The real question here isn't "Is Jesus the Son of God?", but "How do you make a demonstrably false premise into a successful religion?" In all seriousness, the resurrection is the lynch pin of Christianity. It should be easy to take it out, which takes all of Christendom with it. Nobody has done it yet. Here we have three giant thinkers who took that challenge on: C.S. Lewis, Josh McDowell, and Lee Strobel. Three determined atheists, yet all three became not just believers, but defenders of that belief. Why?

The resurrection only really works as a basis for a religion if it's true. If you don't scrutinize it too hard, or just ignore the evidence, you can just give it a cursory dismissal, but people who have made a deliberate study of it continually come to the conclusion it's true. I could expound here, but let's (for argument's sake) say it's true.

Why come at it from this angle? Because if it's true, the next question is "Who has the power to raise the dead back to life?" We see that from the God of the Old Testament

• The Widow of Zarephath's son 1 Kings 17:17-22
• The Shunnamite's Son 2 Kings 4:32-37
• Unnamed man who touched Elisha's bones 2 Kings 13:20-21
• Ezekiel's Valley of Dry Bones Ezekiel 37 (it's more an allegory, but God literally rebuilds the bodies of the dead in this vision)
• Abraham was ready to sacrifice Isaac, believing that Isaac would be resurrected Hebrews 11:19 (NT, but written by Jews so likely steeped in Jewish tradition)

As far as the power to resurrect, we have the God of the Old Testament and... uhm... nobody else.

This brings me to the real kicker here: if Jesus did rise from the dead, and he is not God, who exactly is he, and how did he get this power that nobody else has?

Which brings me to your other point

In fact, in Exodus 7:11 even Pharoah's sorcerers were capable of performing supernatural feats.

I think you missed the point of that account. Initially, Pharoah has his magicians doing the same tricks, implying Moses is no better than the other sorcerers. But as the plagues go on, you'll note they stopped being able to copy God, until finally, we have the death of the firstborn, a devastating blow nobody could match. Yet all of them pale in comparison to resurrection. This was a miracle that nobody could ignore, but more importantly, nobody could match. In other words, it was a miracle only the God of the Old Testament could do. We don't need to prove Jesus was God first. Only God could have done this.

Answer 5

There is a very simple answer to your question. Jesus was condemned to death. Why?

At the Sanhedrin trial (and elsewhere), Jesus claimed divinity when he answered the charge of being God's Blessed Son. The chief priest tore his clothes in anger and said "what more do we need to hear?" This can be found in Mark 14:61-62, Luke 22:67-70, John 8:48-59 (specifically verse 58), etc etc. Fun side fact - the chief priest rending his clothes was a violation of Leviticus 21:10.

Jesus claimed equality with God, divinity, in being God's son, the Messiah. He expands on this pretty clearly directly to the Sanhedrin, when He states that He will be seated at the Right Hand of Power in Heaven. There is no ambiguity here.

Now, if this is a false claim, under the Law (Lev 24:12-16), Jesus certainly should face death.

However, if Jesus was in fact raised from the dead, then His claim(s) must have been true. God would be of two opposing minds to command a blasphemer to death and then raise him from the dead. God would literally be working against Himself and contradicting Himself. The Resurrection is a sign of justification. Therefore, Jesus's claims to divinity that landed him the death penalty at the hands of men were true. This assumes that you accept that there is not any other power than God capable of raising the dead, or giving life.

If you want to tackle the question as to whether or not any other power than God's power can raise someone from the dead, I would logically break it down this way applied specifically to the scenario at hand:

• A blasphemer meets his death as commanded by God in Leviticus 24:13-16.
• Some other power than God returns this blasphemer to life.
• This other power is greater than God because it can thwart God's Law, purpose and decrees.

So, in order for a condemned, guilty person to be brought back to life by someone other than God, we must erode God's omnipotence and remove all attributes that would belong to a Maximally Great Being, which would thus rob Him of the essential attributes of God in such a scenario. I think we can all agree that none of us want to assert any of this to be true.

So, while the Resurrection was not exclusively meant as a "proof", there can be many facts inferred from it. I assert that Jesus's claims to divinity are true because of the Resurrection, given the circumstances of His death. Were He unjust, God would not have raised Him from the dead. Isaiah 53:5-6, Isaiah 53:9-12:

But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.

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.

And they made His grave with the wicked— But with the rich at His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was any deceit in His mouth.

Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.

He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, For He shall bear their iniquities.

Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great, And He shall divide the spoil with the strong, Because He poured out His soul unto death, And He was numbered with the transgressors, And He bore the sin of many, And made intercession for the transgressors.

The last verse is striking. How can God divide "a portion with the great" to the dead? "He poured out his soul unto death". Even Isaiah 53 demands Resurrection as God's divine purpose.

Answer 6

Undoubtedly, the question is an important question as it underscores the cardinal objection of the majority of Jews to accept Yashua as the Mashiach [Jesus as the Messiah/Christ].

Many deep theological issues related to the comments in the aforesaid question have been addressed adequately by several answers prior to my response. Here I would like to add to all the above a little more clarity from my understanding.

Resurrection is the final piece in the puzzle that not only authenticates Jesus’ claims but also fulfils what the O.T. predicted and paves the way for the eternity of God's people.

If Jesus’ resurrection took place in isolation of all the prior witnesses God was providing then we have a reason to scratch our heads and wonder what it all means and why anyone should believe what Jesus claimed. However, that was not the case. The following are some of the witnesses God had been providing the Jews of Jesus’ time in order to authenticate Jesus, His claims, and His mission:

(1) Miracle in His birth [virgin birth]

(2) Angelic annunciation [to Mary, Joseph, and shepherds]

(3) Forerunner’s proclamation [John the Baptist]

(4) Miracles performed [healings, raising the dead, commanding the nature etc.]

(5) Prophecies fulfilled [from Psalms, Isiah, Daniel, Zechariah]

(6) God’s voice from Heaven [at baptism and on mount transfiguration]

(7) Resurrection

Some Jews did believe and were willing to die for the truth Jesus had claimed and proclaimed!

The final piece of the puzzle, resurrection of Jesus, proves that Jesus has fulfilled the O.T. prophecies about the resurrection, which is in the plan of God of the Bible. The following are some of the important prophesies from the O.T. pointing to the resurrection:

(1) “Therefore, my heart is glad and my glory rejoices; My flesh also will dwell securely. For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol; Nor will You allow Your Holy One to undergo decay.” (Ps.16:9-10 = Acts 2:23-32)

(2) “He will swallow up death for all time, And the Lord God will wipe tears away from all faces, And He will remove the reproach of His people from all the earth; For the Lord has spoken.” (Is.25:8 = 1Cor.15:53-57)

(3) “But the Lord was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief; If He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, And the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand. As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, As He will bear their iniquities. Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, And He will divide the booty with the strong; Because He poured out Himself to death, And was numbered with the transgressors; Yet He Himself bore the sin of many, And interceded for the transgressors.” (Is.53:10-12 = Lk.23:32-34; Jn.12:24; Phil.2:5-11)

Thus the resurrection of Jesus confirms that the O.T. prophesies about the coming servant/Son/Messiah of God are true and Jesus is the Christ.

But, the main charge of the question in this discussion is that Jesus introduced another god to the Jews of his time! This charge is both misleading and misrepresenting the N.T. message.

According to the O.T. [Prov.30:4; Is.9:6-7; Daniel.7:13-14; Micah.5:2]:

The Messiah [Christ] is the ruler/king of God’s Kingdom.

The Messiah [Christ] is a divine Being or Son of God, by extension God, in human form and nature.

As per the O.T. teaching, God/YHWH is One I.e. Apart from YHWH there is no other God who is like Him or equal to Him in any sense. However, the Bible doesn’t support the idea that God/YHWH is a simple single singularity. Rather, it portrays the picture of God/YHWH as a complex Being who appeared in different forms culminating in the form of the Son of God, who is the Christ/Messiah.

Israelites of the O.T. did not know God/YHWH exhaustively. But for them the Angel of the Lord, the Word of the Lord, the Spirit of the Lord, the glory of the Lord and the presence of the Lord are all one and same God/YHWH.

The following are the important areas that the N.T. teaches about Jesus...

Jesus’ identity: He is the Word of God, who is part and parcel of God, took on human form and nature to become the Messiah [Jn.1:1,14; Phi.2:5-11]

Jesus’ mission: Reveals the Father [Jn.1:18]; Gives us understanding of the true One [1Jn.5:20]; Does the will and work of the Father [Jn.4:34].

Jesus’ message: Repent [Mk.1:15; Acts.17:30-31]; Turn to God [Acts.3:26]; Do the will of the Father [Matt.7:21]; Honor the Son even as you honor the Father [Jn.5:23].

Did Jesus introduce a new or different god and thereby fail the test of Deuteronomy 13?

No, absolutely not! Rather, Jesus Himself being the ‘Word of God’ who had been familiar to the Israelites of the O.T. [Gen.15:1; 2Samuel.7:4; Is.38:4; Jer.2:1 = Jn.1:1,14; Rev.19:13] fulfilled the miracle and promise of God about the beginning of the death of ‘the Death’ in His death and resurrection.

Answer 7

To establish the identity of Jesus as prophet, priest, king, messiah and God, three witnesses were required: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

All three witnesses affirmed Jesus' identity at the time he was baptized, in Matthew 3:

13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. 14 But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”

15 Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented.

16 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!”

John the Baptist served as the witness of the Word. He was the Elijah who was to come prophesied by Malachi. Likewise, Jesus was the Prophet spoken of by Moses in Deuteronomy 18:

15 The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him.

Note the similarity of the words spoken by Moses and those spoken by God from heaven at the baptism: Listen to him!

Of course the Holy Spirit that landed on Jesus enabled him to drive out evil spirits and promote holiness among the people. The healing ministry was substantially the continuation of the Holy Spirit's witness to Jesus' identity.

Finally, we get to the father. The beginning of the Father's witness in Matthew is at the baptism, and the conclusion is the resurrection. The resurrection is the Father's witness to the Son's identity.

So the resurrection alone is necessary but not sufficient to establish Jesus' identity.

In walking with two disciples on the way to Emmaus after his resurrection, Jesus emphasized the witness of the Scriptures in establishing his identity. However, the only way for the Scriptures to point to Jesus is for his actions to be consistent with those Scriptures. The most prominent action that set him apart from all other prophets was rising from the dead. Without the resurrection, you cannot connect Jesus to the Word.

To sum up, it is important to realize from the two Moses quotes (the OP's and the one in this answer) that Moses explained how to recognize a false prophet for a reason: he did not want the people to miss the true prophet who was to come. Thus at the transfiguration, Moses was present. He could spot a false prophet and a true prophet, and he certified that Jesus was a true prophet.

Update:

1 Kings 17 has the story of Elijah and the widow of Zarephath. Her flour and oil did not run out during the famine because of a miracle proclaimed by Elijah. Then her son died:

“Give me your son,” Elijah replied. He took him from her arms, carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his bed. Then he cried out to the LORD, “ LORD my God, have you brought tragedy even on this widow I am staying with, by causing her son to die?” Then he stretched himself out on the boy three times and cried out to the LORD, “ LORD my God, let this boy’s life return to him!” The LORD heard Elijah’s cry, and the boy’s life returned to him, and he lived. Elijah picked up the child and carried him down from the room into the house. He gave him to his mother and said, “Look, your son is alive!” Then the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the LORD from your mouth is the truth.” (1 Kings 17:19-24, NIV)

The widow distinguished between the miracle of provision and resurrection. Only the latter convinced her that Elijah was a true man of God.

Answer 8

Starting with the Hebrew Scriptures: The Deuteronomy warning said not to listen to a false prophet whose words did not come to pass, but equally not to listen to one whose words DID come to pass! In modern parlance, that might be a case of "covering all bases."

The point is about alertness to being deceived. If the Israelites had taken that to heart, they would not have been legged down by the prophet Balaam who obeyed God's prophetic word directly to him, to bless the nation instead of cursing it, but later caused Israel to apostasize with fertility rites. That was this nasty prophet's revenge. Yet he spoke God's truth three times! Numbers chapters 22 to 25 show that following false gods was the trap the Israelites later fell into. They were happy to accept Balaam's blessings, but their sexual lusts were stronger than their obedience to God, and didn't Balaam know it.

Moving on to the Christian Greek Scriptures, with Jesus, the lesson is entirely different, for he proved he was the foretold prophet Moses said the people were to listen to, in 18:14-22. That chapter and those verses repeat the warning about false prophets. Did Jesus try to get people fornicating, or following false no-gods? No. Did Jesus ever say "Worship me" as you claim? No. He did not.

But because of his ministry, people came to realise he was, indeed, the Son of God, which he did claim to be (as to the Samaritan woman in John chapter 4.) But he never tried to get anyone worshipping him. Nor did he rebuke those who did (like doubting Thomas, who was witness to the resurrected Christ.) After his resurrection, he appeared over 40 days to about 500 people (1 Corinthians 15:3-7). But if 500 eye-witnesses are insufficient as proof, no proof will suffice.

The reason why Jesus was resurrected is proof as to who he is. One who witnessed the risen Christ was Peter, who spoke to a crowd of Jews amazed at the miraculous healing of the crippled beggar by use of the name of the risen Christ:

"You handed him over to be killed, and you disowned him before Pilate, though he had decided to let him go. You disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you. You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this." Acts 3:1-15 N.I.V. 1987 ed. [emphasis mine]

That's why he had to arise from the grave, in triumph, proving him to be who he said he was, because he is the author of life, which agrees with John 1:1-14. God is the author of life.

This answer asserts:

Christianity therefore must be true

Deuteronomy chs. 13 & 18 by definition must include Jesus

One purpose of the resurrection was proof that Jesus Christ is the author of life - God incarnate. 

And that is certainly supernatural, for only God is the author of life and can resurrect his only-begotten Son from the grave, for only sinners can be claimed by the grave, and Jesus never sinned and is also called the author of life.

Answer 9

Now, Jesus was, according to the Scriptures, a prophet, for as He said,

"For I did not speak on My own initiative, but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me a commandment as to what to say and what to speak. (John 12:49).

Now, by the Old Testament Law, God gave the Jews a test to see if a prophet was from Him, saying

When a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the thing does not come about or come true, that is the thing which the LORD has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him. (Deut. 18:22).

Now, how was it that the Jews were to test if Jesus was telling the truth about His claims of being the Son of God? If what He predicted came to pass. What did He predict, among other things?

Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “It took forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?” But He was speaking of the temple of His body. So when He was raised from the dead, His disciples remembered that He said this; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had spoken.

Here, the Scripture explains explicitly: He predicted His ressurection, and it came to pass, fulfilling the test of Deut. 18:22 and proving His statement in John 12:49. Now, you may ask, how do we know that He did not speak for a foreign god, or that He was a foreign god? The Scriptures first say about other gods,

Is there a God besides Me? Indeed there is no other Rock; I know not one.” (Isaiah 44:8)

and

Behold, you are [nothing], and your work amounts to nothing. (Isaiah 41:24a)

Thus, God says there are not other gods who exist, and they cannot work anything. There is no room for a pantheon in Scripture. Thus, Jesus, if He was resurrected, must have been resurrected by God.

Now, you may say, what about demons? Well, if Jesus spoke for demons, or was a demon, then He would have been a false prophet. If that was the case, then what He predicted would not have come true, for God guarantees this in the aforementioned quote from Deuteronomy. But, what He predicted did come true. This is a contradiction, and thus Jesus did not speak for demons/was not one, and in general was no false prophet.

Thus, the Resurrection proves that Jesus was a prophet of God, because it allowed everyone to see that what He predicted came true, and thus His claim of speaking for God was true. Thus, because He claimed to be the divine Son of Man (and therefore claimed to be the Jewish God [but not the Father]), He was the Jewish God.

Now, you may finally say, this contradicts what the Jews think and thought about God! But, this isn't a problem: God throughout history has revealed more and more information about Himself, His will for humanity, and the future through His prophets. Jesus revealed the true nature of God: a Trinity.

Thus, we can agree with Paul in confidence, who says of the Resurrection

"His Son, who was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh, who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord." (Romans 1:2b-4)

Answer 10

I will start by stating that this is a very good question, that I am glad that a Jew dared to post it in CSE, and that I upvoted it. I am familiar with the subject because I discussed it extensively last year with a Noahide in a forum on classical theism, and recently I consolidated and expanded my posts on the subject and published the result as part of a broader paper in Academia.edu [1].

Introduction

First of all, it is necessary to address an issue that is implicit in these expressions used in the question: "that same God that they knew", "the same god", "that very same god of the OT", etc.: By "God" we refer to the one absolutely infinite (in perfection, not in spatial extension), absolutely simple, eternal and immutable Subsistent Being, Who created from nothing and sustains in existence everything that exists outside Himself. This must be the starting point, and it is from this starting point that one then determines whether the super-human entity which interacted with the Israelites was God (always meant in the above sense from here onward) or a lesser, created entity.

Clearly the entity identified himself as God when he gave his name in Ex 3:14-15, both in its 1st person form, "Ehyeh", "I Am", and in its 3rd person form, "Yahweh", "He causes to be" (assuming hiphil stem from theophoric names). But that self-identification does not prove, just by itself, that the entity talking to Moses was indeed what it claimed to be. Moreover, neither the plagues nor any other sign or wonder performed by the entity on route to Mt. Sinai, in Mt. Sinai, or on route to Canaan proves, just by itself, that the entity performing those signs or wonders was indeed God. Which is why I have been referring to the entity in lower case till now.

In order to ascertain that the entity self-identifying as "I Am" and guiding the Israelites out of Egypt was indeed God, one must have previously adopted the postulate that God will not allow a created super-human entity, i.e. a demon, to deceive human beings by performing signs or wonders while posing as the one true God. Thus, while God may allow demons to perform signs or wonder to lead idolaters to worship one or more of the gods of a polytheistic pantheon, because none of those gods is conceived as the one and only absolute Subsistent Being that created and sustains in existence everything outside Himself, it is against God's philosophically knowable goodness towards humans that He may allow a demon to perform signs or wonders to lead people into believing that the demon itself is the one and only God. (A well-known purported revelation supposedly superceding Christianity, claimed to come from the one and only true God, poses no problem as it did not involve any God-exclusive miracle, as defined below.)

The philosophical basis for postulating that God would not allow that people be deceived in a wholly undetectable and unsurmountable way is that such a course of action would be incompatible with the care He shows for people by creating ex nihilo each spiritual soul when the person is conceived. The reasoning goes like this:

• Ability for abstract thought implies that each human being has a spiritual soul.

• A human spiritual soul cannot emanate from God since He is immutable and absolutely simple (and so cannot let fall drops/sparks which forget that they are part of Him!) It also cannot proceed from the parents' spiritual souls or emerge from matter. Therefore it must be created ex nihilo directly by God, Who alone has the power to create ex nihilo. (In terms of the 3rd- and 1st-Person forms of the Name, "He causes to be" presupposes "I Am".)

• The fact that God creates ex nihilo the spiritual soul of each human person when that person is conceived implies that God cares about human beings, so that He will not allow that they be deceived in a wholly undetectable and unsurmountable way.

As an aside, I reject Marcionism and gnosticism, in both its Sethian and Valentinian flavors, and their views of the God of the OT as a lesser demiurge, either evil or just ignorant, purely on philosophical grounds of classical theism:

• Contra Marcionism and gnosticism, only the Subsistent Being can create ex nihilo.

• Contra gnosticism, the Subsistent Being is absolutely simple and immutable, not a pleroma within which changes go on and from which parts get out and then back in.

The point of the above is to show that one must start from a solid philosophical position in order to be able to discern correctly whether a sign or wonder is intended to lead people to the one true God or away from Him, and that the reservations on the value of Jesus' resurrection as proof that He is indeed what He claimed to be can also, and much more strongly, be raised on the value of the signs and wonders performed in the Exodus, because those signs and wonders provide much less apologetic evidence than the resurrection of a man, as any angel can kill but only God can bring back to life. Therefore a Jew questioning the apologetic evidence of Jesus' resurrection (assuming that it was factual) leaves himself with no principled reason to accept the apologetic evidence of the signs and wonders performed in the Exodus (assuming again that they were factual).

1. Definition of Revelatory Epistemological Position (RELP)

RELP: The set of criteria that a person holds to be appropriate for determining whether a purported medium of divine Revelation is actually so. (Or in the case of a particular sign or wonder, whether it certifies that the associated revelation comes from God or it does not).

To note, the contents of divine Revelation according to a revelatory tradition can include a consequent revelatory epistemological position. Thus for any revelatory tradition T there are two related revelatory epistemological positions:

• The antecedent epistemological position which is required for a person to be able to arrive to explicit propositional faith according to tradition T: R4T-ARELP (Required for T - Antecedent Revelatory Epistemological Position);

• The consequent epistemological position which is part of explicit propositional faith according to tradition T: T-CRELP (T - Consequent Revelatory Epistemological Position).

2. Statement of the antecedent epistemological position required for Christianity

The Required for Christianity - Antecedent Revelatory Epistemological Position (R4C-ARELP) must necessarily include the following:

A first postulate based on infinite divine goodness:

ARELP.P1. God will perform a miracle that requires the exercise of God's own exclusive power (as opposed to allowing an angel to exercise its own natural power) - in scholastic terms, a miracle which can happen only if God performs it directly as its only cause, not as its primary cause cooperating with a natural secondary cause, whether material or angelic, - hereafter called "a miracle which only God can perform", only to lead people to truth and good.

plus two corollaries of P1:

ARELP.C1. The possible instances of the "sign or wonder" supporting the claims of the false prophet predicted in Deut 13:1-5 do not include miracles which only God can perform, but are limited to the works that an evil angel can perform by its own natural power when allowed by God.

ARELP.C2. If God performs a miracle which only He can perform through the intervention of a prophet P, God will be certifying in front of everyone that all that P has said and done as prophet so far has God's "seal of approval" and therefore is true and in accordance with God's will, respectively.

plus a second postulate based on metaphysics:

ARELP.P2. The resurrection of a human being is a miracle which only God can perform, regardless of whether God performs it through the intervention of a human being, such as prophet Elisha (2 Ki 4:32-35).

plus two further corollaries from P2 and C1 and C2, respectively:

ARELP.C3. The possible instances of the "sign or wonder" supporting the claims of the false prophet predicted in Deut 13:1-5 do not include the resurrection of the false prophet himself to a glorious state.

ARELP.C4. If God resurrects a prophet P to a glorious state, God will be certifying in front of everyone that all that P has said and done as prophet up to his death has God's "seal of approval" and therefore is true and in accordance with God's will, respectively.

plus a third postulate based on infinite divine wisdom and goodness:

ARELP.P3. If God confers his "seal of approval" to the words and deeds of a prophet P by resurrecting him to a glorious state, He will also provide the means to ensure that the words and deeds of said prophet can be known with accuracy and certainty along time and across space. Because it would be against divine wisdom and goodness for God to give us certainty that whatever P said and did was true and good while not giving us certainty about what P actually said and did!

3. Study of a possible Jewish Consequent RELP which is incompatible with the R4C-ARELP

A possible Jewish consequent revelatory epistemological position would be incompatible with the antecedent revelatory epistemological position required for Christianity if and only if it comprised the following two postulates:

J-CRELP.P1. The Torah (or TaNaKH) contains, explicitely or implicitely, all truths about God and his design, so that any proposition about God or his design which is not in the Torah (or the TaNaKH) and cannot be deduced from it is necessarily false and points to a false god.

J-CRELP.P2. The possible instances of the "sign or wonder" supporting the claims of the false prophet predicted in Deut 13:1-5 include any miracle that only God can perform, and specifically the resurrection of the false prophet himself to a glorious state.

Calling a generalized version of P1 "Revelation Completeness", RC, and a generalized version of P2 "Full Divine Power at the service of lie", FDPsl, there are four possible combinations of the affirmation or negation of each postulate:

(¬RC, ¬FDPsl): The I-CRELP of Biblical Israel, according to Christianity

(RC, ¬FDPsl): The C-CRELP of the Church after the death of the last Apostle, according to Christianity

(¬RC, FDPsl): Not allowed because of undecidability

(RC, FDPsl): The possible J-CRELP studied in this section

Next I will show why negating RC (P1) at the same time as affirming FDPsl (P2) leads to undecidability. If one negates Torah (or TaNaKH) completeness, then the Nicene doctrine of a consubstantial Trinity and the Chalcedonian doctrine of the Incarnation of a divine Person are compatible with the Torah (or TaNaKH) and therefore can be the actual case. But even if a divine Trinity is the actual case, the claim by a concrete individual that he is the incarnated Son of God can be true or not, so that in the latter case he would be an impostor and a false prophet. But if one holds FDPsl, a miracle of any kind performed through the intervention of that individual, or even to that individual such as resurrecting him to a glorious state, can be interpreted either as certifying the truth of his words or as supporting the claims of a false prophet. Therefore it is impossible to decide whether a concrete individual claiming to be the incarnated Son of God and showing miracles of any kind in support of his claim is really the incarnated Son of God or an impostor.

3.1. Demonstration that the Biblical Israelite faith does not imply J-CRELP.P1 but actually implies that it is false

1.1. It neither is in the Torah (or TaNaKH) nor can be inferred from it.

1.2. It is intrinsically null regarding further revelation of truths or addition/deletion/change of commandments by God Himself.

1.3. It is positively contradicted regarding further revelation by Isaiah 48:6b-7:

I proclaim to you new things from this time, even hidden things which you have not known. They are created now and not long ago; and before today you have not heard them, so that you will not say, ‘Behold, I knew them.’ (Is 48:6b-7)

1.4. It is positively contradicted in practice regarding commandments by Ezekiel chapters 40-48.

3.2. Demonstration that the Biblical Israelite faith does not imply J-CRELP.P2 but actually implies that it is false

2.1. It neither is in the Torah (or TaNaKH) nor can be inferred from it.

2.2. It is most illogical per Deut 4:34-35, which states that the signs and wonders performed by YHWH to free Israel from Egypt are the evidence on the basis of which Israel may know that YHWH is God, the only God:

Or has a god tried to go to take for himself a nation from within another nation by trials, by signs and wonders and by war and by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm and by great terrors, as the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? To you it was shown, that you might know that the LORD, He is God; there is no other besides Him. (Deut 4:34-35)

If the signs and wonders performed by YHWH to free Israel from Egypt are the evidence on the basis of which Israel may know that YHWH is God, the only God, it can be most reasonably inferred that the sign or wonder that YHWH will provide to support the claims of the false prophet of Deut 13:1-5 will NOT involve a greater degree of exercise of divine power than the degree involved at the signs and wonders performed at the Exodus. It is most illogical to think that YHWH will provide MORE apologetic evidence for Israel to believe in a false god than the apologetic evidence He provided for Israel to believe in Himself!

From the above, and from the fact that the signs and wonders performed at the Exodus - the plagues, including the death of all Egyptian firstborns, the parting of the waters, the fire, smoke, lightning and thunder at mount Sinai, - are all events that can be produced by an angel, good or evil, out of his own natural power if allowed to do so by God, it follows that the sign or wonder that YHWH will provide to support the claims of a prophet enticing Israel to go after other gods will be restricted to that kind of events and will not include any miracle which only YHWH can perform.

2.3. Independently from the previous point, it is most illogical regarding the specific signs and wonders performed by Jesus per Isaiah 26:10-11,19; 29:13-14,18-19; 35:2c-6a; 42:6-8. Because it is most illogical to think that God, having promised in the TaNaKH that He Himself would perform specific kinds of signs and wonders to show his own glory, would perform the very same specific kinds of signs and wonders to support the claims of a false prophet enticing Israel to go after false gods!

2.4. Independently from the above points, it is most illogical regarding the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus per Isaiah 51:9-10; 52:10; 53:1 and the rest of chapter 53.

Recalling that the OT expression for the divine power is "God's arm", the prophet starts by asking the arm of the LORD to wake up:

Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD; awake as in the days of old, the generations of long ago. Was it not You who cut Rahab in pieces, Who pierced the dragon? Was it not You who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep; Who made the depths of the sea a pathway for the redeemed to cross over? (Is 51:9-10)

The prophet does not seem to be asking the arm of the LORD to awake in order to do wonders at the service of falsehood and evil, does he? Because he is asking the arm to awake "as in the days of old", when the Lord did wonders to lead his chosen ones to truth and good. The answer to the prophet's request is in the next chapter:

The LORD has bared his holy arm in the sight of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God. (Is 52:10)

Clearly, that "the LORD has bared his holy arm" means that He has performed a work that only He can perform. And the purpose of that work is that "all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God", not to support the claims of a false prophet.

The specifics of that work are detailed in the next chapter, beginning with another mention of God's arm:

Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? (Is 53:1)

Which begins the fourth song of the Servant of YHWH, Who "was cut off out of the land of the living" (53:8), "was assigned a grave with the wicked, but was with a rich man in his death" (53:9), and yet "if He would render his soul as an offering for guilt, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days" (53:10), "out of the anguish of his soul he shall see light and be satisfied" (53:11). This prophecy about "the Righteous One", the Servant of the LORD, being executed, buried and risen from the dead is the revelation of what specifically the LORD would do when He "bared his holy arm in the sight of all the nations".

3.3. Conclusion

I have demonstrated above that both postulates J-CRELP.P1 and J-CRELP.P2 are false in the framework of the Biblical Israelite faith. Thus, since the Nicene doctrine of a consubstantial Trinity and the Chalcedonian doctrine of the Incarnation are compatible with classical theism and with the Torah or TaNaKH, once J-CRELP.P1 is abandoned, ascertaining the historical truth of the resurrection of Jesus is all that a Biblical Israelite needs to ascertain the truth of Christianity.

[1] https://www.academia.edu/39982502/Proposal_of_a_conceptual_framework_for_the_epistemic_path_to_faith_and_application_to_the_path_from_Judaism_to_Christianity

Answer 11

It is an odd argument that agrees Jesus was resurrected, but that fact is somehow a false sign from God of Him as God the Son. Even for Islam, it asserts the swoon theory (Jesus only appeared to die on the cross and was resuscitated in the tomb; there was no resurrection. But to agree that Jesus lived, died, was buried, and resurrected as a false sign from God? This is like saying God Almighty is the deceiver of billions of people.

Paul asserts the resurrection from the dead is the proof itself.

And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead: Romans 1:4

Indeed, the Old Testament asserts the same.

For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. Psalm 16:10

Further, Peter asserts the same.

And killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses. Acts 3:16

In Jesus' day, the Jews asked for a sign.

Then answered the Jews and said unto him [Jesus], What sign shewest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things? Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? But he spake of the temple of his body. John 2:18-21

This had been given to them and to us.

Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. And he [Jesus] said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead. Luke 16:29-31

So, for the OP to agree with the fact of the resurrection and then assert that God meant this as a false sign that has deceived billions over 2,000 years is harder to believe than the resurrection itself.

Answer 12

I am aware that I am thoroughly late to this question. I’m also new to this site, so forgive me If my answer isn’t rich with citations.

Your question is a good one. I think that the resurrection of Jesus means different things to different people. The reason that Christians so vehemently defend the resurrection and prove its historicity as a reason for belief, is because a majority of people in the world today are atheist/agnostic, therefore proving the resurrection is of vital importance, and a good apologetic tactic.

Your concerns however, whilst valid, are targeting to a minority. Evangelising to Jews is a whole different area, and yes, does not require the same premise about the resurrection that is used for non-deists in general.

So, for Jews, it is important to first look at Jesus life and ministry in order to see if He has fulfilled Messianic prophecy, and then look at the resurrection as the ultimate fulfilment at the end, rather than the process being vice-versa for the average non-believer.

Now, that being said, let’s look at Deuteronomy:

“If a prophet, or one who foretells by dreams, appears among you and announces to you a sign or wonder, and if the sign or wonder spoken of takes place, and the prophet says, “Let us follow other gods” (gods you have not known) “and let us worship them,” you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. The Lord your God is testing you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul. It is the Lord your God you must follow, and him you must revere. Keep his commands and obey him; serve him and hold fast to him.” ‭‭Deuteronomy‬ ‭13:1-4‬ ‭

The important premise here is that the false prophet tells people to “follow other gods”. I know that within Judaism, Jesus himself looks as if he is advocating this by how much people worship Him, but let’s not forget the large number of times he continually directed worship back to His father, Yahweh, the ‘God of the Old Testament so to speak:

““Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone.” ‭‭Mark‬ ‭10:18‬ ‭NIV‬‬

As a trinitarian myself, I am not trying to compromise Jesus’ divinity to make a point, but am trying to show that Jesus himself continually redirected worship back to His father

““Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭5:17‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Here, Jesus is clear that he does not come to abolish anything, but rather fulfil, and its super critical that we don’t conflate the term abolition with fulfillment because aftee all, a large point of the prophecies was that they needed to be fulfilled somehow

When asked about the greatest commandment:

“Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’” ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭22:37‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Jesus is explicit in clarifying that this is the greatest commandment. And in fact, this directly parallels Deuteronomy 13. It’s almost like Jesus had this passage in mind, because he is clearly reinforcing that loving God is the greatest commandment, and thus this is complementing Deuteronomy greatly.

Further, Jesus’ actions on earth show that he had great zeal for his father, the Lord’s prayer for example, is yet another example of Jesus continually reinforcing the worship of the father, as was reinforced by prophets in the OT.

““This, then, is how you should pray: “ ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,” ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭6:9‬ ‭

I mean, this is a pretty clear example that Jesus’ is directing veneration to his father, and teaching others to do the same, which does not seem to be a characteristic of false prophets that advocate for the worship of other gods.

Consider also, Jesus zeal for the temple‬‬

“Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. “It is written,” he said to them, “ ‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’”” ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭21:12-13‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Jesus is clearly furious at how the temples are being abused. The temple was a place where worship of God was paramount, and thus he is infuriated with it being used as a way of merchandise, rather than the worship of the father. Again, Jesus is pointing people back to worshipping God

Consider this,

Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat, so practice and observe whatever they tell you—but not what they do. For they preach, but do not practice. They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger. They do all their deeds to be seen by others. Matthew 23:1-39

Whilst Jesus is condemning the Pharisees for their lack of consistency in their heart and external behaviour, he is still telling the crowds to follow their teachings that adhere with the OT, yet warning against outward appearances.

There are many other example I can give from the bible where Jesus directs worship to His father. Again and again, he reminded an obstinate generation that the most important commandment was to Love God , this does not seem like the words of a false prophet that directs worship to other gods. Whilst Jesus came to fulfil prophecy and to die and be resurrected, he also came to fix a generation that had partly lost what it means to worship the father in their true heart.

Whilst some may argue that Jesus himself is “another god” that wants worship for himself (im playing devils advocate here, even though this assumption shows a poor understand of the trinity), there is clear and substantial examples of Jesus again and again, reminding people to worship God and obey his commandments, which is exactly what prophets would do in the Old Testament.

Whilst prophets came to prophesy, one of their main roles were to remind Israel to be faithful to God and His covenant with them The prophets would warn about the dire consequences of turning from God,telling Israel the horrible atrocities that would occur if they rejected God. Jesus too continually warned about the dire consequences of not obeying God with references to eternal punishment and “weeping and gnashing of teeth”.

This does not seem to be synonymous with a false prophet that tries to turn people from God. Rather, just like the prophets sent by God, Jesus continually warned people about the eternal consequences of turning from the father.

In regards to whether Jesus’ resurrection may have been done by supernatural means of trickery, I think this verse sums it up:

“Then they brought him a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute, and Jesus healed him, so that he could both talk and see. All the people were astonished and said, “Could this be the Son of David?” But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, “It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this fellow drives out demons.” Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand. If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand? And if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your people drive them out? So then, they will be your judges. But if it is by the Spirit of God that I drive out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.” ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭12:22-28‬ ‭NIV‬‬

As I have read in the comments, the ability of God to raise up a deceitful false prophet is contested by Jews and Christians, and both have their own presuppositions about what is within God’s nature and character to do, so really, both are at an impasse. However, the important thing to note that is how can Satan drive out Satan? It seems contrary.

Also, if it were God himself raising up a deceitful false prophet, what type of false prophet continually advocates for the worship of the father, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob?

Everything Jesus did was dependent on his fathers will. His actions and teachings were based on what was ordained by the Father. It’s part of the reason why he quoted so much scripture - He was acting in accordance with God’s word. Jesus wanted people to consider not just the adherence to the law, but the heart behind it, hence him referencing Hosea 6:6 - “I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgement of God, not burnt offerings”.

Part of Jesus’ mission was to get people to acknowledge God in their heart and remain true to him both externally and internally. There is nothing wrong with outward practices by law, but all this is meaningless if the heart attitude is not correct (consider God’s rejection of Cain’s offering). Thus, it seems that Jesus’ great zeal for His father and advocation for people to revere Him is anthitecal to the notion that He is a false prophet. It is from this that trying to allege he operated based on deceit like other false prophets does not seem to bear much weight, as his actions and teachings revolve around honouring God himself.

Let’s also quickly consider the practical application of Deuteronomy 13. There is a clear an obvious case in the Old Testament where this comes to be. In 1 Kings 22, God sends a lying spirit to Ahab. This makes sense, given we know that Ahab surrounded himself with false prophets and followed the Baal gods. The lying spirits here are contingent with Deuteronomy 13 - Ahab is tested by a lying spirit send by God and Micaiah reveals the truth. Whilst this does not show the whole nuance of Deuteronomy 13 and signs that come true, it highlights the practical application of God sending false prophets. In Ahab’s case, they worshipped Baals. This example does not seem contingent with the actions of Jesus who reminded people to love God and told people to repent, not to follow other gods, just like the original prophets sent by God thousands of years before.

This is a good question to be asking, and is a verse that has long separated Jews and Christians. However, in my opinion, one only needs to read the gospels properly to see that Jesus clearly tells people to follow God, not the “other gods” as mentioned in Deuteronomy 13.

At the end of the day, you’re right, the resurrection itself is not good enough for Jews to be convinced, especially as they can cite Deuteronomy 13. Before approaching the resurrection, I would then advocate that Jews must analyse Jesus role in fulfilling messianic prophecies and then go from there.

But if there is one thing I want you to take away from this, it is that Jesus did not advocate for the worship of other gods, and the assumption that he did is based on a poor misunderstanding of the trinity, or the gospels in itself.

“What is the greatest commandment? To love the Lord your God, with all your heart, and all your soul, and all your mind” (Mark 12:30)

Answer 13

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. - Matthew 23:37-39

Given the plethora of answers, I will offer just one thing. Jesus prophesied that the "house" of Jerusalem would be desolated.

For now have I chosen and sanctified this house, that my name may be there for ever: and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually. - 2 Chronicles 7:16

For nearly 2000 years Judaism has been bereft of the one place on the face of this earth where YHWH chose to dwell with His people. The Temple is gone.

For nearly 2000 years Judaism has been bereft of the one place on the face of this earth where atonement for her sins can take place. The altar with it's mercy seat is gone.

YHWH has, in the past (587 BCE), allowed/decreed the temporary destruction of the temple as judgement on His people (2 Kings:25). This judgement lasted ~70 years until it was rebuilt by Herod the Great (516 BCE) according to prophets sent by Himself.

This second temple was destroyed by Rome in 70 AD and has been gone ever since along with the ark of the testimony. It has been 1,954 years that Jerusalem has been sitting desolate. This is nearly 28 times the length of the desolation of the first judgement. Striking enough to appear permanent.

If Jesus was, in fact, a prophet advocating worship of another God (which they have not known) then a false prophet has given a remarkable prophesy which has held true for 1954 years. In fact, Jesus has made more of a declaration than a prophesy and has essentially ousted YHWH, removing both His place and His Name. What false prophet of a false god has this kind of power; to strip YHWH's people of their only access to His atonement and presence?

Jesus has decreed the dismantling of YHWH's declaration in 2 Chronicles and it has happened and held for 1954 years.

If Jesus was in fact Messiah, the Christ, the Son of the Living God then Judaism has some reconsidering to do. I wonder what would happen if Jerusalem said, "Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord."?

Either 1) Jesus was speaking for/as YHWH in Matthew 23 (see verses 34-35), 2) YHWH has been honoring a false prophesy which has desolated His house and people for a very, very long time, or 3) YHWH has actually been defeated. Perhaps there is another option but I cannot see what it might be.

The Christian declaration is option #1.

Answer 14

I think the easiest answer to the question is 5 chapters later in Deuteronomy 18 (ESV):

¹⁵ “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen— ¹⁶ just as you desired of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God or see this great fire any more, lest I die.’ ¹⁷ And the Lord said to me, ‘They are right in what they have spoken. ¹⁸ I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. ¹⁹ And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him.

Its a clear passage of the prophecy of the Messiah ..

²⁰ But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.’ ²¹ And if you say in your heart, ‘How may we know the word that the Lord has not spoken?’— ²² when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him.

Now Jesus repeatedly predicted his own death and resurrection (e.g. Mark 9:30–32), expansion of the church (mustard seed parable Matthew 31:31-32) and the fall the Jerusalem (Olivet sermon, Luke 21). In addition, to the prophetic fulfilment of Old Testament scriptures which would include the following covenants:

• to Adam (Genesis 2:16-17, 3:14-19, particularly 3:15)
• Abrahamic (Genesis 12:1)
• Davidic (2 Sam 7: 10-11)
• Mosaic (e.g. Deuteronomy 18 amongst many passage, Exodus 19, 24, 34:6-7, 34:10)

Answer 15

First of all, it doesn’t apply to Jesus because he didn’t tell people to go after other gods. It doesn’t say “if someone comes and says he is God who has taken on a human nature, then don’t believe him.” The resurrection testimonies and other miracles were meant as a sort of temporary solution until the Sanhedrin fell apart in the 4th century. At that point Judaism could no longer simply claim to be unchanged because they no longer had any objective proof that any of their teachings such as their canon of scripture (which has never actually been officially canonized and seems to have rather fuzzy boundaries (i.e. the Zohar)(also nobody knows when or how the Talmud became a universally accepted text)) were true. Christianity was already more credible because they had a firm central authority in the successor of Peter. But at this point there’s an even more obvious reason. Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism cannot both be conceivable as true because then there would be no way to know which one was true and that would be unfair. But we know that Christianity is conceivable as true, meaning no one can honestly come up with an argument that proves Christianity is false, instead people tend to just say there’s no evidence for it, but this proves by implication that it’s inconceivable that Rabbinic Judaism is true.

Answer 16

The OT regarding Jesus and the resurrection.

There is nothing in the OT to substantiate the resurrection, if anything it provides strong support against the crucifixion.

Detailed answers links below:

• OT on Jesus Crucifixion / resurrection
• Jesus and God Equal
• Was Jesus forsaken
• Sign of Jonah

Psalms 34:20 & 22

²⁰ He protects all his bones; not one of them will be broken (to say the soldiers were very careful and precious when nailing Jesus is wishful thinking)

Isaiah 53:10

he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days

Psalm 20:6

Now I know that the LORD saves His anointed; He answers him from His holy heaven with the saving power of His right hand.

See link 1 above for more detail

Jonah 2:1, 7

¹ From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the LORD his God deep in the realm of the dead I called for help, and you listened to my cry.

⁷ “When my life was ebbing away,

Ecclesiastes 9:5-6

⁵ For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing, and they have no more reward, for the memory of them is forgotten. ⁶ Their love and their hate and their envy have already perished, and forever they have no more share in all that is done under the sun.

(Clearly, Jonah did not die - dead cannot pray or call for help, ebbing dying – not dead, another evidence that Jesus did not die)

Apocalypse of Peter

confirms that - The Savior said to me, "He whom you saw on the tree, glad and laughing, this is the living Jesus. But this one into whose hands and feet they drive the nails is his fleshly part, which is the substitute being put to shame, the one who came into being in his likeness. But look at him and me." But I, when I had looked, said "Lord, no one is looking at you. Let us flee this place."

[clearly Peter is implying that Jesus was not on the Tree – which would make sense as Deut 21:23 anyone hung on a pole/tree has the curse of God]

Some rely on:

Psalms 22:16 (17 in the Jewish Tanakh) The translation given is: "Dogs surround me, a pack of villains encircles me; they pierce my hands and my feet." (NIV)

Pierce has been translated from the Hebrew word *** Ka-a-ri*** Unfortunately, this is a clear mistranslation of the work Kaari – see this answer for more detail.

Matthew 15:9

But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.

Matthew 7:22-23

²² On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ ²³ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’