Can a person prove that Jesus Christ is in the Old Testament without going to the New Testament?

Question

Sometimes as christians when we are talking to the Jews, we tell them the Old Testament refers to the coming of Jesus Christ. It's like we are forcing our beliefs unto them by using references from the Old Testament and adding Jesus Christ there.

How can you prove or is it possible to prove to a Jew from a book (New Testament) that they already reject that indeed Jesus is the awaited Messiah?

Without the New Testament, I think it's impossible to prove that Jesus is the long awaited Messiah. It's like a Muslim telling us that Mohammad is the comforter by using the Qur'an. While we already know that it's the Holy Spirit.

Answer 1

In Luke 24, Jesus says this to the two men walking to Emmaus:

25 He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” 27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.

It appears that Jesus was capable of proving the point. That does not mean that we possess sufficient clarity concerning the meaning of the scriptures to do what he did, but we can through prayer, careful study, and experience approach that goal.

Answer 2

Although Jews reject Jesus as their awaited Messiah, mostly they admit Jesus as a historical figure, many times as a prophet, just as their ancestors did 2k years ago.

Remember, not only Jesus but also all the disciples also only had old testament that they could refer to, to preach gospel of Jesus Christ.

The scripture (old testament) was prepared for Jesus Christ, not that Jesus was thrown into it.

So, you do not need to cite a single word from new testament to talk to Jews about Jesus. Just go deeply with them about the prophecies concerning the Messiah in the old testament - you will find that many times they do not know even the thing that is written in their own bible unless one is a seriously religious one. Eventually the old testament itself will cry out to them about Jesus.

Answer 3

There's tons of OT verses that foreshadow the Messiah, who aligns with the Jesus of NT. In fact, you can say that almost every Bible hero is a proto-Jesus of the NT Jesus. It's almost as if Christianity begun as a legitimate sect of Judaism in its early stages before the drama ensued and now, Judaism and Christianity are seen as radically different.

Also, I'd like to ask: who was actually responsible for bringing the Israelites to the Promised Land? What is his name? What does this ultimately teach us?

Answer 4

Christianity is an act of faith. Faith is the belief in something unproven. There is no way of proving the Divinity of Christ, if there were any way to do so Christianity would not be faith it would be fact.

John 3:15 through 18 KJV That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

That Scripture tells us that God is a God of second chances. In the Old Testament we learn that mankind fell out of favor with God, and in the new Testament we learn that mankind (created in the image of God) is loved by God; enough that God made a provision; for us to live in His abode with him for eternity.

Mark 16:16 KJV He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.

In this Scripture (a part of the Great commission) Jesus tells his disciples to use Baptism as an Earthly admission of giving up the old polluted body in favor of their new life in Christ. This is Salvation, and as you can see it is dependent solely on faith. In this case that belief is not through personal contact with Christ himself, but is based in the witness of others who believe without any proof at all.

Answer 5

Yet the Lord was willing To crush Him, causing Him to suffer; If He would give Himself as a guilt offering [an atonement for sin], He shall see His [spiritual] offspring, He shall prolong His days, And the will (good pleasure) of the Lord shall succeed and prosper in His hand. Isaiah 53:10 AMP

Answer 6

Daniel 9:25 So are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; it will be built again, with plaza and moat, even in times of distress. 26 Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. And its end will come with a flood; even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined.

Taking a direct approach, let us assume that the “sevens” are seven years. Gabriel told Daniel that after the decree to rebuild, there would be “seven sevens” (which is 49), plus “sixty-two sevens” (which is 434). After these 483 years, the Anointed One would be cut off. If the prophecy is true, this would be the year of the crucifixion. We now have a number of years, but when do we start the countdown? Gabriel said to count “from the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem.” When was that? The prophet Nehemiah records such a decree, and he dates it as the twentieth year of Artaxerxes (5). On our calendar, that date is 444 BC (6). Counting 476 years from 444 BC, and remembering that there is no year numbered “zero” AD, we discover what Gabriel told Daniel: the Messiah would be cut off in 33 AD. Reference

Psalm 22 My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? They separate with the lip, they wag the head, saying, 8 “Commit yourself to the Lord; let Him deliver him; Let Him rescue him, because He delights in him.”...I am poured out like water, And all my bones are out of joint; My heart is like wax; It is melted within me. 15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd, And my tongue cleaves to my jaws; And You lay me in the dust of death. 16 For dogs have surrounded me; A band of evildoers has encompassed me; They pierced my hands and my feet. 17 I can count all my bones. They look, they stare at me; 18 They divide my garments among them, And for my clothing they cast lots.

Isaiah 53 But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. 6 All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him...His grave was assigned with wicked men, Yet He was with a rich man in His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was there any deceit in His mouth....And was numbered with the transgressors; Yet He Himself bore the sin of many, And interceded for the transgressors.

Zech 9 and 11 So Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; He is just and endowed with salvation, Humble, and mounted on a donkey, Even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.they weighed out thirty shekels of silver as my wages. 13 Then the Lord said to me, “Throw it to the potter, that magnificent price at which I was valued by them.”

Answer 7

Absolutely! In fact the pre-incarnate Jesus Christ is all over the OT and He is known as "The angel of the Lord." He first appears as the angel of the Lord at Genesis 16:7. He says at Genesis 16:9 to Hagar, "I will greatly multiply your descendants so that they shall be to many to count.

He also tells Hagar, vs11, Behold you are with child, and you shall bear a son and you shall call his name Ishmael. At vs12 he tells Hagar what kind of a person he will be. Hagar says the following at vs13, "Then she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, "Thou art a God who sees;" for she said, "Have I even remained alive here after seeing Him."

Now, look at Genesis 17 starting with vs1-2, "Now when Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, "I am God Almighty, Walk before Me, and be blameless. vs2, And I will establish My covenant between Me and you, And I will multiply your exceedingly." Keep in mind that God is a spiritual being and cannot be seen. This is according to Hagar and at Exodus 33:20.

So the question is this? Is the being that multiplied Hagar's descendants the same being who multiplied Abram's descendants? The answer is yes. The Hebrew word for "angel" is "malak." This word means "messenger" and it can also refer to an actual angel like Michael or Gabriel. It can also be used for human beings.

A good example is at Malachi 3:1, "Behold, I am going to send My "malak/angel/messenger," and he will clear the way before Me. And the Lord , whom you seek will suddenly come to His temple; (Who might that be?) and the "malak/angel/messenger" of the covenant in whom you delight behold, He is coming," (Who might that be?) says the Lord of hosts."

The one that is going to clear the way of the Lord is John the Baptist and he is no actual angel. (Mark 1:1-4). Incidentally the prophet "Malachi" who is also a human being, well his name is from the word "malak/angel." Now, getting back to Genesis 17. The reason I know this is a physical appearance of God is because of Genesis 17:22, "And when He/God finished talking with him/Abraham , God went up from Abraham." That is straight up north.

Let's now go to Genesis 18. At vs1, "Now the Lord appeared to him/Abraham by the oaks of Mamre, while he/Abraham was sitting at the tend door in the heat of the day." Vs2, "And when he lifted up his eyes and looked, behold, three men were standing opposite him; and when he saw them he ran from the tent door to meet them, and bowed himself to the earth."

I'm going to shorten this and say that one of the men was the angel of the Lord and the other two men were actual angels. You can read the dialogue between Abraham and God from the rest of the chapter. At vs33, "And as soon as He had finished speaking to Abraham, the Lord departed; and Abraham returned to his place. At Genesis 19:1 it says, "NOW THE TWO ANGELS came to Sodom etc.

Now comes the best part which is at Genesis 22. The Lord God ask Abraham to sacrifice his only son Isaac. Vs10, "And Abraham stretched out his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. Vs11, BUT the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, and said, "Abraham, Abraham!" And he said, "Here I am." Vs12, And he said, "Do not stretch out your hand to him, for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me."

God provides a ram for Abraham to sacrifice. Now to vs15, "Then the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven." vs16, "and said, "By Myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have not withheld you son, your only son, vs17, "indeed I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens, and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies." Vs18, "And in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, (why?) because YOU OBEYED MY VOICE."

The objections by the Jews to nullify all of this is based on the principle of "agency." The actual word used is "shaliach." This means (to them) that an agent can can legally authorize someone to act on one's behalf as if the agent is the principal himself. In this presentation God assigned an angel to act in His behalf.

There is one "GIANT" problem with this excuse. Angels "CANNOT" swear oaths on behalf of God Almighty Himself. Swearing an oath is a matter of one's conscience. In other words, the agent (even according to the Jewish Virtual Library) says there are limitations on what an agent or emissary can do. One of these limitations is the swearing of an oath.

Now, notice I have not used one verse from the New Testament to prove my point in all of this other than rightly dividing the word of God concerning the prophecy of John the Baptist. There is not one excuse you can bring up that I don't know how to answer or address. I am not "bragging" but just saying I've hear them all.

Some questions to think about. One, the angel of the Lord never appears in the NT as the angel of the Lord. Two, it's interesting that the angel of the Lord calls out of heaven two times when God Himself has called out of heaven Himself. (Exodus 20:22 and at NT Mark 1:11). Look at what the writer of the Book of Hebrews states at Hebrews 6:13,14, "For when God made the promise to Abraham, since HE COULD NOT SWEAR BY NO ONE GREATER, He swore By Himself, vs14, saying, I will bless you, and I will surely multiply you." Luke makes mention of this at Luke 1:73. Finally, keep in mind there are other places in the OT where the angel of the Lord makes appearances including the burning bush at Exodus 3.