We are continuing from Part 1 with my selection of the dozen most important prophecies guided by their relevance to the Messiah. They continue to be listed in chronological order as they relate to the life of Jesus.
7. The Messiah’s Death
Psalm 22:16 — “They pierced My hands and My feet…” The first 21 verses of this psalm describe the crucifixion of the Messiah and the terrible physical, mental and spiritual suffering He would endure on the Cross. David wrote this psalm 1,000 years before the birth of Jesus. At that time, there was only one way of executing someone under Jewish law, and that was by stoning. A thousand years later, that was still the case, but at the time of Jesus, the nation of Israel was under Roman rule, and the Jews no longer had the power of execution. They were required to get Roman permission, and the Romans executed by means of crucifixion. This has to be one of the most incredible prophecies in all the Word of God. Further the prophecy implies the resurrection between verses 21 and 22. That’s because in verse 21 the Messiah is crying out to God the Father for deliverance, and in the next three verses, He is praising His Father for His deliverance. The rest of the psalm (verses 25-31) presents prophecies about the Lord’s millennial reign.
8. The Messiah’s Resurrection
Luke 9:21-22 — “He [Jesus] answered them [the disciples], and instructed them not to tell this to anyone, saying, ‘The Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day.'”
This prophecy of Jesus about His death and resurrection was presented to His disciples several times and is also recorded in two of the other Gospels (Matthew 16:21 and Mark 8:31). The prophesied resurrection of the Messiah is also mentioned in the Hebrew Scriptures in Psalm 16:10 where David wrote: “You [God] will not allow Your Holy One [the Messiah] to undergo decay.”
9. The Messiah’s Church
Matthew 16:18 — “I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.”
In this statement, Jesus prophesies the establishment of His Church upon Peter’s confession that He [Jesus] is “the Messiah, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16). This prophecy was fulfilled on the Day of Pentecost following Jesus’ crucifixion, burial and resurrection when Peter preached the first Gospel sermon and 3,000 people responded. The prophecy has continued to be fulfilled over the past 2,000 years as Jesus has sustained the Church through constant harassment and persecution.
10. The Messiah’s Appearance for His Church
1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 — “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.”
These comforting words are taken from the New Testament’s most explicit passage about the Rapture of the Church — specifically, the day when Jesus will appear in the heavens and take all Church Age saints out of the world, both the living and the dead. Other passages make it clear this will happen before the Great Tribulation begins.
11. The Messiah’s Second Coming and Reign
Zechariah 14:1-9 — “Behold, a day is coming…I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city will be captured, the houses plundered, the women ravished and half of the city exiled, but the rest of the people will not be cut off from the city. Then the LORD will go forth and fight against those nations, as when He fights on a day of battle. In that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from east to west by a very large valley, so that half of the mountain will move toward the north and the other half toward the south…And in that day living waters will flow out of Jerusalem, half of them toward the eastern sea and the other half toward the western sea; it will be in summer as well as in winter. And the LORD will be king over all the earth; in that day the LORD will be the only one, and His name the only one.”
The vast majority of Christians in the world today attend churches that teach the Amillennial viewpoint about the end times — a view that says Jesus will never return to this earth to reign over all the nations in the world. Instead, He will just appear in the heavens and take all believers back to Heaven with Him. But this passage specifically prophesies that the Messiah will return to the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem and will become King over all the earth. The book of Revelation says the same thing in chapter 20 and states six times that the reign will last a thousand years.
12. The Messiah’s Eternal Reign
Revelation 21:1-4 — “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away…And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, ‘Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.'”
Believers will live eternally in new bodies in a new Jerusalem located on a new earth. The curse will be abolished. All pain, suffering and death will cease to exist. And God the Father and His Son, the Messiah Jesus, will come to earth and live in our presence. Hallelujah!
