Where does the Old Testament say that the Messiah would die and rise from the dead?
Question:
Hello,
I have several questions that I have struggled with for years.
Can you tell me where in the Old Testament it says that the Messiah will die and rise from the dead? Where does it say in the Old Testament that the Messiah will be worshiped as God? If human sacrifice was forbidden by God, then why does Jesus die as a “human” sacrifice for the sins of someone else?
Thank you for your help
Answer:
Many of the passages that I'm going to cite are quoted in the New Testament to prove that Jesus is the Christ.
That the Messiah Would Die
"He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth; like a lamb that is led to slaughter, and like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, so He did not open His mouth. By oppression and judgment He was taken away; and as for His generation, who considered that He was cut off out of the land of the living for the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due? 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. ... 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" (Isaiah 53:7-9,12).
"My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue cleaves to my jaws; and You lay me in the dust of death. For dogs have surrounded me; a band of evildoers has encompassed me; they pierced my hands and my feet. I can count all my bones. They look, they stare at me; they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots" (Psalms 22:15-18).
Psalms 22 contains a description of death by crucifixion.
"I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn" (Psalms 34:10).
"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" (Daniel 9:26).
That the Messiah Would Rise from the Death
"For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol; nor will You allow Your Holy One to undergo decay" (Psalms 16:10).
"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" (Isaiah 53:10).
That the Messiah Is God
"Oh that my words were written! Oh that they were inscribed in a book! That with an iron stylus and lead they were engraved in the rock forever! As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last He will take His stand on the earth. Even after my skin is destroyed, yet from my flesh I shall see God; whom I myself shall behold, and whom my eyes will see and not another. My heart faints within me!" (Job 19:23-27).
"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" (Isaiah 53:10).
"The LORD says to my Lord: "Sit at My right hand until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet" " (Psalms 110:1).
As Jesus pointed out, "If David then calls Him 'Lord,' how is He his son?" Normally the ancestor is above the descendant. But since David is referring to his descendant as His Lord, then the Messiah must be above him in rank.
"Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, and against the man, My Associate," declares the LORD of hosts. "Strike the Shepherd that the sheep may be scattered; and I will turn My hand against the little ones" (Zechariah 13:7).
"But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago, from the days of eternity" (Micah 5:2).
Why Did God Want a Human Sacrifice?
Typically when we discuss human sacrifices, the victim had no choice in the matter. Someone else decided to take a life and somehow think that God would be pleased by this offering. But Jesus died of his own free will. "For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again. No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father" (John 10:17-18). Jesus did so because of his love for us. "Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13).
God also wanted us to understand the cost of our sins and His great willingness to purchase us back. "Knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ" (I Peter 1:18-19). The death of an animal could not accomplish what Jesus' voluntary death did. "For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins" (Hebrews 10:4). See The Living Redeemer.
