God desires to reveal His Son to the people of Israel and to all nations in the last days through the revelation of His Word. According to the Bible, the Messiah’s genealogical lineage must be precise—that is, He must be a descendant of King David.

It is our belief that the Messiah came 2,000 years ago as the Man of Sorrows, accustomed to suffering. He gave His life as a sacrifice of atonement for the sins of the world and rose from the dead to give eternal life to all who receive Him as Lord and Savior. In this way, He fulfilled the prophecy about “the seed of the woman” who “will crush the serpent’s head” (Genesis 3:15) and offered Himself as a sacrifice for the sin of the world, as prophesied in the book of Isaiah: “We all, like sheep, have gone astray; each of us has turned to his own way; but the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53:6) He will come again at the end of this age to fulfill the prophecies about the Messiah,

There are several prophecies in the Bible that show that the Messiah came precisely during the time when the Lord Jesus came.

The Birth in Bethlehem

 The Gospel of Matthew recounts the visit of the Magi from the East who came seeking the “King of the Jews.” Upon arriving in Jerusalem, they asked where the event would take place. Herod interpreted this as a sign of the Messiah’s coming and gathered the chief priests and scribes “to find out from them where the Messiah, the Christ, was to be born” (Matthew 2:3–4).  “In Bethlehem of Judea,” they replied, “for this is what has been written through the prophet: ‘And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means the least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a Ruler who will be the Shepherd of My people Israel.’ This is a quote from Micah that also contains the information that his origins are ancient, from eternity.

In Psalm 90, God’s existence is described as from everlasting to everlasting (Psalm 90:2). Micah’s prophecy shows that the one who will be born in Bethlehem has his origin in eternity. This ties in perfectly with the words spoken by the Lord Jesus: “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.” (John 8:58). This meant that His existence did not begin at conception, but from eternity. Since only God exists from eternity, this is a sign of His divinity.

“The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes; and to him the nations will obey” (Genesis 49:10). In the context of this verse, Jacob blesses his sons. The most significant word is not reserved for Reuben, the eldest son, nor for Joseph and Benjamin, his favorite sons, but for Judah, the fourth son. He entrusted leadership to Judah. He also prophesied that through his descendants “Shiloh” would come. Thus, until the coming of the Messiah or Shiloh, the identity of the tribe of Judah would not disappear, as had happened with the other tribes.

The generations of kings descended from King David came from the tribe of Judah. Even after the Babylonian exile, Judah continued to have lawmakers (Ezra 1:5–8). In the early years of Roman occupation, the people of Judea had a king on their own territory. Furthermore, they governed themselves according to their own laws, and the Sanhedrin exercised its authority. However, around A.D. 11, Archelaus, king of the Jews, was dethroned and exiled. Coponius became the appointed Roman procurator, and the kingdom of Judea became the last remnant of the former nation of Israel, formally transformed into a province of Syria.

During this period, the Sanhedrin lost its power to pronounce death sentences (see John 18:31). These events took place during the time when Jesus was a 12-year-old boy and was visiting the Temple (Luke 2:41–59). So the Messiah had come just in time!

For another half-century, the Jewish people maintained a provincial governing structure, but any form of Jewish national sovereignty disappeared with the destruction of the Temple and the sacking of Jerusalem by the armies of the Roman general Titus in A.D. 70.

If Jesus is the Messiah, then Jacob’s prophecy—in which he quoted the passage from Genesis—was remarkably fulfilled. The Messiah came before Judah lost its national identity, exactly as Jacob had prophesied.

After these sixty-two weeks, the Anointed One will be cut off and will have nothing. The people of a ruler who is to come will destroy the city and the Holy Place, and its end will be like a flood; it is decreed that war will continue until the very end, and with it, desolation. (Daniel 9:26)

This prophecy was given to Daniel at the end of the Babylonian exile, following his prayer for the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the Temple. The angel Gabriel came to him to tell him what would happen to “your people” and “your holy city” (that is, the Jewish people and Jerusalem with the Temple).

This passage prophesies the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the Temple. What was likely unusual for Daniel to learn was that the Temple and the City would once again be destroyed by “the people of a prince who is to come.” Prior to this event, the biblical text states, “The Messiah will be cut off, but not for himself.” What does this mean?

The term “Messiah” in Daniel 9:26 can refer to a man who has been anointed as king or as a high priest.

Jesus claimed the title of Messiah and was “cut off”—a sacrificial death—“but not for Himself, not for His own sins, but for the sins of others; He was pierced—He would die by the Roman method of crucifixion(Psalm 22, Zechariah 12:1). Thus, the event can be dated to the period before the destruction of the Temple, when the Romans were in power in Judea.

“The glory of this latter house shall be greater than that of the former,” says the Lord of Hosts; “and in this place I will grant peace,” says the Lord of Hosts.” (Haggai 2:9)

The context of Haggai’s prophecy describes the rebuilding of the Temple following the return of the Jewish people from Babylonian captivity. He states that the glory of the Second Temple will be greater than that of Solomon’s Temple.

This raises the question: “In what sense was the glory of the Second Temple far greater?” 1 Kings 8 recounts that in the First Temple, when the Ark of the Covenant was brought into the Most Holy Place, “the cloud filled the house of the Lord.” The cloud was the Shekhinah—“the glory of the Lord”—the sign of God’s presence. Solomon replied, “The Lord has said that He will dwell in the dark cloud.”  The Hebrew word for “dwell” is “shekhen,” from which the noun “Shekhinah” is derived, meaning the place of God’s presence.

The books of the Bible written after the Jews’ return from Babylon make no reference to the cloud of glory that is said to have descended upon the Second Temple. The Talmud states that five signs of God’s glory were missing from the Second Temple, namely the Ark of the Covenant, the divine fire, the Holy Spirit, the Shekhinah, and the Urim and Thummim.

The Gospel of Luke records Simeon’s testimony: “The Holy Spirit had revealed to him that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Christ” (the Messiah). Luke 2:26. When Joseph and Mary brought the infant Jesus to the Temple, according to the custom of the Law, Simeon took him in his arms, blessed God, and said: “Now, Lord, you may let your servant depart in peace, according to Your word. For my eyes have seen Your salvation, which You have prepared in the sight of all peoples, a light to enlighten the Gentiles and the glory of Your people Israel.”

The Lord Jesus described Himself as “greater than the Temple” (Matthew 12:6). When Jesus entered the Temple, the glory of God poured out and reigned more majestically than in the days of Solomon’s Temple. He came to the Temple and healed the sick (Matthew 21:14, John 9) and taught the people (John 8–10).

The Lord Jesus opened the way for sinners to find peace with God through repentance and faith in His sacrifice for our sins. At the moment of His death, God tore the Temple curtain in two, from top to bottom, symbolizing that the way is open through God for anyone who wishes to come into His presence through the one and eternal sacrifice for the sins of the world. May the Lord help each of us to be reconciled to God through faith in His sacrifice and repentance for our sins!