Conference yukon::christian_v7

Who is the Messiah?

 Matthew chapter 24 presents one of the most important subjects that you will 
ever find anywhere in the world. It deals with the question, "Who is the
Messiah?"

 I do not believe in playing "church." I'm not interested in playing religious
games or giving you a few platitudes to make you feel good. I'm interested in 
facts. I do not believe in letting you "check your brains at the door," so to
speak when we come to this subject.

 I believe that Jesus Christ is the Messiah but just because I have said that
does not make it so.

 There are over 300 prophesies in the Old Testament about the coming Messiah.
The Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew with a few portions of
Aramaic in the book of Ezra and in the book of Daniel.

 The original Hebrew or Semitic language edition was translated into Greek at 
least 150 years before Christ; maybe even 200 years before Christ.

 The Greek translation was done by 70 Jewish scholars in Alexandria, Egypt,
and so the Greek edition became well known among the Jewish people since the 
Romans had conquered the entire Empire at that period of history. When the
Republic became the Empire in 30 B.C., Greek became the official language of
the Empire and there were many Hellenistic Jews who read Greek.

 So the Old Testament was very important. It was in existance before the time
of Jesus of Nazareth. There were 300 prophesies about the Messiah in that 
edition.

 Now as I look at this set of facts, I realize how significant are the words in
Matthew 24. I'd like to pick up this particular point as verse 21 which is 
predicting the end of the world:

 "For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the
beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. And unless those
days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elects' sake, those 
days will be shortened. Then if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Messiah!'
or 'There', do not believe it. For false messiahs and prophets will arise and 
show great signs and wonders, so as to decieve, if possible, even the elect. 
See, I have told you beforehand. Therefore, if they say to you, 'Look, he is in
the desert!' do not go out; or, 'Look, he is in the inner rooms!' do not believe
it. For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also
will the coming of the Son of Man be."

 "The Son of Man" is the technical expression in the Old Testament for the 
Messiah.

 "For wherever the carcass is, there the eagles will be gathered together.
Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and
the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the 
powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will 
appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they
will see the Son of Man the Messiah coming on the clouds of heaven with power
and great glory."

 "Even so, come, Lord Jesus."

 Take your Bible, and we will begin as Genesis 3. "Who is the Messiah?" There
are fifteen facts that reveal the identity of the Messiah. We'll take each one 
in order.

THE FIRST FACT:

 After Adam and Eve sinned, God pronounced His judgement. And He began with the
serpent who decieved them. In speaking to the serpent, He said in verse 15,

 "I will put enmity [or hostility] between you and the woman, and between your
seed and her seed."

That second word, "seed," is singular, not plural...not many children, but one
child.

 "He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel."

 In referring to the "seed of the serpent," the word could be "he" or "she" or
"it." But the reference to the "seed of the woman" gives us no option, it is a
masculine pronoun, "His heel."

 What I'm going to point out now may seem to be very simplistic, but it is 
helpful in determining the identity of the Messiah.

 The first point is that the Messiah will be a man, not a woman. That helps
because it eliminates the need to consider any woman as the Messiah. One half of
the human race is immediately eliminated in our discussion of the identity of 
the Messiah by the use of this particular word in Genesis 3:15.

THE SECOND FACT:

 Now come with me to Genesis chapter 9. As we continue our search for the 
Messiah, it begins to narrow down. According to the Bible, there was a flood 
that destroyed all mankind except Noah, his three sons and their wives, who 
were in the ark. Everyone in the world since the flood has descended from one 
or the other of Noah's three sons. Now I've got to find out which of Noah's 
three boys is the line of Messiah.

 In Genesis chapter 9, I read the prophecy about these boys. Ham had a son named
Canaan who apparently was involved in some immorality with Noah and he was 
judged by God.

 "Cursed be Canaan."

 The Canaanites were cursed and were wiped from the face of the earth. There are
no Cannaanites on the surface of the globe today. Verse 26 says,

 "Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem. And may Canaan be his servent. May God
enlarge Japheth, and may he dwell in the tents of Shem. And may Canaan be his
servent."

 If you're Jewish, you understand immediately. If you're Gentile, you might have
to think about it a little bit.

 Blessed is who?

 "The God of Shem."

 The peoples of Japheth and the Japhethic empires include all European nations
and the North American continent. All of them are going to be blessed with the
power of world wide domination.

 "Enlarge the tents of Japheth, but they may dwell in the tents of Shem. Blessed
be the Lord, the God of Shem."

 So the Messiah must come in Shem's line. Shem means "name." We got our word
"Semitic", the Semitic peoples," from Shem.

 He's got to be in the line of Shem. Two-thirds of the nations of the world are
now eliminated.

* The first fact is that the Messiah will be a man.
* The second fact is that He will come through the line of Shem.

THE THIRD FACT:

 In Genesis chapter 12, we have on of the Semitic people in the line of Shem,
a man named Abram, or Abraham.

 "The Lord had said to Abram "Get out of your country, from your kindred and
from your father's house to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great
nation; I will bless you and make your name great; And you shall be a blessing,
I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in 
all the families of the earth, [all the nations or Gentiles] shall be blessed.'"

 Here "families of the earth" refers to all of the nations, all of the Gentiles
of the earth. From Shem's line, through Abraham, will come the Messiah. We have
already eliminated most of the people of the earth.

THE FOURTH FACT:

 The fourth thing I learn is that not only a man coming from the line of Shem
and the line of Abraham but in Genesis chapter 17, I also learn that He is
going to come from the line of Isaac, not Ishmael.

 Arab nations are almost completely eliminated on this one point. Genesis 17
verse 19 says that Abraham had just asked God to consider whether or not Ishmael
might be the answer to the problem since his wife Sarah was barren and couldn't
have a son Through Hagar, and Egyptian handmaiden, Abraham had a son, Ishmael.
And he said,

 "Oh that Ishmael might live before You. Then God said: No, Sarah your wife 
shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; I will establish My
covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his decendants after
him."

 Chapter 21, verse 12 says,

 "In Isaac your seed shall be called."

WHO IS THE MESSIAH?

We've learned:

* that He's a man.
* that He's from the line of Shem.
* that He's from the line of Abraham.
* that He's from the line of Isaac, not Ishmael.

 Most Arab nations are eliminated here. Not all of them, but most of them in
this fourth fact.

THE FIFTH FACT:

 Who is the Messiah?

* He must be a man,
* He must be of line of Shem,
* He must be in Abram's line,
* He must be in the line of Isaac, and fifth,
* He must be in the line of Jacob, not Esau.

 And with that statement, all Arab nations are eliminated from producing the
Messiah

 In Numbers chapter 24 verse 17, it says,

 "I see Him, but not now; I behold Him, but not near; a Star shall come out of
Jacob; a Scepter [only a ruler has a scepter] shall arise out of Israel...Out 
of Jacob One shall have dominion."

 Jacob's name had been changed to Israel and both names are used to make sure
we know that the Messiah must come out of Jacob, not Esau.

 He has to be a man from the line of Shem, Abraham, Isaac and of Jacob. We have
eliminated all Arab nations of the world and all the Gentile nations of the 
world.

 The Messiah is Jewish.

THE SIXTH FACT:

 Still, there are lots of tribes. There are twelve tribes, actually - twelve
sons of Jacob. We know He must come from the line of Jacob but which tribe is
He going to come from?
 
 In Genesis 49:10, we learn the answer.

 "The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his 
feet, until Shiloh comes."

 Judah was the fourth son of Leah. His name means "praise" - "Shiloh." Is that
a proper name? Let me translate it into Hebrew for you without making it a
proper name since I'm not sure it is supposed to be a proper name here in 
English. Here's what it says,"...until he comes, whose it is."

 The text is referring to the scepter.

 "The scepter shall not depart from Judah nor a lawgiver from between his feet
until He comes, Whose it is."

 In other words, it is referring to the One to whom that scepter belongs.

 "And to Him shall be the obedience of the people."

 Obviously, the Messiah comes from the tribe of Judah. Now we've eliminated 
Jewish tribes from our consideration of the identity of the Messiah. He must
be from the tribe of Judah. But Judah has lots of families.

THE SEVENTH FACT:

 Which family? Out of all the families of Judah, which one is God going to 
choose? As we begin to ask ourselves, "Who is the Messiah; Who can it be?"
it really narrows down quickly.

 In Isaiah chapter 11 verses 1 and 2, the Bible tells us which family out of all
the families of Judah, God is going to pick.

 "There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow
out of his roots. The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, the Spirit of
wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of 
knowledge and the fear of the Lord."

 As you glance down this passage in Isaiah, you'll see some of the prophetic
statements.

 "He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of
His lips He shall slay the wicked. The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and
the little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze; and the lion
shall eat straw like the ox. In that day there shall be a Root of Jesse, who 
shall stand as a banner for the people; for the Gentiles shall seek Him, and His
resting place shall be glorious."

 These are Messianic passages. What family of Judah is going to produce the 
Messiah? It will be the family of Jesse. That is our seventh fact and it answers
the question, "Who is the Messiah?" He's got to be from the family of Jesse. 
We've just eliminated many wonderful Jewish families in the tribe of Judah.

THE EIGHTH FACT:

 Jesse had eight sons. Which son of Jesse is going to produce the Messiah?

 Turn to II Samuel chapter 7, verse 8. We're going to find out exactly who the 
Messiah is. There's only one possibility. There can ve no other. Which son of 
the eight sons of Jesse is God going to choose?

 "Now therefore, thus shall you say to My servant David, 'Thus says the Lord of
Hosts: "I took you from the sheepfold, from following the sheep, to be ruler 
over My people over Israel. When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your
fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body, and I
will establish His kingdom. He shall build a house for My name, and I will
establish the throne of His kingdom forever."

 The Messiah has to come through David. That eliminates seven boys in the family
of Jesse, of the tribe of Judah, from the twelve tribes of Israel. It has to be
David.

 Psalm 132, verse 11 says that the Messiah must come from the fruit of David's
own body. He must come out of David. You say, "Wait a minute, Jesus was born
of a virgin.

 This is not a problem.

 The Messiah has to come out of the tribe of Judah, "a lawgiver from between
the feet."

 That means a baby has to come from the womb of a daughter who is in the direct
line of David. David had several sons. One of them was Nathan. Mary is in the 
direct line of Nathan. Jesus came out of, "between the feet of," a woman in the 
direct line of David through his son, Nathan. The problem is solved.

THE NINTH FACT:

 Now, let's come back to the primary issue. We have the family of Jesse, the 
line of David. But David has lots of sons. Which son of David are we going to 
choose?

* The Messiah has to be a man,
* He's to come from the line of Shem, 
* the line of Abraham,
* the line of Isaac,
* the line of Jacob
* the line of Judah,
* the family of Jesse,
* the line of David

 And now we come to I Chronicles chapter 28. It's amazing what's in the Bible,
isn't it? Verse 4 says,

 "However the Lord God of Israel chose me above all the house of my father to
be king over Israel forever, for He has chosen Judah to be the ruler; and of the
house of Judah, the house of my father (Jesse) and among the sons of my father
[there were eight of them], He was pleased with me to make me king over all 
Israel. And of all my sons (for the Lord has given me many sons), He has chosen
my son Solomon to sit on the throne of the kingdom of the Lord over Israel."

 Fact number nine is the Messiah must come from the line of Solomon. That 
eliminates the many sons of David and saves us some time. David said, "He's
chosen my son Solomon."

THE TENTH FACT:

 Look up Micah 5:2 near the end of the Old Testament. Micah was one of the 
prophets. These words are on a lot of the Christmas cards and they tell us who 
the Messiah is. It says,

 "You, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of 
Judah..."

 There was to be no question as to which Bethlehem it was. It was Bethlehem, 
the House of Bread. How big did the tribe of Judah grow? There were "thousands"
it says. We know that's true. Thousands of people were part of the tribe of
Judah. Even at the time of the Lord, there were "thousands of Judah."

 He speaks of the cities of Judah and there were quite a number of them with a 
special boundary which was developed by God as to how much territory each of the
tribes should cover.

 Just to help us get the perspective: In a car, you and I could travel through 
most of the cities of Judah in one afternoon; we could cover it all. Stopping
everywhere, we could certainly cover it in a couple of days. We're not talking
about big real estate here. It's now an Arab town and it's just two miles south
of Jerusalem. This little town of Bethlehem is the place the Messiah must be
born. It says,

 "But thou Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of
Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to Me the One to be ruler in Israel,
whose goings forth have been of old, from everlasting."

 What a statement! The everlasting eternal Messiah is going to be born in 
Bethlehem! Our whole process narrows down to the fact the the Messiah must be
born in Bethlehem.

 "Out of you Bethlehem, shall come forth to Me the One to be ruler in Israel."

THE ELEVENTH FACT:

 Not only was the Messiah to be born in Bethlehem, but we have an unusual birth
that's to take place. You see, God had given His covenant to David that a son of
his would sit on the throne and rule over Jerusalem. You remember that when the
angels came to Mary and to Joseph, that's exactly what they said, "The son of
David is coming!"

 There are signs that God gives to every one of His covenents and promises. He
gave one on this occasion, too. This is how we will know when that covenant is
fulfilled. Isaiah 7:14 says,

 "Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall
concieve and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel (which means God
with us)."

 Now you might be reading from a different translation that reads either "a
Hebrew young woman," "a young woman of a marriagable age," "a young maid" or
something else. What's the problem here? The problem is that in Hebrew we have
no word for "virgin."

 We have several words for a woman. If I specifically want to say "a virgin,"
I have to choose the word "alma" which is in this text. Does that mean every
time  "alma" appears, it always means a virgin? The answer is, "No." It can mean
a virgin or it can mean any young woman of marriagable age. Then, how do we know
whether this means virgin or not here. Were the English translations correct?

 Basically, we believe they were correct for two reasons. To Christians, it is
enough in the New Testament, Matthew 1 verse 23 quotes this verse saying, "The
virgin shall concieve." That's in Greek. In Greek you have the word "parthenos"
from which we get the word "parthenon" which is the temple to the virgins. 
"Parthenos" means virgin and ONLY virgin. So you see, in the Greek translation 
of the New Testament of this Old Testament verse, we have no option.

 If you're a Christian and believe in the infallability and accuracy of the New 
Testament, you have to argue that it meant virgin in Isaiah 7:14 since it was
quoted that way in the New Testament. If you're Jewish, you just say, "I'm still
not convinced since we don't recognize the New Testament."

  So, this brings me to the second reason. Does "alma" mean virgin? I think 
there is no question it does mean virgin in Isaiah 7:14. Why?

 I began this book with a statement you might have caught, or you might have
passed by. I said there are 300 prophesies about the Messiah in the Old 
Testament. And I told you that the Old Testament was written in Hebrew with a 
couple of portions in Aramaic. Most of it was in Hebrew. I also told you that
it was translated into Greek at least 150 years before Jesus of Nazareth lived.

 Now the question is what did 70 Jewish scholars, who went directly from Hebrew
into Greek, say about Isaiah 7:14? What did they put in the Greek for the Hebrew
word "alma"? They put "parthenos"!

 Virgin! That isn't MY view, that's what they did. So when you ask me, did that
word mean "virgin" to the Jewish scholars who translated the Old Testament, the
answer is absolutely, "Yes!" They put "parthenos."

 "Behold the virgin shall concieve and bear a Son."

 When was the last time you ran into somebody who was born of a virgin? We are
now limiting the field.

 The Messiah will be born of a virgin, that's fact eleven. Now let's come to 
fact twelve.

THE TWELFTH FACT:

 I'd simply like to lay out for you the evidence in the Bible. Before you accept
or reject it, I want you to know exactly what Christians are saying. We're not
trying to make this up. The twelfth fact is important.

 You will remember I said from Genesis chapter 49 that "the scepter will not
depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet until He comes to whom
in belongs," or "until Shiloh comes."

 That is a very interesting problem, if you're Jewish. Why? Because the tribe
of Judah went into captivity in Babylon after the destruction of Jerusalem in
586 B.C. The question is, how in the world do you prove that they knew the 
tribal identity of Judah when the temple which kept the genealogical records
of the tribes of Israel was destroyed?

 The answer to that one is found in Ezra 1:5. The three books, Ezra, Nehemiah
and Esther were written AFTER the Babylonian captivity and yet they knew their
genealogies. They obviously took their records with them into Babylonian 
captivity.

 However, if you're still thinking with me, you know that in 70 A.D. the Romans
destroyed the second temple which was reconstructed under the leadership of
Herod. The Romans destroyed that temple as the earlier temple had been destroyed
by the Babylonians in 586 B.C. They knocked every stone off every other stone,
demolished everything and burned it.

 We know that from history, All the genealogical records of the tribes of Israel
were actually lost in 70 A.D. and so, if you're Jewish and you hear what the
Christians say about Jesus coming through the tribe of Judah, you say, "How in
the world would you know that anyway, because the tribal identity was definitely
lost in 70 A.D.?"

 If you're a person who's not afraid of facts like that, you suddenly see that
this is actually a powerful point in what we are saying rather than an antithet-
ical staement to it. It's not hostile to it; it supports our line of thought.

 So, here is fact number twelve:

 * The Messiah has to be born before the tribe of Judah loses its tribal 
identity.

 If in fact it is true (and it is) that the tribal identity of Judah was wiped
out in 70 A.D., then I know that the Messiah had to be born before the tribe of
Judah lost it's tribal identity. The prophecy says,

 "The scepter will not depart from Judah nor a lawgiver from between his feet, 
until He comes to whom it belongs."

 He has to come before the tribal identity is lost in 70 A.D. Interesting. You
may not agree with that, so let me carry it a step further. It gets even more
convincing.

THE THIRTEENTH FACT:

 Turn in your Bible to Malachi, the last book in the Old Testament. Malachi
chapter 3 asks, "Who is the Messiah?"

 Did you see that big article in the LA Times several years ago put out by the
Tara Center, in which they proclaimed that the Messiah had come and he was from
East Pakistan and living in the suburbs of London?

 Jesus said that if they say, "Oh he's there," don't believe them. "He's over
there!" No, don't believe them. "He's in the suburbs of London." Don't believe
them. Don't believe any of that. Do you how many Messiahs are being proclaimed 
around the world at this present time? It's absolutely unbelievable.

 There are more people supporting these causes in the Far East than there are in
North America. There are many gurus of India who claim to be the Messiah. It's
going on all over the world; not just in India.

 "And Jesus said, 'In the last days many will arise claiming to be Messiah.'"

 We have them here in this country as well. Jesus said, "Don't believe it!"
Why? Because if you study your Bible, you know who the Messiah is. It is not a
problem.

 Now we come to the thirteenth fact. Did you open our Bible to Malachi? Chapter
3 berse 1 says,

 "Behold I send My messenger, and he will prepare the way before Me. And the 
Lord whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple. Even the messenger of the
covenant in whom you delight. Behold He is coming,' says the Lord of hosts."

 Now wait a minute. We have another problem here. The first temple was destroyed
by the Babylonians in 586 B.C. and Malachi writes after that time. So, exactly 
how is the Messiah going to come suddenly to the temple?

 You see my friends, if you read your Bible carefully, the Messiah must come 
while the second temple is standing. And since it was destroyed in 70 A.D., the
only way that prophecy could possibly be have been fulfilled (since Malachi 
wrote after the destruction of the first temple) is for the Messiah to come 
while the second temple is still standing. It says He will certainly "come to 
His temple."

 There must be a temple. It can only be the second temple. And another inter-
esting point back in Zechariah chapter 11 (which was also written after the 
destruction of Jerusalem in 586 by the Babylonians) is that there was no temple
when they wrote. He, along with Haggai was trying to motivate the people of
Israel to build the temple - to try at least to get their act together and lay 
the foundation for it.

 In Zechariah chapter 11, verse 4, we find the Lord is speaking. If you don't
believe that just glance at everyone of those verses all the way down to verse
12. Who is speaking? The Lord is.

 "'Then I said to them (the people of Israel), "If it is agreeable to you, give
me my wages; and if not, refrain." So they weighed out for my wages thirty 
pieces of silver [which is the price of a slave].' 

 "And the Lord said to me [Zechariah talking], 'Throw it to the potter' - that
princely price they set on me. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw
them into the house of the Lord."

 Now wait a minute, how can he throw it "into the house of the Lord'? There are
many people who are critics of Bible prophecy that don't believe these prophets
could have been predicted with such accuracy ahead of time, so they say men had
to write it afterwards. They have a problem here because, in fact, this man is
writing AFTER the first destruction of the temple of Jerusalem. There was no
temple and yet he's saying, "I was told to throw the thirty pieces of silver
into the house of the Lord" when there is no house of the Lord.

 That is a prophecy about the Messiah who will be sold for thirty pieces of
silver - the price of a slave - and the money is going to be thrown down into
the temple area, the house of the Lord. We know that in the New Testament, 
Judas, in his betrayal, actually did sell Christ for thirty pieces of silver
and when he realized what he had done, he did throw it down in the temple in
exact fulfillment of this passage.

 Here's the point. It tells me something very specific about the identity of 
the Messiah. I said in the last point that the Messiah had to be born before
the tribe of Judah lost it's tribal identity which they did in 70 A.D.

 Now we take it a step further: The Messiah must come while the second temple
is still standing. He has to be there, not only on the basis of Malachi 3:1,
"He will suddenly come to His temple," but also because Zechariah speaks of
the fact that His being sold for thirty pieces of silver takes place in the 
temple. The money is thrown "into the house of the Lord" which was not standing
when Zechariah wrote those words.

 The Messiah must come while the second temple is standing and it was not 
destroyed until 70 A.D.

 Please take note! There hasn't been a temple since that time.

 My friend, do you realize what this means? We are zeroing in on who the Messiah
can possibly be as well as the time period in which He could have been here. But
even that is not the end of the evidence.

THE FOURTEENTH FACT:

 Turn with me now to Daniel chapter 9, and we come to the fourteenth fact about
the Messiah. In Daniel chapter 9, verse 24, he is prophesying after the 
destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians as Zechariah and Malachi were. It
was in the time of the Babylonian captivity which lasted for 70 years, during
the 6th century B.C.

 This verse says that 70 weeks "are determined." If you have a little footnote
marking the word "weeks," you know it's the Hebrew word "sevens." It can refer
to days, weeks, months, or years, depending on the context.

 "Seventy sevens (490) are determined for your people and your holy city, to
finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, to make reconcilliation for 
iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy
, and to anoint the Most Holy."

 Some people believe that refers to the Messiah since the "Most Holy" means 
"Anointed One." But this can also refer to the Holy of Holies, meaning the 
temple. Verse 25 continues,

 "Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the command to
restore and [rebuild or] build Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince, there shall 
be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; the street shall be built again, and the 
wall, even in troublesome times."

 This is not my view; this is historical. We know when this command was given.
There is no doubt about it. Nehemiah 2:1 says it was "in the twentieth year of
the reign of Artaxerxes of Persia." We know when Artaxerxes of Persia reigned.
We didn't get that from the Bible. Archaeologists have given us a genealogical
list of this and we know when he lived. We know when the twentieth year of his
reign was.

 We know that the twentieth year of Artaxerxes was 445 B.C. We also know that 
from then until Messiah, the Prince, is cut off will be 483 periods of time - 
either days, weeks, months or years. Years I think is the correct answer. But
anyway, it's 483, that is 69 times 7, 483 "somethings" from the time of that
command until the Messiah is "cut off."

 Those of you who read this may say, "Hold it, hold it, nobody could have 
predicted in the sixth century B.C. what was going to happen because there 
wasn't any temple. It had been destroyed." But Daniel did just that.

 He goes on to predict, not only that there's going to be a temple rebuilt but
that it will be built by the nation of Persia which they know about but which
hasn't come into power yet! Daniel also says that the building will be done by
a king who isn't even alive yet! He will give the command. So, some will say
that nobody could have written that with such accuracy.
 
 Some say that the person who wrote Daniel had to write the book much later.
They have a problem and it gets difficult because in the 11th chapter of Daniel,
we find the description of the breakup of the Empire of Alexander the Great
between his four generals. The blow by blow interaction between Ptolemy and
Seleucus is unbelievable. Between the Seleucus dynasty and the Ptolemic dynasty,
Daniel 11 gives historic details that are now known to be accurate and fully
reliable as a result of archaeological evidence.

 There are even more problems if you don't want to accept what the Bible says
because the description goes on into the second century B.C. where people like
Antiochus Epiphanes are described in detail by Daniel. Antiochus ruled and
desecrated the restored temple which hadn't even been built when Daniel wrote
about it. He descerated the temple by sacrificing a pig on the alter. The 
rebellion that resulted gave birth to the celebration called Hannukah which is
still observed by the Jewish people.

 Judas Maccabaeus led a revolt, reestablished the temple and rededicated it;
that's the point of Hannukah, Festival of Lights. That was around 164 B.C.

 You still may want to think that whoever wrote this had to live after these
events because you don't want to believe that anyone could have made it up with
such accuracy. However, if you don't believe the Bible, you have a real problem
with Daniel. To say that nobody could have predicted these historical facts is 
to deny the accuracy of the Bible. Historians believe the facts in the book of 
Daniel are the most accurate account of that time of history in all the world.

 If we look at Daniel and say that somebody had to write if 'after the fact"
we have a problem with a little Arab boy. In 1947 , he was throwing stones into
a cave down by the desert wilderness area of the Dead Sea and discovered the 
Dead Sea scrolls. The Dead Sea scrolls contain copies of every book of the Bible
in the Old Testament except one, but they do include the book of Daniel.

 You say, "What's the big deal?" We know that the Dead Sea scrolls were in 
existance 200 years before Christ. If that is true (and we know that it is true)
, the book of Daniel existed before the events that Daniel predicted.

 "After the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself."

 This means there will be no charge or crime that caused Him to be killed. This
Messiah was totally innocent and He was killed before the second temple was
destroyed. Daniels says that "the prince who is to come" is not the Messiah but
he is the coming world leader, the Antichrist. The "people of the prince" are 
the Romans since they are the one who destroyed the city of Jerusalem. That is 
why we believe the final empire of the end times is to be a revived Roman 
empire. It says,

 "They shall destroy the city and the santuary. The end of it shall be with a 
flood, and till the end of the war desolations are determined."

 This happened in 70 A.D.

Fact fourteen is that the Messiah (whoever He is) must come and die before
Jerusalem and the second temple are destroyed. Since this happened in 70 A.D.,
you need to find a Messiah who meets all of these dimensions:

* He must be a man,
* a descendant of Shem,
* He must come from Abraham
* Isaac and
* Jacob,
* the tribe of Judah,
* the family of Jesse,
* the line of David and
* Solomon and
* be born of a virgin
* in Bethlehem.
* He has to be born,
* go to a temple that has to be standing during His lifetime
* and die before it is destroyed.

THE FIFTEENTH FACT:

 The book of Zechariah was written after the Babylonian captivity, over 400 
years before the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. Zechariah 12 predicts "the last 
days" that still have not happened even yet. He will predict the coming of the 
Messiah...again. Zechariah 12:10 says,

 "I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem..."

 How can you have "inhabitants of Jerusalem" when Jerusalem was destroyed and
occupied by outsiders from 70 A.D. on? The Israelis only took back control of
Jerusalem in 1967. Therefore, the Messiah could not have been anyone from 70 
A.D. It would have been impossible to have any inhabitants of Jerusalem who were
of the house of David. The house of David did not inhabit Jerusalem again until
1967.

 "I will pour on the house of David and the habitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of
grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they have pierced; they 
will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one
grieves for a firstborn."

Zechariah 13:1

 "In that day a fountain shall be opened for the house of David and for the 
inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and uncleanness."

Zechariah 14:1

 "Behold the day of the Lord is coming... In that day His feet will stand on the
Mount of Olives...And the Lord shall be King over all the earth, in that day it
shall be. "The Lord is one,' and His name one."

 Zechariah 12:10 says that the Lord will come and be pierced. He has been here 
before. They will look on Him who has been pierced and they will know who He is,
Zechariah states.

 Jesus states in Matthew 24,

 "If they say to you, 'Look He is in the desert,' do not go out; or 'Look, He
is in the inner rooms,' do not believe it. For as the lightning flashes [across
the sky], so also will the coming of the Son of Man be."

 It will not be secretive at all. The whole world will know it. The Bible says,

 "Every eye shall see and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him."

 They will know who He is. For they shall see the wounds of the Messiah; they 
shall look on Him and see who they have pierced.

 The Bible clearly tells of the nation of Israel turning to the Lord in one day
and believing in Him. The Holy Spirit of God will pour out on them as they look
at the one who lived 1900 years ago and now is there in all of His glory. The
Son of Man is Jesus Christ, our Lord!

 Jesus of Nazareth is the only person in the entire history of the world who
can meet the dimensions of the prophesies. There are over 300 prophesies which
were fulfilled by Jesus of Nazareth. It is a lifetime which happened over 1900
years ago. The chances of this happening in any one lifetime are absolutely
impossible.

 Do you really know who the Messiah is; do you really believe this? Or do you
say, "Why is it so important?"

 The Bible says that "every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that He
is Lord." If you do not believe in the Messiah you are lost and will be in hell
forever All believers, whether Jewish, or Gentile, must put their faith in the
Promised seed, the Messiah.

 Jesus said, "Blessed are those who have never seen me and still believe."

 Do you believe that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah, The Chosen One of God, 
who will return in power and great glory and bring in a Messianic kingdom?

 "For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is Given; and the government will 
be upon His shoulder and His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty
God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and
peace there will be no end. He will sit on the throne ofHis father David to 
order it and establish it with judgement and justice from that time forward, 
even forever. The zeal of Lord of hosts will perform this."

 I hope you will never again doubt that Christians base their view and their
faith in the facts of the Bible and, in addition, in the facts as recorded
in history.

 We believe there is no person who meets the criteria of the Bible for the
Messiah except Jesus of Nazareth. He is King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, the
coming Messiah and we ask you to put your faith in Him, too.

 We say that if you do not believe, you will be lost forever. You must,

  "...confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God
raised Him from the dead, and you will be saved.

 May God help you to see that the coming Messiah is none other than Jesus Christ
, the Lord and Savior of ALL who put their trust in Him!