We see in Acts 17:1-3 how the Apostle Paul was able to effectively preach the Gospel using only the Old Testament and the facts about Jesus which were well attested to and could be verified by multiple living eyewitnesses.  

It can be shown what Christ would accomplish, and the call to respond appropriately to Him, right from the Book of Isaiah.  His despised beginnings, the healings He would perform, His rejection by His own people, His offering of Himself for the sins of guilty mankind in His death, His resurrection, the call to repent and be obedient to His righteous authority in order to obtain His mercy, and the call of His Gospel going forth beyond the Jews to the gentiles as well are all seen in the short span from Isaiah chapter 53 to Isaiah chapter 55.  

Isaiah even eventually gets into terrible descriptions of the Messiah’s second coming as He takes vengeance on His enemies (see particularly Isaiah 63:1-6 and Isaiah 66:15-16).  Isaiah even ends with the Messiah’s faithful servants worshiping Him in His kingdom with the wicked held in derision and guaranteed fiery eternal condemnation in Isaiah 66:23-24.

Is Jesus of Nazareth the Jewish Messiah?  Besides obvious Messianic Scriptures that could be pointed to here such as Psalms 2, 22, and 110, and much other evidence, we’ll focus here on two very basic facts about the Messiah from the Old Testament/Hebrew Scriptures which whittle down the potential candidates to males born in one small town over a period of less than 600 years.

Micah 5:2 shows that the Messiah must be born in Bethlehem (and also shows how the Messiah would be God incarnate).

And Haggai 2:6-9 shows that the Messiah must come to the Temple (which is obviously referring to the Second Temple since the First Temple had already been destroyed by this point; and it is the Second Temple which was being built in Haggai’s time).  The Second Temple only stood from 516 BC to 70 AD.

These things mean that the Old Testament teaches the Messiah had to be born in Bethlehem and come to the Second Temple while it stood between 516 BC and 70 AD.

The Jews in general rejected their Messiah, not only in crucifying Him but also by rejecting the testimony of Him by His Apostles afterwards.  The second Temple was destroyed in AD 70 to demonstrate the Lord’s very appropriate rejection of the Jewish nation for this (see especially Matthew 21:41-44).

The Old Testament Scriptures culminate in Jesus Christ and the New Testament.  The Apostles of Christ thus retained these as the foundation of Christianity and referenced them constantly to reinforce the truths which they were preaching.  Muhammad and the Quran though are not the culmination of the New Testament Scriptures nor could any alleged source of further authoritative divine revelation be authentically from the true God- since the New Testament perfects and completes the revelation of the Old Testament.  

Aaron’s email is: [email protected]

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