Objection 1: Isaiah 53 cannot refer to Jesus because it mostly uses the past tense. This means it already happened in Isaiah’s time.
This is the least likely interpretation. There is no such thing as a “tense” in Biblical Hebrew. There are many instances of the “past tense” being used for a future time, such as the passage in Joel 2.
According to Rabbi Isaac ben Yedaiah (13th century):
“Since they [the prophets] saw in prophetic vision that which was to occur in the future, they spoke about it in the past tense and testified firmly that it had happened, to teach the certainty of God’s words – may he be blessed – and his positive promise that can never change and his beneficent message that will not be altered.”
For more information, visit this link:
Furthermore, the opening statements in Isaiah 52:13-53:12 speak of a future individual, who looks to be a messianic figure.
See, my servant will prosper; he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted Just as there were many who were appalled at him— his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man and his form marred beyond human likeness— so will he sprinkle many nations, and kings will shut their mouths because of him For what they were not told, they will see, and what they have not heard, they will understand.
The tone then switches to what we know as the present perfect. The prophet (or the Jewish people at large) received a specific report/revelation. Isaiah 53 deals with the contents of this message.
Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
Lastly, the descriptions in Isaiah 52:13-53:12 could not apply to anyone in Isaiah’s time. The servant will be so highly exalted to the point of receiving glory and astonishment from the kings of the earth. Who fits this description during Isaiah’s time? No one.
Furthermore, it says in verse 5:
But he was pierced (or wounded) for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed
No one ever brought redemption and healing to the people directly by his suffering during Isaiah’s time.
According to verse 9-11
He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and although you make his soul a sin offering he will see his seed and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand. After the suffering of his soul, he will see light and be satisfied
How does one die yet prolong his days? How does one die and yet proceed to see his seed and see the light of life (“light” is mentioned in the Dead Sea scrolls)? Resurrection is necessary. This servant continues on after his death. No one ever resurrected back in Isaiah’s time.
Also, the people were still doing animal sacrifices. The servant, on the other hand, would be treated as a “sin offering” (verse 10). He would take the place of animal sacrifices by bearing our iniquities upon himself and healing us by his wounds, as I showed earlier.
In verse 6, it says:
We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all
Objection 2: You’re taking Isaiah 53 out of context. The servant is actually Israel, not Jesus.
He is labeled as “Israel” in the beginning of Isaiah 49, yet he has a mission to redeem Israel. He represents and fulfills the destiny of the people of Israel.
Isaiah 49:5
And now saith the LORD that formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob again to him and to gather Israel to him
Isaiah 49:6
And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth
How can Israel restore itself? This is definitely speaking about a deliverer, who will also bring salvation to the whole earth, and become a light to the gentiles. In the next verses, he is also called to lead his people out of captivity, just like Moses did. In Isaiah 50, he seems to have been rejected, spitted upon, and has his beard plucked off, and his back smitten (verse 6 in particular)- clearly portraying an individual. This simply destroys the idea these texts already took place during Isaiah’s time and were not prophetic.
Furthermore, Israel was suffering for its own sins during the exile. This is the testimony of the Hebrew Scriptures. This servant bears the sins of others.
According to verse 11:
by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities
Objection 3: The messianic application to Isaiah 53 is simply a Christian invention!
This is simply false.
The ancient Jewish Targum, for instance, adds the words “the messiah” to the servant in Isaiah 52:13.
“Behold, My Servant the Messiah shall prosper”
In fact, ancient Jewish tradition actually thought that Isaiah was seeing two messiahs: Messiah son of Joseph, who dies and suffers for our sins, and Messiah son of David, who conquers and reigns. But in reality, there’s one messiah: he suffers AND then he reigns.
For more information, visit this link:
https://jewsforjesus.org/answers/jewish-messianic-interpretations-of-isaiah-53-2/
Objection 4: The text says that Jesus will see his “seed.” This means he will have children!
It’s a spiritual seed.
In verse 8, it says:
By oppression and judgment he was taken away. And who can speak of his descendants? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was stricken
It’s clear that he won’t have any literal offspring. In fact, Isaiah uses the word “seed” metaphorically. We see Isaiah referring to Israel as a "seed of evildoers" and a "seed of an adulterer," (1:4; 14:20).
Objection 5: There are textual variants regarding the Isaiah 53 passage. Other translations use the word “disease” to describe the servant! How can this apply to your Jesus?
First of all, the descriptions prove he died violently, and not from any sicknesses.
According to verse 7:
He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.
The servant actually carried our sickness and bore our pains, bringing us healing through his wounds (as stated earlier).
Thus, the servant himself was not sick, rather, he identified with us in our sicknesses and sins, bringing us restoration and forgiveness.
Also there are several valid ways to understand the Hebrew used.
According to Michael L. Brown,
The Hebrew root hlh (in verse 10) can mean “to be sick” or it can mean “to be debilitated,” both definitions coming from a root meaning “to be weak.” An excellent example of the root hlh being used to mean “weak” is found in Judges 16:7, where Samson tells Delilah, “If anyone ties me with seven fresh thongs that have not been dried, I’ll become as weak as any other man” (see also 16:11, 17). The meaning “sick” stems from this root meaning of “weak.” In a similar way, someone who was severely wounded or hurt could say, “I have become hlh”—and it is obvious that the meaning here is not “sick.” Thus, after King Ahab was mortally wounded when he was struck by an archer’s arrow, he said to his chariot driver, “I am severely wounded!” (1 Kings 22:34 and 2 Chron. 18:33 NASB). The Hebrew says hohaleti (literally, “I have been made hlh”), which is identical in form to 2 Chronicles 35:23, where King Josiah, also struck by a fatal arrow, says to his attendants, “I am badly wounded”—the Hebrew word meʾod, “very,” being added here. It makes perfect sense, then, to understand this same verb in Isaiah 53:10 as stating that the Lord severely afflicted his righteous servant, allowing him to suffer in the most terrible and inhumane ways at the hands of wicked men, since the Hebrew verb heheli does not only mean “made sick” but can also mean “made to suffer, made weak, afflicted.”
In verse 3, the nouns makʾob and holi can refer to either physical or metaphorical pain and sickness (see, e.g., Exod. 3:7 for makʾob and Eccles. 6:2 for holi). (2) The Hebrew does not say that the servant of the Lord was sick and in pain but rather that he was “a man of pains” and “intimate with sickness/suffering.” This describes Jesus quite accurately: He was often in anguish and pain because of the depth of human suffering (and human sinfulness), sometimes sighing or groaning under the burden of it all, at other times being moved to tears (see, e.g., Mark 7:31–34; John 11:32–36). Truly, he was a man of sorrows and pains, intimately involved with sick and afflicted people.
For more information, see:
Answering Jewish Objections to Jesus, vol. 3, pp. 71-74.
Objection 6: Psalm 22 is describing David’s past suffering. It has nothing to do with your Jesus.
Was David delivered from the jaws of death in a way that brought the praise of God to the ends of the earth?
Verse 15:
My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death
Verse 20-21:
Deliver my soul from the sword; my darling from the power of the dog. Save me from the lion's mouth: for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns
Verse 24:
For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; neither hath he hid his face from him; but when he cried unto him, he heard
Verse 27-28
All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the LORD: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee. For the kingdom is the LORD's: and he is the governor among the nations
Nope. This event never occurred during David’s time. David was indeed sometimes forsaken by God, but he didn’t experience horrific death. Even if he could be speaking metaphorically (which is doubtful), the praise of God still didn’t reach the ends of the earth as a result of David being delivered from his suffering.
This Psalm ultimately finds its fulfillment through the messiah Jesus. In fact, there’s a simple reason why many of these Psalms resemble the life of Jesus so shockingly: David himself is a prototype of the messiah, who is the “son of David.”
Objection 7: Psalm 22:16 never says that the psalmist was crucified. The original Hebrew word is “ka’ari,” which means “like a lion,” and not “ka’aru,” which means “to dig through, to bore through, to pierce”
The Greek Septuagint, which predates the Masoretic text by hundreds of years, correctly reads “they pierced.” In fact there are a few Masoretic manuscripts that read like the Septuagint. The original Hebrew in the Dead Sea Scrolls correctly reads “they pierced” as well. So the Christians can’t be accused of tampering with the text as some skeptics argue.
Objection 8: The Nachal Hever Dead Sea scroll is not to be trusted. Even though it reads ka’aru, the word ד’ה‘ (my hands) is actually misspelled because it has the final ה. The original document probably did not include “my hands” at all.
“Those who make this judgment,” according to messianic scholar Tim Hegg, “are unaware that the Hebrew of the Qumran documents often utilize the final ה to mark final dipthongs (see Elisha Qimron, The Hebrew of the Dead Sea Scrolls, Scholars Press, 1986)”
Furthermore, the Nachal Hever scroll was written about a century or two after Jesus. The Septuagint, which definitely says “they pierced my hands and my feet,” was written about a century or two before Jesus. The oldest Dead Sea scrolls manuscript (written way before Jesus), 4Q88 f1-2, actually does not contain the final ה, putting this argument to bed.
Thus, we can be certain that the text originally read “they pierced my hands and my feet.” For more information, visit this link:
https://torahresource.com/pdf-articles/psalm-22-16-like-a-lion-or-they-pierced.pdf
Objection 9: Psalm 22:18 is describing a singular event, not two events. The authors of the New Testament twisted it to make it fit in with the life of Jesus.
This is false.
Psalm 22:18 reads: They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.
The “and” is present in the original Hebrew.
וְעַל-לְבוּשִׁי, יַפִּילוּ גוֹרָל means “and for/upon my clothing/vesture, they cast lots”
This is one of the weirdest objections I’ve seen, that, even if regarded as true, doesn’t affect the meaning behind the text, but I’m nevertheless including it.
Objection 10: Many of the Psalms talk about the Psalmist’s sin. Christians believe Jesus didn’t sin, so how could this be applied to him?
There’s a very easy answer to this objection. As I stated earlier, the Psalms themselves are not direct prophecies regarding the messiah. Many of them simply find their fulfillment through the messiah, Jesus, who is the son of David himself.
For example, look toward the end of Psalm 16 (verse 10 and 11).
For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption/decay Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.
Since when did this happen to David? He is rotting in the grave as we speak. This obviously finds its fulfillment in the story of Jesus, who rose from the dead.
Objection 11: Daniel 9:24-27 is speaking about Antiochus Epiphanes, not the messiah.
This is simply false. According to verse 24, “everlasting righteousness” would be brought in during the 70 ‘sevens’ period. This cannot apply to an antichrist figure like Antiochus Epiphanies, but rather, to Jesus’ atoning death. Many translations read that the “anointed one” would be “cut off but not for himself” (verse 26). Also, the text tells the people to “anoint the most holy” or “the holy of holies” (as many translations say). While this might refer to the temple, it could as well refer to the holy individual who is to be anointed, the messiah himself.
Furthermore, the calculation doesn’t add up regarding Antiochus Epiphanes. Starting from Artaxerxes’ decree in 458 B.C. (the most commonly used date) and counting 490 years (seventy ‘sevens’) gets us to about 33 AD, the year when the period ends. This is about 200 years too late for Antiochus! Even if you begin the counting at an earlier date, it would still not work.
Furthermore, according to Daniel 2:44,
“And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.”
The question is, which kings?
The “fourth kingdom” in Daniel’s dream (verse 40) “shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise.” This kingdom is usually interpreted as the Roman Empire.
How was this prophecy fulfilled? Jesus set up a spiritual kingdom already when he died on the cross in Jerusalem, during the reign of the Roman Empire. It ultimately ties in with the Daniel 9 prophecy.
Furthermore, not all the chapters surrounding Daniel 9 deal with Antiochus. Christians are not taking it out of context. Just two chapters earlier in Daniel 7, we are given a picture of the second advent of the messiah.
I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.
Critics obviously will make the claim that Daniel was written only in 167 B.C., because it contains some really specific prophecies about the future. And they try to accuse Daniel of miscalculation by attempting to say that the seventy ‘sevens’ prophecy is about Antiochus Epiphanes, not Jesus Christ.
Here’s a good study refuting most of the claims made by critics regarding their theory that Daniel was only written in 167 B.C.
http://www.tektonics.org/af/danieldefense.php
Some have suggested that in verse 26, since the text says that “the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary,” it cannot refer to Jesus.
The “prince that shall come” could be a different individual, namely the Roman Emperor. This doesn’t disqualify Jesus from the prophecy.
For more information about the Daniel 9 prophecy, I suggest:
Answering Jewish Objections to Jesus, vol. 3, pp. 86-100*
Objection 12: Isaiah 7:14 does not prophecy a virgin birth. The original Hebrew actually says “almah,” which means young woman or maiden
Some have suggested that back in Isaiah’s time, and even a few hundred years after his time (when the Septuagint was being worked on), the Hebrew word “almah” (an unmarried young woman) could have meant “virgin.”
This probably explains Greek Septuagint translators, who had no idea of the virgin birth of Jesus, translated the Hebrew word “almah” to the Greek word “parthenos” (which means virgin).
Furthermore, Matthew in the New Testament could have interpreted the event as a virgin birth.
Isaiah 7
Moreover the LORD spake again unto Ahaz, saying, Ask thee a sign of the LORD thy God; ask it either in the depth, or in the height above. But Ahaz said, I will not ask, neither will I tempt the LORD. And he said, Hear ye now, O house of David; Is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will ye weary my God also? Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, an almah shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
How is it a “sign” for a young woman to conceive a child? Plenty of young women give birth to children around the world. Ahaz even says, “I will not ask; neither will I tempt the LORD.”
So there is a possibility that Isaiah was speaking of an almah who was also a virgin.
Objection 13: Isaiah 7:14 is not even a messianic prophecy. It deals with King Ahaz’s situation only.
The sign, as I showed above, was refused by Ahaz. It was ultimately directed to the house of David at large (verse 13 and 14).
And he said, Hear ye now, O house of David; Is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will ye weary my God also? Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, an almah shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
“Immanuel” literally means “God with us.” The question is, who was this child?
2 chapters later, in Isaiah 9, the identity of the child is revealed (verse 6 and 7):
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.
This child is so obviously the messiah. He will reign forever on the throne of David, ushering in an era of peace and justice. This is what even modern Jews today expect a messiah to do.
This was not fulfilled by any other king of Israel during Isaiah’s time, whose reign fell short. The messiah, on the other hand, will surpass human limitations.
2 chapters later, in, Isaiah 11:1-4
And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: And 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 of the fear of the LORD; And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears: But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.
Jeremiah 23:5-6
Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.
For more information, I suggest:
Answering Jewish Objections to Jesus, vol. 3, pp. 32-40.
Objection 14: Zechariah 12:10 has nothing to do with Jesus! It’s God who’s speaking. It might actually be the Gentile nations mourning for the Jewish martyrs, during the end of time.
We as Christians certainly believe that the messiah himself is the image of God. He is the human manifestation of God, who came down to the earth and died for our sins.
By this logic, Malachi 3:1 likewise can’t be a messianic prophecy because God himself also speaks and promises to visit the second temple.
Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the LORD, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts.
In fact, the Jews themselves regarded Zechariah 12:10 as a messianic prophecy about Messiah son of Joseph back in the day, just like they regarded Isaiah 53 as a messianic prophecy.
https://jewsforjesus.org/answers/jewish-messianic-interpretations-of-zechariah-1210/
In fact, regarding the end times, the gentile nations will not mourn for the Jews as some Jewish commentaries say. They will simply realize that the Jews were mistreated (by God) for their own sins.
Ezekiel 39:23-24
And the heathen shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity: because they trespassed against me, therefore hid I my face from them, and gave them into the hand of their enemies: so fell they all by the sword. According to their uncleanness and according to their transgressions have I done unto them, and hid my face from them.
Objection 15: Zechariah 11:12-13 has nothing to do with Jesus.
First of all, this text is surrounded with messianic prophecies, such as Zechariah 9:9, Zechariah 12:10, possibly Zechariah 13:7, and the obvious Zechariah 14:1-21.
It might not be a direct prophecy itself, but it differently parallels the life of Jesus. Rabbinical commentaries interpret the 30 pieces of silver as 30 righteous individuals, but Matthew takes the text literally. Even though Matthew’s Zechariah quotation does not prove that Jesus is the messiah, the text certainly acts as a shadow of the messiah.
Some have accused Matthew of being ignorant of the Hebrew Scriptures since he attributes Zechariah’s quote to Jeremiah. For this, see Answering Jewish Objections to Jesus, vol. 4, pp. 27-37.
Objection 16: Matthew in the New Testament misquotes Hosea 11:1. The son is Israel, not Jesus.
Matthew’s intention was clear: Just as it happened to Israel, God’s national “son,” so also it happened to Jesus, God’s Messianic Son, the ideal representative of the nation.
Both were called out of Egypt in their childhood.
Michael L. Brown nails this one:
“The Messiah shares significant similarities with both Israel and Moses (examples of Messianic typology). Both Moses and Yeshua [Jesus] were threatened by an edict to kill Israelite baby boys (Exod. 1:15-22; Matt. 2:16-18). Both Israel and Jesus went into Egypt in their infancy (Gen. 46:1-7; 47:27; Matt. 2:13-15), were called out of Egypt back to the Promised Land (Exod. 3:8; Matt. 2:21), experienced significant rites of passage at the Jordan River (Josh.3; Matt. 3:13-15), were named "God's Son" (Exod. 4:22; Matt. 3:17; 17:5), and endured testing in the wilderness (the former for forty years and the latter for forty days). Both Israel and Jesus' disciples received holy instruction in the context of a mountain (the law on Mt. Sinai and the Sermon on the Mount, respectively).”
There are many striking similarities between Israel and Jesus, and Matthew probably expected his experienced readers to catch them.
Answering Jewish Objections to Jesus, vol. 4, pp. 21-24.
Objection 17: Genesis 3:15 has nothing to do with Jesus. It’s simply describing a constant battle between humans and snakes!
This is the most ridiculous and carnal explanation of Genesis 3:15 in my opinion. First of all, the snake in the Book of Genesis is the devil himself.
Genesis 3:5, the snake says:
“God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.”
This doctrine spread by this snake is definitely Luciferian and targets young people even to this day, especially in the new age community where they subscribe to self-ascension and attempt to become a God/like God themselves. Some atheistic beliefs also stem from this old satanic lie. They believe that there’s no need of a God, and one day, humans will become Gods themselves via evolution/technology.
The role of the messiah was to undo the works of the first Adam, who successfully listened to Satan and brought in sin and death. By doing so, Satan gained access to the earth realm. When Jesus died on the cross, we regained the ability to restore our soul to the condition that it was before Adam sinned. The third heaven was re-opened to us.
Satan succeeded to get the religious leaders and the Jews themselves to eventually kill the seed who would crush his head (the messiah). He bruised Christ’s heel. However, it was all planned by God a long time ago, as demonstrated by the prophecy of Isaiah 53 for example. The messiah was prophesied to come and take the burden of our sins upon himself, through death.
Therefore, the ultimately victory was Christ’s. When he died on the cross, he restored the human race that had become corrupted through sin back in the Garden of Eden and truly crushed the head of the serpent in a spiritual sense. Sin had reached its highest peak, and the messiah came and brought us everlasting atonement and dignity by his death.
While Satan still has influence in this world, he lost all the real spiritual power when Jesus died on the cross. Therefore, we can conclude that this prophecy was indeed fulfilled.
Objection 18: The messiah was to reign as a king. There would be peace on earth. Jesus failed to fulfill these prophecies, therefore he could not be the messiah.
There’s a very simple answer to this. The one who does part A of the mission does part B of the mission. The messiah had to begin his mission early, before the second temple would be destroyed.
Not only does Daniel 9:24-27 prove this, but similar statements about the messiah beginning his mission before the destruction of the second temple was foretold in Malachi 3:1 (the LORD himself promising to visit the temple and purify the religious leaders) and Haggai 2:9 (the LORD’s promise that the spiritual glory of the second temple would be far greater than the first).
In fact, in Psalm 110, David states:
The LORD hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek (verse 4).
The messiah isn’t just a king. He’s also a priest as well, who atones for our sins by his death.
In fact, Isaiah 52:13-15 itself portrays how there are two sides to the messiah. The same servant who will be highly exalted first suffers terrible disfigurement.
Zechariah 9:9 shows how the messiah would come lowly riding upon a donkey, and Daniel 7:13 shows how the messiah would come from the sky to establish his kingdom on the earth. Which one is it? The prophets say both will happen. If so, then two advents-two sides-of the messiah are necessary.
Objection 19: If Jesus is the messiah, why are there so many objections?
The number of objections has nothing to do with the truth of the matter. There are some people who have it ingrained in their heads that Jesus can never be their messiah, no matter what. There are great answers to each and every objection.
Objection 20: Jesus fulfilled none of the PROVABLE messianic prophecies. Your proofs from the Bible are meaningless! The New Testament authors twisted the narrative of Jesus to make him fit these prophecies!
First of all, there are a lot of external sources that testify of the many things that occurred to the messiah Jesus in the New Testament.
The historian Tacitus for example wrote:
“The founder of this name, Christ [Christus in Latin], had been executed in the reign of Tiberius by the procurator Pontius Pilate.”
Lucian of Samosata (c. 115–200 C.E.) wrote:
“They revered him as a god, used him as a lawgiver, and set him down as a protector—to be sure, after that other whom they still worship, the man who was crucified in Palestine because he introduced this new cult into the world.”
Mara bar Serapion, in the last quarter of the first century C.E wrote:
“For what advantage did the Athenians gain by the murder of Socrates, the recompense of which they received in famine and pestilence? Or the people of Samos by the burning of Pythagoras, because in one hour their country was entirely covered in sand? Or the Jews by the death of their wise king, because from that same time their kingdom was taken away?
The Jewish Talmud, despite portraying a fictional story of Jesus, nevertheless admits that he died on the eve of the Passover:
“On the eve of the Passover they hanged Yeshu ha-Noṣri. And the herald went forth before him for forty days, “Yeshu ha-Noṣri is to be stoned, because he has practiced magic and enticed and led Israel astray. Anyone who knows anything in his favor, let him come and speak concerning him.” And they found nothing in his favor. And they hanged him on the eve of the Passover.”
But there’s a problem! These non-Christian depictions were written AFTER Jesus’ death. They might be influenced by the lies that the Christians spread regarding Jesus!
First of all, they did not have electronic devices back in the day. People would usually wait and then write about a significant event that occurred.
Nevertheless, what about the one spoken of by Josephus? Josephus was born in 37 AD, and yet he writes about the death of James, the brother of Jesus, who was killed in 62 AD.
“Being therefore this kind of person [i.e., a heartless Sadducee], Ananus, thinking that he had a favorable opportunity because Festus had died and Albinus was still on his way, called a meeting [literally, “sanhedrin”] of judges and brought into it the brother of Jesus-who-is-called-Messiah, James by name, and some others. He made the accusation that they had transgressed the law, and he handed them over to be stoned.
Why would he describe James as “the brother of Jesus, who is called Messiah” if the Biblical account were fictional? Also, we are clearly seeing James being martyred for his faith in Jesus Christ here. People don’t get martyred for stuff that they know is a lie.
For more information, visit:
The prophecies that you just shared are still very specific though! We can’t know for sure if he was crucified and “led like a lamb to the slaughter”.
How about the fact that he would be sought by the gentiles according to Isaiah 11:10? How about the fact that he would become a light to the nations and bring salvation to the whole world according to Isaiah 42:6 and 49:6? How about the fact that he would be admired and worshipped by kings all around the world, according to Isaiah 49:7 and 52:15?
Who was rejected by his own, died before the destruction of the second temple, continues to be rejected by his own, and was eventually received by the whole world? Who is this person who heals us by his wounds?
The prophecy stated in Isaiah 53:10 about how the messiah would be an “asham” (sin offering) for us is still being fulfilled to this very day.
The prophecy stated in Isaiah 53:12 about how the messiah would make “intercession for the transgressors” is still being fulfilled to this very day.
You can eventually narrow it down to this one individual, Jesus the messiah.
John 5:39
Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me
This concludes our discussions about the messianic objections. If you made it this far, great. I appreciate that you read through it all. I’m sick of the attacks committed by unbelievers on these prophecies. They are trying to bamboozle the sons of God. This is why I actually made this thread.
Submitted June 10, 2019 at 11:12AM by JesusTheWitness http://bit.ly/2MMGzN0
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