"What do you mean the Messiah would die? According to Jewish tradition, the Messiah, when he finally does arrive on earth, will bring peace to the world and rule in Israel. Jon, it's obvious that the Messiah is not here since nations are still at war and there certainly is no peace in the Middle East!"
To find an answer to that question let me point you to an ancient Jewish Bible text written about 720 B.C. by Isaiah the prophet. He vividly describes an unnamed suffering servant:
"He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and familiar with suffering_he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows...he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities...we all, like sheep, have gone astray and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity us all...he bore the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors" (Isaiah, Chapter 53)
Right there in the Jewish Bible is the clearest evidence that the Messiah was to suffer and die as an atonement for sin. Go and get a Jewish Bible (called the Old Testament by Christians) and read this amazing prediction for yourself.
The good news is that the Bible also predicts that this same Messiah will bring a permanent peace to earth on his next visit (second coming) to earth.
Let me ask you this - Who in Israel's history ever claimed to be the Jewish Messiah who died and suffered for Israel's sin? The only one I know of is Jesus of Nazareth. What do you think?
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Updated: 01/15/01