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Yeshua in the Torah and the Prophets

Moses "wrote about Me." The Messiah is found from the first pages of Genesis.

On the road to Emmaus, Yeshua began "from Moses and from all the Prophets" and explained to them "in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself" Luke 24:27. The first believers proclaimed Him from the Hebrew Scriptures alone, what we now call the Old Testament, because that was all they had, and it was enough Acts 17:2-3; Acts 18:28. The New Testament didn't exist yet. The Gospels and the apostles' letters were written over the following decades (about AD 50–95), and they were gathered into one collection called the New Testament long after the apostles had died: the first list of exactly its 27 books comes from AD 367, roughly 270 years after the last apostle died Athanasius, Letter 39 (AD 367).

That doesn't take away the value of the New Testament. But the order matters. The apostles knew no one could add to God's word or take away from it Deuteronomy 4:2, and they never presented their writings as standing above the Torah and the Prophets, or in their place. Paul said he taught "nothing except what the prophets and Moses said would come to pass" Acts 26:22, and the Bereans checked everything he taught against the Hebrew Scriptures Acts 17:11.

Over the centuries this order has been turned around. Many teachers now read the Old Testament only through their own reading of the New, or set it aside as if it no longer mattered for believers. The first believers did the opposite: they understood everything about Yeshua in the light of Moses and the Prophets.

These lessons show where the Messiah is promised and what Yeshua fulfilled, and the objections rabbinic Judaism raises and the answers Scripture gives. They also show why He comes twice: the first time to redeem us from our sins by His death and resurrection 1 Corinthians 15:3-4, and the second time as King of kings, to rule the nations "with a rod of iron" Psalm 2:9; Revelation 19:15-16 (see Two comings: first the Lamb, then the King). And they show why many didn't recognize Him the first time, how the prophets say that will end, and the warning about false messiahs.

Lessons

Related studies

  • "Moses wrote about Me": Yeshua said that believing Moses and believing Him go together. You cannot fully understand one without the other.
  • Where the New Testament came from: The Gospels and letters were written about AD 50–95. They were gathered into one list of 27 books about 270 years after the last apostle died.
  • Three days and three nights: Yeshua gave one sign: three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. Read with God's calendar, the Gospels can fit it exactly.

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