Misunderstanding Old Testament Prophecies of Jesus' Coming

The Jews misunderstood Old Testament prophecies of Jesus' Coming. The Old Testament compressed prophecies of Jesus' first and second coming, leading the Jews to believe all the prophecies would be fulfilled in one coming.

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00:00 Misunderstanding Old Testament Prophecies of Jesus' Coming
09:02 Lesson One: The Old Testament prophecies of Jesus' coming were compressed.
26:28 Lesson Two: The Jews expected Old Testament prophecies to be fulfilled in one coming.
34:17 Lesson Three: The Jews wanted salvation from Rome versus salvation from sin.

The Old Testament Prophecies of Jesus' Coming Were Compressed

Zechariah 9:9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. 10 I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the war horse from Jerusalem; and the battle bow shall be cut off, and he shall speak peace to the nations; his rule shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.

Ephraim is another name for Israel because Ephraim was the largest tribe. Zechariah is prophesying of the Second Coming when Jesus defeats the nations that assemble against Israel:  he cuts off the chariot, warhorse, and battle bow.

Jesus’s rule stretches from the river, referring to the Euphrates, to the ends of the earth.

He speaks peace to the nations, because with all the enemies destroyed peace is established. The order of prophetic events: Jesus returns, destroys enemies at the battle of Armageddon, and then sets up his kingdom on the earth. Many well-known verses describe this as a time of peace:

Isaiah 2:4 They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.

Isaiah 11:6 The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them. 7 The cow and the bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. 8 The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder's den.

Zechariah 9:9 is about Jesus’s first coming, and Zechariah 9:10 is about Jesus’s Second Coming. The arrival of the Savior in verse 9 is immediately followed by a description of his reign in verse 10. There have been at least 2000 years between verses 9 and 10, but the Bible puts them back-to-back. This is known as “prophetic compression.”

Isaiah 9:6a For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

So, talk about a compressed prophecy! Now we don’t even have verses back-to-back. In the same verse we just went from Jesus’s birth to Jesus ruling the nations.

You don’t expect to see words like this about a child. A child can’t carry the government on his shoulder. Again, this looks forward to the second coming followed by the millennial kingdom.

You say, “I thought we were talking about a Child. Now we’re talking about a Father? Are we talking about God the Father or God the Son?” The child is Jesus. He is not to be confused with God the Father. It’s best to understand the title “Father” means “originator” or “source of.” For example, in John 8:44, Jesus said Satan is the “father of lies.” It’s referring to lies originating from him.

In saying Jesus is the Everlasting Father it means he is the father – or originator of – time:
Jesus Himself is eternal: John 8:58 Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”
Jesus is also unchanging: Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

Isaiah 61:1 The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty...

Read the rest of the blog post: https://www.scottlapierre.org/old-testament-prophecies-of-jesus-coming/