Our purpose in defending a distinctive Messianic Jewish stance does not require a comprehensive summary of the reasons for our belief in the Messiahship of Yeshua. We only briefly recount here a summary of the messianic hope and our reasons for affirming that He is the One of whom the prophets spoke.
The messianic hope begins in Genesis 3:15, where God promises to the human race a seed of woman who will crush the head of the Serpent (Satan, the representative of evil), even though this seed will be bruised in the heel. The story fits the religious symbolic literature of the ancient Near East in recounting deep spiritual truths through natural phenomena. Although it is not of absolute proof value, there is evidential value in the fact that the verse teaches that a seed
of a woman, not a man, bruises the head of the Serpent though Satan bruises its heel. Satan receives the fatal blow; the seed, a serious, but limited blow. How well this fits Messiah Yeshua, born of a virgin. Jewish writings also reflect this messianic identification as Targum Onkelos, which speaks of the seed as her son. The great expositor David Kimchi clearly identifies the seed as "the MESHIACH, the son of David, who shall wound his heel."
We shall see that there are several promises in relation to seed which, when traced, have great messianic significance, although not limited to messianic significance. The next passage which talks about seed is Genesis 12. Abraham, who is called to a new land, is told, "by your seed all the families of the earth shall blessed." Blessing is to flow to the world through the nation Israel. However, there are hints that the seed-promise of Abraham looks forward to an individual. Sarah, Abraham's wife, is childless. The seed-promise is to be applied to her offspring, not to any other. Sarah herself gives birth to only one son, Isaac. Isaac is thus the recipient of the seed-promise. The Messianic Jew cannot help but see the parallels. Isaac, the only son of his father, is a child of a miraculous birth (for Sarah was beyond child bearing age, see Genesis 18:12, 13). Most amazingly, Abraham is commanded to offer his son Isaac on Mt. Moriah as a sacrifice. This is a test of his faith and obedience. Isaac is not killed, but the symbolism of his being offered as a sacrifice is carried out in Genesis 22. Moriah is the later site of the temple; traditionally, among Jews, it is the exact stone where the altar later stood. That the image of Abraham's only seed is a sacrificial image should make us note the parallel to Yeshua, who is also a child of miraculous birth, the only son of His Father, who is offered as a sacrifice.
The seed-promise is next passed on to Isaac's son, Jacob, and then to the twelve children of Israel. However, there is a promise to Judah which indicates that the messianic ruler will stem from Judah. "The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs; and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples" (Genesis 49:10). Either Shiloh in this passage is a title of the Messiah or is "he to whom it (rulership) belongs" comes. All of the Targums identify this promise with the Messiah.
   Many centuries pass before the seed-promise becomes more explicit. The figure of Moses, a prophet, priest and ruler of his people was considered to pre-figure the Messiah by many Jewish people before Yeshua came.
 In 2 Samuel 7, we find the next great seed-promise: It relates to the future ruler and representative of Israel. David is promised in this passage an everlasting throne through his descendants. Isaiah makes it clear that this will be fulfilled by one child. In Isaiah 7:14, a promise is given of a messianic king who shall be named Immanuel, God with us. The contrast is drawn between this child and the wicked King Ahaz, who would not ask for a sign to prove God's will as requested by the prophet Isaiah. That Isaiah 7:14 has in mind the Messiah is clear since no other child of the time was given the name Immanuel. Hezekiah, the ancestor of the Messiah, might have also been born at this time as a sign of the greater birth to come. Lest there be doubt, however, in the messianic character of Isaiah 7:14, we point out these two facts: The translations of the Septuagent recognized the passage to be predicting a virgin birth. "Almah," meaning young woman, is used of a young woman of marriageable age who is presumed to be a virgin. They translated it "parthenos," virgin, before there was any debate. Secondly, the title of the king, Immanuel, is a parallel title to those given King Messiah in Isaiah 9:6, 7 (v.5 Hebrew Bible). Other promises concerning King Messiah as the stem of Jesse are found in Isaiah 11:1-10.
   In Isaiah 9:6, 7, we read, "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulders and his name shall be called 'Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.' Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David, and over his kingdom to establish it, and to uphold it with justice and righteousness, from this time forth and forever more".
 Here we note that the Messiah is given uniquely divine titles in this passage. Our translation is very close to the literal Hebrew; other translations seek to blunt these titles by adding interpretive material. There is no disagreement on the messianic character of these verses. We now see that blessing flows to the world through Israel and through the Messiah. Of the Messiah we read that the Gentiles, non-Jewish peoples, shall seek after Him. He shall be a sign to the peoples and "to it shall the Gentiles seek" (Isaiah 11:10 ff.).
Of the "Servant of the Lord" in Isaiah 40-66, we read that He will bring forth justice and He will be a light to the nations (Isaiah 42:3, 4, 7). Though Israel is found in these passages as God's servant, so is the messianic king. For the promise of the “servant of the Lord” here includes the same content as the promise of King Messiah in Isaiah 11.
  There is a special connection of the Messiah to Bethlehem, not only because this was David's city, which was obviously known. Micah 5:2 connects the Messiah to Bethlehem to show that His birth there shall parallel David's. It is a sign. Hence the scribes of Matthew 2 could easily answer Herod's question as to where the Messiah would be born "…in Bethlehem." They then quoted Micah 5:2, which states that the ruler of Israel shall come forth from Bethlehem. Micah also says of Messiah that His "goings have been from of old, from Everlasting." Messiah in some way has a reality before His actual birth. Some traditional Jews see that prebirth reality of the Messiah as in the being of God; He is in some special sense, part of God.
  However, more astonishing than all these passages is the Scriptural indication that the messianic figure must suffer and die before He rules and reigns. This gave rise to the Talmudic idea that a suffering Messiah, son of Joseph, would precede the triumphant Messiah. We have already noted that the “servant of the Lord “of Isaiah 40-66 has both references to Israel and Israel's king. Of this "servant of the Lord" we read that He suffers as a sacrifice for sin (in Isaiah 53) and experiences many other sufferings.
    Isaiah says, "He is despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and we hid as it were our faces from Him. ...”
    "All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one to his own way, and the Lord has laid upon him the iniquity of us all..." (Isaiah 53:3, 6).
    Of this One we also read that he is with both criminals and a rich man in His death. In the gospels we read that Yeshua was crucified between criminals. Joseph of Aramathea, a rich man and member of the Sanhedrin, had Him buried in his own tomb.
   Because of his sacrifice, we read "he shall see his off-spring, he shall prolong his days .... He shall see the fruit of the travail of his soul and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities" (Isaiah 53:10 ff.).
   The One who dies as a sin offering lives again. How well this fits Yeshua. Jewish voices are not lacking who refer this passage to the Messiah, even though they do not accept Yeshua as the Messiah. The Talmud, in Sanhedrin 98b, gives a title to the Messiah, "the leprous one," because Isaiah said He bore our diseases in this chapter. The famous kabbalist R. Elijah de Vidas from Safed in Upper Galilee is most emphatic that this referred to the Messiah saying, "it follows that whosoever will not admit that Messiah thus suffers for our iniquities, must endure and suffer for them himself." So also the Targum Jonathan, a most ancient source, sees the Servant as ” King Messiah.”
    The One who is pierced is spoken of as well in Zechariah 12:10, where we read:
  "And they shall look upon me whom they have pierced,
 and they shall mourn for him as one mourneth for His only
Son, and shall be in bitterness for him as one who is in
bitterness for His first born."
 That this refers to a suffering Messiah is clear in most ancient Jewish interpretation. The Talmud (Succah 52:1) refers this to the Messiah, the son of Joseph, as does R. Alschech and Kimchi. However, what is the warrant for holding to two Messiahs instead of one Messiah who must first suffer before reigning?
 Daniel 9:25, 26 gives an astonishing reference to the Messiah. For in this prophecy, the Messiah is predicted as cut off before the destruction of the second temple. Seventy weeks of years which were decreed from the time of Artaxerxes would bring us to the time of the Messiah Yeshua (490 years). Even beyond this, however, "the Messiah the Prince” is cut off in the 69th week (483 years) and the temple and city are destroyed soon after. Many Rabbinic references show that this is the Messiah (cf. R. Moses Abraham Levi, Sanhed. Tal. 97.b, Nachmanidies, and Abarbanel).
  When we observe all of these passages together, it is astonishing how precisely Yeshua fulfills the nature of the messianic hope as it is developed in the Tenach. He is the seed of the woman who gives Satan his fatal blow (Genesis 3:15); He is the only child of Abraham, a child who, like Isaac, is the only son of His Father and is offered as a sacrifice by His Father (Genesis 12:1-3; 22); He is the prophet like Moses (Deuteronomy 18); He is a descendant of David (2 Samuel 7), the one born of a virgin and given supernatural titles (Isaiah 7:14; 9:6, 7), born in Bethlehem but from Ancient Days (Micah 5:2); He is the source of light to the nations, for it is only by turning to Yeshua that non-Jews received God's Scriptural revelation (Isaiah 42:11); He is the One who is pierced and dies in the image of a sacrifice, but yet sees His offspring (Zechariah 12:10, Isaiah 53); and He is the One who comes before the destruction of the second temple, which occurred in 70 CE! (Daniel 9:25, 26).
  Yeshua alone fits the Biblical hope. Furthermore, His life, miracles, death and resurrection multiply the strength of the evidence. Only the Spirit of God can open the eyes of those who are blinded, but the evidence is extraordinary. No man ever taught like Yeshua. Read His summary of the heart meaning of the Law, in Matthew 5-7, or His parables in Matthew 13. No one ever performed miracles of compassion like Yeshua. No other man ever was raised from the dead like Yeshua. The evidence for His resurrection is not just good evidence--it is the best evidence we have for any ancient event. We have only positive evidence for the resurrection, no negative evidence. The sources are all early; the four gospels, the letters of Paul, Peter, James, Hebrews, and Revelation were independently written and all testify to the resurrection. The early fathers of the Church maintain this testimony. Most of the disciples died for their faith in Yeshua's resurrection, never recanting under pressure. The Apostle Paul could testify that 500 brethren were witnesses to the resurrected Messiah at one time, most of whom were still alive (I Corinthians 15). The implication is that his readers could go and ask the witnesses about the truth.
  There is no explanation of the resurrection by the early critics of Yeshua except the excuse that His disciples stole His body, the same disciples who died for the truth of their testimony! The dead body could not be produced because Yeshua was alive again.
  Yeshua alone fits our hope and Scriptural expectations of the Messiah. He identified with Israel and personally paralleled Israel's life; His family fled to Egypt and was called out of Egypt (Matthew 3:15); He went through the waters of baptism, paralleling Israel going through the sea; He was tempted in the wilderness for 40 days, paralleling Israel's 40 years (Matthew 4); He exposited the Law on the mountain (Matthew 5), His life was integrated into all the Jewish feasts (J 5-10). He is certainly the One of whom the prophets spoke. He shall yet return to rule on the throne of David, fulfilling each of the prophecies which are part of Israel's messianic hope.

Dr. Daniel Juster is a graduate of Wheaton College and McCormick Theological Seminary. He is the pastor of a Messianic Jewish Congregation in Maryland and the leader of Tikkum Ministries.