THE COMING OF THE 'MESSIAH' AS PREDICTED BY THE PROPHETS of the Old Testament.

INTRODUCTION - 19/12/2020 - by S.N.Strutt

Christ and Christmas:

It is stunning to see the prophets of God writing about the Messiah hundreds and even thousands of years before Jesus the Christ and Saviour was even born.

At Christmas we are all familiar with Bible verses such as:

ISAIAH 9.6

6 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

MICAH 5.2

2 “But thou, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall come forth unto Me He that is to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.”.

These are indeed very beautiful verses about the birth of Christ Jesus.

There are at least 300 Bible verses in the Old Testament that prophesied about Jesus as the Messiah and Saviour.

I thought it might be a good idea to delve into two of my ‘INSIGHTS’ books which are based on 1) The Book of Enoch and 2) The Book of 2nd Ezdras, both of which have been part of the canon of scripture.

Out of my ‘5’ INSIGHTS books - these two have something very special in common, in that they directly talked about the coming MESSIAH on different occasions throughout the books.

With my ‘INSIGHTS’ books, I am trying to get people to give more attention to the less known APOCRYPHAL, books which have been part of the official canon until just over a century ago. 

Let’s now examine the following excerpts from two of my 5 ‘INSIGHTS’ books to see if they are an enlightenment to you about scriptures that used to be in the KJV of the Bible until 1885.

Why were the scriptures removed from the Protestant Bibles and not the Catholic Bible? The argument that it was because the apocryphal books such as 2nd Ezdras had not been written in Hebrew back in 1885 was proven with the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947 to be incorrect - as both the Book of Enoch and 2nd Ezdras were found in the Hebrew text as well as many of the other 14 Apocryphal books that had been removed from the Protestant Bible without a justifiable reason.

Why would beautiful books that prophesied about Jesus be removed from the Bible back in 1885? That is a very good question, which I have tried to answer in my ‘INSIGHTS’ books – both ‘Enoch Insights’ and ‘Ezdras Insights’ in particular.

SUMMARY

The Messiah is mentioned in the Book of Enoch in chapters 46, 55 & also chapter 70 and is referred to as the Son of Man walking together with the Head of Days. He is also mentioned as God’s Son who will rule over all nations and throw out the kings of the earth and the demon princes that rule from ‘behind the scenes’.

He is mentioned as the King of Kings in chapter 84, just as in the Book of Revelations 19. We see God the Father and God the Son in chapter 105 walking together in the book of Enoch similar to in the Book of Daniel chapter 7.

Jesus is also called the Elect One in the Book of Enoch in chapters 49 and 55.

Similarly, in the Apocryphal Book of 2nd Ezdras originally written 400-500 BCE we see direct references to the Messiah as the ‘Son of God.’ 

2nd Ezdras Chapters 7 and 13 describe Jesus very well indeed as well as His awesome power.

THE ACTUAL TEXT FROM MY BOOKS ‘ENOCH INSIGHTS’ AND ‘EZDRAS INSIGHTS’ - with both biblical cross-references and my commentaries.

EZDRAS INSIGHTS 7.13 ‘For my son, the Messiah, shall be revealed with those who are with him, and those who remain shall rejoice (in) four hundred years: and after these years my son the Messiah shall die, (for) all who draw human breath’.

Comment.5:  This Chapter 7. Verse 13 - is probably the most important verse in the entire Book of II Ezdras. Why? Because God is directly telling Ezra, who lived around 400+ years before Christ, that God was sending His only son the Messiah to the earth in 400 years, from Ezra’s time. God also predicted that His Son, the Messiah, would die (for) all humanity. Somehow the expression “rejoice (in) four hundred years” has been altered to omit the (in), which could change the whole meaning. However, whoever tried to obfuscate the truth of this verse, made a big mistake, because God Himself goes on to state in this same verse, that the Messiah, God’s Son shall die, so obviously looking at history we find that Jesus Christ fulfilled this exact prophecy given to Ezra, and that he did die some 400 years after the time of Ezra! What an amazing prophecy about Jesus! ‘after these years my Son the Messiah shall die, (and) all who draw human breath’.

Why does it say here that ‘all who draw human breath shall die’, which seems totally out of context? In the original text it probably didn’t. The text would appear to have been deliberately altered, in order to change the meaning.

In verse 13, where I put a bracket around the word (for), the modern text gives the word (and). Well, it is true that all of us humans will die sooner or later, but I think that the real meaning here was that God’s only Begotten Son, the Messiah would die (for) all humanity, otherwise we would all be destined to spiritual, as well as physical death.

‘EZDRAS INSIGHTS’- Chapter 13

2ND EZDRAS CHAPTER 13 verse 1 ‘After seven days, I dreamed a dream in the night: and behold, a wind arose from the sea and stirred up all its waves. And I looked, and behold, this wind made something like the figure of a man come up out of the heart of the sea. And I looked, and behold, that man flew with the ‘clouds of heaven’; and wherever he turned his face to look, everything under his gaze trembled. And whenever his voice issued from his mouth, all who heard his voice melted as wax melts when it feels the fire’.

Comment:1: This is clearly talking about Jesus coming with the ‘clouds of heaven.’

DAN.7:13 “I was watching in the night visions, and behold, one like the Son of Man, ‘Coming with the clouds of heaven’! He came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him.

DAN.7:2 Daniel spoke, saying, “I saw in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the Great Sea.

REV.19:15 And ‘out of His mouth’ goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.

2nd EZDRAS 13.2 And after this I looked, and behold, and ‘innumerable multitude of men were gathered together’ from the four winds of the heaven to make war against the man who came up out of the sea.

And I looked, and behold, and he carved out for himself a great mountain and flew upon it, and I tried to see the region or place from which the mountain was carved, but I could not.

Comment.2: At the end of this world all the armies of the world shall gather together in Israel at Armageddon, to fight against Jesus who returns with the clouds of heaven on a powerful white horse together with the armies of heaven.

The Anti-Christ ruler of the earth of the near future, will probably have persuaded the world that Jesus and his armies are invaders from another galaxy, and that he is the enemy.

Well, this time Satan is going to lose big time. All Satan’s lies and deceptions, through his stooge, the Anti-Christ, will soon be coming to an abrupt end, at the battle of Armageddon! 

REV.16:16 And they gathered them together to the place called in Hebrew, Armageddon.

REV.19:19 And I saw the beast, the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army.

Comment.3: The Beast, is The Anti-Christ.

Comment.4: Daniel 2 is a very important Bible prophecy chapter which describes a giant Image, which King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon saw in a dream. I won’t go into all the details right now, except to state that the Image had a head of Gold, arms and chest of Silver, belly of Bronze, legs of Iron and feet and toes part of Iron and part of clay.

Daniel, God’s prophet, interpreted the Kings dream, without even knowing the dream, and explained how that Babylon was the Head of Gold, the next empire of Silver would be Medio-Persia, followed by the Greek empire of Bronze, and the legs of Iron was Rome, and the feet and toes partly of Iron and Clay was the type of governments that are around in the world today.

Iron governments being strong dictatorships. Clay being weak Democracies. In the Vision of the Image, a rock came from the heavens and smashed the entire image to pieces and then became a mountain which filled the whole world. That mountain is the Kingdom of God.

DAN.2:34 “You watched while a stone was cut out without hands, which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay and broke them in pieces.

DAN.2:35 “Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed together, and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; the wind carried them away so that no trace of them was found. And the stone that struck the image and became a great mountain that filled the whole earth.

DAN.2:44 “And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.

2ND EZDRAS 13.3 ‘After this I looked, and behold, all who had gathered together against him, to wage war with him were much afraid, yet dared to fight. And behold, when he saw the onrush of the approaching multitude, he neither lifted his hand nor held a spear or any weapon of war; but I only saw how he sent forth ‘from his lips a flaming breath as it were a stream of fire’, and from his lips a flaming breath, and from his tongue he shot forth a storm of sparks’.

ENOCH INSIGHTS

Book of Enoch 46.1 ‘And there I saw One who had a head of days, and his head was white like wool. With Him was another being whose countenance had the appearance of a man, His face was full of graciousness, like one of the holy angels’.

DAN.7:9 I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire.

DAN.7:13 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.

2 CO.8:9 For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.

Enoch 46.2 ‘And I asked the angel who went with me and showed me all the hidden things, concerning that Son of Man, who he was, and whence he was, and why he went with the Head of Days? He answered me and said unto me:

Enoch 46.3   This is the Son of Man, who hath righteousness, with whom dwelleth righteousness, and who reveals all the treasures of that which is hidden, because the Lord of Spirits hath chosen him, and whose lot hath the pre-eminence before the Lord of spirits in uprightness for ever.

PRO.2:4 If thou seek her (WISDOM) as silver, and search for her as for hidden treasures.

PRO.2:5 Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God.

Enoch 46.4 And this Son of Man whom thou hast seen shall raise up the kings and the mighty from their seats, and the strong from their throne. He shall loosen the reins of the strong and break the teeth of the sinners. 

PSA.3:7 Arise, O LORD; save me, O my God: for thou hast smitten all mine enemies upon the cheek bone; thou hast broken the teeth of the ungodly.

Enoch 46.5 He shall put down the kings from their thrones and kingdoms, because they do not extol and praise Him, nor humbly acknowledge whence the kingdom was bestowed upon them.

REV.6:15 And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains.

REV.6:16 And said to the mountains and rocks, ‘Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb’:

REV.6:17 For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?

Enoch 46.6 ‘He shall put down the countenance of the strong and shall fill them with shame. Darkness shall be their dwelling, and worms shall be their bed, and they shall have no hope of rising from their beds, because they do not extol the name of the Lord of Spirits’.

ISA.65:13 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD, Behold, my servants shall eat, but ye shall be hungry: behold, my servants shall drink, but ye shall be thirsty: behold, my servants shall rejoice, but ye shall be ashamed:

MAR.9:44 Where their worm dies not, and the fire is not quenched.

PSA.107:10 Such as sit in darknessand in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron;

PSA.107:11 Because they rebelled against the words of God, and contemned the counsel of the most High:

Enoch 46.7 ‘And these are they who judge the stars of heaven, and raise their hands against the Most High, and tread upon the earth and dwell upon it. All their deeds shall manifest unrighteousness, and their power rests upon their riches, and their faith is in the gods which they have made with their hands, and they deny the name of the Lord of Spirits’.

Comment:1:The above verse 7 is describing the coming Anti-Christ and his empire or the 7th and last World Empire of Mankind. The coming one world government will have 10 leaders who ‘have horns’ or are demon possessed and shall rule the earth together with Satan through the Anti-Christ.

REV.17:12 And the ten horns which you saw are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.

REV.17:13 These have one mind and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.

REV.17:14 These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.

DAN.7:25 And he shall speak great words against the Most High and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.

REV.13:6 And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.

Enoch 46.8 ‘They persecute the houses of His congregations, and the faithful who hang upon the name of the Lord of Spirits’.

REV.12:17 And the dragon was wroth with the woman and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

MAT.5:10 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

MAT.5:11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.

MAT.5:12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecutedthey the prophets which were before you.

You can find the rest of the verses mentioned above in my books ‘EZDRAS INSIGHTS’ and ‘ENOCH INSIGHTS’ by obtaining the books from me at: activatedscotland@gmail.com or at AMAZON.

 SALVATION - www.outofthebottomlesspit.co.uk

MORE BIBLICAL PROPHECIES ABOUT CHRIST

SON OF MAN: SON OF GOD: THE MESSIAH: THE SAVIOUR

WHY DOES JESUS FREQUENTLY REFER TO HIMSELF IN THE GOSPELS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT AS "THE SON OF MAN"? - compiled by S.N.Strutt 09/12/18

He called Himself the Son of Man because He was HUMAN, He was born of a woman just like the rest of us. He had the same kind of body that we have, He had the same feelings that we have, the same human limitations we have, He felt the same kind of weariness and pain.

The Creator of all things willingly stripped Himself of His unlimited power and became a tiny helpless infant. The Source of all wisdom and knowledge had to study and learn to read and write. He left His throne in Heaven where innumerable angels worshipped Him, where all the forces of the Universe were at His command, and He took the place of a servant--scoffed at, ridiculed, persecuted and ultimately killed by the very ones He came to save.

The Bible tells us that Jesus is "a High Priest Who is touched with the feeling of our weaknesses, for He was in all points tempted the same way WE are, yet without sin."- Hebrews 4:15.

Imagine!The Son of God literally became a citizen of this World, a member of humanity, a man of flesh, in order to reach us with His Love, prove to us His compassion and concern, and help us to understand His Truth in simple childlike terms that we could grasp.

Isaiah 53:3 tells us, "He was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief." He wept over the grief of His friends, over the suffering of humanity, and even over Jerusalem, a city that rejected its Saviour and was therefore doomed to destruction.

Jesus was so merciful, so kind and kind-hearted. There were times when He was wearied, worn and virtually exhausted from constantly ministering to the crowds that thronged Him.

On one occasion He tried to retire from the busy scene for a little rest and recuperation, but the Bible tells us that when He saw the multitudes who needed His help, He had COMPASSION upon them. He felt so SORRY for them that despite the weariness and pain He felt, He went out and healed ALL that came to Him, and taught them all the wonderful Words of God's Kingdom of Love. - Matthew 9:36; Mark 6:31-34.

There were also times when God's ANGER blazed through Jesus, the Living Word, against pretense and hypocrisy. He told the self-righteous leaders of the ruling religious hierarchy of His day, "If I had not come and spoken unto you, you would not be guilty of sin, but now I have come and EXPOSED you, so you have no covering for your sin!"-John 15:22.

Actually, most of the time He had very little to do with the lofty, rich-robed, powerful and wealthy religious leaders, the Scribes and the Pharisees.--Except when they insisted on annoying Him and raising critical questions, doubts and accusations among those He was teaching. Then He unleashed scathing rebukes against them, publicly exposing them as the "blind leaders of the blind" that they were "whitewashed SEPULCHRES, tombs, which, although they appeared beautiful, clean and holy OUTWARDLY, were full of rottenness, corruption and stinking dead men's bones WITHIN!"-Matthew 23:27,28.

These religious leaders considered themselves to be the most "righteous and holy" people in town, but Jesus exposed them for the hypocrites, liars, robbers and cheaters of the poor that they were, which of course infuriated them.

But most of the time Jesus avoided the self-satisfied religionists, and spent His time helping and loving the poor, the common man, speaking to them, healing them, feeding them and most importantly, giving them the spiritual answers, Love, forgiveness and Truth that they longed for.

The Bible says that He mingled with and preached to the fishermen, drunks, prostitutes, tax collectors and sinners, and "the COMMON people heard Him GLADLY."-Mark 12:37.

But when He went into the temple and gave His message to the RELIGIOUS leaders, they mobbed Him, threw Him out and finally crucified Him!

SON OF GOD

He not only CLAIMED to be the Son of God, God manifest in human flesh, but He CONVINCED a great portion of the World that He in fact IS God's Son.

Jesus said, "I and my Father are ONE."-John 10:30. Before being born to Mary and living in a fleshly human body, He and His Heavenly Father were together in very close personal Heavenly fellowship, something He had to forsake while He was down here on Earth.

The Bible tells us, "In the BEGINNING was the WORD (Jesus) and the Word was WITH God and the Word WAS God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made...And the Word (Jesus) was made FLESH and lived AMONG us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the one and only Son of the Father."-John 1:1,2,14.

Just before He was arrested and crucified, knowing that He would soon be reunited with His Heavenly Father, Jesus prayed: "And now, Father, glorify Me along with Yourself and restore Me to such majesty and honour in Your presence as I had with You BEFORE THE WORLD WAS MADE...for You loved Me BEFORE the foundation of the World."-John 17:5,24.

THE MESSIAH - THE SAVIOUR

If any adjective were to describe Jesus, it would be "UNIQUE"!-His MESSAGE was unique. The CLAIMS He made regarding Himself were unique. His MIRACLES were unique. And the INFLUENCE He has had on the World is unsurpassed by any other.

One very outstanding and undeniably unique aspect of Jesus' life is that literally hundreds of detailed PREDICTIONS and PROPHECIES were made by ancient prophets and seers, many centuries before He was born. Specific details regarding His birth, life and death, that no mere mortal man could possibly have fulfilled!

In the first books of the Bible, known as the "Old Testament," over 300 such predictions about the "Messiah" or "Saviour" can be found. The discovery of hundreds of ancient Old Testament manuscripts by archaeologists during this century has proven without a doubt that these prophecies were indeed written CENTURIES BEFORE this man called Jesus was born.

How could anyone manipulate their bitter enemies to pay a specific price for their betrayal, mock and revile them as they are dying, much less cause a band of soldiers to gamble for their clothing and pierce their side AFTER they've died, & cause a rich man to bury their body in his own personal tomb? Yet Jesus of Nazareth fulfilled not only these, but OVER 300 MORE specific predictions regarding His birth, life, ministry, death and resurrection!-Truly He was and is "UNIQUE" in every sense of the word!

II ADDED:27/12/18

In the first books of the Bible, known as the "Old Testament," over 300 such predictions about the "Messiah" or "Saviour" can be found. The discovery of hundreds of ancient Old Testament manuscripts by archaeologists during this century has proven without a doubt that these prophecies were indeed written CENTURIES BEFORE this man called Jesus was born.

Here is a small sampling of the kind of specific predictions we're talking about: In 750 B.C., the prophet Isaiah made the astounding prediction that:

 "THE LORD HIMSELF SHALL GIVE YOU A SIGN; BEHOLD, A VIRGIN SHALL CONCEIVE AND BEAR A SON, AND SHALL CALL HIS NAME EMMANUEL."--ISAIAH 7:14.

7-1/2 centuries later, a young virgin girl in Israel named Mary was visited by the Arch-angel Gabriel, who announced to her that she would bear a Son Who would be called Emmanuel, which means "God with us." The books of the Bible which were written after Jesus came to Earth, the "New Testament," tell us that, "Mary said to the angel, 'How can this be, seeing I have not LAIN with any man?' And the angel answered, 'The Spirit of GOD shall come upon you, and the power of the ALMIGHTY shall overshadow you! Therefore that Holy One which shall be born of you shall be called the SON OF GOD!'"-Luke 1:26-35.

So even the very BEGINNING of His life on Earth-His conception and birth-were not only unique, but MIRACULOUS, in that the simple and humble young girl who became His mother had never slept with a man!

In fact, the Bible tells us that the news of her pregnancy was so shocking to the young man to whom she was engaged to be married, Joseph, that when he learned about it he promptly decided to break off the engagement and call off the wedding!-

Until the angel of the Lord appeared to him also, and instructed him to stay with her and rear and protect the very special child that she was carrying.

A full 800 YEARS before Jesus was born, the prophet Micah foretold the exact village where the Messiah would be born:

"YOU, BETHLEHEM, THOUGH YOU ARE SMALL AMONG THE CLANS OF JUDAH, YET OUT OF YOU SHALL HE COME FORTH UNTO ME WHO IS TO BE RULER OVER ISRAEL; WHOSE GOINGS FORTH HAVE BEEN OF OLD, FROM DAYS OF ETERNITY."-MICAH 5:2

Although His earthly parents lived in the town of Nazareth, 100 miles to the north of Bethlehem, a decree from Rome demanded that all families return to their ancestral homes to register for a worldwide census. The decree came just as Mary's child was due to be born.-Thus God used a Roman emperor, Caesar Augustus, to help bring about the fulfillment of Micah's prophecy.

Joseph and Mary journeyed to Bethlehem, and upon their arrival, Mary went into labour, and as the Gospels inform us, "Jesus was born in BETHLEHEM of Judea" (Matthew 2:1), just as the prophet Micah predicted.

Micah's prophecy also tells us that the Messiah "Has been of old, from days of ETERNITY." Jesus Himself said, "Before ABRAHAM was (around 2000 B.C.), I AM."-John 8:58.

Abraham was the forefather of the Jews and Arabs, who lived about 2,000 YEARS before Jesus was born to Mary. So Jesus was referring here to His pre-existence with God before His life on Earth in the form of a man.

Though born in Bethlehem, Jesus grew up in Nazareth. In His first recorded public address there, He openly declared that He indeed WAS the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies regarding the Messiah.

While attending the local house of worship, He stood up before the crowd and read a prophecy from the book of the prophet Isaiah. In the passage, Isaiah predicted that the Messiah would be anointed with the Spirit of God to "preach Good News to the poor, to heal the broken hearted, to give freedom to the captives, recovering of sight to the blind and to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord."-Isaiah 61:1,2. The New Testament tells us that after He read this prophecy aloud to the congregation, Jesus told them, "TODAY is this Scripture FULFILLED in your ears!"-Luke 4:18-21.

Another outstanding prophecy regarding the Messiah was made by Israel's King David around the year 1000 B.C., or over 10 CENTURIES before Jesus was born. In his prophecy, David gave details of a cruel and agonising death which he himself never suffered:

"I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax, it has melted within me...Like a pack of dogs, they have surrounded me; a company of evil doers has encircled me. They have pierced my hands and my feet. They divide my clothing among them and cast lots for my garment."-Psalm 22:14-18.

King David died a peaceful, natural death, so we know he was not talking about himself in this passage of Scripture. But being a prophet, he predicted with unerring accuracy the circumstances surrounding the cruel death on the cross of the Messiah, the CHRIST that was to come. Let's examine some of the details outlined in the above prophecy:

"I am poured out like water...my heart is melted within me." Jesus not only poured out His life for us spiritually, but the New Testament tells us that shortly after He died, while He was still hanging on the cross, "one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately BLOOD AND WATER FLOWED OUT."--John 19:34. Modern medical authorities have affirmed that in the case of heart rupture--when a human heart literally bursts open under extreme stress and trauma-the blood collects in the pericardium, the membranous sac that encloses the heart and the roots of the main blood vessels. This blood then separates into a sort of bloody clot and a watery serum, thus when the soldier pierced His side, His life was LITERALLY, "poured forth like WATER." (Unwittingly, this Roman soldier fulfilled another prophecy, "They will look upon Me whom they have PIERCED," a prophecy given by the Prophet Zechariah around 500 B.C.-Zechariah 12:10.)

"All my bones are out of joint."-This is one of the horrors of death by crucifixion; the weight of the victim's body literally pulls his arms out of their sockets.

"Like a pack of dogs...a company of evil doers has encircled me." The New Testament tells us that Jesus' wicked and vengeful religious enemies, the Scribes and the Pharisees, gathered around Him as He was nailed on the cross, mocking and reviling Him.-Matthew 27:39-44.

"They have pierced my hands and my feet." This is probably the most astounding prediction within this prophecy. Crucifixion was not practiced by the Jews of David's time.

Their religious laws demanded that criminals be executed by STONING. But God showed His Prophet, David, how the Messiah would die 10 CENTURIES LATER, executed at the hands of an empire that did not even exist in David's day, ROME, whose principal means of executing criminals was CRUCIFIXION!

"They divide my clothing among them and cast lots for my garment." In the Gospels of the New Testament we find the almost incredible fulfillment of this prophecy: "When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took His clothes, and DIVIDED them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment (a long robe-like tunic) remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom. So they said one to another, 'Let us not tear it, but let us CAST LOTS to decide whose it shall be.'"-John 19:23,24.

In 487 B.C., the Prophet Zechariah predicted: "And I said unto them, if you think well, give me my PRICE; and if not, keep it. So they paid me 30 PIECES OF SILVER."-Zechariah 11:12.

On the night that Jesus was arrested by His enemies, the New Testament tells us that, "One of the twelve Apostles, Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said to them, 'What will you give me if I deliver Him to you?', and they counted out for him 30 PIECES OF SILVER."-Matthew 26:14,15.

Imagine!-Over five hundred years before the event took place, God's Prophet, Zechariah, predicted the EXACT "PRICE" that Jesus' enemies would pay to His traitorous disciple, Judas! In the next verse of Zechariah's prophecy, he goes into even more astounding details:

"And the Lord said, 'Cast it unto the POTTER--the handsome price at which they priced Me!' So the 30 pieces of silver were taken and CAST TO THE POTTER IN THE HOUSE OF THE LORD."-Zechariah 11:13.

The New Testament tells us that, "When Judas saw that Jesus was condemned, he repented, and RETURNED the 30 PIECES OF SILVER to the chief priests of the Jews, and he cast down the pieces of silver in the TEMPLE. Then the chief priests picked up the silver pieces and said, 'It is against our law to put it into our treasury because it is blood-money.' So they used the money to buy a POTTER'S FIELD, to bury foreigners in."-Matthew 27:3-6.

The 30 pieces of silver were literally "CAST to the POTTER in the HOUSE of the LORD"!--Just as Zechariah predicted 500 years earlier!

In 712 B.C., the prophet Isaiah predicted that the Son of God would "be given a GRAVE WITH THE WICKED, and with the RICH in His DEATH."-Isaiah 53:9.

Jesus' bitter religious enemies condemned Him as a CRIMINAL, as a WICKED man, thus as He died, the Bible tells us "there were two ROBBERS crucified with Him."-Matthew 27:38.

After His body was removed from the cross, "a RICH MAN named Joseph of Arimathaea went to Pilate and pleaded for the body of Jesus, and when Joseph had taken the body, he laid it IN HIS OWN NEW TOMB."-Matthew 27:57-60.-A "GRAVE WITH THE RICH!"

1,000 YEARS before Jesus was born, the Spirit of God prophesied through King David that the Saviour would be resurrected from the dead: "God will not leave His soul in the grave, neither will He suffer His Holy One to see corruption or decay."-Psa.16:10.

King David died and was buried in a grave, and HIS flesh saw corruption and decay. But JESUS was raised from the grave three days after His death!--As the Angel said to the mourners who came to Jesus' tomb, "He is not here, but is RISEN! Why do you seek the living among the dead?"-Lk.24:5,6.

N.B I AM ASSUMING THAT THOSE OF YOU WHO ARE READING THIS, ARE ALREADY SAVED, BUT IF YOU ARE NOT SURE,THEN PLEASE GO TO THIS LINK ON MY WEBSITE, THAT EXPLAINS ALL ABOUT HOW TO GET SAVED: http://www.outofthebottomlesspit.co.uk/418605189

THE 'PASSION OF CHRIST' SEQUEL BY FAMOUS DIRECTOR AND ACTOR MEL GIBSON: 'RESURRECTION': Mel Gibson Says Sequels to Two of His Most Popular Films Are in the Offing (westernjournal.com)