Jesus is Messiah

Isaiah 40:3 prophesied that someone would come to prepare the way before "our God." Therefore, the one coming after this messenger would have to be God himself. Matthew 3; Mark 1:1-1; Luke 3:1-9 and John 1:23-34 testify that John the Baptist was indeed that messenger who prepared the way for Jesus Christ. What's more, the New Testament writers and the early Christians (whom at first were mostly monotheistic Jews) agreed that Jesus is God, hence, we have a clear fulfillment of Isaiah 40:3 regarding the Messiah's coming. Was this text understoof in pre-Christian times as messianic? Yes, it was. The Qumran community specifically understood Isaiah 40:3 in this sense. Note what their Manual of Discipline says on this verse: "When these men exist in Israel, these are the provisions whereby they are to be kept apart from any cosort with froward men, to the end that they may indeed 'go into the wilderness to prepare the way', i.e. do what Scripture enjoins when it says, 'Prepare in the wilderness the way...make straight in the desert a highway for our God' "(8.12-16) "The purpose of such discussions is to guide the minds of the members of the community to give them insight into God's inscrutable wonders and truth, and to bring them to walk blamelessly each with his neighbor in harmony with all that has been revealed to them. For this is the time when 'the way is being prepared in the wilderness', and it behooves them to understand all that is happening." (9.118-20) These quotes indicate both that the Qumran community understood the verse messianically, but also that they saw it fulfilled in them. Isaiah 40.3 was used as their rationale for leading a separated life in the desert, where they believed they were preparing the way of the Lord by means of constant reading of the Law (1Qumran Scroll 8.12-16; 9.19-20; Liefeld, The Expositor's Bible Commentary; ed. by Frank E. Gaebelein, Vol I. Zondervan, 1979: Luke 3:4-6) Qumran saw itself literally fulfilling Isaiah's prophecy by its life of study and torah-observance situated precisely in the desert of Judea. (A Marginal Jew--Rethinking the Historical Jesus, John P. Meier, Doubleday: 1991; 2.87) Rabinnic material also uses Isaiah 40:3 messianically as well. First, we have a passage in the Midrash on Lamentations 1:2, in which Is 40.3 is cited as one of the blessings upon Israel in the messianic age; second, we have a later passage in the Talmud by Tanhuma, citing 40.3 messianically in the comments on Deut 1.1; third, the Targum on Isaiah 40.9, renders the phrase 'Behold your God' with 'The Kingdom of your God shall be manifested'--remarkably similar to the preaching of John the Baptist and Jesus. So, the rabbinic literature also witnesses to a messianic understanding of Isaiah 40.3. This clearly demonstrates that Isaiah 40.3 was understood messianically in the time of Jesus. Deuteronomy 18:15 promised that one day God would raise up a prophet like Moses by whom God will call everyone to account. According to Paton J. Gloag, "The Talmud asserts 'that Messiah must be the greatest of future prophets, as being nearest in spirit to our master Moses.'... This prediction, then, could only receive its accomplishment in the Messiah." (The Messianic Prophecies, from 'The Messiahship of Christ', Minneapolis, MN, Klock & Klock, 1983 rpt., p. 114) Jesus, just like Moses, was Jew, had direct communication with God the Father, fasted in the wilderness 40 days, performed greater miracles than any prophet who came before him, and mediated a covenant between God and his people, thus, its no wonder Luke recognizes this was fulfilled in Jesus. (Acts 3:19-26) We must also remember Luke was getting his information from the eyewitnesses. (Luke 1:1-4) Isaiah 9:6 records that the Messiah would be both "God," and yet born as "a baby." The Targum of Isaiah, which is an ancient rabbinical commentary, confirms Jewish belief in the Messianic nature of this passage: "His name has been called from old, Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, He who lives forever, the Anointed One, in whose days peace shall increase upon us." (The Targum of Isaiah, ed. J.F. Stenning, London, Oxford Press, 1949, p. 32) Since my opponent agrees that the disciples agreed that Jesus was God, I think we have a clear fulfillment here. Isaiah 52-53 was also understood as messianic. It prophesied that the Messiah would be peirced for our sins (53:5), would be silent before his accusers (53:7), would be killed and buried (53:8-9), but would live again to bring in righteousness (53:10-12), all of which the New Testament writers who were contemporaries of Jesus said was fulfilled in his trial, crucifixcion and resurrection. This Isaiah passage is one believed to have influenced some Jews to conceive of a two-Messiah idea. Dr. Raphael Patai writes: "When the death of the Messiah became an established tenet in Talmudic time, this was felt to be irreconcilable with the belief in the Messiah as the Redeemer who would usher in the blissful millennium of the Messianic age. The dilemma was solved by splitting the person of the Messiah in two." (The Messiah Texts, New York, Avon, 1979, p. 166) The New Testament's overall record of Jesus' actions matches the issues and events that were prophesied. Although many passages concerning the Messiah could be covered, Hebrew scholar Alfred Edersheim extensively reviewed the rabbinic commentaries on the Messianic prophecies. As to whether or not the New Testament claims accurately reflect Messianic expectations, Edersheim summarizes: "Accordingly, a careful perusal of their [456] scripture quotations shows that the main postulates of the New Testament concerning the Messiah are fully supported by rabbinic statements. Thus, such doctrines as the pre-mundane existence of the Messiah; his elevation above Moses, and even above the Angels; his representative character; his cruel suffering and derision; his violent death, and that for his people; his work on behalf of the living and of the dead; his redemption and restoration of Israel; the opposition of the gentiles; their partial judgment and conversion; the prevalence of his Law; the universal blessings of the latter days; and his kingdom - can clearly be deduced from unquestioned passages in ancient rabbinic writings... There is, indeed, in rabbinic writings frequent reference to the sufferings, and even death of the Messiah, and these are brought into connection with our sins." (The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah' (one volume edition), Grand Rapids, MI, Eerdmans, 1972, pp. 164-165) It is a seldom mentioned fact that the pre-Christian Jews viewed more of the Old Testament Scriptures as messianic than did the New Testament authors, so the Gospel authors literally had a fountain of messianic prophecy to tap into and it only bespeaks their honestly in taking taking full advantage of them them. But how could Jews view certain statements as messianic prophecies when they at times appear to apply to the time in which the writer lived? The answer is type topology. The typological interpretation of prophecy asserts that the prophets did not so much make singular predictions as proclaim certain theological themes or patterns and that these themes often have several manifestations or fulfillments in the course of human history. These patterns often have their greatest manifestations in the life of Christ, but there may be other fulfillments elsewhere in human history, especially in the immediate historical context of the prophet. Perhaps the clearest example is the suffering servant in Isaiah. ( 42:1-4 ; 49:1-6 ; 50:4-9 ; 52:13-53:12). At one point, Isaiah explicitly identifies the servant as Israel ( 49:3 ), but in 50:4-9 he describes the servant in very individualistic terms and in verse 9 the prophet seems to identify himself as the servant, showing multiple application. This is why NT writers apply texts to the Messiah that also apply to other things.