Collision w/ Jeff Durbin: Did Jesus Fulfill Messianic Prophecies?

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What's up, everybody? My name is Pastor Jeff Durbin, and you're watching Collision Today. I'm going to be interacting with an atheist on TikTok.

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So this guy says he's an atheist, actually says he has a degree in theology or Bible, and apparently he's telling us why

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Jesus isn't the Messiah. So let's talk about this. As we get into this, let you know, it's actually a very courageous thing to do to try to engage with the

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Christian church in the area of messianic prophecy because there is a truckload. So this is a courageous move on this atheist part.

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Hey, thanks for the question. So did Jesus actually fulfill any of the messianic prophecies? The short answer is no.

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There's a handful of verses in the Old Testament that talk about what the Messiah was supposed to accomplish. So the short answer is no.

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Again, courageous move on this atheist part to try to engage in this area of debate because there's not just a handful.

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There is a truckload of scripture in the Old Testament that talks about Jesus as the Messiah, the expectations of the

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Messiah, the identity of the Messiah, the timing of the Messiah, the location of the Messiah, what the

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Messiah was going to accomplish and why he was going to accomplish it. I mean, we even have timing indicators and all the rest.

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So it's not just a handful. And it's interesting that this gentleman picked some verses that do display very clearly the mission of the

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Messiah and what Jesus is to accomplish and is accomplishing, but he didn't actually really address the specific prophecies that land right on Jesus.

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And so again, this is a courageous move on his part as an atheist on two counts. One is to engage in this realm of the messianic prophecy that so clearly point to Jesus Christ.

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That's a courageous move. Number two, he's an atheist and he doesn't have the worldview capital to be engaging in this discussion in the first place.

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If he believes his ancestors were descendants of fish and bacteria, if we're in a cosmos that doesn't care, if all of this is time and fury signifying nothing, if all of this is just time and chance acting on matter, then these questions about truth and ultimates and reason and logic and evidence are really irrelevant in his worldview.

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So ultimately this atheist mouth is writing checks that his worldview can't cash.

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The best place that sums them all up is Isaiah chapter two verses two and three. Now it will come about that.

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So he makes the claim that the best place that sums up the messianic prophecies is Isaiah chapter two. And it's interesting because that's one of many amazing sections of scripture that prophesy really the role of Messiah and what's going to, the world's going to ultimately look like and all the rest.

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But I wouldn't say that this particular prophecy sums up, uh, the prophecies of Jesus, but let's see what he has to say.

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In the last days, the mountains of the Lord will be established and the chief of the mountains will be raised above the hills and all the nations will stream to it.

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And many peoples will come and say, excuse me, busy here. Would you, would you stop anyway?

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And many people will come and say, come, let us go to the, yes, you're just gonna have to read it for yourself.

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But basically, and, uh, you should, a cute cat, by the way, even though I hate cats, uh, about as much as I hate, uh, this attempt to, uh, destroy the messianic prophecies of Jesus.

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Anyway, um, that particular text is incredible, uh, actually because Isaiah chapter two is this vision of Isaiah about 700 years before Jesus came into his ministry before his life and death and resurrection and ascension.

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And this particular prophecy, again, hundreds of years before Jesus says that in the latter days, the, the mountain of the house of the

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Lord will be established as the highest of the mountains and should be lifted up above the hills. In other words, this is, you're going to see this, this is what

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God's going to do on all the nations shall flow to it. And many people shall, shall, shall come and say, come, let us go up to the mountain of the

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Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.

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And so this particular prophecy is one of many prophecies in the old Testament long before Jesus comes to talk about the mission of the

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Messiah is to bring all the families of the earth to God, all tribes, tongues, peoples, nations, all the families of the earth.

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And actually it isn't just in this single section here in Isaiah chapter two, it starts back in Genesis.

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You see, the promise to Abraham was that his descendants would be like the stars of the sky and like the sand on the seashore.

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So this is going to be a victorious kingdom with descendants of Abraham all over the world.

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And you see the promise in Genesis 49, 10, that this one who is coming shall have the obedience of the nations in Psalm chapter two.

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And this is just barely scratching the surface. There's a, there's a, a, a, a word, a

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Psalm from God so long before Jesus comes. It's ridiculous in Psalm chapter two, where the father in the old

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Testament is speaking to the son, the Messiah. And he says, ask of me, and I'll give you the nations for your inheritance, the very ends of the earth for your possession.

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And the warning to the kings of the earth is to obey the son or they'll perish. And so the, the prophecies of Messiah was that this messianic king

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Mashiach was going to actually bring the families of the earth, not just Jews, but the nations to God, all the families of the earth.

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You see it even in the prophecy in Psalm chapter 22, about a thousand years before Jesus comes, that so clearly displays the crucifixion of Jesus in, in so many vivid ways.

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You've got his hands and his feet pierced. You have him surrounded by dogs.

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They're mocking him and reviling him. They're, they're casting lots for his clothing, his heart like wax melted within him.

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Jesus had his heart sack pierced with that spear through the side. And that particular prophecy not only gives us the passion of Jesus, just go read it, but it also continues on in the prophecy that this messianic figure is clearly going to die.

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This is the passion of the Messiah. But then it says that after all of this work of the Messiah, that all the families of the earth will return to worship

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Yahweh. So Isaiah chapter two is an amazing section of scripture that refers to the nations, not just Jews, the nations streaming up to God's mountain.

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And by the way, that in itself is an amazing thing because water doesn't typically stream upward. So God is going to draw the nations up to his mountain, all these beautiful, symbolic things that God speaks about in his word, the figurative language, the poetic language that describes his work and drawing the nations to himself.

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And this particular prophecy, it speaks about restoring what was broken and drawing all the nations to God, not just Jews, but Gentiles also.

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So he's actually highlighting a particular section of scripture that isn't sitting there in isolation. It actually is in a network of verses that talk about the messianic

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King drawing the nations to God that now you have Gentiles, non -Jews who are going to come to the

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God of Israel for him to teach them his ways. And they want to learn his law.

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The law will go forth from Zion. And so that's what the text speaks about.

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So the Messiah is supposed to unite the tribes and end all the wars. Verse four, it's a popular passage. He will pound your swords into shovels and your spears into pruning hooks.

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In other words, there'll be no further need for weapons because the wars will all be over. Interesting interpretation there.

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But I think if you read the text and you read the other text, like this is just one, Isaiah two is one,

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Isaiah nine is another, Isaiah 11 is another, Isaiah 42 is another. So if you would continue reading the very same book that you're in, you would see that this is something that is progressive.

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It is something that the Prince of Peace is going to bring. So if you look at Isaiah chapter nine, same book,

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Isaiah two, Isaiah nine, and Isaiah nine, the famous Christmas verse, Isaiah nine, six, it says this,

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So what's interesting here is you have a monotheistic Jew about 700 years before the time of Jesus who believes there is only one true and living

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God, one mighty God, one eternal God. This monotheistic

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Jew, the same one who wrote Isaiah two, writes Isaiah nine. In Isaiah nine, it says that this child is going to be born, a son is going to be given.

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So what is that? That is a human, a human being, a son and a child.

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And then it gets specific in terms of identities. He mentioned a handful of verses. It's a lot more than a handful, and it's not vague prophecy.

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It's specific, explicit. So for example, this one, There it is,

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Prince of Peace. So in Isaiah two, you see the nations being drawn up to God's mountain, non -Jewish people saying, let's have the

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God of Israel teach us his ways. So that's, again, the promise of the Messiah was that the nations were going to come to God.

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All the families of the earth were going to return to worship God. But this particular text says that the identity of the

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Mashiach is specific. It's a son, it's a child, but it is El Gibor, the mighty

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God. One chapter later in Isaiah chapter 10, Yahweh is referred to as El Gibor, but there's only one

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God according to the monotheism of the Old Testament. None before God, none after God, Isaiah 43, 10.

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And I alone am Savior, God says in Isaiah 43, 11. Isaiah 44, 6,

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I am the first and I'm the last. Besides me, there is no God. Isaiah 44, 8, God says, is there a

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God besides me? Indeed, there is no other God. I know not one. Those verses, if you heard, were from the book of Isaiah, only one

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God. In Isaiah 9, it says that it is going to be El Gibor, the mighty God, who comes as a son and as a child.

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So the identity of the Messiah is specific. It can only be one, and that's God himself,

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El Gibor. And it says this, of the increase, of the increase of his government and of, there's that word again, peace, the prince of peace, the increase of his government and of peace, there will be no end.

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And on the throne of David and over his kingdom to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore, the zeal of the

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Lord of hosts will do this. What's it say? This God man, this God child is going to come and he will have an increase to what he governs, his rule that will have no end.

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That's progressive. And what is he called here? The prince of peace.

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He will bring peace. And that's exactly what Jesus does. When we come to God through Jesus, we have peace with God.

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And that peace leads to peace with others, because those who have had their hearts changed and minds changed and been brought to new life in Jesus, know the

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God of peace. And let's be honest, the Christian worldview has a basis to actually fight for peace and actually establish peace.

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The atheistic worldview is not a worldview that actually comports with peace. It is might for right.

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It is nature, as I've said before, red in tooth and claw. There is no justification for righteousness, for love, for beauty, for truth, for goodness and atheism.

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And so again, here's an atheist trying and I think very poorly at attacking the messianic prophecies of Jesus.

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And again, his mouth is writing checks that his worldview can't cash. And so the peace that Jesus brings is progressive.

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Jesus talked about his kingdom coming like a mustard seed that grows into a tree. That's progress, small to large growth.

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It expands and it grows. It's like leaven in a lump of dough. It's an expanding kingdom that grows over time.

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It's not like dropping out of the sky and obliterating the earth. And that is, of course, what the scriptures say in the

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Old Testament as well. In Daniel chapter 2, here's another verse that he wouldn't address, I believe, in the same way.

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In Daniel chapter 2, we have the prophecy of this coming messianic king and his kingdom. And it's a timing prophecy as well.

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It tells you when the Messiah is coming. And he's told through this vision there's going to be four kingdoms.

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And from Daniel's time, you have the Babylonian kingdom, you have the Persian kingdom, the Greek kingdom and the

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Roman kingdom. And it says in that prophecy, here's a timing indicator, that it's during the time of that fourth kingdom that the

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Messiah's kingdom is going to come and it's going to be a kingdom that lasts forever, a rule that lasts forever.

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So during the time of the fourth kingdom from Daniel's time, and that matches history, the Messiah is going to come and his kingdom is going to be like a stone that actually is a small stone that actually destroys those other kingdoms.

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It lasts forever and it becomes a mountain that fills the entire earth. That's small to large growth.

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That's what the Prince of Peace does. And if you notice, what I've said there are just, say, two prophecies that are specific and can only be fulfilled at a certain time and by a certain person.

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Not vague, only one God and it's God coming as a man. And it says that this God who's coming as a man is coming at a specific time, during the time of the fourth kingdom from Daniel's kingdom.

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And it lands, lo and behold, on Rome, exactly when Jesus came. The Messiah will rule over the nations as its king.

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So this is what the... Have you heard Christians? I'm wondering, have you ever heard Christians talking about Jesus as king of kings and lord of lords?

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I'm wondering if anyone's ever heard that. Jesus king of kings and lord of lords. I'm wondering if you've ever heard

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Christians in the first century, during the time of Rome, saying that Jesus is the ruler of the kings of the earth.

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I'm wondering if you've ever heard early Christians saying, Jesus is Lord, Kyrios, that he is

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Lord. That was even during the time of the Roman Caesars, during the time of Nero. Did you know that the early

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Christians were killed by Rome because they refused to say Kaiser Kyrios, that Caesar is

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Lord. What were the early Christians believing about their message? That Jesus was in fact that promised ruling king.

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He was seated on his heavenly throne, ruling over the nations. And even in their day, when it didn't look like it, they were saying,

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Jesus has all authority in heaven and on earth. And he's going to draw all the nations to God.

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And lo and behold, where are we now? We're here now, long after the time of Christ, 2 ,000 years after the time of Christ.

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And you've got Jews and Gentiles worshiping and loving the Lord God of Israel because of Jesus.

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You have non -Jewish people that worship God, the God of Israel, and revere and love his word because of Jesus.

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He is ruling and he is reigning now, but his rule and his reign isn't like the CCP. It's not like Kim Jong -un.

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It's not a dictatorship and it's not something that resembles worldly kingdoms of just military might.

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He rules with peace. He rules with love. He establishes justice and he does so through his gospel.

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This is what the Jews were expecting the Messiah to do as they still are today. And it's what Jesus' disciples thought that he was going to do.

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But of course, instead, he was brutally tortured and murdered at the hands of the Roman government. That's why they were mourning so heavily after his death.

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This wasn't supposed to happen. Actually, if you've read the Bible, because you have your degree in Bible or theology, you would maybe be familiar with Luke chapter 24, where after the resurrection of Jesus, Jesus had been telling them that he had to go to Jerusalem and they would kill him, crucify him, and he'd rise again three days later.

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And he said that he had to do this because the scriptures had to be fulfilled that were written about him. So apparently, Jesus understood that the

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Old Testament prophecies, in fact, did prophesy all the aspects of his ministry, including his death and his resurrection.

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The Bible is clear about that. And Jesus, with those confused disciples on the road to Emmaus after the resurrection in Luke 24, starting in verse 13, he challenges these followers in verse 24.

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And he says to them, O foolish ones and slow of heart to believe all the prophets have spoken.

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They were, of course, they were confused. They saw Jesus murdered. How did somebody recover from that? We thought he was the one that was going to fulfill all those prophecies.

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So that's correct, is they were a little bit confused. And Jesus says to them, O foolish ones and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken.

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He says, was it not necessary, that means guaranteed, it had to happen, that the

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Christ, the Messiah should suffer these things and enter into his glory. And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.

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So apparently Jesus did believe that the Old Testament did prophesy his death and resurrection. And lo and behold, it absolutely did.

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In Psalm chapter 2, you have the clear description of the passion of Mashiach in the Old Testament prophecies.

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You also have the clear description there of his death and that he is still going to tell his name to his brothers and that all the families of the earth are going to return to worship

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Yahweh. In Isaiah chapter 53, you've got the purpose of the Messiah, the why he's coming, that he's going to be pierced through for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities, a chastisement for our well -being would be upon him, and by his wounds we'd be healed.

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The Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all. And it says that he would be cut off.

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And if you do, if you're a careful Bible student, you'll look up that word or those words cut off, and you'll see that that word, that language of cut off is the same language used to describe a violent death.

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And so it says that Mashiach is going to be cut off out of the land of the living.

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So where did we ever get the idea that Jesus wasn't supposed to die and rise again? The Isaiah prophecy in Isaiah 53 talks about this servant of God who is actually going to take upon himself the sins of God's people, and he would justify the many as he bears their iniquities.

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But it said that he'd be cut off out of the land of the living, and it was for the transgressions of God's people.

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So where would we ever get this idea that the Bible doesn't teach that Jesus had to die for the sins of his people?

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It says this very clearly in Isaiah chapter 53. But clearly in Isaiah chapter 53, he comes alive again.

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And I would encourage you all, as this gentleman said, go read it for yourself. The death and the resurrection of Jesus is in the

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Old Testament prophecies. Jesus taught them that. He said that it was coming, that it had to happen.

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His rule was not just going to be a military rule of might, establishing justice and law in the world.

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It was going to be salvation for the world. Salvation, forgiveness, and peace for the world.

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And it was going to be all those other prophecies, the nations coming to God, which is happening to this day.

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I'm evidence of it myself. I'm not Jewish by birth. And he was going to establish justice and righteousness.

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And I'll give you one more. In Daniel chapter 9, and again, we're only scratching the surface here, the amazing prophecy in Daniel, long before Jesus comes, hundreds of years before, in fact, says that this

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Messiah is going to come, a Messiah, the Prince, he was going to make atonement for iniquity. He was going to bring an everlasting righteousness.

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He was going to finish the transgression. And it says about this Messiah that he was going to be cut off, cut off.

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But it's more specific than that. He was going to be cut off. There he's going to die. And then the second

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Jewish temple would be destroyed. I want you to think about this for a moment here, because this is specific. It's not just a handful of vague verses.

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It is identity. It is person. It is purpose. It is when. In Daniel chapter 9, we're told that atonement is going to be made for iniquity.

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The Messiah is going to be cut off. And it says that the second Jewish temple will be destroyed.

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That prophecy was written before there was a second temple. And by the way, that second temple was destroyed in 70

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AD fully. And so it says the Messiah had to come during the time of the second

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Jewish temple. He had to be cut off. And then the second Jewish temple was going to be destroyed. These aren't vague prophecies.

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These are very specific. Identity, the person, the work, the timing, all of that is in the

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Old Testament prophecies. And apparently this gentleman doesn't know that. So to reconcile this, they started to believe with a lot of help from Paul that Jesus was going to return again, and then he was going to fulfill the rest of those prophecies.

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Of course, the problem is, as you may have guessed, there is no place in the Old Testament that says the Messiah is going to do that.

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Nowhere does it say the Messiah was going to die and rise again. Nowhere does it say he was going to perform miracles. Nowhere does it say he's even supposed to be worshiped.

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So what Christians will do is they will... So apparently this man skipped the classes during his theology degree that actually taught all these things.

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Or maybe he hasn't read through his Old Testament to see this, but the Bible does in fact teach all of those things. It teaches

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Christ about Christ's ministry, the purpose for his ministry, his death, his resurrection. I've given you only a few.

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There's more, but this is supposed to be a short video. Of course, the messianic prophecies of Jesus are not just a couple here or there.

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It's an entire story of redemption that includes judgment upon the covenant -breaking

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Jews that would occur, and that happened on time and as planned. It prophesies the nations coming to God.

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It prophesies his death, his resurrection for salvation and for forgiveness. All of it is there, and the

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Bible teaches from beginning to end an ultimate restoration and God putting things right again.

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And the resurrection of Jesus is actually the indication that God is going to judge the world in sin and in righteousness, and there will be a final resurrection of the dead.

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And so this goes back to the beginning of the Bible where death entered human existence. God was going to restore and redeem all of that.

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So actually the Old Testament and New Testament story is a story of removing the curse as far as it's found, and this gentleman doesn't seem to be aware of that.

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Ignore those verses that talk about the Messiah explicitly, and instead we'll take verses that are not actually talking about the

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Messiah and insist that they are. It's just in some sort of code, like the suffering servant, for example, in Isaiah chapter 53.

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It's not talking about one person. It's talking about the entire nation of Israel. Interesting. So I would imagine that a person making that claim hasn't actually read

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Isaiah 53 for all that it's worth, and here's what I mean by that. Isaiah, who wrote

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Isaiah 53, also wrote Isaiah chapter 6. In Isaiah chapter 6, Isaiah, who gets this vision of the holiness of God, recognizes his own sin and says that he's a man of unclean lips and that he has deceit.

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He is sinful. He recognizes this Jewish believer in Yahweh. He recognizes his own sin, his own rebellion, and of course as you read through Isaiah, you see very clearly that the nation of Israel, the people of Israel are sinful, and if you read

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Isaiah 53, it is very clear that this one who is coming, he is going to be despised and rejected by men.

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Verse 3 of 53, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and as one from whom men hide their faces, he was despised and we esteemed him not.

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Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Check this out.

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Yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. They were going to think he was dying for his own sins, but he was pierced through for our transgressions.

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He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.

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So apparently we're leaving out Isaiah 53 as we talk about Isaiah 53, because this specifically says this one who is coming is actually going to be taking the punishment for our sins, and you know that this is an

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Israel being talked about as the righteous servant, even though that was supposed to be their vocation, but they failed in that, because it very clearly says in this text that he was taken away into judgment, the

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Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all, and it says that he was cut off. There's that death there, that death that isn't in the

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Old Testament. He was cut off out of the land of the living. What does it mean to be cut off out of the land of the living?

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It means you die. He says that the Bible doesn't say the Messiah was going to die. The text says that he would, and they made his grave, but by the way, it says he was stricken for the transgression of my people.

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He was going to die for the sins of God's people, and here's what it says, although he had done no violence and there was no deceit in his mouth.

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Isaiah 53 says the one who's going to take sins, the sins of his people, has no deceit in his mouth, so he's not sinful.

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He's taking the sins of people, and he himself is not sinful. He's dying for the sins of people, and he himself is not sinful.

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You can't say that about Israel. Israel has a bit of a history here, a bit of a story with sin against God and others, so this can't be

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Israel taking the sins for other people, because the person described here has done no violence and there's no deceit in his mouth.

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He's dying for the sins of God's people, cut off out of the land of the living. There's that pesky death of the

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Messiah again, so onward. And you can tell that just by reading the whole chapter.

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Oh sure, now you're settled, now that I'm at the end of the video. Anyway, thanks for the question. Hope it helped. So yeah,

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I would encourage you all to read the entire chapter, and I think what's really important here is to discuss the peculiar nature of an atheist criticizing things that he thinks are wrong in really any area of life, but specifically the

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Bible. When he talks about things like contradictions, or this isn't true, or we need to examine, we need to look for these things.

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In his worldview, he's a bag of biological stuff in a universe that doesn't care about him. He's protoplasm bobbing along the surface of the cosmos.

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He has no justification given his worldview to complain about anything that's irrational, because he can't justify laws of logic.

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He can't complain about anything that's against science, because he can't justify the uniformity in nature given his worldview, and he can't justify any ethical claim in terms of this is wrong, or this is right.

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And you see when he does start to engage the scriptures, he does it in a way where he takes out all context, and he leaves out really the good bits of the story.

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Hey, what's up guys? This is Pastor Jeff Durbin. Thank you for watching Collision. We wanted to provide a solid resource to help you to respond to anything coming into Collision with the

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