The Messiah was prophesied to suffer and die:
•Isaiah 53:5 – “But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities…”
•Psalm 22:16 – “They have pierced my hands and feet.”
These were written hundreds of years before Jesus and clearly describe a suffering, dying Messiah.
Yet He is also King:
•Jeremiah 23:5 – “I will raise up for David a righteous Branch… and he shall reign as king…”
•The Messiah’s first coming was to atone for sin (Daniel 9:26), and His second coming will be to reign as King (Zechariah 14:9).
The idea of substitutionary atonement is deeply biblical:
•Leviticus 17:11 – “It is the blood that makes atonement for the life.”
•Isaiah 53:6 – “…the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”
•John 1:29 – “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”
The gospel accounts were not Roman inventions:
•The earliest manuscripts and creeds (e.g., 1 Corinthians 15:3-5) date to within a few years of the crucifixion—long before Rome ever became “Christianized.”
•All the apostles were Jewish, and most were executed for proclaiming Jesus’ death and resurrection. Rome didn’t make that up—they tried to suppress it.
Jesus fulfilled both roles of Messiah: first as the suffering servant (Isaiah 53), later as the reigning King (Revelation 19). The Bible—especially the Hebrew Scriptures—foretold both, and Jesus alone fits all the prophecies.