Our Father has announced in the Books of the Old Testament, the Messiah’s advent inspired by many prophecies on his Mission, his traits of life, and his way of being.
The apostles in contact with Jesus were conscious that he was the persona of whom Moses and the Prophets had spoken of:

John 1,45: “We have found him the one Moses wrote about in the Law, the one about whom the prophets wrote: he is Jesus son of Joseph, from Nazareth.”

And much later, after his resurrection, Jesus, Himself, explained to them the prophecies of the Old Testament concerning him:

Luke 24,25-27: “Then he said to them: You foolish men! So slow to believe all that the prophets have said! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer before entering into his glory? Then, starting with Moses and going through all the prophets, he explained to them the passages throughout the scriptures that were about himself.”
Luke 24,44-45: “Then he told them, ‘This is what I meant when I said, while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses, in the Prophets and in the Psalms, was destined to be fulfilled. He then opened their minds to understand the scriptures.”

Of what prophecies did Jesus speak of to his Apostles?

Prophecies on the place of birth and occupation of the Messiah

Micah 5,1: “But you (Bethlehem) Ephrathah, the least of the clans of Judah, from you will come for me a future ruler of Israel whose origins go back to the distant past, to the day of eternity.”
Isaiah 8,23 & 9,1: “As the past humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali (Galilee), so the future will glorify the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan, the territory of the nations. The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light; on the inhabitants of a country in shadow dark as death light has blazed forth.”

SUMMARY: According to the prophecies of the Old Testament, the Messiah will therefore be born in Bethlehem and operate in Galilee. At Jesus’ birth, the high priests and the scribes knew this well, since they indicated to Herod, alarmed by the Magi, Bethlehem as the birthplace of the Messiah (Matthew 2,3-4; also see Matthew 4,12-16).

Prophecies of the moment of the Messiah’s apparition

Daniel 2,1-49: The prophet Daniel interprets the vision of Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian king:

“…You have had a vision, Your Majesty; this is what you saw: a stature, a great statue of extreme brightness, stood before you, terrible so see. The head of this statue was of fine gold (Babylonian empire), its chest and arms were of silver (Median-Persian empire), its belly and thighs of bronze (Greek empire), its legs of iron (Roman empire), its feet part iron, part clay (Jewish-Roman alliance, see 1 Maccabee 8,17 / 1 Maccabee 15,15 +)…
In the days of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, and this kingdom will not pass into the hands of another people (Christ’s Kingdom is a spiritual Kingdom): it will shatter and absorb all the previous kingdoms and itself last for ever – just as you saw a stone, untouched by hand, break away from the mountain and reduce iron, bronze, earthenware, silver and gold to powder. The Great God has shown the king what is to take place…”

SUMMARY: The four announced empires are the Babylonian, Median-Persian, Greek and Roman. According to this prophecy of Daniel, the Christ should thus appear under the Roman Empire.

Prophecies on the Messiah’s precursor

Malachi 3,1: “Look, I am going to send my messenger to prepare a way before me.”
Malachi 3,23: “Know that I am going to send you the prophet Elijah before my day comes, that great and terrible Day.”
Isaiah 40,3-8: “A voice cries, Prepare in the desert a way for Yahweh. Make a straight highway for our God across the desert. Let every valley be filled in, every mountain and hill be laid low… then the glory of Yahweh shall be revealed… All flesh is grass… the grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our God remains for ever.”

SUMMARY: A precursor must prepare the path for the Messiah. John the Baptist prepared the route for Jesus in calling the Jews to repentance. And Jesus Himself revealed to us that John the Baptist is this “Eli who has already come”. (Matthew 17,11)

Prophecies concerning certain characteristics of the Messiah

Isaiah 42,1-4: “Here is my servant whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom my soul delights. I have endowed him with my spirit, that he may bring true justice to the nations. He does not cry out or shout aloud, or make his voice heard in the streets. He does not break the crushed reed, nor quench the wavering flame …” (He does not act with in a public furor, or with wanting to make himself known, but with a lot of delicateness.)
Zechariah 9,9-10: “Rejoice heart and soul, daughter of Zion! Shout with gladness, daughter of Jerusalem! See now, your king comes to you; he is victorious, he is triumphant, humble and riding on a donkey… He will banish chariots from Ephraim and horses from Jerusalem; the bow of war will be banished…”
Isaiah 61,1-2: “The spirit of Lord Yahweh has been given to me, for Yahweh has anointed me. He has sent me to bring good news to the poor, to bind up hearts that are broken; to proclaim liberty to captives, freedom to those in prison; to proclaim a year of favor from Yahweh…”
Isaiah 35,5-6: “Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, the ears of the deaf unsealed, then the lame will leap like a deer and the tongue of the dumb sing for joy.” (see Matthew 11,2-6)
Psalms 69,9: “… for I am eaten up with zeal for your house, and insults directed against you fall on me.”
Isaiah 28,16: “See how I lay in Zion a stone of witness, a precious cornerstone, a foundation stone: the believer shall not stumble. And I will make justice the measure, and integrity the plumb line.”
Psalms 118,22-24: “The stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this is Yahweh’s doing, and we marvel at it. This is the day which Yahweh has made, a day for us to rejoice and be glad.” (This cornerstone is the Messiah, see Luke 20,9-19)
Jeremiah 23,5-6: “Look, the days are coming, Yahweh declares, when I shall raise an upright Branch for David, he will reign as king and be wise, doing what is just and upright in the country.”
Isaiah 53,3: “He was despised, the lowest of men…”

SUMMARY: The Messiah who will come will be humble and modest. He will suppress war and establish what is right and Justice. He will not do any propaganda, he will be discreet and heal the sick. He is characterized by his great zeal for the house of God. This image of the Messiah, given by the prophets of the Old Testament themselves, is opposed to the image of the warrior Messiah, conqueror, liberator from the Romans, which the Jews waited for. It is why they spurned and refused Jesus, as the prophecy itself announced: He will be rejected by his own.

Prophecies on the Messiah Prophet, King and Priest

Deuteronomy 18,18-19: “Yahweh tells Moses: ’… I will raise up a prophet like yourself for them from their own brothers; I will put my words into his mouth and he shall tell them all I command him. The man who does not listen to my words that he speaks in my name shall be held answerable to me for it.” (see John 5,45-46)
Genesis 49,10: “The scepter shall not pass from Judah, nor the mace from between his feet, until he come to whom it belongs, to whom the peoples shall render obedience. He ties up his donkey to the vine, to its stock the foal of his she-donkey…”
Numbers 24,17: “I see him—but not in the present, I behold him—but not close at hand: a star from Jacob takes the leadership, a scepter arises from Israel.”
Psalm 2,2-7: “Kings on earth rising in revolt, princes plotting against Yahweh and his Anointed… Yahweh… in a rage he strikes them with panic, ‘This is my king, installed by me on Zion, my holy mountain.’”
Isaiah 9,5-6: “For there is a son born for us, a son given to us, and dominion is laid on his shoulders; and this is the name they gave him: Wonder Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. Wide is his dominion in a peace that has no end, for the throne of David and for his power, which he establishes and makes secure in justice and integrity. From this time onwards and forever, the jealous love of Yahweh Sabaoth will do this.”
Zechariah 6,12-13: “‘Yahweh Sabaoth says this: Here is a man whose name is Branch; where he is, there will be a branching out and he will rebuild Yahweh’s sanctuary. It is he who is going to rebuild Yahweh’s sanctuary. It is he who is going to wear the royal insignia. He will sit on his throne as ruler…’”
Zechariah 9,9: “Rejoice heart and soul, daughter of Zion! Shout for with gladness, daughter of Jerusalem! See now, your king comes to you; he is victorious, he is triumphant, humble and riding on a donkey…”
Psalm 72,1-17: “God, give your own justice to the king, your own righteousness to the royal son, so that he may rule your people rightly, and your poor with justice… Like sun and moon he will endure, age after age… In his days, virtue will flourish, a universal peace till the moon is no more… The Beast will cower before him, and his enemies grovel in the dust… May every race in the world be blessed in him…”
Psalm 110,4: “Yahweh’s oracle to you, my Lord (the Messiah), ‘Sit at my right hand…’ Yahweh has sworn an oath which he will never retract, ‘You are a priest of the order of Melchizedek, and for ever.’”
Malachi 2,4-8; 3,1-4: “Then you shall learn that it is I who have given you this warning of my intention to abolish my covenant with Levi, says Yahweh Sabaoth. My covenant was with him… You have destroyed the covenant of Levi, says Yahweh… the angel of the covenant whom you are longing for, yes, he is coming, says Yahweh Sabaoth… He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and then they will make the offering to Yahweh as it should be made.” (This Angel of the Covenant, the Messiah, will institute a new Priesthood, no longer according to Levi, but according to Melchizedek; see Genesis 14,18-20 / Hebrews 5-7)
Jeremiah 31,31-33: “See, the days are coming— it is Yahweh who speaks—when I will make a new covenant with the House of Israel (through the announced Messiah), but not a covenant like the one I made with their ancestors… They broke that covenant of mine, so I had to show them who was master. It is Yahweh who speaks… Deep within them I will plant my Law, writing it on their hearts. Then I will be their God and they shall be my people.” (see Luke 22,19-20 / 1 Corinthians 11,23-25)

SUMMARY: The Messiah will be a prophet as great as Moses, that the Jews will have to listen to, otherwise God himself will render them account. He will be king and his reign will have no end. He will be Priest and will institute a new Priesthood.

Prophecies on the Messiah, Son of David, Son of God. The Messiah’s Divinity

2 Samuel 7,12-16: God said to David through the prophet Nathan: “And when your days are ended and you are laid to rest with your ancestors, I will preserve the offspring of your body after you make his sovereignty secure. (It is He who shall build a house for my name, and I will make his royal throne secure for ever.) I will be a father to him and he a son to me; if he does wrong, I will punish him with the rod such as men use, with strokes such as mankind gives. Yet I will not withdraw my favor from him, as I withdrew it from your predecessor. Your House and your sovereignty will always stand secure before me and your throne be established for ever. Nathan related all these words to David and this whole revelation.”
Psalm 2,2-7: “Kings on earth rising in revolt, princes plotting against Yahweh and his Anointed (the Messiah) … Then angrily he (Yahweh) addresses them: This is my king, installed by me on Zion, my holy mountain… Let me proclaim Yahweh’s decree: He has told me: ‘You are my son, today, I have become your father…’”
Psalm 110,3: “Yahweh declared to my Lord (to the Messiah): Royal dignity was yours from the day you were born… royal from the womb, from the dawn of your earliest days.”
Isaiah 7,14-15: “The Lord himself, therefore, will give you a sign. It is this: the maiden is with child and will soon give birth to a son whom she will call Immanuel” (Immanuel means: God with us).
Isaiah 9,5-6: “For there is a child born for us, a son given to us, and dominion is laid on his shoulders; and this is the name they gave him: Wonder Counselor, Mighty-God, Eternal-Father, Prince-of-Peace. Wide is his dominion in a peace that has no end, for the throne of David and for his royal power, which he establishes and makes secure in justice and integrity. From this time onward and forever, the jealous love of Yahweh Sabaoth will do this.”
Micah 5,2: “But you (Bethlehem) … out of you will be born for me the one who is to rule over Israel; his origin goes back to the distant past, to the days of azal (eternity).”
Daniel 7,13-14: “I gazed into the visions of the night. And I saw, coming on the clouds of heaven, one like a son of man. He came to the One of great age and was led into his presence. On him was conferred sovereignty, glory and kingship, and men of all peoples, nations and languages became his servants. His sovereignty is an eternal sovereignty, which shall never pass away…”
Isaiah 11,1-9: “A shoot springs from the stock of Jesse (David’s father), a scion thrusts from his roots: on him the spirit of Yahweh rests, a spirit of wisdom and insight, a spirit of counsel and power, a spirit of knowledge and of the fear of Yahweh…”
Jeremiah 23,5-6: “See, the days are coming—it is Yahweh who speaks—when I will raise a virtuous Branch for David, who will reign as true king and be wise… And this is the name he will be called: ‘Yahweh-our-Integrity’.”
Psalm 110,1: “Yahweh declared to my Lord (the Messiah): Take your seat to my right hand, until I have made your enemies your footstool.” (In David’s psalm, David calls the Messiah “my Lord”. Then, how could he be his son? See Matthew 22,41)

SUMMARY: The Messiah will be called “son of David”, in other words he will be of David’s descendance. God calls him his son. He will have an eternal reign and is called “Mighty-God, Eternal Father, Yahweh-our-Integrity.” His origins go back to the day of Eternity.

Prophecies on the Messiah, Savior of all Nations: Universality of the Messiah

Isaiah 49,5-6: “And now, Yahweh has spoken, he who formed me in the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him, to gather Israel to him: ‘… I will make you the light of the nations, so that my salvation may reach the ends of the earth.’” (see John 8,12)
Isaiah 42,1 & 6: “Here is my servant whom I uphold… I have endowed him with my spirit that he may bring true justice to the nations… I, Yahweh, have called you by the hand and formed you; I have appointed you as a covenant of the people and light of the nations, to open the eyes of the blind…”
Isaiah 55,3-5: “With you I will make an everlasting covenant out of the favors promised to David (The messianic graces). See, I have made of you a witness to the peoples, a leader and a master to the nations. See, you will summon a nation you never knew, those unknown will come hurrying to you…”
Zechariah 9,9-10: “See now, your king comes to you; he is victorious, he is triumphant… the bow of war will be banished. He will proclaim peace for the nations. His empire shall stretch from sea to sea, from the River to the ends of the earth.”
Malachi 1,11: “But, from farthest east to farthest west my Name is honored among the nations and everywhere a sacrifice of incense is offered to my Name, and a pure offering too (through the Messiah’s new Alliance), since my Name is honored among the nations says Yahweh Sabaoth.”

SUMMARY: The Messiah, who comes from the Jewish milieu, is the “light of the nations”, and carries salvation and peace to all nations of the earth. It is so, that we better understand these words addressed by God in the debut to Abraham:
“All the tribes of the earth shall bless themselves by you.” (Genesis 12,3)
This opening-up, of the “God of Israel” to all nations by the Messiah’s advent, is implicitly found in many prophetic texts, such as Malachi 1,11 cited above. Another example is given to us in Amos 9,7 where God denies Israel any kind of privilege compared to other nations:
“Are not you and the Cushites all the same to me, sons of Israel?—it is Yahweh who speaks. Did not I, who brought Israel out of the land of Egypt, bring the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Aramaeans from Kir?”
Or also Isaiah 65,1-2: “I was ready to be approached by those who did not consult me, ready to be found by those who did not seek me. I said: ‘I am here, I am here’, to a nation that did not invoke my name. Each day I stretched out my hand to a rebellious people who went by evil ways, following their own whims.” (also see Isaiah 19,22-25)

Prophecies on the suffering Messiah

The following verses from the Old Testament are a chronological description of the Passion of Christ. The verses are presented successively:

Genesis 49,10-11: “The scepter shall not pass from Judah, nor the mace from between his feet, until he come to whom it belongs, to whom the peoples shall render obedience. He ties up his donkey to the vine, to its stock the foal of his she-donkey. He washes his coat in wine, his cloak in the blood of the grape” (First prophecy on the Messiah pronounced by Jacob, and who announces already, in a symbolic way, the suffering of the Messiah and the Bread of Life).
Zechariah 11,12-13: “And they weighed out my wages: thirty shekels of silver. But Yahweh told me: ‘Throw it to the smelter, this princely sum at which they have valued me.’”
Zechariah 13,7: “… Strike the shepherd, so that the sheep may be scattered…”
Isaiah 50,6: “I offered my back to those who struck me, my cheeks to those who tore at my beard; I did not cover my face against insult and spittle.”
Isaiah 53,7: “Harshly dealt with, he bore it humbly, he never opened his mouth, like a lamb that is led to the slaughterhouse…”
Isaiah 52,14: “As the crowds were appalled on seeing him—so disfigured did he look that he seemed no longer human—so will the crowds be astonished at him…”
Isaiah 53,2-4: “… Without beauty, without majesty (we saw him), no looks to attract our eyes; a thing despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and familiar with suffering, a man to make people screen their faces… And yet ours were the sufferings he bore, ours the sorrows he carried… we thought of him as someone punished, struck by God, and brought low.”
Psalm 22,8: “All who see me jeer at me, they toss their heads and sneer, ‘He relied on Yahweh, let Yahweh save him! If Yahweh is his friend, let Him rescue him!’”
Psalm 22,16-18: “They pierce my hands and feet… I can count every one of my bones.”
Psalm 22,14-15: “… my bones are all disjointed… my palate is dryer than a potsherd and my tongue is stuck to my jaw.”
Psalm 22,18: “They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothes.”
Psalm 69,21: “They gave me poison to eat instead, vinegar when I was thirsty to drink.”
Psalm 22,1: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
Isaiah 53,5: “He was pierced through for our faults, crushed for our sins. On him lies a punishment that brings us peace, and through his wounds we are healed.”
Zechariah 12,10: “They will mourn over the one they have pierced.”
Isaiah 53,10-12: “Yahweh has been pleased to crush him with suffering. If he offers his life in atonement… By his sufferings shall my servant justify many, taking their faults on himself… For surrendering himself to death and letting himself be taken for a sinner, while he was bearing the faults of many and praying all the time for sinners.”
Isaiah 53,8: “… Yes, he was torn away from the land of the living; for our faults struck down in death.”
Psalm 22,15: “You lay me down in the dust of death.”
Isaiah 53,9: “They gave him a grave with the wicked, a tomb with the rich though he had done no wrong, and there had been no perjury in his mouth.”

Even the intimate thoughts of the Jews who were condemning him were prophesied, just like in a mirror:

Wisdom 2,10-24: “As for the virtuous man who is poor, let us oppress him… Let our strength be the yardstick of virtue, since weakness argues its own futility. Let us lie in wait for the virtuous man, since he annoys us and opposes our way of life, reproaches us for our breaches of the law and accuses us of playing false to our upbringing. He claims to have knowledge of God, and calls himself a child of the lord. Before us he stands, a reproof of our way of thinking, this very sight of him weighs our spirits down; his way of life is not like other men’s, the paths he treads are unfamiliar. In his opinion we are counterfeit; he holds aloof from our doings as though from filth; he proclaims the final end of the virtuous as happy and boasts of having God for his father. Let us see if what he says is true, let us observe what kind of end he himself will have. If the virtuous man is God’s son, God will take his part and rescue him from the clutches of his enemies. Let us test him with cruelty and with torture, and thus explore this gentleness of his and put his endurance to the proof. Let us condemn him to a shameful death since he will be looked after—we have his word for it…”

SUMMARY: The Messiah must go through suffering and death to redeem the multitudes. He will be struck by death for our sins. All the details of Jesus’ Passion, since Judas’ treason, His flagellation, and until His burial in the tomb of a rich man, had been announced by our Father in the Old Testament.
And Jesus, crying on the cross: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me”, refers to the Pharisees in Psalm 22, which contains the essence of the Messiah’s Passion, this Passion that was taking place at that very moment under their very eyes. Even their sneering and defiant words towards him had been announced: “All who see me jeer at me, they toss their heads and sneer, ‘He relied on Yahweh, let Yahweh save him! If Yahweh is his friend, let Him rescue him!” (Psalm 22,8)
And in the end, in front of the raging elements of nature guised as a sign, even the Roman centurion and the men who were with him, recognized Jesus’ death: “In truth this man was son of God.” (Matthew 27,54)
The following verses of the Old Testament anticipate the judgment of those who refuse the Just of God:

Wisdom 5,1-7: “Then the virtuous man stands up boldly to face those who have oppressed him, those who thought so little of his sufferings. And they, at the sight of him, will shake with cowards’ fear, amazed he should be saved so unexpectedly. Stricken with remorse, each will say to the other, say with a groan and in distress of spirit: ’This is the man we used to laugh at once, a butt for our sarcasm, fools that we were! His life we regarded as madness, his ending as without honor. How has he come to be counted as one of the sons of God?‘…”

Prophecies on the Messiah’s Resurrection

Jonah 2,1-7: “Yahweh had arranged that a great fish should be there to swallow Jonah; and Jonah remained in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights. From the belly of the fish he prayed to Yahweh, his God; he said: ’Out of my distress I cried to Yahweh and he answered me; from the belly of Sheol, I cried, and you have heard my voice… The waters surrounded me right to my throat, the abyss was all round me… But you lifted my life from the Pit, Yahweh my God…’”
(These verses prefigure the death and resurrection of the Messiah; see Mat 12,40).
Hosea 6,1-3: “… He has torn us to pieces, but he will heal us; he has struck us down, but he will bandage our wounds; after a day or two he will bring us back to life, on the third day he will raise us and we shall live in his presence…”
Isaiah 53,11: “His soul’s anguish over he shall see the light and be content.”
Psalm 16,10: “For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, nor allow the one you love to see the Pit.”
Psalm 18,5-6 & 16: “The cords of Sheol girdled me, the snares of death were before me. In my distress I called to Yahweh and to my God I cried; from his Temple he heard my voice, my cry came to his ears… He sends from on high and takes me, he draws me from deep waters…” (the deep waters of death)
Psalm 110,7: “Drinking from the stream (of death) as he goes, he can hold his head high in victory.”

SUMMARY: The Old Testament speaks in a veiled fashion about the Messiah’s resurrection, as it was truly necessary that this event occurs to fully understand it. On the other hand, the Jews had been prepared by the fact that men sent by God, like the prophet Elijah for example, were capable by God’s strength, to resurrect the dead (see 1 Kings 17,17-24). This was already a psychological and spiritual preparation to the Messiah’s resurrection.

Conclusion

When Jesus of Nazareth (Galilee) was born in Bethlehem, he who was of David’s progeny and who would during his life incarnate all the prophecies of the Old Testament, caused many Jews to believe in him and follow him. Many of the Jews, with the Pharisees in mind, refused to believe in Jesus as Messiah. Why?
It was that they were awaiting a military Messiah who would deliver them from the Romans. They preferred to cling to their Zionist mentality, ideally of an Israeli nation (John 11,50), rather than rise towards God’s Mentality, who had foreseen a humble Messiah who carries spiritual salvation and internal peace to all nations of the earth.
In ending, we can remind ourselves of what Jesus had said to the Jews who refused him:

“You pour over the Scriptures, believing that in them you can find eternal life; it is these scriptures that testify to me; and yet you refuse to come to me to receive life?” (John 5,39-47)

In the light of today’s apocalyptic events (see “The key of the Apocalypse”), pray together and intensely supplement our Father that He enlightens all the hearts of good faith, thirsty for Truth and Love, of all peoples, of all races.
The hour of the Grand Pardon and the Grand Reconciliation around Jesus of Nazareth, the true Christ, Unique Savior of men, and of His holy Mother Mary is near, very near:

“It is he who is coming on the clouds; everyone will see him, even those who pierced him, and all the races of the earth will mourn over him. This is the truth. Amen!” (Revelation 1,7).

Pierre (1985, reviewed in December 2008)