Who is Yeshua?
1. Yeshua is God’s provision for our sins. (He is God’s provision for our sins)
Our sin ultimately leads to spiritual death—separation from God.
But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear. (Isaiah 59:2)
The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23).
In the days of ancient Israel, atonement for sin required the sacrifice of an animal. In effect, the animal took our sins on itself and went to death in place of us.
He is to lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it will be accepted on his behalf to make atonement for him. (Leviticus 1:4)
Because on this day atonement will be made for you, to cleanse you. Then, before the LORD, you will be clean from all your sins. (Leviticus 16:30, describing Yom Kippur)
In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. (Hebrews 9:22)
Today, in the absence of a priesthood, a Temple, and sacrifices, Judaism teaches that atonement comes through repentance, prayer, deeds of charity and fasting. While each of those are important, so is a substitutionary sacrifice. Jesus claimed to be that sacrifice that atones for our sins:
For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. (Mark 10:45)
For this reason Messiah is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant. (Hebrews 9:15)
In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.” (Luke 22:20, Yeshua at his final Passover meal)
Anti-Semites over the centuries have claimed that “the Jews killed Jesus.” Yet Jesus voluntarily gave up his life as our sin-bearer:
“I lay down my life for the sheep. . . . No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord.” (John 10:15, 18)
And it is the ultimate demonstration of God’s love:
God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Messiah died for us. (Romans 5:8)
And he is the only such provision for our sins today, whether we are Jewish or not:
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6).
On the holiday of Shavuot (the Feast of Weeks), one of Jesus’ earliest followers, Simon Peter, told a crowd of Jewish listeners in Jerusalem,
“Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)
No one and nothing else can atone for our sins apart from Yeshua. Paul, another follower of Yeshua, who penned much of the New Testament, wrote:
The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Messiah Yeshua our Lord. (Romans 6:23)
2. Yeshua is the promised Jewish Messiah who fulfills the promises of the Hebrew Bible. (He is the promised Jewish Messiah)
How do we know that Yeshua is in fact our sin-bearer? One reason is that he fulfilled many prophecies of the Hebrew Bible, not least that the Messiah would in fact bear the sins of his people:
Surely he took up our infirmities
and carried our sorrows,
yet we considered him stricken by God,
smitten by him, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:4–6)
The New Testament records the fulfillment in passages like this one:
“He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.” When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.” (1 Peter 2:22–25)
Other prophecies of the Messiah have found their fulfillment in Yeshua:
His birth:
“Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.” (Isaiah 7:14)
“She (Miriam or Mary, the mother of Yeshua) will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”—which means, “God with us.” (Matthew 1:21–23)
His birthplace:
“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
though you are small among the clans of Judah,
out of you will come for me
one who will be ruler over Israel,
whose origins are from of old,
from ancient times.” (Micah 5:2)
“When he (King Herod) had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born.
“In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written: ‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.’” (Matthew 2:4–6)
On hearing his (Jesus’) words, some of the people said, “Surely this man is the Prophet.” Others said, “He is the Messiah.” Still others asked, “How can the Messiah come from Galilee? Does not the Scripture say that the Messiah will come from David’s family and from Bethlehem, the town where David lived?” (John 7:40–42)
There are many other prophecies that show Jesus to be the promised Messiah. For more, see http://www.jewsforjesus.org/answers/prophecy. Indeed, the evidence all points to him as the Messiah who was to come. When Yeshua asked his disciples who they thought he was,
They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” (Matthew 16:13–16)
When Yeshua lived and taught in the first-century, there were other things about him that made many Jewish people conclude that he was the sin-bearing Messiah whose death would be an atonement. They didn’t arrive at that conclusion immediately, but only after coming to know him as the unique person he was.
More About Yeshua
3. Yeshua taught with a unique authority. (He taught with a unique authority)
While rabbis taught in the name of other rabbis, Yeshua uniquely taught on his own authority. “You have heard … but I say to you,” he repeated in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew chapters 5–7). That passage concludes with:
When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law. (Matthew 7:28–29)
It’s remarkable that today, about two billion people worldwide—most of whom are not Jewish—follow the teaching of this first-century rabbi. What Jesus said and did has shaped human culture as no other person has.
4. Yeshua healed the sick and raised the dead. (He healed the sick and raised the dead.)
Not only his teaching, but his actions showed people who he was, including his healings of those who were sick and his raising of the dead.
Yeshua went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. (Matthew 4:23)
When John heard in prison what Messiah was doing, he sent his disciples to ask him, “Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?” Jesus replied, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor.” (Matthew 11:2–5)
Jesus’ acts of healing were also a fulfillment of the prophecies about the Messiah; Jesus was alluding to this passage in the Hebrew Bible to John:
Then will the eyes of the blind be opened
and the ears of the deaf unstopped.
Then will the lame leap like a deer,
and the mute tongue shout for joy. (Isaiah 35:5–6)
On a few occasions Yeshua even raised the dead. One man was dead four days before Yeshua arrived and resurrected him.
Yeshua, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. “Take away the stone,” he said.
“But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.”
Then Yeshua said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”
So they took away the stone. Then Yeshua looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”
When he had said this, Yeshua called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Yeshua said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.” (John 11:38–44)
This also connected Yeshua to the Hebrew Scriptures, for some of the ancient prophets such as Elijah and Elisha also raised some from the dead. Jesus, however, had a more extensive ministry of healing and raising-of-the-dead than any biblical prophet. This again helped the people of his time to understand who he was.
5. Yeshua lived a sinless life. (He lived a sinless life.)
How is that possible? King Solomon himself affirmed that everybody sins:
When they sin against you—for there is no one who does not sin . . . (1 Kings 8:46)
Yet Jesus said to his listeners:
“Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me?” (John 8:46)
The reason why Jesus was sinless—and could therefore be our own sin-bearer—is that:
6. Yeshua was divine as well as human: (He was divine as well as human)
Yeshua claimed to be the God of Israel at the same time that he was a human being, a Jewish carpenter who lived in the town of Nazareth and had human emotions and feelings. In the Hebrew Bible, God conveys His name to Moses:
Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?”
God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” (Exodus 3:13–14)
Jesus applied God’s very name to himself:
(Jesus speaking) “Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad.”
“You are not yet fifty years old,” the Judeans* said to him, “and you have seen Abraham!”
“I tell you the truth,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!” (John 8:56–58)
The implication was understood by his listeners:
“We are not stoning you for any of these,” replied the Judeans, “but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God.” (John 10:33)
Yeshua did things only God can do, such as forgiving sins:
When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, “Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, “Why are you thinking these things? Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins . . . .” He said to the paralytic, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!” (Mark 2:5–12)
Some Jewish people object that a man can’t become God. That is true! However, there is nothing that prevents God from taking on humanity if He wishes. For more on this, see the links on http://www.jewsforjesus.org/answers/questions-and-answers/godbecameman as well as these articles:
Don’t Christians believe in three gods? http://www.jewsforjesus.org/answers/theology/dont-christians-believe-in-three-gods
Jews have the Shema; do Christians believe in three gods?
http://www.jewsforjesus.org/answers/theology/godofabraham
7. Yeshua rose from the dead. (He rose from the dead.)
The resurrection of Jesus is one of the most investigated events in history. Some who have tried to disprove it have ended up convinced that it really happened. Jesus taught his followers that he would not only be killed as the atonement for our sins, but would rise from the grave:
“We are going up to Jerusalem,” he said, “and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles, who will mock him and spit on him, flog him and kill him. Three days later he will rise.” (Mark 10:33–34)
For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Messiah died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time. (1 Corinthians 15:3–6)
So convinced were his followers that Yeshua had risen from death, that they staked their entire faith on it:
If Messiah has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. (1 Corinthians 15:17)
In fact, some of those who saw him after his resurrection were later persecuted or even put to death for testifying that they had seen him alive after his crucifixion. They were convinced that God had raised Yeshua!
8. Forty days after his resurrection Yeshua returned to heaven. (He returned to heaven 40 days after his resurrection)
The New Testament records that:
... he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Yeshua, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.” (Acts 1: 9–11)
For some, his resurrection and his return to heaven are the clinchers that demonstrate that Jesus was indeed divine as well as human.
Jesus then, is our atonement for sin. He fulfilled the prophecies of the coming Messiah about bearing our sins as well as many others. His teaching, his acts of healing and raising the dead, and his sinless life convinced his followers that he was indeed the promised Messiah. And through his resurrection and return to heaven, many were convinced that he was the God of Israel come as a human being among His people Israel.
Back to our original dilemma: God offers an abundant, fulfilled life in relationship with Him. Our sins separate us from God, but in His love God has provided a provision for our sins, Yeshua. Now what?
