HOW DO WE KNOW ADONAI YESHUA IS THE MESSIAH?

In my many conversations with many Jewish scholars (Orthodox, Conservative and Reform), time and time again I have been told that Adonai Yeshua, the Lord Jesus could not be the Messiah, as He has not fulfilled the miraculous requirements attributed to Messiah.

This teaching explores the four miracles completed by Adonai Yeshua, while He was incarnated on earth, during the 1^st Century, CE.  In this short teaching I will outline the three biblical miracles, found in Isaiah 35, as substantiated in the Dead Sea Scrolls, specifically 4Q521, or the 4Q Messianic Apocalypse and the fourth miracle added later by Talmud.  In short, the four miracles are:

Cleansing a Leper, Casting out a mute Spirit, The Healing of Birth Defects and Raising the Dead after three days. In order to authenticate the authenticity of each miracle having been performed, the Jerusalem Sanhedrin, of the 1^st Century CE, followed a two-step process: the Stage of Observation and the Stage of Interrogation. The Stage of Observation required a minimum of two and preferably three members to observe a miracle, without intervention or even asking questions. The observers were to detail a report to the Sanhedrin, who would consider and, if appropriate, move onto the Stage of Interrogation. Members of the Sanhedrin would meet with those who were directly affected by the miracle and those who witnessed the miracle, to determine if those questioned could withstand the harsh degree of interrogation and maintain a consistent and credible witness. Only when these two Stages had been successfully passed could a determination be made. More on this may be found below.

The first messianic miracle, Adonai Yeshua completed, was the cleansing of a leper, as we read in Luke 5:12,13.  Here we are informed “Once, when Yeshua was in one of the towns, there came a man completely covered with tzara‘at (leprosy).” As we read in Leviticus, tzara’at was perceived to have been caused by one’s sin and was a punishment upon the sinner, from the finger of God. Thus, only God could remove the disease.  In this case, it appears the tzara’at was terminal, as his body was covered. When Adonai Yeshua was asked, “Sir, if you are willing, you can make me clean,” He immediately responded with “I am willing! Be cleansed!” and the man was cleansed.

The second messianic miracle was the casting out a mute spirit, which we find recounted in Matthew 12:22, Then some people brought him a man controlled by demons who was blind and mute; and Adonai Yeshua healed him, so that he could both speak and see. Adonai Yeshua’s disciples could drive out demons, if they could respond to the command to reveal their names; however, a mute demon would not be able to reveal this information. Thus, only the Messiah had the power to determine a mute demon’s name and expunge it from a human body.

The third messianic miracle occurred when Adonai Yeshua healed a man born blind.  Here we another teaching from Exodus 34, where we are informed a man’s sins will be passed onto his children up to the fourth generation. Thus, although anyone could heal a man who was blind, only Messiah could heal a man born blind, since the blindness was as a result of sin, i.e. only God could cause healing. This healing was recorded in John 9, wherein we discover: “As Yeshua passed along, he saw a man blind from birth. His talmidim asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned — this man or his parents — to cause him to be born blind?” ³ Yeshua answered, “His blindness is due neither to his sin nor to that of his parents; it happened so that God’s power might be seen at work in him. . . . Having said this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, put the mud on the man’s eyes, ⁷ and said to him, “Go, wash off in the Pool of Shiloach!” (The name means “sent.”) So he went and washed and came away seeing.”

Finally, the fourth messianic miracle coincided with the death of Adonai Yeshua’s friend, Elazar (Lazarus). This event was recorded in John 11. A midrash on death teaches us when a person dies, her/his soul lingers near the body for three days, in hopes of being resuscitated; however, after three days, hope is lost and the soul returns to God on the fourth day, to await judgment. This was why Adonai Yeshua delayed His journey to Beit-Anyah until after the third day.

At every messianic miracle Adonai Yeshua created, there were members of the Sanhedrin present to observe. Although they were forbidden from making oral comments, they did have thoughts, many of which were negative. Adonai Yeshua could hear these thoughts and often responded to these as a teaching moment.

How the members of the Sanhedrin responded to these miracles achieved by Messiah Yeshua is most important, as these share with us the condition of their hearts.  For example, when they were told of the raising of Elazar, their response was recorded as, “What are we going to do? — for this man is performing many miracles. ⁴⁸ If we let him keep going on this way, everyone will trust in him, and the Romans will come and destroy both the Temple and the nation.” It is important to note, as all four Gospel writers assert, the main focus of the members of the Sanhedrin, both the Prushim/Pharisees and the Tsaddikim/Sadducees, were more concerned with their prestige and power, both of which came at the whim of the Romans. Adonai Yeshua threatened these, as He still does today in the rabbinic community.

Beloved, if you are a Jew, like myself, and believe Adonai Yeshua, the Lord Jesus, is a fraud, as I once did, consider the testimony of C.S. Lewis, who shared these definitive words with us: “I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.” (C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity)

CONSIDER:  If you are having difficulty seeing Adonai Yeshua, the Lord Jesus, as the Living God, I urge you to read His four miracles in Scripture and consider who else but God could have achieved these miracles.

ACTION:  Having read the accounts of these miracles, I urge you to come before the Throne of God and ask for clarification of the full nature of Adonai Yeshua.

PRAY:  Beloved ABBA, my Heavenly Father, I am confused about the nature of Adonai Yeshua, the Lord Jesus. I do not understand how He could be God and man, simultaneously. (If you are Jewish) Help me, please to deal with the teaching of the rabbis who continuously teach belief in Adonai Yeshua is idolatrous. (If you are Gentile) Help me, please to deal with the common perception there is no God, there is no eternal life and belief in Adonai Yeshua is mythology.  In Your Precious Name I pray.

May the God of Avraham, Isaac and Jacob bless you richly.