Quote:
Originally Posted by Ohio
Jesus fulfilled literally hundreds of prophecies. Numerous and detailed descriptions in the O.T. were provided by God so that it was unambiguously clear to all of the house of Israel who their Messiah would be. The problem was never on His side or the scriptures' side. It was the unbelieving and proud Jewish leaders who rejected their Messiah! They said to Pilate, "we have no king but Caesar!"
The works that Jesus did made this absolutely, unambiguously apparent to the Jews. Lazarus was dead for days, stinking in the tomb, and then Jesus raised him from the dead. Everybody in Jerusalem knew about this. The Jews then plotted to kill Lazarus, rather than to believe in the Son of Man, their long-promised Messiah. It was never some simple misunderstanding that caused the Jewish leaders to misidentify the Messiah, and subsequently coerce Pilate to have him crucified. It was their evil heart of unbelief.
I expect the Bible is inerrant differently than the way you would like it to be.
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So Lazarus was prophesied in the the OT? Please show me where. How many people witnessed the raising of Lazarus? I'm surprised it didn't get in the history books outside of the Gospel of John. Great deed that it was even the other Gospels don't mention it. Nor does Paul. It seems it was a relatively hidden event, historically speaking.
Many of the prophecies were fulfilled in a hidden or paradoxical ways. For example, Jesus was born in Bethlehem, but in a hidden way so that most thought he was born in Nazareth.
Messiah was applied to Jesus by the disciples. But many of the connotations of the term went beyond his actual appearance as I have already noted. Jesus himself realized this so he prohibited his disciples to use the term with reference to him. Again it was a secret hidden fulfillment.
Same thing with the term
Son of man. The son of man was supposed to appear in power and glory. But Jesus appeared in a lowly way.
Likewise, the term
Son of David. The Son of david was supposed to be an earthly king, a political leader. Jesus was not that.
Son of God was a pagan concept. The Jews had difficult with the term because of that. When it is used in the OT it is applied to angels who are the monotheistic equivalent of the pagan pantheon. If you don't believe me, check G. H. Pember.
The title
kyrios was applied to the mystery gods who, like the resurrected Jesus of Paul were objects of mystical union. So the term was transformed when it was applied to Jesus who was, in the first place, a real man.
Finally, the term
Logos came from Greek philosophy where it signified the cosmic principle of creation. It's application to Jesus was paradoxical because Logos was a universal principle whereas Jesus was a concrete human being. This mystery is expressed in the great paradox of Christianity: the Word became Flesh.
All of this takes place in the brilliant, mysterious inerrant New Testament where the ancient symbols are transformed to serve the new being who is Jesus as the Christ. Initially only a few believed because he wasn't what the majority of Jews expected when they thought of the Messiah. That's why Paul called him a "stumbling block." Surely you are aware of this.