Thanks, Gardener. Wisdom 2 is an amazing prophesy; our Protestant friends lack it. Thanks, Michael. It would be great if we could here on SD produce an article or a pdf ebook of some kind with about 100 of these Messianic prophesies, which in every age since the Apostles have helped millions of Jews and pagans to come to Christ.
St. Justin pointed out some of these things to Trypho, and as a result several Jews became Christians. "Tabory concludes, "An examination of the rabbinic evidence… seems to show that in Jerusalem the Jewish paschal lamb was offered in a manner which resembled a crucifixion" ... "For the lamb, which is roasted, is roasted and dressed up in the form of a cross. For one spit is transfixed right through from the lower parts up to the head, and one across the back, to which are attached the legs of the lamb. (Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho the Jew, 40). (Pitre, p. 63-4).
https://qmbarque.com/2014/04/10/first-century-jews-and-the-paschal-sacrifice-why-lamb-of-god-should-mean-far-more-to-us/ The Lamb was sacrificed on a stake like a Cross! Oh wow!
Dr. Brant Pitre, Catholic convert, highlights other important things about the Paschal Lamb of Sacrifice; Almighty God taught the people of Israel that it is only blood that makes atonement for sin. He showed them by various types that the Lamb of God was one day to atone for sin by a perfect Sacrifice. This is closely related to the Melchizedech Priesthood, that perpetuates this sacrificial offering in every place.
Thus, we see Christ is truly the Paschal Lamb, Who was killed on a stake in a manner resembling crucifixion, and sacrificed on Nisan 14 or Passover, and had none of its bones broken; then, its flesh was given as food to the faithful, that they may have life. Thus Our Lord is
Agnus Dei, the Lamb of God. The Messiah would be a great High Priest Whose Priests continue to offer the salvific Victim for all time.
Well, Quare, not everyone is favored with the grace of a mystical experience in order to come to Christ! Let us take just one prophesy to begin with, Isaiah 53.
I can show you Jewish Rabbis themselves that admit Isaiah 53 is a prophesy of the Messiah as Suffering Servant and Lamb of God. There are Four Suffering Servant Prophesies in the Prophet Isaiah and they describe King Messiah's teaching, mission, labors, suffering, death, sacrifice, atonement, intercession for sinners and final Triumph. Chapter 53 in particular has led to innumerable conversions. The Rabbis speak of Moshiach ben Yosef (The Messiah, Son of Joseph! - even the Patriarch Joseph in the old testament is considered a figure of the Messiah - he was thrown into a pit and left for dead, but miraculously raised up to the King's right Hand, and ruled from there as Sovereign equal to Pharoah); other Rabbis speak of Moshiach ben David, a second manifestation of the Messiah they don't fully understand. Sometimes, our friends who are Jews misunderstand that these are not two separate Messiahs but 2 manifestations of the One Messiah: The Suffering Servant Who becomes the Ruling King at the Right Hand of the Father, after He is Resurrected from the Dead.
1. 1st Century Rabbi Shimon Ben Yochai states: “The meaning of the words ‘bruised for our iniquities’ [Isaiah 53:5] is, that since the Messiah bears our iniquities, which produce the effect of his being bruised, it follows that whoso will not admit that the Messiah thus suffers for our iniquities, must endure and suffer them for them himself.“
2. 16th century Moshe Aschich declares, “[our] Rabbis with one voice, accept and affirm the opinion that the Prophet [Isaiah in 53] is speaking of king Messiah."
This can be read in Adolf Neubauer, The Fifty-Third Chapter of Isaiah: According to Jewish Interpreters (New York: KTAV Publishing House, 1969), p. xl.
and Rachmiel Frydland, What the Rabbis Know about the Messiah: A Study of Genealogy and Prophecy (Clarksville, MD: Messianic Jewish Resources International, 2002), p. 53.
https://jewsforjesus.org/publications/issues/issues-v20-n01/rabbis-skeptics-and-the-suffering-messiah/3. Twelfth-century Jewish scholar Ramban (Nachmanides) says the Redeemer is the Messiah:
“Yet he carried our sicknesses, being himself sick and distressed for the transgressions which should have caused sickness and distress in us, and bearing the pains which we ought to have experienced. But we, when we saw him weakened and prostrate, thought that he was stricken, smitten of God. The chastisement of our peace was upon him – for God will correct him; and by his stripes we were healed.“[3]
The mystical Zohar records:
4. “The children of the world are members one of another. When the Holy One desires to give healing to the world, he smites one just man amongst them, and for his sake heals all the rest. Whence do we learn this? From the saying, “‘He was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities“‘ (Isaiah 53:5)” (Numbers, Pinchus, 218a).
5. "The 17th century Jewish historian, Raphael Levi, admitted that long ago the rabbis used to read Isaiah 53 in synagogues, but after the chapter caused “arguments and great confusion” the rabbis decided that the simplest thing would be to just take that prophecy out of the Haftarah readings in synagogues. That’s why today when we read Isaiah 52, we stop in the middle of the chapter and the week after we jump straight to Isaiah 54 ...
https://www.oneforisrael.org/bible-based-teaching-from-israel/inescapable-truth-isaiah-53/"The prayers for Yom Kippur, the ones we all know also relates Isaiah 53 to the Messiah. The prayer added for Yom Kippur by Rabbi Eliezer around the time of the seventh century: “Our righteous Messiah has turned away from us we have acted foolishly and there is no one to justify us. Our iniquities and the yoke of our transgressions he bears and he is pierced for our transgressions. He carries our sins on his shoulder, to find forgiveness for our iniquities. By his wounds we are healed.”