He was a prophet, for he spoke on behalf of YHWH. And while it is not necessary for a prophet to perform powerful miracles and wonders, he was granted this ability so that his works could bear witness about him.
And just as YHWH’s servant spoken of by Isaiah was appointed “to open the eyes of the blind” and “to say to the prisoners, ‘come out!,’” so Yeshua did, both in a symbolic sense and also physically, even calling the dead out of their graves with those same words, as a token of what was to come. He was “acquainted with illness,” “bore our illnesses, and carried our pains” to the extent that whole crowds brought him their sick.
As a prophet, he also foretold the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple, which is probably another reason why he was despised. He explained how the chosen ones could escape the tribulation, and what would happen at his coming on the clouds as the “son of man,” and the sign that would precede it.
But more than a prophet, he was the prophet like Moses. Moses brought your ancestors out of Egypt, along with a vast mixed multitude, and became their shepherd through the wilderness. Yeshua brought a remnant of your ancestors through the tribulation, and became not only their shepherd, but also shepherd of a great multitude of Gentiles, all the time the soil of Zion lay abandoned.
Yeshua said that he spoke only what his Father taught him to speak, fulfilling YHWH’s words to Moses: “I will put my words in his mouth, and he will speak to them all that I will instruct him.” Furthermore, YHWH said: “And whoever does not listen to my words, which he will speak in my name, I will call him to account.” 2 And again: “Look! My messenger will go before you. And in the day of my visitation, I will visit their sin upon them.” 3
Yeshua confirmed this, by saying that his generation would be held accountable for all the righteous blood spilled from Abel onwards. Indeed, the wrath of Rome fell upon that generation, which was obviously brought about by divine decree.
And like Moses, he became mediator of a covenant between YHWH and the people. He said that his shed blood was to be poured out on behalf of many, for forgiveness of sins; and this in fulfillment of the prophecy given through Isaiah, of a despised servant who “poured out his soul even to death.” This was the “covenant of the people” foretold through Isaiah, and both Jews and Gentiles could enter into it freely if they chose to accept it.
He also made a covenant with his apostles, for a kingdom, that they would eat and drink at his table in his kingdom, and sit on thrones to judge the 12 tribes of Israel. But even though he said they would be rulers and judges, Yeshua washed their feet, fulfilling the words about the despised servant, that he would be “the servant of rulers.” 4
He thus became the “prince of the covenant” who was “broken” in the reign of Tiberius as foretold through Daniel, and the anointed one who was “cut off, and nothing for him” before the destruction of the Temple.
Similarly, he was the “messenger of the covenant” as spoken of by Malachi. He came to the Temple in Jerusalem, and he taught the people how to put the Law into their hearts.
He fulfilled the description of the perfect priest as given through Malachi, and in a spiritual sense he cleansed and clarified the people so that the remnant of Israel could be called “priests of YHWH” and “ministers of our God.” Those who listened to his voice became YHWH’s “treasured possession,” and were preserved through the tribulation, while the land of Israel was devoted to destruction at the hand of the Romans.
Now, when YHWH exiled his people in ancient times, he said through Ezekiel: “Although I have removed them far away among the nations, and although I have scattered them in the lands, I will be a little sanctuary to them in the lands to which they have gone.” 5
The remnant that came out of the tribulation in the days of the Romans, could not become ministers and priests in a physical Temple, since that had been thrown down by the Romans, or rather, by YHWH himself. And so they became priests in a spiritual Temple, a “little sanctuary,” a kind of tabernacle in the wilderness.
And in this way, YHWH’s anointed one became “a sanctuary” to the remnant, just as foretold through Isaiah. But to the rest of your ancestors, he became “a stone of striking and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel; a snare and a trap to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Many among them will stumble and fall, and be broken, and be trapped, and be taken.”
And this is why YHWH added, through Isaiah: “Bind up the testimony, and seal up the law among my disciples.” 6 For that prophecy was not really about Isaiah’s day, but was talking about the days of Yeshua, YHWH’s anointed one, who also fulfilled the role of Immanuel, meaning “With Us Is God.”
Yeshua also fulfilled the prophecy given through Zechariah in regard to “Sprout,” not simply because he lived in Nazareth, this name being related to the word “sprout,” and not only because he was a “twig” who came forth “out of the stem of Jesse, and a sprout from his roots,” but also because, by his blood, he took away the sin of the land in one day.
Zechariah said of this one, “he sits and rules upon his throne, and he becomes a priest on his throne.” 7 When Yeshua was born, the angel Gabriel said to his mother that he would be called son of the Most High, that YHWH would give him David’s throne, and that he would rule as king over the house of Jacob forever.
Now, Yeshua was born into the house of David through his mother Mary, and Luke’s account of his birth focuses on her story and her ancestry, although to begin Yeshua’s chronology he gives Joseph, her husband’s name.
On the other hand, Matthew’s account of Yeshua’s birth focuses on Joseph. Matthew does not include all of Joseph’s ancestry, but makes the point that he is “son of David,” and “son of Abraham.”
Joseph was also the offspring of Jeconiah, whose descendants were divinely forbidden from sitting on David’s throne.8 Matthew does not ignore this. Indeed, he brings attention to it by dividing his chronology at Jeconiah and the deportation to Babylon.
He then draws attention to the divine solution, which is that Mary does not become pregnant by Joseph, but by holy spirit! This is why Matthew does not give a full ancestry of Joseph, who is only Yeshua’s adopted father. Yeshua’s real father is YHWH himself. This is how he can be called “son of God.”
But so that nobody is stumbled over this - it is not as though YHWH needed to have intercourse with Mary. For the angels are also called “sons of God” even though they are not flesh and blood.9
Adam is also called a son of God, even though YHWH created him from the dust, and Eve from a rib of Adam; and so YHWH can just as easily create in the womb, without the aid of a man.
And YHWH also speaks to the prophet Jeremiah as if he formed him directly in the womb: “Before I formed you in the belly I knew you, and before you came out of the womb I sanctified you. I made you a prophet to the nations.” 10
Indeed, this is perhaps the ultimate reason why YHWH, through Isaiah, several times talks about there being “no man” before he brings about his salvation. That is because the birth of his ultimate means of salvation would come about literally by no man!
Yeshua did not receive his kingdom right away, but like David, he was first anointed and then despised. Indeed, even the Roman soldiers put a crown of thorns on Yeshua’s head, and clothed him in a purple robe, in mockery of the charge against him that he was the king of the Jews. Even so, the Roman procurator Pontius Pilate presented Yeshua to the people in this manner and said, “Look! The man!” 11
For where before there had been “no man” to bring salvation, here was a man who, despite being despised and abhorred by many of his own people, and despite being spat upon and struck on the back as foretold by Isaiah, gave his life willingly, in order to become YHWH’s salvation from death, for both Jews and Gentiles alike.
And while David in poetic form alluded to death and being raised from the dead, his words were ultimately fulfilled in Yeshua. By being raised, Yeshua could fulfill YHWH’s promise that “there will not be cut off for David a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel.” For this one was preserved alive to sit on David’s throne forever.
And as foretold by Zechariah, many members of the house of David mourned over his death, and looked to this pierced one for their salvation; and shortly after there was a large outpouring of holy spirit in Jerusalem.
And while he does not need to be pierced a second time, it is quite possible that if such an outpouring of spirit were to happen again, and a sudden recognition of this Messiah through divine revelation, there would indeed be widespread mourning again, along with wonderful blessings.
And although being born human, and thus a “son of man,” by being raised up to immortality he could fulfill the prophecy spoken of by Isaiah, of the child born to us who would be called “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” 12
As for all the deeds of Yeshua, how his birth was announced by the angel Gabriel, how he came to be born in Bethlehem, how he spoke as a prophet, proclaimed the kingdom of God and good news to the meek, how he foretold the destruction of Jerusalem and his generation, how he was raised up before death and again after his death, they can be found written in the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.