The Jews misunderstood Old Testament prophecies of Jesus' Coming. The Old Testament compressed prophecies of Jesus' first and second coming, leading the Jews to believe all the prophecies would be fulfilled in one coming.

Table of contentsThe Old Testament Prophecies of Jesus' Coming Were CompressedJohn the Baptist Questioned Whether Jesus was the Messiah, Because He Misunderstood Old Testament Prophecies of Jesus' ComingA 2,000 Year-Old CommaThe Jews Expected Old Testament Prophecies to be Fulfilled in One ComingThe Jews Wanted Salvation from Rome Versus Salvation from SinUnderstanding Jesus' Two ComingsFootnotes

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The Jews misunderstood Old Testament prophecies of Jesus' Coming, because they believed they would be fulfilled in one coming.

This past week I read about some of the greatest misunderstandings in history. I settled on the Treaty of Wuchale as the second greatest misunderstanding. On May 2, 1889, Ethiopia and Italy signed this treaty to promote friendship and trade, but the two countries wrote the treaty in their own language. One part, Article 17, was particularly problematic.

The Ethiopian version stated that their Emperor could use the Italian embassy to conduct his foreign affairs if he wanted. But Italy understood the Ethiopian Emperor was committing to using the Italian embassy. This doesn’t sound like a big deal, but it led Italy to believe Ethiopia had given up its independence and become a colony under Italy’s protection.

Italy informed all the European governments that they could no longer conduct diplomatic relations with Ethiopia, and instead could only deal with Italy. Ethiopia did not like this, so they denounced the treaty. Italy attempted to enforce it, and when this failed, Italy invaded Ethiopia in 1895. Ethiopia ended up winning, safeguarding its independence. You heard that correctly: because of a misunderstanding over the wording of a treaty – that was supposed to promote friendship and trade – two nations went to war.

I told you this is the second worst misunderstanding in human history. Of course, you want to know what’s first? The Treaty of Wuchale pales in comparison to the misunderstanding at Jesus’s triumphal entry. The people in attendance completely misunderstood what they were witnessing. I think the best way to understand this misunderstanding is by looking at the Old Testament to see how it happened.

The Old Testament Prophecies of Jesus' Coming Were Compressed

Zechariah 9:9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. 10 I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the war horse from Jerusalem; and the battle bow shall be cut off, and he shall speak peace to the nations; his rule shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.

Ephraim is another name for Israel because Ephraim was the largest tribe. Zechariah is prophesying of the Second Coming when Jesus defeats the nations that assemble against Israel:  he cuts off the chariot, warhorse, and battle bow.

Jesus’s rule stretches from the river, referring to the Euphrates, to the ends of the earth.94

He speaks peace to the nations, because with all the enemies destroyed peace is established. The order of prophetic events: Jesus returns, destroys enemies at the battle of Armageddon, and then sets up his kingdom on the earth. Many well-known verses describe this as a time of peace:

Isaiah 2:4 They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.

Isaiah 11:6 The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them. 7 The cow and the bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. 8 The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder's den.

Zechariah 9:9 is about Jesus’s first coming, and Zechariah 9:10 is about Jesus’s Second Coming. The arrival of the Savior in verse 9 is immediately followed by a description of his reign in verse 10. There have been at least 2000 years between verses 9 and 10, but the Bible puts them back-to-back. This is known as “prophetic compression.”

Isaiah 9:6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

So, talk about a compressed prophecy! Now we don’t even have verses back-to-back. In the same verse we just went from Jesus’s birth to Jesus ruling the nations.

You don’t expect to see words like this about a child. A child can’t carry the government on his shoulder. Again, this looks forward to the second coming followed by the millennial kingdom.

You say, “I thought we were talking about a Child. Now we’re talking about a Father? Are we talking about God the Father or God the Son?” The child is Jesus. He is not to be confused with God the Father. It’s best to understand the title “Father” means “originator” or “source of.” For example, in John 8:44, Jesus said Satan is the “father of lies.” It’s referring to lies originating from him.

In saying Jesus is the Everlasting Father it means he is the father – or originator of – time:

Jesus Himself is eternal: John 8:58 Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”

Jesus is also unchanging: Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

Isaiah 61:1 The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;

The Hebrew word for anointed is māšaḥ, where we get the word “Messiah,” which means, “anointed one.” To say Jesus is the Christ is to say he is the anointed one. The Greek word for anointed is chriō, which is where we get our English word “Christ.” So Christ and Messiah both mean anointed, but one is Hebrew and one is Greek.

Everything in this verse is spiritual versus physical.95 For example, it says Jesus is anointed to bring good news. Gospel means good news, so Jesus is anointed to preach the gospel to the poor. This doesn’t mean physically, or financially poor. It means those who recognize they are spiritually poor, or recognize they are sinners who need to be saved.

He proclaims liberty to the captives, not physical captives, but spiritual captives to sin and death, which is a far worse captivity.96

John the Baptist Questioned Whether Jesus was the Messiah, Because He Misunderstood Old Testament Prophecies of Jesus' Coming

He [opens] the prison to those who are bound and this is spiritual versus physical. The last person we would ever expect to doubt that Jesus is the Messiah doubted that Jesus is the Messiah, because he was in prison, and interpreted this physically versus spiritually:

Matthew 11:2 Now when John [the Baptist] heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples 3 and said to him, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?”

This is shocking! You have John the Baptist, of all people, asking if Jesus is the Messiah. John knew better than anyone that Jesus was the Messiah. He was the forerunner of the Messiah. By this point he identified Jesus as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He baptized Jesus and saw the Holy Spirit descend on him in the form of a dove and he heard the Father’s voice ring out saying, “You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased.”

So how could John ask this? There were numerous prophecies in the Old Testament that the Messiah [opening] the prison to those who are bound:

Isaiah 42:7 [the Messiah will] bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness.

Isaiah 49:9 [the Messiah says] to the prisoners, ‘Come out,’ to those who are in darkness, ‘Appear.’

John knew these prophecies. He could not understand why he would still be in prison if Jesus was the Messiah. Even John – whom Jesus said was greater than anyone who had ever been born of a woman – had problems when he looked at what was spiritual, but interpreted it physically.

Isaiah 61:2 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn.

The word “year” should not be interpreted literally. It simply means a time or season. The word “favor” can often be used interchangeably with the word “grace.” Maybe you have heard grace defined as unmerited or unearned favor. That is a fitting definition. So, when it says Jesus is anointed to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, it means Jesus is anointed to proclaim the time or season of God’s grace. Isaiah writes about the same period a few chapters earlier:

Isaiah 49:8 In a TIME OF FAVOR I have answered you; in a DAY OF SALVATION I have helped you;

Notice Isaiah uses “time of favor” synonymously with “day of salvation.”

A 2,000 Year-Old Comma

There is a comma after the word favor. That is a 2000-year-old comma. We live before that comma and there are lots of titles for this season: The acceptable year of the Lord (which is how it’s translated in the NKJV and KJV, which is a fitting title, because it communicates that now is the time to be accepted by the Lord), the Church Age, Time of Favor, Dispensation of Grace, Day of Salvation.

That was a quick jump from the year of the Lord’s favor to the day of vengeance of our God. We just moved from the first coming to the Second Coming…in the same verse.