What Was the Messiah’s Mysterious Identity?

Jesus also made claims that infuriated many of the Scribes and Pharisees such as claiming his eternal existence by telling them he had pre-existed the Jewish patriarch, Abraham who had lived two thousand years earlier.[21]

Seven hundred and forty years before Jesus was born, Isaiah wrote of the Messiah’s divine nature. He said, “For unto us a child is born,” whose identity would be “Mighty God,” “Everlasting Father,” “Prince of Peace.”[22] Mysteriously, the prophet reveals that God would take on human form.

Although Jesus always pointed to his Father as God, he also called himself God’s only Son, claiming oneness with his Father.[23] And when Philip asked Jesus to show him the Father, Jesus replied, 

“Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and yet you still don’t know who I am? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father!” [24]

Bernis was stunned to discover that the prophet Zechariah actually wrote of the day when the Jewish people would recognize Jesus as the Messiah they had rejected, a day when they will enter into a time of repentance. In Zechariah 12:10 we read,

“They will look on me whom they have pierced and mourn for him as for an only son. They will grieve bitterly for him as for a firstborn son who has died.“[25]

Imagine the scene! Zechariah prophesies that Israel will be nearly destroyed by its enemies. Then the Lord  Himself will descend in majestic power and glory, overthrowing Israel’s enemies. But when the rescued people of Israel see the wounds He had previously suffered, they will suddenly weep bitterly. 

Why would these surviving Israelis be so distraught at such a time of victory? Could it be that their bitter anguish comes from the realization that their forefathers had rejected him two thousand years earlier and continued to reject him for almost 2000 years? 

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