The Jewish people have been taught by their rabbis for twenty centuries that Jesus was not the Jewish Messiah, and that his death proved to all Jewish people that he was a renegade Jew making false claims. Maimonides firmly established that thought with his teachings.
In his Mishneh Torah Maimonides (Rambam) says: “Jesus of Nazareth, who aspired to be the Moshiach, was executed by the court and was also spoken of in Daniel’s writings, specifically in Daniel 11:14, which says ‘The renegades among your people shall exalt themselves in an attempt to fulfill the vision, but they shall stumble.’” It is most unfortunate that the great Rambam’s interpretation has been adopted by Jewish people as truth ever since.
Problem was, Maimonides took Daniel 11:14 out of its normal context, and furthermore he didn’t take into account ALL that the prophet Daniel said about the Messiah. More to the point, he obviously did not understand what Daniel 9 was saying about the time of Messiah’s appearance and how to recognize him.
God had foretold through the great prophet Isaiah that the wise men of the Jews would be unable to understand the vision of Daniel about the Messiah, saying: “For the Lord hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes: the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath he covered. And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed: And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I am not learned. Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honor me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men: Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvelous work among this people, even a marvelous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid.” (Isa. 29:10-14)
The book that Isaiah prophesied would be sealed, and which the prophet foretold that the wise men of Israel would be unable to understand, is the later Book of Daniel, which so identifies itself as that sealed book: “But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end; many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.” (Dan. 12:4)
Since June 7, 1967, when sovereignty over the Temple Mount was miraculously returned to the Jewish people, fulfilling the prophecy in Daniel 8:13-14 and thus unsealing the Book of Daniel, the promised knowledge has been increased, making it possible for us today to understand the formerly sealed prophecies in Daniel, including the Messiah Prophecy in Daniel, chapter 9, verses 24-27, which are the most detailed Messianic prophecy in the Tanakh (Old Testament). It predicted the exact time that the Messiah would make his appearance to the nation of Israel, revealed the purpose of his mission to Israel (which was to confirm the New Covenant promised by the prophet Jeremiah in Jeremiah 31:31-34), and specified the six signs that would identify the Messiah so that Israel could recognize Him when He appeared.
The prophecy recorded in Daniel 9:24-27 shows that Jesus is the only person during the past two-thousand years of documented history who has fulfilled ALL of the signs set forth in the Tanakh for identifying the Jewish Messiah. My book, The Messiah Prophecy, explains all of this in detail for the first time (all older pre-1967 expositions of Daniel 9:24-27 are now obsolete). I know that you will find the book edifying and inspiring insomuch as it testifies to the truth of Israel’s Anointed One as revealed in the Scriptures.
