"The evidence of the coming, as well as of the life and death of Our Lord, is recorded, as you know, in the Old Testament inspired writings of Gods foretelling historians. They announced that the Messiah (Christ) was to be racially of Adam (Gen. 3:15); religiously of Moses (Deut. 18:15); nationally of Jacob-Israel (Gen. 49:24); tribally of Judah (Gen 49:10); and ancestrally of David (Ps. 131:11). Here are 25 Old Testament prophecies regarding the Messiah that were uttered centuries before His birth."

1. God would send a prophet who would speak for Him (Deut. 18:15).

"The Lord thy God will raise up to thee a PROPHET of thy nation, and of brethren, like unto me: him thou shalt hear."

2. A messenger (St. John Baptist) would prepare the way (Mal. 3:1).

"Behold, I send my angel, and he shall prepare the way before my face. And presently the Lord whom you seek, and the angel of the testament, whom you desire, shall come to his temple. Behold, he cometh, saith the Lord of hosts:. . ." (Matt. 9:10; Mk. 1:2; Luke 1:17, 7 27)

3. Would be born in a stated number of weeks (Daniel 9:25-26).

"Know thou, therefore, and take notice: that from the going forth of the world, to build up Jerusalem again, unto Christ, the prince, there shall be seven weeks, and sixty-two weeks: and the streets shall be built again, and the walls in straitness of times. And after sixty-two weeks Christ shall be slain: and people that shall deny him shall not be his. And a people with their leader, that shall come, shall destroy the city, and the sanctuary: and the end thereof shall be waste, and after the end of the war the appointed desolation."

(i.e., from the 20th year of King Artaxerxes, when by his commandment Nehemias rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem - II Esdras 2 - to the Baptism of Christ in the 15th year of Tiberius Caesar: 483 years.)

4. The "seed" (Christ) would be born of a woman (Gen. 3:15).

"I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed: she shall crush they head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heal." - the PROTOEVANGELIUM.

5. Born of a Virgin Mother (Isaiah 7:14).

"Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign. Behold a Virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel." (Mat 1:23; Luke 1:31)

6. Born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2).

"And thou, Bethlehem Ephrata, art a little one among the thousands of Judah: out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be the ruler in Israel: and his going forth is from the beginning, from the days of eternity." (Matt. 2:6; John 7:42)

7. Born of the Royal House of David (Jeremiah 23:5; Isaiah 11:1).

"Behold the days come, saith the Lord, and I will raise up to David a just branch: and a king shall reign, and shall be wise: and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth." . . . "And there shall come forth a rod out of the root of Jesse, and a flower shall rise up out of his root."

8. Born under the Star of Jacob (Numbers 24:17).

"I shall see him, but not now: I shall behold him but not near. A STAR SHALL RISE OUT OF JACOB, and a sceptre shall spring up from Israel: and shall strike the chiefs of Moab, and shall waste all the children of Seth (Matt. 2:2).

9. Born at the time of the Second Temple (Haggai 2:9).

"Great shall be the glory of this last house more than that of the first, saith the Lord of hosts: and this place I will give Peace [another title of the Messiah], saith the Lord of hosts."

10. Born when the sceptre (authority) was taken away from Judah (Gen. 49:10).

"The sceptre shall not pass from Judah, nor a ruler from his thigh, till he come that is to be sent, and he shall be the expectation of nations." (John 4:25).

11. Would be called a Nazarite (Judges 13:7).

". . . for the child shall be called a Nazarite of God from his infancy . . . "

12. Called the "Emmanuel, God with us:" (Isaiah 7:14).

13. Called "God the Mighty"; "Prince of Peace". (Isaiah 9:6)

"For unto us a CHILD is born, and unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, counsellor, Almighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace."

14. Be the Good Shepherd. (Isaiah 40:10-11)

"Behold the Lord God shall come with strength, and His arm shall rule: behold His reward is with him, and His work is before him. He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather together the lambs with his arm, and shall take them up in his bosom, and he himself shall carry them that are with young."

15. Kings would come with presents to adore him. (Ps. 71:10)

"The kings of Tharsis and the islands shall offer presents: the kings of the Arabians and of Saba shall bring gifts . . ." (Matt.2)

16. Would flee into Egypt. (Hosea 11:1)

". . . Because Israel was a child, and I loved him: and I called my son out of Egypt." (Matt. 2:15)

17. Would be silent before his accusers. (Isaiah 53:7)

He was offered because it was his own will, and he opened not his mouth: he shall be led as a sheep to the slaughter, and shall be dumb as a lamb before his shearer, and he shall not open his mouth." (Matt. 26:63)

18. Would be hailed as a king, while riding an ass through Jerusalem. (Zechariah 9:9)

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Sion, shout for joy, O daughter of Jerusalem: BEHOLD THY KING will come to thee, the Just and Saviour: he is poor, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt, the foal of an ass." (Matt. 21:5)

19. Would be a Man of Sorrows. (Isaiah 53)

"Despised and the most abject of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with infirmity: and his look was as it were hidden and despised, whereupon we esteemed him not." (Mark 9:11)

20. Would be betrayed. (Ps. 40)

"For even the man of my peace, in whom I trusted, who eats my bread, hath greatly supplanted me."

21. Would be sold for thirty pieces of silver. (Zechariah 11:13)

"And the Lord said to me: Cast it to the statuary, a handsome price, that I was prized at by them. And I took thirty pieces of silver; and I cast them into the house of the Lord, to the statuary." (Matt. 27:3)

22. Would suffer willingly for our sins. (Isaiah 50:6)

"I have given my body to the strikers, and my cheeks to them that plucked them: I have not turned away my face, from them that rebuked me, and spit upon me." (Matt. 26:67)

23. Would be led like a sheep to the slaughter. (Isaiah 53:7)

24. Would be subjected to the piercing of his hands and feet (Ps. 21:17).

"For many dogs have encompassed me; the council of the malignant hath besieged me. They have dug my hands and my feet: They have numbered all my bones."

25. Would be resurrected from the dead. (Isaiah 11:10)

"In that day the root of Jesse, who standeth for an ensign of the people, him the Gentiles shall beseech, and his sepulchre shall be glorious." (Romans 15:12)