Are you still on the ‘road to Emmaus’ - walking with Christ - yet not recognizing whom you’re walking with? Luke gives an account of two of Christ’s disciples walking 7 miles from Jerusalem to the town of Emmaus. The resurrected Jesus joins them enroute, but as the narrative tells us, ‘their eyes were restrained, so that they did not know Him.” (LUKE 24:16) Even though He took them through the O.T. Messianic prophecies about Himself, they still didn’t recognize who He was… the same is true today of millions of Christians! When they are taken through the O.T. texts about who and what the promised Messiah would be - they don’t recognize this portrait of Christ. Conspicuously absent from all the Messianic prophecies of the O.T. is any narrative about a 2nd person with God or in God metamorphosing into a Human child.
Probably the first Messianic prophecy Jesus took his 2 disciples through, on the ‘road to Emmaus,’ was this one found in the book of Genesis: “So the Lord said to the Serpent: ‘Because you have done this you are cursed… And I will put enmity (conflict) between you and the woman (Eve), and between your seed and her seed; He (Christ) shall bruise your head, and you (Satan) shall bruise His heel.” (GENESIS 3:14,15) The Lord could have just as easily told Satan, that because he had deceived Eve into sinning against Him, He was going to incarnate ‘God the Son’ and that you may bruise His heel (temporarily kill Him on the cross) - but He is going to bruise your head and take your rulership of this world away from you - but He didn’t. The Lord’s reference to the woman’s ‘seed’ emphasizes that the promised Messiah would be a ‘Son of Man,’ one of His future titles.
Near the end of the book of Genesis we read another reference to the promised One: “The Scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh comes; And to Him shall be the obedience of the people.” (GENESIS 49:10) This verse amplifies the Human lineage of Messiah, here called ‘Shiloh,’ as one coming from the tribe of Judah. But once again, no reference to this person being a heavenly being, who would one day incarnate as a Human Being.
In the book of Numbers a Seer from Moab is given a revelation from the God of the Bible about the coming Christ: “I see Him, but not now; I behold Him, but not near. A star shall come ouf of Jacob; A Scepter shall rise out of Israel and batter the brow of Mo’ab and destroy all the sons of tumult.” (NUMBERS 24:17) Notice that the coming Messiah rises out of Israel, with no dual reference to heaven.
Then the book of Deuteronomy adds: “I (God) will raise up for them (Israel) a prophet like you (Moses), from among their brethren and will put MY words in His mouth and He shall speak to them all that I command Him.” (DEUTERONOMY 18:18) Combining all the texts so far, we are told that the promised Messiah would be the Seed of Eve, rise up out of the nation Israel, be born of the tribe of Judah, and be a prophet like Moses. But we’re not told that the Christ would be the incarnation of a person with God or in God.
The prophet Isaiah is given a vision from God which includes several references to the prophesied Messiah: “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you (Israel) a sign: ‘Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son and shall call His name Immanuel.” (ISAIAH 7:14) This text makes it clear that Messiah will be conceived miraculously within a virgin woman of Israel sometime in the future. Some see here, in the name ‘Immanuel,’ a clue that this child would be a God-being descending from heaven. But the nation of Israel is also called Immanuel in the next chapter (8:8) - which literally means ‘with us is God.’ God showed the people of Israel that HE was ‘with them’ through many miraculous interventions throughout their history. Prophesying that HE would one day grant them a Savior is just one more way God showed the people of Israel HE was with them!
In a subsequent prophecy, Isaiah speaks of the coming Messiah in this way: “A child is born to us and a son is given to us, and the government is upon his shoulder and his name shall be called, Wonderful, Counselor, God the mighty, the Father of the world to come, the Prince of Peace.” (ISAIAH 9:6 Drake version) Trinitarians focus on the title ‘God the mighty,’ saying this is a clear reference to the Incarnation of Christ. But the Judges in Israel were also referred to as El and Elohim (translated as god & gods) in PSALM 82. What too many Christians ignore is the explicit references to Messiah as ‘a child’ and ‘a son’ - terms which mean one who is generated and brought into being - everywhere else in Scripture!
In parallel statements, Jesus is called “His (The Father’s) only begotten son” (I JOHN 4:9) - and Isaac is called “His (Abraham’s) only begotten son (HEBREWS 11:17). Yet Theologians don’t want us to believe that the words child, son, begotten, and born are literal in reference to Jesus. And they don’t want us to believe that father means ‘father’ in reference to God the Father - as one who generates and brings into being a son.
Isaiah writes another prophecy about the coming Christ, later in his book: “The Lord (YHVH) has called Me (the coming Christ) from the womb (not heaven); From the matrix of My mother HE has made mention of My name… Who formed Me from the womb to be HIS servant.” (ISAIAH 49:1,5)
The Messianic prophecies of the Old Testament say nothing about the incarnation of ‘the coming Christ’ - but rather that He will be the Seed of Eve, of the tribe of Judah, a descendant of David, a prophet like Moses, miraculously conceived in the womb of a virgin, and a mighty one like the Judges of Israel. If Jesus walked 7 miles with most Christians today and rehearsed these prophecies in their ears - they too would fail to recognize their Messiah as the “firstborn among many brethren (us).” (ROMANS 8:29)
When Jesus asked Peter who he thought He was, Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of THE LIVING GOD.” (MATTHEW 16:16). 46 times Jesus is called the “Son of God” in the New Testament. Paul wrote: “Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He (Jesus) Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage… Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God to make propitiation for the sins of the people.” (HEBREWS 2:14-17)
The Apostle John was inspired to write: “This is the One who came by water and blood - Jesus Christ. He did not come by water only, but by water and blood (the normal birthing process). And it is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. For there are 3 that testify: The Spirit, the water and the blood; and the 3 are in agreement. We accept Human testimony, but God’s testimony is greater, because it is the testimony of God, which He has given about His Son. Whoever believes in the Son of God accepts this testimony. Whoever does not believe God has made Him out to be a liar, because they have not believed the testimony God has given about His Son.” (I JOHN 5:6-10 NIV)
John is telling us that Jesus came into this world the way we all do: the water breaks in our mother’s womb and we come through the birthing canal in blood. Therefore the water and blood testify that Jesus was a full-fledged Human Being born in the natural way that we all have experienced. The Spirit is a third witness John says, probably referring to this statement in the Gospel of Luke: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you (Mary) and the power of THE HIGHEST will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.” (LUKE 1:35)
We’re told that all of Mankind is made in the image of God (GENESIS 1:27; 5:1,2). But the book of Hebrews tells us that Jesus is “the express image of HIS (God’s) person.” (HEBREWS 1:3) We’re also told by the Apostle Paul: “For the full content of divine nature lives in Christ, in his humanity.” (COLOSSIANS 2:9 GNT). Paul prayed: “…May you (the Church) come to know His love…and so be completely filled with the nature of God.” (EPHESIANS 3:19 GNT). Jesus had the Divine Nature from birth. Converts to Christ develop that same Divine Nature by yielding ourselves to the Holy Spirit: “…But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of GOD, these are the sons of GOD.” (ROMANS 8:13,14) Peter wrote: “…by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” (II PETER 1:4)
The 2 signs of a Saint according to the Book of Revelation is that they keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus. (REVELATION 12:17) Do you have THE FATHER’S testimony of Jesus - or the Human testmony of Jesus? The Human testimony of Jesus is that He was the incarnation of a 2nd person with God or in God - an idea and concept nowhere taught in the pages of your Bible. Walk and talk with the Real Jesus - your older brother and soon coming King!