Folks, let’s have a brief recap from last time. Art Wolinsky, which is me, and an Orthodox Rabbi, Mordecai Klein, are talking about how a person can have eternal life. Here is the end of the interview from last time :

Rabbi: I’m beginning to see something, Art. Yeshua, or Jesus, is equal to God. He is God. So if I believe in Him, He can grant me eternal life. Is Yeshua also the Messiah?

Art: Rabbi, He is the Messiah and He can grant you eternal life if you believe. Let’s meet next week. I’ll show you where the Hebrew Scriptures tell us that He’s the Messiah.

Art: Hi Rabbi. I promised to show you this week where the Hebrew Scriptures tell us that Yeshua is the Messiah. Let’s look at 2 Samuel chapter 7. The LORD is speaking to King David through the prophet Nathan:

2 Samuel 7:12 –13

“When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.

Rabbi, the LORD is telling David that after his days are finished the LORD will establish the kingdom of David’s physical descendant and this descendant will build a house for the LORD. This physical descendant is King Solomon. The LORD then says that He will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. Rabbi, please take note that Solomon’s kingdom did not last forever, but the throne of his kingdom, the throne, will last forever. The LORD then says something else that helps to further explain and reinforce what He has just said.

2 Samuel 7:16

And your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you. Your throne shall be established forever.” ’ ”

Rabbi, the LORD is now telling David that his house, kingdom, and throne will be established forever. It is these verses from 2 Samuel 7, verses 12-13 and verse 16, which tell us that Messiah will be a physical descendant of King David, the Son of David.

Now, Rabbi, please follow with me carefully. Let’s look at 1 Chronicles chapter 17.

1 Chronicles 17:11 –12

And it shall be, when your days are fulfilled, when you must go to be with your fathers, that I will set up your seed after you, who will be of your sons; and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build Me a house, and I will establish his throne forever.

Rabbi, so far this is the same as what we just read in 2 Samuel. But now, things change. Please listen.

1 Chronicles 17:13 –14

I will be his Father, and he shall be My son; and I will not take My mercy away from him, as I took it from him who was before you. And I will establish him in My house and in My kingdom forever; and his throne shall be established forever.” ’ ”

Rabbi, these two verses add something that is not present in 2 Samuel 7. This time the LORD is saying that He has a Son and that His Son’s throne will be established forever. The throne of the Son of God will be established forever. This is not Solomon. This is God’s Son and yet he is also David’s Son. We have here a hint that this Son will be both human and divine.

Rabbi: Art, how could the Son of God be the Son of God the Father but also the son of David?

Art: Rabbi, there was another Rabbi in the past. He was a Pharisee. His name was Saul. It was later changed to Paul. Listen to what Paul wrote in the New Covenant Scriptures:

Romans 1:1–4

Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God which He promised before through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures, concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.

Rabbi, this is indeed fantastic and in a sublime sense. This passage is telling us that God has a Son. He is the Messiah or Christ. But this Son was also born of David according to the flesh.

Rabbi: Art, I’m confused. There is a Son born of God who is also born of David! How can that be?

Art: Here is how it happened, Rabbi. About 2,000 years ago a young woman, a virgin - she never had relations with a man - conceived a child by the Holy Spirit. God was the Father of this child and Miriam, a human being, was His mother.

Rabbi: Are you saying that this child, the Messiah, was half human and half God?

Art: No! The Bible tells us that this child was fully man and fully God. He was and is the God-Man.

Rabbi: Why would God allow such a thing?

Art: Rabbi, He didn’t just allow this. He caused it. He brought it to pass.

Rabbi: But why would He do this, Art?

Art: God did this so that you and I could have eternal life.

Rabbi: I don’t understand. Can you explain this further?

Art: Yes, Rabbi. Let’s meet again soon.

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