Prophecies
The number of days until the coming of Christ (Dan. 9:24-25);
Christ will come to the second Jerusalem Temple (which no longer exists, Hag. 2:9);
Christ will come when the tribe of Judah loses its power (Gen. 49:10). Herod I the Great was an Idumean, that is, a descendant of Esau, not a Jew. He replaced the Jewish Hasmonean dynasty, to which the Maccabees belonged.
Christ will be born in Bethlehem (Mic. 5:2);
Christ will be a descendant of David (Ps. 89:3-5,27-29,36);
Christ will make a New Covenant (Is. 42:6). All Covenants with God were made with blood, and in this case — with the blood of Jesus Christ Himself;
Christ will be betrayed for 30 pieces of silver (Zech. 11:12-13);
Christ will be executed with robbers (Dan. 9:26; Is. 53:12; Zech. 12:10);
His hands and feet will be pierced (Ps. 22:16); He will be pierced (with a spear) (Zech. 12:10) (for the answer to criticism see below);
Those passing by will mock Christ, saying that if He trusted in God, let God deliver Him, if He delights in Him (Ps. 22:7-8)
After the execution of Christ, Jerusalem and the Temple will be destroyed (Dan. 9:26);
A whole chapter of the prophet Isaiah about the saving sufferings of Christ: Is. 53: “But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment, and who will declare His generation? For He was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgressions of My people He was stricken. And they made His grave with the wicked — but with the rich at His death, because He had done no violence, nor was any deceit in His mouth. Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in His hand. He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, for He shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong, because He poured out His soul unto death, and He was numbered with the transgressors, and He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors” (Is. 53:5-12)
Prototypes of Christ’s Sufferings
God established the rite of consecration of the high priest: the high priest and the priests lay their hands on the bull and then kill it at the door of the Tabernacle of Meeting (Ex. 29:10-11). Likewise, the high priests and priests conspired to seize Christ by night (Matt. 26:45-47), and then executed Him outside the gate of the city of Jerusalem (Heb. 13:12).
Further, in the same place. The horns of the altar are smeared with the blood of the bull, and all the rest is poured out at the base of the altar (Ex. 29:12). The altar on which Christ was sacrificed was the Cross. The Cross was smeared with the Blood of Christ, since the hands and feet of Christ were nailed, and then He was pierced with a spear, and the blood flowed down to the base of the Cross (the altar).
After the rite of consecration was completed, the altar became most holy: whatever touches it will be holy (Ex. 29:37). In the same way the Cross (the altar) became a great holy thing for Christians, used to sanctify water, objects and people. It is used as an object in the blessing of water, and the sign of the cross is made with the hand over people and objects.
Prophecies of Christ’s Sufferings
Christ will call Himself the Son of God;
His words and deeds will expose His opponents;
He will call God His Father;
the opponents of Christ will insult and torture Him;
they will condemn Him to a shameful death.
“Let us lie in wait for the righteous man, because he is inconvenient to us and opposes our actions; he reproaches us for sins against the law, and accuses us of sins against our training. He professes to have knowledge of God, and calls himself a child of the Lord. He became to us a reproof of our thoughts; the very sight of him is a burden to us, because his manner of life is unlike that of others, and his ways are strange. We are considered by him as something base, and he avoids our ways as unclean; he calls the last end of the righteous happy, and boasts that God is his father. Let us see if his words are true, and let us test what will happen at the end of his life; for if the righteous man is God’s child, he will help him, and will deliver him from the hand of his adversaries. Let us test him with insult and torture, so that we may find out how gentle he is, and make trial of his forbearance. Let us condemn him to a shameful death, for, according to what he says, he will be protected.” Thus they reasoned, but they were led astray, for their wickedness blinded them” (Wis. 2:12-21)
In the Greek: παῖδα κυρίου ἑαυτὸν ὀνομάζει — he calls himself “the child (servant, son) of the Lord”; εἰ γάρ ἐστιν ὁ δίκαιος υἱὸς θεοῦ — “if the righteous man is the son of God”.
Objections
Were the Hands and Feet Pierced, or Is a Lion Tearing Them?
The later Masoretic text (Ps. 22:17 in the Hebrew numbering) does not contain the words about piercing the hands and feet. Instead there is the word “lion” (כָּאֲרִי, “like a lion”). There is no verb “to tear” in the text at all, and it is unclear how the actions of a lion relate to the hands and feet. That is why English translations differ here: the NKJV has “they pierced My hands and My feet” (Ps. 22:16), while the NRSV has “my hands and feet have shriveled” (Ps. 22:16).
However, “pierced” is nevertheless correct. The Septuagint has ὤρυξαν χεῖράς μου καὶ πόδας — “they pierced (dug through) my hands and feet” (Ps. 21:16, LXX), and the ancient Qumran scroll 4Q88[2] confirms that the hands and feet were pierced.
Moreover, there is another prophecy that precisely speaks of piercing. It is mentioned here:
“And again another Scripture says, ‘They shall look on Him whom they pierced’” (John. 19:37)
The reference is to this:
“And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn” (Zech. 12:10)
“וְשָׁפַכְתִּי עַל ־ בֵּית דָּוִיד וְעַל ׀ יוֹשֵׁב יְרוּשָׁלִַם רוּחַ חֵן וְתַחֲנוּנִים וְהִבִּיטוּ אֵלַי אֵת אֲשֶׁר ־ דָּקָרוּ וְסָפְדוּ עָלָיו כְּמִסְפֵּד עַל ־ הַיָּחִיד וְהָמֵר עָלָיו כְּהָמֵר עַֽל ־ הַבְּכֽוֹר ׃” (Zech. 12:10)
דָּקָ֑רוּ
דקר — to pierce, to stab through; and to be stabbed, pierced.
The Qumran scroll 4Q80[1] confirms that He was pierced.