Reader comment: “There is NO PROOF Jesus ever existed, or that any of the NT writings are real. There is only the Torah and the rest of the Tanak. PROVE ME WRONG!”

Comment from someone who has rejected YHWH’s Divine Messiah and “crossed over” to join the Jewish “counter-missionary” Rabbis and their converts – and now spends his time trying to convert others.  He wrote:

“I no longer believe in the New Testament or your Jesus!  There is NO PROOF Jesus ever existed, or that any of the NT writings are real.  There is only the Torah and the rest of the Tanak.  PROVE ME WRONG!”

OUR RESPONSE:

Thank you for the opportunity to “prove you wrong!” 

Let’s begin by mentioning Messiah’s actual, given, Hebrew Name, “Yeshua” (also spelled as Y’shua, whose name means “Yahweh is Salvation”).  Catholicism came up with the name “Jesus.” 

Secondly, before we attempt to “prove you wrong,” we’ll pose a few questions for you to ponder about your dogged belief in the Tanach, in hopes that you will ask yourself how you can possibly believe that the same God who performed all of the miracles seen there, was somehow incapable of causing His own Messiah to come to earth in a form humans could recognize.

Please read the following (and consider passing it along to your friends - the Jewish “counter-missionary” Rabbis and their followers who spend enormous time and energy bashing Messiah Yeshua, the writings of Paul and the entire New Testament and calling it a myth) and ask yourself, “WHY do I blindly believe these things, since neither I nor my Jewish Rabbi friends and their hangers-on were NOT there to witness them:

1. God created the entire universe and everything in it, including man whom He made from the dust of earth. 

2. God flooded the earth, killing everybody except Noah and his family – who started mankind all over again.

3. Lot's wife turned into a pillar of salt, and later on, Lot's daughters got their father drunk so they could have children. 

4. God sent ten plagues who show Pharaoh who was boss; and later he caused the sea to part, allowing only the Israelites to pass through, while basically wiping out all the Egyptians who followed in hot pursuit. 

5. God supernaturally clothed and fed six million people wandering in the wilderness for 40 years – all while leading them via pillars of cloud and fire. (How was THAT possible, and were you personally there to witness all that? Did YOU eat any of the manna or place any items into the Ark?)

6. God saved from a fiery furnace thee men who went INTO the furnace (Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and a fourth person “who looked like the son of man”). 

7. Elijah ran faster than a chariot and was fed by Ravens. (Hmmm … was that even kosher, and were you personally there to witness that event?)

8. Jonah spent 3 days and nights in a whale’s stomach and lived. (Were you in there with him?)

There are literally TONS of other examples, but since you insist there is no proof for YHWH’s Messiah or any of the NT texts, then explain WHY you BLINDLY believe all of the above - just because these stories were "handed down" by word of mouth...

Now, to the proof that Yeshua existed:

By demanding PROOF, are you suggesting that his Father, YHWH (also transliterated as “Yahweh”) was lying when He said He would send a prophet who was to do everything He ordered him to do?

Deuteronomy 18: 15 "ADONAI will raise up for you a prophet like me from among yourselves, from your own kinsmen. You are to pay attention to him, 16 just as when you were assembled at Horev and requested ADONAI your God, 'Don't let me hear the voice of ADONAI my God any more, or let me see this great fire ever again; if I do, I will die!' 17 On that occasion ADONAI said to me, 'They are right in what they are saying. 18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their kinsmen. I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I order him.(CJB)

By the way, Yeshua himself said He came to do HIS FATHER's will; not his own!

John 6: 35. Y'shua said to them, I am the Bread of Life. Whoever comes to me will not hunger. And whoever believes in me will not ever thirst. 36. But I have said to you that you have seen me, and you do not believe. 37. All who my Father has given to me will come, and whoever comes not to me I will cast outside! 38. For I came down from heaven, not to do my will, but to do the will of Him who sent me. 39. And this is His will, that of Him who sent me, that all that He has given to me I do not lose even one. 40. For this is the will of my Father, that all who see the Son and believe in him, will have life that is eternal. And I will raise him up on the last day. (AENT)

How do you explain away all the eyewitness accounts of Jesus’s life, which were written down by people who would have been alive to know him or the people who knew him personally; or the mention of the "dead in Messiah" who rose from their graves when Y'shua died (Matthew 27:51-53)? How about the letters of the Apostle Paul and the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus who lived around AD 47-100, who referred to our Messiah in his history of Judaism “Jewish Antiquities” from AD 93.

How do you explain away all the Gnostic writings (The Gospel of Truth, The Apocryphon of John, The Gospel of Thomas, The Treatise on Resurrection, etc.); along with all sorts of other writings that mention Jesus? Despite limitations, a few decades following Jesus’s supposed lifetime, mentions of him started to crop up in the writings of Jewish and Roman historians, as well as in dozens of texts by Christians.

And let’s not forget that an entire “religion” was formed around his life, death, burial and resurrection. Those are FACTS! How many other people do you know who managed to affect the ENTIRE WORLD in the way Yeshua did?

Some argue that Yeshua wasn't an actual man; however - within a few decades of his lifetime, he was mentioned by Jewish and Roman historians! Even the Babylonian Talmud (Sanhedrin 43a) confirms his crucifixion on the eve of Passover and the accusations against Messiah of practicing sorcery and encouraging Jewish apostasy!

Since you insist Yeshua is a myth, then explain why he is foreshadowed throughout the Tanach, especially in Isaiah 53, and also in every one of the Biblical Feasts. We're also told that the Messiah would be both divine and human; the "seed of a woman" as promised in Genesis 3:15; and his virgin birth was to be a sign to Israel of his Messiahship.

BEFORE WE GO ON, we already know from experience with other “Jesus-rejecters” that you are thinking, “Isaiah 53 is all about Israel.”  But ponder this:  Can Israel DIE for Israel? (No, but Y’shua did! See Matthew 27.) Can Israel be wounded for our transgressions? (No, but Y’shua was! See Matthew 27.) Can people take Israel's garments and divide them? (No, but that certainly happened in Y’shua’s case! See John 19:23.) WHEN was "Israel" wounded for our transgressions or crushed because of our iniquities? Has the world been HEALED by "Israel"? Not hardly!

Yeshua has filled myriads of Tanach prophecies - and people can reject it all they want, but they cannot CHANGE those facts!  (For more facts on Isaiah 53, we would ask you to check out our article.)

And let’s not forget, Yeshua has fulfilled at least 300 Messianic prophecies! We are told of his many miracles in the Renewed Covenant, including turning water into wine, raising the dead, walking on water, etc. He came to earth to represent YHWH (his Father), to teach us how to worship Him, to teach us how to treat each other, and to be our final sin sacrifice. He willingly went to the cross, and then He bodily resurrected and ascended, and the Bible tells us he would return in the future to establish His kingdom upon the earth…

He DIED for you, and has fulfilled many prophecies (with more to be fulfilled in the future – see Matthew 16:21; John 2:19); and yet you want to sit behind your keyboard to bash and trash him?

Yes, it is true that throughout Scripture we see over and over again that YHWH is the ONLY God/Elohim. That Truth CANNOT be denied! Examples:

Deuteronomy 4: 39 ...know today, and establish it in your heart, that ADONAI is God in heaven above and on earth below - there is no other.

Isaiah 45: 5 I am ADONAI; there is no other; besides me there is no God.

In view of the above, can you not see that Yeshua was the MESSIAH; he wasn’t sent to overthrow YHWH and bring a new “religion” – but to proclaim the Kingdom and to do everything his Father commanded? He even PRAYED to his Father (Luke 22:42, Mark 14:36)!

HOWEVER, the Bible ALSO goes on to tell us, that Messiah Yeshua was co-equal of ELOHIM (Philippians 2:6-11; John 10:22-39); yet, at the same time we are NOT told that he was “YHWH” … rather, he was The Word who came from, and has always been WITH YHWH; and thus, he was an indelible PART OF YHWH.

He and YHWH are therefore an “echad” – ONE! But, while walking on earth for a short time, he was a human with a divine “qnoma” (nature) who came to show mankind the Kingdom of God, and illustrate by personal example how to “walk inTorah.”  He came to do everything his Father commanded … and then to “die” and be resurrected to take his place at the “right hand of God.” (Acts 7:55–56)

Isaiah 9:6 For a child is born to us, a son is given to us; dominion will rest on his shoulders, and he will be given the name Pele-Yo'etz El Gibbor Avi-'Ad Sar-Shalom [Wonder of a Counselor, Mighty God, Father of Eternity, Prince of Peace], 7 in order to extend the dominion and perpetuate the peace of the throne and kingdom of David, to secure it and sustain it through justice and righteousness henceforth and forever. The zeal of ADONAI-Tzva'ot will accomplish this. (CJB)

Micah 5: 2 But you, Beit-Lechem near Efrat, so small among the clans of Y'hudah, out of you will come forth to me the future ruler of Isra'el, whose origins are far in the past, back in ancient times. (CJB)

John 1 tells us: ¹ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was with God in the beginning. 3 All things came to be through him, and without him nothing made had being. ⁴ In him was life, and the life was the light of mankind. ⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness not has suppressed it. (CJB)

Luke 2: 10. And the Messenger said to them, "Do not have fear, for behold I announce hope to you! A great joy which will be to the whole world. 11. For today is born to you in the city of Dawid the Savior who is Master YHWH, the Mashiyach.[1] 12. And this is a sign to you; you will find an infant who is wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger." 13. And at that instant the great host of heaven appeared with the Messenger, glorifying Elohim and saying, "Glory to Elohim in the highest, and on earth peace and good hope to the sons of men. (AENT))

John 17:1-3: After Yeshua said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: ²"Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. ³Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Yeshua Christ, whom you have sent. ⁴I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. ⁵And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began .(CJB)

Matthew 1: 23...they shall call his name EMMANUEL, which being interpreted is, GOD WITH US. (CJB)

And then Yeshua said: 

John 8: 24 This is why I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not trust that I AM [who I say I am], you will die in your sins.” (CJB)

Now take a look at this comment by Rav Shaul (Apostle Paul), who said Yeshua was seen by more than 500 people AFTER His death! Considering the discussion Rav Shaul just had about his followers not being spiritual babies, this is a very humbling statement! His point is, of course, that many people saw the risen Yeshua before him; and, even more than that, countless others heard him speak, face-to-face.

1 Corinthians 15:3 For I delivered to you from the first, as I had received it; that the Mashiyach died on account of our sins, as it is written: 4. And that he was buried and arose on the third day, as it is written: 5. And that he was seen by Keefa; and after him, by the twelve: 6. And after that, he was seen by more than five hundred Brothers at once; many of whom survive at the present time, and some of them sleep. 7. And subsequently to this, he was seen by Ya'akov; and after him, by all the Shlichim. 8. And last of them all, he was seen by me, as if I were an unborn fetus.(CJB)

Timothy 3: 16. and truly great, is this mystery of righteousness which was revealed in the flesh and righteous in the spirit, and seen by Messengers, and proclaimed among the Gentiles, and believed on in the world, and received up into glory. (AENT)

Philippians 2:5 And think you so in yourselves, as Y'shua the Mashiyach also thought; 6. who, as he was in the likeness of Elohim, did not regard it sinful to be the coequal of Elohim; 7. yet disinherited himself and assumed the likeness of a servant, and was in the likeness of men and was found in fashion as a man; 8. and he humbled himself and became obedient to death, even the death of the stake. 9. Wherefore, also, Elohim has highly exalted him and given him a name which is more excellent than all names; 10. that at the name of Y'shua every knee should bow, of (beings) in heaven and on earth and under the earth; 11. and very tongue will avow MarYah - that is, Yeshua the Messiah - to the glory of יְהוָֹה  (YHWH) His Father. (AENT)

FOOTNOTE: More than his literal birth name Y'shua (which was and is a common Hebrew name), and more than the perfect reputation that his name represents. Y'shua bears the Name of YHWH, the "name above all names!" Y'shua has the Name and reputation of the Father YHWH in him (John 17:11) and the name means "YHWH is Salvation" (Matthew 1:21). (The angels, for instance, only have YHWH's title of ELOHIM within their names: GabriEL, MichaEL, RaphaEL....)

Colossians 1:15. who is the likeness of the invisible Elohim and the first-born of all creatures: 16. and by him was created everything that is in heaven and on earth, all that is visible and all that is invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; everything was through him and was created by him:(*) 17. and he was prior to all, and by him every thing exists. 18. And he is the head of the body the Assembly; as he is the head and first-born from among the dead, that he might be the first in all things. 19. For it pleased (the Father) that in him all fullness should dwell; 20. and by him, to reconcile all things to himself; and through him he has pacified, with the blood of his stake, both (those) on earth and those in heaven. (AENT)

Footnote: The literal Aramaic reading is "by him," whereas Greek and English texts have "for him." Mashiyach is the creative Word through which everything was made (Psalm 33:6, John 1:1-5, Hebrews 1:1-5). The common Aramaic idiom here and in John is "through his hands" meaning as the Word, Mashiyach crafted all things according to YHWH's blueprints. Mashiyach Yeshua emerges as the Word from YHWH's breath and command and, as such, was with Him in the beginning (John 17:1-11).

For more “proofs” check out a couple more of our articles, which are replete with more Bible passages about our Divine Messiah and Confess Yeshua…

Bottom line is, there is no “real” proof in photos or videos.  IT’S ALL BY FAITH! Unfortunately, people have always, and will continue to twist Scripture to suit their own needs. None of us were there “in the beginning” to personally witness ANYTHING, so ALL we really have is what was passed down and/or witnessed by men! 

It’s up to us to believe it, or not!  But remember:  By refusing to believe in Yeshua, you are guilty of blaspheming the Ruach haKodesh (Holy Spirit) which comes straight from YHWH to provide us HIS TRUTH!

Matthew 12:30. Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever did not gather with me, scatters. 31. Because of this I say to you that all sins and blasphemies will be forgiven to the sons of men, but blasphemy that is against the Spirit will not be forgiven to the sons of men. 32. And anyone who says a word against the Son of man, he will be forgiven, But anyone who will speak against the Ruach haKodesh, he will not be forgiven - not in this world or in the world that is to come. (AENT)