How the Jews used the Bible by Seethroughitall

 Disclaimer: The text written below is not by me.

 

Usually, I screen-shot posts that are on X (usually Twitter), but I'm making a unique case here since not only that I'm unable to capture everything with just one screenshot, but this user provided a long, detailed, very accurate description of what Christianity really is:

Here is my official position on Christianity:

The New Testament was "written to fulfill prophecy" (i.e., fabricated or retrofitted after the fact) not a recording a historical person genuinely fulfilling Old Testament expectations

They drew on existing Jewish hopes that the God of Israel would one day be worshiped by the nations, and used a Jesus figure to make that happen

Jewish scriptures already contain strong themes of universal worship:

- Isaiah 2:2-4, 11:10, 42:6, 49:6, 56:6-7 - Gentiles streaming to the God of Israel, the nations worshiping at the Temple, Israel as a "light to the Gentiles."

- Zechariah 8:23, 14:16 - Foreigners grabbing hold of Jews to learn about God; all nations coming to Jerusalem.

- Psalms 22:27, 86:9, etc. - All families of the nations worshiping the Lord.

These passages created an expectation that the God of Israel would eventually draw the whole world.

Gentiles (Greeks, Romans, etc.) had no reason to care about Jewish scriptures. Why trust the Jews’ prophets? Their God seemed tribal and weak - His people were conquered repeatedly, the Temple was destroyed, and many prophecies of restoration and worldwide rule looked like obvious failures or unfulfilled boasts. Dismissing Jewish prophecy as fraudulent or mythical would have been the default skeptical response.

The NT Solution: Jesus as Proof That the Prophecies Are Real

By centering the story on "Jesus fulfilled the prophecies," the New Testament does something very powerful:

- It retroactively validates the entire Old Testament prophetic tradition in Gentile eyes:

“Look these ancient Jewish writings weren’t empty promises or lies. They were accurate predictions pointing to this man. Therefore, the God behind them is the true God.”

- Jesus becomes the living demonstration that the prophecies work. Every claimed fulfillment acts as evidence:

“See? Micah was right about Bethlehem. Zechariah was right about the donkey. Isaiah was right about the suffering servant. Psalm 22 was right about the details of the crucifixion.”

This creates a halo effect - if these prophecies came true, then the whole system is trustworthy.

Some “fulfillments” are real stretches from the original context (e.g., Hosea 11:1 “Out of Egypt I called my son” applied to Jesus’ family fleeing - originally about Israel).

Others appear to have no clear prior prophecy at all and are completely made up, yet the Gospels still frame events as fulfillment

Why do this? Because the goal wasn’t just to tell Jesus’ story. It was to rescue and legitimize Jewish prophecy itself for outsiders. If Jesus checks enough boxes, then skeptics can’t easily write off the OT as failed or made-up. The prophecies are proven reliable and therefore the God who gave them is real and powerful.

Claiming Jesus fulfilled the prophecies wasn’t mainly about documenting history - it was about saving the credibility of Jewish prophecy in the eyes of a skeptical Gentile world.

And this is Paul’s Ultimate Strategy: “Saving Israel” Through the Gentiles

He use the Gentiles to validate and advance Israel’s mission

Christianity becomes Judaism for the world: “The prophecies are true. The God of Israel is the only God. Jesus is the proof and the door for you Gentiles.” It doesn’t replace Judaism - it spreads its core claims universally.

Paul’s mission wasn’t primarily “start a new religion.” It was a strategic workaround: Get the nations to adopt the Jewish God and prophetic framework, with Jesus as the fulfillment hook

By making Jesus the fulfillment (or partial fulfillment) of the prophecies:

- It gives Gentiles a compelling reason to worship the Jewish God and accept Jesus as Messiah/Lord: “This ancient tradition was right all along”

- It positions Christianity as the vehicle for the OT promises of Gentile inclusion (Isaiah’s “light to the nations,” etc.).

This legitimization was essential. Without it, why would a Roman or Greek abandon their gods for a crucified Jewish preacher’s movement?

The historical success of Christianity achieved key elements of the Jewish prophetic vision (as later summarized by thinkers like Rambam/Maimonides in his views on the nations coming to recognize the true God):

-Destruction of idolatry: Pagan gods of Rome, Greece, northern Europe, etc., were systematically replaced or erased. The old idol worship of the nations largely collapsed wherever Christianity spread.

-Spread of the God of Israel and Torah ethics: Gentiles adopted monotheism, the moral framework of the Hebrew Bible (Ten Commandments, etc.), and the idea of a single Creator God. Bibles (containing the Torah and Prophets) went global.

-Worldwide recognition: The God of a small, repeatedly crushed people (conquered by Assyria, Babylon, Rome) became the dominant deity of empires. No other gods are seriously recognized in most of the former pagan world.

-Gentiles as the carriers: Ironically, it was the Gentile converts, not the Jews themselves, who spread this faith aggressively across the Roman Empire and beyond, fulfilling the “nations streaming to the mountain of the Lord” motif in a way Paul envisioned.

The Jews were often persecuted and powerless, yet their God and scriptures triumphed through this vehicle.

The historical irony is that the God of a perpetually conquered people ultimately conquered His conquerors - not through military might or political power, but through a story.

The God of the slaves and the vanquished won the hearts and minds of the masters

Link: https://x.com/seethroughit2/status/2050688087571718345