The Death of Messiah

Problem & Question

The main problem with the doctrine that Jesus did not die is that He did die, and rise again.

Let us consider this closer rather than going into common reflex responses.

Let’s restate it like this:

The main problem with the doctrine that Jesus did not die is if He in fact did die, and rise again.

Now, here is the question…
And there are likely other even more significant questions from this same honest starting point, and we should consider those also but here is the first major question that comes to mind. Many have asked how God would allow people from the time of Jesus and for 600 years after to think that Jesus died.

An equally major question is

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Why would all the prophets before Jesus from Adam on have received the message that the Messiah would die?

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Note closely that 1) the teaching of Messiah dying and 2) the teaching of the sonship of Messiah should or at least can be treated separately as two distinct teachings.

In other words, one response to the question may be that God cannot die. This would be instantly assuming that these two teachings must be dependent, and perhaps they must ultimately.

However, would the humanity of Messiah more likely suggest that He die or did not die?

In other words, those who hold the teaching that Jesus was only a prophet should be able to accept his natural death without this necessarily having any impact on their acceptance of Messiah’s teachings about who he is.