ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Messianic prophecies of Jesus

Okay, let's imagine that you and your friends are playing a game of hide and seek. Before the game starts, one of your friends says that they have a clue that will help you find another friend who is hiding. They say that the friend who is hiding has a special hat on, and if you see someone with that hat, you will know that it's them.

Now, imagine that someone was predicting a long time ago that a special person would come and save people. This person is called a messiah. People wrote down their predictions of what the messiah would be like and what they would do. These predictions are called messianic prophecies.

Many people believe that Jesus is the messiah that was predicted in these prophecies. They think that Jesus did things that showed he was the person that the predictions were talking about. For example, one of the prophecies said that the messiah would be from the family of King David. And Jesus' family tree shows that he was a descendant of King David.

Another prophecy said that the messiah would be born in Bethlehem, and Jesus was born there! There are many more examples like these.

So, just like your friend giving you a clue about the hat, the messianic prophecies were like clues that helped people identify who the messiah was. Many people believe that Jesus was that messiah, and that he came to save everyone.