This article deals only with the concept of Messianic prophecy. See Messianic prophecies (disambiguation) for articles on specific Messianic prophecies, extra-biblical Messianic prophecies, views of various religions, etc.

Messianic prophecy involves the study and interpretation of statements (see hermeneutics), usually found in religious writings, about one or more men, referred to as Messiah(s), believed to be divinely appointed and empowered for special purposes. The title Christ comes from the Greek word for Messiah.

Messianic prophecy describes the coming, acts, authority, personality, nature, etc., of such "anointed" person(s) but is unusual in that at the time it is made it describes future events or conditions, not the past or present. Those who accept the idea of messianic prophecy believe that the events or situations must occur because they have been divinely preordained.

A common source of Messianic prophecies is the Hebrew Bible, also known as the Tanach or the Old Testament. Views vary among religions, among scholars and even among followers of a particular religion on most issues related to prophecies about the Messiah.

See Messianic prophecies (disambiguation) for articles on particular prophecies, views of particular religions, Messianic prophecies in various scriptures, etc.

Definitions (basic)

Definitions below are in the context of "messianic prophecy" only. See the various main articles for more detail and other contexts.

"God"

Main article: God (male deity)

In this article "God" (in quotes) and "he" (no quotes) are used as generic references to one or more beings (regardless of gender) considered to be supernatural and divine by one or more religions. Examples are Jesus (Christianity), HaShem/Adonai (Judaism) and Allah (Islam).

Prophet

A prophet is someone who speaks on behalf of "God". The prophet can speak three types of statements:

• Prophecy about the future
• Declaration of "God's" will or view about a particular issue, past or present event or situation
• Divine revelation—some new teaching or truth not previous knowable by mankind

In each case, the prophet is not acting on his own ability or authority but receives both the information and his authority from "God".

Various interpreters say that "God" gives his prophets "indicia" of their office such as the ability to perform miracles, e.g., Moses parting the yom suph (literally "Sea of reeds", commonly translated "Red Sea") at Exodus 14:21, or Jesus walking on water at Matthew 14:25.

Prophecy

A prophecy is a declaration about a future event. "God" reveals the information to the prophet, who then tells others. Every prophecy is "predictive prophecy"—if the statement does not foretell the future it may be a declaration or a revelation but it is not a prophecy.

By contrast, a "prediction" of future events is speculation based on human reasoning, not divine revelation.

Various explanations are proposed for other methods of foretelling the future, e.g., clairvoyance, such as psychic powers believed by some to be inherent in humans, or intentional or unintentional contact with spirits.

Interpret, interpreter, translate

In the prophecy context, "translate" means to render the meaning of text into a different language, while "interpret" means the act of determining what future event, situation or condition the prophet was describing, and a "interpreter" would interpret, not translate.

Messiah (general)

The word messiah comes from the Hebrew mashiach (משיח), meaning "anointed". "Anointed" means "specially appointed, authorized and empowered". In other words, a messiah is someone who is specially appointed, authorized and empowered by "God" for a particular task.

Many people have been referred to as a messiah, e.g., Moses, the Kohen Gadol (Jewish High Priest), and Cyrus of Persia. (Isaiah 45:1 "This is what the LORD says to his anointed, to Cyrus . . .")

A messiah is generally considered to be someone appointed to deliver a large group of people from tremendous oppression and then lead the group for a period of time. Although many religions claim that "God" delivered them from some oppression not every "deliverer" is considered a "messiah" in the sense of Messianic prophecy.

The Messiah (or Messiahs)

A number of religions, mainly Abrahamic religions, believe that one person was or will be given a special anointing from "God" that will far surpass any other anointings. That person is referred to as the Messiah. Some of those religions believe that there are or will be two such special persons. Some Jewish interpreters speak of a Mashiach ben Yosef and a Mashiach ben David, Messiah son of (or descendant of, or "in the manner of") Joseph of Egypt, sometimes called the "suffering Messiah", and Messiah descendant of (King) David, who will free Israel from its enemies, restore its glory and power and rule.

Messianic prophecy

A messianic prophecy is considered to be a prophecy about the Messiah(s).

Overview of various religions' views re Messiah

See the various religion's main articles and Messiah for more detail.

Bahá'í

Bahá'ís believe that the founders of each of the world religions are a Manifestation of God; so messianic prophecies point to various of them, including Jesus, Muhammad, the Báb, and Bahá'u'lláh, founder of the Bahá'í faith.

Bahá'ís Under the Provisions of the Covenant

The Bahá'ís Under the Provisions of the Covenant believe two Messiahs come separately, first Jesus, then Bahá'u'lláh.

Buddhism

The concept of a messiah does not exist in Buddhism.

Christianity

Christians believe that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah and that he fulfilled some Messianic prophecies before returning to heaven and that he will fulfill the rest when he returns.

Hinduism

The concept of a messiah does not exist in Hinduism.

Judaism

Judaism believes the Messiah is a man who will be a descendant of King David and will usher in an era of peace and prosperity for Israel and all the nations of the world.

Supernatural Messiah rejected
Judaism rejects

Returning Messiah rejected
Some messianic prophecies seem to indicate a Messiah who will suffer; others indicate a Messiah who will rule. Christians explain this as one Messiah (Jesus) who came and will return. Judaism rejects this interpretation.

Meshiach ben Yosef and Meshiach ben David
One talmudic interpretation for the two strands of prophecy is that there are two Messiahs, Meshiach ben Yosef Messiah son of Joseph (in Egypt) and Meshiach ben David, Messiah son of (King) David. In this sense ben could also be interpreted either "descendant" or "in the manner of", i.e., Messiah in the manner of Joseph. In other words, one Messiah will suffer for his people Israel, as Joseph suffered, and a different Messiah will conquer and rule with justice, as King David did.

Messianic Judaism

The views of Messianic Judaism regarding Messianic prophecy are essentially the same as those of Christianity. (Readers should note that mainstream Judaism does not consider Messianic Judaism to be a branch of Judaism.)

Wide diversity of views

Messianic prophecy is a subject of great debate with a wide diversity of views.

Views vary:

• between different religions, e.g., Judaism, Roman Catholicism, Protestantism, Eastern Orthodox Christianity, and the Baha'i faith
• between religious denominations within a particular religion, e.g., Methodism, or sects
• among biblical scholars, both secular and religious scholars
• among different camps within scholarship, i.e., fundamentalist, conservative, moderate, liberal
• between followers of a particular religion even within the same denomination or sect

"Skeptic" defined

"Skeptic" as used here simply means someone with a different interpretation; it is not a comment on a person's general religious beliefs.

Highly volatile reactions

As with many areas of politics, religion, etc., interpretation of alleged prophecy often evokes strong emotional reactions, and sometimes even leads to claims of prejudice, antisemitism, racism, religious bigotry, etc.

Issues in Messianic prophecy

Interpretations vary and involve questions such as:

• Is there a physical Messiah or is "the Messiah" just a general concept about a future time when all world rulers will be just, there will be world peace, etc.,?
• Is there is more than one Messiah?
• Who is or are the Messiah(s)?
• When did or will the Messiah(s) come?
• Will a particular Messiah or Messiahs come more than once?
• What did or will the Messiah(s) do?
• Which biblical passages are prophecies?
• Which biblical prophecies are about the Messiah(s)?
• Have any messianic prophecies been fulfilled?
• If so:

• Which have been fulfilled?
• Which remain to be filled?

• When a messianic prophecy was fulfilled or gets fulfilled in the future:

• When was or will it be fulfilled?
• By whom was or will it be fulfilled?
• Precisely how was or will it be fulfilled?
• Can a messianic prophecy be partially fulfilled at one point, with complete fulfillment at a later date?

Arguments that a passage is not prophetic

Several types of arguments are offered that a particular passage is not a prophecy, including:

• The passage is historical, not prophetic. It refers to an event that had already occurred when the passage was written.
• The passage is taken out of context.
• The interpreter started with a conclusion and then looked for "evidence" that would support it whether the evidence exists or not.
• Revisionist history. For millennia the passage had an interpretation that was generally accepted. Now the advocate is offering a new interpretation to support his personal view.

Arguments against particular interpretations

Several types of arguments are offered that a particular passage is not a prophecy or that a particular interpretation is wrong. (Brown, 2003)

• The Messiah has not come yet.
• Past event
• Out of textual context
• Not in historical context
• Out of cultural context
• Ambiguity
• Translation errors
• Uncommon usage
• Not about the Messiah
• Not about Jesus
• Contrary to widely-accepted interpretation(s)

Many of these issues can arise any time text from a different time or culture or language is being interpreted. Interpretation problems can even exist between generations or social groups

The Messiah has not come yet.

This is the most common objection by Jews regarding any claim that any messianic prophecy has been fulfilled, especially claims that Jesus is the Messiah. (All Brown's books and his course), (Kaplan, 1976)

Past event

The passage is not prophetic because it refers to an event that had already occurred when the passage was written.

Context errors

Out of textual context

The passage is taken out of context from the surrounding text.

Not in historical context

The interpreter is assuming a particular historical situation that is not accurate.

Out of cultural context

The passage is not being interpreted through the moral and cultural values of the time when it was written.

Ambiguity

The text is ambiguous. It might be talking about the Messiah but it could reasonably be interpreted in other ways.

Particular problems with the source text are: (a) Hebrew does not have upper- and lowercase letters; (b) the original Greek text was written all uppercase; and (c) the original texts had no punctuation, paragraphing, etc., not even spaces between words. In some instances, the source text makes sense whether a letter is at the end of one word or at the beginning of the next, but the meaning varies signficantly.

Translation problems

Inaccurate translation

The translation the interpreter is using does not accurately translate the original text. For instance, the New Living Translation (NLT) is a paraphrase, not an actual translation. The authors frequently add text to make the point clear. (This practice is sometimes called dynamic translation, as opposed to literal translation.)

Translator's bias

A particular Hebrew word can be translated by several different English words. The translator chose a word that fits his particular theological interpretation.

Uncommon usage

A particular word may technically be accurate but it probably does not convey the intended meaning. For instance, if someone says, "Is there a draft in here?" he is probably talking about cool moving air, not a preliminary version of a document—unless, of course, he is looking through a stack of papers.

Not about the Messiah

The passage is not referring to the Messiah. This is one of the most common objections by Jews to Christian interpretations. The fact is that very few passages in the Hebrew Bible specifically use the term Messiah. (Brown, 2003)

Not about Jesus

"If you could read it in Hebrew you would realize it is not talking about Jesus." That is one of the most common objections Jews raise when someone claims that a passage in the Hebrew Bible is referring to Jesus. (Brown, 2003)

Contrary to widely-accepted interpretation(s)

The interpretation is contrary to all of the following:

• One (or a small number) of interpretations already exist.
• There is general agreement that the interpretation(s) are reasonable.
• The vast majority of scholars and other experts accept one of the existing interpretations.
• The proposed interpretation is inconsistent with each of the widely-accepted interpretations.
• The proposed interpretation is not based on better information that was generally unavailable when the other interpretations were accepted.

For instance, a new interpretation based on new archaeological discoveries or availability of documents not available to earlier interpreters, e.g., the Dead Sea Scrolls or the Nag Hammadi documents could probably survive this objection.

A new interpretation may survive this objection on the grounds that it is a clarification or a more precise statement or analysis even though all information used was previously available.

Types of Messianic prophecies

Messianic prophecies fall into a number of general types (McDowell, 1999, Chapter 8):

• Ancestors of the Messiah
• When the Messiah will come
• Where the Messiah will come
• Nature of the Messiah
• Personality of the Messiah
• Activities of the Messiah
• Authority of the Messiah
• Miracles of the Messiah
• How the
  
  
  
  Messiah will come (style)
• How the
  
  
  
  Messiah will come (logistics)
• Reaction to the Messiah's arrival
• Acceptance of the Messiah
• Rejection of the Messiah
• Results of the Messiah's coming (short-term)
• Results of the Messiah's coming (long-term)

Examples of types

As examples, passages are listed below which many Christians consider to be messianic prophecies that refer to Jesus, who they believe is the Messiah. (McDowell, 1999, Chapter 8) (Brown, 2003) See Arguments against particular interpretations for the types of objections raised to these, in particular The Messiah has not come yet and Not about the Messiah. See Messianic prophecies (disambiguation)for articles regarding various religions' views.

Ancestors of Messiah

• Isaiah 37:31 Once more a remnant of the house of Judah will take root below and bear fruit above.

• Isaiah 11:10 In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his place of rest will be glorious.

• Isaiah 11:1 A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.

• Isaiah 16:5 In love a throne will be established; in faithfulness a man will sit on it--one from the house of David--one who in judging seeks justice and speeds the cause of righteousness.

When the Messiah will come

• Daniel 9:25-26a (NKJV) (25) "Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince, there shall be seven weeks * and sixty-two weeks; the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublesome times. (26a) "And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself; and the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary.

* The Hebrew says a "seven", not a "week". A "seven" could be a period of seven days or seven weeks, months, or here, seven years.

Where the Messiah will come

• Micah 5:2 But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.

• Isaiah 9:1 Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the Gentiles, by the way of the sea, along the Jordan.

Nature of the Messiah

• Isaiah 9:6-7 (NIV) (6) For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. (New American Bible: upon his shoulder dominion rests) And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

• Proverbs 30:4 (NKJV)

Who has ascended into heaven, or descended?

Who has gathered the wind in His fists?

Who has bound the waters in a garment?

Who has established all the ends of the earth?

What is His name, and what is His Son's name, if you know?

Personality of the Messiah

• Isaiah 11:2-5 (2) The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him—the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD—(3) and he will delight in the fear of the LORD. He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears; (4) but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked. (5) Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the sash around his waist.

• Isaiah 16:5 In love a throne will be established; in faithfulness a man will sit on it--one from the house of David--one who in judging seeks justice and speeds the cause of righteousness.

Activities of the Messiah

• * Isaiah 11:4 but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked.

Authority of the Messiah

• Deuteronomy 18:18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you (like Moses) from among their brothers; I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him.

Miracles of Messiah

• Isaiah 29:18 In that day the deaf will hear the words of the scroll, and out of gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind will see.

• Isaiah 35:5-6a (5) Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. (6a) Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy.

How the



Messiah will come (style)

• Isaiah 11:10 In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his place of rest will be glorious.

• Isaiah 49:7 This is what the LORD says-- the Redeemer and Holy One of Israel-- to him who was despised and abhorred by the nation, to the servant of rulers: "Kings will see you and rise up, princes will see and bow down, because of the LORD, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you."

How the



Messiah will come (logistics)

• Isaiah 7:14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.
• Psalm 2:7 (NKJV) I will declare the decree: The Lord has said to Me, "You are My Son; today I have begotten You."

Reaction to the Messiah's arrival

• Jeremiah 31:15 This is what the LORD says: "A voice is heard in Ramah, mourning and great weeping, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because her children are no more."

• Isaiah 53:3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

• Psalm 69:4 Those who hate me without reason outnumber the hairs of my head; many are my enemies without cause, those who seek to destroy me. I am forced to restore what I did not steal.

Acceptance of the Messiah

• Zechariah 2:10-11 (10) "Shout and be glad, O Daughter of Zion. For I am coming, and I will live among you," declares the LORD. (11) "Many nations will be joined with the LORD in that day and will become my people. I will live among you and you will know that the LORD Almighty has sent me to you.

(Note: This says that the Lord is speaking and that he says the Lord Almighty sent him.)

Rejection of the Messiah

• Isaiah 53:3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

• Psalm 69:4 Those who hate me without reason outnumber the hairs of my head; many are my enemies without cause, those who seek to destroy me. I am forced to restore what I did not steal.

• Psalms 69:8 I am a stranger to my brothers, an alien to my own mother's sons

Results of the Messiah's coming (short-term)

• Jeremiah 31:15 This is what the LORD says: "A voice is heard in Ramah, mourning and great weeping, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because her children are no more."

Results of the Messiah's coming (long-term)

• Isaiah 61:1-2 (1) The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, (2) to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn,

• Isaiah 49:6 he (the Lord) says: "It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth."

• Isaiah 42:1 "Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him and he will bring justice to the nations (Gentiles).

Fulfilled prophecies

Passages cited as fulfilled prophecies

Examples cited by Christians as fullfilled Messianic prophecies are Psalm 22 and Isaiah 52:13-53:12, referred to as the "suffering servant" passage. Christians view these two passages as prophecies describing the crucifixion of Jesus. (McDowell, 1999, Chapter 8) (Brown, 2003)

The Gospel of Matthew identifies numerous passages of the Hebrew Bible as Messianic prophecies and then asserts that they were fulfulled by Jesus.

Skeptics' response

Skeptics point out that neither Psalm 22 nor the suffering servant passage says that it is referring to the Messiah. According to the Bible commentator Rashi, the suffering servant desribed in Isaiah chapter 53 is actually the Jewish people; sometimes Isaiah mentions groups of people as if they were one person.

According to Brown (DVD, 2003) and Juster (2005), among others, the rabbinic response, e.g., Rashi and Maimonides, is that although the suffering servant passage cleary is prophetic and even if Psalm 22 is prophetic, the Messiah has not come yet, therefore, the passages could not possibly be talking about Jesus.

Brown points out that the rabbinic interpretation of the suffering servant passage is that the servant is Israel, not either Jesus or the future Messiah. Messianic scholar Russell Resnick (2004) presented the interesting view that the passage refers to both Jesus and Israel and that, therefore, neither interpretation is completely right and neither interpretation is completely wrong.

Debate about whether certain passages are prophecies

Opinion is not unanimous as to which passages are messianic prophecies and which are not. However, there is a particular subset of passages that engender another type of debate—whether certain passages described either by modern Christians or by New Testament authors as prophecies are in fact prophecies at all because, e.g., they describe events that had already occurred before the New Testament was written. For example, Matthew 2:14 states, "So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, 15 where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: 'Out of Egypt I called my son.'" This is referring to Hosea 11:1. However, that passage reads, "When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son."

Skeptics' view

As noted by Juster (2005) and Resnick (2004), skeptics say that the Hosea passage clearly is talking about a historical event and therefore the passage clearly is not a prophecy.

Response

Different explanations are offered for why these types of passages should be considered prophecies, depending on the particular passage.

The Pesher interpretation method

Resnick (2004), Juster (2005) and Waldman (2005) have pointed out that around the time of Christ there was a Jewish method of biblical interpretation know as pesher in Hebrew. It was a widely-known and widely-accepted interpretive technique that the Jewish writers of the New Testament would have been familiar with. In modern Christian theological terminology, this approach involves "typology". When a New Testament author describes something as a prophecy that clearly is not a prophecy, he is saying essentially, "This event is an example of the type of thing that this Old Testament passage is referring to."

The Remez interpretation method

Also, per Resnick (2004), Juster (2005), Waldman (2005), Brown (DVD, 2003), Klayman (2004) and others, Jews and Christians tend to ask different questions about the Bible. One example cited is that a common question of Jewish biblical scholars is, "Why is this passage next to this passage?" Christian biblical scholars virtually never examine the text from that perspective.

Jewish interpretive techniques often look for a "hint" at a deeper meaning; per Resnick (2004), Juster (2005) and Waldman (2005), this "hint" is known as remez in Hebrew. Because the New Testament writers were fluent in biblical Hebrew, sometimes they are using a play on Hebrew words in the original Tanach that is not obvious to Greek scholars and translators or to English-speaking readers. Messianic rabbi and Christian seminary graduate Juster (2005) gives the example of Matthew saying at Matthew 2:23 "and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets: 'He will be called a Nazarene.'" The words "Nazareth" and "Nazarene" do not occur in the Old Testament. Juster opines that Matthew is hinting at two Hebrew words: the root n-z-r, meaning "branch", and "Nazarite". Another possible explanation offered is that such a prophecy once existed in the biblical texts but was lost. This theory is supported by the fact that such a verse exists in a copy of Samuel found among the Dead Sea Scrolls.

See also

• Messiah
• Davidic line

References

Books

(Per Brown, a fourth volume is in preparation)

Jewish

Online

• Lamb, J.T. (2004). . Page 10 Publishers. Missoula, Montana 59802

Anti-missionary sites

Video

• Michael L. Brown, Ph.D. (Instructor). (2003). "Messianic Apologetics ." Dallas, Texas, USA:.  (see Notes)

• Daniel C. Juster, Th.D. (Instructor). (2005). "Messianic Jewish Theology ." Dallas, Texas, USA:.  (see Notes)

• Seth Klayman, M.A. (Instructor). (2004). "Israel in Jesus' Time ." Dallas, Texas, USA:.  (see Notes)

• Rabbi Russ Resnick (Instructor). (2004). "Messianic View of the B'rit Chadashah ." Dallas, Texas, USA:.  (see Notes)

• Rabbi Martin Waldman (Instructor). (2005). "Messianic Overview of the Tanakh] ." Dallas, Texas, USA:.  (see Notes)

Notes: DVD's not sold on BHS website.

Many of the views presented in the BHS courses are not unique to Messianic Judaism and are common in mainstream Christianity.

Notes

1.   Prophecy (pron: prah-fuh-see) is the noun and prophesy (pron: prah-fuh-sigh) is the verb. A prophet prophesies a prophecy and prophets prophesy prophecies.
2.  `Abdu'l-Bahá (1904-06). , "Part One: On the Influence of the Prophets in the Evolution of Humanity"
3.   Michael L. Brown, Ph.D. in Near Eastern Languages and Literatures (Semitic Languages), from New York University, evangelist, Messianic apologist, author
4.   Seth Klayman, M.A., Ph.D. candidate in Judaic Studies, Duke University; Congregational Leader, Sha'arei Shalom Messianic Congregation, Cary, NC
5.   Daniel C. Juster, Th.D., Executive Director, ; author; former Congregation Leader, Beth Messiah Congregation, Gaithersburg, MD
6.   Russell Resnick, past president,
7.   Martin Waldman, Congregation Leader, , past president, Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations
8.   Baruch HaShem Messianic Synagogue may be contacted by phone or mail or by email through its website but it does not sell the DVD sets through the website. Courses are 20 class hours, seminary level and require books not included with the course materials.