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We are a Christian Fellowship meeting in North London with a strong interest in teaching the Bible and understanding our time in
the light of Bible prophecy
Jewish hopes of the Messiah
Thou O God hast promised to redeem us: hasten therefore the period of our
redemption… The enemy wounds our heart, throws stones at us, afflicts us,
treads us underfoot, and scoffs both at us and our hope of redemption. But
the daughter of Zion may indeed rejoice for our Messiah is coming.
- Jewish prayer for the coming of the Messiah.
Today Israel faces a violent onslaught of hatred from the Muslim world which
is not just throwing stones, but bombs and missiles at Jewish people, aiming
at destroying them. We have a video (available on request) showing the
extent of hatred being pumped out by the Arab media against Israel,
encouraging even children as young as five to hate and kill the Jews. In the
Diaspora the biased reporting of events in Israel is causing a backlash of
hostility towards Jewish people. At such a time the hope of the Messiah
coming is a comfort for some, while for others it is a just a pious dream
which has little relevance to contemporary reality.
Looking at the state of the world and particularly the situation in Israel,
the Orthodox Jewish Aish website declares:
Now, more than ever before over the last 50 years, the Jewish people, and
even the world in general, need a saviour. We need someone who can, once and
for all, bring an end to all human conflict, especially in the Middle East.
And, if he can do that, then perhaps he would also be able to destroy
whatever other evil exists in the world. As he engineers this long-dreamed-of
world peace, let him make unethical and immoral behaviour a thing of the past, too.
The traditional hope of the Messiah according to Judaism is of a King in the
line of David coming to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem and gather the
dispersed remnant of Israel. He should also teach Israel to walk in the ways
of the Torah and then motivate the whole world to serve God with one
purpose, thus creating world peace.
According to a book by Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan, The Real Messiah, the
restoration of Israel is a sign of the coming Messiah: After 2000 years of
suffering and prayer, we are once again in control of our ancient homeland.
He claims that this shows that we are living in an age where almost all the
Jewish prophecies regarding the prelude to the Messianic Age are coming to pass.
Rabbi Kaplan also says that there will be a time of trouble before the
Messiah comes:
The rapid changes on both a technological and sociological level will
result in a great social upheaval. The cataclysmic changes will result in
considerable suffering, often referred to as the Chevley Moshiach or
Birthpangs of the Messiah.
In this he agrees with Rabbi Sokolovsky who wrote a book Prophecy and
Providence in which he argues that the era of lkveta dMeshicha (the
heels of Messiah, the last days of this age) will be days of spiritual
decline and trouble. This is illustrated by the following quotations from
the Talmud:
Tragedy will come upon you at the end of all the days. Targum Yonathan.
During the lkveta d'Meshicha insolence will abound. The young will make the
faces of the elderly grow ashen with shame; the elderly will have to rise
before the young; sons will disgrace fathers; daughters will rise up against
their mothers; the members of one's family will become his enemies. Sotah 49b
During the lkveta d'Meshicha government will turn atheist and there will be
no protest. Truth will vanish. Sanhedrin 97a, Sotah 49b.
Rabbi Kaplan says that into such a time of trouble the Messiah will come,
not as a divine person, but as a great charismatic leader, a mortal human
being born normally of human parents who will change the course of history.
We have seen for example how an evil genius like Hitler literally hypnotised
an entire nation bringing it to do things that normally would be unthinkable
in a civilised society. If such a power exists for evil, it must certainly exist
for good.
He describes a possible scenario, which brings him to power. One possible
scenario could involve the Middle East situation. This is a problem that
involves all the world powers. Now imagine a Jew, a Tzadik (literally a
righteous one) solving this thorny problem. It would not be inconceivable
that such a demonstration of statesmanship and political genius would place
him in a position of world leadership. The major powers would listen to such
an individual.
Of course Rabbi Kaplan strongly denies any idea that Jesus could be the
Messiah and his book is mainly an attack on the Christian view of Messiah.
The problem is that his rejection of Jesus as the Messiah has led him to a
view which is looking in exactly the wrong place for the fulfilment of
Jewish Messianic hopes. He is looking for a great man, a charismatic world
leader, who will offer a solution to the problems of the world and in
particular of the conflict in the Middle East.
The biblical prophecies show that this is a vain hope and will lead to deep
disillusion and betrayal at the hands of the false Messiah who will offer
peace and safety but in fact bring the world to the worst time of trouble
it has ever known.
The Bible prophecies also give a clue to the true identity of the Messiah.
The prophet Zechariah has some amazing information on this subject. He
describes a world conflict over the status of Jerusalem, a question, which
will not just affect the countries of the region, but the whole world:
And it shall happen in that day that I will make Jerusalem a very heavy
stone for all peoples; and all who would heave it away will surely be cut in
pieces, though all nations of the earth are gathered against it (Zechariah 12.3).
In the last days of this age there will be a worldwide crisis which will
focus on the Arab-Israeli conflict and the question of who rules Jerusalem.
Already this is the main area of world concern with more UN resolutions
being passed on this issue than any other trouble spot on earth. For
religious, economic and political reasons this crisis will focus the minds
of the whole world in the last days and the search for a peace settlement
will be of prime importance. Today the major nations of the world (the USA,
EU and Russia) backed by the organisation which represents all nations (the
UN) are attempting to negotiate a peace plan for the Middle East.
It is likely that just prior to the signing of this peace agreement there
will be a limited Middle East war, which will threaten to go nuclear, but
both sides will step back from the brink. Psalm 83 describes the surrounding
Islamic nations wanting to eliminate Israel: Come and let us cut them off
from being a nation, that the name of Israel may be remembered no more.
There has already been an attempt to arrange a seven year peace plan for
the region in the Oslo Accords, which broke down seven years after the
treaty was signed. Another attempt to eliminate Israel, probably in
fulfilment of Psalm 83, resulting again in failure for the Arab cause, would
be enough to send the nations racing to the conference table to work out a
settlement, especially if there has been the threat of nuclear weapons being used.
Prophecies in the book of Daniel indicate that the false Messiah or
Antichrist will be the one who makes this peace settlement. In Daniel 9 we
read of the prince who is to come who is the Antichrist, a figure
associated with the Romans, the ones who destroyed the Second Temple:
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 end of it shall be with a flood, and till the end of
the war desolations are determined. Then he (i.e. the prince who is to come)
shall confirm a covenant with many for one week; but in the middle of the
week he shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of
abominations shall be one who makes desolate, even until the consummation,
which is determined, is poured out on the desolate (Daniel 9.26-7).
One week here is a seven year period and this passage indicates a peace
covenant made with many in Israel which will be the subject of a double
cross resulting in it being broken half way through (i.e. after 3 ½ years).
Daniel 11 indicates that the covenant being worked out will be based on deceit:
And in his place shall arise a vile person, to whom they will not give the
honour of royalty; but he shall come in peaceably, and seize the kingdom by
intrigue.(Daniel 11.21) Both these kings hearts shall be bent on evil,
and they shall speak lies at the same table; but it shall not prosper, for
the end will still be at the appointed time (Daniel 11.27).
While these prophecies were partially fulfilled through Antiochus Epiphanes
at the time of the Maccabees, there will be a further fulfilment of this
prophecy in the last days. Through a mixture of promises of peace and deceit
the Antichrist will succeed in persuading Israel and the Arab nations to
make a peace settlement which will actually leave him with the controlling
power over Jerusalem. Those making this settlement from Israel’s side are
described in Isaiah 28 as scornful men. It is interesting that most modern
Israeli politicians are scornful of the promises given by God for Israel
in the Bible:
Therefore hear the word of the Lord, you scornful men, who rule this people
who are in Jerusalem, because you have said, We have made a covenant with
death, and with Sheol we are in agreement. When the overflowing scourge
passes through, it will not come to us, for we have made lies our refuge,
and under falsehood we have hidden ourselves. Therefore thus says the Lord
God: Behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation, A tried stone, a
precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; Whoever believes will not act
hastily. Also I will make justice the measuring line, and righteousness the
plummet; the hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters will
overflow the hiding place. Your covenant with death will be annulled, and
your agreement with Sheol will not stand; when the overflowing scourge
passes through, then you will be trampled down by it. As often as it goes
out it will take you; For morning by morning it will pass over, and by day
and by night; It will be a terror just to understand the report (Isaiah
28.14-19).
This covenant with death will be made by Israel to gain protection from
the overflowing scourge, the threat of invasion and annihilation. However
it will not stand because it is based on lies and falsehood. The phrase the
waters will overflow the hiding place points to the very thing Israel
feared happening, an enemy invasion and occupation. This will lead to the
final event in the tribulation, Armageddon, which will cause the report
(the news) to be terrible.
In both of the prophecy of Daniel 9.27 and Isaiah 28.14-19 there are those
who do not enter into this false peace covenant. In Daniel 9 the Antichrist
makes the covenant with some but not all. In Isaiah 28.16 there are those
who do not act rashly but put their trust in God who says: Behold I lay in
Zion a stone for a foundation, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a
sure foundation. This is a reference to Psalm 118.22, a Messianic Psalm
which says, The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief
corner stone. This was the Lords doing; it is marvellous in our eyes. This
verse is used to point to Jesus as Messiah in the New Testament more than
any other Old Testament scripture. It occurs in all four Gospels, in the
Acts and in 1 Peter.
There is a story relating to this verse that as the builders were putting
the great hewn stones of Solomon’s Temple in place, they came across a
stone, which was an odd shape and did not fit anywhere. So they rejected it
and put it on the rubbish heap. As they came to the end of their building
they found that there was an odd shaped space at the head of the corner. One
of the builders who had been there at the beginning of the work remembered
the odd shaped stone and they looked on the rubbish heap and found it. It
was a perfect fit for the odd shaped space they had left at the head of the corner.
This story has an amazing message in relation to the Messianic claim of
Jesus. When He came the first time, for many Jewish people He did not fit
the idea of Messiah and He was put on the rubbish heap spiritually and
rejected. At the end of days as the final conflict rages around Jerusalem
the remnant of Jewish they will understand that He is the only one who can
fit the empty space in their lives and fulfil their hopes of the Messiah.
Then He will return and take up His place of honour and deliver Israel from
destruction and create world peace.
When the armies of the world gather together against Jerusalem to battle,
God says, I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of
Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on me
whom they have pierced and mourn for him as one mourns for his only son
Zechariah 12.10.
Following this Zechariah says, The Lord will go forth and fight against
those nations, as he fights in the day of battle. And in that day His feet
will stand on the Mount of Olives, which faces Jerusalem on the east. … And
the Lord shall be king over all the earth. Zechariah 14.3-4, 9.
These scriptures fit in exactly with the message of Jesus. He is revealed in
the Gospel as the only Son who has been pierced, dying by crucifixion, in
order to redeem the world, and who will come the second time to judge the
world according to how we have responded to his message.
Jesus gave his teaching on his second coming on the Mount of Olives, just
outside Jerusalem (Matthew 24, Mark 13, Luke 21), the same place Zechariah
says the Lord is coming to in order to save Israel. Jesus ascended into
heaven from there and the angel spoke to the disciples saying: This same
Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as
you saw him go into heaven Acts 1.11.
The event described in Zechariah when Israel looks on one who has been
pierced will be the same event as the one I have already quoted in Matthew
23.39 when Jesus said concerning Jerusalem, You shall see me no more until
you say, Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! When Jesus is
welcomed and accepted as Messiah by the Jewish people, he will come to the
earth and finally bring peace to Israel, thus fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah:
For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from
Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations, and rebuke many people. They
shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning
hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they
learn war anymore. Isaiah 2.2-4.
The material used in this article is taken from a book I have written: The
Messiah Factor which is currently with the publishers. If you would like
details of how to obtain this book which we hope to have in print before the
end of the year, contact our office.
