Two millennia ago there
was great anticipation for the Messiah of God to come to Israel. There had been
400 years of Prophetic silence since the writings of the last Hebrew Prophet,
Malachi. He had said that Elijah would come and prepare the way for the
Messiah.
Mal 4:4 ¶ Remember ye the law of Moses my servant,
which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and
judgments.
5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet
before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD:
6 And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to
the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and
smite the earth with a curse.
As with all prophecies,
they are much easier to see and understand after they have happened. Jesus
explained that John the Baptist (Jesus’ cousin) was the fulfillment of this
prophecy. In Luke 1 the Archangel
Gabriel told Zacharias that his aged wife Elizabeth would have a son, John, who
would go forth in the spirit of Elijah.
Prophecies of the Messiah
as King
Mal 1:1 ¶ For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn
as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble:
and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it
shall leave them neither root nor branch.
2 But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun
of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and
grow up as calves of the stall.
3 And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they
shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this,
saith the LORD of hosts.
Here we see the wicked
destroyed, and the Sun (son) of Righteousness arise with healing in his wings
(tallit, fringe). This healing was fulfilled in Jesus who healed many, and
raised the dead. The woman with the
issue of blood touched the “hem of His garment”, which was the tallit. The “ashes
of the wicked under your feet” has not come yet.
Isa 9:6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is
given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be
called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The
Prince of Peace.
7 Of the increase of his government and peace
there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order
it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for
ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.
The eternal kingdom of
God, is real and will happen. Right now Satan has Adam’s dominion of the earth
until that time of man is passed, 6000 years. Jesus took away the sins of those
who are His own and gave us power over the devil with His Mighty Name. When Jesus returns to the earth at
Armageddon, He will establish a millennial rule on the earth as King.
Ps 89:3 I have made a covenant with my chosen, I have
sworn unto David my servant,
4 Thy seed will I establish for ever, and build
up thy throne to all generations. Selah.
15 ¶ Blessed is the people that know the joyful
sound: they shall walk, O LORD, in the light of thy countenance.
16 In thy name shall they rejoice all the day:
and in thy righteousness shall they be exalted.
17 For thou art the glory of their strength: and
in thy favour our horn shall be exalted.
18 For the LORD is our defence; and the Holy One
of Israel is our king.
19 ¶ Then thou spakest in vision to thy holy one,
and saidst, I have laid help upon one that is mighty; I have exalted one chosen
out of the people.
20 I have found David my servant; with my holy
oil have I anointed him:
21 With whom my hand shall be established: mine
arm also shall strengthen him.
22 The enemy shall not exact upon him; nor the
son of wickedness afflict him.
23 And I will beat down his foes before his
face, and plague them that hate him.
24 But my faithfulness and my mercy shall be
with him: and in my name shall his horn be exalted.
25 I will set his hand also in the sea, and his
right hand in the rivers.
26 He shall cry unto me, Thou art my father, my
God, and the rock of my salvation.
27 Also I will make him my firstborn, higher
than the kings of the earth.
28 My mercy will I keep for him for evermore,
and my covenant shall stand fast with him.
29 His seed also will I make to endure for ever,
and his throne as the days of heaven.
Isa 55:3 Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and
your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even
the sure mercies of David.
4 Behold, I have given him for a witness to the
people, a leader and commander to the people.
David is known in the Bible as a man after God's own heart. We see the coming Messiah King is a descendant of David. Jesus fulfilled this, but the Sanhedrin could not see this. We know this by the records of Matthew and Luke which give the genealogy of Jesus from Joseph the kingly line through Solomon and Mary the line of Nathan, respectively.
2 Sam 7:12 And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou
shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall
proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom.
13 He shall build an house for my name, and I
will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever.
14 I will be his father, and he shall be my son.
If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the
stripes of the children of men:
15 But my mercy shall not depart away from him,
as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before thee.
16 And thine house and thy kingdom shall be
established for ever before thee: thy throne shall be established for ever.
Again we see the eternal
throne of David where his descendant will be the firstborn of God and rule
forever.
The Messiah would also
bring Peace and would keep Peace.
Isa 2:2 And it shall come to pass in the last days,
that the mountain of the LORD’S house shall be established in the top of the
mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow
unto it.
3 And many people shall go and say, Come ye,
and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob;
and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of
Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
4 And he shall judge among the nations, and
shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and
their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war any more.
This prophecy again stresses
the rule of the Messiah. This will not be completely fulfilled until the time of
the millennial reign of Jesus.
Israel was also looking
for another great Prophet like Moses.
Deu 18:18 I will raise them up a Prophet from among
their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he
shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.
19 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever
will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require
it of him.
They were also looking for
a great High Priest.
Ps 110:4 The LORD hath sworn, and will not repent,
Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.
Paul tells us in Heb 7
that Melchizedek was not born, did not die, and abides a Priest forever. He
gave the first communion to Abraham that we find in the Bible. He was Jesus
pre-incarnate. As of Dec of 2022, I have learned that Paul described the Order of the Priesthood which the Spirit of Christ/God was involved. The final and eternal Priest is of course, Jesus.
Jesus is our High Priest forever, but the religious Jews saw Him as a threat to them and their way of power and control over the people.
Heb 4:14 Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.
15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
The religious order of
Israel, the Sanhedrin, were looking for this Prophet, King, and Priest to come
and deliver Israel from Roman persecution. They knew that the time was near for
Gabriel the Archangel had spoken to Daniel in chap. 9 that there would be 490
years from the order to rebuild Jerusalem to complete the time of Jacob’s
trouble (Jer 30:7), and to bring Messiah
the Prince.
Dn 9:24 Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people
and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of
sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting
righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most
Holy.
25 Know therefore and understand, that from the
going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the
Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the
street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.
The Sanhedrin was correct,
for Jesus was crucified and resurrected from the dead 483 years from the order
to rebuild (Ezra 7). This leaves the last week of Daniel’s prophecy for the 7
year tribulation.
They were not correct in
rejecting Jesus who was the Messiah. They were looking for a conquering King,
and did not know or understand that there must be a suffering Messiah, the Lamb
of God who would take away the sins of the world. As John the Baptist said on
the day that Jesus was baptized:
John 1:29 On the morrow he seeth Jesus coming unto him,
and saith, Behold, the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world!
Isa 42:1 ¶ Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect,
in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth
judgment to the Gentiles.
2 He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his
voice to be heard in the street.
3 A bruised reed shall he not break, and the
smoking flax shall he not quench: he shall bring forth judgment unto truth.
4 He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he
have set judgment in the earth: and the isles shall wait for his law.
The religious Jews did not
expect a merciful and compassionate Messiah. The bruised reed and smoking flax are
those who are down trodden whom Jesus would comfort and bless and not condemn.
Also, Judaism could not
see God pouring out His love on the gentiles. After all they were the people of
God.
5 ¶ Thus saith God the LORD, he that created the
heavens, and stretched them out; he that spread forth the earth, and that which
cometh out of it; he that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to
them that walk therein:
6 I the LORD have called thee in righteousness,
and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of
the people, for a light of the Gentiles;
7 To open the blind eyes, to bring out the
prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison
house.
8 I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory
will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.
9 Behold, the former things are come to pass,
and new things do I declare: before they spring forth I tell you of them.
Jer 31:34 and they shall teach no more every man his
neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know Jehovah; for they shall all
know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith Jehovah: for I
will forgive their iniquity, and their sin will I remember no more.
This New Covenant had to come
with sacrifice that would fulfill the whole law, once and for all.
This is confirmed by Paul
in Heb 8 as our new covenant in Christ.
10 For this is the covenant that I will make
with the house of Israel After those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws
into their mind, And on their heart also will I write them: And I will be to
them a God, And they shall be to me a people:
11 And they shall not teach every man his
fellow-citizen, And every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: For all shall
know me, From the least to the greatest of them.
12 For I will be merciful to their iniquities,
And their sins will I remember no more.
13 In that he saith, A new covenant he hath made
the first old. But that which is becoming old and waxeth aged is nigh unto
vanishing away.
God told Adam that the day
he sinned and ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that dying he
would die. In Romans we see:
Ro 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the free
gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The sacrifice had since
Adam temporarily taken away sin from year to year. To take away man’s sin once
and for all would require the perfect Lamb, God’s Son to be sacrificed.
Isa 53:1 ¶ Who hath believed our report? and to whom is
the arm of the LORD revealed?
2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender
plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and
when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of
sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him;
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4 ¶ Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried
our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he
was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and
with his stripes we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have
turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of
us all.
7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet
he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a
sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.
8 He was taken from prison and from judgment: and
who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the
living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.
9 And he made his grave with the wicked, and
with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any
deceit in his mouth.
The depths of the Hebrew
words griefs and sorrows also include sickness and disease. Peter speaks of
this as well:
1Pe 2:24 who his own self bare our sins in his body
upon the tree, that we, having died unto sins, might live unto righteousness;
by whose stripes ye were healed.
The religious leaders of
Israel saw Jesus as a threat to their way of controlling the people with pious application
of the law. Jesus taught Grace and Mercy from God, where they were strictly by
the law. They could not understand that the very things they forced on Jesus
during His passion, were ushering in the New Covenant.
David saw prophetically
the crucifixion and wrote about it in Psalms 22, 35, 69, 16, 38, & 31. The
accuracy of the physical and spiritual things foretold that actually happened
that day are remarkable.
Even at Jesus’ birth we
read in Matthew 1 & 2 about the arrival of the Magi (wise men) in Jerusalem
looking for the one born “King of the Jews.” These men came from the East and
had studied the stars and planets with the conclusion that the Messiah had been
born. Herod asked his Jewish Scribes knew that was in Bethlehem from Micah 5:2
But
thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah,
yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel;
whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting. They should have also known about the virgin
birth: Isa 7:14 Therefore the Lord
himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son,
and shall call his name Immanuel, (God with us).
Herod believed this enough
so that he sent soldiers to Bethlehem to kill the male children that might grow
up to be a king that would challenge his own authority.
Yet when Jesus was tried
illegally by the Sanhedrin at night without a quorum and many other broken
laws, they said that he was born in Nazareth and did not regard the Bethlehem
prophecy. Also the religious Jews
thought that Joseph was Jesus’ father and that the pregnancy of Mary was
questionable. False witnesses were called to convict Jesus.
Jesus did not fit whom
they wanted to be the Messiah. Even after the resurrection the disciples asked
Jesus if he now was going to restore the kingdom of Israel? (Acts 1:6) They wanted the Roman persecution to end, by the Messiah King.
Religious Israel’s
rejection of Jesus as the Messiah is bad for them, but good for us Gentiles who
can become part of the Church of Jesus. But, do not be anti-Jew, for Jesus,
Mary, Joseph, and all the disciples were all Jews (with 2 converts). The 120 in
the upper room on the day of Pentecost were also Jews. But, the 3000 converts
to Christianity that day were Gentiles for the most part, Acts 2. The Church has grown since then to about 1/3
of the population of the world close to 2.5 billion people.
Israel still has a major
part to play in these latter days. Paul says that all Israel will be saved, and
so they will, even though there will be a tribulation time that will be worse
than you can imagine. The Messianic Jews that have accepted Jesus as the
Messiah are growing today. Thank the
merciful God for Jesus will come for His Church before the tribulation.
However, Christian persecution is at its peak at this time in history.
Jesus will return as the Lion of the tribe of Judah. He came as the Lamb of God 2000 years ago.
Anticipation of the soon coming
of Messiah is once again rising in the Holy Land. The Temple Institute is training
Levites to be Priests. They have made many of the implements for Temple worship
and await the chance to start building the 3rd Temple. Messiah will come
back and inter Jerusalem through the Eastern Gate, which has been sealed for 500
years, EZ 44:1-3.
Discerning the Lord’s Body
and Blood
Jesus on the night he was
arrested had the Passover, “last supper” with His disciples. Here he instituted
the Communion for the Church to take in remembrance of Him. The bread
represented Jesus’ Body, the wine represented Jesus’ Blood.
The blessings passed to
the first born in the Abrahamic patriarch’s line included grain, wine, and oil.
The grain makes the bread which
has to be ground and crushed, then kneaded and pressed, and then baked by fire.
Jesus’ Body was bruised, beaten, whipped, and bore God’s wrath of fire for our
sake and the healing of our body and soul.
The wine stands for Jesus’
Blood that was shed for the remission once and for all for the sins of everyone
who accepts Jesus as Saviour. Their spirit is joined with Jesus’ Spirit and
they are born again.
The oil represents the
Holy Spirit which can indwell the Christian upon sincere request.
Melchizedek brought bread
and wine to Abraham after the slaughter of the kings that invaded Sodom and
Gomorrah. Abraham recognized Melchizedek
as Deity and tithed to Him. He was the
High Priest of Salem (Jerusalem) and blessed Abraham there. This is the first
mention of the actual bread and wine and example of communion.
In John 6, Jesus proclaims
that He is the Bread of Life. He also says that His Body is bread indeed and
His Blood is drink indeed. Many that were present could not understand about
eating Jesus’ flesh and drinking His Blood. Many left following Him that day.
He asked His disciples if they would leave, but Peter said “Where shall we go?
You have the words of eternal life.”
Jesus had said to them in
vs 63 “It is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words
that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.”
The eating of the bread
and wine represents your act of faith of becoming one with Jesus, His suffering
and sacrifice. It is spiritual and reminds us that we are righteous because
Jesus is righteous, not of ourselves. The bread reminds us that our maladies,
sickness, disease, stress, and all such things were taken by Jesus in His body
in our stead. Salvation in Jesus is being whole. It includes health,
protection, and provision.
The disciples did not
completely understand until after the resurrection. Jesus came and ate and
broke bread with them. With the two on the road to Emmaus, Jesus talked to them
and explained the scriptures concerning Himself for several hours, but He was
hidden from them. After they broke bread together, He appeared as himself and
they knew Him. Then He disappeared.
All Christian churches
practice Communion. The earliest Churches every Sunday, resurrection day.
Our King is coming for us soon.
Those who rebel against Him, and those who don’t know Him will be terrified. We
who love Him will be elated.
Bible quotes from AKJV.
Pictures from Inet.
If you enjoy my blogs, you would enjoy my book. The Plan: A Biblical Adventure. Available at Amazon.com in print or kindle.
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