How can we be convinced that Jesus is the Messiah? ** freeware ** 16 ascii pages. The author, Risto Santala, studies the theme in the light of the Bible and Rabbinical writings. The following topics are studied:"1) Was there really a certain time when the Messiah had to come? 2) Is it really correct to believe in a suffering Messiah? 3) The signs of the Messiah." Jewish sources mentioned are Talmud, Sidur, Midrash, LXX, Aramaic Targums and Zohar. Rabbis mentioned are: Ibn Ezra, Jochanan Ben Zakkai, Abrabanel, Moshe Alsheich, Eliah De Vidas, Kimchi, Joseph Rabinowitz, Samuel Ben Yizhak and Rashi. These bible talks were given in Moscow to Messianic Jews, Autumn 1992. HOW CAN WE BE CONVINCED THAT JESUS IS THE MESSIAH? I/III Risto Santala Bible talks given in Moscow to Messianic Jews, Autumn 1992 **************************************************************** Permission is hereby given to all persons to copy and pass to others this text provided that it is not used for monetary gain. **************************************************************** GREETINGS FROM ISRAEL: To begin with I should like to bring warm greetings from the believers in Israel. I have had the privilege of working in Israel since 1954: first in the Scandinavian Sailors' Church in Haifa and then in our Hebrew boarding school "Shalhevet Yah" in Jerusalem. There has been a tremendous change in the Christian witness within the last thirty years. In the fifties we didn't have a single Hebrew-speaking congregation there but now there are 33 different active groups of believers throughout the country. One of the originators of this development was, perhaps, Mr. Victor Smadja, a faithful and courageous believer. He began to gather youngsters for regular Bible conferences and summer camps by Lake Gennesaret. In that way, after 1960, the small group of 8 young Hebrew and Arab believers grew in a few years to 120 or more. The small printing shop that we began secretly in the basement of our school became an independent concern and grew under the auspices of brother Victor to be a significant publisher. It has printed about 130 different Christian books in Hebrew and some 30 others in Arabic. Amongst these is the New Testament in modern Hebrew and a new song book containing about 400 psalms. Even my Hebrew books "The Messiah in the Old Testament in the light of Rabbinical Writings" and "The Messiah in the New Testament in the light of Rabbinical Writings", have come out through this Yanetz-publisher. I recently received a phone call from Jerusalem informing me that the publisher had received more than 7,000 letters concerning the first of my Hebrew books, and about 2,400 asking about the second. But what is more important, in these letters they ask for their own copy of the New Testament. Thirty years ago we could not even have dreamed of getting this kind of interest in Israel for the Christian faith. We hope and pray that this "Messianic" movement will continue to grow and prosper in the Holy Land. As we share these Bible studies with each other, we do hope that the same points of view that are indispensable for believers living in Israel would also give others a new insight into the gospel message and help strengthen their personal conviction. For without a personal conviction we do not have a faith that will stand the times of trial. THE CHALLENGE OF FAITH: In dealing with the so-called Jewish question there is constant danger of provoking ambivalent feelings of love or hatred. If we discuss Jewish history and the Church, or the politics of the Near East, or Christian mission and dialogue with the Jews, it automatically raises the question who is right. However, the main challenge for both Jews and Christians is in the words of Jesus: "What about you? Whom do you say I am?" The Jewish world has three main streams: the Orthodox, the Reformed and the secular one. According to a certain rabbi, the Orthodox group addresses God as "Lord of the Universe", the Reformed Jew approaches Him as "God our Father" and the secular man with the words "to whom it may concern!" For many, God is only an idle vacuous word. Even the Christian world suffers from a lack of conviction. Professor David Flusser, lecturer in New Testament at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, once stated concerning the difference between the apostles and a modern Christian: "Our definition of the faith is: 'I do not know but I believe' but the apostles said, 'I know in whom I believe' ". All of us, Jews and Gentiles alike, ought to do what the dog in the old advertisement for "His Master's Voice" did - sit in front of a big horn listening to the voice of his "Master". Do we prefer to listen to human teachings or are we ready to obey the voice of our Lord? In their preaching the first apostles concentrated on the very heart of the gospel - the person of Jesus. When the apostle Paul met Jesus on the way to Damascus "he immediately proclaimed Jesus saying, 'He is the Son of God' " (Acts 9:20). He was not talking philosophy or theology, but the person of Jesus. While still in prison in Rome he tried "to convince" his listeners "about Jesus" and he "preached the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ" (Acts 28:23 and 30). Also before King Agrippa he told that he always testified "to small and great alike" and "said nothing beyond what the prophets and Moses said would happen - that the Christ would suffer and rise from the dead". This meant for him a kind of 'holy concentration' on the essence of the message. But how can we be convinced that Jesus is the promised Messiah and how can we convince our Jewish brother that He is also "The King of the Jews"? In our sophisticated world there is a certain tendency to deny the use of the Old Testament to support Christian doctrines. In the autumn of 1981 the well-known professor John Pawlikowski from Chicago came to Jerusalem and stated to a Jewish audience that it is already time to abandon the so-called "theology of fulfilment", which is based on the assumption that the Scriptures are fulfilled in Jesus. According to another theologian, this kind of "messianic bridge" between the Old and New Testaments is "artificial in its nature" and must be rejected. In the light of these arguments, it is good to remember Jesus' own example on the road to Emmaus, when He began "with Moses and all the Prophets and explained what was said in all the Scriptures concerning Himself". And He said, "Everything must be fulfilled that is written about Me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms". This was also the reason why the first disciples had to teach the Gentiles the Old Testament first in order to be able to convince them that Jesus was really the promised Messiah. And all the old Jewish writings from the time of Jesus to our day are based on the principle that every single statement must be confirmed with the word of the Old Testament. There is also a declaration in the Talmud, the rabbinical collection of the Law from 200-500 A.D., that "all the prophets without exception refer to the days of the Messiah" (Berachot 34,b). This is the common foundation on which our dialogue with our Jewish brothers is based. In the same week that I was preparing this paper, I received a long-distance call from Jerusalem after 12 o' clock midnight. An Orthodox Jew had read my Hebrew books on the Messiah and wanted guidance on the same lines. Another Jewish brother, who had also taken part in a Bible contest in Israel, came to my home that week and discussed the very same subject for more than five hours. For a Jew it is important to know what the earliest and less censored ancient writings taught about the Messiah. There was an important consultation in Bossey, near Geneva, in August 1982. There Christian and Jewish scholars discussed the significance of Judaism for the Church today. And it was officially stated in the report that "all of us have been impoverished by an understanding of the Bible that minimises our Jewish roots". "In the encounter with Judaism and the Jewish people the church gains a fuller sense of its own biblical roots". Here is our challenge today. In fact there are three practical questions which we always face when we discuss Jesus as the Messiah: Was there really a certain time when the Messiah had to come? Is it correct to believe in a suffering Messiah? And does the biblical expectation of the Messiah fit the life of Jesus? THE MESSIAH HAS ALREADY COME ! There are some Jewish sources that assume that the Messiah has already come. According to the Talmud, human history consists of three main periods: "Two thousand years are without form and void, two thousand years is the time of the Law and two thousand years are the days of the Messiah, but because of our many iniquities they became as they became" (Sanh. 97,a). The Messiah had to come after the period of the Law but something negative occurred. The talmud states also that "the last days already passed" (Sanh. 98,b); this means that the Messianic days have already passed away. Every morning a Jewish believer reads in his prayer-book, the Sidur, that he has been commanded to offer the daily sacrifices but "now because of our iniquities the Temple has been destroyed and the daily offerings have been abolished". Something drastic happened in between. The New Testament also speaks in terms of soteriological periods. "Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled" (Luke 21:24). Or "a hardening has come upon part of Israel until the full number (or the fullness) of the Gentiles has come in, and so all Israel will be saved" (Rom. 11:25). And "when the time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, to redeem those under the Law" (Gal. 4:4). And Christ "died at the right time for the ungodly"(Rom. 5:6). There was a certain timing for the first coming of Christ. I remember well how Rachmiel Friedland, the late Secretary of the Hebrew Christian Alliance in Israel and a close friend of ours, became a devoted Christian. He was saved from the Warsaw ghetto by a miracle. When in hiding among some Christian families he knew how to answer almost every biblical argument put forward in favour of Christian faith. There were only two Bible prophecies which for him remained without a solution: the blessing of Jacob in Genesis 49 and the 9th chapter of Daniel. According to these prophecies the Messiah had to come at an appointed time. THE BLESSING OF JACOB exhibits, like a jewel, the various facets of the messianic idea. All the old Jewish sources relate it to the coming of the Messiah. According to verse 8, the brothers of Judah are going to praise him. And the Midrash, an old synagogue "sermon", asks: "Why do the brethren praise you? Because all Israel will be called by your name 'Jews', and furthermore, even the Messiah will come from you". In the 10th. verse we read: "The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs (until SHILOH comes) and the obedience of the nations is his. He will bind his donkey to a vine, his colt to the choicest branch; he will wash his garments in wine, his robes in the blood of grapes. His eyes will be darker than wine, etc." Here again the Midrash has a strange remark: "Israel does not need the teaching of King Messiah, for it is written: 'to him shall the Gentiles rally', not Israel" (Israel 11:10). In using the illustration of the donkey and the vine the rabbis explain that the Messiah will not come on a war-horse, a steed, because he is the King of Peace. And if someone sees a donkey in a dream, he is expecting messianic salvation, because it is written in Zachariah 9:9 that he is humble and riding on an ass. And "whoever sees a choice vine (soreka) in a dream, he will expect the Messiah". This is in fact the reason for the statement of Jesus that he is the "true vine". The Messiah will also wash his people in the blood of grapes - an old Ugaritic idiom! Then the sages describe the eyes of the Messiah, how beautiful they are. The Greek translation of the Old Testament, the Septuagint (LXX), uses of these eyes the expression "kharopoioi", "making joyful". In the book of Revelation we read three times that the eyes of Jesus were "like a flame of fire". The main hint of the first coming of the Messiah is linked to the word "until". It means that he will come when the genealogical scrolls are still in the Temple and one can find out whether the Messiah-candidate is from Judah or not. These scrolls (megilloth yuhasin) still existed there in the time of Jesus. When Psalm 118:22 speaks of the "stone which the builders have rejected", some rabbis explain that it relates to the Messiah, who is born in Bethlehem and will be restored as the corner-stone after many sufferings at the end of time. This Psalm is called "shir hamatronitha", "the royal song", and Israel is to sing it to the Messiah-King, but it is written: "from the house of the Lord we bless you" (verse 26). The Temple still existed! When King Archelaus, the son of King Herod, was expelled from Judah in the year 6 A.D., it was a great disaster for the Jews because they then lost their self-government and judicial power. Rabbi Rachmon describes the situation as follows: "When the members of the Sanhedrin noticed that they had been deprived of their right over life and death, a general consternation took over them and they covered their heads with ashes and their bodies with sackcloth, exclaiming: 'Woe unto us, for the sceptre has departed from Judah and the Messiah has not yet come' ". According to Mark 1:15 "the TIME was fulfilled and the kingdom of God was at hand". The Messiah came in due time! THE PROPHECY OF DANIEL gives both the timing and the task of the Messiah. In the 9th chapter we read about the decree issued by Artaxerxes Longimanus (probably in 457 B.C.) granting permission to the Jews to return to Palestine and rebuild the city of Jerusalem. SEVENTY WEEKS were granted from this date "UNTO the Messiah the prince" or "UNTIL the Anointed One" and then "the Anointed One will be cut off... and the people of the ruler (the Romans, according to Josephus) will come and destroy the city and the sanctuary". To our friend Rahmiel Friedland it meant that the Messiah must have come before the destruction of the Temple that happened in the year 70 A.D. ---he must have already come! And what was the main task of the Messiah? According to Daniel 9:24, he came "to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring everlasting righteousness". The Hebrew text twice uses in this connection the expression "lachtom", "to seal". When our sins have been "sealed" with the atoning blood of Jesus, we must not "poke" and "finger" our own past or that of others. The New Testament deals with historical facts. Something drastic happened the same year that Jesus died. Even the main Jewish source, the Talmud, speaks about the discontinuation of the sacrificial system before the destruction of the Temple. Something mysterious happened 40 years prior to its destruction. There are three different discussions about it (in Sanh., Abodah Zarah and De Yomah). According to them, the sacrifices lost their power, the Presence of God left the Temple and the gates of the Holy of Holies opened by themselves. The friend of Nicodemus, Rabbi Yochanan Ben Zakkai, who was rescued from beleaguered Jerusalem in a coffin by his disciples, handed down this tradition in Mas. Yomah: "FORTY YEARS PRIOR to the destruction of the Temple... the western candle did not burn and the gates of the Temple opened by themselves; and thus Rabbi Yochanan Ben Zakkai rebuked them saying: 'Temple, Temple, why do you grieve so? I KNOW that you are about to be destroyed.' " All this occurred 40 years before the destruction of the Temple, in the year 30 A.D., which is considered the year of Jesus' death. We also have this story in three of the Gospels, how the veil of the Temple was rent in two from top to bottom when Jesus died. Three times the Epistle to Hebrews interprets these occurrences: we now have a new hope that enters through the veil to the Holy One. The Messiah entered by His own blood into the Holy of Holies to atone for our sins. And thus he opened up for us "a new and living way" through the curtain to our God, so that we can draw near to Him "in full assurance of faith". It is most interesting to know that even the Jewish historian Josephus described a similar sign from the same period. Once the heavy gates of brass facing east from the Temple opened by themselves although they had been locked by iron bolts. The Temple guard hastened to notify the commander about the matter and he succeeded in locking them only with great difficulty. AND WHAT ARE THE CONCLUSIONS TO BE DRAWN? The Messiah had to come at a certain time. He had to die for our sins and to "seal" them with His atonement. After his coming, Jerusalem and its Temple had to be destroyed. The Jewish prayer book, the Sidur, states that "on account of our iniquities the Temple has been destroyed and the daily offerings abolished" -- all this is very logical. But how do we grasp all this personally? We are convinced about this only by the work of the Holy Spirit, if we are ready to hear our "Master's voice". Then it works! I remember how one night I came with some tourists from the airport at Lod to Jerusalem. I Began a discussion with the Jewish driver saying that those people behind us were Christians, and they believed that the Messiah has already come. Then I noted the fact that we were now living in the Jewish year 5730 or so. According to Jewish tradition, the Messiah had to come near the year 4000, but that time has already passed. And because the driver had an Orthodox Jewish background, I quoted some Jewish sources which state that HE HAS ALREADY COME. I quoted by heart from a well-known supplementary prayer for the Day of Atonement, which, according to a Jewish scholar, was perhaps composed in the 6th century A.D.: "The Messiah our righteousness has turned away from us. We are horrified, and there is none to save us. Our iniquities and the yoke of our sins are a burden. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he carries our sins upon his shoulders, there is forgiveness for our iniquities, with his stripes we are healed. It is time to create a new creature for eternity. Bring him back from the circle of the nations, raise him from Seir (a cryptogram for Rome) so that we could hear him A SECOND TIME on the Mount of Lebanon (the Temple) through Yinnon (a cryptogram for the Messiah)...redeem us for a second time and let us hear of his grace a second time etc." This hit the driver, and all of a sudden he gave a jump behind the steering-wheel and almost drove us into a ditch. And he exclaimed: "Then the rabbis were hiding the truth from us !!!" After this I had to introduce myself as a Christian too. But the driver still remained my friend. "Fulfilment theology" is not "artificial" in its nature. It is the only way to convince us as to whether Jesus is the true Messiah or not. And He really came in due time to "seal" the new covenant with us. HOW CAN WE BE CONVINCED? II/III IS IT CORRECT TO BELIEVE IN A SUFFERING MESSIAH? In dealing with the suffering Messiah we touch upon the very core, the most sensitive mystery of the Old Testament. It also shows whether Jesus could have been the promised Messiah according to the Scriptures. The late Jewish professor Joseph Klausner once stated that "in the period of the prophets many words undoubtedly point to the hope of redemption. Yet, at the same time they do not contain even the most minute hint of a personal Messiah"...and there is "no trace of a suffering Messiah" in the earliest Jewish literature. As a German theologian he took it for granted that his liberal colleagues were quite right, and he did not take the trouble to study the Aramaic Targums, the paraphrased translations of the Bible --or the Zohar, the Aramaic commentary on the Pentateuch -- or the Midrash, the sermons of the old synagogue. They speak a great deal about the King Messiah and his atoning sufferings. THE MAIN LOGIC OF THE MESSIANIC MOTIVE in Jewish literature is based on the story of creation. When "the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters", according to the rabbis, it was "the Spirit of the Messiah, as it is written in Isaiah; and the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him". And when God "saw the light, that it was good", it was "the light of the Messiah", as it is written in Psalm 36:9, "in thy light shall we see light". The Aramaic name, "Nehorah", "the light", which is a cryptic name for the Messiah, is taken from Daniel 2:22, because "he reveals deep and hidden things, he knows what lies in darkness, and LIGHT dwells with him". It also fits the prophecy of Isaiah that the Messiah is "the light of the Gentiles" (42:9 and 60:3). Mankind lost the true light in the Fall and God gives it back by the Messiah. According to the sages, the Messiah will do some kind of "repairs" on this defective world, called the "tikun ha-olam". This "rehabilitation" will restore the world to its former state. In the Midrash we read that the whole of history has been damaged by the sin of Adam and Eve, and will remain so until the Messiah comes, "and in his own time will God, blessed be His name, swallow up death, because it is written in Isaiah 25:8: 'he will swallow up death for ever' ". In the Fall the world was infected by sin, sickness and death. Now the Messiah will atone for our sins, he will carry our diseases and overcome death. BUT SIN MUST BE EXPIATED BEFORE GOD The main principle of the Day of Atonement was in the promise "You shall be clean BEFORE THE LORD!" This is the keyword in the Book of Leviticus (See 16:1, 16:30, etc.). The prodigal son said, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you!" In Psalm 51 we confess, "Against thee, thee only, have I sinned!" Luke 5:21 states, "Who can forgive sins but God only?" And in 2 Cor. 5:19 we read, "God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself". This is the reason why the Messiah had to be of heavenly origin and the Son of God. THE PICTURE OF THE SUFFERING MESSIAH IS PARTICULARLY PROMINENT IN ZECHARIAH 12:9-14, 13:6-7, PSALM 22 AND ISAIAH 53. In dealing with these prophecies the rabbis apply it either to the people of Israel or to the Messiah, the son of Joseph. I well recall a meeting in Haifa when an older friend claimed that he had heard about Jesus in the local synagogue. "They spoke there about the Messiah, the son of Joseph." I had to explain that it was not the son of Joseph and Mary but Ephraim the son of Joseph to whom they were referring. This "pet name" given to the Messiah is taken from Jeremiah 31:9 and 20. According to tradition (Mekhilta) it is said that the children of Ephraim left Egypt prior to the deliverance of the nation by Moses and that they perished in battle with the Philistines. This tradition has been used to explain the sufferings of the Messiah both in connection with Zechariah, Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53. Sometimes the different elements are mixed together in the Midrash. "Our teacher taught that the patriarchs of the world stand in the month of Nisan (the time of Passover) and say to him, 'Ephraim, the Messiah of our righteousness, although we are your fathers, you are greater than ourselves for you have suffered the iniquities of our sons. Great and evil punishments were endured by you...you have been scorned and despised by nations on behalf of Israel, and you have dwelt in darkness and obscurity... and your skin shrivelled on your bones; your body has become dry as wood, your strength is dried up like a potsherd. All this came upon you on account of the sin of your sons.' " Sometimes the picture of the Suffering Servant appears in unexpected contexts revealing the authenticity of the tradition. While preparing my Hebrew books about the Messianic idea in the Bible, I also had to show the Messianic motif in the book of Ruth. In doing that I read the Midrash of Ruth, which is considered to be one of the oldest documents in Jewish literature. In this way I found one of the main roots of the Holy Communion. In Ruth 2:14 Boaz says to Ruth at mealtime, "Come hither, eat of the bread and dip your morsel in the vinegar!" The Midrash declares four times that she ate "for the days of the Messiah... and whoever eats for the days of the Messiah in this world, eats for the world to come". About the bread, it is also stated four times that it is "the bread of the Kingdom". In this discussion, which extends to two pages, a certain rabbi states "in the Holy Spirit", which means that it is accepted by the synagogue, as follows, "This speaks about the King Messiah, 'Come hither', you are near to the Kingdom. And eating of the bread means: this is the bread of the Kingdom. 'And dip your morsel in the vinegar', this refers to his sufferings, for it is said (Isaiah 53), 'and he was wounded for our transgressions'." The paschal lamb is called in Talmud by the name "guf ha-pesach", "the body of the Passover". In our story in Midrash Ruth there is an explanation of the "morsel" saying, that the "second deliverer will give manna" from heaven as Moses did. It is very logical indeed to understand what Jesus meant when he gave the Holy Communion: He himself was the heavenly bread, He himself was "the body of the Passover" as "the Lamb of God". He gave his blood as a token of his love... and the vinegar refers to his sufferings. EVEN THE ZOHAR, THE ARAMAIC COMMENTARY ON THE PENTATEUCH, DESCRIBES IN THREE DIFFERENT PLACES THE SUFFERINGS OF THE MESSIAH USING THE 53RD CHAPTER OF ISAIAH. This book is still very important for scholars of the Oral Law in the East and in the West. The Zohar frequently mentions the Messiah as having a small hut in paradise, called "a bird's nest" or "the palace of the sick", sometimes only a "hut". There he heard how the house of the Lord was lying in ruins, and he lifted up his voice and wept so that "all paradise was shaken" (See Luke 19:41). He was also asked whether he was willing to suffer for the sons of Israel and he promised to do it "willingly, because it is written, 'he is wounded for our transgressions' ". In another context those who have passed away come and tell the Messiah "about the troubles of Israel in their exile and about their guilt, that they are not willing to recognize their Lord. The Messiah then lifts up his voice and weeps for those whose guilt it is, as it is written, 'he was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities'. The souls then returned to their peace. There is a place in paradise (the realm of the dead) called the palace of the sick. The Messiah then enters this palace and calls out, 'May all the diseases, griefs and sufferings of Israel come hither! And they come upon him. Had he not taken them from Israel and put them upon himself there would have been no one capable of bearing them on account of the severity of the punishments written in the Law. And this is what is written, 'surely he has borne our griefs'." This kind of language should not be unfamiliar to Jewish ears. But still this chapter is a tender spot for the Jewish reader. The Jewish synagogue has omitted the whole chapter (Is. 52:13- 53:12) from their traditional weekly readings, the so-called "haphtaroth". And even most of the mediaeval commentaries state in brackets when arriving at Isaiah 52:13 that "some of the material is missing here". The best-known rabbis are very cautious when faced with this chapter. Ibn Ezra explains, "This is a very difficult matter. Our opponents say that this is an allusion to their God". And afterwards he adds: "Many interpreted the passage as applying to the Messiah. Our ancients, blessed be their memory, say that the Messiah was born on the day that the Temple was destroyed and he is now bound in chains." Here again we learn that the Messiah must have already come. Abrabanel sums up the problem as follows: "The first thing to be determined is of whom this prophecy speaks. Christian scholars apply it to a man who was hanged in Jerusalem at the end of the Second Temple period and who, in their view, was the Son of God, blessed be He, and who was conceived in the womb of a virgin, as their scriptures say. And indeed, Jonathan Ben Uzziel translated it as referring to the coming Messiah, and this is also the opinion of our Sages, blessed be their memory, in many of their schools." Most of the modern rabbis, however, explain that this points to the people of Israel. The textbooks used in state schools in Israel answer that the Scripture here refers to Israel, which suffered for other nations in order to atone for their iniquity. THE MOST TRAGIC INTERPRETATION HAS BEEN GIVEN BY TWO LEADING JEWISH RABBIS in their own time. Rabbi Moshe Alsheich, who lived in Palestine in the sixteenth century wrote: "Our teachers, blessed be their memory, confirmed and unanimously accepted that this chapter speaks about the King Messiah... there are sufferings which are caused by our sins and sufferings caused by love, when a just and righteous man, who has not sinned, humbles himself to carry the iniquities of transgressors, that they may rejoice and the righteous one grieve, the wicked one be whole and he stricken and smitten by God... this is evidence of the King Messiah, who suffers for the iniquities of the children of Israel, and behold, his reward is with him." Or may I quote another word given by Rabbi Eliah De Vidas, who lived in Saphed, Israel, at the end of the 16th. century: "In the same manner that the Messiah suffers for our iniquities which cause him to be bruised, even ours; if anyone wishes that the Messiah should not be bruised for our transgressions, he himself will suffer and be bruised." AND WHAT ARE THE PRACTICAL CONCLUSIONS OF OUR CHAPTER? The suffering of the Messiah was to be a surprise. According to Isaiah 52:15 "he shall startle many nations", alarm and frighten! He will "astonish" many, because "his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance". In our time we often hear the concept "dehumanize" in connection with refugees or those who have suffered in concentration camps. Jesus became "a worm and not a man", one could state in accordance with Psalm 22:6. "Kings will shut their mouths at him, for that which had not been told them they see." Who has believed our message?"... who cared? "He was despised and rejected, as one from whom men hid their faces." Rabbi Kimchi expounds these words saying that we hide "our faces from him because we do not wish to look at him on account of the repugnance we would experience" upon seeing his horrible appearance! The word "stricken", "nagua", has been understood as meaning that he was "stricken" with "leprosy"... following this, Jewish tradition has given an additional Aramaic 'pet name' for the Messiah. This word -"HIVRAH", "LEPER" - describes well the "dehumanized" form of the suffering Messiah. In the Talmud there is a question about where the Messiah would be found and how would one recognize him. "He is at the entrance of the city (Rome) and he sits among the poor and sick releasing and binding them at the same time." Jesus really identified with lepers, touching and healing them. We can remember the rich young man, Francis of Assisi. When he met Jesus as his Saviour and rode back home, he was so filled with compassion and love that he had to descend from his saddle and go and embrace the leper at the side of the road. He also established special homes for lepers. This lead eventually to the elimination of leprosy in Europe. Another component in this chapter is the contrast between "him" and "us". "Surely, HE has borne OUR infirmities and carried OUR griefs but WE considered HIM stricken, smitten of God and afflicted. HE was wounded for OUR transgressions, bruised for OUR iniquities, the punishment that brought US peace was upon HIM and by HIS wounds WE are healed." And so on! Jesus brings us a personal inner deliverance! The third component in this chapter is connected with the idea "to carry". Christ "carried our griefs", the punishment was "upon him" and he "bore the sin". The first Hebrew word concerning "forgiveness" is the expression "to bear sin", "laset avon". Sin and guilt are the heaviest burden even for modern man. We remember the words of John the Baptist: "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world." In Arabic the words "carry" and "lamb" are written exactly in the same way -"hamal". Also in Hebrew they might have come originally from the same root (se and la-set). A lovely custom pertains among the Arabs of northern Syria: in the springtime each family chooses a small lamb without blemish. This lamb is called "the lamb of God", "hamal Allah". If one of the family falls ill, the relatives slaughter the lamb and smear its blood on the forehead of the sick person, making atonement for him. In the same way the true Lamb of God carried away our sins and "sealed" his atonement for us. The 53rd chapter of Isaiah has served as the strongest evidence among Hebrew believers for the Lordship of Jesus. Among these was Rabbi Joseph Rabinowitz, the founder of the "New Covenant Church for Israel", a well-known congregation in Kisinev towards the end of the last century. Rabbi Rabinowitz came from Russia to the Holy Land because of the pogroms of 1881, intending to found an agricultural settlement for Russian refugees. As he set out on his journey, someone handed him a copy of the New Testament "as the most suitable guide for knowing the Land of Israel". One day he went up to the Mount of Olives opposite the Old City. As he beheld the Temple Mount, the Mosque and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, he asked himself: "Why was the Temple destroyed, why have we been dispersed for so long? Why are we still persecuted in exile? With these thoughts on his mind, the words of Isaiah suddenly occurred to him: "Surely he has borne our diseases and carried our pains, yet we considered him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions"!! He was amazed. IN AN INSTANT he understood that Jesus is the Messiah of Israel. Delivered from a heavy burden and sorrow he returned to Russia declaring to everybody that "the key to the Holy Land is in the hands of our brother Jesus". May this conviction about the lordship of Jesus fill our hearts too today! HOW CAN WE BE CONVINCED? III/III THE SIGNS OF THE MESSIAH The Christian dialogue with our Jewish brother is in fact easier than the approach to a Gentile. In 1 Cor. 1:22 we read: "For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles." Even in Western countries people seldom really know what the Bible is about, and that is why even its message seems a little foolish to them - - whereas the Jews do at least understand the rules of Biblical thinking, and Jesus is for them a stumbling block because they do not know how serious his challenge is. It requires a total commitment of believers in him. The Greek word SIGN, "semeion", means both a "wonder" and a "sign". In the Gospel of John it appears 14 times and is sometimes translated by two words - "miraculous signs". Its Hebrew equivalent "oth" also has the same two meanings. In Matthew 12:38 the scribes asked: "Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you." In 16:1 the Pharisees and Sadducees came to Jesus and tested him by "asking him to show them a sign from heaven". In John 4:48 Jesus said: "Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe." In all these cases the people wanted to test whether he is the Messiah or not. The word "oth" is also used in Jewish literature as a counterpart for a distinctive sign characterizing certain matters or persons. In some contexts the Rabbis speak of "the sign of the Messiah". If we ask how we can be convinced that Jesus is the Messiah we ought to study these "Messianic" signs. THE SIGN OF MESSIAH'S BIRTH The birth of the Messiah was foretold in Isaiah 7:10-14: "Ask the Lord your God for a SIGN ... Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a SIGN: Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name "Immanu El", "God with us". 200 years before Christ the Septuagint understood the Hebrew concept "almah" in Greek as "parthenos", a "virgin". This is the sign! There is also an interesting passage in the Dead Sea Scrolls which speaks of "the Messiah whom God will beget", words taken from Psalm 2:7. Dr. R. Gordis states that this passage serves "as the most important source for the divine birth of Messiah". In Deuteronomy 18:15 and 18, in a prophecy which was used by Peter and Stephen (Acts 3:22 and 7:37) we read of a prophet "like Moses", "whom God will raise up" and he will speak in God's name -- the Aramaic Targum of Jonathan expounds it twice saying that "God will beget him by the Holy Spirit " (de-ruach qudsha and be-ruach qudsha ). That is the sign of the birth of Messiah! According to Micah 5:2 the Messiah will be born in Bethlehem and his "goings forth have been from old, from everlasting". The Jewish commentator RASHI states that he was already "before the stars and zodiacs" and "only God was before eternity". Jesus himself proclaimed that he was before the creation and before Abraham. Isaiah 7:14 and 9:6 give divine attributes to the Messiah, such as "Immanu El" or "the mighty God" and "everlasting Father". Targum Jonathan explains that God "will call his name from ancient times" and that "the Messiah has eternal existence". No wonder that the shepherd heard: "This will be a SIGN to you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger" (Luke 2:12). The physician Luke and Matthew were also stressing the fact that the child was conceived by the Holy Spirit. THE SIGN OF HIS APPROACH In Exodus 3:12, 14 we read: "And God said, 'I will be with you. And this will be the SIGN to you that it is I (Anochi) who have sent me to you.'" In Midrash Rabbah (Shemoth, para. 3, c) there is a discussion that "the SIGN of the first deliverance was, IN ME the Israelites went to Egypt ... the SIGN of the last (Messianic) deliverance is that IN ME they are going to be healed and saved." The expression IN ME is here "be-Anochi". It is prohibited for a Jew to say in Hebrew "I am", "ani hu" or "anochi hu", because this approaches the name of God - "I am who I am". Only the Messiah speaks in the name of God and with His authority. When Jesus spoke the words ""I am", "ani hu", he uttered a forbidden thing according to Rabbi Gottlieb Klein and E. Stauffer. It was a SIGN and token for some of his listeners. Jesus said: "I am the light of the world; I am the way, the truth and the life; I am the bread of life; I am the good shepherd; I am the true vine; no man comes unto the Father but by me; I have come that you may have life, and have it to the full; I am the resurrection and the life; before Abraham was born, I am; you are from below, I am from above; if you do not believe that I am what I am you will die in your sins." Was this not a SIGN and token of the lordship of Jesus? THE SIGN OF THE TEMPLE There was a certain timing for the first advent of the Messiah. He had to come before the destruction of the Temple. John 2:18 speaks of the sign: "What SIGN have you to show us for doing this? Jesus answered them: 'Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.' -- but he spoke of the temple of his body." In Luke 19:41-44 we see how Jesus "drew near and saw the city, and he wept over it" .. because it was "hidden" from their eyes that there would be no "stone upon another" when the city is destroyed. In the Old Testament there are five clear prophecies about these fateful things: 1 Kings 9:8, Jeremiah 9:11 and 26:18, Micah 3:12 and Daniel 9:26. There is also evidence in the writings of Josephus that some people were worried about this possibility (Antiquities X, 10-11 and Jewish War VI, 5, 3; see also Yomah 39, b). Jesus also saw this sign in advance. THE SIGN OF SALVATION In the Wisdom of Solomon we find the concept of the "SIGN of salvation". In the 16th chapter it tells of the "fiery serpents" which the Lord sent in the wilderness as follows: "And Thou hast given for them a SIGN OF SALVATION to remind them of the ordinances of Thy will. And all those who looked up to Him remained alive, not because they looked up, but through Thy hand, our saving Lord" ... and Thou bringest down to Sheol and raisest up". These words are from the first century B. C. and they were known to the scribes in Jesus' own time. When Jesus spoke with Nicodemus in John 3:14, he apparently raised the same question and took up "heavenly things", doctrinal mysteries. He said: "No one has ascended into heaven but he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up." It is told in 2 Kings 18:4 that King Hezekiah "broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made ... and it was called Nehushtan." I was once in an Orthodox Jewish shop in Jerusalem called Nehushtan. The owner of the shop knew me, so I said that he had chosen a good name for his business. And I asked him whether he also knew what is written about this in the Wisdom of Solomon -- and I quoted the words of the SIGN of salvation. He probably knew the discussion between Nicodemus and Jesus, because he asked. "Do you know what is written about those serpents by RASHI", the famous Jewish scholar in medieval times? I did not, but I promised to look it up at home. And great was my surprise when I read his message for me: "This is a derogatory saying and there is nothing but the serpent." I found, however, that this man began to think about the sign of salvation. The Aramaic Targum explains this story by relating it to MEMRA, the "word" or "logos", which for some Rabbis also represents the Messiah. And it states: "Whoever lifts his heart to the Memra of God will remain alive." This story is also expounded in the Talmud in connection with salvation: ".. the serpent kills and the serpent revives; and when Israel looks up and commits their heart to the heavenly Father, they will be healed: if not, they will die." (Rosh ha-shanah 29, a). Jesus apparently knew the Wisdom of Solomon in his own time. And he wanted to show to Nicodemus that he had to suffer on the cross. That would be the SIGN of salvation ever after. And he also said: "When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I AM HE." THE SIGN OF RESURRECTION In Matthew 12:38 we read: "Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to him, 'Teacher, we wish to see a SIGN from you.' But he answered them, 'An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign; but no sign shall be given to it except the SIGN OF THE PROPHET JONAH. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." For a long time this was a riddle to scholars. But after the discovery of old Midrash fragments in Cairo we better understand the legitimate claim of Jesus. In these fragments we first read Genesis 42:18: "On the THIRD DAY Joseph said to them, 'Do this and you will live'." The Midrash relates it first to Abraham, who intended to offer his first-born son to God "on the third day"; then it proceeds to Moses, who received the Law "on the third day". Towards the end the fragment mentions the name Jonah, who was in the belly of the fish till the third day, and gives the following exposition: "THE THIRD DAY FOR THE RESURRECTION, because it is written 'after two days he will revive us, on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him' (Hosea 6:2)." This is a very interesting argument: the expression "the third day" was a rabbinical concept and a SIGN that God himself is again acting according to his promises. The next verse in Hosea speaks about the Lord: "his going forth is sure as the dawn." The concept "Lord" is in some sources a cryptic name for the Messiah. Our Lord Jesus promised to build up his bodily temple in three days. Indeed! According to the Rabbis the Messiah has "the keys of resurrection in his hands". The Midrash tells that "he will swallow death for ever". He will also "revive the children of dust from the dead". No wonder that even the Book of Revelation knows that he is "the first and the last" and that he has "the keys of Death and Hades" in his hands (Rev. 1:18). THE SIGN OF RESISTANCE The famous Norwegian author Henrik Ibsen had a saying - "the minority is always right". The believer is often very alone and the enemy is his constant companion. In Luke 2 we meet the "righteous and devout" old Simeon. He was looking for the "consolation of Israel and the Holy Spirit was upon him". One of the many hidden names for the Messiah is "Menahem", "the Comforter" or "consoler". Simeon saw that the little child Jesus would be the Light of the Gentiles and "for glory to thy people Israel". But the child was also "set for the fall and rising of many in Israel and for a SIGN THAT IS SPOKEN AGAINST". This is the sign of resistance. In Isaiah 8:14 we read: "He will become a sanctuary, and a stone of offence, and a rock of stumbling". According to the sages this is "the Messiah, son of David" (Sanhedrin 38, a). Isaiah 8:14 adds as follows: "Behold, I am laying in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone of a sure foundation: he who believes will not be in haste." Jesus himself saw that he would be a stone of offence, as in Matthew 21:42-43: "Have you never read in the Scriptures: 'The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone ... Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you." Also in Matthew 8:11-12 there are some very severe words, " so harsh that Jesus hardly can have said so", claims the well-known Jewish professor David Flusser. He honours Jesus as a Jewish teacher and believes that "according to the facts Jesus must undoubtedly have risen from the dead". In this harsh word Jesus said: "I say to you that many will come from the east and the west and take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the sons of the kingdom will be thrown outside." There is, however, an even harder word in the Talmud (Hagigah 5, b). These words are related to Jeremiah 13:17: "If you will not listen, my soul will weep in secret for your pride; my eyes will weep bitterly and run down with tears, because the Lord's flock has been taken captive." "Rabbi Samuel Ben Yitzhak said: 'This is caused by their pride and Torah will be taken from them and given to the Gentiles.'" For a Jew the Gospel is often a stumbling-block; Jesus is a "SIGN that will be spoken against". But this Messiah who was born in Bethlehem and whose origin is from of old will become, according to RASHI, "a cornerstone". And the Rabbis explain that "we cannot hasten it and it will not take place immediately but after many troubles". We also read in Ephesians 2:20 that we are "built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone". 1 Peter 2:4 urges us to "come to him, the living Stone, rejected by men". This reminds me of the lesson which I once received in Bethlehem. I was walking there together with Rev. George Kuttab, a close friend, trying to use my little Arabic. All of a sudden I heard the expression "dead stone" in Arabic. "Are there also living stones?", I asked straightaway. "Yes, there are", my friend answered. And he led me to a stonecutter nearby. Then he gave some characteristics of a living stone, this time in English: "The stone is dead until it is brought to the mason, the master. In his hands it receives such a form that a) it fits in its own place, b) it carries and supports other stones in the building and c) even if the house is pulled down, it is still fit for other constructions. This is a good example of a constructive Christian. If we have been in the hands of our Master, he can always use us for his purpose, wherever we are. Resistance and opposition is the natural role of a Christian. Jesus makes us into living stones. THE SIGN OF THE SECOND ADVENT The seventh sign which is to be found both in the New Testament and in Jewish literature refers to the advent of the Messiah in the latter days. The timing of his first coming was given in the 9th chapter of Daniel. Now we wait for his second advent "with the clouds of heaven". A well-known Talmudic passage claims that "if Israel is a debtor, the Messiah will come 'humble and riding on an ass' (in order to atone for our sins), but if they are righteous, he will descend with the clouds of heaven." According to Matthew 24:3 and 30 the disciples of Jesus came to him on the Mount of Olives "privately, saying: 'Tell us when this will be and what will be the SIGN OF YOUR COMING and of the close of the age'?" Jesus then told of many signs and said that after them "the powers of the heavens will be shaken, then will appear the SIGN of the Son of man in heaven" and he will come. Among the signs which he described was the fate of Israel and Jerusalem. The Holy City "will be trodden down by the Gentiles UNTIL the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled". (See Matthew 24, Mark 13, Luke 21, 2 Thess. 2, 2 Tim. 3 and 2 Peter 3.) In the Talmud also there is a long discussion about the "footsteps of thy anointed", the Messiah. In medieval literature these footsteps are called simply by the name "the SIGNS OF THE MESSIAH". According to Talmudic signs there will then be "many diseases, pestilence and epidemics", "the whole world will be blood" and "the sun will turn into darkness and the moon into blood". "When the kingdoms are challenging each other, watch for the footsteps of the Messiah" ... "the truth will be rare and the face of that generation will be as the face of a dog; boys will insult aged people and youngsters will feel no shame before their fathers. On whom are we then to lean? On our Father in heaven alone ... The Son of David will not come until Israel descends to the lowest degradation (yeridah tachtonah), he will not come until the last coin has finished from their pockets and until Israel has lost its friends and supporters". Of course, some of these things are from the Old Testament and some are reflections of old Christian sermons. According to the words of Jesus, he will return when the people of Israel is saying: "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" In 1921 the Jewish philosopher Constantin Brunner coined a saying: "Bring us back our Jesus!" This "Heimholung Jesu" might be already very near. In an old Midrash there is a beautiful picture of the coming of Messiah the son of David: "When you are descending to the lowest degradation, on that day I will save you ... and as the rose blooms and opens its heart to the sun, so even you, when you repent and when you lift up your hearts to Me like the roses, on that day I will bring the Saviour to you!" Of course, these SIGNS and "sigificant" tokens of the Messiah must be seen in their proper perspective. Flesh and blood cannot reveal the secret of the Messiah. But Jesus is still challenging us all: "What about you? Whom do you say that I am?" Only the Holy Spirit can reveal to us the lordship of Jesus. And then we are ready to admit together with the Samaritans in John 4:42: "It is no longer because of your words that we believe, for we have heard ourselves, and we KNOW that this is indeed the Saviour of the world." These were the Bible talks. The original Hebrew and English books about "The Messiah in the Old and the New Testament" can be ordered through Keren Ahvah Meshihit, P.O.Box 10382, Jerusalem, Israel.