THIS IS THE MESSIAH?
(WHAT MISSIONARIES DON'T TELL YOU)
Paul, who by tradition authored one half of the New Testament, employed devious means to make converts:
Romans 3:7 "If through my lies G-d's truth abounds to His glory, why am I still being condemned as a sinner?"
Philippians 1:18 "In every way whether in pretense or in truth Jesus is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice."
How is it possible to believe anything that he wrote?
Matthew 1:20 and Luke 1:31 describe "angels" appearing to Jesus' mother, and her husband informing them of her forthcoming "immaculate conception", and "virgin birth" to the "Son of G-d" the "Messiah". But the low opinion that his family and community had of Jesus rightfully causes one to doubt this visit:
John 7:5 "For even his brothers did not believe in him."
Mark 3:21 "Upon hearing of it his family went out to seize him for they said: He is out of his mind!"
To offset the startling fact that Jesus' family thought that he was insane, some New Testament editions replace "they" with "people", although "they" is in the original Greek text.
Luke 4:16 "And Jesus came to Nazareth where he had been brought up, and he went to the synagogue as his custom was on the Sabbath day."
There, he hinted to his friends, and neighbors that he was the Messiah, however:
Luke 4:28 "When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath. And they rose up, and put him out of the city, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built that they might throw him down headlong."
How very strange it is that during all the years in which Jesus grew up with them, those closest to him did not notice that he was a "divine being." And did his parents forget, and didn't tell anyone what they experienced?
John 6:42 "They said: Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father & mother we know? How does he now say:
I have come down from Heaven?"
Matthew begins his book with a genealogy that traces Jesus to Solomon:
Matthew 1:6-16 "David - Solomon - Rehoboam .... JECONIAH .... Jacob - Joseph - Jesus."
He does so because Solomon is the ancester of the King Messiah:
I Chronicles 22:10 "I will establish the throne of his [Solomon's] kingdom over Israel forever."
It is not recorded in the Hebrew Scriptures nor Rabbinic writings that this promise was cancelled.
The list of names were copied from I Chronicles 3:10-17. However, it included Jeconiah, the CURSED king!:
Jeremiah 22:30 "none of his descendants shall succeed in sitting on the throne of David & ruling again in Judah."
In Luke 2:4 we are told "Joseph was of the house & lineage of David." Hence, he was under the curse. If he gave the right of kingship to Jesus, he also gave the curse to him. One can not bypass Jeconiah to get to Solomon.
It is a Christian doctrine that the New Testament was written under the influence of the Holy Spirit. No mistakes.
The wording of the curse in the Greek Septuagint translation (Matthew's source) agrees with the Hebrew Bible.
The curse was not amended nor retracted in the Hebrew Bible, in the Septuagint, nor in the New Testament.
None of Jeconiah's offspring ascended the throne. His uncle Zedekiah was the next & last king (Jeremiah 52:1).
It is a Christian doctrine that Rabbinic writings are not Divinely inspired. They wrote against Jesus. BUT:
These same Rabbis wrote that Jeconiah repented & the curse was annulled! Inspired or not?
How do Christians answer?
1. Jesus did not descend from Jeconiah. He was born to a virgin, & Joseph was not his biological father (Matthew 1:18).
Numbers 1:18 "They registered their ancestry after their families, by their FATHERS' houses,..."
If so, then according to Matthew, Jesus did not descend from Solomon either.
2. Solomon became Jesus' ancester when Joseph adopted him. BUT, at the same time, Jeconiah also became his ancester.
3. David is the bloodline ancester of Jesus, via Mary his biological mother, as is proven in Luke's genealogy. Futhermore, Jeconiah is not in it. BUT, neither is Mary!:
Luke 3:23-31 "Jesus - Joseph - Heli .... Mattatha - NATHAN - David."
a. Instead of Joseph, they say its really Mary. BUT, it really says Joseph in the Greek.
Luke 2:4 stated: "Joseph was of the house & lineage of David." Luke only intended to prove it with this genealogy.
b. This lineage would have been delegitimized if Mary was in it. Jewish women have no part in genealogies (see Chronicles), "by their Fathers' houses."
c. The incident in Numbers 27 & 36 is irrelevant to this discussion. There, because the daughters of Zelophehad did not have a brother, they were granted land inheritance, not lineage rights.
d. Nathan, a different son of David has no messianic relevance. The Messiah physically descends from Solomon. That Jesus has a royal or legal right to the throne is a meaningless substitute.
4. Jeremiah 22:24 "Even if you (Jeconiah) were a signet ring on My right hand I would pull you off."
Haggai 2:23 "I will make you [Zerubbabel] like a signet ring for I have chosen you."
This latter verse proves the curse was annulled. BUT, the figurative signet ring only symbolized rejection & acceptance of these individuals. The curse which affected future generations was stated clearly & unambiguously. It would have been cancelled identically.
Zerubbabel, the grandson of Jeconiah was the governor of Judah (Haggai 2:2). The curse in Jeremiah 22:30 only referred to kingship.
1. The New Testament has Melchizedek, the king of Salem (Genesis 14:18) as an eternal divine being:
Hebrews 7:3
"He is without father, without mother, without genealogy, and has neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of G-d, he continues a priest forever."
According to this, Melchizedek is a better candidate for the trinity than Jesus:
He is without father or mother, whereas everyone agrees that Jesus had a mother.
He had no ancestors, whereas Jesus was supposedly descended from King David (Matthew 1:1-16).
He had no origin, existing eternally, whereas Jesus had a beginning when he was created.
Colossians 1:15 "He [Jesus] is the image of the invisible G-d, the first born of all creation."
Mathew 2:16
2. "Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, was in a furious rage, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under."
This alledged mass murder of babies was not reported by the Talmudic Sages, Josephus or the other ancient historians.
Matthew 27:51-53
3. "And behold, the curtain of the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom; and the earth shook, and the rocks were split; and the tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep arose, and came out of the tombs after his resurrection, and went into the holy city and appeared to many."
Had this event occurred, the historical accounts would be filled with awe inspiring, detailed descriptions of the attendant hysteria and happiness as many people rose from the dead, and were reunited with their families and friends. Yet aside from this single passage, silence is all that has been handed down to us.
According to the New Testament, Jesus told his disciples that he would be resurrected:
Matthew 17:22-23
"As they were gathering in Galilee, Jesus said to them: 'The Son of man is to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day.' And they were greatly distressed.'"
But they were not expecting him to be resurrected, and the man who appeared to them was not Jesus:
Matthew 28:16-17
1. "Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him they worshipped him; but some doubted."
Mark 16:12-13
2. "After this Jesus appeared in another form to two of them, as they were walking into the country. And they went back and told the rest, but neither did they believe them."
Elsewhere we are enlightened as to what "another form" means:
Luke 24:16
3. "But their eyes were kept from recognizing him."
John 20:20
4. "When Jesus had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord."
And who did they think he was before he showed them some bruises?
John 21:12
5. "Now none of the disciples dared ask him: 'Who are you?' They knew that it was the Lord."
If "They knew that it was the Lord," then why should the question "Who are you?" come to mind?
According to the Christian concept of the Suffering Servant Messiah, Jesus came to earth to voluntarily die for the sins of mankind. Becoming the ultimate sin atonement and Savior of the world:
I Corinthians 15:3 "Jesus died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures."
I Peter 3:18 "For Jesus also died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous."
1. Hebrews 5:7 "Jesus prayed with loud crying, supplications and tears to the One able to save him from death, and he was heard because he feared."
2. Matthew 27:46 "About the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice: 'My G-d, my G-d, why have You forsaken me?'"
3. Luke 22:43 "And there appeared an angel to him from heaven strengthening him. And being in agony he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was as great drops of blood falling down to the ground."
The Messiah will be an individual who has attained such an exalted spiritual level as to be prepared to commune with G-d at any time. As the leader and role model for all humanity, he will relate to and interact with all nations, cultures and individuals. He will be the perfect servant of G-d:
Isaiah 11:12 "The Spirit of G-d shall rest on him
The spirit of wisdom and understanding
The spirit of counsel and might
The spirit of knowledge and the fear of G-d."
In the situations quoted below determine for yourself if Jesus could have been this towering spiritual giant:
1. John 2:14-15 "In the Temple, he found people selling cattle, sheep and doves, with money changers seated at their tables. He made a whip out of cords, and drove them all out of the Temple, with the sheep and cattle. He poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables."
Mark 11:16 "And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the Temple."
2. Matthew 8:21 "Another of the disciples asked him: 'let me first go and bury my father.' But Jesus answered him:
'Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead.'"
3. Matthew 23:33 "You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell?"
The Jewish People rejected Jesus because he did not meet the criteria for one to be the Messiah as our Prophets had taught us during the previous 1300 years. Non-Jews on the other hand were at a double disadvantage. They had only learned of Jesus' existence after his death. And they were not taught G-d's teachings about the Messiah and Messianic Era. Therefore, they could only rely on what missionaries told them.
In the 12th Century C.E. Rabbi Moshe Maimonides included in his Code of Jewish Law specifically what one must accomplish before he is known to be the Messiah:
(Mishne Torah Kings 11:4) "If a king will arise from the House of David who is learned in Torah, and observant of the commandments as prescribed by the Written and Oral Laws as King David his ancestor was. And he will compel all Israel to walk in the way of the Torah, and reinforce the breaches in its observance. And he will fight the wars of G-d, we may presume that he is the Messiah.
If he does these things, and is fully successful, builds the Third Temple in its place, and gathers the dispersed of Israel, then he is definitely the Messiah.
If he did not succeed to this degree, or he was killed, he surely is not the Messiah promised in the Torah."
According to our Jewish Law and Tradition, the only basis for identifying the Jewish Messiah, Jesus was not him.