Fight the New Anti-Semitism

October 22, 2020 By Olivier Melnick Leave a Comment

Is the Gospel Jewish? Well…It’s Complicated!

One of the most controversial subjects to be discussed is the Gospel. What exactly do we mean by the Gospel, and why is it offensive to some and attractive to others? Most people would agree that the message of the Gospel is connected to the events around the life and ministry of Yeshua (Jesus). But this, in and of itself, is where the problem begins. Can the message be trusted as truth? Is the Gospel the same for everyone? Do all people need the Gospel to be saved? These are all important questions that I wish to address, all within the context of the Jewishness of the Gospel.

Some might argue, “Why does the Gospel have to be Jewish?” The truth of it is, the message of salvation might have been revolutionary to the Jewish audience to which it was presented, but it was not a message of conversion to another religion. The messenger was Jewish. Yeshua of Nazareth was a Jew in His humanity. He was born of a Jewish mother and adopted by a Jewish father. He was raised as a Jew, taught the Jewish Scriptures and went through his Bar mitzvah at the proper age.

The message is not Jewish per se, but it is not gentile either. It is a message about the depravity of mankind, the need for a redeemer who would pay the price for our wrongdoings and our need to trust Him in what He did on our behalf. Incidentally, part of the Jewish faith is a belief in two Messiahs. One that would come to suffer and die for His people–Messiah ben Joseph, and one that would come to conquer the world and reign from His throne in Jerusalem–Messiah ben David. It can be argued that Yeshua will fulfill both offices as He already came as Messiah ben Joseph and died on our behalf, only to rise again on the third day to eventually ascend back to heaven and wait there, until His return as Messiah ben David.

The problem starts when Jewish people believe that following Messiah today forces one to undergo an identity change from Jewish to Christian or Gentile. Let’s be clear, once a person is born a Jew ethnically, they die a Jew, regardless of what they believe in or don’t. So, what’s the big deal then? Two words must be understood to clarify the issue: Jewishness and Judaism. Jewishness is an unchangeable ethnic identity that can never be lost, while Judaism is a religion that can be practiced or not, and on a wide spectrum of beliefs, I must add.

A Jew remains a Jew if he practices Judaism or not. Practicing Christianity cannot change one’s ethnic DNA, it changes everything else though. It changes our outlook on life, our dependence on God and our final destination from eternal suffering to eternal bliss in God’s presence.

Some people continue to claim that the Bible is an antisemitic book. Just because some people take verses out of context and use them to justify their flawed and often hateful agendas, doesn’t make the Bible antisemitic. It does contain passages that paint Jewish people in a less than favorable way, not because they are Jewish, rather, because they are faulty human beings.

The original audience for the Gospel was almost exclusively Jewish, in a Jewish area, punctuated by the Jewish lifecycle calendar (Leviticus 23.) The earlier rejection of the Gospel by Jews was not because it changed them into gentiles, but because the claims of Yeshua appeared blasphemous to the Jewish leadership. How could a man become God? This is a question that I have been asked numerous times by my Jewish people. The answer is actually quite simple. A man cannot ever become God (that takes care of a lot of false religions by the way), but God can choose to become a man, and this is exactly what He did. The second person of the triune God took human form and came to us so that in His humanity, and only in His humanity, he could pay the price for all of our sins. He died in His humanity, and rose again because He is God as well, and God can never die (Isaiah 9:6-7.)

Saul of Tarsus understood that very well, and after Yeshua commissioned him to be the apostle to the gentiles, he boldly proclaimed the Gospel everywhere he went. Incidentally, recognizing the Jewish preeminence of the Gospel, he always started with the Jewish community everywhere he went (Romans 1:16, Acts 13:46; 14:1.) As a matter of fact, Paul shared the Gospel only from the Jewish Scriptures or Tanakh. How could he use anything else, since the New Testament was being written in his lifetime (Matthew 5:17; John 5:39; Luke 24:44-46.) The message of salvation is good news for all mankind, including the Jewish people. Using the Jewish section of our Bible known as the Tanakh to Jewish people and the Old Testament to Christians, it is straight forward and it’s all there, hiding in plain sight. It goes something like this:

Our Only Hope of Salvation is Yeshua the Messiah.
God loves mankind and wants to bless all. It is not and never was God’s intention to be separated from mankind. God is a God of relationships, and He wants nothing more than exercising this relationship with His creation: “You will make known to me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; in Your right hand there are pleasures forever.” (Psalm 16:11).
“How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God! And the children of men take refuge in the shadow of Your wings. They drink their fill of the abundance of Your house; and You give them to drink of the river of Your delights. For with You is the fountain of life; in Your light we see light. O continue Your lovingkindness to those who know You, and Your righteousness to the upright in heart.” (Psalm 36:7-10)

Mankind is separated from God because of sin, which results in spiritual death.
Original Sin: “But from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you shall surely die.” (Genesis 2:17.)

Even despite this separation, God desires to have a relationship with man. Being the perfect and just God that He is, He is separated from us by our wrongdoings. The chasm is not insurmountable, but it does exist and requires a bridge.
Sin Nature: As the Bible makes clear, our sin has separated us from a possible relationship with God. The Bible also explains the punishment for our sins; that is, our trespasses. A punishment that is the same for all, Jews and Gentiles alike, if they indeed remain separated from God: “Indeed, there is not a righteous man on earth who continually does good and who never sins.” (Ecclesiastes 7:20)
“The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; Who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9)
“For all of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; and all of us wither like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.” (Isaiah 64:6).
“Behold, all souls are Mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is Mine, the soul who sins will die.” (Ezekiel 18:4)
“But everyone will die for his own iniquity; each man who eats the sour grapes, his teeth will be set on edge.” (Jeremiah 31:30)
“But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you so, that He does not hear.” (Isaiah 59:2)

There is nothing man can do himself to be reconciled to God.
The Bible is very clear on this point as well; there is nothing we can do to save ourselves and be reconciled to God. Additionally, there is nothing that any man can do for us to reconcile us to God: “Although you wash yourself with lye and use much soap, the stain of your iniquity is before Me,” declares the Lord God.” (Jeremiah 2:22)
“No man can by any means redeem his brother or give to God a ransom for him.” (Psalm 49:7)

God has provided us with a way to be reconciled to Him as a free gift through the atoning death of Yeshua the Messiah.
But do not be discouraged! God loves us and He did provide a solution to what seems to be an unsolvable problem. God sent Yeshua the Messiah to be the ultimate sacrifice for our sins. Messiah, whom the Scriptures teach is God in the flesh, died and atoned for our sins. We should pay particular attention to the Scripture from the prophet Isaiah who predicted the humiliation, suffering, death by crucifixion, resurrection and exaltation of the Messiah in Isaiah 52:13 through 53:12:“He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and like one from whom men hide their face, He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried; yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; but the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth; like a lamb that is led to slaughter, and like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, so He did not open His mouth. By oppression and judgment, He was taken away; and as for His generation, who considered that He was cut off out of the land of the living, for the transgression of my people to whom the stroke was due? His grave was assigned with wicked men, yet He was with a rich man in His death, because He had done no violence, nor was there any deceit in His mouth. But the Lord was pleased to crush Him, putting Him to grief; If He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, and the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand. As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; by His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, as He will bear their iniquities. Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, and He will divide the booty with the strong; because He poured out Himself to death, and was numbered with the transgressors; yet He Himself bore the sin of many, and interceded for the transgressors.” (Isaiah 53:2-13)
“For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement.” (Leviticus 17:11)
“I, even I, am the Lord, and there is no savior besides Me.” (Isaiah 43:11)

Yeshua’s atoning death for our sins gives us salvation.
The problem barrier between God and us created by sin has been knocked down by Messiah’s selfless sacrifice on our behalf. It is our choice to accept this free gift by faith. “Then he believed in the Lord; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.” (Genesis 15:6)
“Behold, as for the proud one, His soul is not right within him; but the righteous will live by his faith.” (Habakkuk 2:4)

Only by repenting of our sins and accepting Yeshua’s death on our behalf can we be saved and reconciled to God. The solution is here and readily available for those who desire an eternal relationship with God. Only by repentance, as we voluntarily admit and turn away from our sins, can we be saved. Our faith, and only our faith in the atoning death of Yeshua the Messiah, can reconcile us to God. Yeshua bridged the gap between God and us. Our faith is our response to His gift: salvation for those who put their trust in Him: “How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered! How blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit! When I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; my vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer. Selah. I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I did not hide; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord”; and You forgave the guilt of my sin.” (Psalm 32:1-5)
“He who conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will find compassion.” (Proverbs 28:13)

Contrary to all man-made religions, our biblical faith in God is rather simple. We realize nothing we can do will reconcile us to God except to believe by faith in the atoning death of Yeshua the Messiah. For those who do not currently have this relationship with the living God and desire to establish it, they are only a prayer away from becoming a child of God. He is waiting! Anyone can pray right now to invite him to be the Lord of their life and change them into a new person? The prayer is so simple. It is not a magic formula, so each person can use their own words::

Dear God, I agree that I have done some wrong and I am separated from you. I desire a relationship with You, but I cannot do it on my own. I thank you for sending Yeshua the Messiah to die for me, and I accept His death and resurrection as a free gift. By faith I invite Yeshua into my heart and ask Him to be my Lord and Savior.

This is by far the most important decision that one can make for their own life. At the end of the day the question should never be, “Is the Gospel Jewish?” but “Is the Gospel the true message of salvation?” The Gospel does change you, but not from a Jew to a Gentile or a Gentile to a Jew. The Gospel changes your destination. I made that decision 37 years ago, and the re-routing was well worth it!

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October 16, 2020 By Olivier Melnick Leave a Comment

80 Years After the Warsaw Ghetto…Danger Will Robinson!

In a recent article that I wrote, I went over the results of a US survey made with the millennials and Gen Z community. The results were terrifying. One of the questions posed had to do with the ability to name a death camp or a ghetto. Incredibly, 48% of all respondents were unable to name anything, and in some states, it was as high as 60%. Historically, Auschwitz and the Warsaw ghetto are the most known names within that category, and yet half the people didn’t have a clue at all.

This month we remember that eighty years ago in October 1940, in Poland, the Warsaw Ghetto was established. But what is it exactly that we remember, for those of us who do remember? So much can be said about the Warsaw Ghetto, and so much can be learned from what happened there and how it happened. To be sure, the concept of the ghetto didn’t get invented by the Nazis to control the Jewish population, but it was simply re-introduced and “put on steroids” so to speak!

The word ghetto or geto is Italian for “foundry” which is the area where the first ghetto was organized in Venice, Italy in 1516 in the district known then as Gheto Vechio, some four hundred years before the Warsaw ghetto. The large Jewish community that had been expelled from Spain in 1492 was moving to Italy to relocate, and the Venetian community decided to keep things separated for better control. You can still visit the Venetian ghetto area to this day.

Fast forward to 1940. The Nazi Party is struggling to control the Jews. Holocaust historian and author Raul Hilberg explained that there was a progression in how the world got organized to first control and eventually get rid of its Jews, “Since the fourth century after Christ there have been three anti-Jewish policies: conversion, expulsion and annihilation. The second appeared as an alternative to the first, and the third emerged as an alternative to the second.”

While the final solution concentrated on the complete eradication of European Jewry, the institutionalization of the ghetto paved the way and helped to organize that step. Forced conversions and forced baptisms of the Jews to Christianity had been attempted for centuries and had resulted in the loss of many lives. Expulsion seemed to be a good option for those who wanted to get rid of the Jews. It had occurred in Europe on many occasions (England in 1290, Hungary in 1349 and 1360, France in 1394, Austria in 1421, Spain and Sicily in 1492, Portugal in 1497, Nuremberg in 1499, Naples in 1510 and Milan in 1597.)

But for Hitler and his Nazi murderers, expulsion didn’t yield the results expected. Things had to move further along and much faster. Ghettos started to get organized by the Nazis all over Europe as early as 1939. Jews were rounded up and sent to controlled and enclosed areas. Many smaller ghettos were started across Europe, with the first large metropolitan ghetto in Lodz in April of 1940, closely followed by the Warsaw ghetto in October of 1940. Erected brick walls and barbed wires formed new boundaries for various Jewish communities that would have to survive in their new communal prisons.

The ghettos were somewhat organized with occasional, Jewish traffic in and out of their limits, with special authorizations from the Nazis. The Jewish people did their best to maintain a semblance of communal life. Schools were organized and even synagogue services took place. But things started to deteriorate very rapidly. Food became scarce, living conditions were extremely crowded and sanitation was insufficient at best. Typhus and other infectious diseases started to plague the ghettos, and the death toll became very high. Over 43,000 people died inside the Lodz ghetto, and 76,000 within the Warsaw ghetto before the summer of 1942.

In a sense, the ghettos became clearing houses for the “final solution to the Jewish question”, a euphemism for the total destruction of the Jews of Europe. Since the Jews were not leaving fast enough and the ghettos were bulging at their seams, something else had to be done to rid the world of the “Jewish virus.” Slowly but steadily, the Nazis started to deport the Jews out of the ghettos to the death camp of Treblinka, only 50 miles away.

Two heroes of the Warsaw ghetto are worth remembering. The first one was Mordekhai Anielewicz, the young leader of the Jewish Fighting Organization (ZOB) who led the Warsaw ghetto uprising. This was the largest Jewish revolt during World War Two, which inspired others of the sort in various ghettos and camps. He is remembered as the symbol of Jewish resistance during the Holocaust.

The other hero was a Polish-Jewish historian named Emanuel Ringelblum. He managed to chronicle Jewish deportation and ghetto life. His records were preserved inside tin boxes and large metal milk cans. They were respectively recovered in 1946 and 1950 and have provided the world with over 25,000 artifacts documenting the Holocaust and life in the Warsaw ghetto. This was a priceless find made possible by the selfless desire of a Jewish man to document the horrors he had to live through. Such courage!

What will happen to this crucial part of history if the proponents of the “Cancel Culture” movement had their way? I can only imagine! But there is something that we need to come to grips with even today. I believe that even though we are not seeing the brick and mortar walls being erected with barbed wires around Jewish communities, ghetto life is lurking again. The purpose of a ghetto is to separate, ostracize and control a group of people. Could it be that the global Jewish community is being rounded-up into a virtual ghetto?

The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement is working hard at accusing Israel of apartheid, colonization and human rights abuse in an effort to ostracize the Jewish people. No physical walls are necessary, just paint the Jews into the unwanted camp.

The Campus Intifadas are indoctrinating our young people into believing that Israel murders Palestinians every day and inviting pro-Palestinian apologists to lecture on US campuses. Jews are excluded from the marketplace of ideas, ironically enough, under the guise of freedom of speech. No physical walls are necessary, just paint the Jews as the oppressor and the rest of the student body will gladly denigrate them.

The myriads of antisemitic acts all over the world are a constant reminder of the danger that Jewish people run, simply for “being Jewish” Cemeteries are being desecrated, synagogues set on fire, diatribes and libels are posted online on all social networks (even though Facebook and Twitter finally agreed to block and cancel Holocaust deniers on their platforms.) No physical walls are necessary, just accuse the Jews of the ills of the world, and the world will gladly pass judgment and inflict the verdict.

When the ghettos proved not to be enough for those who hated the Jews with every fiber of their beings, Jewish extermination became the next logical step. No “Cancel Culture” demagogue will be able to prove otherwise. Today, the Jewish people are no longer in a ghetto between four walls topped by barbed wire, but it can easily be argued that we are being ghettoized by the media, politicians, the entertainment industry and even some of the churches. I dare not imagine what’s next if indeed we do cancel culture and we let history repeat itself!

“Indifference to evil is worse than evil itself, and in a free society,
some are guilty, but all are responsible.”
Abraham Joshua Heschel

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October 9, 2020 By Olivier Melnick Leave a Comment

Choose Your Messiah But Choose Wisely…Time is Running Out!

It can be argued that the search for the Mashiach (Messiah) is as old as the Jewish people are and his identity as debated as Jewish people are opinionated. It is not debated though, that the Hebrew word mashiach carries the meaning of “anointed.” But it doesn’t exclusively describe the Mashiach with a capital M. The Tenach speaks of several people as “mashiach” as they were anointed by G-d for a specific purpose, and it doesn’t even stop with people. King David, while he was no Mashiach–after all, he was a murderer and an adulterer–was also called “a man after my own heart” by G-d Himself. But King David was a mashiach, in the sense of being anointed by G-d for a purpose. Samuel was led by G-d to select David over all of Jesse’s sons and anointed him for kingship in 1 Samuel 16:13. It carries the meaning of being “set-apart” and “empowered” for service. Jehu was anointed for kingship in 2 kings 9:6 , a stone was anointed with oil by Jacob in Genesis 28:18 and even Aaron’s priestly garments were anointed for his son’s service in Exodus 29:29. So it is clear that the word “anointed” has the same meaning, but can be used for people, things and places.

Moving forward, we need to consider the office and identity of the Mashiach with a capital M only. As I have already mentioned, the search for the Mashiach has been going for centuries. The hope that this person is supposed to bring to the world is something that has been desired by many generations and that has even brought some people to the forefront, claiming that they were the Mashiach. I certainly do not want to go over all the false messiahs that history brought us, but I would like to consider three important figures in Judaism. We can learn more about the Mashiach by looking at these three people who, one way or another, ended up–if even for a short while–with the title of Mashiach.

During the Bar Kochba Revolt (132-136 CE), famous rabbi Akiva Ben Yosef (Rabbi Akiva), who possibly was a contemporary of rabbi Gamaliel (Saul of Tarsus’ teacher) got involved in the revolt. It is difficult to say with certainty how involved he was, but within Judaism, it is agreed that rabbi Akiva declared that Bar Kochba was the promised Messiah of Israel. It was eventually proven that he had placed his messianic expectations on the wrong candidate. Bar Kochba was no Mashiach! Rabbi Akiva was a Tanna, one of the 120 known sages (Tannaim) whose thoughts are recorded in the Talmud. He was also a great student and teacher of Scripture and is credited for having greatly helped to systematize Judaism. The fact that he was wrong about Bar Kochba never warranted his dismissal as a bona fide rabbi or stripped him of his Jewishness. To this day, he is still considered as one of the most influential figures in Jewish history. This begs the question, “If rabbi Akiva was wrong about false messiah Bar Kochba, and is still respected as a rabbi AND as a Jew, why can’t a Jew who believes in Yeshua (Jesus) retain his/her Jewish identity and simply be declared wrong about their messianic choice?” Is there a double standard being applied here?

Then there was Sabattai Zvi (1626-1676), a Sephardic rabbi from Smyrna (modern day Turkey.) Sabattai Zvi was a follower of Kabballah (Jewish mysticism) and declared that he was the long-awaited Jewish Messiah. In the Zohar which is one of the main books used by kabbalistic Jews, the year 1648 was supposed to usher in the messianic age, and this might have encouraged Zvi to come forward as the Messiah. Jews have always ached for the coming of the Messiah and conditions during Sabattai Zvi’s life were very bad, especially with the Khmelnitsky pogroms responsible for the death of about 100,000 Jews in Eastern Europe. It would have been a great time for Messiah to arrive and settle things. But isn’t it always a great time for Messiah to come and settle His kingdom? Eventually, Zvi was imprisoned by the Grand Vizier and given the choice to either be killed or convert to Islam. To save his life, Sabattai Zvi converted to Islam, taking with him a section of his devout followers. Even though he has been rejected by Judaism as a false messiah, he continues to have followers in Turkey who have somewhat syncretized parts of Islam and Judaism and have become known as the Sabbateans. Sabbatai Zvi was no Mashiach!

What about the Lubavitcher Rebbe Menahem Schneerson? Rabbi Schneerson (1902-1994) was the leader of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement for four decades. Although he never claimed to be the Messiah, there are different views within the Chabad-Lubavitch Jewish sect, regarding his right to the title. Some still believe that he was the Messiah, based on a Jewish belief that in every generation there is one person who is worthy of that title, while others don’t believe that he had the right to any messianic claims. Rebbe Schneerson contributed to modern Judaism in many ways. He was recognized as a key Jewish figure by many leaders in America and abroad. He was a very pious Jew, but the Rebbe was no Mashiach!

Although not all Jews believe in a messianic age or even the coming of a Mashiach, for those of us who believe in the coming of a messianic era with a ruling Mashiach, there is one more option. Once we understand that Mashiach will bring peace on earth and redeem His people, it helps us to search for that person in the Tenach (old Testament.) First of all, we must recognize the importance and need for a Mashiach. Pious Jews would tend to agree with Maimonides “13 principles of faith”, foundational to Judaism, of which #12 states unequivocally,” I believe with perfect faith in the coming of Mashiach. Though he tarry, nonetheless, I will await him everyday, that he will come.”

In Daniel 7:13-14, we learn about one like “a Son of Man”, “I kept looking in the night visions, And behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming, And He came up to the Ancient of Days And was presented before Him. 14 “And to Him was given dominion, Glory and a kingdom, That all the peoples, nations and men of every language Might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion Which will not pass away; And His kingdom is one Which will not be destroyed. Rabbi Rashi believed that the passage spoke of King Mashiach, so did Ramban (Rabbi Nachmanides.)

In Zechariah 9:9-10, we learn about the humility of the coming Mashiach, who will ride on a donkey and bring peace to the whole world, Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; He is just and endowed with salvation, Humble, and mounted on a donkey, Even on a colt, the foal of a donkey. 10 I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim And the horse from Jerusalem; And the bow of war will be cut off. And He will speak peace to the nations; And His dominion will be from sea to sea, And from the River to the ends of the earth. Again, most prominent rabbi, Rashi agreed with the humble demeanor of the Mashiach, as he referred to Him as a poor man who will ride on the same donkey used by Abraham for the binding of Isaac. That view was also shared by rabbi Saadia Gaon. Additionally, Rashi, in his commentary on Micah 5:2, claims that Mashiach will originate from Bethlehem, “But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Too little to be among the clans of Judah, From you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago, From the days of eternity.” So do Pirke de Rabbi Eliezer and the Jerusalem Talmud.

But there is so much more that we can learn about the Mashiach of Yisrael, redeemer of mankind. The predictions about the Mashiach are also known as messianic prophecies and start as early as the 3rd chapter of Bereshit (Genesis.) Some of the most compelling ones are as follows:
• Genesis 49:10 – Mashiach will be from the seed of Judah and will come before 70 CE.
• Deuteronomy 18:15-19 – Mashiach will be a prophet like Moses.
• Isaiah 52:13-53-12 – Mashiach will be a suffering servant.
• Jeremiah 23:5-6 – Mashiach will be a king.
• Micah 5:2 – Mashiach will be born in Bethlehem.
• Zechariah 9:9-10 – Mashiach will arrive riding on a donkey.
• Psalm 16:1-11 – Mashiach must die for His people.
• Psalm 22:1-31 – Mashiach will both suffer and be exalted.
• Psalm 110:1-7 – Mashiach will be a priest after the order of Melchizedek
• Daniel 9:1-27 – Mashiach will follow a precise timetable for his First and Second Coming.

This is a lot to process and yet these are just a handful of the predictions about the Mashiach. There are so many more to be listed. We must also remember that a popular view according to Judaism is that there can be two Mashiach figures over the ages. Mashiach ben Yosef, who will come to suffer and die for his people and Mashiach ben David who will come to conquer the world and rule in peace from Jerusalem. This view has a lot of merit and fits very well with my Mashiach of choice, Yeshua of Nazareth (Jesus.) While those within my people who await the coming of the Mashiach are comfortable with the dual ben Yosef/ben David view, they are not seeing Yeshua as a fulfillment. But it really isn’t that complicated to see that Yeshua was Mashiach ben Yosef when He first came, over 2000 years ago to die for Israel and the whole world as the Lamb of G-d and the ultimate atonement for all of our sins. The story didn’t end there, because on the third day, He rose from the dead and shortly after he ascended to heaven to be at the right hand of G-d, awaiting to return. Eventually, there will be a second coming, or return of Mashiach, this time as “Mashiach ben David” to defeat Ha Satan His archenemy and to establish His messianic kingdom on earth as the Davidic King whose reign is forever (2 Sam. 7:12-16.)

Most of mankind would agree with the concept of a redeeming and ruling Mashiach. These are big shoes to fill, and many have tried unsuccessfully. There is only one true Mashiach and He is coming back soon, so choose wisely as if your eternal destiny depended on it, because guess what…it does, and the clock is ticking!

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