Messiah’s Imminent Arrival! His First or Second Appearance?

Globally, especially in Israel, both religious and secular Jews are longing for redemption.

Yet, they do not all agree on the scope of this redemption. Will it be individual, national, or both? Will it be physical, spiritual, or both? Orthodox Jews, particularly Rabbis, contend that penitence is a prerequisite to their redemption. But they differ on what constitutes repentance … to what degree or for what exactly should they repent. Most Jews simply don’t know what’s expected of them, if anything.

Tens of thousands of Messianic Jews have embraced Jesus as Messiah; they have accepted Scripture’s claim that only he can redeem individuals and nations. They believe (along with their Gentile believer counterparts) that redemption is precisely what the Bible and Jewish tradition says it is: a purchase or buy back from slavery. Which is, Biblically, first and foremost an enslavement to sin and its consequences—eternal separation from God.

It is what Webster’s Dictionary defines as: “to free from captivity by payment of ransom.”

The Bible says: “The Redeemer will come to Jerusalem to buy back those in Israel who have turned from their sins, says the Lord” (Isaiah 59:20).

The major premise of this article is compressed in the verse just quoted: Isaiah is referring to the initial appearance of Messiah for individual salvation; but also his return to accomplish Israel’s national redemption.

Contrasting the Old Covenant of the Law to the New Covenant of Grace, we read:

“…For the gifts and sacrifices that the priests offer are not able to cleanse the consciences of the people who bring them. For that old system deals only with food and drink and various cleansing ceremonies—physical regulations that were in effect only until a better system could be established. So Christ has now become the High Priest over all the good things that have come. He has entered that greater, more perfect Tabernacle in heaven, which was not made by human hands and is not part of the created world. With his own blood—not the blood of goats and calves—he entered the Most Holy Place once for all time and secured our redemption forever” (Hebrews 9:9-12, italics for emphasis).

Many Jews see redemption almost entirely from a more secular meaning of the concept:

“To free from what distresses or harms; to extricate from or help to overcome something detrimental; to change for the better; to get or win back.” (Webster’s Dictionary).

Thus, redemption to them means freedom from the constant distress and brutal harm from Palestinian terrorist attacks. They long for peace to overcome and replace the incessant detrimental threats of entire Muslim nations seeking Israel’s annihilation. They seek to exchange the relentless BDS actions against them for a better life of personal and national well-being and security. Some want to get back all of the land that has been given to them by God, himself, some 4000 years ago—the entire Promised Land of Israel, including but not limited to Judea and Samaria (the West Bank).

Messianic Fervor at a Fever Pitch

There is one common dream, one prevailing hope, one unified passion: Messiah will ultimately redeem Israel and Jews the world over. And the time is near … so very near.

As touched on often in Eye of Prophecy articles, such as Great Expectations for Messiah (posted 8-8-15) and Amazing Anticipation for Messiah (8-29-15), the level of expectancy for Messiah’s arrival has never been so intense since before the turn of the first century—when time itself was changed from B.C. to A.D.

From an article in Breaking Israel News posted by Rivkah Lambert Adler on 6-20-16, we read a quote from Orthodox Rabbi Pinchas Winston:

“Today, it is so much easier than, let’s say, 10 years ago, to want Moshiach (messiah) to come, because things are out of control… If you step back and look at all the events of history, everything is so ‘Armageddon-ish.’ It’s actually quite bad. The world is actually tremendously unstable.”

*Note: At least for me, it’s of no small interest that the Rabbi would even mention Armageddon. Why? Although reference to Megiddo Valley is found in the Old Testament (Zechariah 12:11, which will be quoted in just a moment), Armageddon (Har Megiddo … literally Mount Megiddo) is found only in the New Testament, which non-Messianic Jews do not consider on par with their Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament) or consider much at all! I have been to Megiddo in Israel. It is a vast valley overlooked by a fairly steep and prominent hill.

“And the demonic spirits gathered all the rulers and their armies to a place with the Hebrew name Armageddon” (Revelation 16:16, italics already in the text).

Listen to what Rabbi Winston says about the Messiah.

“And now we’re approaching the Final Redemption. Without question. Moshiach is around the corner… Without question he’s here already. I don’t know how old he is, where he’s sitting, what he’s doing, what he’s learning. But he’s here. He’s not going to be born tomorrow. We’re just too close to the end. Way too close to the end. He has to be here right now!”

Rabbi Winston is not alone in his enthusiastic expectations. Several other Rabbis have made equally strong statements that Messiah is already here … he just hasn’t shown himself yet. Such as Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky’s words to a grieving father whose son had just died. Said Rabbi Kanievsky:

“The redemption is closer than ever … Don’t be sad. The Messiah is already here. He will reveal himself very soon and your son will see his children again.”

(Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, Lower Portion of Photo)

Just a few months ago, a group of rabbis led by Rabbi Yosef Berger—one of the rabbis with administrative charge over King David’s Tomb in Jerusalem—completed a Torah Scroll to present to Messiah upon his arrival. Before the project was completed, another prominent Rabbi, David Hai Abuhatzeira, told those working on the scroll:

“Write the Sefer Torah as fast as possible, you don’t have much time! … I hope you have a chance to finish!”

What Will Happen When Messiah Does Arrive?

Indeed, there will be great joy when Messiah appears, not just with the Jews but with all the surviving tribulation saints who are on the brink of Armageddon-ish destruction.

Sadly, before the rejoicing, there will be great sorrow and mourning throughout Israel and with Jews globally. I’ve sometimes quoted the following verses and will cite them again, because it is a passage that you seldom hear or see quoted by Jews, especially the Orthodox among them. It is one of several Messianic passages in the Old Testament that Judaism unfortunately ignores or tries to explain away. See Eye of Prophecy articles, Does God Really Have a Son, Part I & II (published 10-31-15 & 11-7-15) for some of these key passages.

When reading the following passage, pay special attention to the personal pronouns. The context is clearly the very last days just before and during Messiah’s magnificent appearance. Actually, his return; which is, as indicated, the main emphasis of today’s article … reappearance versus appearance.

“Then I will pour out a spirit of grace and prayer on the family of David, and on the people of Jerusalem. They will look on me whom they have pierced and mourn for him as for an only son. They will grieve bitterly for him as for a firstborn son who has died. The sorrow and mourning in Jerusalem on that day will be like the great mourning for Hadad-rimmon in the valley of Megiddo. All Israel will mourn…” (Zechariah 12:10-12).

Messiah is speaking, and he tells Israel that they will, “look on me whom they have pierced.” Then switches to the 2^nd person and states, “…and mourn for him…”

The piercing was literally fulfilled when the Romans cruelly staked Jesus to a cross with spikes driven into his wrists and feet—a form of execution not yet invented (at least not like the Romans “perfected” it) when Zechariah made this prophecy.

Considering the anxious anticipation and eager expectation for Messiah and the wonderful things he will do to restore and redeem Israel, why on earth would Israel mourn when they first see him? If the Jews are right that this will be Messiah’s initial appearance, what then would produce such great sorrow, before their joy of being delivered from their enemies?

The text is explicitly clear: They will recognize that it was Jesus all along who was and is their Messiah. Their personal redemption had been purchased long ago, which is why they will mourn for him individually and separately (see the rest of Zechariah 12). Grief will flow from their (and their ancestor’s) rejection of Messiah and their decision to ignore the New Covenant that Isaiah and Jeremiah had promised would come.

(Mourning and Grief Will Be Much Greater Than Portrayed in This Photo)

However, in light of the remarkable events taking place in the 20^th and 21^st century, the rabbis are right about the imminent appearance of Messiah. Please see, Look up, Redemption is Near, I & II, (posted 7-11 & 7-18-15) for a list of twelve of these Biblically predicted indicators.

The rabbis are also correct that Messiah is alive today!

But they are incorrect that he is now on the earth, or that he is a man born in the generation of the last days. They are mistaken that this will be Messiah’s first appearance. As clearly clarified in Isaiah Chapter 53, they are also regrettably wrong that Messiah cannot be both the suffering servant Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world and also the Lion from the Tribe of Judah who will return it great glory and power to save the Jews, indeed the entire world from extinction.

Jesus is Messiah! Our Redeemer lives! But he’s in heaven waiting to return any day to the earth.

Remember King David’s amazing disclosure when he refers to The Lord (God the Father) speaking to David’s Lord (God the Son): “The Lord said to my Lord, ‘Sit in the place of honor at my right hand until I humble your enemies, making them a footstool under your feet’” (Psalm 110:1). See also Psalm 2 that speaks of “God’s royal son.”

David continues, “The Lord has taken an oath and will not break his vow; ‘You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek’” (Verse 4).

The, “you,” is the other Lord, David’s Lord, who is God’s Son spoken about in Psalm 2. When God says, “Sit in the place of honor at my right hand…” the syntax and contextual meaning is crystal clear: The sitting or resting at God’s right hand is a result of something stupendous that David’s Lord had already accomplished.

Hundreds of Old Testament and New Testament passages tell us exactly what Messiah (Jesus) would achieve. He would be both High Priest and King (after the order of Melchizedek). Even more: The Son of God, himself, would be the once for all sacrificial Lamb of God.

“For God’s will was for us to be made holy (called out and set apart) by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all time … But our High Priest offered himself to God as a single sacrifice for sins, good for all time. Then he sat down in the place of honor at God’s right hand. There he waits until his enemies are humbled and made a footstool under his feet” (Hebrews 10:10-13).

Tragically, most Jews and also many (more) Gentiles either reject or ignore the indisputable historical evidence that Jesus of Nazareth fulfilled dozens of specific Old Testament prophecies about the coming Messiah. He was seen by at least five hundred people after his resurrection from the dead (I Corinthians 15). Several witnessed his physical return to heaven (Acts 1).

Many other Gentiles allow the historical record that Jesus was born in Bethlehem (his place of birth also prophesied … Micah 5:2) and even concede the fact that he arose from the dead; but they stop short of accepting the reason he was born and the reason he was crucified. They do not personally acknowledge him as God’s Messiah Savior, the Son of God who claimed to be the only way of salvation, the only way to God (John 14:6).

Thanks be to God: There are millions on this planet (including me) who have been redeemed by the blood of Christ Jesus. For one reason only: We simply believed in Jesus and received the amazing grace of God’s gift of the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Messiah Jesus as our Savior to forgive our sins and pardon the penalty of those sins. Instead of eternal separation from God, we now have a God-given guarantee of everlasting life in heaven.

Jewish (and Gentile) Denial that Messiah Arrived at the Appointed Time in History

Most of the religious Jewish leaders of Jesus’s time refused to believe the evidence in front of them. Nor did they make any effort to match the timing of Jesus’s birth and years later his triumphant entry into Jerusalem (Palm Sunday) followed shortly by his death and resurrection, with their Scriptures.

We’re going to take another look at one of those Scriptures. One that is the most definitive prophecy in the Bible with regard to the appointed time for Messiah to arrive on earth—precisely when the prophet said he would. A passage so conclusive in its prediction and subsequent fulfillment, that to deny or ignore it would have to be an uninformed but also deliberate effort to dispute the very truth of it. I am referring to the first advent of Messiah Jesus.

In today’s Part I article we have already and will continue to emphasize that Jesus is the Messiah and that he has already arrived (the first time). Hence, the emphasis will be geared more so toward Jewish refusal or at least reluctance to believe and receive their own Scriptures.

Next week’s article will concentrate on the extraordinary evidence as presented in the second part of this passage—the ruler who would arise (Antichrist) was none other than the Roman Emperor Nero. That he, too, will return (from the Abyss … Revelation 17:8); meaning that the Antichrist cannot be born in the generation of the Rapture and Tribulation to immediately follow, which I firmly believe is our generation. Like Christ, his counterfeit imposter will not be a modern-day born man.

Here, an important distinction needs to be made: The misapplication or misunderstanding of this passage (and a few other passages on the Antichrist, but especially the one that I’m about to quote) is unfortunate. However, this mistaken interpretation doesn’t have the serious impact or consequences that failure to recognize the fact that Messiah has already arrived has had on the majority of Jews (also Gentiles) and on Judaism itself. Although the Antichrist portion of this passage is not a matter of eternal life or death right now; it is still important to get right. Because if you’re left behind at the Rapture, you won’t be nearly as amazed as the rest of world when they see a Roman Emperor return from the grave.

On the other hand, it will be a matter of their eternal destiny if those left behind choose Nero over Messiah Jesus as savior.

Whether you’ve heard or read it directly from Scripture or from a prior Eye of Prophecy article or from my book, Out of the Abyss; or from other books or articles, or not at all, here is the stunning prophecy given to the prophet Daniel by the archangel Gabriel on direct orders from God:

“Now listen and understand! Seven sets of seven plus sixty-two sets of seven will pass from the time the command is given to rebuild Jerusalem until a ruler—the Anointed One—comes. Jerusalem will be rebuilt with streets and strong defenses, despite the perilous times. After this period of sixty-two sets of seven, the Anointed One will be killed, appearing to have accomplished nothing, and a ruler will arise whose armies will destroy the city and the Temple…” (Daniel 9:25-26).

First, a comment on the second sentence of this passage before we examine the fabulous feature of this prophecy that predicts the actual time (dates) when the Messiah would come.

That Jerusalem would be rebuilt with streets and strong defenses, despite the perilous times, took place progressively after the Jews returned from Babylonian conquest and captivity. The rebuilding included the Temple, then the walls of Jerusalem, and eventually the entire infrastructure of Jerusalem. By the time that Jesus was born, the Romans had taken control of Israel. Although the Jews were subjects in the Roman Empire, the Romans provided them with protection from other potential enemies. Some Jews were also Roman citizens, including the Apostle Paul. The fact is that Jerusalem was a well-fortified city when this prophecy came to pass.

The Actual Time Lapse of the Sixty-nine Sets of Seven (483 years)

Four Hundred, Eighty-Three years would, “pass from the time the command is given to rebuild Jerusalem until a ruler—the Anointed One—comes.”

At this point, I would like to provide some excerpts from my Eye of Prophecy article entitled, An Incredible Time-Lapse Prophecy, posted 1-18-14. That article immediately preceded and prepared the way for a trilogy of articles called Seven Times Seven (to the 4^th Power), I, II, & III (published 1-25, 2-1, 2-8-14). Those articles contained a stunning disclosure from Leviticus Chapter 26; also concerning a specified prophetic time-lapse, but pertaining to Times of the Gentiles—the precise amount of time that Israel would be under Gentile domination which ended in 1967. That illumination was similar in principle to that of Sir Robert Anderson’s disclosed application of Daniel’s prophecy about the coming Messiah in his book, The Coming Prince.

In italics from An Incredible Time-Lapse Prophecy:

At the outset it is vitally important to distinguish the command to rebuild Jerusalem (starting with the walls of the holy city) from another edict/command issued by a totally different ruler to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem. It was the Persian King Cyrus who issued the decree in 538 BC for the Jews to return from their Babylonian captivity and rebuild their holy Temple. In fact restoration of the Temple began a few years later and was completed in 516 BC, 70 years after Israel was conquered and exiled to Babylon, i.e. the 70-year prophesied captivity. Some Bible scholars erroneously selected Cyrus’s edict as the beginning point of Daniel’s 483-year prophecy. They mistakenly assumed that the prophetic words of Daniel’s prophecy (rebuild Jerusalem) also applied to the Temple. But, prophetically and historically we can now clearly see that the rebuilt Temple and rebuilt walls of Jerusalem were two distinct events separated by nearly 100 hundred years.

Once again notice that Daniel’s prophecy is referring exclusively to the rebuilding of Jerusalem. The specifics of his prediction came to pass generations later, through another decree; this time given by another Persian King Artaxerxes Longimanus to Nehemiah in 445 BC. The Old Testament book of Nehemiah contains the records/history of the edict and renovation of the walls.

The Anointed One is none other than the Messiah; in fact, many Bible translations actually use the term Messiah in Daniel 9:25 (Messiah means Anointed or Chosen One). Yet, Messiah Jesus was on this earth for some 33 years, so what aspect (time-frame) of his life do we select as the year/time when he would come (to the earth)? His birth, passing into Jewish adulthood (age 13), beginning of his ministry, his crucifixion, his resurrection? Answer: none of the above. The moment in time to identify the passage of 483 years can be none other than Palm Sunday, a week before his crucifixion. Why? That is the precise time when Jesus allowed others to recognize and worship him as the Messiah, which is the specific fulfillment of Daniel’s prophecy. Prior to his heralded ride into Jerusalem, he had discouraged even his disciples from publicly hailing him as Messiah. Why?

It wasn’t the right time yet. The time chosen by God long before was to synchronize and confirm his very identity as Messiah (Son of God) with his ultimate mission of purchasing our redemption through his death, burial, and resurrection. As indicated, Palm Sunday and Resurrection Sunday occurred in consecutive weeks. Nearly all Bible scholars agree that the accolades from thousands of people given to Christ as he rode into Jerusalem on a donkey (historically kings would ride into a city on a donkey if the king was coming in peace … a horse if the king was coming to conquer) demonstrated public acknowledgment that he was Messiah.

In 1894, a Scotland Yard Detective, Robert Anderson, who was also an ardent student of the Bible, especially prophecy, published his book called, The Coming Prince. Through extensive study and research, he corrected and clarified previous applications of Daniel’s prophecy from such notables as Sir Isaac Newton … one of the greatest scientist of all times, but also a Christian who studied Biblical prophecies extensively. We simply can’t do justice to Sir Robert Anderson’s book in one article; therefore, we will briefly examine the two most important discoveries by him (which are really disclosures and discernment given to him by the Lord).

• Correct Application of Biblical Years: Simply stated, every Jewish month consists of 30 days (based on the moon’s phases); therefore, every year contains 360 days, not 365 days that we use on the Julian or Roman calendar. Biblical months/years are based on the Jewish calendar. The Roman calendar came along thousands of years after the Jewish calendar. Time doesn’t permit explanation as to why we use the Roman calendar, except to say that Sir Robert Anderson fully realized the necessity of converting Julian years to Jewish years if he or anyone could accurately correlate precise dates in Biblical and secular history …. Days, months, years.

• Pinpoint Identification of Exact Dates, via Meticulous Investigation of Historical Records: Once again, time/space prohibits extensive review of what he found, so I will highly condense his amazing discovery: Sir Robert Anderson calculated (with partial assistance from the Royal Observatory, Greenwich) the Julian date of King Artaxerxes edict to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem to have been March 14th, 445 BC. Furthermore, the Julian date for Jesus’s magnificent ride into Jerusalem was April 6th, 32 AD. By employing the Hebrew calendar, Sir Robert Anderson tallied 173,880 days had elapsed which is exactly 483 Jewish years!! Absolutely astounding! I repeat for emphasis: Incredible!!

(End of excerpts)

Two Main Reasons Why Jesus Was Rejected as Messiah and therefore Crucified for claiming to be Messiah (before the Temple Was Destroyed)

Wrote the Apostle John about Jesus: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1, Complete Jewish Bible).

Then, “He came to his own homeland, yet his own people did not receive him. But to as many as did receive him, to those who put their trust in his person and power, he gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12, Complete Jewish Bible).

First Reason: Although there was increasing awareness and fervor that Messiah’s time had come, both the Jewish religious leaders and nearly all of the common people expected (wanted) a Messiah who would arrive as a victorious king to deliver them from Roman oppression, to unify Israel, and restore the glory that began with King David and the successive dynasty of kings that ended when Babylon conquered Judah, the southern kingdom. They could not and would not recognize someone of less than noble birth—a carpenter from Nazareth, despite the power of the truth that he told and miracles that he performed.

They saw no purpose in the sacrificial death of anyone, particularly someone who claimed to be the Son of God … no matter that Jesus proved that claim by rising from the dead. After all, the Law of Moses was enough even though they didn’t and couldn’t keep it, and had been disciplined by the Lord through subjugation by Gentile nations for that very reason.

Second Reason: Some Jews like Simeon and Anna (Luke Chapter 2) and even some Gentiles—like the Magi who obviously had studied Daniel’s prophecy or they wouldn’t have traveled hundreds of miles to bear gifts to the Christ child—knew that it was time for Messiah to come. Whether the Jewish scribes and religious leaders had figured out Daniel’s prophecy and chose to ignore it, or whether they hadn’t even bothered to look more closely at the prophecy is anybody’s guess.

However, I’m convinced that at least some of them knew the prophecy, but simply dismissed out-of-hand the possibility that Jesus was the Messiah—mostly because the truth he spoke and the miracles he performed were jeopardizing their authority over the common people. I say this because of the previously quoted verse that they, “did not receive him.” In other words, this was a deliberate rejection of Jesus as Messiah and Savior despite the crystal clear evidence. As was their denial that Jesus was the prophet foretold by God through Moses who would mediate a New Covenant later announced by Jeremiah.

Moses writes: “Then the Lord said to me … ‘I will raise up a prophet like you from among their fellow Israelites. I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell the people everything I command him. I will personally deal with anyone who will not listen to the messages the prophet proclaims on my behalf” (Deuteronomy 18:18-19).

(Jesus Reading from Isaiah Chapter 61, as Recorded in Luke Chapter 4. His First Announcement That He Came to Fulfill the Messianic Prophecies)

Said Jesus to the Jewish religious leaders: “I tell you the truth, those who listen to my message and believe in God who sent me have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins, but they have already passed from death into life” (John 5:24).

Then later to those same leaders, Jesus proclaimed:

“In fact you sent investigators to listen to John the Baptist, and his testimony about me was true. Of course, I have no need of human witnesses, but I say these things so you might be saved … But I have a greater witness than John—my teachings and my miracles. The Father gave me these works to accomplish, and they prove that he sent me. And the Father who sent me has testified about me himself. You have never heard his voice or seen him face to face, and you do not have his message in your hearts, because you do not believe me—the one he sent to you. You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point to me! Yet you refuse to come to me to receive this life” (John 5:33-40).

Jesus concluded with more astonishing words: “Yet it isn’t I who will accuse you before the Father. Moses will accuse you! Yes, Moses, in whom you put your hopes. If you really believed Moses, you would believe me, because he wrote about me. But since you don’t believe what he wrote, how will you believe what I say?” (Verses 45-47).

Not just Moses, or Isaiah, or Jeremiah, or Ezekiel, but also Daniel. The religious leaders rejected Jesus because they refused to objectively and comparatively match these and other prophets—particularly Micah (a ruler of Israel would come, born in Bethlehem whose origin is from the distant past) and Zechariah (riding on a donkey into Jerusalem) and Daniel—to Jesus’s birth, life … to all he said and did.

A cursory math calculation of Daniel’s prophecy would have matched the prophetic dates to their time; the very time that Jesus of Nazareth was restoring the sight of the blind, healing the crippled and the terminally ill, setting aside the laws of physics (walking on water), casting out demons like no one had ever done before, and raising people from the dead!

Even more specifically: The very time that he entered Jerusalem on a donkey (Zechariah’s prophecy, Chapter 9) which was also the time-lapse fulfillment of Daniel’s prophecy.

He was the prophet spoken of by Moses. Which is why Jesus said that Moses would condemn them (for their unbelief). Many Messianic prophecies were being fulfilled before their very eyes. Yet, Daniel’s prophecy alone takes away all excuses and arguments against Jesus as Messiah.

Even Less Excuse after Jesus Was Killed and the Temple Destroyed

After this period of 483 years, “…the Anointed One will be killed, appearing to have accomplished nothing, and a ruler will arise whose armies will destroy the city and the Temple…” (Daniel 9:26)

(Depiction of Roman Legions Destroying the Second Temple)

Daniel’s prophecy is unambiguously clear: The Messiah would appear before the destruction of the Temple, which took place in 70 AD. And that’s exactly what occurred … Jesus birth, life, death, and resurrection some 40 years before the Romans sacked Jerusalem, which irrefutably validates the accuracy of Daniel’s prophecy.

Whereas, the religious leaders and people of Jesus’s time scorned him for the reasons given thus far—most prominent of which was ignoring the plain evidence for the time of Messiah’s appearance and marginalizing or outright rejecting his teachings and miracles—all those who deny that he is Messiah after the Temple was destroyed have no grounds whatsoever to refute the Messiahship of Jesus.

Why?

Because they have the 20/20 hindsight of history, right up to the present day. The Messiah would come at the end of 483 years, exactly when Jesus rode on a donkey into Jerusalem … hailed by the people as the Son of David, the Messiah.

Then the Messiah would be killed BEFORE the Temple was destroyed by the armies of a ruler who would arise (shortly) AFTER Messiah arrived and was killed.

According to the time-line of Daniel’s prophecy, there is no way that the Messiah could (first advent) arrive on the scene of history AFTER the Temple was destroyed.

As Zola Levitt, a well-known Messianic Jew used to say: “And that’s all there is to that.”

Don’t miss next week’s article. Although there are other passages to show that the Roman Emperor Nero is Antichrist, we’ll concentrate on this same text in Daniel and its historical fulfilment to prove that the Antichrist has already been revealed and will also return (reappear) to the earth. Only to meet his final fate at the hands of the true Messiah, when Jesus returns!

Things to Ponder

The Lord calls Israel his special possession and the Jews his chosen people. He loves them with an everlasting love. So do I, and so should everyone who cares at all about the Jewish Messiah, Jesus.

Listen to the Jewish Apostle Paul, a devout Pharisee before the risen Christ changed his heart and his destiny.

Speaking specifically to Roman Gentile Christians, he writes: “I want you to understand this mystery … so that you will not feel proud about yourselves. Some of the people of Israel have hard hearts, but this will last only until the full number of Gentiles come to Christ. And so all Israel will be saved…” (Romans 11:25-26).

There are dozens of Old Testament prophecies and New Testament fulfillment of those predictions to conclusively confirm that Jesus is the Messiah. Yet, if I were a Jew truly seeking the truth about redemption and the Redeemer, the spectacular prophecy of Daniel 9 would be more than enough to convince me that Jesus was and is the promised One.

Jew or Gentile, what about you?

Hear the prophetic voice of Messiah:

“And now the Lord speaks—the one who formed me in my mother’s womb to be his servant, who commissioned me to bring Israel back to him. The Lord has honored me, and my God has given me strength. He says, ‘You will do more than restore the people of Israel to me. I will make you a light to the Gentiles, and you will bring my salvation to the ends of the earth’” (Isaiah 49:5-6).

Thousands upon thousands of Jews and millions upon millions of Gentiles down through the centuries have experienced the light of salvation directly from the Gospel (Good News) of Jesus Christ. Which is: “…Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said” (I Corinthians 15:3-4).

No other man in history has or will ever do what Messiah Jesus has done for me and for you!

He loves you. He gave his all for you. If you haven’t already, give Him your heart.

Call upon the Lord and you will be saved!

(Please take a couple more minutes to listen to this beautiful song written by Michael Card, sung by Amy Grant. With some stunning visuals from the movies, The Ten Commandments & The Passion of the Christ. El Shaddai means Almighty God. El Elyon, in the song, means Most High God)