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THE
MESSIANIC PROPHECIES
Dialogue
between a priest and a rabbi
The
Jews refuse to recognise Jesus as the Messiah announced
by the biblical prophecies. In the summer of 1972 a
priest, "P", wanted to have a frank and direct dialogue
with the rabbi, "R", to understand the possible biblical
justification of this refusal. He took an appointment
with the rabbi and went to meet him with a group of
friends. The rabbi received them warmly. Here are the
essential points of their dialogue:
P:
There are prophecies confirming the messianic personality
of Jesus. Chapter 53 of Isaiah, for example, presents the
Messiah as misunderstood, rejected and put to death by
his own people.
R:
I know what you think of it. I don't
interpret!
P:
I am looking for an explanation, another possible
interpretation. I am searching for the truth. You see,
between Judaism and us there is a Man: this Jesus. If He
is an impostor, this group and I would ask you to become
Jews.
The
rabbi smiled and said, joking: "In this case, you should
be circumcised!"
The
priest replied: "Willingly! You can take off as much as
you want!"
R:
No, really, I do not interpret!
P:
Is it because the Jews expected, and still expect a
political, Zionist Messiah?
R:
No, really, I do not interpret! Anyway, don't forget that
Jesus, on the cross, confessed that God had abandoned
Him. Didn't he say: "Elì! Elì! lamà
sabachtani?", which means: "My God! My God! Why have you
forsaken me?" Had he been the Messiah, God would not have
forsaken him.
P:
You astonish me, mister rabbi! Yet you know well the
Bible! You know that with these words David begins his
Psalm 22, representing a righteous man persecuted by
enemies who surround him and "perforate his hands and his
feet…" and put him to death etc. Jesus refers to
this Messianic Psalm and asks us to consult it. David
didn't talk about himself, as he was neither put to death
nor did he ever have his hands and feet
perforated.
R:
I do not interpret as you do.
P:
How do you interpret? Could it be that all the Jews are
meant here? This does not fit to your understanding, as
God finally forsakes the Jews.
R:
I don't interpret.
P:
There is yet another prophecy of Micah, VIII centuries
B.C. This prophet saw the Messiah coming from Bethlehem,
specifying that He will come in the future, but "whose
origin goes back to the distant past, to the old days"
(Micah 5,1).
The
priest read this text in French in the "Jerusalem Bible"
(1955 Edition). He attracted the attention upon the fact
that the text announces the Messiah for the future, but
that his days come from the past, from the days of old
times, revealing the Messiah's divine nature. The
rabbi understood the priest's intention and, standing up
suddenly, he said nervously: "Never! What you say is
false! You Christians have falsified the Bible! I'll go
and consult the Hebrew text!".
After
few minutes, he came back, more relaxed and quite
resigned, confessing: "Well! What you have read is right.
In Hebrew there is even more".
P:
More? The priest exclaimed, wrinkling his
eyebrows.
R:
Yes, more! It is written: " whose origin go back to the
distant past, to the days of Eternity (azal) and
not to the old days". Your Bible has mistranslated the
Hebrew word "azal" which means Eternity (to note
that the French Bibles of Segond and Darby and others
translate correctly: "…to the days of
eternity").
P:
I understand, therefore, that the Hebrew Bible confirms
that I'm right, as Eternity applies only to
divinity. That's why, the prophet Isaiah, addressing
himself to God, exclaimed: "Oh, that you would tear the
heavens open and come down!" (Isaiah 63,19). God
also said through Ezekiel: "Look, I Myself shall
take care of my flock and look after it…" (Ezekiel
34,11).
R:
I do not interpret, but I congratulate you for your deep
knowledge of the Bible.
P:
Then, you will allow me to interpret according to the
events corresponding to the prophecies, but, frankly, I
would have preferred a good interpretation rather than
congratulations.
Here
the biblical dialogue stopped, then the priest added
joking: "I am not encouraged to accept circumcision, as
you have not convinced me. But would it be possible for
us to attend your Saturday prayers at the
synagogue?"
The
group was invited at the synagogue the following
Saturday.
The
Messianic prophecies
Jesus
found great difficulty in trying to convince the Jews
because they expected a different kind of Messiah. His
death shook them: they wanted a victorious military and
political Messiah. Therefore, Jesus had to appear to His
disciples after his resurrection to explain His spiritual
and universal messianism. When He appeared, on the road
to Emmaus, to two disciples, He found them sad and
disappointed; so He told them: "-You foolish men! So slow
to believe all that the prophets have said! Was it not
necessary that the Christ should suffer before entering
into His glory? Then, starting with Moses and going
through all the prophets, He explained to them the
passages throughout the Scriptures that were about
Himself" (Luke 24,25-27).
The
prophecies presented the future Messiah under three
forms: He is prophet, priest and king.
It
is difficult to reconcile these three qualities, because
priests came from Levi's tribe and kings from Jude's. As
for the prophets, they were chosen independently of their
tribal extraction. The prophecies enabling to discern the
Messiah's identity are those presenting Him rejected by
His people and put to death. We insist principally on
these and we shall present the others briefly, starting
from Moses, as Jesus did. Moses saw the Messiah as a
Prophet.
The
Messiah as Prophet
Moses
told his people:
"Yahweh
your God will raise up a prophet like me; you
will listen to him"… God told Moses: "…from
their own brothers I shall raise up a prophet
like yourself; I shall put My words into His mouth and
He will tell them everything I command Him. Anyone who
refuses to listen to My words, spoken by Him in My
name, will have to render an account to Me"
(Deuteronomy 18,15-19).
The
Jews asked John the Baptist if he were this Prophet:
"No!" he answered (John 1,21). A little bit later, the
apostle "Philip found Nathanael and said to him: we have
found him of whom Moses in the Law and the prophets
wrote: Jesus of Nazareth" (John 1,45).
After
the miracle of the bread multiplication made by Jesus
"…the people said: this is indeed the prophet
who is to come into the world" (John 6,14). Jesus said
eventually to the ones refusing to believe Him: "You have
placed your hopes on Moses, and Moses will be the one who
accuses you…since it was about me that he was
writing" (John 5,45-46).
The
Messiah as King and Priest
Many
prophecies present the Messiah as King:
God
says: "I Myself have anointed my King on Zion, my
holy mountain…Ask of Me and I shall give you the
nations as your birthright, the whole wide world as your
possession." (Psalm 2,6-8).
Yahweh
declared to my Lord: "Take your seat at my right hand,
till I have made your enemies your footstool. Yahweh will
stretch out the sceptre of your power from Zion,
you will rule your foes all around you…Yahweh has
sworn an oath He will never retract, you are a priest
for ever of the order of Melchizedek"(Psalm 110,
1-4).
After
having presented the Messiah as a king whose
sceptre of power stretches till the borders of the
earth, Psalm 110 presents Him also as a priest.
Two points are to be considered about this
Kingdom:
1.
This is not a political kingdom, but a spiritual
one. Its purpose is not a Zionist hegemony.
Jesus explained it: "My kingdom does not belong to this
world", that is to say the political world (John
18,36-37). This Kingdom is spiritual and this is the
reason why this king is also a priest, but "of the order
of Melchizedek", who was a priest and a king, and who was
not a Hebrew (Genesis 14,18-20). Saint Paul comments this
fact in his letter to the Hebrews (Chapters 5-7). That's
why the prophets declared that God rejects the Hebrew
Zionist political kingdom (1 Samuel 8,5-7 / Hosea 8,4 and
see our texts "The Drama of Jesus" and "Christians and Israel").
2.
In God's opinion, the Messianic kingdom is
universal, in the spiritual interests of all men,
and not limited to the Jews. The Messiah is the universal
king of the all the pure hearts of all races, nations and
languages, and not only of the Zionist Jews who think the
Messiah is a fanatic Zionist at the service of their
materialistic earthly interests, their political and
material advantages. In fact, God, talking of the
Messiah, "His Servant", says through the prophet Isaiah:
"It is not enough for you to be My servant to restore the
tribes of Jacob and bring back the survivors of Israel; I
shall make you a light to the nations so that My
salvation may reach the remotest parts of earth"
(Isaiah 49,6 / Acts 13,47). This Messianic Kingdom is
God's Empire on humanity, not Israel's empire.
The
Jewish priests used to offer animal sacrifices to God.
But the sacrifice offered by the Messiah was that of His
own Person for the salvation of whoever believes in Him.
In that way, He changed the concepts of sacrifices and
priesthood, thus accomplishing the prophecies announcing
Him as a priest, but according to an order and a rite
different from the Hebrew order and rites: the
order of the king-priest Melchizedek.
It
is important to underling and to explain this fact: the
Jewish priesthood was according to the order of Aaron,
the founder of the Jewish priesthood; he was the brother
of Moses. This priesthood was based on animal sacrifices
(see Exodus 28). The fact that the Messiah is announced
to come as a priest of a different order, the non-Jewish,
non-traditional order of Melchizedek, and not according
to the Jewish order of Aaron, this means a radical and
upsetting revolutionary change in the Jewish traditions.
This implies a renewal of the Jewish mentality and a new
understanding of the priesthood.
This
new "order of Melchizedek" is characterised by the "bread
and wine" Melchizedek offered to Abraham. Now, the bread
and the wine are the symbols of the Messiah's Body and
Blood offered to God as sacrifice for the salvation of
the believers: "This (the bread) is My Body…This
(the wine) is My Blood, the Blood of the New Covenant
poured out for many", Jesus told His Apostles on the eve
of his crucifixion offered as a sacrifice to God, thus
inaugurating a new priesthood (Mark 14,22-24 / Luke 22,
19-20).
But
the most unbelievable Messianic prophecies, which are
really upsetting and still misunderstood, are those
presenting the suffering Messiah, refused and put to
death by his own people:
"Who
has given credence to what we have heard…He had
no form or charm to attract us no beauty to win our
hearts…He was despised, the lowest of men, a man
of sorrows, familiar with sufferings, despised for
whom we had no regard. Yet ours were the sufferings He
was bearing…while we thought of Him as someone
being punished and struck with affliction by God. He
was being wounded for our rebellions…and we have
been healed by His bruises…having been cut off
from the land of the living, at His having been struck
dead for his people's rebellion. He was given a grave
with the wicked, and His tomb is with the rich (Jesus
was buried in the tomb of the rich Joseph of
Arimathaea: Matthew 27,57-60)… It was Yahweh's
good pleasure to crush Him with pain. If He gives His
life as a sin offering, He will see his offspring and
prolong his life (this is a prophecy about
Jesus' Resurrection), and through Him Yahweh's good
pleasure will be done. After the ordeal He has
endured, He will see the light and be content
(again Jesus' Resurrection)…" (Isaiah
53,1-12).
That
was how Isaiah saw, centuries before, the Messiah's
drama: his people's refusal, his sacrifice offered to
God, his condemnation to death with the wicked, but his
burial with the rich, and, finally, his Resurrection.
This is the nature of the Messiah's spiritual priesthood,
totally different from Aaron's.
David,
in Psalm 22, foresaw already this drama before Isaiah.
Talking about the suffering Messiah, he saw Him groaning
saying:
"My
God, My God, why have you forsaken me? … Many
bulls are encircling me…lions ravening and
roaring…a gang of villains closing in on
me…They have pierced my hands and my
feet…You lay me down in the dust of
death…".
God,
through the prophet Zechariah (VIth century B.C.),
foretold the return to the Messiah of those who have
denied Him; He said:
"Over
the House of David and inhabitants of Jerusalem (the
Jews) I shall pour out a spirit of grace and prayer,
and they will look to Me. They will mourn for the
One whom they have pierced (Jesus), as
though for an only child…" (Zechariah
12,10).
The
Book of Revelation, talking of Jesus, confirms this fact
that will take place at the end of the time allowed to
the State of Israel:
"Look,
He (Jesus) is coming…everyone will see Him,
even those who pierced Him, and all the races
of the earth will mourn over Him" (Revelation
1,7).
This
is the essential of the Messianic prophecies regarding
Jesus.
We
would appreciate different arguments than ours -should
they exist- being able to demonstrate the non-messianism
of Jesus of Nazareth. Our faith in Him is open, not
fanatically blind.
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