Judaism and Christianity, the Messiah, the Christ

Judaism is the cradle of the three great Western monotheistic Religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

- Judaism is based in the Old Testament of the Bible, the main Holy Scripture of Judaism, Judaism Holy Scriptures
- Christianity is based in the Old Testament and the New Testament of the Bible Christianity Holy Scriptures

    1- Christianity: God promised to Abraham through Isaac two things:
    1- descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky (Gen.22:!7).. and it happened!, with the 2.1 billion Christians today, and still growing.
    2- and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, and it did happened!, with Jesus the Messiah, the Christ.

"I swear by myself, declares the LORD, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, 18 and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me." (Gen.22:16-18).
    - The Work of Jesus on earth
    - The Messiah: The Rabbinic Two-Messiah Theory.
    - Peace: No Wars!... No Peace?... No Messiah?
    - The Immanuel: God with us, eternal work of the Immanuel
    - Redemption of the Immanuel: Redemption of the Immanuel, the five hymns of the 'Suffering Servant'.
    - Second Coming of the Messiah
    - The Remnant
    - Isaiah: Quick survey, Messianic Isaiah in Three Parts.

    2- Islam: God promised to Abraham through Ishmael another two things:
        1- I will so increase your descendants that they will be too numerous to count. (Gen16:10) and so it happened! with the 1 billion Muslims today, and still counting.
        2- Ishmael...12 He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone's hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers." (Gen.16:12) ... and it did happened! with the history of wars of Islam.. and even today with the terrorism

9 Then the angel of the LORD told her, "Go back to your mistress and submit to her." 10 The angel added, "I will so increase your descendants that they will be too numerous to count."
11 The angel of the LORD also said to her: "You are now with child and you will have a son. You shall name him Ishmael, for the LORD has heard of your misery.
12 He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone's hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers." (Gen.16:10-12)

   - History of Islam
    - The Holy War (a Jihad), Islamic Reason for the "Holy War"
    - Islam Terrorist Groups

1- Two kinds of Judaism:
        1- Judaism "before Christ": Centered in the Altar, with sacrifices, priests, Temple... the Judaism of Abraham, Moses, David, Isaiah, Jesus...
        2- Judaism "after Christ": "Rabbinic Judaism", centered in the Synagogue, with rabbis (teachers), but no Altar, nor sacrifices, nor priests, nor Temple... today's Judaism.
    The Torah is the most sacred book of Judaism today, and dedicates 27 full chapters to the Altar, sacrifices, and priests (Ex.25-40, Lev.1-6, 23-25, Num.28-29)... plus Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob spent a good time of their lives erecting altars and offering sacrifices... and now, all of them are "obsolete" for today's Rabbinic Judaism... If Abraham or Moses would come today to New York or Israel they would not recognize Judaism!... without altar? no sacrifice? no priests?
    The Scriptures are really being fulfilled to the letter: The Altar, Temple, sacrifices, and priests, will be abolished after the coming of the Messiah (Daniel 8:11, 9:27, 11:31, 12:11). Judaism
    Temple and Synagogue: The difference between "Temple" and "Synagogue":
    - In the "Temple" God is present in the Ark of the Covenant. In Christianity, in the Tabernacle.
    - "Synagogue" means "hall of meetings", to meet and teach and pray, but God is not present, there is no Ark of the Covenant, nor Tabernacle in Christianity. The Synagogue and the Temple

2-Two kinds of Christianity:
1- "Christianity with Sacrifice": Centered in the Altar, with priests, Temple, and the only sacrifice of the "Lamb of God" in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. It is mainly represented by Catholics, Orthodox and some Protestants.
2- "Christianity without Sacrifice": Centered in the Synagogue ("hall of meeting"), with pastors (teachers and preachers), but no Altar, no sacrifice, no priests, no Temple. Represented by many Protestants.

4- THE "MESSIAH" ("the CHRIST" in Greek):

The "Messiah" is an idea and hope that runs through every page of the Holy Scriptures of Judaism... with 300 prophecies about his "First Coming", and 500 about his "Second Coming"... announcing his character, his time of coming, the type and details of his church... and the Messiah is the core of the heart of every Jew... He was promised to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David... he shall save Israel and the whole world!...

The Messiah hope with the Sabbath have been two important reasons for the perseverance of the Jews in the middle of so many trials and tribulations for centuries.

- There have been many who claimed to be the Messiah... the one who "will establish the throne of God's Kingdom for ever" (Psa.12).

Jesus of Nazareth

    Jesus of Nazareth was one of those who claimed to be the Messiah... racially and religiously Jesus was born, lived, and died a loyal Jew. He at all times observed the Jewish religious ceremonies rigorously. His first commandment was a direct quotation of the "Shema", in Debt.6: "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength" (Mar.12:29-30).

    Without any question, Jesus is the most famous and influential person in the history of the human race... He never wrote a book, but millions of books have been written on him... He owned no property, won no medals, never held any political or religious office, commanded no army... Yet no person in history has had such an influence on the human race. Even the present year is dated from his birth.

    He said that he had come not to destroy, but to fulfill the Jewish Laws. He announced his purpose in Luk.4 with the words of Is.61:1-2: "The Lord anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind.

Jesus' reception:

His life was a stormy one: The multitudes flocked to him, and many of them acknowledge him as the Son of God and the long-awaited Messiah (Christ). But the powerful forces in the Jewish congregation, Pharisees and Sadducees, jealous of his popularity, incensed by his denunciation of some of them, and bitterly critical of his disregard for formalism, his willingness to violate some of the minor laws, and very specially for his heretical claim that he was the Son of God, the Messiah, repudiated him, and conspired to kill him... their final conspiracy was not after doing something bad, but after resurrecting a 4 days death, Lazarus! (Jn.12)... they were blind!, they could not see that he was really God... and eventually they saw him crucified, fulfilling the scriptures, as he had announced 3 times before... and after learning of his resurrection, they persecuted his followers!...

In the Jewish Scriptures there are at least 300 prophecies about his "First Coming" as a "suffering Servant", and 500 about his "Second Coming" in glory... This is the reason why some rabies were proposing a Two-Messiah Theory. The Messiah: The Rabbinic Two-Messiah Theory.

300 Prophecies, about the First Coming of Messiah made in the Old Testament (the Tanakh), were fulfilled to the letter in "Jesus of Nazareth"... announcing his character, his time of coming, the type and details of his church... and the Messiah is the core of the heart of every Jew... He was promised to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David... he shall save Israel and the whole world!...

HERE ARE SOME OF THEM:

- The "seed of a woman": Gen.3:15, Gal.4:4.
- Descendent of Abraham: Gen.12:3, Matt.1:1.
- Descendent of Isaac: Gen.17:19, Luc.3:34.
- Descendent of Jacob: Num.24:17, Matt.1:2.
- From the Tribe of Judah: Gen.49:10, Luc.3:33.
- Hair of the Throne of David: Is.9:7, Luk.1:32.
- Anointed and eternal: Ps.45:6-7, Heb.1:8-12.
- Born in Bethlehem: Mic.5:2, Luc.2-7.
- To be born of a Virgin: Is.7:14, Matt.1, Luk.1.
- Time of his birth and death: Dan.9:25, Luk.2:1:

Doing the proper computations, the Messiah was supposed to die on April 3, of the year 33 AC: (Open Bible pag.833,)...

- Slaughter of the Innocent children: Jer.31:15, Matt.2:16-18.
- Flight to Egypt: Hos.11:1, Matt.2:14-15.
- He shall be called a Nazarene: Judg.13:5, Matt.2:23.
- The way prepared by John the Baptist: Is.40:3,5, Luk.3:3-6.
- Preceded by a forerunner: Mal.3:1, Luk.7:24-27.
- Preceded by Elijah: Mal.4:5-6, Matt.11:13-14.
- Declared the Son of God: Ps.2:7, Matt.3:17.
- Galilean Ministry: Is.9:1-2, Matt.4:13-16.
- Speaks in Parables: Ps.78:2-4, Matt.13:34-35.
- A Prophet: Dam.18:15, Acts 3:20-22.
- To bind up the brokenhearted: Is.61:1-2, Luk.4:18-19.
- Rejected by his own people, the Jews: Is.53:3, John 1:11.
- Priest after the Order of Melchizedek: Ps.110:4, Heb.5:5-6.
- Triumphal entry in Jerusalem on a donkey: Zech.9:9, Mark 11:7-9.
- Entry through the "Golden Gate", that shall be shut for ever after his entrance: Ex.44:1-2, Mark 11:7-9. When you go to Jerusalem look at the Golden Gate, it is shut with stone and cement, and with e Muslim cemetery in its front, through which a Jewish Messiah will never pass.
- Adored by infants: Ps.8:2, Matt.21:15--16.
- Not believed: Is.53:1, John 12:37.
- Betrayed for 30 pieces of silver: Zech.11:12, Matt.26:14-15.
- Accused by false witnesses: Ps.35:11, Mk.14:57.
- Silent to accusations: Is.53:7, Mk.15:4-5.
- Spat and struck: Is.50:6, Matt.26:67.
- Hated without reason: Ps.35:19, Jn.15:24-25.
- Vicarious Sacrifice: Is.53:5, Rom.5:6-8.
- Crucified, "pierced through hands and feet": Zech.12:10, Ps.22:17, Jn.20:27.
- Crucified with malefactors: Is.53:12, Mk.15:27,28.
- Soldiers gambled for his clothing: Ps.22:17, Matt.27:46.
- No bones broken: Ps.34:20, Jn.19:32-36.
- His side pierced: Zech.12:10, Jn.19:34.
- Buried with the rich: Is.53:9, Matt.27:57-60.
- To be resurrected: Ps.16:10, 49:15, Mk.16:6-7.
- Ascension to Heaven: Ps.68:18, Mk.16:19.

Genealogy of Jesus... Toledot Jeshu: Life of Jesus, Genealogy of Jesus...the Devastating Hebrew Book

Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah:

    It is puzzling to consider why some Jews do not recognize Jesus as the long promised and awaited Messiah, with so many prophecies of the Scriptures fulfilled to the letter in Jesus.

    One reason, already mentioned, is that the Scriptures make 300 prophecies of the "First Coming of the Messiah", as the suffering servant of Is.53, but make 500 prophecies about the "Second Coming of the Messiah", the triumphal King of Zach.14... to the point that some rabbis talk about two Messiah... and for most Jews, the "triumphant one" is the Messiah they were expecting, and they still are.

    The Jews did not kill Jesus, the Roman soldiers did, under the command of a Roman Governor, Pontius Pilate

However the "real killers" of Jesus are you and I, because each time we sin, "we crucify the Son of God for ourselves holding him up to mockery" (Hebrews 6:6)...

... The Jews, and you and I, were expecting a Messiah to bring us the kingdom of this world, but Jesus offers us something infinitely bigger, the Kingdom of Heaven... and for it we shout "crucify him"!... we expected a boss, and Jesus is only a God. We wanted swords, and Jesus gives us palms. We were longing to be leaders, but Jesus orders us to love. We were expecting to be victorious, with honors on earth, and Jesus commands us to forgive and to be humble... and for it, as a criminal of high treason, we shout "crucify him"!...

"Jesus of Nazareth"

Born in Bethlehem, from the Tribe of Judah and the house of David...
... without question, the most famous and influential person in the history of the human race, the greatest asset of Israel...
... the "lamb of God" who takes away the sins of the world, of Isaiah 53 and John 1...
... the long-awaited Messiah (the Christ, in Greek)... the only one God incarnated! ... Praised be Jesus, the Messiah, God.

    For most Jews, all things on earth are to be enjoyed by man now, not later in Heaven.

    The Hebrews see hard work and education as God-given routes to a good life on earth. The accumulation of wealth is not evil so long as wealth is used wisely in the practice of moral living and charity.

    Honest sex and marital life are among God's blessings. Adultery, premarital sex, homosexuality, and abortion are evil. The pleasures of life, dancing, drinking, sports, and festivals are all deemed good if not done in excess... look at Jewish Festivals

     Deuteronomy 28, shows that if you are faithful to God, you will have everything good, on earth!... but if you are unfaithful to God, you will have a very bad life, on earth!...

    This concept often fails on earth, as proclaimed in Psalm 73, A "just man" almost stumbled envying the prosperity of the wicked: "For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked...

    The goodness of life on earth is expressed also in the messianic hope for a new Jerusalem, which is to be established on earth.

    The main problem of this concept of life is that not even Moses could fulfill the Law... and if you brake one commandment you are guilty at the eyes of God, no matter how well you keep the other commandments... so, actually, everybody, Jew or Gentile, is guilty unto God, the wrath of God is on him... only the mercy of God can save us all... and, really, this is the history of Israel: When they rely on their works, instead of in the "faith to God", they are severely punished on earth... and when they repent and "trust in God" they are rewarded on earth...

6- The AFTER-DEATH... Heaven... Hell:

In the times of Jesus, the "Sadducees Shammai" believed that the righteous would enjoy eternal life and the wicked would suffer eternal damnation. The "Sadducees Hillel" believed that the wicked would return to eternal life after having been purged by a fire in Hell, a concept similar to the Christian "Purgatory".

Today, in the rabbinical literature, Hell appears as a pit of fire, a place of punishment for the wicked... however, the eternal fire is not surely eternal punishment. The rabbis at times see the possibility of annihilation of the wicked or even of their release after a period of punishment (like the Christian Purgatory).

For many Jews today, Heaven and Hell are only symbols, and nobody knows what they are!... indeed a very poor concept about the after-death...

“Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt,” says the Book of Daniel 12:2 . This is the first full-blown reference to resurrection in the Bible, an enormously dramatic historical event and “an act of incredible theological chutzpah,” says Neil Gillman, professor of philosophy at the Jewish Theological Seminary.

    The Second Book of Maccabees is a theological jewel, with the teachings on the resurrection of the just on the last day (2Mac.7:9,11,14,23; 12:43, 14:46).
   In the Story of the Martyrdom of the Mother and her 7 Children (2Mac.7):
    The second said: "You accursed wretch, you dismiss us from this present life, but the King of the universe will raise us up to an everlasting renewal of life, because we have died for his laws." (2Mac.7:9)
    The fifth child, looked at the king, and said, "Because you have authority among men, mortal though you are, you do what you please. But do not think that God has forsaken our people. Keep on, and see how his mighty power will torture you and your descendants!" (2Mac.7:16-17).

Over the centuries, the mainstream Jewish concept of an afterlife has evolved into something like a spiritual journey; Jews also believe that at the end of time, paradise will exist on earth and souls will be reunited with their bodies. Theologians stress, though, that the here and now is what matters for Jews, not the hereafter.

-The issue is essential, because "Sister-death" is waiting for all of us... and he who goes to Heaven, did everything good on earth; but the one who goes to Hell, made an idiot of himself on earth, no matter how much money or power or honor he accumulated... he left it all when he died!... "reincarnation" has no place in the Hebrew Scriptures nor in Judaism.

- Psalm 73, is most enlightening:
A "just man" almost stumbled envying the prosperity of the wicked: "For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked... piling up wealth without any worries... until I entered the sanctuary of God and came to understand their end... they are like a dream after waking, Lord, dismissed like shadows when you arise... I was stupid and could not understand; I was like a brute beast... You guide me with your council, and at the end receive me to glory".

... Indeed, many honest, hard-working persons, live a very poor life on earth, and many crooked people live in opulence on earth... is got to be some kind of reward and punishment after death!... otherwise this life would be an open injustice, and it will pay better to be a wise crooked person on earth!...

The "HOLOCAUST" and many problems in this life on earth can often only be understood and bear with a "life after death".
How can a mother bear the sudden death of his healthy 18 year-old boy or of her husband ?... or the bankruptcy of a just person?

- Isaiah:

Insists in the "eternal" reward of the "just", "everlasting joy" (Is.51:6,8, 61:7)... and he ends his book describing the eternal and universal "new heavens and new hearth", and the eternal horrors of those who rebelled against him, "they shall go out and see the corpses of the men who rebelled against me; for their worm shall never die, their fire shall not be extinguished, and they shall be held in horror to all mankind" (Is.66:24).

- Daniel:

Also prophecies eternal reward and punishment for the good and the wicked: "those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake; some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting horror and disgrace. The wise leaders shall shine like the bright vault of heaven, and those who have guided the people in the true path shall be like the stars for ever and ever... for all eternity" (Dan.12:2-3).

- 2 Maccabees:

Gives clearly the concepts of Heaven, Hell and Purgatory: "You are depriving us of this present life, but the King of the world will rise us up, to live again forever" (7:9)... "you, by judgment of God, shall receive just punishment for your arrogance" (7:36)... "if he were not expecting the fallen to rise again, it would have been useless and foolish to pray for them in death. But if he did this with a view to the splendid reward that awaits those who had gone to rest in godliness, it was a holy and pious thought. Thus he made atonement for the dead that they might be freed from this sin" (12:44-46).

"Heaven" and "Hell":

    Are two clear concepts after Jesus, in the New Testament, but they are not clear in the Jewish Scriptures, because they do not correspond to the "Heavens" and "Sheol" of the Old Testament:
    The word "Heaven", "samayim" in Hebrew, is a grammatical plural, that corresponds sometimes to the place of the stars above, or to the dwelling of the deity. And the Jewish literature distinguished a number of heavens or stages, varying between 3 and 10... so, Paul was taken up to the third heaven, in 2Cor.12:2, identified with Paradise. The word "Glory", in the Jewish Scriptures, identifies sometimes more with the "Heaven" of the N.T., as we saw in Psalm 73.

    The word "Sheol" ("Hades" in Greek) is "the abode of the death" in the Jewish Scriptures, and corresponds sometimes to Heaven, or to Hell, or to Purgatory. There is not the word "Hell" in the Old Testament, but "eternal punishment", with "eternal fire".

But eternal Heaven and eternal Hell exist in the Bible, and they are for you and for me, either one of them...and for ever and ever... eternal reward or eternal punishment.
If Albert Einstein and Christopher Columbus and Moses are now in Heaven, they did all right in their life on earth, if anyone of them is in Hell, he was an idiot in his only life on earth.

7- "CREED" OF THE JEWS:

The 13 fundamentals of Jewish belief of Maimonides has come to be accepted today as something like the official creed of Judaism:
1-5: The first 5 have to do with "God": Creator, One, Incorporeal, Eternal, and Worship.
6-9: The next 4 have to do with "revelation": God communicates by means of prophecy, Moses, Torah, and the Torah will not be changed.
10-11: Deeds, and rewards and punishments by God to good and bad deeds... in view of the Holocaust, and the daily life, it is obvious that most of these rewards and punishments have to be "after death".
12- Coming of the Messiah or Anointed One.
13- The resurrection of the dead.