A Sinaite checks out ‘messiah’ claims for Jesus

[This was first posted in 2012; reposted every easter thereafter.

The occasion for this early repost is — on Shabbat morning during the Chinese Lunar new year 7-day celebration—the author of this post, Sinaite BAN, watched the televised worship of a long-time Christian friend and colleague, we will identify only as the “PT” of the CHRISTIAN-SINAITE DISCOURSE series.

This Pastor-Leader founded a church with a huge following decades ago and BAN’s late husband, Sinaite VAN, ministered there as a ‘counselor’ for many years. This Pastor’s specific topic this Shabbat is “Jesus is God Himself” and prooftexts presented were all from the Christian “Old Testament”. This pastor-friend and his wife continue to worry over the eternal destiny of BAN who, as Sinaite, has turned her back to the “Christian Savior”. BAN has decided to follow up this post with a later-yet-to-be-written rebuttal, to refute the prooftexts presented that “Jesus is the God of the OT”.

For now, here’s her earlier posted article and the original introduction:

This was written by Sinaite “BAN who, together with her husband “VAN” have attended and finished masteral studies in Asia Theological Seminary (ATS) and together, have been leaders in Christian congregations they have joined and served in for more than half a century of their Christ-centered journey. They were also among the original incorporators of a Messianic congregation in their city of residence which they were members of for about a decade . . . until they investigated the roots of their Christian faith and the origins of the New Testament books and made a crucial decision to leave the religion they have been part of for more than half a century of their lifetime.

—Admin1,]

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For 2,000 years now, Christianity has proclaimed that Jesus is the messiah. It is important to understand why biblically this is not so. The purpose is not to disparage Christianity, but rather to clarify the biblical position. The more data that is available, the better informed choices people can make about their spiritual path.

Torah believers do not accept Jesus as the messiah for a very basic reason. Torah believers believe the coming messiah is an anointed man of God, not divine in any way. This is what the Old Testament says. This belief has its foundation in numerous biblical references, and understands the “Messiah” to be a human being, without overtones of deity or divinity , who will bring about certain changes in the world and fulfill certain criteria before he can be acknowledged as the “Messiah”. The Messiah is compared to King David (Jeremiah 30:9, Ezekiel 34:23-24, 37:24-25).

We do not concern ourselves with the messiah’s identity for he is a person and his coming does not change the essence of our relationship with God which is the most important fact of our spiritual life. Old Testament does not in any way say that God would descend into the level of man. The idea that God would clothe Himself in flesh is the embodiment of idolatry therefore we must declare our utmost opposition to it.

Image from mymorningmeditations.com

Christians ask, “Why do you not accept Jesus as the messiah?” The answer is simple. Jesus did not fulfill any of the requirements for the job. If he never qualified, it is not even a question of rejection. God stated the messiah’s qualifications in HIS WORD. The identity of the messiah is not up to man to proclaim. The so-called messiah’s performance will validate his identity.

Here are some reasons which deny why Jesus is the messiah. Christians have a list of prophecies that claim Jesus had fulfilled, but examine the list and one will find that it is just an attempt at working out New Testament passages to reflect Old Testament prophecies.

The state of our world today proves the messiah has not yet come. When the messiah arrives, it will not be necessary for his identity to be subject to debate, for the world would be so drastically changed for the better that it would be absolutely incontestable.

What prophecies did Jesus fulfill?

According to the prophets, the most basic missions of the messiah are:

1. To cause all the world to return to God and His teachings in the Torah;

2. To restore the royal dynasty to the descendants of David;

3. To rebuild the temple and Jerusalem;

4. To gather Jews from all over the world and bring them back to Israel;

5. To re-establish the Sanhedrin;

6. Restore the sacrificial system;

7. Sabbatical year and Jubilee will once again be observed.

[Isaiah 2:1-4, Zephaniah 3:9, Hosea 2:20-24, Amos 9:13-15, Isaiah:15-18, 60:15-18, Micah 4:1-4 , Zech.8:23, 14:9, Jeremiah 31:33-34, Isaiah 11:1-9, Jeremiah 23:5-6, 30:7-10, 33:14-16, Ezekiel 34:11-31, 27:21-28, Hosea 3:4-5]

Image from preacherwoman.wordpress.com

Which of the above has Jesus fulfilled? Why did he not fulfill them the first time he came? The concept of a second return does not exist in the OT.

What the OT proclaims is, when the messiah comes, he fulfills all the prophecies once and for all. He will influence men to serve and worship the ONE TRUE GOD with a pure heart.

Christians ignore this truth because when Jesus came, it did not happen. The early church fathers then had to redefine the role of the messiah to fit the life of Jesus.

First, they have to proclaim that Jesus had resurrected.
Then, the Scripture had to be examined with the purpose of finding what no one had ever seen there before – the death of Jesus the Messiah, evidence that the messiah would be killed without bringing peace to the world or redemption of Israel, which is why (Isaiah 53, which they say refer to Jesus) is of utmost importance to Christians.
Then, the expectation of a second coming, wherein Jesus would fulfill what he should have done at his first coming.
And finally, there had to be a rational explanation of the first coming and its painful end.

The profound reason of the first coming was to shift the function of Jesus from an evidential level (the only level Scripture emphasizes ) where it could be tested by logic and reason – to an unseen level – where a leap of faith is needed. The messiah’s mission for the first coming, was not the redemption of HIS PEOPLE, iSRAEL, for this did not happen, but the atonement for original sin.

This is a complete reworking of the Torah’s message. For Torah believers, if the biblical prophecies’ description of the messiah’s requirements have not been fulfilled, then there is only one explanation, the Messiah has not yet come. We can be subjected to ridicule, mockery and contempt when we proclaim this, but a truthful evaluation of the facts makes it painful for Christians to accept.

We who adhere to what the Torah states can only repeat the words of departed faithful, “We believe with complete faith in the coming of the messiah, and though he may tarry, we shall wait for him every day.”

The messiah to come is not GOD, but a human being—but he will be the greatest leader and wisest teacher who would ever live. His God-given talents, he will use to bring perfect justice and harmony to mankind.

Jesus, the man/god Christianity made him into, did accomplish a lot to turn people away from idolatry and taught and urged the Jews of his time to turn to the ONE TRUE GOD, repent of their sins and to follow and obey the commandments of GOD. He never claimed the role which was given him by the early church fathers. His message was always, “OBEY WHAT YHWH COMMANDS.”

We all want God in our lives, and we all want to do the right thing. We are now living in very special times. God is moving the hearts of men – as declared by the prophet Haggai – as the time when the very heavens and earth will be shaken. Men are hungry to know the truth and to seek it with all their hearts.

Let us look for the truth where God had revealed it to us. Let us seek the truth in His Word, the Torah.

BAN@S6K

Source: Exodus/Shemoth 24 – "the sight of the Glory of YHVH (was) like a consuming fire" -- We gentiles living in this 21st century are able to experience that climactic moment [God appearing on Sinai] by reading and studying this portion of the TORAH. Indeed, we see YHWH not quite as dramatically as the mixed multitude did, but perhaps even better through these accounts recorded in Exodus. There is a saying that hindsight is 20/20 vision, i.e., we begin to see and understand the question marks in our past only later in our lives, as we mature and hopefully become wiser and more introspective about the meaning or seeming meaninglessness of happenings in history, whether personal, national, or universal. Søren Kierkegaard adds a twist to this: “Only 20:20 vision is hindsight. Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.” As we endeavor to understand each portion in the TORAH of YHWH, much of it will seem irrelevant to our current situation but if we see beyond the time-bound cultural and religious situations and begin to understand what truly has not change—human nature and the Great Revelator who designed the perfect blueprint for living in peace, happily and contentedly with family, community, country and the nations, the unquestionable conclusion is: TORAH is relevant to ALL humankind, not just to Israel, to this very day.

A Sinaite checks out ‘messiah’ claims for Jesus

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