[First posted 2015. Yes indeed, there was a first coming . . . that was on the mountain of Sinai, recorded in Shemoth/Exodus. The Israelites and the mixed multitude among them who were liberated from bondage in Egypt arrived at the foot of Sinai to meet with their Liberator Who would make a ‘briyth’ or covenant with Israel and Who would give them His Ten Declarations written with His finger on tablets of stone.
Is there a ‘second coming’? According to James D. Tabor, yes there is! Isn’t that the TRUE GOOD NEWS and great reason to celebrate at any time, every day of our life until it happens on whichever generation is living at that time. For the rest of us, we simply live our lives looking back to the ‘first coming’ and celebrating what happened there, and living the commandments as best we can. It’s all recorded in the Torah, no need to guess. What needs to be figured out is how to read and reinterpret and apply what is relevant to us and our times, in our age and our culture. YHWH is a universal God, not just the God of Israel.
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Continuing Chapter 4 of James D. Tabor’s Restoring Abrahamic Faith titled “The Messiahs”, edited/condensed/reformatted. Please get a copy of this book for your library, it is the MUST READ/MUST OWN we persistently recommend as an eye-opener if there ever was one. This is a 3rd revisit, last posted December 9, 2013.
Check out these related posts
- Revisit: The Messiahs – The Origin of the Messiah Idea
- The Messiahs – 2 – The Davidic Messiah
- The Messiahs – 4 – Restoring the Biblical Balance
- The Messiahs – 5 – A Heavenly Messiah?
- The Messiahs – 6 – Was Jesus the Nazarene the Messiah?
- —ADMIN 1.]
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For centuries millions of Christians have focused on the so-called “Second Coming of Christ” as the central event that ushers in the Kingdom of God. As surprising as this may sound, the “coming of the Messiah” is definitely not the major eschatological emphasis of the Prophets. Only a dozen or so texts speak of the role of the coming Davidic King. In contrast there are many hundreds of texts in the Hebrew Prophets that deal in the greatest detail with the end of the ages, the great Day of Judgment, and the arrival of the Kingdom of God. In text after text the role of a Messiah is not even mentioned, much less emphasized. This is not to minimize the Biblical doctrine of the Messiahs, but it does help to put things in balance.
However, there is another central event, a different “second coming,” that has been almost completely ignored, although it is mentioned in almost every single passage dealing with the future or “end times’ of human history. I refer to the Second Coming of YHVH God Himself.
The Hebrew Prophets consistently emphasize the dramatic, awesome, earth-shaking, personal return of YHVH Himself to this planet. They clearly intend to convey an actual, literal, historical event in the future, something that will be experienced by all the inhabitants of the earth.
Zechariah 14 is perhaps the most basic chapter in the Scriptures on this subject. Note the language carefully:
Behold, the day of YHVH is coming, and your spoil will be divided in your midst. For I will gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem; the city shall be taken, the houses rifled, and the women ravished. Half the city shall go into captivity. But the remnant of the people shall not be cut off from the city. Then YHVH will go forth against those nations, as He fights in the day of battle. And in that day His feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives, which faces Jerusalem on the east . . . Thus YHVH my God will come, and all the saints with You . . . And YHVH shall be King over all the earth, in that day it shall be —YHVH is One and His Name One . . . And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the king, YHVH of Hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles (Zechariah 14:1-4, 5b,9,16).
There are a number of remarkable features in this prophecy. Despite what Christians so often assume, there is no mention whatsoever of the Messiah in this chapter. YHVH Himself appears, directly intervenes, and becomes King over all the earth. The entire focus of the text is upon YHVH God. I emphasize this point, not to deny or even downplay the role of the Davidic Messiah, but rather to stress that Zechariah is able to offer this rather detailed scenario of the “end of the age,“ and the arrival of the Kingdom of God without even mentioning the role of the Davidic King. It seems that fact might help us to recover a bit of the Biblical perspective.
Also, despite any use of symbolic or metaphorical language (i.e., His feet standing on Mt. of Olives), the passage is full of historical and geographical details. The prophet obviously intends to describe an actual, literal, historical event in the future history of Israel and Jerusalem. The language itself resists allegorical interpretation.
Constantly the Prophets make this point that YHVH Himself will intervene, acting personally and directly, to punish the wicked and rule as King over all nations. YHVH constantly calls Himself the Savior, Redeemer, Shepherd, and King—beside Whom there is no other. Notice carefully the direct way these ideas are expressed in the following texts. Despite their number, these are still only a sample among many others that one could cite on this subject.
Again, I emphasize, in none of these passages is the role of Messiah mentioned:
A voice cries, “Prepare the way of YHVH in the wilderness; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted and every mountain and hill brought low; the crooked places shall be made straight and the rough places smooth; the Glory of YHVH shall be revealed, and all flesh will see it together, for the mouth of YHVH has spoken (Isaiah 40:3-5).
O Zion, you who bring good tidings, get up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, you who bring good tidings, lift up your voice with strength, lift it up and be not afraid: Say to the cities of Judah, “Behold your God!” Behold Lord YHVH shall come with a strong hand, and His arm shall rule for Him’ behold, His reward is with Him and His work before Him. He will feed His flock like a shepherd; He will gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom, and gently lead those who are with young (Isaiah 40:9-11).
I, even I, am YHVH; and besides Me there is no Savior
Thus says YHVH, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, YHVH of Hosts: I am the first and the last, besides Me there is no God (Isaiah 44:6).
Is there any God besides Me, or is there any other Rock? I know of none (Isaiah 44:8).
I have sworn by Myself, The word has gone out of My mouth in righteousness and will not return, that to Me every knee shall bow, every tongue will take an oath. Only in YHVH, it shall be said of Me, are righteousness and strength (Isaiah 45:23-24).
How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who proclaims peace, who brings glad tidings of good things, who proclaims salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!” Your watchmen shall lift up their voices, with their voices they shall sing together; for they shall see eye to eye when YHVH brings back Zion . . . YHVH has made bare His holy arm in the sight of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God (Isaiah 52:7-8,10).
Notice that these passages speak of “good news.” This is, indeed, the true Biblical Gospel—the good news of the coming reign of YHVH, the “Gospel of the Kingdom of God.” The message includes, of course, the agency of the Messiahs, as we know from other passages. However, its essential focus and emphasis, as these passages show, is not on a Messiah but on YHVH Himself and His reign when He returns.
He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor; Therefore His own arm brought salvation for Him; and His own righteousness, it sustained Him. For He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on His head; He put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloak. According to their deeds, accordingly He will repay, fury to His adversaries, recompense to His enemies; the coastlands He will fully repay. So shall they fear the Name of YHVH from the west, and His glory from the rising of the sun; for He will come like a rushing stream, which the wind of YHVH drives, and He will come to Zion as Redeemer, to those in Jacob who turn from transgression, says YHVH (Isaiah 59:16-20).
Who is this Who comes from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah, this One Who is glorious in His apparel, traveling in the greatness of His strength? “I Who speak in righteousness, mighty to save.” Why is Your apparel read, and Your garments like one who treads in the wine-press? “I have trodden the wine-press alone, and from the peoples no one was with Me. For I have trodden them in My anger, and trampled them in My fury; their blood is sprinkled on My garments, and I have stained all My robes. For the day of vengeance is in My heart, and the year of My redemption has come. I looked, and there was no one to help, and I wondered and there was no one to uphold; therefore My own arm brought salvation to Me; and My own fury, it sustained Me, I have trodden down the peoples in My anger, made them drunk, in My fury, and brought down their strength to the earth”
For behold, YHVH will come with fire and with His chariots, like a whirlwind, to render His anger with fury, and His rebuke with flames of fire. For by fire and by His sword YHVH will judge all flesh; and those slain by YHVH will be many (Isaiah 66:15-16).
Enter into the rock and hide in the dust from the terror of YHVH and the glory of His majesty. The lofty looks of men shall be humbled, the haughtiness of men shall be bowed low, and YHVH alone shall be exalted in that day . . . . They shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, from the terror of YHVH, and the glory of His majesty, when He arises to shake the earth mightily. In that day a man will cast away his idols of silver and his idols of gold, which they made, each for himself to worship to the moles and bats, to go into the clefts of the rocks, and into the crags of the rugged rocks, from the terror of YHVH and the glory of His majesty, when He arises to shake the earth mightily (Isaiah 2:10-11,19-21).
Behold, YHVH makes the earth empty and makes it waste, distorts its surface, and scatters abroad its inhabitants . . . .They shall lift up their voice, they shall sing; for the majesty of YHVH they shall cry aloud from the sea. . . . It shall come to pass on that day, that YHVH will punish on high the host of exalted ones, and on the earth the kings of the earth . . . . Then the moon will be disgraced and the sun ashamed, For YHVH of Hosts will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and before His elders gloriously (Isaiah 24:1, 14-15, 21-23).
Come My people, enter your chambers, and shut your doors behind you; hide yourself, as it were, for a little moment, until the indignation is past. For behold, YHVH comes out of His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity; the earth will also disclose her blood, and will no more cover her slain (Isaiah 26:20-21).
For thus says YHVH God: “Indeed I Myself will search for My sheep and seek them out. As a shepherd seeks out his flock on the day he is among his scattered sheep, so will I seek out My sheep and deliver them from all the places where they were scattered on a cloudy and dark day. And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land; . . . . I will feed My flock, and I will make them to lie down,” says YHVH God . . . (Ezekiel 34:11-13,15).
Perhaps the reason the Messiah is not so heavily emphasized by the Hebrew Prophets goes all the way back the time when Israel first demanded a king (1 Samuel 8). God tells the prophet Samuel that their desire for a king is fundamentally a rejection of His rule over them as King. In the ideal future even through the Messiahs, both king and priest, are agents in bringing about the Kingdom of God, their subsidiary roles are always kept clear. It is God Himself Who ultimately is King, Savior, Redeemer, and Lord.
A few Christian interpreters have nonetheless maintained that when texts of the Hebrew Bible speak of God Himself acting to bring about the final days of history, they are in fact referring to Jesus—whom they understand to be “God in the flesh.” Even a text as clear as Zechariah 14:4 On that day His feet will stand upon the Mount of Olives, is read as if it refers to the “Second Coming” of Jesus. The problem with such a view is that the Hebrew Prophets always maintain a clear distinction between the coming of the LORD GOD YHVH and the arrival of His Messiah. The Two are obviously related, since the Messiah acts as YHVH’s chief agent, but they are nonetheless never confused or equated.
The Prophets understand this dramatic, personal, intervention of YHVH in history as a return or “second Coming” of YHVH Himself. God declares, according to Haggai,
Once more in a little while, I am going to shake the heavens and the earth, the ” sea also and the dry land” (2:6).
Isaiah yearns for this time to arrive:
Oh, that You would rend the heavens! That You would come down! That the mountains might shake at Your presence —as fire burns brushwood, as fire causes water to boil—to make Your Name known to Your adversaries, that the nations may tremble at Your presence! When You did awesome things for which we did not look, You came down, the mountains shook at Your presence. For since the beginning of the world, men have not heard nor perceived by the ear, nor has the eye seen any God besides You, Who acts for the one who waits for Him (Isaiah 64:1-4).
Both the prophets Haggai and Isaiah are thinking back to the unprecedented events at Mt. Sinai in the time of Moses when God dramatically judged Egypt and freed the entire nation of Israel from slavery. There all Israel experienced the awesome, visible, dramatic, direct manifestation of the Presence (literally “face”) of the Glory of YHVH Himself. The TORAH is most explicit regarding this unprecedented experience. Nothing like this had ever happened before, or has happened since. YHVH Himself appeared to the people in a fiery cloud-like pillar; they actually heard His voice and saw His Glory (Exodus 19:18-19; 20:18-21; 40:34-38; Numbers 14:14). The very purpose of the Tabernacle (literally “dwelling place”) was to provide a locus for this extraordinary manifestation of YHVH in the days of Moses.
Habakkuk also looks back on this extraordinary event in history:
O YHVH, I have heard the report of You, and Your work, O YHVH, do I fear. In the midst of the years renew it; in the midst of the years make it known; in wrath remember mercy. God came from Teman, the Holy One from Mount Paran. His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of His praise. His brightness was like the light; He had rays flashing from His hand, and there His power was hidden. Before Him went pestilence, and fever followed at His feet (Habakkuk 3:2-5).
Ezekiel reports that this Presence (kavod) of YHVH departed shortly before the Exile. He understands this in the most literal way, actually describing the cloud-like “Glory” moving through the Eastern Gate of Jerusalem, up the Mount of Olives, and away (Ezekiel 10:18-19; 11:22-23). This “departure” is known as the “hiding of the Face of YHVH” (see Deuteronomy 31:17; compare Ezekiel 39:29).
To understand this teaching of Scripture one has to make a distinction between the general presence of God, which is always with His creation, and this very specific, literal, awesome, visible, manifestation of the Divine Glory. In that sense God departed from this planet, and in that sense the Prophets all tell of His return. In other words, the Prophets predict a visible, awesome, literal, manifestation of the Glory of YHVH once again.
This “Day of YHVH,” as it is called, is attributed to God, but as with divine judgments chronicled in the Bible from the past, it will involve some sort of catastrophic consequences of our own way of life crashing down upon us. Whether this crisis will be brought on by economic, military, or environmental factors, or some combination of all three, remains to be seen. For the wicked this will cause trembling, terror, and fear of judgment, but for the righteous it will bring great rejoicing. The Prophets describe this arrival of YHVH in specific details:
Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of YHVH has risen upon you. For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and deep darkness the people; but YHVH will arise over you, and His glory will be seen upon you (Isaiah 60:1-2).
Afterward he brought me to the gate, the gate that faces toward the east. And behold the Glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east. And His voice was like the sound of many waters; and the earth shone with His Glory . . . . And the Glory of YHVH came into the house by the way of the gate facing toward the east . . . . And He said to me, “Son of man, this is the place of my throne and the place of the soles of My feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel forever (Ezekiel 43:1-2,4,7).
Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them, and it shall be an everlasting Covenant with them; I will establish them and multiply them, and I will set My sanctuary (miqdash) in their midst forevermore. My tabernacle (mishkan) also shall be with them; indeed I will be their God, and they shall be My people. The nations also will know that I, YHVH, sanctify Israel, when My sanctuary is in their midst forevermore (Ezekiel 37:26-28).
[Footnote: Here both of the common Hebrew words for the Temple/Tabernacle are used: miqdash and mishkan. The former comes from the verbal root “to make Holy” and the latter from the verbal root “to dwell.” Both of these concepts are the basis of a Biblical understanding of the Temple. It is the Holy Place of YHVH’s literal Presence.]
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There is a definite focus in these Scriptures on the East. On the east side of Jerusalem is the eastern Gate of the Temple Mount, and east of that Gate, the Mount of Olives. From this sacred area the Glory of YHVH departed, and it is here that the radiance will reappear. This is clearly what lies behind the statement in Zechariah 14:4 that “on that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives.” This area, east from the Temple Mount and including the Mount of Olives, is likely the El-Bethel (not the northern town of Bethel) where Jacob had his vision of the ladder to heaven. He identifies the place as awesome and sacred, none other than the “gate of heaven.“ He is lying on the Temple Mount, facing east, looking in his dream at the summit of the Mt. of Olives (Genesis 28:10-17; 35:5-8).
One point that emerges with absolute clarity from these Scriptures is that the identity of the Davidic Messiah is never confused with that of YHVH, the Eternal God of Israel. To assert, as many Christians have, that the Messiah is YHVH God in the flesh, or even to equate the Messiah with YHVH, does violence to the plain expression of dozens of texts of the Hebrew Bible.
- The Messiah is the one chosen and appointed by YHVH;
- he is the chief agent of YHVH, who sits at His right hand.
- He is, accordingly, YHVH’s anointed one.
- As exalted as his role and mission is, he is, and always remains, YHVH’s faithful servant.
- He is a human being, of the physical lineage of David.
As Micah puts it,
“He will arise and shepherd his flock in the strength of YHVH his God” (5:4).
Recall the clear and unambiguous language of David:
“Why do the Gentiles rage, against YHVH and against His Messiah (Psalm 2:1-22); or,
“YHVH spoke to my Lord [Messiah}, Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a stool for your feet” (Psalm 110:1).
YHVH speaks to the Messiah, exalts him, empowers him, and counts him as his beloved chosen one–but never is the Messiah confused with God.
Those who know and use the Divine Name (YHVH) recognizing that this is a Name, not a title such as LORD, seldom have any problem distinguishing from YHVH’s Messiah. In other words, the loss of the understanding of the Sacred Name has greatly contributed to the current the common error of confusing the LORD God and His Messiah.
The Messiah is also called “Son of God” as we have seen (Psalm 2:7). This does not make him YHVH God. Rather it implies faithfulness and intimacy (see 2 Samuel 7:14). The son remains just that, a “son.” As such, he carries out the will of his Father, YHVH God. Never are the roles confused. The later Christian Church made a subtle but fateful shift in concept here: the Hebrew image of “Son of God” became God the Son, a “Second Person” of the Trinity or “Godhead.” Such an idea is nowhere found in the Hebrew Scriptures. The entire God-man idea, as developed in Christianity, is a pagan Hellenistic concept, completely foreign to Biblical Hebraic thought.
[Next: The Messiahs – 4 – Restoring the Biblical Balance]
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