Imminent Messiah

Abraham was selected for his integrity and faith, and his descendants became Chosen People. Prophets foretold a coming Messiah, whose identity is revealed by ancient writings, now known as the 'Old Testament' of the Bible. Much of this is prophetic and a great deal of the prophecy foretells the coming of a Christ or Messiah, who would rescue Israel from its enemies and oppressors. He would be a king from the royal line of King David, and would institute an everlasting, permanent, idyllic realm, perfect in peace and prosperity. Even though the Jewish people have suffered a great deal from their enemies through hundreds of years, it is clear that they have survived all the terrible onslaughts, and have much justification for considering themselves to be 'God's Chosen People.' He rescued them from bondage and slavery under a cruel Pharaoh in Egypt, and more recently from the deadly intentions of Adolf Hitler. The book of Esther records how the Jewish nation was narrowly delivered from the brink of annihilation in 475 BC in the days of Xerxes, King of the Medes and Persians. Many times the people of Israel have won great victories or suffered grievous defeat, but there was always a viable Remnant. Today they are flooding back to their homeland, but they still have enemies threatening to wipe them out. So what happened to their promised Messiah? They are still awaiting his appearance, but I believe he has already come! The proof of this is in their own ancient scrolls, or in other words, the Bible's Old Testament. The first patriarch of Judaism was Abraham, whose son Isaac fathered twins. The younger was Jacob, whom God renamed Israel. From him came sons, from whom the twelve tribes of Israel are named. God had promised Abraham he would become the father of many, and this was amply fulfilled as Israel multiplied and prospered. Under the leadership of Moses and later Joshua they escaped Egypt and settled into the Promised Land of Israel. Initially God raised up a series of leaders known as 'Judges, ' but later he allowed a royal dynasty to begin. The nation's spirituality was encouraged by the priestly tribe of Levi, but God also selected Prophets to speak on his behalf. Their prophecies spoke of a future time when Israel would live in everlasting peace and security following the coming of their Messiah. He would be born of a virgin and his birthplace was to be Bethlehem. He would be a descendant of the great King David and would reign with a rod of iron. Very specifically Daniel prophesied a time period of seventy multiples of seven years during which the Messiah would come, but be 'cut off.' The calendar calculations of that highly significant prophesy point to the year 32 AD, the year in which Jesus Christ died on a Roman cross! Naturally, Jews find it hard to come to terms with the possibility that they may have been implicated in allowing and even arranging that shocking miscarriage of justice. However, what they didn't understand and still don't realise is that the sacrificial death of Jesus was planned and purposed by God himself as prophesied by Isaiah (Isaiah 53:3-12). It was necessary to achieve the forgiveness of sin and peace between mankind and our Creator! Messianic Jews have understood this, but there will be a day of national mourning in Israel when the whole nation wakes up to the confronting truth that they engineered the suffering and death of their own Messiah! This is prophesied by Zechariah (Zechariah 12:10-14). The good news is that Jesus rose from the dead, ascended into heaven and will return again to set up an everlasting, indestructible kingdom (Daniel 7:13-14)