Originally posted by Ami Hertz
jesterbr549,
That's exactly the point, isn't it? Throughout history, there have been plenty of false messiahs. Yes, they were very popular and had large followings. But each and every time, they have led their followers astray. Tzvi was just one more in the long line of "messiahs". Heck, since 1994, we've got yet another messiah.
What's more, the whole notion of a messiah is, are you ready for this?, *gulp*, unbiblical! (I mean the Hebrew Bible of course.) The worldview presented in the Hebrew Bible simply does not have a messiah in it, just as it doesn't have salvation, damnation, or even souls! I know it might be a surprise for you, but it's true. Yes, the Hebrew Bible is big enough to find out-of-context verses to "prove" almost anything. But when things are read in context, it's a different story.
It's true, the word messiah does appear in the Hebrew Bible a few times. But there, it has a meaning totally different from the modern meaning of the word. In the Hebrew Bible, messiah is an official leader, such as a king or a high priest, nothing more, nothing less.
Sacrificial Ram,
See
http://faithstrengthened.org/FSpart2chapter68.html
Wouldn't a more appropriate world be a savior and redeemer, chief priest, "annointed one", and their God? Did Jesus accomplish what God sent Him for? Would the jews realize recognize a real messiah if he did show up?
A "king" in the general sense would not be able to forgive Israel and Judah's sins and he would also be a "sheperd" for the people to replace the corrupt sheperds that were leading God's Lost Sheep astray.
To the
lost sheep, Jesus was indeed as a King to them which brought the Word of righteousness and love, something most of the jewish rulers in that age were not, otherwise why would God have put a curse on them in Malachi? It appears the leaders of His people were God's enemies, not the gentile nations themselves.
Jeremiah 50:6 " My people have been lost sheep. Their shepherds have led them astray; They have turned them away [on] the mountains. They have gone from mountain to hill; They have forgotten their resting place.
God even used gentile nations as His servant to do His will. Even in the book of revelation it shows God using 10 kings as His servant to utterly burn and destroy a Harlot/Great City, which I and others believe is first century Jerusalem.
2 chrono 35:20 After all this, when Josiah had prepared the temple, Necho king of Egypt came up to fight against Carchemish by the Euphrates; and Josiah went out against him. 21 But he sent messengers to him, saying, "What have I to do with you, king of Judah? [I have] not [come] against you this day, but against the house with which I have war; for God commanded me to make haste. Refrain [from meddling with] God, who [is] with me, lest He destroy you."
Even christians today are awaiting on a return of the "messiah" today, as they feel Jesus didn't accomplish everthing the first time, so in essence they are just like the jews awaiting on their Savior and Redeemer. Either He came or He didn't, but Jesus did come to me so I really don't expect Him again just from the way I view scripture as fulfilled.
Isaiah 49:1 "Listen, O coastlands, to Me, And take heed, you peoples from afar! The LORD has called
Me from the womb; From the matrix of
My mother He has made mention of My name.
2 And He has made My mouth like a sharp sword; In the shadow of His hand
He has hidden Me, And made Me a polished shaft;
In His quiver He has hidden Me."
3 "And He said to me, 'You [are] My servant, O Israel, In whom I will be glorified.'
4 Then I said, 'I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and in vain; Yet surely my just reward [is] with the LORD, And my work with my God.' "
5 " And now the LORD says, Who formed Me from the womb [to be] His Servant, To bring Jacob back to Him, So that Israel is gathered to Him ( For I shall be glorious in the eyes of the LORD, And My God shall be My strength),
6 Indeed He says, 'It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant To raise up the tribes of Jacob, And to restore the preserved ones of Israel;
I will also give You as a light to the Gentiles, That You should be My salvation to the ends of the earth.' "