MESSIAH: THE CRITERIA
1
Judge for
yourself:
Did Jesus fulfill ALL
these criteria?
The Jewish
tradition of “The Messiah” has its foundation in numerous biblical references,
and understands “The Messiah” to be a human being – without any overtone 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.”
First of all, he must be Jewish – “...you may appoint a king over you,
whom the L-rd your G-d shall choose: one from among your brethren shall you set
as king over you.” (Deuteronomy 17:15)
He must be a
member of the tribe of
To be a member
of the tribe of
He must be a
direct male descendant of King David and King Solomon, his son – “And when your days
(David) are fulfilled, and you shall sleep with your fathers, I will set up
your seed after you, who shall issue from your bowels, and I will establish his
kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will make firm the throne of
his kingdom forever...” (2 Samuel 7:12 - 13)
The genealogy of
the New Testament is inconsistent. While it gives two accounts of the genealogy
of Joseph, it states clearly that he is not the biological father of Jesus. One
of the genealogies is through Nathan and not Solomon altogether!
He must gather the
Jewish people from exile and return them to
Are all Jews
living in
He must rebuild
the
At last check,
there is NO Temple in
He will rule at a
time of world-wide peace
–
“...they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning
hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn
war anymore.” (Micah 4:3)
Have you seen a
newspaper lately? Are we living in a state of complete world peace? Has there
ever been peace since the time of Jesus?
He will rule at a
time when the Jewish people will observe G-d's commandments – “My servant David shall be king over
them; and they shall all have one shepherd. They shall follow My ordinances and be careful to observe My statutes.”
(Ezekiel 37:24)
The Torah is the
Jewish guide to life, and its commandments are the ones referred to here. Do
all Jews observe all the commandments? Christianity, in fact, often discourages observance of
the commandments in Torah, in complete opposition to this prophecy.
He will rule at a
time when all people will come to acknowledge and serve one G-d – “And it shall come to pass that from
one new moon to another and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come
to worship before Me, says the L-rd” (Isaiah 66:23)
There are still
millions, if not billions of people who practice Hinduism, Buddhism, Satanism
and many other forms of pagan and polythesitic
religions. It is clear that we have not yet seen this period of human history
unfold.
All of these criteria are
best stated in the book of Ezekiel Chapter 37 verses 24-28:
And
David my servant shall be king over them; and they shall all have one shepherd.
they shall also follow My judgments and observe My
statutes, and do them. And they shall dwell in the land that I have given to Yaakov my servant, in which your fathers have dwelt and
they shall dwell there, they and their children, and their children's children
forever; and my servant David shall be their prince forever. Moreover, I will
make a covenant of peace with them, it shall be an everlasting covenant with
them, which I will give them; and I will multiply them and I will set my
sanctuary in the midst of them forevermore. And my tabernacle shall be with
them: and I will be their G-d and they will be my people. Then the nations
shall know that I am the L-rd who sanctifies
If an individual
fails to fulfill even one of these conditions, then he cannot be “The Messiah.” A careful
analysis of these criteria shows us that to date; no one has fulfilled every
condition.
Certainly NOT Jesus!
Source:
1. [ http://www.jewsforjudaism.org/web/faq/general_messiah-criteria02.html
]
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