Why Do Jews Reject Jesus As The Messiah? – Part 1 :: by Jack Kelley

Published on: September 28, 2014November 28, 2016 by RR2

In the last decade or so, a number of Jewish “anti-missionary” ministries have cropped up to combat the increasing conversion of Jewish people to belief in Jesus as the Messiah of Israel. They have come on the scene because in the words of one of these ministries, “More Jews have converted to Christianity in the last 19 years than in the previous 1900.” Recently someone wrote asking me to respond to the following seven reasons that one of these ministries has published in support of their claim that Jesus cannot be the Jewish Messiah.

1) Jesus Did Not Fulfill The Messianic Prophecies
Claim: The Bible says the Messiah will:

A. Build the Third Temple (Ezekiel 37:26-28).

B. Gather all Jews back to the Land of Israel (Isaiah 43:5-6).

C. Usher in an era of world peace, and end all hatred, oppression, suffering and disease. As it says: “Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall man learn war anymore.” (Isaiah 2:4)

D. Spread universal knowledge of the God of Israel, which will unite humanity as one. As it says: “God will be King over all the world—on that day, God will be One and His Name will be One” (Zechariah 14:9).

The historical fact is that Jesus fulfilled none of these messianic prophecies.

Response: What they mean here is that Jesus did not fulfill the prophecies of the Kingdom Age. But they ignore the hundreds of Messianic prophecies that Jesus did fulfill. These prophecies were meant to help them identify the Messiah when He came. Here are a few examples:

He was born in Bethlehem as foretold in Micah 5:2.

He was born of a virgin as foretold in Isaiah 7:14.

He came from the tribe of Judah as foretold in Genesis 49:10.

He was the Son of God as foretold in Psalm 2:7.

He was the son of David as foretold in 2 Samuel 7:14-16.

He had a special anointing of the Holy Spirit as foretold in Isaiah 11:2.

He gave sight to the blind and caused the lame to walk as foretold in Isaiah 35:5-6.

Had the leaders of Israel recognized Him and allowed Him to be the ultimate sacrifice for their sins, as foretold in Isaiah 53:4-5, He could have fulfilled the Kingdom prophecies at that time as well. Since they didn’t, He went back to Heaven after His resurrection to await their call for His return as foretold in Hosea 5:15.

2) Jesus Did not Embody The Personal Qualifications Of Messiah
a. Jesus was not a prophet.

Claim: Prophecy can only exist in Israel when the land is inhabited by a majority of world Jewry. During the time of Ezra (circa 300 BCE), when the majority of Jews refused to move from Babylon to Israel, prophecy ended upon the death of the last prophets—Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi. Jesus appeared on the scene approximately 350 years after prophecy had ended.

Response: I can’t find any Biblical support for this one. And the great Hebrew sage Mosheh ben Maimon (Maimonides), who lived 1500 years after prophecy had supposedly ended, claimed that any man has the potential to become a prophet (not just Jews). He made no mention of the need for a majority of the world’s Jewry to live in Israel in connection with this. Also there was actually about a 400 year gap between Malachi, the last Old Testament prophet and the birth of Jesus. Ezra, Haggai, and Zechariah all preceded him.

b. Jesus was not a descendent of David.

Claim: The Messiah must be descended on his father’s side from King David (see Genesis 49:10 and Isaiah 11:1). According to the Christian claim that Jesus was the product of a virgin birth, he had no father—and thus could not have possibly fulfilled the messianic requirement of being descended on his father’s side from King David!

Response: In the first place Genesis 49:10 and Isaiah 11:1 do not specify that the Messiah has to be descended from King David on His father’s side. Genesis 49:10 simply says he will be of the tribe of Judah, and Isaiah 11:1says he would be descended from the family of Jesse, David’s father.

But to use a fact they don’t accept (the virgin birth) to claim Jesus had no father and therefore couldn’t be descended from David defies logic. As you’ll see, they don’t believe in the virgin birth, so they must believe Jesus had an earthly father. The most obvious candidate would have been Joseph, to whom Mary was betrothed, and who was descended from David. But even if they reject Joseph, the most they could say is they don’t know who the father of Jesus was so they can’t be sure of his family heritage.

But more importantly, in Genesis 3:15 God said in effect that the Messiah would be descended from Eve. So from the earliest times it’s been known that the Messiah would be descended from a woman. The Lord’s mother Mary was a descendant of King David’s through his son, Nathan.

c. Torah observance.

Claim: The Torah states that all mitzvot (commandments) remain binding forever, and anyone coming to change the Torah is immediately identified as a false prophet. (Deut. 13:1-4). Throughout the New Testament, Jesus contradicts the Torah and states that its commandments are no longer applicable.

Response: Deut. 13:1-4 was a warning against allowing false prophets to entice the people into following other gods. Jesus never did that. Also, He said, “ Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until Heaven and Earth disappear not the smallest letter or the least stroke of a pen will disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished (Matt. 5:17-18).

3) Mistranslated Verses “Referring” To Jesus
a. the virgin birth

Claim:The Christian idea of a virgin birth is derived from the verse in Isaiah 7:14 describing an “alma” as giving birth. The word “alma” has always meant a young woman, but Christian theologians came centuries later and translated it as “virgin.”

Response: It is true that the Hebrew word “alma” has been translated “virgin” in Isaiah 7:14 and that the word also means “young woman”. But it wasn’t Christian theologians who first determined that “alma” should be translated “virgin”. When the Greek ruler Ptolemy Philadelphus II commissioned 70 Hebrew scholars to translate the Hebrew Bible into Greek in the 3rd Century BC they chose the Greek word “parthenos” for “alma” in Isaiah 7:14. Parthenos is a word that can only refer to someone who has never had sexual intercourse. (The work of these scholars became known as the Septuagint translation and was the most widely used translation of the Old Testament during the Lord’s time.)

Also, in Isaiah 7:14 the prophet was describing a sign God would give to Israel. What kind of a sign would it be to say a young woman would give birth? It was an everyday occurrence and would have been meaningless. But a virgin giving birth would have been an unmistakably miraculous sign.

The most common Hebrew word for virgin in the Bible is “bethulah”. Why didn’t the Lord have Isaiah use that word instead of “alma” and avoid all the confusion?

It’s because when the Lord had His prophets speak an important prophecy with a fulfillment far in the future, he often had them phrase it in such a way that it could be partially fulfilled within their lifetime. In Deut. 18:22the Lord had warned His people that if what a prophet said didn’t come true, it meant he wasn’t speaking for the Lord. A partial fulfillment during the prophet’s lifetime served as confirmation of the ultimate one and protected him against being labeled a false prophet.

In Isaiah’s case, the partial fulfillment came through his own wife. Isaiah 8tells us she bore a son whose early life fulfilled the short term prophecies in Isaiah 7:15-17, repeated in Isaiah 8:4. And from Isaiah 8:10 we learn the name Immanuel (God with us) was first associated with him.

The Lord couldn’t call Isaiah’s wife a virgin because she wasn’t one, and besides there would only ever be one virgin birth. But He could use a word that hinted of it, and so he had Isaiah use alma. After Isaiah was long gone and they only had the ultimate fulfillment to deal with, the 70 Hebrew Scholars I mentioned above confirmed that the clear intent of the passage was to be a prophecy of the virgin birth.

b. crucifixion

Claim: The verse in Psalms 22:16 reads: “Like a lion, they are at my hands and feet.” The Hebrew word ki-ari (like a lion) is grammatically similar to the word “gouged.” Thus Christianity reads the verse as a reference to crucifixion: “They pierced my hands and feet.”

Response: According to the Strong’s Concordance the Hebrew word in Psalm 22:16 is “karah”. It appears 16 times in the Old Testament and means to dig, make, open, or pierce.

Also, Zechariah 12:10 tells us that near the end of the Great Tribulation the Lord will pour out a spirit of grace and supplication on the Jewish people, saying, “And they will look upon Me, who they pierced.” Here a different Hebrew word is used and both the Jewish and Christian Bibles agree that it means “pierced”. It’s a second source that confirms the manner in which the Messiah would die.

c. suffering servant

Claim: Christianity says Isaiah chapter 53 refers to Jesus, as the “suffering servant.” In actuality, Isaiah 53 directly follows the theme of chapter 52, describing the exile and redemption of the Jewish people. The prophecies are written in the singular form because the Jews (“Israel”) are regarded as one unit. The Torah is filled with examples of the Jewish nation referred to with a singular pronoun.

Response: This is a very weak claim because in Isaiah 52:13 the context clearly shifts to a discussion of “my servant” and the singular personal pronouns “he”, “him”, and “his” from there to the end of Isaiah 53 all refer to the phrase “my servant.” There really isn’t any way to read Isaiah 53literally other than to see it as referring to a male person. Trying to make the singular third person pronoun represent Israel leaves one with the problem of defining who the first person plural pronouns “we”, “us”, and “our” (the people speaking) represent, because it’s obvious from the context that it’s Israel.

In addition, this claim puts Israel in the position of dying for the sins of others to bring them peace (Isaiah 53:4-6). Does anyone really believe that? Besides, Isaiah 53:8 says He was stricken for the transgressions of “my people”. Whether these words are attributed to God or to Isaiah, isn’t Israel “my people”?

Finally a clear reading of Isaiah 53 so accurately describes the rejection, suffering, death, and resurrection of the Messiah, it’s been said that more Jewish people have been converted to Christianity by this one chapter than by all the rest of the Bible.

4) Jewish Belief Is Based Solely On National Revelation
Claim: Throughout history, thousands of religions have been started by individuals, attempting to convince people that he or she is God’s true prophet. But personal revelation is an extremely weak basis for a religion because one can never know if it is indeed true. Since others did not hear God speak to this person, they have to take his word for it.

Even if the individual claiming personal revelation performs miracles, there is still no verification that he is a genuine prophet. Therefore, Judaism is not miracles. It is the personal eyewitness experience of every man, woman and child, standing at Mount Sinai 3,300 years ago.

Response: God did speak to the people once, and they asked Him not to ever do that again, but to appoint prophets to speak for Him (Deut. 18:15-18).Thereafter God only spoke to the nation through those He appointed as prophets.

Moreover, the idea that Judaism isn’t miracles simply doesn’t hold up under inspection. When the Israelites were resigned to certain defeat at the hands of the Egyptians, God had Moses part the Red Sea to give them an escape route (Exodus 14:15-31). When there wasn’t enough time in the day to defeat their enemies, Joshua asked God to make the sun stand still, and He did (Joshua 10:12-15). When they couldn’t decide whether to worship Baal or God, Elijah used a miracle to persuade them to follow God (1 Kings 18:16-39).

Their whole religious system was based on the evidence God regularly provided through miracles. According to their traditions, the smoke from their offerings always rose straight into heaven no matter how strong the wind was blowing or from what direction. When the scapegoat died on Yom Kippur, a scarlet ribbon tied to the Temple door always turned white to signify their sins had been forgiven in fulfillment of Isaiah 1:18. And what about the Passover, was that not a miraculous event? Their history is full of miracles God provided to give support to Israel’s faith. It’s the Church who is asked to believe on the strength of faith in God’s revealed word alone.

We’re just over half way through the list of seven reasons the anti-missionaries give to explain why the Jews reject Jesus as their Messiah. But already we’ve had a great chance to see from the Old Testament that Jesus is indeed the Messiah of Israel. We’ll take the balance next time.

A Good Crisis Wasted :: by Wilfred Hahn

Published on: July 6, 2014January 30, 2017 by RR2

The spring robins are out and warbling. Around the world, policymakers and politicians are congratulating themselves on a crisis well averted.

Last month, US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner was already prattling: “[…] major policy intervention (including Emergency Economy Stabilization Act — EESA) was, in the end, successful in achieving the vital but narrow objective of preventing a systemic financial meltdown.”1 “We continue to expect economic activity to bottom out, then to turn up later this year;” opined Ben Bernanke of the Federal Reserve.2 He is also forecasting that the worst is behind. Internationally, the same sentiment prevailed. “We are, as far as growth is concerned, around the inflection point in the cycle.” said Jean-Claude Trichet, President of the European Central Bank. 3

For good measure, President Obama, too, is constructive recently saying, “When you look at the economy right now, I think it’s safe to say we have stepped back from the brink, that there is some calm that didn’t exist before.” (Reuters, May 26, 2009) This is the same Obama that has also been telling China that their investments in the US treasury bonds are safe. Another fact to remember is that none of the above-quoted soothers, saw the crisis coming in the first place..

All of this newfound euphoria should have been well anticipated, though the short-timing of such swings are hazardous at best. Stock markets around the world have soared massively from their early March lows … some emerging markets and oil prices nearly doubling from their lows. The question that begs now: Is it a false dawn or the start of a long-term recovery?

There are a few problems with the rosy perspective now being adopted. For one, it doesn’t fully align with economic and financial realities over the longer-term, nor the cosmological timeline.

Crisis Wasted

If the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) is really already receding into history, the humanists and global reconstructionists will have wasted a good crisis … in fact, one of the biggest in almost a century. According to the Rahm Doctrine (named after Emanuel Rahm, the profane Chief of Staff of the Obama Administration who was quoted as saying “Never let a good crisis to waste”) it is times of crisis that can be counted on to break inertia and force irreversible change. In this view, if the GFC is indeed over, then it has been an unsuccessful one.

There has been a lot of talk about reforming regulations, new global initiatives and so on. However, to date none of it has yet been enacted as new policy. Without a continuing crisis, these proposed changes will likely be abandoned just as occurred following the Asian Crisis of 1997-1999. Early financial recoveries quickly dissipated the sincerity of previous commitments.

There is little chance that the ramifications of the GFC are over. As mentioned, the real question centers now on the prospects for false dawns … how many, whether long or short … etc. Through all of these highs and lows — no matter yet how grim or euphoric — we still maintain that the financial system will not be allowed to collapse. Taking a prophetic perspective, we can know that the future 10-king alliance and Antichrist will not be able to effectively rule nor establish their prophesied financial interventions without the benefit of such a system.

Actually, the very essence of this argument is on clear display right now. This is the very card that financial executives are playing to extract billions and trillions from the pockets of ordinary citizens. Effectively, they are saying this: “You can’t recover without us. If you don’t rescue the financial industry first, there is no future.” This has been the winning slogan of all the lobbyists crawling aroundWashington D.C. during the past 18 months.

The Extent of False Dawns

All major crises have false dawns … at least one or more. Whatever the nature of the “false dawns” that are yet to be expected, we can say without reservation that the GFC and its implications for the Western world, specifically America, are far from over. To quote, Ronald Reagan, “You ain’t seen nothing yet.”

That is the easiest of conclusions to draw. The most difficult answer concerns queries about the nature and specific manifestation of the next stages of the GFC’s fall-out. There is more than one scenario to consider. I wish I could provide an answer that had 100% certainty. However, given the complexity of the many global crosscurrents, the wild-card policy actions, massive wealth skews, fear and greed … etc., it simply is not possible.

Of two things you can be sure: There is a massive amount of capital that is likewise waiting for a sure answer. Whichever way it sloshes, there are bound to big waves and troughs. Lately, there has emerged a wave of money from the bunkers, which is now running scared that it may be missing out on potential gains. The time for that strategy is already probably near over … and too late for now. But then again, desperate times can lead to desperate actions.

The other certainty is that the vast majority of people (ordinary households, in other words) will continue to be caught unawares and bewildered. The average citizen is being herded from one disaster to another. It reminds of the Bible prophecy to Israel describing the experience of the future “day of the Lord.” “It will be as though a man fled from a lion only to meet a bear, as though he entered his house and rested his hand on the wall only to have a snake bite him.” (Amos 5:19)

An aspect of this is playing out right now. No sooner do people think that they are safely invested in government bonds, than these bite them in the hand. (Bond markets literally melted down in recent weeks.) No sooner have they fled from the bear of falling stock markets, a lion is chasing manic people back in.

Can we at least try to get a better fix on the future? Consider this perspective excerpted from our upcoming book, Global Financial Apocalypse Prophesied: Preserving True Riches in an Age of Deception and Trouble.

“What will happen next? Will there be another bubble? Can there be a sustainable economic recovery? The correct answers here are related to two other questions that we must first ask. They will confirm the likely prognosis.

Firstly, will policymakers choose to continue to try to outrun consequences of past mistakes or will they face up to them? The answer is eminently clear by now. Governments and central banks around the world have chosen to try escape the results of past folly. In so doing, they are now setting up the conditions for a much greater economic collapse in the future. However, this need not necessarily happen right away. First, a major recovery period may occur — at least in some parts of the world — before this eventuality again looms.

To date, many countries are aggressively raising national debt levels by boosting government spending and bailing out various industries, above all companies in the financial sector. For example, Britain, itself home to the second largest financial center in the world, has now breeched government debt levels greater than 100% of GDP (annual gross domestic product of the economy) and is risking a downgrading of its credit rating. Incredibly, this former world empire has finally come to this shameful point. It is now recklessly pursuing inflationary monetary policies.

The U.S. government at the time of this writing had already committed to over $12 trillion in expenditures, bail-outs and contingent guarantees in its effort to forestall further financial collapse. This is an almost unfathomably large amount, equating to almost $40,000 for every man, woman and child in America. According to estimates, this is 10 times the intervention of any other post-war recession period. Such policy responses can surely not lead to sustainable prosperity. It leads to even higher debt … ever higher burdens for future generations.

Without a doubt, policymakers — both in America and around the world — are choosing to outrun their problems with monetary manipulation. That must lead us to conclude that any economic and financial recoveries must be considered temporary and will certainly not be sustainable. The options chosen are monetary manipulation, deception and cronyism. It will lead to even greater impoverishment forAmerica and certain other nations relative to the rest of the world.”

This overview clearly alerts readers to future realities. Let’s next discuss a current issue that continues to act as “ball & chain” to North American households and starkly illustrates the trap into which much of the middle class… indeed the entire nation … has fallen.

Deep Destruction and Desperation

The biggest “cement shoes” for the financial system and a factor that still suppresses economic growth these years later, is sinking real estate values. This remains the primary real asset that collaterizes the asset side of the balance sheet for the entire financial system. Residential and commercial real estate values continue to fall. That means that the balance sheets of financial institutions will continue to be under pressure. If house prices do not soon stop falling, you can be sure that there will be another round of government bail-outs.

The S&P/Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index – which covers all nine U.S. census divisions – recorded a 19.1% decline in the 1st quarter of 2009 versus the 1st quarter of 2008, the largest decline in the series 21-year history. (See graph below.) To date, from its recorded peak level of July 2006, the median house price has declined 32%. Futures markets as well as some forecasters anticipate further housing price declines (for a total of 40% to 50% and more from the previous high).

It goes without saying that this is a disastrous slump, having represented “ground zero” of the GFC from the beginning. It is already over 5 years ago that we wrote our first warning of an impending real estate bust and its potential impact upon America (and Israel) (A Warning That Hits Home – May 2004). Whether or not real estate values fall further, the true reality of this disaster to date is not yet fully acknowledged. A quick review of the facts reveals a possibly mortal blow to America … to its very core foundation, the family and home.A record 12% of homeowners with a mortgage are behind on their payments or in foreclosure as the housing crisis now spreads to prime mortgage borrowers. According to the Mortgage Bankers Association (who, by the way, have no incentive to exaggerate this statistic) do not expect this wave to crest until the end of next year, nearer 15% of all mortgages. (2/3 of all homeowners have a mortgage.)

These statistics, stunning as they are, still do not provide a sense of true scope of the crushing reality of falling real estate prices. Consider these facts: Residential mortgages total $10.6 trillion in the U.S.The total value of all homes peaked at $21.7 trillion in 2006, and has now fallen to an estimated level of $15 trillion. To illustrate, should house prices fall further as some expect, overall housing value will sink further … say to $12-$13 trillion. That would mean that the average home equity portion would fall to 12% – 18% (the other 88% to 82% being debt). This the implications of such a situation would likely be so disastrous, no wonder many commentators use apocalyptic language describing it.

But, even this is not yet the worst of it. Remember that one-third of all households do not have a mortgage. That implies in this scenario that the average home with a mortgage would be worth only 75% of the mortgage outstanding! As long as housing prices continue to deflate, the financial system is not yet in the clear by a country mile. Of course, policymakers are aware of this scenario and are desperately wanting to engineer an upside trend.

However, we still have yet to broach the worst situation of all. A study by the Center for Economic Policy Research surveyed the wealth effect of the GFC for older American households.4 It included the effects of the declines in real estate values as well as financial markets to the end of 2008. The results are chilling as they reveal the potential for severe desperation.

Many people between the ages of 45 and 64 have not yet paid off their houses. In fact, though perhaps owning their residences for more than two decades, a large number of households do not have positive net equity in their homes. Imagine: “Nearly 30% of the households headed by someone between the ages of 45 and 54 will need to bring money to their closing (to cover their mortgage and transactions costs) if they were to sell their home. Technically, they have negative equity in their home. For people between the ages of 55 and 64 the percentage is 15%.” The authors of this report state that the median household between the ages of 55 and 64 experienced a drop in wealth of 50% since 2004.

Consider that these estimates do not include the effects of price declines in real estate and financial assets since the end of 2008. Quoting further from the study, “The baby boom generation for the most part has insufficient time remaining before retirement to accumulate substantial savings. Therefore, they will be largely dependent on social insurance programs to support them in retirement.”

The most worrisome aspect of the massive declines in household net worth is that it has impacted the middle class disproportionately and comes at a time that many baby boomers are approaching retirement years. As such, the disaster that has befallen American households couldn’t have come at a worse moment domestically. Also geopolitically.

A Demographic Bomb On Top

Viewing the high debt levels in America and other nations, some people may well ask: “Debt levels have been high before in America’s history, and yet in these instances the nation has recovered to even higher levels of prosperity. Can’t this happen again?”

No, this is not likely this time. High debt levels indeed occurred in the early 1930s and then again in the late 1940s. However, the prognosis in these cases was entirely different, as the causality was not the same. The 1940’s debt obligations were the result of a world war. As such, it was government debt that soared (to over 100% of GDP), in turn driving real spending in the production economy. This was then followed by a post-war population boom, helping to boost economic growth.

In a very short period of time, government debt levels fell to low levels as new households saved, raised families, paid their houses off and invested. Household debt throughout this entire period remained relatively low.

In the early 1930s, high debt-to-GDP levels also occurred. However, at the start, the main cause of this rise was not government debt, but rather in the private sector (businesses and households). Then as the economy collapsed in the 1930s, government debt soared. Here the denominator (the economy) shrunk as debt continued to rise after the onset of economic crisis. To think that today’s debt levels in the U.S. are far higher than at any other time, already even before an economic depression, is a sobering realization. And now, we have slowing population growth and a “baby boom” cohort that will soon retire.

There can be no doubt: The legacy of the current GFC will be radically higher government debt levels. As mentioned, non-financial debt-to-GDP was already at an all-time high before the crisis period began. Indeed, this itself was an important enabler and catalyst to the crisis in the first place. But as the choice has been to outrun problems, the U.S. government is now plunging into even more debt. It would not be an outrageous forecast that U.S. government debt will triple relative to GDP over the next 7 years to 10 years.

Quoting Frederich Hayek, a well-known Austrian School economist, “[…] to combat the depression by a forced credit expansion is to attempt to cure the evil by the very means which brought it about; because we are suffering from a misdirection of production, we want to create further misdirection — a procedure which can only lead to a much more severe crisis as soon as the credit expansion comes to an end.” 5

In a desperate attempt to restart the previous asset price manias, to again inflate up stock markets and real estate so to forestall the devastation of the net worth suffered by the average middle-class family, the solution is more debt. It is a response similar to that of a drug addict. Progressively, an addict requires ever increasing doses to maintain a similar level of euphoria, until finally the veins do collapse.

While globalists might think the current crisis wasted, this need not be true for Christians. We should not abandon the chastenings of the GFC so quickly. Our riches are elsewhere.

Notes:

1. Timothy F. Geithner, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury. Statement to the Senate Banking Committee, May 20, 2009.

2. Chairman Ben S. Bernanke, The economic outlook:Testimony Before the Joint Economic Committee, U.S. Congress, Washington, D.C., May 5, 2009.
3. Jean-Claude Trichet, President of the European Central Bank, Wall Street Journal, May 11, 2009.

4. David Rosnick and Dean Baker, The Wealth of the Baby Boom Cohorts After the Collapse of the Housing Bubble, Center of Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), February 2009.

5. Friedrich Hayek, “Monetary Theory and the Trade Cycle”, London,1933.