Source: Rocky Mountain Bahá'í
Christ is the Greek word for Messiah, which is a Hebrew word. When Jesus actually came, the Israelite people were speaking Hebrew, living under the oppression of the Romans, who spoke Greek. So, Jesus appeared while the Hebrew people were living in a Greek culture, where they had to speak Greek to participate in some of the commerce of the area. Therefore, the New Testament is largely from the Greek original versions, whereas the Old Testament was largely from the Hebrew original versions. That’s why essentially the term Messiah, is from the Old Testament, and the word Christ is from the New Testament. Thus, the Messiah of the Old Testament and the Christ of the New Testament are one and the same figure.
The prophets Daniel, Ezekiel, Isaiah, Micah, etc., were mostly from the end of the Old Testament, after a need for a Savior or Messiah arose among God’s chosen people. How did this need arise?
Without going into the entire story, which is contained in other documents on this site, suffice it to say that the Israelites were God’s family on earth. God’s kings on earth were to come from this family, and many nations of God’s people were to be descendants of this blessed family. They had been promised to be blessed by God since the time of their forefathers, which included Noah, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Jacob, a.k.a., “Israel.” Jacob, whose name was changed to “Israel,” by God, was the patriarch of the twelve tribes of Israel. It’s not uncommon for God to change people’s names. For example, Abraham’s name was originally Abram, until God changed it, and his blessed wife Sarah’s name had originally been Sarai.
This was the lineage of people that was highly blessed by God, but not exclusively. That is, other peoples were also blessed, such as the lineage from Abraham that came through Ishmael, who was his firstborn son, and normally the recipient of the sacred heritage. But Ishmael was not from the blessed wife Sarah, so God did not allow for this lineage to receive the sacred inheritance.
To be exact, Sarah had adopted Ishmael, but he was born of Sarah’s slave woman from Arabia. When Ishmael was 13, Sarah had Isaac. To be CERTAIN that Sarah’s blessed child received the inheritance, Abraham took his son Ishmael, and Ishmael’s natural mother Hagar, and moved them down to Hagar’s country of origin, in Arabia. Word has it, that Abraham even had a big, black meteorite carved out as a house of worship for Hagar and Ishmael. This is the building that is now a sacred temple in Arabia. But it has been taken over by idolatry.
Nevertheless, the point is, Ishmael also received a blessing, which was that a great nation would come from him. As well, there would be twelve princes that came from him.
This great nation is the nation of Islam. The twelve princes are the twelve Imams. Only the Shiite Muslims believe in the lineal/appointed successors to Muhammad, which fulfilled this promise to Abraham that twelve princes would come from Ishamael. Muhammad was a direct descedant of Ishmael and Abraham. Islam was corrupted the moment Muhammad died, when a couple of believers and a big crowd of people elected a successor to Muhammad. This brought about the rise of the Sunnis. The Sunnis believe in elected leaders, called Caliphs.
However, in so doing, they ignored Muhammad’s wishes that his nephew named Ali, should be his successor. This brought about the Shiites, who believed in Muhammad’s appointed successors, often relatives, etc. Muhammad’s nephew had also married his daughter, and thus Ali was Muhammad’s nephew and son-in-law. Muhammad expressed his wishes verbally at bedside prior to his death, for Ali to be his successor, but this was never formally written down, and thus a huge contingent of his believers strayed from his wishes from the time of his death.
Within 60 short years, the enemy tribes, or the direct successors of the actual enemies of the prophet Himself, were in control of the Caliphship, and they started going out conquering the world, against Muhammad’s wishes.
Muhammad had instructed them to build city-states, under God’s Covenant, and if these city-states were attacked, they were allowed to engage in defensive warfare. Otherwise, they are forbidden to engage in offensive warfare. However, the corrupt Caliphs ignored this, and within 60 years of Muhammad’s death, the Arabs began conquering not only the Persian Empire, but also the Roman Empire, spawning the beginning of the Holy Roman Empire in Europe, and even sending that into a tailspin, with the onset of the Dark Ages in Europe, and then the Crusades, when the Europeans sent their children to war.
The Crusades were never successful, and altogether Islam ruled Jerusalem for 1260 years, until after World War I in 1921.
The Crusades were back in the 1100-1200s. First, the ignorant priestcraft of the Holy Roman Empire saw that the Muslims were using knowledge and learning, such as Arabic, Arithmatic, Astronomy, and so on, to not only conquer the vast and powerful Persian and Romen Empires, but they were also teaching the people the Koran, and the people were believing it. Why? Two reasons. First, Christianity had become so infused with paganism, that the Muslims could easily show that the Christians weren’t worshipping the One, True, Invisible God, but that indeed, they were “Idol-worshippers,” a.k.a., “Idolators.” Second, they could show that Muhammad had been prophesied in the Old Testament. Today, the titles of Muhammad in the Bible are “Comforter,” or in the Greek, “Paraclete,” or “Prince of Arabia,” and so on.
But to return to subject, let it be understood that other peoples play a role in God’s plan, but it is a subservient role in comparison to this blessed lineage from Abraham and Sarah.
So the twelve princes were the twelve Imams, and only a contingent of Muslims chose this path. Also, Ishmael’s blessed lineage is the lineage of the prophet Muhammad. But this was not the most highly blessed lineage on earth. The most powerful blessing, or covenant, was the one given the lineage of people that came from Abraham’s son through Abraham and Sarah, named Isaac. The covenants God made with Abraham, were also made with Isaac, and then with Isaac’s son Jacob.
God promised Abraham that God’s kings on earth would come from Abraham’s lineage, and that many nations of God’s people would come from among Abraham’s descendants. Thus these people entered into Covenants that were passed from generation to generation. These Covenants made these people God’s family on earth, contingent on the agreement that they would be His people, and He would be their God.
God furthered the Covenant with His people during the time of Moses, and the twelve tribes of Israel were given a three-part Covenant: 1. If they followed God’s laws they would be blessed; 2. If they disobeyed God’s laws they would be cursed; and 3. After they were cursed, they would one day be regathered under God’s law.
So, indeed, they broke the Covenant under the reign of Solomon, and they were cursed. Part of the curse was that they would be taken captivity into other nations and scattered. See the document “The Covenant of Moses” for more detail on these stories. Also see “The Covenants of the Bible.”
So after the Israelites were in captivity, some of them, like Elijah, Daniel, Isaiah and Micah, started praying to God, to see if He would forgive them, and regather them under His Covenant, like He had promised He would do one day.
Thus we have the “need” for the Messiah, and hence God’s promises begin, that a descendant on the throne of David would come and save them from the curse, and bring them under the Covenant again.
The word “Messiah,” simply refers to the man on the throne, whether this throne or that throne. Literally, it means, “anointed one,” i.e., anointed as king.
For example, another figure called “Messiah” in the Bible was King Cyrus, who was king of Persia.
So a Messiah, or anointed one on the throne of David, would come and save these people from the curse they were under.
Oh boy. That’s a big job.
But that’s the job that Jesus was given by God. Thus, in answer to the prayers of Elijah, Micah, Isaiah and Daniel, they received visions of the coming of this Messiah who would save them from their sins, thus, their “Savior.”
Now to understand the mindset of Daniel, Elijah, Isaiah and Micah, one must understand the priesthood and temple worship of this family of God, which had been set up by Moses and Moses’ brother Aaron. God had Moses build a tent which would be a temple to the One, True, God, and instead of the people worshipping animals, which they tended to make statues of, God had them literally sacrifice animals, they best animals, e.g., sheep, calves, etc., so the smoke of their burning could rise up into the nostrils of the One, True, Invisible God. After this animal sacrifice, the blood of the animal was to be spread in the outer room of the tent. Then, a high priesthood was set up, with Aaron, Moses’ brother, as the first one. Aaron’s direct lineal descendants would succeed him as the high priests. The high priest would then go into the innermost room of the tent, called the Most Holy Place, or the Holy of Holies, and there the priest would commune with God, and ask for forgiveness of the sins of the people. God’s presence was thus with the people, as long as they obeyed God’s laws.
But once paganism slipped in, through Solomon, God allowed for His presence to flee from the people. Their high priesthood lineage from Aaron was lost, their ark of (or box for) the Covenant and the stones tablets with the Covenant of Moses and the Ten Commandments written on them were lost, the of temple was destroyed, and this entire practice of worship was dissipated and lost, as the Israelites entered under the second part of Moses’ Covenant, the curse.
Through their prophets, such as Daniel, Elijah, Isaiah, Micah, and so on, they came to realize that God was going to send a Messiah to straighten things out.
When Jesus came, He restored the temple worship, but only symbolically.
Paul explains in his letters to the Hebrews and Romans, how Jesus restored: 1. the mediation powers of the high priesthood; 2. temple worship; and 3. animal sacrifice.
However, in Jesus’ restoration of this form of worship, everything was abstract. To explain, He restored the mediation powers of the high priesthood, He said He was a priest of a higher order than Aaron was, which was a priest after the order of Melchizedek. He said He entered a temple not built by hands, and entered the Most Holy Place, or the Holy of Holies, and asked God for forgiveness of the sins of the people. All the people had to do was ask in Jesus’ name, and this would “kick in” his mediator role, and the people could thus have direct access to God, in asking for forgiveness of sins! Thus Jesus also restored temple worship, and establishing this idea of a temple not built by hands, established in heaven. He also turned the animal sacrifice into a symbolic sacrifice, teaching that He was the sacrificial lamb, and his sacrifice would serve as the last and eternal sacrifice, and from now on, all the people would have to do is eat bread and drink wine in remembrance of his sacrifice, in remembrance of Him and His role.
John further explained that the eating of the bread symbolizes the idea that the people have digested Jesus’ teachings, which were like manna from heaven, giving people life sustenance for eternal life; and drinking the wine was like drinking of the blood of Jesus’ sacrifice, and believing in Him.
So how did Jesus role as a man on throne of David, figure in? Was He an anointed one, on the throne of David?
Actually, no, He wasn’t even of the lineage of kings from David. According to Luke’s genealogy (which is the one I go by since Luke was an educated doctor, and Matthew was more of a layman), Jesus descended from David’s son Nathan, not from David’s son Solomon, who was the one crowned king.
Matthew said in chapter 10 that every time his followers tried to make Jesus king, He ran away and hid in the mountains. Jesus repeatedly stated that His kingdom was not of this world.
These truths confused Jesus’ followers. They so confused because many of the prophecies foretold the coming of a Messiah that would be the king in the Kingdom of God on earth.
So Jesus didn’t fulfill ALL the prophecies for the coming of a Messiah. Jesus only fulfilled some of the prophecies, and then He died.
This completely confused his followers, to the point where they actually stopped believing in him for a while, until they understood that in spite of the fact that He didn’t fulfill all the prophecies, nevertheless He was still the prophesied Messiah.
And that in spite of the fact that he did not actually bring and establish this prophesied “Kingdom of God on Earth,” nevertheless He heralded its coming, and gave them a prayer to pray for its coming (The Lord’s prayer prays for the coming of the Kingdom of God on Earth, “Our Father, Who art in heaven, … Thy Kingdom come, thy Will be done, on EARTH, as it is in heaven….”).
Also, He taught many things, but the thing that convinced them to begin believing again was Mary Magdalene, and the visitation that Jesus had with them from the next realm after He was crucified. He convinced them at that time that His message was nevertheless real. They reflected on Isaiah’s prophecy wherein it is foretold that a perfect one would come and be slaughtered as a perfect lamb is slaughtered for the sacrifice.
Do you realize that God was telling us the opposite message to “worship Jesus as God?” Yes! God had Jesus go to the slaughter as a final sacrifice of the man-god “male bovine feces” that man dreamt up! Man is NOT GOD! This was the WHOLE reason God had Jesus go to the slaughter.
However, Jesus was a Manifestation of God. Now, what does that mean?
A Manifestation is one who manifests. To manifest God is such a special undertaking, that God sends, about once every 1000 years, a Manifestation, to manifest, Himself! No wonder man gets confused.
However, God is an abstract, and there is no possible way for our finite minds to comprehend the infinite God. Period. In fact, the way is barred, from fully comprehending God, because that station is reserved for God alone.
However, these Manifestations, are endowed with a special “seventh sense,” shall we say. Man has a “sixth sense,” the ability to perceive things of the next realm, and so on, but the Manifestations have something man does not have, and that is, the Holy Spirit.
They have it from the time of conception, through childhood, during which they already know everything, it appears, and then, they are anointed at one point with a mission, so-to-speak, and from then on, they become major prophets of God, speaking the Words of God, listening to God in the burning bush, or thundering from the sky, and then finally, simply having God’s Words in their mouths.
Muhammad was one such prophet, but His Revelation or message was to protect the actual descendants of Isaac’s blessed lineage. So this mission was still subservient to the mission of the blessed lineage itself. What I’m saying is, the Imams eventually saved and protected the Davidic kings. The Davidic kings were the blessed lineage from Isaac. The Davidic kings were the descendants of David, Judah, Jacob, Isaac and Abraham, and they were God’s kings on earth, the blessed lineage, seated on the throne of David. This was the kingship that was the result of the blessing given to Abraham, that kings would come forth from his descendants, and the role of Islam was to “submit” to this lineage. The word Islam means to “submit.” Therefore, the Imams who understood God’s messages through Muhammad, went into the Persian Empire after the Calphs killed the King of Persia, and they arranged to meet with the man on the throne of David, who had been in captivity under the Persians. The Imam then arranged a marriage between the daughter of the King on the throne, who had just been killed. The daughter then took the throne of her father and placed it on the head of her husband, who was already seated on the throne of David (while it was in captivity under the Persians). Then, the Imam held a great public debate, the transcript of which is still extant and in my possession, and available on this site.
The Imam and the Davidic king held debate as to whether Muhammad was a true prophet. The rules of the debate were that if you had no rebuttal to refute the previous one’s proofs, the last one to speak won the debate. That day, the Imam had the last word, and afterward, the Davidic king and 800 Jews converted to Islam. The Imams then moved this family, this man, this daughter of the previous king of Persia, and protected them in an ancient area of refuge of the Zoroastrians and their kings. The kings of Persia were believers in the One, True, Invisible God, and their prophet was Zoroaster. See more about this in the other articles about the lineage of the Davidic Kings on this site.
So here we have a Davidic king, converting to Islam. From there, the Rabbis took authority among the Jews. The Davidic kings no longer mattered to them. They lost heart, in a sense, thinking their Davidic kings had gone off the deep end by converting to Islam. In reality, the Davidic kings were safe and sound, just following God’s dictates.
Jews believed in the Old Testament. The Old Testament had these prophecies about how the Israelites could come out from under the curse when this Savior, or Messiah from the lineage of David came.
Indeed, Jesus was this Messiah. The Greek word for it is Christ.
So Jesus was this man of the “seed of David according to the flesh,” and only “designated the Son of God according to the spirit” (Rom. 1: 1-3).
Jesus was also called the Star of David, and so on. His lineage went back to David, but according to Luke’s more credible genealogy, Jesus’ lineage goes back to Nathan, and not through Solomon. Solomon’s lineage was the lineage of the kings, and Jesus was not of this lineage.
So he kept saying I’m not establishing this kingdom on earth right now, but I’m establishing it in heaven, OK? Now, if you pray in my name, this will restore the presence of God to your temple. However, the temple will be a temple not built by hands, and it will be established in heaven. Ask in my name, and I will act as a mediator and high priest between you and God. Thus, the presence of God has been restored for those who truly believe, and these believers are grafted in to the sacred lineage from Abraham, “Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.”
Thus Jesus fulfilled many of the promises having to do with the idea that many nations would come into God’s kingdom on earth. Jesus made it possible for anyone who believed, to become a part of this blessed family of God on earth, this blessed lineage of people through Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. All we had to do was truly believe in Jesus’ message, and the presence of God would once again fill the temple as had been promised. Yet, Jesus taught that the temple was our body, and that our hearts should be filled with the love of God, and that we should also love our neighbors, and ourselves. Thus the temple of true believers, was truly restored.
But such an abstract message was lost on the Jews, and they “missed the mark,” or sinned. The meaning of sin is to miss the mark. They hung Jesus on the cross, thinking he was a blasphemer, and completely missed out on the restoration of their temple by this Messiah or Christ.
But for those who believed, they were now given an avenue through which to have their sins forgiven, by asking God directly in Jesus’ name. They were invited to step out from under the provisions of the curse, and enter the promised land, where they would once again enjoy the presence of God in their midst. The Christians were taught that if two or more were gathered, this would suffice for a temple of worship, whether under a roof or in a building or not. And thus, they were a blessed people. The Christian faith spread all over the world, and every nation has now heard of the stories of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and the Christians, or followers of this Messiah, or Christ.
Yet what was the deal? Jesus’ message was that the whole Kingdom of God on earth was all on “Pause?” When would the Davidic kings be God’s kings on earth again? When would many nations become as one family under God? Even the Christians want to know. When will all this be? When will be the time of the fulfillment of all the prophecies?
This was also the urgent question of Matthew, and of other apostles. They had read the visions of Daniel, and Ezekiel, and Isaiah, and Micah. They knew there was a wonderful thing promised to happen on earth. They asked Jesus, when will this be?
And he answered them by telling them to look into the prophecies of the prophet Daniel, and this would tell them.
To see more about the fulfillment of the prophecies of Daniel, see other articles on this site.
But even though Jesus told them this Kingdom of God on earth would one day still come to earth, he made a Covenant with them about only one thing: and that was, He would return to establish this kingdom.
Now the Christians totally don’t understand the meaning of return. To explain return, I must go into the story about how John the Baptist was the Return of Elijah.
John the Baptist was the “Return of Elijah,” and this was difficult for the people to understand. They were expecting something quite different when Malachi wrote in his Oracle:
“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes” (Malachi 4:5).
After all, Elijah had gone “up by a whirlwind into heaven” (2 Kings 2:11). Wouldn’t he come back the same way?
How could it be that John the Baptist, Jesus’ cousin, could be the Return of Elijah?
He didn’t come streaking down from the sky on. a whirlwind of fire! He came from Elizabeth’s womb. Yet, Jesus Himself said:
1 tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not know him, but did to him whatever they pleased…” Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them of John the Baptist (Matt. 17:12 & 13).
The disciples were somewhat confused about this subject. The Jews were also confused, so they sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask John whether he was the return of Elijah:
“… [Are] you Elijah?” He said, “I am not,” “Are you the prophet?” And he answered, “No.” They said to him then, “Who are you? Let us have an answer for those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” He said, “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said” (John 1:21-23).
So the Christians accept that fulfillment of something a prophet said, constitutes proof that someone is the promised “return” of someone else.
Right? Think about it. John the Baptist did NOT fulfill the prophecies in the way that the scribes and Pharisees, Sadduces, and so on, thought he would. Therefore, they rejected both Jesus and John the Baptist. John the Baptist wound up having his head cut off and served on a platter. Only a very few, including Jesus, recognized him. Of course it was Jesus’ cousin, so Jesus already knew the guy. True! Mary, Jesus’ mother, and Elizabeth, John’s mother, were “kinswomen,” and they were both from the tribe of Levi. Mary had been a temple virgin prior to becoming bequeathed to Joseph, which was almost like marriage, because they lived together from the time Mary was 13, until she was fifteen, when, prior to them actually getting married, she was found to be with child.
OK. So, we see that Jesus promised to return. We also see that the “return” is usually difficult for people to understand.
But how does this translate into the meaning of the word “Christ?”
It is simply this.
The prophecies about the Christ or Messiah, were not all fulfilled by Jesus. Yes, many were, but not all of them. Jesus made only one strong Covenant with his people, and that was, that He would return to fulfill the rest of these prophecies at a later date.
The Christians have been duped into thinking Jesus is God, so along with it, they have swallowed the fallacy that Jesus will come out of the sky when he finally does return. Like the scribes, Sadduces, Pharisees, they are completely missing the mark, when it comes to be equipped to recognize him upon his return. They are looking for a god-man to appear in the sky. Sorry folks, it ain’t gonna happen.
However, a true seeker would look into Jesus’ answers when the apostles asked him, when would this be, and so on. In fact, Jesus even said one of his apostles would actually live to see the Kingdom of God on Earth, but this turned out to be alluding to John, and the visions that he saw of the kingdom. He wrote these visions down in the book of Revelation.
The prophets Daniel, Ezekiel, Isaiah, Micah, etc., were mostly from the end of the Old Testament, after a need for a Savior or Messiah arose among God’s chosen people. How did this need arise?
Without going into the entire story, which is contained in other documents on this site, suffice it to say that the Israelites were God’s family on earth. God’s kings on earth were to come from this family, and many nations of God’s people were to be descendants of this blessed family. They had been promised to be blessed by God since the time of their forefathers, which included Noah, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Jacob, a.k.a., “Israel.” Jacob, whose name was changed to “Israel,” by God, was the patriarch of the twelve tribes of Israel. It’s not uncommon for God to change people’s names. For example, Abraham’s name was originally Abram, until God changed it, and his blessed wife Sarah’s name had originally been Sarai.
This was the lineage of people that was highly blessed by God, but not exclusively. That is, other peoples were also blessed, such as the lineage from Abraham that came through Ishmael, who was his firstborn son, and normally the recipient of the sacred heritage. But Ishmael was not from the blessed wife Sarah, so God did not allow for this lineage to receive the sacred inheritance.
To be exact, Sarah had adopted Ishmael, but he was born of Sarah’s slave woman from Arabia. When Ishmael was 13, Sarah had Isaac. To be CERTAIN that Sarah’s blessed child received the inheritance, Abraham took his son Ishmael, and Ishmael’s natural mother Hagar, and moved them down to Hagar’s country of origin, in Arabia. Word has it, that Abraham even had a big, black meteorite carved out as a house of worship for Hagar and Ishmael. This is the building that is now a sacred temple in Arabia. But it has been taken over by idolatry.
Nevertheless, the point is, Ishmael also received a blessing, which was that a great nation would come from him. As well, there would be twelve princes that came from him.
This great nation is the nation of Islam. The twelve princes are the twelve Imams. Only the Shiite Muslims believe in the lineal/appointed successors to Muhammad, which fulfilled this promise to Abraham that twelve princes would come from Ishamael. Muhammad was a direct descedant of Ishmael and Abraham. Islam was corrupted the moment Muhammad died, when a couple of believers and a big crowd of people elected a successor to Muhammad. This brought about the rise of the Sunnis. The Sunnis believe in elected leaders, called Caliphs.
However, in so doing, they ignored Muhammad’s wishes that his nephew named Ali, should be his successor. This brought about the Shiites, who believed in Muhammad’s appointed successors, often relatives, etc. Muhammad’s nephew had also married his daughter, and thus Ali was Muhammad’s nephew and son-in-law. Muhammad expressed his wishes verbally at bedside prior to his death, for Ali to be his successor, but this was never formally written down, and thus a huge contingent of his believers strayed from his wishes from the time of his death.
Within 60 short years, the enemy tribes, or the direct successors of the actual enemies of the prophet Himself, were in control of the Caliphship, and they started going out conquering the world, against Muhammad’s wishes.
Muhammad had instructed them to build city-states, under God’s Covenant, and if these city-states were attacked, they were allowed to engage in defensive warfare. Otherwise, they are forbidden to engage in offensive warfare. However, the corrupt Caliphs ignored this, and within 60 years of Muhammad’s death, the Arabs began conquering not only the Persian Empire, but also the Roman Empire, spawning the beginning of the Holy Roman Empire in Europe, and even sending that into a tailspin, with the onset of the Dark Ages in Europe, and then the Crusades, when the Europeans sent their children to war.
The Crusades were never successful, and altogether Islam ruled Jerusalem for 1260 years, until after World War I in 1921.
The Crusades were back in the 1100-1200s. First, the ignorant priestcraft of the Holy Roman Empire saw that the Muslims were using knowledge and learning, such as Arabic, Arithmatic, Astronomy, and so on, to not only conquer the vast and powerful Persian and Romen Empires, but they were also teaching the people the Koran, and the people were believing it. Why? Two reasons. First, Christianity had become so infused with paganism, that the Muslims could easily show that the Christians weren’t worshipping the One, True, Invisible God, but that indeed, they were “Idol-worshippers,” a.k.a., “Idolators.” Second, they could show that Muhammad had been prophesied in the Old Testament. Today, the titles of Muhammad in the Bible are “Comforter,” or in the Greek, “Paraclete,” or “Prince of Arabia,” and so on.
But to return to subject, let it be understood that other peoples play a role in God’s plan, but it is a subservient role in comparison to this blessed lineage from Abraham and Sarah.
So the twelve princes were the twelve Imams, and only a contingent of Muslims chose this path. Also, Ishmael’s blessed lineage is the lineage of the prophet Muhammad. But this was not the most highly blessed lineage on earth. The most powerful blessing, or covenant, was the one given the lineage of people that came from Abraham’s son through Abraham and Sarah, named Isaac. The covenants God made with Abraham, were also made with Isaac, and then with Isaac’s son Jacob.
God promised Abraham that God’s kings on earth would come from Abraham’s lineage, and that many nations of God’s people would come from among Abraham’s descendants. Thus these people entered into Covenants that were passed from generation to generation. These Covenants made these people God’s family on earth, contingent on the agreement that they would be His people, and He would be their God.
God furthered the Covenant with His people during the time of Moses, and the twelve tribes of Israel were given a three-part Covenant: 1. If they followed God’s laws they would be blessed; 2. If they disobeyed God’s laws they would be cursed; and 3. After they were cursed, they would one day be regathered under God’s law.
So, indeed, they broke the Covenant under the reign of Solomon, and they were cursed. Part of the curse was that they would be taken captivity into other nations and scattered. See the document “The Covenant of Moses” for more detail on these stories. Also see “The Covenants of the Bible.”
So after the Israelites were in captivity, some of them, like Elijah, Daniel, Isaiah and Micah, started praying to God, to see if He would forgive them, and regather them under His Covenant, like He had promised He would do one day.
Thus we have the “need” for the Messiah, and hence God’s promises begin, that a descendant on the throne of David would come and save them from the curse, and bring them under the Covenant again.
The word “Messiah,” simply refers to the man on the throne, whether this throne or that throne. Literally, it means, “anointed one,” i.e., anointed as king.
For example, another figure called “Messiah” in the Bible was King Cyrus, who was king of Persia.
So a Messiah, or anointed one on the throne of David, would come and save these people from the curse they were under.
Oh boy. That’s a big job.
But that’s the job that Jesus was given by God. Thus, in answer to the prayers of Elijah, Micah, Isaiah and Daniel, they received visions of the coming of this Messiah who would save them from their sins, thus, their “Savior.”
Now to understand the mindset of Daniel, Elijah, Isaiah and Micah, one must understand the priesthood and temple worship of this family of God, which had been set up by Moses and Moses’ brother Aaron. God had Moses build a tent which would be a temple to the One, True, God, and instead of the people worshipping animals, which they tended to make statues of, God had them literally sacrifice animals, they best animals, e.g., sheep, calves, etc., so the smoke of their burning could rise up into the nostrils of the One, True, Invisible God. After this animal sacrifice, the blood of the animal was to be spread in the outer room of the tent. Then, a high priesthood was set up, with Aaron, Moses’ brother, as the first one. Aaron’s direct lineal descendants would succeed him as the high priests. The high priest would then go into the innermost room of the tent, called the Most Holy Place, or the Holy of Holies, and there the priest would commune with God, and ask for forgiveness of the sins of the people. God’s presence was thus with the people, as long as they obeyed God’s laws.
But once paganism slipped in, through Solomon, God allowed for His presence to flee from the people. Their high priesthood lineage from Aaron was lost, their ark of (or box for) the Covenant and the stones tablets with the Covenant of Moses and the Ten Commandments written on them were lost, the of temple was destroyed, and this entire practice of worship was dissipated and lost, as the Israelites entered under the second part of Moses’ Covenant, the curse.
Through their prophets, such as Daniel, Elijah, Isaiah, Micah, and so on, they came to realize that God was going to send a Messiah to straighten things out.
When Jesus came, He restored the temple worship, but only symbolically.
Paul explains in his letters to the Hebrews and Romans, how Jesus restored: 1. the mediation powers of the high priesthood; 2. temple worship; and 3. animal sacrifice.
However, in Jesus’ restoration of this form of worship, everything was abstract. To explain, He restored the mediation powers of the high priesthood, He said He was a priest of a higher order than Aaron was, which was a priest after the order of Melchizedek. He said He entered a temple not built by hands, and entered the Most Holy Place, or the Holy of Holies, and asked God for forgiveness of the sins of the people. All the people had to do was ask in Jesus’ name, and this would “kick in” his mediator role, and the people could thus have direct access to God, in asking for forgiveness of sins! Thus Jesus also restored temple worship, and establishing this idea of a temple not built by hands, established in heaven. He also turned the animal sacrifice into a symbolic sacrifice, teaching that He was the sacrificial lamb, and his sacrifice would serve as the last and eternal sacrifice, and from now on, all the people would have to do is eat bread and drink wine in remembrance of his sacrifice, in remembrance of Him and His role.
John further explained that the eating of the bread symbolizes the idea that the people have digested Jesus’ teachings, which were like manna from heaven, giving people life sustenance for eternal life; and drinking the wine was like drinking of the blood of Jesus’ sacrifice, and believing in Him.
So how did Jesus role as a man on throne of David, figure in? Was He an anointed one, on the throne of David?
Actually, no, He wasn’t even of the lineage of kings from David. According to Luke’s genealogy (which is the one I go by since Luke was an educated doctor, and Matthew was more of a layman), Jesus descended from David’s son Nathan, not from David’s son Solomon, who was the one crowned king.
Matthew said in chapter 10 that every time his followers tried to make Jesus king, He ran away and hid in the mountains. Jesus repeatedly stated that His kingdom was not of this world.
These truths confused Jesus’ followers. They so confused because many of the prophecies foretold the coming of a Messiah that would be the king in the Kingdom of God on earth.
So Jesus didn’t fulfill ALL the prophecies for the coming of a Messiah. Jesus only fulfilled some of the prophecies, and then He died.
This completely confused his followers, to the point where they actually stopped believing in him for a while, until they understood that in spite of the fact that He didn’t fulfill all the prophecies, nevertheless He was still the prophesied Messiah.
And that in spite of the fact that he did not actually bring and establish this prophesied “Kingdom of God on Earth,” nevertheless He heralded its coming, and gave them a prayer to pray for its coming (The Lord’s prayer prays for the coming of the Kingdom of God on Earth, “Our Father, Who art in heaven, … Thy Kingdom come, thy Will be done, on EARTH, as it is in heaven….”).
Also, He taught many things, but the thing that convinced them to begin believing again was Mary Magdalene, and the visitation that Jesus had with them from the next realm after He was crucified. He convinced them at that time that His message was nevertheless real. They reflected on Isaiah’s prophecy wherein it is foretold that a perfect one would come and be slaughtered as a perfect lamb is slaughtered for the sacrifice.
Do you realize that God was telling us the opposite message to “worship Jesus as God?” Yes! God had Jesus go to the slaughter as a final sacrifice of the man-god “male bovine feces” that man dreamt up! Man is NOT GOD! This was the WHOLE reason God had Jesus go to the slaughter.
However, Jesus was a Manifestation of God. Now, what does that mean?
A Manifestation is one who manifests. To manifest God is such a special undertaking, that God sends, about once every 1000 years, a Manifestation, to manifest, Himself! No wonder man gets confused.
However, God is an abstract, and there is no possible way for our finite minds to comprehend the infinite God. Period. In fact, the way is barred, from fully comprehending God, because that station is reserved for God alone.
However, these Manifestations, are endowed with a special “seventh sense,” shall we say. Man has a “sixth sense,” the ability to perceive things of the next realm, and so on, but the Manifestations have something man does not have, and that is, the Holy Spirit.
They have it from the time of conception, through childhood, during which they already know everything, it appears, and then, they are anointed at one point with a mission, so-to-speak, and from then on, they become major prophets of God, speaking the Words of God, listening to God in the burning bush, or thundering from the sky, and then finally, simply having God’s Words in their mouths.
Muhammad was one such prophet, but His Revelation or message was to protect the actual descendants of Isaac’s blessed lineage. So this mission was still subservient to the mission of the blessed lineage itself. What I’m saying is, the Imams eventually saved and protected the Davidic kings. The Davidic kings were the blessed lineage from Isaac. The Davidic kings were the descendants of David, Judah, Jacob, Isaac and Abraham, and they were God’s kings on earth, the blessed lineage, seated on the throne of David. This was the kingship that was the result of the blessing given to Abraham, that kings would come forth from his descendants, and the role of Islam was to “submit” to this lineage. The word Islam means to “submit.” Therefore, the Imams who understood God’s messages through Muhammad, went into the Persian Empire after the Calphs killed the King of Persia, and they arranged to meet with the man on the throne of David, who had been in captivity under the Persians. The Imam then arranged a marriage between the daughter of the King on the throne, who had just been killed. The daughter then took the throne of her father and placed it on the head of her husband, who was already seated on the throne of David (while it was in captivity under the Persians). Then, the Imam held a great public debate, the transcript of which is still extant and in my possession, and available on this site.
The Imam and the Davidic king held debate as to whether Muhammad was a true prophet. The rules of the debate were that if you had no rebuttal to refute the previous one’s proofs, the last one to speak won the debate. That day, the Imam had the last word, and afterward, the Davidic king and 800 Jews converted to Islam. The Imams then moved this family, this man, this daughter of the previous king of Persia, and protected them in an ancient area of refuge of the Zoroastrians and their kings. The kings of Persia were believers in the One, True, Invisible God, and their prophet was Zoroaster. See more about this in the other articles about the lineage of the Davidic Kings on this site.
So here we have a Davidic king, converting to Islam. From there, the Rabbis took authority among the Jews. The Davidic kings no longer mattered to them. They lost heart, in a sense, thinking their Davidic kings had gone off the deep end by converting to Islam. In reality, the Davidic kings were safe and sound, just following God’s dictates.
Jews believed in the Old Testament. The Old Testament had these prophecies about how the Israelites could come out from under the curse when this Savior, or Messiah from the lineage of David came.
Indeed, Jesus was this Messiah. The Greek word for it is Christ.
So Jesus was this man of the “seed of David according to the flesh,” and only “designated the Son of God according to the spirit” (Rom. 1: 1-3).
Jesus was also called the Star of David, and so on. His lineage went back to David, but according to Luke’s more credible genealogy, Jesus’ lineage goes back to Nathan, and not through Solomon. Solomon’s lineage was the lineage of the kings, and Jesus was not of this lineage.
So he kept saying I’m not establishing this kingdom on earth right now, but I’m establishing it in heaven, OK? Now, if you pray in my name, this will restore the presence of God to your temple. However, the temple will be a temple not built by hands, and it will be established in heaven. Ask in my name, and I will act as a mediator and high priest between you and God. Thus, the presence of God has been restored for those who truly believe, and these believers are grafted in to the sacred lineage from Abraham, “Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.”
Thus Jesus fulfilled many of the promises having to do with the idea that many nations would come into God’s kingdom on earth. Jesus made it possible for anyone who believed, to become a part of this blessed family of God on earth, this blessed lineage of people through Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. All we had to do was truly believe in Jesus’ message, and the presence of God would once again fill the temple as had been promised. Yet, Jesus taught that the temple was our body, and that our hearts should be filled with the love of God, and that we should also love our neighbors, and ourselves. Thus the temple of true believers, was truly restored.
But such an abstract message was lost on the Jews, and they “missed the mark,” or sinned. The meaning of sin is to miss the mark. They hung Jesus on the cross, thinking he was a blasphemer, and completely missed out on the restoration of their temple by this Messiah or Christ.
But for those who believed, they were now given an avenue through which to have their sins forgiven, by asking God directly in Jesus’ name. They were invited to step out from under the provisions of the curse, and enter the promised land, where they would once again enjoy the presence of God in their midst. The Christians were taught that if two or more were gathered, this would suffice for a temple of worship, whether under a roof or in a building or not. And thus, they were a blessed people. The Christian faith spread all over the world, and every nation has now heard of the stories of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and the Christians, or followers of this Messiah, or Christ.
Yet what was the deal? Jesus’ message was that the whole Kingdom of God on earth was all on “Pause?” When would the Davidic kings be God’s kings on earth again? When would many nations become as one family under God? Even the Christians want to know. When will all this be? When will be the time of the fulfillment of all the prophecies?
This was also the urgent question of Matthew, and of other apostles. They had read the visions of Daniel, and Ezekiel, and Isaiah, and Micah. They knew there was a wonderful thing promised to happen on earth. They asked Jesus, when will this be?
And he answered them by telling them to look into the prophecies of the prophet Daniel, and this would tell them.
To see more about the fulfillment of the prophecies of Daniel, see other articles on this site.
But even though Jesus told them this Kingdom of God on earth would one day still come to earth, he made a Covenant with them about only one thing: and that was, He would return to establish this kingdom.
Now the Christians totally don’t understand the meaning of return. To explain return, I must go into the story about how John the Baptist was the Return of Elijah.
John the Baptist was the “Return of Elijah,” and this was difficult for the people to understand. They were expecting something quite different when Malachi wrote in his Oracle:
“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes” (Malachi 4:5).
After all, Elijah had gone “up by a whirlwind into heaven” (2 Kings 2:11). Wouldn’t he come back the same way?
How could it be that John the Baptist, Jesus’ cousin, could be the Return of Elijah?
He didn’t come streaking down from the sky on. a whirlwind of fire! He came from Elizabeth’s womb. Yet, Jesus Himself said:
1 tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not know him, but did to him whatever they pleased…” Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them of John the Baptist (Matt. 17:12 & 13).
The disciples were somewhat confused about this subject. The Jews were also confused, so they sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask John whether he was the return of Elijah:
“… [Are] you Elijah?” He said, “I am not,” “Are you the prophet?” And he answered, “No.” They said to him then, “Who are you? Let us have an answer for those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” He said, “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said” (John 1:21-23).
So the Christians accept that fulfillment of something a prophet said, constitutes proof that someone is the promised “return” of someone else.
Right? Think about it. John the Baptist did NOT fulfill the prophecies in the way that the scribes and Pharisees, Sadduces, and so on, thought he would. Therefore, they rejected both Jesus and John the Baptist. John the Baptist wound up having his head cut off and served on a platter. Only a very few, including Jesus, recognized him. Of course it was Jesus’ cousin, so Jesus already knew the guy. True! Mary, Jesus’ mother, and Elizabeth, John’s mother, were “kinswomen,” and they were both from the tribe of Levi. Mary had been a temple virgin prior to becoming bequeathed to Joseph, which was almost like marriage, because they lived together from the time Mary was 13, until she was fifteen, when, prior to them actually getting married, she was found to be with child.
OK. So, we see that Jesus promised to return. We also see that the “return” is usually difficult for people to understand.
But how does this translate into the meaning of the word “Christ?”
It is simply this.
The prophecies about the Christ or Messiah, were not all fulfilled by Jesus. Yes, many were, but not all of them. Jesus made only one strong Covenant with his people, and that was, that He would return to fulfill the rest of these prophecies at a later date.
The Christians have been duped into thinking Jesus is God, so along with it, they have swallowed the fallacy that Jesus will come out of the sky when he finally does return. Like the scribes, Sadduces, Pharisees, they are completely missing the mark, when it comes to be equipped to recognize him upon his return. They are looking for a god-man to appear in the sky. Sorry folks, it ain’t gonna happen.
However, a true seeker would look into Jesus’ answers when the apostles asked him, when would this be, and so on. In fact, Jesus even said one of his apostles would actually live to see the Kingdom of God on Earth, but this turned out to be alluding to John, and the visions that he saw of the kingdom. He wrote these visions down in the book of Revelation.
