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Continuing our discussion from part three, another notable Jew who has contributed to the false belief that the Messiah has not arrived yet is Baal Shem Tov, who was also known as Rabbi Israel ben Eliezer, or Besht. He was a Jewish mystic and healer who hailed from 18th century Podolia, or Poland. In addition to being regarded as the founder of Hasidic Judaism, his followers -- the Hasidim -- believe him to be descended directly from the royal house of David. What was unique about Baal Shem Tov was his claim to have achieved "devekut" -- or adhesion. This means that his soul supposedly reached such a high level of spirituality, that he was able to ascend to Heaven, and speak with any soul there whomsoever he desired, and thereby intervene between humans and God. In other words, Besht claimed to act as a mediator between God and men. If that does not alarm you, then consider the following verses which are found in the New Testament:

"If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven."


"For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;"


I am sure you can see the blasphemy of Baal Shem Tov's claim. According to the written record, Besht only did this on one occasion; and on that occasion when he claims to have gone to Heaven, he supposedly chose to speak with the Messiah. In a letter written to Abraham Gershon, dated 1751, Rabbi Israel ben Eliezer describes his imaginary conversation with the "Messiah" on Rosh Ha-Shanah, 1747, in the following manner:

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"I asked the Messiah, 'When will you come, master,' and he answered me, 'When your learning will be made known and revealed to the world and its source will spread and all can recite yiudim and experience spiritual ascent as you can'; and I was astonished and deeply grieved by this, and wondered when this would come to pass."

----- End Quote -----

So as you can see, just like Nachmanides five hundred years before him, Baal Shem Tov did not believe that the Messiah had arrived on the Earth yet. There were other Jewish rabbis who I have not even named here, who taught this same thing over the long centuries. So, from Maimonides, to Nachmanides, to Baal Shem Tov, we see the same common thread of unbelief in regards to God's appointed Messiah, Jesus Christ. In fact, as I point out in a number of other articles, not only did the pharisaical religious Jews of First Century Israel try to discredit Jesus, but even after He had clearly risen from the dead, they still endeavored to conceal His divinity from the common people, as we can determine by the following verses:

"Now when they were going, behold, some of the watch came into the city, and shewed unto the chief priests all the things that were done. And when they were assembled with the elders, and had taken counsel, they gave large money unto the soldiers, Saying, Say ye, His disciples came by night, and stole him away while we slept. And if this come to the governor's ears, we will persuade him, and secure you. So they took the money, and did as they were taught: and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day."


In fact, if you delve even deeper into this subject, you will discover that on the opposite side of the spectrum, there were likewise certain rabbis and Jewish military leaders who claimed to be the messiah, or who were erroneously claimed to be the promised messiah by their misguided followers. It was believed that such men would usher in the "Olam HaBa" -- that is, the "World to Come", or afterlife -- during the Messianic Age. You may recall that Jesus clearly warned His followers that such self-aggrandizing deceivers would arrive. Sadly, it began not long after Jesus returned to Heaven. Consider the following group of verses:

"And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many . . . For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect."


"For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect."


The list of false Jewish messiahs is rather long, and in fact stretches from the First Century to the Twentieth Century. If you would like to see a full list of these deceivers, please refer to the page shown below which is found on the Wikipedia website:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Jewish_messiah_claimants

Sadly, as I have already made clear, this misguided belief that Jesus was not the Messiah, and that the Messiah has not arrived yet, is embraced by Orthodox Jews to this very day. It is in fact this very belief which feeds into the current expectation that the Jewish messiah will soon appear on the scene. While those of us who have embraced Christianity may have a hard time understanding the Jews' strong rejection of Jesus Christ, it is my hope that the information which I've presented thus far will help you to begin to comprehend how deeply this rejection has been engrained into the Jews for so many centuries now. I will be sharing more information with you momentarily.

Another important point I wish to make here is that Jewish rejection of Jesus Christ being the Messiah is NOT based on the Scriptures themselves. Rather, it is based entirely on the MISINTERPRETATION of the Scriptures by the aforementioned Jewish rabbis and others like them. In that regard, it really isn't too different from the current state of Christianity as well. In other words, in spite of the fact that there exists only one true Word of God, nevertheless, today we have a huge number of different Bible translations, as well as Christians attending many different churches and denominations. It seems that every pastor and preacher has their own set of doctrines they like to preach, which may conflict with what is being taught in another church just down the street.

The end result is that so many Christians are placing their faith in their church leader's interpretations of the Word of God, instead of in the Scriptures themselves. As I have mentioned before, they erroneously assume that because their pastor or priest has a long list of impressive credentials from a notable Bible college, surely he must know what he is talking about. My friends, that is NOT always the case. It's rather evident that a lot of things are being taught today which basically amount to heresies and doctrines of devils.

In similar fashion, some Jewish believers do the very same thing. Their faith is NOT based directly on the Holy Bible itself. Rather, it is based on the interpretations of their rabbis, as found in the various Jewish commentaries we have already discussed, and in a number of other commentaries as well. Just as many Christians do not take the time to read the Bible for themselves, I suspect that many Jews probably do the very same thing. As I said, their beliefs are based on centuries of rabbinic tradition and interpretations -- which by nature are inherently antichrist -- and not on a straight, personal reading of the Scriptures.

The bottom line, in my view, is that whether one is a Jew or a Gentile, we all need to get back to reading the Scriptures for ourselves, instead of relying so much on our pastors or rabbis to spoon-feed us. We need to depend on the Holy Spirit to give us the proper understanding and interpretation of the Bible. Jews need to break away from the bondage of rabbinic tradition, and Christians need to break away from erroneous church tradition as well. This is precisely what the Lord advocated. Consider the following set of verses which prove this point:

"But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you."


"Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come."


"But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned."


"If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him."


"Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law."


"Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."


The truth of the matter is that there are so many verses in God's Word which clearly warn us to beware of the erroneous doctrines and traditions of men which contradict the Bible. Following is a small sample of them for your edification:

"Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ."


"Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees. And they reasoned among themselves, saying, It is because we have taken no bread. Which when Jesus perceived, he said unto them . . . How is it that ye do not understand that I spake it not to you concerning bread, that ye should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees? Then understood they how that he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees."


"Then came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees, which were of Jerusalem, saying, Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for they wash not their hands when they eat bread. But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition? For God commanded, saying, Honour thy father and mother: and, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death. But ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, It is a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; And honour not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition."


"He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do. And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition. For Moses said, Honour thy father and thy mother; and, Whoso curseth father or mother, let him die the death: But ye say, If a man shall say to his father or mother, It is Corban, that is to say, a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; he shall be free. And ye suffer him no more to do ought for his father or his mother; Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye."


"And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God."


"Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;"


"For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables."


"But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of."


"Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them."


"Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them."


As we have now seen, because the Jews embrace the writings of their rabbis, some of whom promoted the belief in the future appearance of their messiah, Moshiach ben David -- thus rejecting the Messiahship of Jesus Christ -- at this current time, there's very high expectation that this great leader will soon make his appearance in Israel. But exactly how will the Jews recognize this man as such? As it turns out, in Book 14 of the Mishneh Torah called "Sefer Shoftim" -- or "Judges" -- Section 5 called "Melachim uMilhamoteyhem" -- or "Laws of Kings and Wars" -- chapters 11 and 12, Rambam -- that is, Maimonides -- explains all of the qualifications which the Jewish "Moshiach" -- or King Messiah -- must meet.

Before sharing these qualifications with you, let me remind you -- as I did in part three -- that based on the Jewish perspective and rabbinical tradition, Moshiach ben David is NOT any kind of Divine Being, as is Jesus Christ. Rather, he is a man of flesh and blood, just like you and I. Let me also add that in Judaism, the word "messiah" was originally used to refer to any divinely appointed king, or "anointed one". In fact, this word could be applied to Jewish priests, prophets and kings. For example, King David, Cyrus the Great, and even Alexander the Great were all viewed as messiahs in their own right, because they were each chosen and anointed by God to perform certain tasks.

As I have mentioned before, even though Cyrus the Great -- or Koresh -- did not know the God of Israel, nevertheless, in the Book of Isaiah, chapter forty-five, the Lord clearly refers to Cyrus as His "anointed". According to the Brown, Driver, Briggs, Gesenius Hebrew Aramaic English Lexicon, the word "anointed" is derived from the Hebrew "mashiyach". That is, messiah. Consider the following set of verses:

"Thus saith the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut; I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron: And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the LORD, which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel. For Jacob my servant's sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name: I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me. I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me: That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else."


Regarding Alexander the Great being a type of messiah, you will find a much more expanded explanation of the word "Mashia" -- which is just another form of the Hebrew word for messiah -- in the Jewish Encyclopedia at the following URL. While it is somewhat lengthy, the explanation makes for very interesting reading:

http://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/10729-messiah#anchor6

At the same time, in the Mishneh Torah, Book 14, Section 5, Chapter 11, Maimonides discusses two messiahs. However, he makes a big distinction between these two. The first one, Rambam tells us, is King David of old. The second messiah is the one who is yet to come, according to rabbinic tradition. This second one is King Messiah. He will be a descendant of King David who will restore the kingdom of David. Rambam also states that unlike Jesus, King Messiah will NOT perform any kind of miracles. As I mentioned earlier, he will NOT be a Divine Being, but only a man. Consider the following:

----- Begin Quotes -----

"The King Messiah will arise and re-establish the monarchy of David as it was in former times. He will build the Sanctuary and gather in the dispersed of Israel. All the earlier statutes will be restored as they once were. Sacrifices will be offered, the Sabbatical and Jubilee years will be observed, as commanded in the Torah. Anyone who does not believe in him or one who does not anticipate his coming not only denies the Prophets, but also the Torah and Moses our Teacher. It is even written in the Chapter of Balaam who prophesized about both the Messiahs. The first Messiah was David who saved Israel from her adversities. The final Messiah will be from his sons and will deliver Israel from the hands of the descendants of Esau . . . It should not occur to you that the King Messiah must bring wondrous signs or perform marvels or invent new things or revive the dead or anything like what the fools say. It is not so. For Rabbi Akiva, one of the wisest of the Sages of the Mishna, was King Ben Coziba's arms-bearer and said that he was the King Messiah. He and all the Sages of his generation thought that he was the King Messiah, until he was killed because of his sins. Since he was killed, they then understood that he was not the one. The Sages never asked of him neither a sign nor a wonder." Chapter 11, Paragraphs 1-3, 6

----- End Quotes -----

In paragraph 8 of chapter 11, Maimonides likewise informs his readers that King Messiah will be well versed in the Laws of Moses -- that is, the Torah -- and that he will obey all of the Commandments, as did King David of old. Furthermore, he writes that King Messiah will encourage all of Israel to obey the Laws of God. In addition, if he fights and wins Israel's wars by defeating her enemies, this will be a clear sign that he is definitely King Messiah. Finally, if he is successful in rebuilding the temple in Jerusalem, and inspires all Jews to return to Israel, this will be another confirmation that he is King Messiah. Consider the following quote:

----- Begin Quote -----

"Now, if a king should arise from the House of David who is versed in Torah and engages in Commandments, as did David his forefather, in accordance with both the Written and the Oral Torahs, and he enjoins all of Israel to follow in its ways and encourages them to repair its breaches, and he fights the Wars of G-d, then he may be presumed to be the Messiah. If he succeeds in his efforts and defeats the enemies around and builds the Sanctuary in its proper place and gathers the dispersed of Israel, he is definitely the Messiah." Chapter 11, Paragraphs 8

----- End Quote -----

In Chapter 12, Paragraph 8, Maimonides also informs us that during the reign of King Messiah, it will be a time of peace and plenty, in which famine and wars will no longer exist. It will be a time during which the world will only be engaged in knowing God. Rambam writes as follows:

----- Begin Quote -----

"At that time there will be no famines and no wars, no envy and no competition. For the Good will be very pervasive. All the delicacies will be as readily available as is dust. The world will only be engaged in knowing G-d. Then, there will be very wise people who will understand the deep, sealed matters. They will then achieve knowledge of the Creator to as high a degree as humanly possible, as it says, 'For the Earth shall be filled of knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea' (Isaiah 11:9)." Chapter 12, Paragraph 8

----- End Quote -----

If we summarize the previous paragraphs and qualifications, we end up with the following list of requirements which Moshiach ben David must fulfill in order to prove that he is truly the long-anticipated King Messiah:

1. He must be a direct descendant of the bloodline of King David.

2. He must be extremely knowledgeable of the Torah. This includes the Pentateuch, or the five books of the Law of Moses, as well as the oral tradition which has been handed down over the centuries. His spiritual leadership should result in:

    a. Renewed interest in and practice of the Torah.

    b. Eventual spread of the knowledge and Law of God throughout the world so that war, hunger and other human ills will cease.

3. He must prove himself to be an astute political leader and King of the Jewish nation who will do the following:

    a. Encourage Jews from around the world to return to their homeland of Israel, thus bringing an end to the "Diaspora", or Dispersion.

    b. Fight and win the wars of Israel subduing her enemies all around her, thus bringing in an era of peace.

    c. Rebuild the Temple of Solomon on the Temple Mount in East Jerusalem and re-implement the daily sacrifice.

Please note that I have only included some of the key points from chapters 11 and 12 in the previous paragraphs. If you are interested, you can download the PDF version of Book 14 Section 5 -- "Laws of Kings and Wars" -- of the Mishneh Torah from the following URL. Chapters 11 and 12 are the last two chapters in Section 5:

https://halakhah.com/rst/kingsandwars.pdf

What we see then is that while the Hebrew word "moshiach" -- or "mashiyach" or "mashiach" -- was originally applied to any prophet, king or priest who was anointed by God, even if they were Gentiles like Cyrus the Great, in the years following the decline of the Hasmonean Kingdom -- which was ruled by the Seleucids, who were a Greek Macedonian dynasty -- and the tragedies which resulted from the Jewish revolts during the Jewish-Roman wars, the Hebrew word "moshiach", or messiah, became more associated with a messianic liberator who would deliver the Jews from oppression, and usher in the Messianic Age. That is in fact what it means to this day in a Jewish eschatological sense. It is a purely political word which has nothing to do with any kind of divinity, other than the fact that this Jewish leader will be divinely anointed by God, according to rabbinic tradition.

So why did the Jewish religious hierarchy fail to acknowledge Jesus as the King Messiah? Based on the previous check list, while Jesus clearly fulfilled the first requirement in that He was indeed of the bloodline of King David; and while the Lord also fulfilled the second qualification in that He was extremely knowledgeable of the Torah; from a purely Jewish perspective, He "failed" miserably in regards to all of the other requirements. For example, while Jesus knew the Torah better than the Scribes and Pharisees themselves, oft times He said and did things which seemed to contradict the Laws of Moses. Jesus would say something like "Moses wrote such and such, but I say unto you . . ." As you will see in just a moment, Maimonides complained about this very point.

But that is not all. Jesus' earthly ministry did not result in the spread of the knowledge and Law of God throughout the world. Neither did He bring an end to war, hunger and other human ills. Furthermore, the Lord was not an astute political leader who encouraged Jews from around the world to return to Israel. Quite to the contrary, as He told Pontius Pilate, His Kingdom is not of this world, as we see by this verse:

"Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence."


Neither did Jesus fight and win the wars of Israel, or usher in an era of peace and plenty. Lastly, He did not physically rebuild the temple of Solomon, much less re-implement the daily sacrifice. In fact, the second temple still existed at the time that Jesus walked on the Earth, and the sacrifices were still occurring as well. Clearly then, from the Jewish perspective, there was no way that the Lord could possibly be the promised King Messiah that they were expecting.

As Maimonides points out in Book 14 Chapter 11 of the Mishneh Torah, quite to the contrary, he accused Jesus of being a Law breaker, and blamed Him for the suffering and devastation which the Romans inflicted upon the land of Israel, just a few decades after the Lord returned to the Heavenly Realm. As many of you will already know, in His end-of-the-age sermons, Jesus in fact clearly prophesied the total destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem in 70 AD by the Roman general Titus and his legions, as we can determine by these verses:

"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! BEHOLD, YOUR HOUSE IS LEFT UNTO YOU DESOLATE. For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down."


"And as he went out of the temple, one of his disciples saith unto him, Master, see what manner of stones and what buildings are here! And Jesus answering said unto him, Seest thou these great buildings? there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down."


"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate: and verily I say unto you, Ye shall not see me, until the time come when ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord."


"And as some spake of the temple, how it was adorned with goodly stones and gifts, he said, As for these things which ye behold, the days will come, in the which there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down . . . And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh."


Please go to part five for the continuation of this series.

⇒ Go To The Next Part . . .

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