Know of a certainty that what has transpired unto us for the last 2000 years has been the fulfillment of the word of the LORD. As it was declared unto us by Moses, the man of God (Deut 28:63-): “And it shall come to pass that as the LORD rejoiced over you to do you good, and to multiply you, so the LORD will rejoice over you to destroy you; and ye shall be quickly removed from the land, into which ye go to inherit it. And the LORD thy God shall scatter thee among all nations, from one end of the earth to the other; and thou shalt there serve other gods, wood and stone, which thou hast not known, nor thy fathers. Moreover among those nations he will not give thee quiet, neither by any means shall the sole of thy foot have rest; and the LORD shall give thee there another and a misgiving heart, and failing eyes, and a wasting soul. And thy life shall be in suspense before thine eyes; and thou shalt be afraid by day and by night, and thou shalt have no assurance of thy life…”

How quick we are to snatch the words of the LORD out of the hearts of men, and to use them as compote to justify our present outlook! The doctrines of Israel have become excuses and nothing else. Do we really believe? Do we really care? Can anyone truly believe that God is, and treat so lightheartedly his word as to ignore the march of history for 2000 years? Indeed, do you believe that God spoke to Moses at all and that the Prophets are true?

I speak first to those of you Jews outside the camp. Over half of those of Jewish heritage do not attend synagogue. Millions of Jews are realizing that something has happened in the last 2000 years that has drastically changed Judaism. There were once prophets, but not for 2000 years now. They once condemned and derided the authorities, the priests and the people for walking wayward. They forewarned of calamity and captivity. Yet nothing that happened in biblical times was worse than the Holocaust, an event no Jew saw coming, and certainly no prophet forewarned in the name of God.

For 2000 years there has been complete famine of the words of God amongst Israel, an event foretold to the prophet Amos. In that time, we have risen up to interpret a word or sentence of scripture to establish laws that were never proclaimed. Others coldly keep to rituals, believing that the favor of the God who could create the universe and every minute thing can now be appeased by such trivialities. Yet there has been no condemnation from the LORD. No warning. No comfort. Terrible persecutions have come at every quarter: from Russia, the Spanish Inquisition, the Holocaust— Yet no forewarning from God. Has Israel inclined its ear to consider? No. Persecution is now called a sign of the blessing of the LORD and not the curse. Hasidic Rebbes led their people to the gas chambers during the Holocaust, telling them it is inevitable that the righteousness should be persecuted. Did indeed the LORD say that?

Those of you outside the camp have become cynical. You are certain that our fathers concocted God, and that it was merely the best creation of a divinity that any people imagined, and therein is the reason why “God” has become the dominant “God” of the world today. The rituals and the philosophies of our religion are charming things pertaining to our culture, and they should be maintained as other peoples maintain their historic places and their classical literature. But Israel thinks: there is no God. But is that true? Israel made God? Some Jews use God as a way of feeling superior to Gentiles; and even some Jews use him to feel superior to other Jews.

Some 200 years ago the Hasids were excommunicated from Judaism because of their strange, heretical ways, and their Baal-like regard for their Rebbes. Now many consider them a “poster child,” some clear example of Judaism. Some of them even declare they are the “real Jews,” delicately overlooking the fact they were thrown from Judaism so long ago. Things have indeed changed. . .and man has changed them. Yet there has been no word from the LORD. No prophet. No great blessings of peace. No warnings of impending judgments. There have been massacres, pogroms, disillusionment. Why? Are the blessings now purely metaphysical? Is it only coincidental that Jeremiah declared (Jeremiah 31) “Thus saith the LORD, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; The LORD of hosts is his name: If those ordinances depart from before me, saith the LORD, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever. Thus saith the LORD; If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, saith the LORD.” Despite the persecutions, despite the massacres, the pogroms and the torture and the gentilizing, Israel remains. Hebrews remain as a people, though they have had no country for so long. Such things were foretold.

The world is drunk on prophecies. Mankind seeks to know the future . . .but he does not understand the past and the present and how they were foretold long ago. As noted above, Jews have merely adopted the attitude of early Christians: “that it is inevitable that the righteous should suffer.” Instead of considering our own sin, we merely justified the status quo and gave ourselves the best of it. Persecution was no longer for our sin. It was for our righteousness. We invented a philosophy that did not require us to turn from our sins. We created a religion in which man may create God. Is it any wonder what God has brought upon us? It is now time that Israel listens.

This has come about for one reason, as Moses also declared in the first prophecy of the Redeemer to come: “The LORD thy God shall raise up to thee a prophet of thy brethren, like me; him shall ye hear: according to all things which thou didst desire of the LORD thy God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, We will not again hear the voice of the LORD thy God, and we will not anymore see this great fire, and so we shall not die. And the LORD said to me, They have spoken rightly all that they have said to thee. I will raise up to them a prophet of their brethren, like thee; and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them as I shall command him. And whatever man shall not hearken to whatsoever words that prophet shall speak to them, I will take vengeance on him.”

What a humbling statement to Moses. That statement alone made it clear to Moses that he was not worthy to bear this message or do what “that prophet” would do. Moses does not even respond and say “Tell me, and I will tell the people.” God would not speak direct through Moses— only through that prophet to come. Yes, from that time forward many Jews realized a powerful prophet greater than Moses was to come.

Moses himself knew it implicitly. In the context above, Moses was speaking of the giving of the 10 commandments (Exodus 20), for after waiting 3 days Moses was told he was to come up Horeb. The children of Israel were to be washed and were to wait at the bounds of the mountain and not cross it. There they stood, and when God descended on the mountain they heard his voice, saw the great fire and the smoke pluming upward. They trembled and stood back. And God answered Moses with a voice.

When Moses descended, the people approached, and said “Speak thou to us, and let not God speak to us, lest we die.” And Moses replied: “Be of good courage, for God is come to you to try you, that his fear may be among you, that ye sin not.” Nevertheless, God would not speak direct from Moses. That was reserved for “that prophet.” From that moment, God would not speak directly to the people, and his voice would not be heard. He would move the prophets with his spirit and they would speak his will and it would become his word to the people.

“That prophet” is not an ordinary prophet obviously. Indeed, he would be greater than Moses, for if Moses had heard all things from God, why then would God say that he shall raise up a prophet from amongst the children of Israel like he did with Moses, and that this prophet would have complete power? Moses himself understood. He sang of him in his song before he died. Speaking as a prophet, he sang of his divinity: (Deut 32:39--)

“Behold, behold that I am, and there is no god beside me: I kill, and I will make to live; I will smite, and I will heal; and there is none who shall deliver out of my hands. For I will lift up my hand to heaven, and swear by my right hand, and I will say, I live forever. For I will sharpen my sword like lightning, and my hand shall take hold of judgment; and I will render judgment to mine enemies, and I will recompense them that hate me. I will make my weapons drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour flesh, with the blood of the wounded, and from the captivity of the heads of their enemies that rule over them. Rejoice, ye heavens, with him, and let all the angels of God worship him; rejoice ye Gentiles, with his people, and let all the sons of God strengthen themselves in him; for he will avenge the blood of his sons, and he will render vengeance, and recompense justice to his enemies, and will reward them that hate him; and the LORD shall purge the land of his people.”

What amazing language! That Moses, speaking by the spirit of prophecy which God gave him, should place God on the earth in the future tense! Because of this, since the earliest of times, Israel expected a divine deliver, for all knew the language above: God speaks not from his heaven, for it plainly says “For I will lift up my hand to heaven.” He is upon the earth and yet he says “I am and there is no god beside me.” No man can say that. Nor can one say this: “I live forever.” Again Moses writes of this moment in his Book of Job (19:25-27): “For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth; and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another, though my reins be consumed within me.”

—The resurrection of the dead through the redeemer, who shall redeem our bodies that they may rise again. Yet this redeemer is already living in Moses’ time. “My redeemer lives.” He declared there is “no god beside me.” What indeed is this, that God should come among us on earth? What else could any deduce?

—And indeed such a divine redeemer was expected. Some 500 years later David the King called him Lord: “The LORD said unto my Lord sit down at my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool.” Speaking as a prophet in his Psalms, David spoke of the Holy One, the one who God himself said “sit at my right hand.” Yet the context is that of a body of flesh yet again: (Psalm 16:10) “Therefore my heart is glad, and my soul rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope. For thou wilt not leave my soul in Hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. Thou hast made known unto me the ways of life; thou wilt fill me with joy with thy countenance: at thy right hand there are delights for ever.”

David indeed had been told by Nathan the Prophet that God should raise up from David’s descendants the king who would sit on his throne forever, and that there would be no end to his kingdom. Now, Solomon and all the people thought this spoke of him, even though Solomon could not last forever, nor can any earthly throne. They thought it was Solomon just as readers of David’s psalms had thought that David tastelessly spoke of himself when he said “Holy One.” Yet David died and his body corrupted and decayed away. Solomon died and his throne was split. Israel was smitten for its sin and led off into Babylon. Other kings sat upon the throne of Israel and Judah not of the heritage of David. And today, except amongst the storytellers of our people, David’s heritage is lost and cannot be definitely ascertained.

Yet the promise was a divine promise that would come through David’s heritage. Did God lie? By no means! The great prophet Isaiah, hundreds of years later, was sent to King Ahaz of Judah, for God would allow him to ask for a sign that Judah would continue. Things were truly pressing because of two kings, the king of Israel and the king of Aram who were joining forces to squash the kingdom of Judah. What sign would there be that this was not the end of Judah? Isaiah was sent to intercept Ahaz and convey to him that God would allow Ahaz to ask for a sign. But Ahaz would not tempt God or ask for a sign concerning the ultimate fate of Judah. God had had enough of the fickle contentious ways of his people and Ahaz. Exasperated, Isaiah replied directly to the king: “Hear ye now O House of David: is it a little thing for you to contend with men, but will ye contend with my God also? Therefore the LORD himself shall give you a sign: Behold a virgin shall conceive in the womb, and shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Emmanuel. Butter and honey shall he eat, before he knows either to prefer evil or choose good. For before the child shall know good or evil, he refuses the evil, to choose the good . . .” So ended God’s sign. (Some of the most commonly used versions today strangely insert “For before the child shall know to refuse evil, and choose the good, the land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her kings.” The Septuagint and variations carry no such reading in that form; and it appears it is a misplace from the end of verse 10. LXX reads “and the land shall be forsaken which thou art afraid of because of the two kings.”).

Never was it so clearly said to the House of David that a virgin woman belonging to it should bear a son. The divine origin was clear. . .until some Rabbis, like Symmachus, wiped it out because of their repulsion at Jesus Christ. And at no other time in the history of Israel did such a “stiff necked” people mindlessly tag along.

It was at this time that Symmachus and other rabbis had contentions with the Gentile Christians for using the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Scriptures, because it differed greatly from the Hebrew. And indeed by this time it was forgotten that the basic Hebrew Scriptures of the time were only the textual traditions of the Babylonian Jews who, under Hillelian Jews, standardized the various texts in the late 1st Century-early 2nd Century. Sometime after the destruction of Jerusalem, it was forgotten that other textual traditions had once existed in both Palestine and Egypt, apparently regarded as superior since they had been the ones chosen for translation into Greek in the 3rd Century BC. Because of Symmachus and others by the 5th century there began a degradation for the Septuagint, for when comparing the Greek to the Hebrew there were revealed many differences, and by the 4th century AD even the scholarly Jerome had said “Correct toward the Hebrew” not knowing the Greek was an accurate translation of older Hebrew texts.

In the case of the above prophecy, the Greek clearly read “virgin” whereas the Hebrew word was interpreted to mean “young woman.” Among Jews (by the 4th Century AD) the whole idea of a virgin birth was repudiated, and squarely excised from Judaism, though the Christians refused to acknowledge Symmachus’ and others’ assertions that the word in Isaiah only meant “young woman.” But for the Jews there was no longer any concept of a divine redeemer who was to come. Strangely, the Messiah was becoming a purely human one who, as time went by, would be made into many forms: conqueror, king, even once again a spiritual redeemer, for some Lubovitcher Hasids think that their great Rebbe Shneerson “is a good candidate for the Messiah.” Some even pray to him.

Today, the foolishness unfortunately continues to be asserted that the word in Hebrew in the above prophecy is not “virgin” but young woman— “Maiden.” On the contrary, maiden is a virgin, as used in Hebrew and Yiddish (Machen) from which even the English word maiden is derived from the common German root word both languages share. But those who have insisted that “young woman” does not imply “virgin” have been so adamant they are blinded to the actual context. If this is just a woman giving birth to a son who is just to be called “God with us,” why would such a common event be worded as such a big deal by Isaiah? Why would it be worthy of being some big prophecy from God? Such an event as young women giving birth goes on every day. The momentous element behind the entire prophecy is that it would be a virgin birth. The body in the womb would be created by God himself.

And, indeed, that is what the Greek translation says, the translation which Symmachus was so disturbed by, and which he encouraged Jews to stop reading. The Jewish scholars who translated the scriptures at Alexandria in Egypt, beginning in the 3rd century BC, were experts in Hebrew and Greek, of course. These were languages taken for granted by them, not one limited to scholarly discussion. The Jewish scribes understood Isaiah 7:14 only one way: “idou e parthenos in gastri lipsetai”— Behold a virgin shall conceive in the womb.

“Parthenos.” Much is made today of the pagan temple of Athena the Virgin, which the Greeks raised up on the Acropolis. Is it not still called the Parthenon? In every place in scripture where the ancient translators find the Hebrew word for virgin or maiden they use parthenos.

Symmachus, and many others, unfortunately had to argue this point because of their dislike for Christianity and their ignorance that their Scriptures they were using were now only the Pharisaic Party recension, post Hillel and the latter 1st Century AD.

The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls has shocked many. . .but quietly it has startled Jews the most. Naturally, wild speculation went around that they would completely undermine Christianity or Judaism. That, of course, is not the case. They help to reestablish what Judaism was and what Jews were expecting some 2000 years ago. But as more scrolls were being recovered and examined one thing was plain: Hebrew texts were being uncovered of Biblical books that were not reading like the Masoretic Tradition; they were reading like the Septuagint— Hebrew precursor texts were being found from which the Greek translations had been made. This showed there had been more than 1 ancient textual reading of some of the scriptures. The authority of the Septuagint was restored. The bible of the New Testament era was not some free translation— it was a faithful translation of different Hebrew textual traditions which the ancients must have esteemed as more worthy of translation. Or, more likely, they considered both major textual traditions to be nearly equal, better or worse in some areas, and read between them.

“Young woman” both by word and context meant “virgin.”

It is only now with time that the impact of the Dead Sea Scrolls upon Judaism can be fully appreciated. Jews now realize that what is standard Rabbinical Judaism is the scion of only one surviving party from ancient Judaism; and that this one scion itself has evolved only from the points of view of early pharisaical rabbis that were unaware of Jewry’s past, or didn’t care for it because it implied a Christian fulfillment. The divergent Judaism of so long ago is helping to answer the questions why Pharisaical Judaism has only gone hand-in-hand with 2000 years of dispersion and persecution. The Dead Sea Scrolls provide a clear witness that Jews believed a redeemer, a great teacher of righteousness, was soon coming. Also, that a great apocalypse was also coming, one that would come after a 40 year period. Tying these expectations in with Biblical prophecy, it is clear of whom they all speak.

Jews are seeing that they did not hearken unto “that prophet.” The “Christian” interpretation of scripture was not Christian at all— it was the overriding view of Judaism that a messiah was soon to come and that the Gentiles would seek him out. It is now even more clear that the Messiah was not some great hero or warrior come to rescue us, nor some spiritual leader talking about minutiae and concocting gezeirah. He would be God coming to his people to redeem them from their sins. The Messiah would first appear around the Galilee area and would be that son born to the House of David.

In Isaiah 9, this son is mentioned. His miracles will appear first in Galilee and the land of Zebulon, and they shall not last long. First we quote from the Dead Sea Scroll of Isaiah. It is written:

For one who was in anguish there will be no gloom. In the former time he treated the land of Zebulon and the land of Naphtali with contempt, but in the latter time he will make it glorious, by way of the sea, beyond the Jordon, Galilee of the Gentiles. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. On those who lived in the land of deep shadows, the light has shined. You have expanded the nation, you have increased its joy. They rejoice in your presence, as with the joy at harvest, as people cheer when they divide spoil. For the yoke of their burden and the pole on their shoulder, the rod of their oppressors, thou hast broken, as in the day of Midiam. For every boot tramping in the tumult and the garments rolled in blood will be burned for fire.

For unto a child is born, unto us a son is given. The government will be upon his shoulders. He shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Of the expansion of his government and peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David, to establish it and to sustain it with justice and righteousness from now on and forever more. The zeal of the LORD of Hosts will do this.

From the Septuagint, we find a variation: “Drink this first. Do it quickly, O land of Zabulon, land of the Nephtalim and the rest of the sea coast, and beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles. O people walking in darkness, behold a great light: ye that dwell in the region and deep shadow of death, a light shall shine upon you. Thou hast expanded the nation; thou hast increased its joy. . .” The Septuagint reading is much the same, but it constantly places everything in the future context with “shall” instead of the present or past. However, Isaiah has been saved complete at Qumran. Isaiah 9:1 there, and indeed most of the passage, appears to be the original.

Unfortunately, the Rabbis also standardized the Babylonian texts when it comes to pronouns, altering some from “him” to “my,” sincerely believing the readings must have been mistakes. Isaiah (again taken from the Great Scroll at Qumran) prophesied so clearly (Isaiah 51: 4-6) “Pay attention to me, my people! Listen to me, my nation! For a law will go forth from me, and my justice will be a light for the peoples. I will quickly bring my victory near; my salvation will go forth. His arm will judge the peoples, the coastlands will wait for him, and in his arm they will hope. Raise your eyes to the heavens, and look to the earth, and see who created these.”

Indeed, there it is again. The people along the coastland (Zebulon, Naphtili, Galilee) could raise their heads to heaven and look at the earth and then look upon him who created all things. God would surely walk among us.

Again, an Anointed One was to come, and to him would be given the entire earth as a possession forever. This could not be David or Solomon. Yet David writes plainly in the second Psalm: “He said to me, thou art my son; today have I begotten thee. Ask of me and I will surely make the nations your inheritance, and the very ends of the earth your possession.” And again, David said (Psalm 110): “The LORD said unto my Lord, sit thou at my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool.”

Now we know that David never inherited the ends of the Earth. He died and after only one generation (after the death of Solomon) David’s kingdom was divided. There were those, of course, in Israel now who realized that David was not in view and that neither also was Solomon. This was made clear by continuing prophecies. The LORD was conveying to such as Isaiah, Zechariah and Daniel that the Messiah was still to come on the throne of David. Again, those who studied Moses knew of what he wrote: that the “redeemer” would stand upon the earth in the latter day, in days to come. And indeed the Song of Moses is incontrovertible for speaking from God’s point of view of being on the earth. David himself praised God for the things that he had shown him that would come upon his house for a long time to come. (See Messianic Prophecies)

Yet again, David speaks in prophecy (Psalm 40). “Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not have, but a body thou hast prepared me.” David already had a body, and certainly no man, including David who had even committed grievous sin with Uriah’s death on his hands, was a fit sacrifice before the LORD.

But this is where it became confusing. The ancients, sure the Messiah being divine, were also sure that he would last forever. He would be of David’s heritage and he would save Israel from the nations, and conquer and restore the glory of Israel. They could not understand how death could be involved in the Messiah. Being divine, he must last forever. If he should establish the throne of David forever, he must be divine.

Yet in Daniel it is written that Messiah is to be “cut off,” but not for his sake but for the people’s sake. Judaism began to develop a “duel messiah”— a great teacher of the law and a great warrior-leader to sit upon the throne of David. It seemed a happy compromise to our fathers long ago, as testified by the Qumran community’s peshers. Obviously, however, it was not endorsed by all of Israel, possibly not even by the majority. Isaiah is extremely clear: He declares (Isaiah 53):

Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? For he grew up before him like a tender plant, and like a root out of a dry ground; he had no form and he had no majesty that we should look at him, and had no attractiveness that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by others, and a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering; and like one from whom people hide their faces, and we despised him, and we did not value him. Surely he has borne our sufferings, and carried our sorrows; yet we considered him stricken, and struck down by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, and he was crushed for our iniquities, and the punishment that made us whole was upon him, and by his bruises we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, each of us, to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, as a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. From detention and judgment he was taken away— and who can even think about his descendants? For he was cut off from the land of the living, he was stricken for the transgression of my people. Then they made his grave with the wicked, and with rich people his tomb— although he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.

Yet the LORD was willing to crush him, and he made him suffer. Although (Because he) made his soul an offering for sin, he will see his offspring, and he will prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will triumph in his hand. Out of the suffering of his soul he will see light, and find satisfaction. And through his knowledge his servant, the righteous one, will make many righteous, and he will bear their iniquities. Therefore will I allot him a portion with the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong; because he poured out his life to death and was numbered with the transgressors; and he bore the sins of many, and made intercession for their transgressions.”

This is indeed the Holy One, who was oft spoken of. This was not the end. David prophesied “Thou wilt not let thine Holy One see corruption or leave my soul in hell.” His resurrection was clear. The body, though it would die, would not decay, but it would come forth.

Even the type of death was alluded to in prophecy. David’s Psalm (22), in prophecy speaking of the crucifixion on a cross, was not understood, and even suffered corruption in the later Masoretic reading, where a key statement “they pierced my hands and feet” was changed to “Like a lion are my hands and feet”— an almost humorous alteration. The Septuagint remained intact, reading correctly, another contention between rabbis and Christians until the DSS were discovered and Psalm 22 was found. It read “They pierced my hands and feet”!

My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me, and are far from helping me at the words of my crying? O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not; and in the nighttime there is no silence to me. But you are the Holy One, who inhabits the praises of Israel. Our fathers put their trust in you; they trusted; you delivered them. They cried unto you, and were saved; they trusted in you, and were not put to shame. But as for me, I am a worm, and not a man, scorned by others and despised by the people. All who see me ridicule me; they make faces at me and shake their heads: “Commit yourself to the LORD! Let him deliver— let him rescue him, since he delights in him!” . . .They gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ravenous and roaring lion. I have been poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart has turned to wax. It has melted into the midst of my belly. My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue is stuck to my throat; and thou hast brought me down to the dust of death. For dogs are all around me; a gang of evil doers encircles me. They have pierced my hands and my feet. They counted all of my bones; people stare and gloat over me. They divide my garments among themselves, and they cast lots for my clothes. But as for you, O LORD, do not be far away! O Thou my strength, come quickly to my aid. Deliver my soul from the sword, my only-begotten from the power of the dogs. . .

Men and brethren, this is not idle verse. The time that this should happen was foretold by Daniel the prophet. He foretold in plain language (Daniel 2) of the vision which Nebuchadnezzar had of the statue with a head of gold, the breast and arms of silver, the belly and thighs of brass, and the legs of iron and the feet of iron and clay. “Thou sawest until a stone was cut out of a mountain without hands, which smote the image upon the feet of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloor; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth. This is the dream; and we will tell the interpretation thereof before the king.”

Daniel made it clear: “The mystery which the king asks the explanation of is not of the wise men, magicians, enchanters or soothsayers to declare to the king. But there is a God in heaven revealing mysteries, and he has made known unto king Nebuchadnezzar what things must come to pass in the last days.”

The head of gold was Nebuchadnezzar’s mighty kingdom. The silver would be a lesser kingdom to come after. The brass was yet another kingdom to come after that, one that would rule over the earth; and the 4th kingdom shall be strong as iron, but as clay and iron do not mix so shall that kingdom not cleave to one another. “And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to another people, but it shall break into pieces and consume all these other kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure.”

The wording is clear. By history we know that Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon was followed by the Medes and Persians, and after them they were destroyed by Alexander the Great, and the “Kingdom of the Greeks” ruled the greater part of the civilized world. After the Greeks, the 4th kingdom was Rome, mighty and fierce. It was strict in its laws, and would not bend. But after it conquered the greatest part of the known civilized world, it tried to unite all its diverse peoples. It could find no unity anymore and crumbled. It could not, in other words, mix iron and clay and have a sure foundation.

It was during this kingdom— the Empire of Rome— that God would set up an everlasting kingdom.

Daniel also prophesied the coming of the Messiah, even presenting a definite date.

Daniel 9: 24-27

“Seventy sevens are determined upon thy people and upon the holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy. Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the command for the answer and for the building of Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: and then the time shall return, and the street shall be built, and the wall, and the times shall be exhausted. And after the threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and upon the temple the abomination of desolation; and at the end of the time and end shall be put to the desolation.” (See the Daniel 9 Cipher)

Time and time again, the coming of the Messiah unto Israel was foretold, that he would be “God with us” himself coming in a body. The book of My Messenger (Malachi): “Behold, I send forth my messenger, and he shall survey the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come into his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye take pleasure in: behold he is coming, saith the LORD Almighty.”

Zechariah (2:10-13) declares: “Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion: for, lo, I come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith the LORD. And many nations shall be joined to the LORD in that day, and shall be my people: and I will dwell in the midst of thee, and thou shalt know that the LORD of Hosts hath sent me unto thee. And the LORD shall inherit Judah his portion in the holy land, and shall choose Jerusalem again. Be silent, O all flesh, before the LORD: for he is raised up out of his holy habitation.”

Zechariah follows a lovely chronology spaced between the verses elaborating on each notation. In Zechariah 9:9, a chronological statement exists— a point in time and an event are referenced. “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt, the foal of an ass. And he will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse out of Jerusalem, and the bow of war shall be cut off: and he shall speak peace unto the heathen: and his dominion shall be from sea even to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth.”

And again in Zechariah 12:9 another chronological notation is made: “And I will pour upon the house of David and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and compassion: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.” And again, in Zechariah 13:6 “And one shall say unto him, what are these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall answer, ‘Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.’ ” And again it reads that the LORD will scatter the sheep and that there will be persecution, and that only one third of Israel should hearken and the rest will be cut off. Again, a chronological note is made in Zechariah 14:1 of God’s wrath to come: “Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.”

Again, the LORD gave us a chronological notation by the prophet Amos, that of the cause and effect. Amos declared (Amos 8:4 –)

Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy, and drive the needy ones by tyranny from the earth, saying, When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn? And the Sabbath, that we may open the measure and make the ephah small, and the shekel great, and make the balance unfair? That we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy ones for a pair of shoes, and sell the refuse of the wheat? The LORD hath sworn against the pride of Jacob, Surely I will never forget any of their works. Shall not the land tremble for this, and every one mourn that dwelleth therein? whereas destruction shall come up as a river, and shall descend as the river of Egypt. And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord GOD, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day. And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; and I will bring up sackcloth upon all loins, and baldness upon every head; and I will make it as the mourning of a beloved, and the end thereof as a bitter day.

Just such an event happened at the Cross, and the calculation of a solar eclipse has actually been crucial in pinpointing the crucifixion to 30 AD. Immediately afterward, Amos declares by the spirit of God:

“Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD. And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find it. They that swear by the sin of Samaria, and say, Thy god, O Dan, liveth; and, The manner of Beersheba liveth; even they shall fall, and never rise again.”

And then begins the prophecy of what judgment shall come, and its sign. In Chapter 9, Amos declares: “I saw the LORD standing upon the altar: and he said, Smite the lintel of the door, that the posts may shake: cut through into the heads of all of them; and I will slay the last of them with the sword: he that fleeth of them shall not flee away, and he that escapeth of them shall not be delivered. Though they dig into hell, thence shall mine hand take them; though they climb up to heaven, thence will I bring them down: And though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out thence; and though they be hid from my sight in the bottom of the sea, thence will I command the serpent, and he shall bite them; And though they go into captivity before their enemies, thence will I command the sword, and it shall slay them: and I will set mine eyes upon them for evil, and not for good. And the Lord God of hosts is he that toucheth the land, and it shall melt, and all that dwell therein shall mourn: and it shall rise up wholly like a flood; and it shall be drowned, as if by the flood of Egypt. It is he that buildeth his ascent up to the sky, and establisheth his promise on the earth; he calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The LORD is his name. Are ye not as children of the Ethiopians unto me, O children of Israel? saith the LORD. Have not I brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt? and the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir? Behold, the eyes of the Lord God are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from the face of the earth; saving that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, saith the LORD. For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth. All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, which say, Calamities shall certainly not draw near, nor come upon us.”

So it happened. Judgment began first at the house of God, with the rulers (the posts holding up the house) and then with all the people. Although the Greek versions of the Christian gospels read that the veil of the temple was rent, the actual Hebrew read correctly. Thanks to Jerome’s notes, variants in the Hebrew Gospel are preserved. He notes: “But in the Gospel that is written in Hebrew letters we read, not that the veil of the temple was rent, but that the lintel of the temple of wondrous size fell.” Moreover, “In the Gospel I so often mention we read that a lintel of the temple of immense size was broken and divided.” Furthermore, Josephus recorded this event as happening during the final Jewish war with Rome.

And here we are, so long after that tragic event in 70 AD and its aftermath. No matter where we have sought refuge, calamity has come. We have not disappeared from the earth like other ancient peoples. We remain. God will not let us “cease to be a nation” because his word is good, as he swore unto Jeremiah. Yet we have endured persecutions and holocausts.

Yet, mercifully, Amos finishes his prophecy next: “In that day I will raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old. That they may possess the remnant of mankind, and of all the heathen, which are called by my name, saith the LORD that doeth this. Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed; and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt. And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them. And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the LORD thy God.”

Even these days now come upon us, and this generation shall see them come to pass. Moses spoke of it before he died, leaving the children of Israel with this promise:

“And it shall come to pass when all these things shall have come upon thee, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before thy face, and thou shalt call them to mind among all the nations, wherein the LORD shall have scattered thee, and shalt return to the LORD thy God, and shalt hearken to his voice, according to all the things with I charged thee this day, with all thy heart, and with all thy soul; then the LORD shall heal thine iniquities, and shall pity thee, and shall again gather thee out from all the nations, among which the LORD hath scattered thee. If thy dispersion be from one end of heaven to the other, thence will the LORD thy God gather thee, and thence will the LORD thy God take thee. And the LORD thy God shall bring thee in from thence into the land which thy fathers have inherited, and thou shalt inherit it; and he will do thee good, and multiply thee above thy fathers. And the LORD shall purge thy heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.”

It is now time for Israel to hearken unto the LORD. We have been cut off because we did not hearken unto “that prophet,” and all that God said he would bring upon us has come to pass. “That prophet” has clearly been explained throughout scripture: it is that “son” given unto us who would come from the land of Zebulon; it is he who would be “God with us,” born of virgin birth. He could call the temple “his.” He could, as in the song of Moses, reach toward heaven and declare “Behold, behold, there is no other god but me” and that “I live forever.” He is that Redeemer that Moses said would stand upon the Earth in the latter day and all those who trusted in him would rise from the dead. It is he who would inherit the nations, and to whom the Gentiles would seek. The Prince of Peace, Everlasting Father or, as the Septuagint reads: “Father of the age to come.”

This is none other than he whom the Gentiles call Jesus Christ. They have forgotten what that name means. In Hebrew we must recall it: Saviour the Messiah. He has come. And all that has been said shall come to pass. Now it is time to turn. Not turn unto fabricated tales and weird religions of the Gentiles, with this or that requirement; nor unto men saying they have an edge with God. You shall believe; and finally you shall teach the nations of him. The Rabbinate shall not cease. The priests shall maintain their pedigrees and prepare for their duties. Nothing shall stop God in his purpose. Mock this if you will; but God stands upon his word and shall not alter. He shall honour everything he has spoken unto our fathers: the blessings and the cursings. Nothing will thwart God. We have endured the cursings. Soon there shall come the blessings of our God.

We shall now believe that he came in the flesh and walked among us. This is Jesus Christ, our Lord, the prince of peace. We can never of our power come unto God’s presence. But he is merciful that he came unto us. You are saved by his grace, and let no man say otherwise. The law has its purpose and you shall keep it throughout your generations, as it is written. Let no man deceive you and rule over you. The LORD is your king, and his words are clear. There is no secret way to salvation, no allegory, no secret society agreement, no digging up tablets out of the earth to discover some addition or requirement. “Thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thy heart, thy soul, thy mind and all thy strength.”

Zechariah was clear: Israel shall come to the moment of realization that it was he whom they earnestly sought. The language is very clear that this shall happen long after the crucifixion. “And I will pour upon the house of David and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and compassion: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.”

“So they weighed for my price 30 pieces of silver. And the LORD said unto me, Cast it to the potter: a goodly price that I was prized at of them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the LORD.” Zechariah 11:12-13

Be assured of this: this is the covenant of mercy he gives unto you, and it shall never pass. The covenant of the law at Horeb we broke. But the covenant that “that prophet” would bring cannot be broken. Isaiah 42:

Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. 2: He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. 3: A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench: he shall bring forth judgment unto truth. 4: He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth: and the isles shall wait for his law. 5: Thus saith God the LORD, he that created the heavens, and stretched them out; he that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it; he that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein: 6: I the LORD have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles; 7: To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house. 8: I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images. 9: Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare: before they spring forth I tell you of them. 10: Sing unto the LORD a new song, and his praise from the end of the earth, ye that go down to the sea, and all that is therein; the isles, and the inhabitants thereof 11: Let the wilderness and the cities thereof lift up their voice, the villages that Kedar doth inhabit: let the inhabitants of the rock sing, let them shout from the top of the mountains. 12: Let them give glory unto the LORD, and declare his praise in the islands. 13: The LORD shall go forth as a mighty man, he shall stir up jealousy like a man of war: he shall cry, yea, roar; he shall prevail against his enemies. 14: I have long time holden my peace; I have been still, and refrained myself: now will I cry like a travailing woman; I will destroy and devour at once. 15: I will make waste mountains and hills, and dry up all their herbs; and I will make the rivers islands, and I will dry up the pools. 16: And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them.

The LORD shall magnify his law and make it honourable by this covenant, the law we broke. By his own coming he has done this. The Gentiles have sought him, and he has inherited the nations. He has kept silence long enough, and now he cries out unto Israel to return and believe. Isaiah 49 contains it all very clearly: that Israel would not be gathered as a nation, but that the Gentiles would hearken unto him; that at the end of this time Israel would finally say God has forsaken them; but then God declares he shall turn them and save them.

Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name. And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand hath he hid me, and made me a polished shaft; in his quiver hath he hid me; And said unto me, Thou art my servant, O Prince of God, in whom I will be glorified. Then I said, I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nought, and in vain: yet surely my judgment is with the LORD, and my work with my God.

And now, saith the LORD that formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob again to him, Though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the LORD, and my God shall be my strength. And he said, It is too small a thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth. Thus saith the LORD, the Redeemer of Israel, and his Holy One, to him whom man despiseth, to him whom the nation abhorreth, to a servant of rulers, Kings shall see and arise, princes also shall worship, because of the LORD that is faithful, and the Holy One of Israel, and he shall choose thee. Thus saith the LORD, In an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee: and I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages; That thou mayest say to the prisoners, Go forth; to them that are in darkness, Shew yourselves. They shall feed in the ways, and their pastures shall be in all high places. They shall not hunger nor thirst; neither shall the heat nor sun smite them: for he that hath mercy on them shall lead them, even by the springs of water shall he guide them. And I will make all my mountains a way, and my highways shall be exalted. Behold, these shall come from far: and, lo, these from the north and from the west; and these from the land of Sinim.

Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, O earth; and break forth into singing, O mountains: for the LORD hath comforted his people, and will have mercy upon his afflicted. But Zion said, The LORD hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me. Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me. Thy children shall make haste; thy destroyers and they that made thee waste shall go forth of thee.

Lift up thine eyes round about, and behold: all these gather themselves together, and come to thee. As I live, saith the LORD, thou shalt surely clothe thee with them all, as with an ornament, and bind them on thee, as a bride doeth. For thy waste and thy desolate places, and the land of thy destruction, shall even now be too narrow by reason of the inhabitants, and they that swallowed thee up shall be far away. The children which thou shalt have, after thou hast lost the other, shall say again in thine ears, The place is too strait for me: give place to me that I may dwell. Then shalt thou say in thine heart, Who hath begotten me these, seeing I have lost my children, and am desolate, a captive, and removing to and fro? and who hath brought up these? Behold, I was left alone; these, where had they been? Thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles, and set up my standard to the people: and they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders. And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers: they shall bow down to thee with their face toward the earth, and lick up the dust of thy feet; and thou shalt know that I am the LORD: for they shall not be ashamed that wait for me.

You will not be ashamed now. The time has been long so that no one will ever forget the significance of that day and that action 1,975 years ago. God has forsaken us for our great sin, but for his great namesake he will call us back. The LORD knows what your impression is of Christianity. And the LORD shall cause you to reform it. The Gentiles shall see the resurrection of Israel in Christ, and they shall come again to repentance.