Last But Not Least
Jerusalem
One of my neighbors visited me last night and showed me the following article and said: “Now Joel, after reading the article in our Hebrew newspaper you must believe that all this is true. The Rabbi would never dare say so if this were not true.”
I told him that the rabbi was no angel, come down from heaven, but a human being just like you and me. The Messiah, will never come to destroy or to kill but to save all men who believe in Him. When He comes again He will establish His kingdom of righteousness and love, and all who believe in Him, Jews and Gentiles, shall be His people. Although we have despised and rejected Him, as the prophet Isaiah has foretold. He is still waiting to receive us. But He will not force us. We must repent and receive Him ourselves into our hearts.
One day when the Messiah returns we will do so, even as the prophet Zechariah foretold: “. . . . They shall look upon him whom they have pierced and will mourn for him . . . .” Then will God open a fountain of pure water for cleansing of His people.
In the past my neighbour has always refused to accept a New Testament, but this time he asked me for a Bible with the Old and New Testaments. This I gave him gladly. Now my neighbour sits all evening reading the New Testament. I pray that the Lord may open his heart and his eyes that he may see the Truth.
“The Messianic Fantasies of a Jerusalem Rabbi”
A Jerusalem newspaper, Yediot Ahronot, recently published an article by Rabbi Chaim Shvilli about the coming of the King Messiah. It was a mixture of Messianic prophecy and nationalistic fantasies. The Rabbi wrote that before the Messiah comes there will be in Jerusalem a great earthquake. The tomb of Jesus, now hidden deep underground, and of Mahommed, now under the Mosque of Omar, will be revealed and completely destroyed. From there a river of pure water will gush forth, which will sweep away all the ungodly. Then the Messiah ben David will appear and purify Jerusalem.
After this Gog and Magog will come to fight against the Messiah. Many nations will gather to make war against Israel, under the slogan: “The Liberation of Jerusalem from Jewish Occupation.” The powers of darkness will fight against the light. That will be the most terrible war, yet. However, the Messiah will lead Israel to victory.
It is possible that the war will start before the coming of the Messiah. In that war all the heretics (Jewish and Gentile Christians and all Jewish agnostics) and especially the Catholics will perish and be utterly destroyed.
After this war the earth will swallow up all the graves of Christians and Mohommadens which are on the Temple Mount and the Mount of Olives. Then the Jews under the Messiah will rebuild the Holy Temple, where the Mosque of Omar and the Church of the Resurrection used to be. The Messiah Himself will rebuild Jerusalem more beautiful than ever before, and the Holy Spirit will dwell in her midst. Peace will then reign, for nobody will dare attack the Holy City which will be under the rule of “the Messiah our righteousness.”
Editor’s note
The above article is a typical rabbinical fantasy about the coming of the Messiah. There is no mention in it about repentance, of a new heart, or a new regenerated people. This fantasy shows the depth to which the Messianic hope of the Prophets has degenerated in Rabbinical thinking and in those Jews who still believe in the Messiah and hope for His coming. How short this falls of our glorious Savior who gave Himself on the cross for the salvation of men. This is why we must continue to proclaim the Messiah Jesus to Israel, as the Saviour of men from sin who came that men may have life and have it more abundantly.