The Messianic Hope of God's Israel

By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat and wept,
When we remembered Zion.
On the willows here, we hung our harps,
For there our captors required of us songs,
And our tormentors, mirth, saying,
“Sing us one of the songs of Zion.”

How could we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land?
If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand wither!
Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth,
If I do not remember you,
If I do not set Jerusalem above my highest joy!
Psalm 137:1-6

Thus sang the Jewish exiles in Babylon, captives of King Nebuchadnezzar, nearly six centuries before the coming of Christ. Many of them had become adjusted to the life style of the Babylonians but others could not forget Judea and the temple which was the center of their covenant community.
It was true that in Babylon, unlike Jerusalem, there was much wealth and water was plentiful. There was also the impressive Babylonian temple that towered high above the mud huts of the Babylonian people. On feast days there was the international market, the temple, with merchants from India, Persia, Arabia, Syria and possibly Egypt. Each of these brought merchandise of rare quality.
Still, the hearts of the Jewish exiles daily watched the sun move toward the western horizon, sinking over the Arabian Desert to rise over their beloved Israel. There they had been forced to leave there homes…homes that were their fondest memories even though they were much more humble than the homes of the Neo-Babylonians.
In Jerusalem now there was neither temple nor king. The Hebrew kings had failed, the magnificent temple of Solomon had been destroyed by the invading Neo-Babylonians and the Jews, some with fish hooks in their noses, has been led away to Babylon and exile.
After Nebuchadnezzar, several Neo-Babylonian kings had ruled over the exiles to second and third generations. To the east of the kingdom of Neo-Babylonia, there arose the kingdom of Persia under King Cyrus who soon became world famous as a great warrior and conqueror. The power of Neo-Babylonia began to wane. Cyrus would soon capture the Neo-Babylonian capital and Babylon’s fate was sealed.
The Old Testament book of Isaiah calls Cyrus “God’s anointed.” (Isaiah 45:1). Isaiah records the capture of Persia by Cyrus and his subsequent permission of the exiles to return to their home land. A remnant returned but most had roots too deep and memories of the homeland too short. They preferred to remain in Babylon. Those who did return took with them the synagogue and the Hebraistic culture that had developed during their captivity as they struggled to retain their identity and the worship of Jehovah in a strange land. We meet their descendants in the New Testament, especially the Gospels and the Book of Acts where they are identified as “Hebraists.”
It is in Isaiah, chapter 45, verse 1, that King Cyrus of Persia is called “God’s anointed.” The Hebrew word for an anointed person is mashiah, translated as christos in Greek. Our English “Messiah” is derived from the Hebrew Mashiah as “Christ” is derived from christos. The anointment was a ceremony at which divine authority was bestowed on the anointed person. In ancient Israel kings (e.g. I Kings 19:16), possibly patriarchs (Psalm 105:15), a messianic prince (Daniel 9:25), and even a foreign king (Isaiah 45:1) were anointed. These “messiahs” were each given divine authority to do God’s will. In the case of King Cyrus, he did God’s will by allowing the Jewish exiles to return to Judea. In a sense, then, a messiah may be called the servant of God.
The book of Isaiah records references to both the messiah and the servant. Israel is called servant in Isaiah 41:8, 9. Servant appears in the next chapter, 42:1, 3, and this servant is to bring forth justice to all races (not nations in any political sense). Israel is identified as God’s servant again in other passages in Isaiah (e.g. Isa. 44:1, 2, 26; 48:20 et al) that seem to indicate Israel was particularly favored as God’s chosen servant for the purpose of proclaiming God’s salvation to other races, a purpose they seldom remembered and finally forgot altogether. An Israeli guide in Palestine once told me that the Jewish mistreatment of 50,000 Palestinian Arab refugees was in fulfillment of the Jews’ responsibility to bless the nations of the world!
Beginning in Isaiah 49:5, there appears a servant with the apparent mission of restoring Israel. Then the servant, who may be regarded as an individual person, appears in Isaiah 50:10; 52:13 and 53:11. This servant is seen to suffer much in bearing the sins of many in order to bring the news of God’s salvation to the world.
In the spring of 1947, in an ancient ruin of Qumran on the northeast shore of the Dead Sea, several ancient scrolls were discovered. Among these “Dead Sea Scrolls” were many Biblical and non-Biblical manuscripts dating roughly to the time of Jesus. One of these, The Discipline Scroll or Order of the Community is dated from approximately 100 B.C. and contains rules and regulations for the community of Qumran. According to this document, the community seems to have consisted of believers in the orthodox doctrine and practice of the Mosaic law who were preparing the way of the Lord, the Messiah, to come (cp. Isaiah 40:3). The leader of this community was called “the teacher of righteousness.” Under his leadership the members of the community believed that they stood on the threshold of the Endzeit, the end time.

In Numbers 24:17 is this poetic expression:
A star shall come forth out of Jacob,
And a scepter shall rise out of Israel,
It shall crush the forehead of Moab,
And break down the children of Seth.

Ancient rabbis thought this star was the Messiah. In the New Testament Apocalypse, Jesus Himself is identified as this star (Rev. 22:16 cp. Matthew 2:2, 7, 9, 10). So Rabbi Akiva ben Joseph, who inspired Bar Koziba to lead the Jewish rebellion against Rome during the second century A.D., changed his name to Bar Kochba (son of the star), due to the rabbinic identification of the star with the Messiah. The rebels against Rome believed Bar Kochba was indeed the Christ.
Second only to the Old Testament in importance as Jewish literature is the Talmud. This writing contains a treatise called Sanhedrin, signifying the Jewish Supreme Court. The tractate is the chief depository of Jewish criminal law. It also contains several references to the coming Messiah. The question repeatedly raised is “when the Messiah is to come.” Some of the answers contained are:
1) when even the smallest nation ceases to have any power over Israel,
2) when there are found no conceited men in Israel,
3) when all (foreign) judges and officers are gone from Israel,
4) when a generation becomes altogether righteous or altogether wicked, etc.

These discourses are followed by the story of a rabbi called Joshua ben Levi. He is said to have met the Prophet Elijah standing at the tomb of another famous rabbi, Simon ben Johai. Joshua ben Levi asked Elijah, “When does the Messiah come?” Elijah’s answer was, “Go and ask him.” Ben Levi then asked, “Where is he?” Elijah replied, “At the entrance of the town.” So Rabbi Joshua ben Levi went there and found the Messiah and asked him just when he might come. The Messiah’s answer was, “Today.” Ben Levi waited all day, but the Messiah never came. He then went back to Elijah and complained that the Messiah had lied. Prophet Elijah smiled and said: “No, He did not lie. He only quoted from Psalm 95:7” This verse says, “For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand. Today, if you will listen to His voice!” It means that Messiah will surely come, the day all people listen to the voice of God.”

We have thus far considered the Messianic hope of Israel from the Old Testament and other Jewish sources. We have seen that Hebraic Jewish Messianic hope becomes prominent whenever there is a political or religious crisis. Many rabbis thought that if the Jews faithfully obeyed the Laws of God, this would prepare the way for the Messiah; but this never in fact happened. The political revolts of the Zealots only succeeded locally and temporarily. There were the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Essenes, and other smaller sects; and Judaism was about to lose its integrity under the impact of Roman authority. Then Jesus came!

Jesus did not claim to be the founder of a new religion. In fact, the Gospel records do not show Him even using the word. He said that He came “to fulfill the Law and the Prophets (Matthew 7:12)”. He said He came “that they might have life and have it more abundantly (John 10:10)”. He said He did not come to be served but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many (Matthew 20:28; Mark 10:45). In this way He identified Himself with the servant foretold by Isaiah. This servant of God was called the Messiah, the Anointed One (Matthew 1:16; 16:16; Mark 8:29; Luke 2:11, etc.). In this way, the Messiah and the Servant in the New Testament coalesce in the person of the man, Jesus of Nazareth.

What is the significance of all this in the twenty first century A.D.? We live in another day of crisis. Man has become too proud of earthly knowledge, material wealth and his own accomplishments. We tend to forget that the environment about which we are increasingly concerned is God’s own creation. Indeed, we prefer to forget God Himself! This is a day for our rededication of ourselves to the Christ who gave Himself to reconcile us to the God we have forgotten.

Jesus said: “He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for my sake will find it (Matthew 10:39; Mark 8:35; Luke 9:24).” It cannot be mere coincidence that we find ourselves controlled by the use of human will. We have exchanged the commands of God for the majority rule of a materialistic democracy that daily becomes more and more characterized by Socialism. Our identity as “one nation under God” tends more and more to give way to uncontrolled humanism with bullets, bombs, drugs and machines. We have deluded ourselves into believing that, because the Soviet Union has collapsed, we no longer live in the shadow of a mushroom cloud. More dangerous than all the bombs and rockets is the danger of losing our lives in our greed, by polluting God’s air and water and squandering finite natural resources.
It is time for God’s people, the church to take up the cross of Jesus and follow Him; practicing His self denial along with God’s justice and righteousness here and now. It is time to give ourselves for the betterment of others rather than for the amassing of things. It is time for Christians, especially in the United States, to stop “standing for anything” and start standing up for Someone. It is time to be more concerned for being correct by God’s standards rather than politically correct by popular standards, or lack of standards. We need to abandon the flesh pots and temples of Babylon and return to the house of God.
Christians have a Messiah. His name is Jesus. We need to stop apologizing for our faith and begin to live by it. It is our God given task to establish and maintain His
kingdom here on earth as the servants of human society and members of God’s household.
• I am indebted to Dr. Toyozo Nakarai for clarifying for me the central truth contained in this writing.
CRG