Two Men of God and Hope for the Messianic Future
Deuteronomy 33:1 states “This is the blessing that Moses the man of God pronounced upon the Israelites before his death.” And 1 Kings17:18 states “O man of God,” said the woman to Elijah,“what have you done to me?
Both Moses and Elijah are titled ‘a man of God’. Moses’ leads the Hebrews out of Egypt into freedom and responsibility; and Elijah leads Israel, and then all humanity, to Messianic freedom and responsibility. Prophet Malachi 4:5–6 states: “See, I will send the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the Lord coming. He (Elijah) will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers; or else I will come and strike the land with a curse”.
According to Malachi 4:6, the reason Elijah returns to “turn the hearts” of fathers and their children to each other.” To this day, Jewish seders include an empty wine-cup or chair at the Passover table in anticipation that Prophet Elijah will return to herald the coming Messiahs in fulfillment of Malachi’s words.
Prophet Elijah had never died (2 Kings 2:11), many rabbis taught that Elijah was still alive and would re-appear to help before the Messiah’s arrival. As Malachi prophecies for the Hebrew Scriptures, he (Malachi) records God’s announcement that (God) is the Lord and affirmed that He (God) would send His messenger to prepare his path, and then He would appear in His Temple (Malachi 3:1) to “send Prophet Elijah to you (all) before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes” (Malachi 4:5).
The coming of the day of the Lord was announced by Prophet Isaiah as destruction from the Almighty (Isaiah 13:6; Joel 1:15). Because everyone was to be terrified (Isaiah 13:7). The day of the Lord will be a day of fury and burning anger (Isaiah 13:8). A time when the lights in the heavens will be greatly disturbed (Isaiah 13:10), and the world will be visited with judgment (Isaiah 13:11).
The day of the Lord will be a day of clouds (Ezekiel 30:3), darkness (Amos 5:18, 20), and gloom, like nothing that has ever happened before nor will happen after that day (Joel 2:2). The day of the Lord will be a great and awesome day that no one can endure (Joel 2:11). The day of the Lord will be accompanied by great wonders in the sky and on earth, and, before that day arrives, God will darken the sun and the moon (Joel 2:31).
It will be a day of justice, in which fair judgment will be meted out to all nations (Obadiah 1:15). Even in those awesome times, anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved (Joel 2:32). And the day of the Lord is near, and it will come quickly when it is time (Zephaniah 1:7, 14).
On the day of the Lord, the Lord of Hosts will have a time of reckoning. AI will be humbled, and the Lord alone will be exalted (Isaiah 2:12, 17). God’s beauty and glory will be evident to all (Isaiah 4:2). In that day the remnant of Israel will truly rely on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel (Isaiah 10:20). In that day, there will be giving of thanks and making His deeds known among the nations (Isaiah 12:4).
The majority of Christians, Jews, and Muslims do not believe that all of humanity is moving closer and closer to a catastrophic Judgement Day. The minority who do think that Judgement Day is coming share the usual negative, fear-filled views of most end-times thinkers: Christians, Jews and especially Muslims, who do believe that: “The hour (of Judgement) is near” (Qur’an 54:1); and ˹The time of˺ people’s judgment has drawn near, yet they heedlessly turn away.” (Qur’an 21:1)
Sadly these end-times thinkers always see pre-ordained threats of cataclysmic world wide doom; and not just as Armageddon being a warning of the consequences if we humans do not repent and change our behavior. The term “apocalypse” comes from the Greek word “apokalypsis,” meaning “revelation.” Although associated today with end of the world thinking, apocalypses Armageddons in ancient Jewish thought were a source of encouragement in times of hardship or persecution.
Armageddon is a powerful challenge that can be overcome if most people will stop fighting each other and co-operate to reduce climate change. But if we do not act there is an Islamic oral tradition (Hadith) that states: The Hour will not commence until no one goes (travels) to perform Hajj. (Hakim 4:453 and Abi Ya’li 2:277); because the annual hajj pilgrimage to Mecca in the summer will become harder and harder.
It is also true that human society has changed more rapidly, violently, and fundamentally in the last century of the second millennium than ever before in history. Doctors saved the lives of millions. Dictators sacrificed the lives of millions. Populations exploded and birthrates declined. Technology produced both worldwide prosperity and pollution at the same time.
Knowing all this, should we look upon the first century of the third millennium with optimistic hope or with fatalistic trepidation? Are the world and our society heading towards a wonder-filled new age, or toward a doomsday; or are both occurring concurrently because breakdown is always a prelude to breakthrough?
Many who believe in the Biblical vision of a Messianic Age use the insights of the Prophets of Israel to provide guidance in understanding the social, economic, scientific, and cultural upheavals sweeping society. Usually, it is the dramatic dangers of the pre-Messianic tribulation that are emphasized. I will focus on the positive signs developing throughout the world that accord with the Messianic vision of the Biblical Prophets.
In most non-Abrahamic religious traditions, redemption is defined only in terms of individual enlightenment or personal salvation. However, the Abrahamic Prophets conceived of redemption as a transformation of human society that would occur through the catalyst of the transformation of the Abrahamic religious community. This transformation, which will take place in this world at some future time, is called the Messianic Age.
The transition to the Messianic Age is called the birth pangs of the Messiah. The birth of a redeemed Messianic world may be the result of easy or difficult labor. If everyone would simply live according to the moral teachings of his or her religious tradition, we would ourselves bring about the Messianic Age. But, if we will not do it voluntarily, it will come through social and political upheavals, worldwide conflicts, and generation gaps. The Messiah refers to an agent of God who helps bring about this transformation.
The Jewish tradition teaches that this agent of God (and there will be three or four such agents) will be a human being, with great spiritual leadership qualities similar to Prophets Moses or Mohammed. For Jews, the Messianic hope helped them to survive many years of oppression and evil. For Christian and Muslims the Messianic hope will be the second coming of Jesus/the Mahdi, leading up to God’s Judgement Day vindication for righteous believers; and the establishment of God’s kingdom on Earth…
The arrival of the Messianic Age is what’s really important, not the specific personality of the agents who bring it about since they are simply the instruments of God, who ultimately is the real Redeemer. The Messianic Age is usually seen as the solution to all of humanity’s basic problems. This may be true in the long run but the vast changes the transition to the Messianic Age entails will provide challenges to society for many generations to come.
In 1948 only six percent of a global Jewish population of 11.5 million lived in Israel. Today 45% of the world’s 15 million Jews reside in the Jewish state.
Isn’t it amazing how people adjust to living in a radically new world and forget the past? Indeed, the Prophet Isaiah himself proclaimed God’s message, “Behold, I create a new Heaven and a New Earth, and former things shall not be remembered.” (65:17)
Where does the Messiah fit in with all of this? He will still have lots to do when he arrives. Now that a large part of the Jewish people have returned to the Land of Israel, and resurrected a Jewish State, one might think that rebuilding a temple of the site where King Prophet Solomon originally built one almost 3,000 years ago, would be relatively simple.
However, a Muslim Shrine called The Dome of the Rock presently occupies the Jerusalem Temple of Prophet Solomon site. Often erroneously called the Mosque of Omar, it is not a mosque and it was not built by Omar. It was built in 691 by Abd-Al-Malik and it is regarded by Muslims as the third holiest site in the world. Any attempt to replace the Dome of the Rock would provoke a Muslim Holy War of cataclysmic proportions. There is, however, open land on the Temple Mount, and a small Jewish broadcast station offering religious services could be built near the Dome of the Rock; and 600 feet north of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, provided that Muslims would cooperate.
Most observers agree that anyone who could arrange such Jewish-Muslim cooperation would really be the Messianic Ruler of Peace (Isaiah 9:5) Christian support for such a cooperative venture would also be very important, and anyone who can bring Jews, Christians, and Muslims together in mutual respect and cooperation would surely fulfill the greatest of all Messianic predictions: “They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning knives; nation shall not take up sword against nation, they shall never again teach war.” (Isaiah 2:4)
Indeed, such Jewish/Christian/Muslim cooperation would not be possible without great spiritual leadership in all three communities. Thus, each community could consider its leadership to be the Messiah and this would fulfill the culminating verses of Isaiah’s Messianic prophecy as enlarged upon by Micah (4:3-5), “They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning knives. Nation shall not take up against nation, they shall never again teach war, but every man shall sit under his grapevine or fig tree with no one to disturb him, for it is the Lord of Hosts who spoke. Though all peoples walk each in the name of its God, we will walk in the name of the Lord our God forever.”
And “In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians will go to Egypt and the Egyptians to Assyria. The Egyptians and Assyrians will worship together. On that day Israel will join a three-party alliance with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing upon the heart. The LORD of Hosts will bless them saying, “Blessed be Egypt My people, Assyria My handiwork, and Israel My inheritance.”…(Isaiah 19:23-5)
I know that both Prophet Jesus and Prophet Muhammad warned their own communities about trying to calculate a specific end-time date for Messianic events. In the New Testament when prophet Jesus was asked in private by his disciples, “What will be the sign for your coming (back) and the end of the (present) age?” (Matthew 24:3) Prophet Jesus warned his disciples about all kinds of upheavals and false Messiahs that will come; and then concludes by saying, “But about that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, not even the son: only the Father.” (24:36)
A similar statement was made by Prophet Muhammad when he was asked, “Tell me about the Hour”. He replied: “The one questioned about it knows no better than the questioner.” (Muslim 1:1&4)
Yet we should never give up the positive Messianic hope that if each of the three Abrahamic religious communities truly follows the best of its own religious teachings; God has assured us that the Messiah will arrive, and one way or another, God’s Judgement Day and God’s Kingdom of worldwide peace and prosperity will be established. As Prophet King David said in Psalm 91 “You who dwell in the Shelter of the Most High, who abide in the shade of the Almighty, Say to the Lord, “My refuge and fortress, my God in whom I trust.”…You shall not fear the terror of the night nor the arrow that flies by day, not the pestilence that roams in darkness, nor the plague that ravages at noon.”
