THE MESSIANIC PROPHECIES
consist of various Old Testament quotations,
as found in the New Testament,
along with contextual passages.
The idea is to be able to look at
and see what people would have seen
when reading the Old Testament passages
prior to the ministry of Jesus of Nazareth.
What exactly would one have been looking for,
based upon these passages?
How plain are the passages?
Or, on the other hand,
how oblique, or opaque?
UPON FIRST STUDYING
THIS MATTER I had wondered
whether each individual prophecy
may be acting as a marker of
important information
which may be found to be surrounding it.
Upon investigating I found that, indeed,
such is the case.
It is as if each prophetic passage
provides a “beacon” of light located
such as to direct the reader to things
the knowledge of which can prove
to be of great benefit to him or her.
That is the purpose of showing
the larger context in which
each prophecy is to be found.
I diligently searched for the “natural”
beginning and end of the contextual language
surrounding each prophetic verse
or set of verses, which, thereby
causes each contextual passage
to stand complete within itself.
THE LINE SPACING
of the various contextual passages
is based upon a system
which I have developed
during the past 40 years.
I refer to each section between spaces as
“thought units”,
or as
“units of thought”.
As one writes
one will think first of one thing,
and then another,
and then another.
By the time these thoughts
are committed to writing,
they appear to flow into one another,
without breaks between the thoughts.
As a longtime writer
I try to figure out
what each individual thought is
and then separate them by spaces,
just as I do in my own writings,
while composing them or dictating them.
At first I found this very difficult to do
with scriptural passages,
and it took a very long time
to break any given passage up
into it’s individual thought units.
But over time,
and with much practice,
I got so good at it,
that it became second nature.
You can currently benefit
from the fact that I now
can do it very quickly,
and almost effortlessly,
so that I am able to take large blocks of text,
and rapidly break them up
into their thought units.
This greatly assists when reading them out loud,
as I believe is the intent of the author/s.
In addition,
as one analyzes and “dissects”
any given passage in the Old Testament
and in the New Testament,
one will quickly notice
that there is an underlying meter
or poetic rhythm
found beneath many of the passages.
The thought units also assist
in bringing this out into the open,
so that it is more readily discernible.
Such that when I read it aloud,
as you will hear in the various audio recordings,
you should become acutely aware
of this underlying rhythm.
As a longtime musician
and student of the great masterworks
of the great composers
I am much more aware of this
than others are likely to be.
Such that for me
it is second nature
to pull out the underlying “pulse”
of any given song
or instrumental composition,
just as naturally as breathing is for you.
As a matter of fact,
it is this “breathing”
that gives peculiar “life”
to any given musical performance or composition.
I believe that this can be seen
throughout the OT and NT,
such that I try to bring it out
into the forefront as I read aloud.
One could think of
the underlying pulse found
in ancient Gregorian and Byzantine chants
(think “neumes“), or the “cantillations“
of the ancient synagogues, as examples.
WHAT HAS STOOD OUT TO ME,
over the years,
as I have studied all of these passages
numerous times,
while editing and typesetting them
into their current 650 page book form,
is how much Jesus of Nazareth
stands out as the prophetic fulfillment
of the messianic passages.
Most people do not realize
that “Christ” is the Greek language equivalent
of the Hebrew word for “Messiah”.
The word means “anointed”.
As in anointed with oil,
as was done by OT prophets
when they anointed the ancient kings of Israel
as they took office.
“Christ” is the one
who is anointed by
the Lord God Omnipotent Who Reigneth.
In addition,
the name “Jesus”
is actually the word for “savior”.
Christ Jesus means
“the anointed savior”.
Jesus Christ means
“the savior who is anointed”,
by God.
It really is a title,
not a name.
The scriptures tell us that HIS NAME
is Emmanuel,
meaning “God with us”.
ALSO, OF GREAT INTEREST,
is the fact that “the Christ” is deity.
He is “God manifest”.
As one studies these passages closely,
this will become more and more evident.
Those who deny the full deity of Christ
simply do not know or understand
what these passages are describing.
That is to say,
it is not a New Testament doctrine,
and it is not some afterthought
which was made up by the Apostles,
as so many moderns seem to love to proclaim,
in all of their very loud and arrogant
haughty ignorance.
The deity of the Messiah can be seen
throughout these passages.
As can the Sonship of Christ.
That is why John the Apostle
emphasizes this at the beginning of his Gospel,
and at the beginning of his First Epistle,
and then, finally,
in his writing,
known as
“The Revelation (unveiling) of Jesus Christ”.
It is in the Book of Revelation
that things come full circle,
as John
(the one who laid his head on Jesus’ breast
at the Last Supper)
uses the Old Testament theophanies,
mainly in the form of visions
of the Old Testament prophets,
as the basis for his “revelation/unveiling”.
He is showing,
in no uncertain terms,
that Jesus of Nazareth
is none other than
the person who appears
in the form of a human being,
to the Old Testament prophets,
repeatedly,
as a theophany.
This becomes especially apparent
when comparing the visions of
Ezekiel,
Isaiah
and
Daniel,
for example.
This Jesus of Nazareth
is the one
“who is like unto a Son of Man”.
IT IS MY HOPE THAT
this work serves to strengthen your faith
and helps you to see the rationality
of your separation
(that is what “holy” means, after all)
from this wicked generation
as you go through your day to day life
in this time of great darkness.
AND FINALLY,
I should note that these prophecies
were written during
an approximately 1200 year span of time.
Each was originally contained in a scroll,
which was separated
by time and geography
from all of the others for centuries, until,
about 250-300 years before Jesus of Nazareth,
they were combined together
into a book form,
as the Greek translation of the Old Testament,
known as the Septuagint.
Following the earthly ministry
of Jesus of Nazareth,
his various followers began to search the scriptures,
which had been brought together
particularly, in the Septuagint.
As they searched
they began to notice the continuity.
It is as if one writer
has been writing during all of these centuries,
such that it reflects the result of a process
which simply cannot be faked.
And which stands
as a direct “slap in the face”
to all of the moderns
who like to pretend
that it is we who are deluded,
and not themselves.
To which I must respond,
stand tall,
and stand strong,
and stand steadfast in your faith,
and in your knowledge,
Oh you (spiritual) sons and daughters
of Abraham and of Israel/Jacob.
And may the Lord God Ominipotent Who Reigneth
abundantly bless you
as you take the time
to closely study these passages
and
“learn of Him”
who laid down his life
so that you and I may live,
rather than be cast into outer darkness,
with the rest,
as we so richly deserve.
To Him
be the power,
the honor,
and the glory.
World without end.
Amen.
vw
Sunday
6-8-14
Ventura, California, USA