Rabbi,
I am glad that you are willing to take the time to visit with me. I have a few starter questions that will get me into some objections I have heard Jewish people make about Yeshua.
1. Have you heard the objection that Yeshua couldn’t be the Messiah because the Seventy weeks prophecy doesn’t refer to him and is twisted by Christians to equal the time of Yeshua? Can you explain the 70 weeks of Daniel and why there is one week left? Does that 1 week mean the 7 year tribulation?
Enough for now, Look forward to hearing from you.
Because of G-d,
Yes, the seventh week refers to the 7 year tribulation. G-d often breaks up prophecies in periods of time fulfilling part of the prophecy at one time and then the remainder at a later time. This is well recognized and undisputed by Biblical scholars.
G-d in His wisdom has arranged history to account for the Advent of Yahshua and to give a period of time (2000 Years) for the Gospel of the Kingdom to be preached to ALL mankind. It is reminiscent of G-d’s Seven Festivals. (See Web Site for details) The festivals are types of shadows and a micro account of Spiritual History. Yahshua has fulfilled 4 and 3 are left to be fulfilled. This does not mean we are not to celebrate them still.
A Synopsis:
1) Passover-He was the Passover Lamb; 2) Feast of Unleavened Bread-Leavened was a type of sin and He was without sin; 3) First Fruits-Yahshua was first risen; and 4) Shavuot or Pentecost – the Day the Law (Torah) was given on Mt. Sinai and the day the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) was given on Pentecost that enables us to live the Torah.
In the case of the Festivals there is a pronounced period of time where no festivals are celebrated as there is a period of time between the 69 weeks and the final 7 weeks. This correlates to the period of 2000 years since Yahshua’s advent. The next festival to be fulfilled on G-d’s time table is the “rapture” or “catching away” of the eccklesia “called out ones,” not the church. (If you don’t believe in the Rapture it is taught in the Old Testament) This occurs on the Feast of Trumpets. Then the Judgment on Yom Kippur, and Succoth (Feast of Tabernacles), the last festival that will also be celebrated in the Millenium Temple when G-d’s providence takes care of us in His Kingdom. The Exodus being a shadow or type of the final Succoth where the Hebrews were taken care of in the Wilderness wanderings. So we see that G-d has given mankind a period time and accounted for it in His festivals and in Daniel’s prophecy allowing for the Spirit of G-d to work through Yahshua for the benefit of mankind.
It should be noted that traditional Judaism does not consider Daniel a prophet and this is an error, but may be part of the “blindness of the Jews” spoken of in Scripture so that the time of the Gentiles may be fulfilled and brought into the Kingdom.
I have recently begun writing a book titled “A Messianic Rabbi’s Thoughts,” and the opening chapter relates to your question above in that it addresses the “objection to Yahshua being the Messiah.” by Jewish people. Read it carefully.
Judaism’s Messiah
Jews are perceived to be the most liberal and open-minded of people, yet I have found few practicing Jews who would approach the subject of the Christian Messiah “Jesus” with an open mind. Most regard the subject not with directness, but with reticence.
Even stripping “Jesus” of His Christian trappings and identifying Him as His true self, an observant Jew of the highest rank does nothing to dispel a traditional Jew’s aversion to His personage. If we as Jews could get past the mindset informed by eons of Christian persecution, past a Jew’s aversion to that which he identifies with anti-Semitism we might discover in “Jesus” our own Messiah. I do not mean the Gentile version “Jesus,” but a real, red blooded, confrontational and vibrant Jewish Messiah named Yahshua.
If a Jew could come so far as to approach “Jesus” with the same democratic ideals that he employs in all of his social and political endeavors he might not so readily dismiss the possibility that “Jesus,” preferably Yahshua, is the Jewish Messiah. Why? Well, let me tell you!
In the Hebrew Scriptures in that portion identified by traditional Judaism as “writings” is a book called Daniel and in Daniel 9:24-27 we find the following.Daniel 9:24
Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy 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.Daniel 9:25
Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.Daniel 9:26 And after 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.
Daniel 9:27
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 for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate. (KJV)First, I want you to take particular note of verse twenty-five (25), the underlined portion. It says: that “from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks (sevens), and threescore and two weeks (sevens). Daniel is speaking here of the Jewish Messiah who will be manifested on this earth 483 biblical years after the commandment to rebuild Jerusalem is issued. Now it is important to remember that a biblical or prophetic year consists of 360 days, the yearly cycle of the Jewish calendar by its association with the lunar cycle and not the solar cycle.
As discerning and open-minded Bible believers, what is left for us to do? We must determine when all the elements were in place to produce the “commandment going forth,” and then merely count biblical years to the date indicated. In 606 BC, Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, conquered Jerusalem and took back with him to Babylon a group of royal captives, Daniel being one of them. Daniel was YHVH connected, and he eventually became the primary vicar of the Babylonian Empire. Contemporary with Daniel was the Prophet Jeremiah. Daniel learned from Jeremiah by reading Jeremiah’s prediction in 538 BC that Judah would serve the King of Babylon for seventy years.
Jeremiah 25:11
And this whole land shall be desolation, an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.We now we have a brief background to the prophecy. Nebuchadnezzar took Judah into captivity and Daniel learned that it was to last 70 years. We have the secular dates from history so we can make our calculations.
In 1895, Sir Robert Anderson a gifted scholar and the head of Scotland Yard wrote a review of this prophecy. He demonstrated that beginning from Daniel’s prophecy in chapter 9:24-27 that it was exactly 483 years biblical years to the first advent of the Messiah. How does he come to that conclusion?
First, he states that the commencement point of the vision is the commandment to rebuild “the walls of Jerusalem.” (Daniel 9:25). Artaxerxes Longimanus the Persian King issued this decree in the month of Nissan in the twentieth year of his reign (see Nehemiah 2:1). The Talmud states that the first day of the month of Nissan is the New Year for the computation of the reign of kings and for festivals. This is Biblical reckoning not as the contemporary Jewish calendar that reckons the New Year from Rosh Hoshanna, the Biblical Feast of Trumpets, something like a fiscal year for businesses. Of course to be accurate we must employ biblical computations only. The royal Observatory, Greenwich, United Kingdom calculated backwards that the biblical date for the decree was in our secular calendar March 14, 445 BCE. Using this date for clarity the passage that states “from the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem” given on March 14, 445 BCE and calculating a period of seven weeks (years), 7 x 7=49 years, and then sixty-two weeks (years) (62 x 7=434 years for a total of 69 weeks of years (69 x 7=483 Biblical (360 day years), equals 173,880 days (483 x 360 = 173,880). Daniel tells us that at the end of the sixty-nine weeks or 483 years or 173,880 days the “Messiah will be cut off.” On the tenth day of Nissan, April 6th, 32 CE in fulfillment of this prophecy, Yahshua entered Jerusalem and presented Himself as the Messiah.
We arrive at this date via a sixth century monk identified as Dionysius Exiguus who developed our current system of numbering years. He calculated the birth of Yahshua as having occurred in the Roman year 754. He computed the New Year, January 1 of the year following Yahshua’s birth as reported in the book of Luke as the year AD 1 (CE) for his new calendar Anno Domini, “Year of God-Yahshua.” His calculations were based on the historical records available to him in Rome along with Luke’s statements recorded in His book (3:1-2). In AD 315 the Christian historian Eusebius consulted the Roman Government records (census of Cyrenius and Caesar Augustus) to prove that Yahshua was born in Bethlehem when Joseph and Mary were there to be enrolled in the census. Justin Martyr also records that the census records were available in his Apology, chapter 1, v. 34. It may be inferred then that Dionysius also had these records available to him enabling him to prepare an accurate calendar ascertaining that Yahshua was born in the fall of the year 1 BCE. Since there is only one year between 1 BCE and 1 CE or 1 BC and 1AD, some confusion has resulted about this because the governor of Syria, Cyrenius who administered the tax in Luke 2:1-3 was only known to have ruled in that position from 7 BC to 4 BC, but recent archeological evidence has proved that he was twice governor of Syria and that he also ruled from 4 BC to 1 BC.
Sir Robert Anderson in his book The Coming Prince, page 92 reports that Merivale in his Roman history on page 457 of Vol. iv quotes “A remarkable light has been thrown upon the point by the demonstration, as it seems to be of Agustus Zumpt in his second volume of Commentationes Epigraphicae, that Quirinus (the Cyrenius of Luke was first governor of Syria from the close of BC 4 to 753 BC.
If this is true then there is no contradiction with the time of Cyrenius’s first Syrian governorship (4BC to 1BC) and the census of Luke 2:1-2 occurring during 1 BC as stated by earlier Believer’s writings. Another reason we have to adjust Yahshua’s birth to 4 BC is because Flavius Josephus recorded that Herod died before Passover in the same year that there was a partial lunar eclipse in Jerusalem on March 13, 4 BC. Scholars using this information proved Herod died and Yahshua was born in 4 BC. Yet, other astronomical evidence has revealed that Herod could have died as late as 1 BC or 1 AD allowing Yahshua’s birth to have occurred as late as 1 BC. We now know from this evidence that a full lunar eclipse took place on January 9, 1 BC, which may well be the one referred to by Josephus in his Antiquities of the Jews [book xvii, chapter 6]. There are other astronomical records that record eclipses of the moon from Jerusalem during 5 BC to AD 4. Because of this Yahshua could have been born as early as 4BC or as late as 1BC.
In any event, the traditional date of December 25 is as error. This date was set by the Roman Emperor Constantine. The probable reasons for establishing this date is to replace an existing pagan festival to the sun, known as Saturnalia. It is also noteworthy to know that Constantine was a sun worshipper before declaring his allegiance to Christianity. In Luke 2:8 the scripture reads: “shepards abiding in the field keeping watch over the flock by night,” indicates that it would not have been in late December because shepard’s would have placed their flocks in a protective shelter during the cold season. A more convincing reason is that Scripture in John 1:14 records that “And the Word was made flesh, and tabernacled among us.” The feast of Tabernacles occurs on the fifteenth day of Tishri (September-October) and since John would have known Yahshua’s birth date he most probably is hinting at the Feast of Tabernacles as Yahshua’s birthday. Numerous key events in the history of Israel have occurred on the Festival dates. The last and most convincing is found in Luke 1:5 where we are informed that Zechariah the father of John was a priest of the course of Abijah.
In 1 Chronicles 24 we learn that the Priests were divided into 24 courses. Each course served for two weeks a year and all the priests served during the three required pilgrimage festivals (Deu.16: 16). The course of Abijah was the eighth course (1 Chronicles 24:10 which served the tenth week during the former rain (first half of the year). Zechariah had his vision while serving in the course of Abijah in the tenth week of his first course. Each course was one week and 24 courses times 2 weeks equals 48 plus the three festivals comes to 51 weeks for a total of 257 days in a lunar year of 360 days. As we continue we will see that Zechariah was serving his first course as Zechariah’s vision took place during the 10th week. Biblically the religious years begins on the first of Nissan/Abib. Taking into consideration the purity laws and allowing that Elizabeth’s womb opened at the announcement and allowing for this process to be completed in a week and then allowing two additional weeks due to the purity laws before John could be conceived (Lev. 12:5; 15:19,25) we arrive at conception in the 13th week of the year. He was born about 40 weeks later during the 53rd week of the year, which brings us to Passover. Therefore, John was born at Passover in the spirit and power of Elijah at the very time according to tradition Elijah was supposed to appear.
Yahshua was conceived about 6 months (24 weeks) after John’s conception. This means that Yahshua was conceived around the 37th week around Chanukah. Yahshua was then conceived during the Festival of Lights as the Light of the World. Yahshua was born 40 weeks later, chronologically week 77 but in week 25 of the following year, which brings us to the fall feasts. Sukkot falling somewhere between August and September yearly. All the festivals have something prophetically to teach us, and part of the shadows found within Sukkot are that Yahshua was born in a stable. The Hebrew word for “stable” is sukkah (Gen. 33:17) so it is likely that Yahshua was born in a Sukkah/booth because Jews were require to come to Jerusalem on this festival, and that would also help account for Bethlehem being booked solid. Bethlehem is just a few miles from Jerusalem. If Yahshua were born on the first day of Sukkot he would have been circumcised on the eight which is Simchat Torah (rejoicing in Torah) and who is Yahshua but the Manifested Living Torah of YHVH. His Bris (circumcision) on this day would have marked His entering into the Covenant. The angel’s announcement to the Shepard’s recalls the ancient Sukkoth liturgy “…behold, we have come to declare to you glad tiding of great joy.” (Luke 2:10-11). Sukkot is symbolic of G-d’s providence and what greater providence for us than the Messiah who should take away our sins.
Luke records that the beginning of Yahshua’s ministry began with His baptism (Luke 3:21-22) and that He was about thirty years of age. Luke also reports, “…that it was the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being the Tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Phillip tetrarch of Ituraea and of Abilene, Annas and Caiaphas being the high priests, the word of G-d came unto the son of Zacharias in the wilderness” (Luke 3:1-2).
It is well established that the Roman emperor Tiberius Caesar ascended his throne on the 19th day of August A.D. 14. Luke’s reference to the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar’s reign would bring us to about the nineteeth day of August AD 28 and historical records confirm that all those named in Luke ruled in the year 28AD. We can then surmise that it is nearly a certainty that Yahshua’s ministry began in the fall of AD 28. Since Yahshua was about thirty years of age at the commencement of His ministry and continued His ministry over a period of about 3-1/2 years and if the feast mentioned in John 5:1 is Passover it is virtually certain that His crucifixion occurred on the date of His final Passover in Year AD 32.
We have covered a lot of ground coming to the date of the crucifixion of our Messiah Yahshua, and for one reason, and it is this. Daniel prophesized in Daniel 19:26 that the Messiah would be “cut off” (killed) prior to the destruction of the city and the sanctuary (Temple) that occurred in AD 70 by the Roman General Titus. Note also that Daniel said that, “the people of the prince that shall come” who destroy the city and the Sanctuary would also produce the anti-Christ in the end times, but that is another study, nevertheless those with wisdom will comprehend. The gist of this opening chapter is that The Messiah has come as so literally predicted and whoever is looking for another messiah contradicts G-d’s own word. If you believe the word of G-d and do not believe that Yahshua was the Messiah then you still have to seek the Jewish Messiah before the destruction of the Second Temple.