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As we concluded in part four of this series, according to the rabbinical teachings, Jesus failed to meet all of the necessary requirements for being the King Messiah. Not only did He seem to often contradict the Laws of Moses -- that is to say, the Torah -- but His Jewish critics also accused Him of being a drunk and a glutton who associated Himself with a lot of questionable characters. Furthermore, He constantly opposed and exposed the Scribes and the Pharisees, and also prophesied the destruction of the Second Temple. Thus we see that rather than unite the Jews, He divided them. Of course, the Lord knew beforehand that this would happen. Thus, He said the following in the Gospels:

"Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man's foes shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me."


"Now the brother shall betray the brother to death, and the father the son; and children shall rise up against their parents, and shall cause them to be put to death. And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved."


"Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division: For from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother; the mother in law against her daughter in law, and the daughter in law against her mother in law."


Clearly, Jesus was not a uniter, but a divider. Furthermore, neither was the Lord an astute political or military leader as was expected of the prophesied King Messiah. The 70 A.D. destruction of Jerusalem and the temple resulted in an even further dispersion of the Jews from their homeland during the third Diaspora, the first two of which occurred hundreds of years earlier at the time of the Assyrian conquests, and then culminated in 587 B.C. with the invasion and destruction of Jerusalem, and the second exile of the Jews, by the forces of King Nebuchadnezzar.

In condemning Jesus for supposedly being the catalyst for all of these tragic events, Rambam wrote the following in Book 14 of the Mishneh Torah called "Sefer Shoftim" -- or "Judges" -- Section 5 called "Melachim uMilhamoteyhem" -- or "Laws of Kings and Wars" -- chapters 11, paragraph 10:

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"Even Jesus the Nazarene who imagined he would be the Messiah and was killed by the Court was prophesized about by Daniel as it says, 'and also the children of the violent among your people will lift themselves up to establish the vision, but they shall stumble' (Daniel 11:14). Was there ever a greater impediment than this one? All the Prophets spoke of the Messiah, Redeemer of Israel and Savior and Gatherer of the Exiles and Strengthener of the Commandments. But this one -- meaning Jesus -- caused the ruin of Israel by the sword and the dispersal of its remnant and its humiliation and reversed the Torah, and caused most of the world to err and worship a god other than HaShem (G-d)."

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Of course, as we learned in the first two parts of this same series, it is not that Jesus wasn't the promised Messiah, it is that the Jews' understanding of the Scriptures, and their expectations regarding the Messiah were all wrong. In other words, they failed dismally to understand the true nature of God's Kingdom, and the specific mission which Jesus came to fulfill. The Jews were looking for a political and military leader who would free them from Roman oppression, and also re-establish the physical throne of King David on Earth. But Jesus really came to atone for the sins of the world, and to open the way to Salvation and Eternal Life in the Kingdom of God. As Jesus stated in the Gospels, the Jewish religious leaders were the blind leading the blind. And, as we saw in part four, the Apostle Paul wrote as follows:

"But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned."


When Jesus was born into the world during the First Century, it was possibly their knowledge of the prophesied "Moshiach" which caused the radical Zealots to look to Him as the one they had been waiting for. The same thing had happened during the reign of the Maccabees about two hundred years before. In fact, as we discussed earlier, there were a number of hopeful messiahs who seemed to fit the bill to one degree or another. However, they all ultimately failed to meet every requirement for being King Messiah. So perhaps just like other Jews, the Zealots were hoping that, finally, Jesus would be the one to lead them to victory over the Romans.

According to the Old Testament Scriptures, "Eliyahu" -- that is, Elijah -- would precede the coming of "Moshiach". As some of you will know, some of the Jews -- as well as King Herod himself -- recognized John the Baptist as being a Prophet. In fact, as I point out in articles such as "Elijah: Where Are the True Prophets of God?", Jesus plainly said that John the Baptist was indeed the fulfillment of Isaiah's and Malachi's prophecies regarding the coming of Elijah. Consider this set of Bible verses:

"Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts."


"Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse."


"But I say unto you, That Elias is indeed come, and they have done unto him whatsoever they listed, as it is written of him."


"The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see ‭it‭ together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken ‭it‭."


"In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."


The tragedy is that even though Jesus plainly declared that John the Baptist was the "Elijah" who was to come and prepare the way before Him, as had been prophesied by both Isaiah and Malachi, just as they had rejected Jesus being the prophesied King Messiah -- or Moshiach ben David -- later Jewish rabbis also refused to believe that John the Baptist was the Elijah who had been prophesied in the Scriptures. This is evidenced in paragraphs 3 and 4 of chapter 12 of Maimonides' "Laws of Kings and Wars", which is Section 5 of Book 14 -- "Judges" -- in the Mishneh Torah. Bear in mind that Maimonides wrote the following during the 12th century:

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"From the plain meaning of the words of the prophets we understand that at the beginning of the days of the Messiah there will be the War of Gog and Magog. Before the War of Gog and Magog, a prophet will arise to correct Israel and prepare their hearts, as it says, 'Behold, I will send you Elijah' (Malachi 3:23). He will not come to make the pure impure, nor purify the impure, nor disqualify people who are presumed to have legitimate lineage, nor qualify those who are disqualified. He will only come to bring peace to the world, as it says, 'And he shall turn the hearts of the fathers on the children' (Malachi 3:24).

Some of the Sages say that Elijah will come before the coming of the Messiah. But regarding all these matters and similar, no one knows how it will be until it will be. For these matters were unclear to the Prophets. Even the Sages themselves did not have a Tradition regarding these matters and only could attempt to understand the verses. Thus, there were disagreements in these matters. Nevertheless, neither the order that these events will occur nor their details are fundamental to the religion."

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As you can see, Maimonides describes the arrival of Elijah and King Messiah as future events. That is why Orthodox Jews continue to wait for their appearance in Israel to this very day. In fact, as we have already discussed, said Jews expect and anticipate that these figures will make themselves known in Israel very soon. According to their beliefs, this will also result in the construction of the third temple, and the resumption of ritual sacrifices.

When John the Baptist was unjustifiably beheaded by King Herod due to pressure from his wife Herodias' sly daughter, and then when Jesus was also later crucified by the Romans at the instigation of the wicked Sanhedrin, due to their not properly understanding the Old Testament prophecies, perhaps the Zealots interpreted these developments to mean that John and Jesus were not the ones they had been waiting for. In fact, there is evidence in the Scriptures that even some of the Apostles did not fully understand Jesus' mission on the Earth. They too thought that Jesus had come to restore the physical kingdom of David. You may recall that Peter even tried to prevent Jesus from going to Jerusalem so that He would not die. After all, what was a revolution without its leader? Consider the following verses:

"From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day. Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee. But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men."


"When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?‭ And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power."


So from common Jews, to the Zealots, to the Sanhedrin, to the Apostles themselves, very few people truly understood why Jesus had come to the Earth. They were all looking for the wrong kind of messiah. They wanted a warrior king who would lead them to victory over their Roman oppressors. But instead, they got a lamb who went quietly to the slaughter, as we see by these prophetic verses:

"He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth."


"The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world . . . And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God . . . And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God!"


"The place of the scripture which he read was this, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth:"


What they all failed to understand was that Jesus was and is a warrior king in the truest sense of the word. Furthermore, as we modern Christians fully recognize, Jesus both waged war against and overcame death, sin and Satan himself. So He was indeed victorious. However, as I said, that is not the kind of messiah the First Century Jews were all looking for. Neither is it the kind of messiah that the Orthodox Jews are looking for today either. They do not believe that they need or require a Divine Savior. As you will now learn, they in fact believe that they can merit the "World to Come" through their own efforts and good actions.

According to rabbinic tradition, one of the things which will result from the appearance of "Moshiach" -- or King Messiah -- or possibly occur right before his arrival, is what is known in the Hebrew language as "Teshuvah". In a literal sense, "Teshuvah" means "return". More specifically, this word means to turn away from, to repent of, to confess, to forsake, and to atone for one's sins. It means to alter one's behavior, and to return to belief in and practice of the Torah, so that one's life is pleasing to God. It is a change of mind, heart, spirit and behavior. As Maimonides points out in paragraph 7 of chapter 12 of "Laws of Kings and Wars", the purpose for doing this is so that one "may merit the World to Come" -- or "Olam HaBa" -- during the Messianic Age. The rabbi wrote as follows:

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"The Sages and the Prophets did not long for the days of the Messiah because they wanted to rule the world or because they wanted to have dominion over the non-Jews or because they wanted the nations to exalt them or because they wanted to eat, drink and be merry. Rather, they desired this so that they would have time for Torah and its Wisdom. And there would be no one who would oppress them or force them to be idle (from Torah). This, in order that they may merit the World to Come, as we have explained regarding the Laws of Repentance."

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In the previous paragraph, Maimonides is simply repeating what he has already more amply discussed earlier in Book 1, Section 5 -- called "Teshuvah" -- Chapter 9 of the Mishneh Torah, where he writes the following regarding why they craved for the arrival of King Messiah, and thus also the Messianic era:

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"Because of this, all Israel their prophets and their scholars craved for the Messianic era so that they may rest up from tyrannical government which do not give them the tranquility to study the Torah and observe the precepts as they ought to, and so that they may find the peacefulness of mind to increase wisdom in order to acquire life in the World to Come. For, in those days knowledge and wisdom and truth will increase, even as it is said: "For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord" (Is. 11.9); and it is again said: "And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother" (Jer. 31.34); and it is yet again said: "And I will take the stony heart out of your flesh" (Ez. 36.26), as that king who will arise from the seed of David will be gifted with wisdom more than Solomon, and great in prophecy nigh unto Moses our Master. He will, therefore, teach the whole people and point out to them the Lord's path, and all nations will come to listen to him, even as it is said: "And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains" (Is. 2.2). Nevertheless, the end of the whole reward, and the last good which has neither interruption nor diminution is life in the World to Come. As for the Messianic era, it is in this world, and the world goes on after its fashion, save only that Israel will again have a government. Indeed, the ancient sages have long since said: "There is no difference between this world and the Messianic era, save alone in the oppression of government."

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For those of you who may wish to delve deeper into the topic of Teshuvah, and what it all entails according to the Jewish faith, the "Laws of Repentance" -- which are also known as Hilkhot Teshuva, Laws of Teshuvah, Laws of Return, or Rules of Repentance -- form Section 5 of Book 1 of the Mishneh Torah, which is called "HaMadda", or Knowledge. You can find online versions of Section 5 regarding repentance, such as at the following URL which offers a version in both Hebrew and English. You can download it in text format from this same URL as well:

https://www.sefaria.org/Mishneh_Torah%2C_Repentance.1?lang=bi

The irony of this sad situation is that because Jewish rabbis such as Maimonides all rejected the ministries of John the Baptist and Jesus, and did not view them as the fulfillment of the prophesied Elijah and King Messiah who were to come, they failed to recognize that both of them did in fact very clearly preach Teshuvah, or repentance, in preparation for the "World to Come". Furthermore, the Apostles continued to preach repentance, or Teshuvah, after Jesus returned to the Heavenly Realm. This fact becomes so evident in verses such as the following:

"In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand . . . I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire: Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire."


"From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."


"Then began he [Jesus] to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not: Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you. And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day."


"Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel."


"Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began."


"Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins."


"And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:"


"The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance."


"Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth."


"As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent."


What we see then, is that due to their own unbelief, just as these Jewish rabbis pushed the coming of the Prophet Elijah and the long-awaited arrival of the Messiah into the future, they have done the very same thing in regard to Teshuvah. They totally failed to recognize that all of these events have already occurred, and that they in fact happened almost two thousand years ago when John and Jesus walked the Earth.

Sadly, contrary to the Christian concept of repentance, the Jewish practice of Teshuvah has nothing to do with receiving forgiveness for our sins through faith in Jesus Christ. As such, to me, Teshuvah seems much more like a modern form of self-improvement. In fact, it is actually described as being ethical self-transformation. It is all a work of the flesh, and not much different from humanism. It's a vain attempt to achieve one's own righteousness without Christ, by striving to adhere to the mandates of the Torah. That is, the Laws of Moses, as found in the first five Books of the Bible. As we have already clearly seen, the Jewish belief was -- and still remains -- that if one recognizes, confesses and repents of his sins, hopefully, he will merit a place in the "World to Come" during the Messianic Age. As I said, it is all about a person's own self-improvement and goodness. This is precisely what Maimonides and other Jewish rabbis teach in their writings.

As I have mentioned many times before, the Apostle Paul was very concerned about this. He saw how misguided his Jewish brethren were; and so he repeatedly tried to steer them in the right direction, by pointing them to Christ as the only means of obtaining Righteousness, Atonement and Salvation, WITHOUT dependence on the Law -- or Torah -- and on their own perceived level of goodness. This point is made evident by verses such as the following:

"Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and GOING ABOUT TO ESTABLISH THEIR OWN RIGHTEOUSNESS, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth."


"And by him -- Jesus -- all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses."


"Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith."


"Knowing that A MAN IS NOT JUSTIFIED BY THE WORKS OF THE LAW, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified . . . I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain."


"But that NO MAN IS JUSTIFIED BY THE LAW in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith."


"Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace."


"For by grace are ye saved through faith; AND THAT NOT OF YOURSELVES: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast."


"And be found in him, NOT HAVING MINE OWN RIGHTEOUSNESS, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:"


"NOT BY WORKS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS WHICH WE HAVE DONE, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;"


"For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all."


"And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others:‭ Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.‭ The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men ‭are‭, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.‭ I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.‭ And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as ‭his‭ eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.‭ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified ‭rather‭ than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.‭"


"But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away."


"As it is written, THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NO, NOT ONE . . . But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;"


"Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God."


"And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work."


Please go to part six for the continuation of this series.

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