OUR LORD, GOD, AND SAVIOR IS THE ONLY TRUE AND ANTICIPATED MESSIAH AND ‘RECONCILER”

My beloved brothers and sisters in Christ Our Only True Lord, God, and Savior,

CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.

OUR LORD, GOD, AND SAVIOR IS THE ONLY TRUE
AND ANTICIPATED MESSIAH AND “RECONCILER”

“A ruler shall not fail from Judah, nor a prince
from his loins, until there come the thing stored up
for him (in the Hebrew: until there come a
reconciler); and he is the expectation of nations”
(Genesis 49:10, Septuagint).

In other words, the authority of the Tribe of Judah shall not cease until the Reconciler, the hope of the nations, comes; and consequently, the termination of the Tribe of Judah will be a clear sign of the COMING OF THE SAVIOR. The ancient Jewish teachers saw in the “RECONCILER” the AWAITED MESSIAH, TO WHOM THEY APPLIED THIS NAME (in Hebrew Shiloh, the Reconciler).

Another prophecy consists of the words of Moses to his people: “Thy Lord thy God will raise up three a prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto hi ye shall hearken” (Deuteronomy 18:15). After Moses there were many great Prophets among the Hebrews, but to none of them were the words of Moses referred. And the same Book of Deuteronomy testifies of the time close to Moses: “And there arose a Prophet since in Israel like unto Moses” (Deuteronomy 34:10). The Lord Jesus Christ Himself referred the words of Moses to Himself: “For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed Me: for he wrote of Me” (John 5:46).

Then came numerous prophecies in the form of prefigurations in the Psalms, of which the most expressive is Psalm 21, which the ancient rabbis recognized as a hymn of the Messiah. It includes a depiction of the severe and tormenting sufferings which the Savior bore upon the Cross: “O God, My God, attend to Me; why hast Thou forsaken Me?…All that look upon Me have laughed Me to scorn; they have spoken with their lips and have wagged their heads: He hoped in the Lord; let Him deliver him… I have been poured out like water, and scattered are all my bones… They have parted My garments amongst themselves, and for my vesture have they cast lots…” Near the end of the Psalm are these words which concern the Triumph of the Church: “In the great church will I confess Thee… The poor shall eat and be filled… Their hearts shall live for ever and ever.”

A number of other Psalms also contain such prophecies or PREFIGURATIONS. Some of these proclaim the sufferings of the Savior (Psalms 39, 68, 108, 40, 15, 8), while others proclaim His glory (Psalms 2, 109, 44, 67, 117, 96, 94).

Finally, closer to the end of the Old Testament period, numerous prophecies appear in the books of the so-called major and minor Prophets, and these ever more clearly reveal the imminent coming of the Son of God. They speak of the Forerunner of the Lord, of the time, place, and conditions of the Savior’s birth, of His spiritual-bodily image (His meekness, humility, and other features), of the events preceding the betrayal of the Lord, of His sufferings, and Resurrection, of the descent of the Holy Spirit, of the character of the New Testament, and of other aspects of the Lord’s coming. Among these prophecies a special place belongs to the 53rd Chapter of the Prophet Isaiah, which gives an image of the Savior’s sufferings of the Messiah, Christ.

These promises and prophecies first of all, gave support to the chosen people, especially during the difficult periods of its life; they gave support to its firmness, faith, and hope. Secondly, they prepared the people so that they would be able to recognize by these prophecies THAT THE TIME OF THE PROMISE WAS NEAR, AND THAT THEY MIGHT RECOGNIZE THE SAVIOR HIMSELF IN THE FORM GIVEN HIM BY THE PROPHETS.

Thanks to these prophecies, as the time of the Savior’s coming neared, the expectation of Him was intense and vigilant among pious Jews. We see this in the Gospels. This is revealed in the expectation of Symeon the God-receiver, to whom it was declared that he would not see death until HE HAD BEHELD CHRIST THE LORD (Luke 2:6). It is revealed in the reply of the Samaritan woman to the Savior: “I know that Messiah cometh, which is called Christ: when He is come, He will tell us all things” (John 4:25). It is revealed in the questions of the Jews who came to John the Baptist, “Art thou the Christ?” (John 1:20-25); in the words addressed by Andrew, the First-called Apostle, after his first meeting with Christ, to his brother Simon: “WE HAVE FOUND THE MESSIAH” (John 1:41), and likewise in the similar words of Philip to Nathaniel in the evangelist’s account of their calling to the apostleship (John 1:44-45). Another testimony to it is the people’s attitude at the time of the Lord’s entrance into Jerusalem.

To what has been said above must be added the fact that it was NOT only the Jews who were being prepared for the reception of the Savior, but also the WHOLE WORLD, although to a lesser degree… The pagans found themselves in contact with the chosen people by means of mutual visits, sea voyages, wars, the captivities of the Jews (especially the Assyrians and Babylonian captivities), and trade, and thanks to the dispersion of the Jews into the various countries of the three parts of the old world towards the end of the Old Testament period. Under these conditions, the LIGHT OF FAITH in the One God and hope in a a Redeemer could be spread to other peoples also.

Over two centuries prior to Christ’s Nativity, a translation of the sacred books of the Hebrews had been made into Greek, and many pagan scholars, writers, and educated people in general made use of it; there are various testimonies of this, particularly among the ancient Christian writers… The readiness of many of hte best people in the pagan world for the reception of the Good News of the Savior is also attested to by the fact that by the preaching of the Apostles the Church of Christ was quickly planted in every country of the pagan world, and that Christ Himself sometimes encountered in the pagans such faith as He did not find in the Jews themselves. (Resources: Orthodox Dogmatic Theology)

(To be continued)

____________
“Glory Be To GOD
For
All Things!”
– Saint John Chrysostomos
+ + +

With sincere agape in His Divine and Glorious Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+ Father George