The End of History—Messiah Conspiracy

CHAPTER 27—Speculating on Messiah’s 2nd Coming–Whether They Know It or Not

“R. Shim’on said to them: ‘It is not the will of the Holy One, blessed be He, that too much be revealed to the world. But when the days of the Messiah approach, even the children of the world will be able to discover secrets of wisdom, and to know through them the Ends and the Calculations....”¹ Zohar 1:117b-118a

“For thus saith the Lord of hosts; Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land; And I will shake all nations, and the desire^[2] of all nations shall come....” Haggai 2:6-7 KJV

“And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken....And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.” Jesus — Luke 21:25-26, 28 KJV

“...our Forefathers wrongfully put [him] [Jesus] to death and that Sin lies upon us unto this day.”³ Rabbi Nathan Shapira of Jerusalem, 1657

“...radioactive poisoning of the atmosphere, and hence, annihilation of any life on earth, has been brought within the range of technical possibility.”⁴ Albert Einstein,

warning of the results of the imminent development of the hydrogen bomb

“In my opinion....We must aim at a stable state society and the destruction of nuclear stockpiles. Otherwise, I don’t see how we can survive much later than 2050.”⁵ Dr. Jacques Monod, French molecular biologist

27
SPECULATING ON MESSIAH’S
SECOND COMING—WHETHER
THEY KNOW IT OR NOT

In connection with our quotation of Luke, we believe an indication that we are nearing the very end of the apocalyptic era
may be found in the fact that, since 1944, we have possessed atomic energy. As it turns out, the word “Heaven” in Greek (oujranän), is pronounced ouranós, from which we derive the words Uranus and uranium. Could this be a two-fold Bible meaning?
Jesus knew that the powers of uranium would be unleashed. Uranium’s power is released when two portions are fired together to achieve critical mass, bringing about nuclear fission, which creates the explosion.
In an atomic hydrogen explosion, hydrogen and oxygen are the key components for ignition; an A-bomb is used to detonate an H-bomb, creating fusion. Interestingly, in the Hebrew from which the Greek was translated, Heaven is shamaim meaning “water there” (above in Heaven). Sham means “there” and maim means “water.” The symbol for water is H₂O. Two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom combine to make one water molecule! When the heavens are disturbed by the same atomic components from which they are derived, it will be time for Jesus to stop the warfare! Interesting, don’t you think?
The Hebrew word for Heaven was used in Genesis. It was used to describe the original water vapor canopy⁶ which enveloped the earth before it was precipitated in Noah’s flood. Truly, the heavens will be shaken after Armageddon has progressed to the point of multi-megaton nuclear delivery, requiring the return of Jesus to rescue the planet.

DR. MONOD’S YEAR IS ACCURATE BUT HIS METHODS
ARE INCONSISTENT WITH TODAY’S INSANITY

This author believes that we must maintain the maximum amount of technical, nuclear/Star Wars defenses possible, in order to deter our enemies. It is also a possibility that an enemy could accidentally launch a missile. Would it not be better for us to neutralize this accident harmlessly in space rather than retaliate?
We cannot responsibly destroy our weapons because we are in an arms race in which it is impossible to completely monitor the opponents! Most scientists, including Dr. Monod, do not understand that to attain the goal of maximum survival, we must do just the opposite of what they suspect. Science is not politics and cannot anticipate the Qaddafis and Saddam Husseins of our future world! Ironically, Dr. Monod’s date closely matches our biblically projected maximum era for the return of the Messiah!

When will the Second Coming of the Messiah occur? Does anyone know? Did the rabbis miss the First Coming and make a laughable guessing game out of when the Promised One will come? Let’s see. Are the rabbis right in agreeing that Jesus is not the Messiah simply because they are rabbis?
In an anti-missionary tape I purchased some years ago in Jerusalem, the argument was put forth that rabbis have an edge over Christians on knowing how to interpret the Messianic prophecies, because they have a direct lineage of interpretation leading back to the prophets themselves.
The rabbi then introduced the argument that said, more or less, we know our own prophets and we are not wrong in our understanding of the Messianic prophecies, while you Christians have picked up a Jewish work, “our writings,” and made off-the-wall assertions that Jesus is the Messiah. We know He is not and we cannot be wrong, because we understand how to decipher our own prophets on Messianic ideals and expectations.
Rabbi Shalom Lewis advanced this false train of thought in a 1994 class I attended called, “The Jewish View of Jesus.” Lewis used what he called the “Abner Doubleday argument,” in an inapplicable way, attempting to disprove the Christian interpretation of the Messiah. However, we invalidate his entire thesis as we quote from both sides of two debates with him, separated by eleven years, in our Vol. II, chapter 23, “Rabbi Lewis Says Christians Reinterpreted the Messiah—But Really He Has!”

MESSIANIC DATES AND FAKES—THE RABBIS MAKE
MORE MISTAKES THAN FABLES AND IT ACHES

We would like to point out that the rabbis do not have a monopoly on interpreting the Bible, and that this argument, while it may sound plausible to some, is in fact, off the wall! This leads us to ask, “Can the rabbis make mistakes about the Messiah?” Could they mistake His identity or the time of His Coming? Have they, throughout history, made mistakes regarding the identity⁷ of the Messiah, and given incorrect dates for His arrival? Many of the most famous rabbis did just that!
Since it is documented that they did make mistakes, could it be possible that they misunderstood their own prophets regarding the identity and time clock of the Messiah, while others, who are not Jewish, realize who He is? It was a Jewish biblical prophet himself who told us and the world’s Jews that God said: “I permitted Myself to be sought by those [non-Jews] who did not ask for Me; I permitted Myself to be found by those who did not seek Me....I have spread out My hands all day long to a rebellious people, Who walk in the way which is not good, following their own thoughts....I called, but you [Jews] did not answer; I spoke, but you did not hear” (Isa. 65:1-2, 12 NASB). Need we ask if there could really be truth to the New Testament claim: “He came to His own [the Jewish people], and those who were His own did not receive Him” (John 1:11 NASB; [ ] mine).
The great scientist and Bible scholar, Sir Isaac Newton, commented: “For they [the Jews] had some regard to these prophesies insomuch as to be in generall expectation of our Savior about that time when he came, onely they were not aware of the manner of his two comings; (and were mistake) they understood the description of his second coming, and onely were mistaken in applying that to the time of his first coming....Consider therefore, if the description of his second coming was so much more plain and perspicuous then that of the first, that the Jews who could not so much as perceive any thing of the first could yet understand the second.”⁸

A WORLD OF MESSIANIC MISTAKES AND ERRORS

There are many examples which illustrate just how often Jewish leaders and rabbis have been mistaken in dating the Coming of the Messiah! Nearly 2000 years ago, Rabbi Yohanan Ben Zakkai felt the Messiah would be coming in his time.⁹ Rabbi Jose, the Galilean, said the Messiah would come in 130 AD.¹⁰ Rabbi Eleazar ben Azariah predicted He would come in 140 AD.¹¹ Rabbi Judah ha-Nasi (circa 135-220), redactor of the Mishnah, said 435 AD¹² would be the date of His Coming. Rabbi Hanina of the third century said He would be here by 470 AD.¹³
Rabbi Elazar ben Arak maintained Messiah would come in 620 AD.¹⁴ Salmon ben Yeroham, a Karaite, thought He would be here in 968 AD.¹⁵ Judah Halevi, poet and author of Kuzari (1080-1141), said 1130 AD¹⁶ would be the date for the Messiah. Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon, the great Rambam (1135-1204), set the date for the Coming of the Messiah at 1210 AD.¹⁷ Rabbi Abraham bar Hiyya (d. 1136) said 1230 AD.¹⁸ Abraham ben Alexander of Cologne, author of Keter Shem Tov, and the mid-thirteenth century student of Eliazar of Worms, “gives the year 1329 as the Messianic year.”¹⁹
The French Rabbi Levi ben Abraham (circa 1240-1315) gave 1345 AD as the Messianic year in his manuscript, Liwyat Hen.²⁰ Levi ben Gershon, known to us as Gersonides (1288-1344), maintained 1358 AD was the date.²¹ Benjamin Ben Moses Nahawendi, the great Karaite of the eighth and ninth centuries, insisted 1358 AD would be the time.²² Rabbi Sh’lomo ben Yitzhay, the great and famed Rashi, (1040-1105), set the Messiah’s date of arrival at 1352 AD.²³ Rabbi Moshe ben Nahman, the well-known Nahmanides (1194-1268), predicted a date of 1403 AD.²⁴ Joseph ben Isaac Bekor Shor, a French Tosafist/exegete, and Bahya ben Asher of Saragossa both said 1403.²⁵
Abraham Halevi, a Cabbalist who was exiled from Spain in the sixteenth century, wrote in his 1508 commentary on Daniel, Mashre Kitrin (The Loosener of Knots), that the Messiah would come in 1530.²⁶ Italian Rabbi Mordecai ben Judah Dato (1527-1585), who wrote Migdal David, was of the conviction that the Messiah would come in 1575.²⁷ Eliezer Ashkenazi ben Eli Rofe (d. 1586), who wrote Ma’ase Adonai, a commentary on the Pentateuch, offered 1594 as “the Messianic year.”²⁸ Gedalia ibn Yahya, in his book Sefer Shalshelet
ha-Kabbala, suggested 1598.²⁹ Even one hundred and ten-year-old David ben Solomon ibn Abi Zimra (1479-1589), who wrote Magen David, a mystical interpretation of the Hebrew alphabet, said He would come in 1640.³⁰ Rabbi Moses de Leon (1240-1305), Isaiah Horowitz (1555-1630), and Yom-Tov Lippmann Heller, all three, said 1648 was the date.³¹
Isaac Cohen, who published Pa’aneah Raza in 1607, said 1713-14 was pristine, the perfect date.³² Rabbi Nathan Nata Spira (circa 1584-1633) of Cracow said 1725.³³ Rabbi Simeon ben Zemah Duran (1361-1444), who wrote Oheb Mishpat, a commentary on Job, gave the year of 1850.³⁴
Rabbi Samuel ben Judah Velerio, physician and biblical commentator, who died in the second half of the sixteenth century, after writing Hazon la-Mo’ed, said 1868 was the Messiah’s date.³⁵ Rabbi Meir Loeb ben Y’hiel Mikhael Malbim (1809-1879), who was the chief rabbi of Rumania, said 1913.³⁶ Joseph ben David ibn Yahya (the fourth, 1494-1539) said the Messiah would come in the year 1931.³⁷
In the early 1980’s, we spoke to more than one rabbi in Israel who felt that because the Hebrew spelling of the Jewish year which would occur in 1984, was Tishmad, meaning “destruction,” that would be the year. Needless to say, we were unable to convince them until 1985, but this date, too, was in error.

THE SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE REVEALED
THE MESSIANIC MISTAKE OF THE 1990’S IN
ITS INTERVIEW WITH RABBI LANGER

The San Francisco Chronicle ran an article entitled “Jewish Sect is Expecting Its Messiah by Sept. 9,” stipulating His possible Coming three years ago, as expected by Lubavitcher Jews. Their Rabbi Schneerson was also thought by some of them to be the Messiah, until he died in mid-1994 at the age of ninety-two, God bless his soul. The article went on to report: “...last fall...Schneerson accurately predicted that the gulf war would take few Jewish lives and be over by Purim, the Jewish holiday of February 28.
Schneerson hit the prophetic jackpot when, at midnight on February 26th, President Bush ended Operation Desert Storm, a war that went much more quickly and had far fewer allied and Israeli casualties than most observers—except Schneerson—expected.
His prophecies did not end with the war. Schneerson has also predicted that the Hebrew Messiah will be revealed by Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year that begins September 9.
Schneerson based his prediction on an 1800-year-old Jewish prophecy that in the year the Jewish Messiah appears, ‘the nations will challenge one another. The King of Paras (Persia) will challenge an Arab king...and the entire world will panic and be stricken with consternation....Israel will also panic and be confounded....’ ”³⁸

THE PROPHECY OF THE MESSIAH WILL COME TRUE
IN ITS TIME, AND WE HAVE TIME TO WAIT!

No doubt this Jewish prophecy will come true. Schneerson, in his zealous interpretation, hurried it up too much for its own good—for the time being, that is. Toward the end of the article, the prospect was raised to Rabbi Langer of Chabad, in the Richmond district, “What if the Messiah does not appear by September 91?” His answer was, “We will deal with that, God forbid, at the time!”³⁹
No doubt this will not be the last mistaken Messianic date given by well-meaning, but misinformed rabbis!⁴⁰ This apocalyptic guesswork is slated for increase as we approach the first quarter of the twenty-first century—toward the middle, someone may just get incredibly close to it! Time will tell—we will see.

SETTING A SPECIFIC YEAR FOR THE MESSIAH’S COMING, BEFORE THE REBIRTH OF ISRAEL, WAS WITCHCRAFT

We want to emphasize that we are not alone in criticizing these rabbis for their mistakes. Rabbi Y’huda heHasid, author of Sefer Hasidim (the book of the Pious), a renowned Hasidic Jewish work, said: “When you see a person prophesying about the Messiah, you should know that he is either engaged in witchcraft, or has dealings with demons, or has adjured them with the Ineffable Name. Because such a sorcerer importunes the angels or the spirits, they say to him: ‘Speak not in this manner, [rather] reveal [the coming of the Messiah] to the whole world.’ But at the end he will be put to shame before the whole world, because he importuned the angels or the demons. And in its place misfortunes come because of him who adjured. And demons come and teach him calculations and secrets, to his shame and the shame of those who believe his words...for no man knows about the coming of the Messiah.”⁴¹

We maintain that the rabbis have speculated about the Messiah’s Second Coming with good reason. Risto Santala documented: “Rabbi Rahmon says: ‘When the members of the Sanhedrin discovered that the rights of life and death had been torn from their hands a general consternation seized hold of them. They covered their heads with ashes and their bodies with sackcloth, shouting, ‘Woe to us! The sceptre of Judah has been taken away and the Messiah has not yet come.’ ’ In the light of all this the Rabbis’ speculation about the possible first advent of the Messiah is completely illogical—he must already have come. R. Rahmon saw the Bible’s own time limits.”⁴²
In other words, in the first century, before Rome sacked Jerusalem in 70 AD and abolished capital punishment (John 18:31), twenty-two years before Jesus was crucified, when Judea had already become a Roman province, the Messianic prophecy of Genesis 49:10 had already been fulfilled:⁴³ “The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto Him shall the obedience of the people be.”⁴⁴
This showed that the time limit for the Messiah’s Coming had expired, except the rabbis did not realize this (the significance of Gen. 49:10 in relation to Rome taking over the law and Jesus’ subsequent appearance). Many had rejected Jesus, who was the Messiah and had just come—right on time.⁴⁵
To put it more simply, a set of conditions which had been prophesized were fulfilled by Jesus: 1. The Messiah had to come before the Temple was destroyed (Hag. 2:7-9); 2. That He had to come after the Jews lost their political power.
The second condition was in fulfillment of Genesis 49:10. The appearance of the Messiah in this narrow window of opportunity fits the bill perfectly. Twelve years after the birth of Jesus, Judah became a full-fledged Roman province and the Jews lost their right to mete out capital punishment, their last vestige of sovereign power. Yet the Messiah could still preach in the Temple, which was not destroyed until 70 AD. The Messiah had come right on schedule. Now we wait for His Second Advent (Matt. 24)!

Our answer concerning a date for the Second Coming of the Messiah is the same as Jesus’: “...of that day and hour knoweth no man....” (Matt. 24:36 KJV). Our rabbi friends we have quoted, who speculated and made such trivial predictions involving the exact time, should have realized that it was impossible to know even the year. Suffice it to say that it would have done them good to take Jesus’ statement seriously—had they read it, of course.
In our search for the generation of His Advent, we will also examine the words of Jesus which, unlike the rabbis’, have yet to be proven in error! Jesus tells us in the first book of the New Testament: “Now learn a parable of the fig tree [Israel’s rebirth].⁴⁶ When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it [the Second Advent of Messiah] is near, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, This generation [the generation which sees Israel become a nation, us!] shall not pass, till all these things [the Second Advent and its accompanying end time events] be fulfilled” (Matt. 24:32-34 KJV;
[ ] mine).
We know from Genesis 15:13-16 that a generation can be as long as one hundred years.⁴⁷ Since Israel was born in 1948, then according to Jesus who spoke of Israel’s beginning generation, and Moses who wrote of the maximum length of a generation in Genesis (two prophets who have never been wrong), we should see something by 2048, shouldn’t we?
We also have Hosea’s calendar in the Old Testament, which speaks of one who had returned to His place after 2000 years, to begin a third 1000-year kingdom (see our chapter 6, “The Handwriting on the Wall Spelled ‘The Temple Falls’ ”).
Don’t get me wrong, we do not believe in setting dates, we are just relying on the limits Jesus set on time parameters drawn on certain events, some of which have already occurred, thus giving us numerical boundaries. Therefore, we suspect that sometime between the year you read this and the year 2048, or shortly thereafter, the ultimate redemption of the planet you and I inhabit, will be brought in by our Messiah, Jesus.

On the other hand, we might see the Messiah return a few years sooner! Nate Krupp, in his book, The Omega Generation, points out: “The maximum number of eclipses of the sun and the moon combined that can possibly occur in any single year is seven. Many believe that the year the Balfour Declaration was signed (1917) giving the Jews the right to return to Palestine, ushered in the time of the last generation mentioned by Jesus in Matthew 24:34, also called the time of the ‘beginning of sorrows.’ In the year 1917 there were seven eclipses of the sun and the moon. As the seventh eclipse appeared, General Allenby marched into Jerusalem, thereby putting into effect the agreements contained within the Balfour Declaration.”⁴⁸

THE REAL ERA OF THE MESSIAH’S RETURN
VERSUS THE FALSE DATES OF PAST RABBIS

The Hebrew prophet Hosea clearly indicated that the Messiah would return two days (2000 years) after He went back to His place, so we only have to ask ourselves “When did Jesus leave the earth?” The New Testament, along with recent highly technical scientific calculations, indicates the date of the crucifixion and ascension to have been 33 AD.⁴⁹ They were separated by only forty days; thus if we subtract thirty-three from 1996, to remind ourselves how long Jesus has been gone we get 1963 years. Then to get to the 2000-year period since He left, we must add another thirty-seven years to 1996, which would put us into the era of 2033, give or take a few years.⁵⁰ Time elapsing from 33 AD. to 2033 marks an exact 2000-year period from the time Jesus left us. This is Hosea’s date,⁵¹ not mine! Interestingly enough, Israel’s jubilee of the ownership of Jerusalem, recaptured in 1967, will fall on the year 2017! We believe Jesus’ return is almost a certainty between 2017 and 2033! The years between 2010 and 2033 will be the most exciting of my life, if Jesus doesn’t take me home before then.
Just think, if all the rabbis we mentioned had understood and heeded Hosea’s prophecy about the Messiah’s Second Coming in light of Jesus’ return to His Father’s place, they would not have guessed the numerous false dates for the Messiah’s Coming. They would have done a service to God and themselves.
It is because so many have set dates which came and passed, that presently, many doubt the Coming of the Messiah. So much so among many Jewish theologians, that the famous Jewish philosopher, Martin Buber, in his book, Hasidic Stories Retold, relates a question put to the Rabbi of Sadagora: “How can this be? A number of holy men who lived before our time alluded to a date on which redemption was to come. The era they indicated has come and gone, but redemption has not come to pass.”⁵² In answer to this, the Tzaddiq replies: “The light of redemption is spread about us at the level of our heads. We do not notice it because our heads are bowed beneath the burden of exile. Oh, that God might lift up our heads!”⁵³
We hope to see the words of Jesus and Hosea fulfilled as prophecies in our day. No doubt, many are, as we see the rapid growth of Jews for Jesus around the globe. An April 14, 1989, Glasgow newspaper article entitled, “The Numbers of ‘Messianic’ Jews is Said To Be Growing,” by Susan Birnbaum, predicted that by the year 2000, the number of Messianic Jews would probably be one-half million. This will be a historic record!

Sir Isaac Newton, who knew the Bible inside and out, in both Greek and Hebrew, was an ardent student of the rabbis⁵⁴ and the ancient rabbinical literature, as well! No doubt he had some of these “brilliant” rabbis in mind when he wrote: “The folly of interpreters has been to foretel^[55] times and things by this Prophecy, as if God designed to make them Prophets. By this rashness they have not only exposed themselves, but brought Prophecy also into contempt. The design of God was much otherwise. He gave this and the Prophecies of the Old Testament, not to gratify men’s curiosities by enabling them to foreknow things, but that after they were fulfilled they might be interpreted by the event, and his own Providence, not the Interpreters, be then manifested thereby to the world. For the event of things predicted many ages before, will then be a convincing argument that the world is governed by Providence.”⁵⁶

IF THE RABBIS WERE MISTAKEN BEFORE,
MIGHT THEY ALSO BE WRONG NOW
ABOUT JESUS BEING AN IMPOSTER?

Finally, we conclude that since so many rabbis have shamefully been mistaken so many times in the past about the Messiah, could it be that they also erred in failing to recognize who the Messiah was and His generation? We believe the Messiah is Jesus and His generation is now.
Jesus gave certain eminent signs, which He said would clearly indicate the nearness of His Coming. He said...

¹ Raphael Patai, The Messiah Texts, p. 63.

² Desire, in this passage, refers to the Messiah Jesus Christ.

³ Jewish Christians and Christian Jews, p. 65. Second [ ] mine.

⁴ “Einstein,” Nova, 1976. The hydrogen bomb was developed shortly after Einstein made this comment, though as of this date, it has never been used in warfare.

⁵ Josh McDowell, Prophecy, Fact or Fiction, p. 3, © 1981, San Bernadino, Here’s Life Publishers.

⁶ This water vapor canopy is described in the following books and is very interesting reading: Dave Balsiger and Charles E. Sellier, Jr., In Search of Noah’s Ark. Los Angeles: Sun Classic Pictures, Inc., © 1976, chapter 4, and; John C. Whitcomb, Jr., and Henry M. Morris, The Genesis Flood. Nutley, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Co., © 1961, p. 121.

⁷ Concerning the Messiah’s identity, see our section on false Messiahs near the end of our chapter 5, “Which Prophecies Did Jesus Fulfill?”

⁸ Frank E. Manuel, The Religion of Isaac Newton, p. 110. [ ] mine. Manuel’s source was Yahuda Manuscript 1.

⁹ Raphael Patai, The Messiah Texts, p. 54.

¹⁰ Abba Hillel Silver, D.D., A History of Messianic Speculation in Israel, p. 20.

¹¹ Ibid.

¹² Ibid, pp. 25-26.

¹³ Ibid, p. 26.

¹⁴ Ibid, p. 40.

¹⁵ Ibid, p. 52.

¹⁶ Ibid, p. 68.

¹⁷ Raphael Patai, The Messiah Texts, p. 55. There are many who deny that Rambam set a date. You are free to consider Patai’s evidence and decide for yourself.

¹⁸ Abba Hillel Silver, D.D., A History of Messianic Speculation in Israel, pp. 69-71.

¹⁹ Ibid, p. 99.

²⁰ Ibid, pp. 99-100.

²¹ Ibid, p. 94.

²² Ibid, p. 55.

²³ Raphael Patai, The Messiah Texts, p. 55.

²⁴ Abba Hillel Silver, D.D., A History of Messianic Speculation in Israel, pp. 83-84.

²⁵ Ibid, pp. 66, 94, 96-97.

²⁶ Ibid, p. 130.

²⁷ Ibid, p. 135.

²⁸ Ibid, p. 139.

²⁹ Ibid, p. 140.

³⁰ Ibid, pp. 141-142.

³¹ Raphael Patai, The Messiah Texts, pp. 55-56.

³² Abba Hillel Silver, D.D., A History of Messianic Speculation in Israel, pp. 186-187.

³³ Ibid, p. 187.

³⁴ Ibid, p. 107.

³⁵ Ibid, p. 143.

³⁶ Raphael Patai, The Messiah Texts, p. 56.

³⁷ Abba Hillel Silver, D.D., A History of Messianic Speculation in Israel, p. 142.

³⁸ Don Lattin, “Jewish Sect Is Expecting Its Messiah by Sept. 9,” San Francisco Chronicle, Apr. 15, 1991, p. A5, © used by permission. Sadly, Rabbi Schneerson passed away in June of 1994. Our condolences to his family.

³⁹ Ibid.

⁴⁰ We hope that other rabbis will realize, as did Rabbi Nathan Shapira: “...our Forefathers wrongfully put [him] to death and that Sin lies upon us unto this day.” Jewish Christians and Christian Jews, p. 65. Professor Popkin noted of this incredible rabbi of the seventeenth century: “...the Millenarians so loved rabbi Shapira that they took on his fund-raising, and in the first known case, Christians were raising substantial sums for the Jews in Jerusalem....The Millenarians found in rabbi Shapira a striking case of a Christian Jew. He avowed Christian sentiments....and held Jesus’s views in the highest regard....The Millenarians...got him to take a copy of the New Testament back to Palestine to have it properly rendered into Hebrew.” He further notes of the famed Jewish philosopher, Baruch Spinoza: “...he spent the rest of his life with Christians, mainly Millenarian ones.” Ibid, pp. 65-66. This is a fact not generally known by most laymen.

⁴¹ Raphael Patai, The Messiah Texts, p. 57. Patai’s source was Sefer Hasidim, pp. 76-77.

⁴² Risto Santala, The Messiah in the Old Testament in the Light of Rabbinical Writings, pp. 103-104. Santala’s source was Fred John Meldau, The Messiah in Both Testaments.

⁴³ See Fred John Meldau, The Messiah in Both Testaments, p. 30.

⁴⁴ Ibid, p. 29. Genesis 49:10.

⁴⁵ Even the twentieth century Jewish author, Abba Hillel Silver, whom we have quoted, admitted: “Jesus appeared in the procuratorship of Pontius Pilate (26-36 C.E.). The first mention of the appearance of a Messiah in Josephus is in connection with the disturbances during the term of office of the procurator....The Messiah was expected around the second quarter of the first century C.E., because the Millennium was at hand. Prior to that time he was not expected, because according to the chronology of the day the Millennium was still considerably removed.” Abba Hillel Silver, D.D., A History of Messianic Speculation in Israel, pp. 6-7.

⁴⁶ For conclusive proof that the fig tree is Israel, see our Vol. II, chapter 1, “A Liberal Interpretation on the Prophecy of Israel—Disproved.”

⁴⁷ To be even more precise, the children of Israel were in Egypt four hundred and thirty years, which the Bible equates to be four generations in Genesis 15. Thus if we divided four into four hundred and thirty, we come up with four generations of one hundred seven and one-half years. So a maximum generation of one hundred seven and one-half years, from May 1948, would end in November of 2055, and even sooner if these were three hundred and sixty-day biblical years instead of our three hundred and sixty-five-day solar year. Will we see Jesus before then? This prophetic writer bets his life on it!

⁴⁸ Nate Krupp, The Omega Generation. Harrison, AR: New Leaf Press, Inc., © 1977, p. 137, used by permission.

⁴⁹ We note that an Atlanta Journal and Constitution article mentioned several intriguing points regarding our 33 AD date. The article mentioned that two British scientists, Colin Humphreys and W.G. Waddington, of Oxford University, concluded that Jesus died in April of 33 AD. The British science magazine, Nature, reported that they based their conclusions on astronomical, biblical and historical references. The article reported: “The scientists said they were able to reconstruct the Jewish calendar at the time and to date a lunar eclipse which the Bible and other historical sources suggest followed the crucifixion....By a process of elimination they went on to conclude that within the decade from A.D. 26 to A.D. 36, the only possible year for the crucifixion to have occurred was A.D. 33. In the second half of their article, the scientists turn to references in the Bible and in the Apocrypha to the moon’s being ‘turned to blood,’ saying that ‘in our view the phrase...probably refers to a lunar eclipse, in which case the crucifixion can be dated unambiguously.’ ‘The reason an eclipsed moon is blood red is well known,’ they wrote. ‘Even though the moon is geometrically in the earth’s shadow, sunlight still reaches it by refraction in the earth’s atmosphere and is reddened by having traversed a long path through the atmosphere where scattering (of light) preferentially removes the blue end of the spectrum....’ ” “2 Scientists Determine Exact Crucifixion Date,” Atlanta Journal and Constitution, Dec. 22, 1983, © reprinted by permission of the Associated Press. Reproduction does not imply endorsement.

⁵⁰ This would be even sooner if three hundred and sixty-day biblical years are considered.

⁵¹ Hosea, as he was a prophet of God, speaking and writing the Lord’s very own inspired words, cannot be wrong. The many critics of the Second Coming who admit biblical inspiration and inerrancy, few as they may be, may disagree with me, but can they argue with God about His word written through His prophet Hosea? No!

⁵² Raphael Patai, The Messiah Texts, p. 64.

⁵³ Ibid. Patai’s source was Tales of the Hasidim II: The Later Masters. New York: A Schocken Book with Farrar, Straus & Young, © 1948. Hasidic stories retold in Buber’s style.

⁵⁴ For documentation, see The Books of Nature and Scripture, James E. Force and Richard H. Popkin, ed.

⁵⁵ This spelling is Newton’s of three hundred years ago.

⁵⁶ Frank E. Manuel, A Portrait of Isaac Newton, p. 361. Manuel’s source was Isaac Newton’s Observations Upon the Prophecies of Daniel, and the Apocalypse of St. John. See also the Yahuda Manuscript, where Newton says: “I mention this period not to assert it, but only to show that their is little reason to expect it earlier and therby to put a stop to the rash conjectures of interpreters.” Yahuda Manuscript, Var. 1.7:3, fol. 13. Spelling is Newton’s.