from : THE LIFE AND TIME OF JESUS THE MESSIAH
BY ALFRED EDERSHEIM .
The predictions from the Old testament outlined the individual features of the Person and history of the Messiah.
Through these predictions the likeness to a Messiah is recognized.
The predictions were a combination of letters which formed the words, and the same letters may be combined into different words. The combination of his various features was a unity that gave each feature meaning.
Rabbinism and Christianity regarded the same messianic predictions and looked for their fulfillment
The difference between Judaism and Christianity revolved around the question of the fulfillment of certain prophecies in Jesus of Nazareth.
The Gospel narratives,had no objection to the fulfillment of individual prophecies in Jesus.
But, in the end , the Messianic ideal of the Synagogue differed from the faith and hope of the Christian church
The general conception which the Rabbis had formed of the Messiah, differed totally from what was presented by the Prophet of Nazareth in the Gospels
The fundamental divergence between the two existed, long before the events which finally divided them.
WHAT MESSIAH DID THE JEWS EXPECT?
The organic unity of the Old Testament.
Like its history, it was not loosely connected events, but an organic development tending towards a definite end.
Predictions in the Old testament are not isolated features but formed one grand prophetic picture.
Like its ritual and institutions they were part of one great system
The idea, underlying all, is
God's gracious manifestation in the world –
The Kingdom of God and its the establishment upon earth.
That gracious purpose was individualized, such that "the Kingdom " established in the Messiah.
The fundamental and the final relationship was that of God towards man, and of man towards God:
The word Father expressed God
Man is expressed as the 'Son-Servant.'
The history of the Kingdom of God begins with that of Abraham,
All that followed from Abraham to the Messiah was one Heavenwards, that of Son;
earthwards, that of Servant.
Israel was God's Son - His 'first-born;'
Israel's history that of the children of God;their institutions those of the family of God;
their predictions those of the household of God.
And Israel was also the Servant of God - 'Jacob My Servant;' and its history, institutions, and predictions those of the Servant of the Lord.
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Jesus of Nazareth as known in esoteric traditions
SpiritualOnly the Gospels of St Luke and St Matthew give an account , albeit a very short one , of the life of Jesus of Nazareth before the Baptism at the river Jordan , when he transformed into a vehicle/vessel/bearer of Christ. This is the story of Je...
