Dual Predictions of the Messiah

Isaiah's Glorious Prophecy

God's purpose in sending the Messiah was to establish His sovereignty on earth, beginning with Israel. Isaiah prophesied about the Messiah's role in God's kingdom.

For to us a child is born, to us, a son is given, and the government will be upon his shoulder, and his name will be called "Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, 12 Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."

Of the increase in his government and peace, there will be no end, upon the throne of David, and over his kingdom, to establish it, and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. (Isaiah 9:6-7)

From the throne of David, the Messiah was to govern his people with justice and righteousness. Isaiah further prophesied the glorious days the Israelites would see in the kingdom of the Messiah, a reign whose blessings would flow not only to Jews but to gentile nations as well.

Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the lord has risen upon you.... Lift up your eyes round about, and see; they all gather together, they come to you; your sons shall come from far, and your daughters shall be carried in the arms. Then you shall see and be radiant, your heart shall thrill and rejoice; because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you.... Your gates shall be open continually; day and night they shall not be shut; that men may bring to you the wealth of the nations, with their kings led in procession.... Violence shall no more be heard in your land, devastation or destruction within your borders; you shall call your walls Salvation, and your gates Praise. (Isaiah 60)

This is the glory and joy that the Israelites were to share upon the establishment of the Messianic kingdom. Their long-suffering and sorrow would be ended. Their blessing would reach throughout the whole world, and the earth would be the Garden of Eden. Such glorious prophecy is also found in the Gospels.

"And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of his kingdom there will be no end." (Luke 1:31-33)

The angel Gabriel informed Mary that her son would be the Messiah, fulfilling the long-cherished hope of Israel: that he would rule a kingdom of eternal peace.

According to the Gospel of Matthew, the wise men of the East came to pay homage to the newborn Jesus as the prophesied King of the Jews.

Upon hearing of Jesus' birth, King Herod was afraid of losing his position and sought to have him killed. In Luke's Gospel, shepherds in the fields heard from angels that the Messiah had been born in Bethlehem.

Simeon and Anna immediately recognized him as the promised King and Messiah.

At last, John the Baptist was sent to prepare the people by his direct witness to the Messiah.

God painstakingly prepared the people of Israel for the Messiah by sending prophets, angels, and witnesses. Thus, God sought to assure Israel's recognition and wholehearted acceptance of the Messiah, which the establishment of God's kingdom required.

The Path of Jesus' Sorrowful Life

When the Messiah finally came to the people, he was most sadly treated. He had preached about the kingdom of heaven that he had come to establish. He had performed mighty works in the hope that they might see who he was.

Nevertheless, most people still could not accept him as the Messiah, and many of them directly repudiated his words and works.

When he saw that it was impossible to establish the kingdom of God during his lifetime, he began to speak about the suffering of the "Son of man."

Jesus did not mention the suffering from the beginning of his ministry, but only after he realized the possibility that he might not be able to fulfill his mission.

To receive guidance concerning his destiny, Jesus went up a mountain to pray. Peter, John, and James accompanied him. During his prayer, Moses and Elijah appeared to Jesus, and his inevitable suffering was revealed to him.

"And behold, two men talked with him, Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure, which he was to accomplish at Jerusalem." (Luke 9:30-31)

Jesus began to intimate to his disciples that he might have to go to Jerusalem, there to suffer persecution and finally to be killed.

Peter took him by the arm and began to remonstrate with him over this, saying, "God forbid, Lord! This shall never happen to you." (Matt. 16:22)

Peter, the chief disciple, was surprised and even shocked to hear that Jesus would suffer.

Why should Peter be so surprised at this if Jesus had been teaching his mission as the suffering Lord?

Jesus' remarks concerning his suffering were shocking and upsetting to Peter because such suffering was in complete contrast to everything Jesus had taught up to then. By this time, Jesus saw that it would be difficult to fulfill his original intention, and therefore resolved to endure suffering as a secondary course if necessary.

In public, Jesus hid his true identity and spoke of the kingdom of God only in parables. In Jesus' later parables, he lamented the lack of response to him.

Jesus compared the kingdom of heaven to a king who gave a marriage feast for his son and invited all people, but they would not come; to ten virgins, five wise and five foolish, who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom; to a man who called his servants to account for the talents which he had entrusted to them, and one had buried his talent.

To his intimate disciples, he revealed more. (Luke 8:10) Therefore, his close followers knew that Jesus was the Messiah and was working to establish the kingdom of heaven during his lifetime.

With this knowledge, James and John once asked Jesus: "Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory." (Mark 10:37)

They were not wrong in expecting him to reign in glory upon the throne of David.

What the disciples did not know, however, was that on the mountain with Moses and Elijah, Jesus had resolved to confront the imminent crisis.

Rejected by the people to whom God had sent him, he was forced to take an alternate course. Thus, he was tragically diverted from the victorious way of the Lord of glory prophesied by Isaiah.

Prediction of Suffering

If Jesus did not come to be crucified, why then did Isaiah predict his suffering?

Who has believed what we have heard? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?... He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief... Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. 16 (Isaiah 5 3 : 1-4 )

We must understand that the purpose of God is fully accomplished only when humans cooperate with God. Therefore, if humanity does not wholeheartedly respond, God's will cannot be fulfilled.

God's will is not automatically fulfilled by the coming of the Messiah. If the people had unequivocally received the Messiah, God's will could be fulfilled and God's sovereignty established on earth. On the other hand, if the people rejected the Messiah in disbelief, he would have to endure suffering. God foresaw these two possible responses to the Messiah.

The prophecy of the Lord of glory recorded in Isaiah 9 and 60 would have been fulfilled if John the Baptist had fulfilled his mission and led the people of Israel to unite with Jesus.

God desired the fulfillment of this prophecy. The prediction of the suffering servant recorded in Isaiah was one that God never wanted to see fulfilled. He only gave this prediction as a warning.'' Jesus' parable clearly shows that he did not come to die:

There was a householder who planted a vineyard, and set a hedge around it, and dug a wine press in it, and built a tower, and let it out to tenants, and went into another country. When the season of fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants, to get his fruit; and the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent other servants, more than the first; and they did the same to them. Afterward, he sent his son to them, saying, They will respect my son. (Matt. 21:33 -37)

In this parable, the householder is God. The son He sent is Jesus. His death was the opposite of what He intended.

If Jesus had not been crucified, he would have fulfilled the three great blessings: adopted all people into God's family, and restored mankind in both spirit and body. Despite God's preparation and warning, this primary intent was frustrated.

The Cross: A Secondary Choice

Because Jesus could not establish his family and the physical kingdom of God, the realization of God's will was delayed. Since the Fall, the heart of God has been filled with grief.

Jesus came to relieve the divine sorrow, thus comforting the Father. Unable to succeed completely in this mission, Jesus must have been sorrowful. Before his arrest, Jesus said to his disciples: "I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.

When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth." (John 16:12-13a)

He told Nicodemus: "If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things?" (John 3:12)

If the people of Israel had fully accepted Jesus, he could have revealed to them the full significance of his mission as the Messiah and True Parent. Instead, Jesus was alone, for his people had rejected him and even his disciples had failed to unite completely with him.

Under these circumstances, Jesus could not give full information, even to his intimate followers. Thus, he told them that God would reveal more over time to guide them into all the truth.

John's Gospel reports the last words of Jesus as "It is finished." (John 19:30b)

Jesus did not mean by this that he had accomplished the entire scope of his mission. He merely meant that his life and work were over.

Matthew and Mark record the prayer of Jesus: "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" (Matt. 27:46c) Certainly, this is not the prayer of a Messiah who has victoriously fulfilled his mission. T

his is rather the heart-rending cry of the one who undertook the mission of greatest promise, but who is now dying like a criminal, deserted by all, even by God. Luke records the prayer of Jesus on the cross: "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." (Luke 23:34a)

This indicates it was a tragic error to crucify Jesus. Otherwise, why should Jesus entreat God to forgive those who were putting him to death?

However, when Jesus prayed "Father forgive them...," he also accomplished a major victory. Satan had taken Jesus' body, but he could not invade Jesus' spirit.

Even at the very last moment, Jesus practiced the principle of loving and forgiving one's most bitter enemies. Satan had to surrender to Jesus at this point. If Jesus, as he hung dying on the cross, had held any feelings of malice toward his enemies, God's

Providence would have been turned completely around. It is because Jesus overcame death with a heart of love for his enemies that Satan surrendered. The words "love your enemy" represent the pinnacle of Jesus' teaching. If Jesus had fulfilled the original course of restoration, significant changes would have come to the world.

However, because his body was taken by Satan, Jesus could not fulfill God's ideal for mankind by marrying, establishing a family, and creating the kingdom of heaven on earth that he had prayed for daily. Even though Jesus renewed the Foundation of Faith after the failure of John the Baptist, the Foundation of Substance could not be established.

Consequently, the second course of worldwide restoration could not be completed. Sin and evil still run rampant in the world. The glorious prophecies of Isaiah have not been fulfilled.

Israel was never glorified. Indeed, a generation after Jesus' death, the Romans attacked Jerusalem, destroyed the Temple, and dispersed the Israelites. To fulfill the glorious promises of the kingdom of God, Christ must come again.