(The first part of this article demonstrated the stark contrast between pre-existence in the Jewish/Hebrew perspective and pre-existence from the Greek perspective. In this second part, we continue to delve into the meaning of The Pre-existence of the Messiah.)
The Messiah in the Hebrew mind is not a last-minute thought. It is something that was in the Eternal’s mind before the Creation of all things. Furthermore, in the Hebrew mind, everything that the Eternal created, he did so with the Messiah in mind. When the Scriptures tell us that everything was done by Messiah, it does not mean that Messiah made all of Creation and made the earth and human beings, rather the Eternal made all things with Messiah in mind. Messiah, which is a title, refers to the person created by the Eternal after his resurrection and not before:
Colossians 1:15-18 [Rotherham]
16 Because, in him (Messiah), were created all things in the heavens and upon the earth, the things seen and the things unseen, whether thrones or lordships or principalities or authorities,—they all, through him and for him, have been created,
17 And, he, is before all, and, they all, in him, hold together;
18 And, he, is the head of the body, the assembly, Who is the beginning, Firstborn from among the dead, in order that, he, might become, in all things, himself, pre-eminent
Shaul of Tarsus assures us that the Believer has a house, a building, that is, prepared in the Kingdom of the Eternal. He wrote:
2 Corinthians 5:1 [TS]
1 For we know that if the tent of our earthly house is destroyed, we have a building from Elohim, a house not made with hands, everlasting in the heavens.
2 For indeed in this we groan, longing to put on our dwelling which is from heaven,
3 so that, having put it on, we shall not be found naked.
Although your outer body is deteriorating with time, there is a house not made with hands that is prepared for you in the future resurrection of believers. Therefore, the resurrection of all Yisrael already exists in the Eternal’s plan, but it has not yet happened. It will happen when the appropriate time appointed by Him arrives.
The letter to the Hebrews tells us:
Hebrews 4:3 [TS 2009]
. . . His works have come into being from the foundation of the world.
This is why, once we understand the Hebrew concept of pre-existence, everything else begins to fall into place. Yeshua exhorted the Jews/Hebrews of his day to keep a treasure well enriched in heaven:
Matthew 6:21 [TS 2009]
“For where your treasure is, there your heart shall be also.
And according to his theology, each of us has a treasure reserved for the day when the Messianic Age arrives. Yeshua told someone in his day:
Matthew 19:21 [TS 2009]
. . . sell what you have and give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven. And come, follow Me.
And also:
Luke 12:32 [Word of Yahweh - WOY]
Do not fear, little flock, because your Father did delight to give you the reign.
This means that the Messiah will give a kingdom prepared beforehand, kept and reserved for all Yisrael since before the foundation of the world. Notice that everything is in the past tense, as if it had already happened, but the Messianic Age has not yet arrived. Shaul, in one of his last letters, said it clearly:
2 Timothy 4:8 [TS 2009]
. . . there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Master, the righteous Judge, shall give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all those loving His appearing.
Yeshua said:
John 17:5-6 [HRB]
5 Father, glorify Me with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the existence of the world.
6 I revealed Your name to the men whom You gave to Me out of the world. They were Yours, and You gave them to Me; and they have kept Your Word.
How do we interpret this phrase:
a) pre-existence in the sense of the Greek philosophers,
or
b) pre-existence in the sense of the Hebrew prophets?
In the Hebrew mind, it does not mean Yeshua is asking for the glory that he had and physically enjoyed before coming to the world. That is not what Yeshua said. He did not say: Father, restore to me the glory I had with you before the creation of all things. He said: that which you have prepared for the Messiah (a crown of righteousness), preserved as well for all Believers. The glorification that you have prepared for the Messiah, restore it to me now.
The glory that Yeshua was asking for is also available for all of Yisrael. In other words, for all those who believe and do the will of the Father.
John 17:22 [Lamsa New Testament]
And the glory which you gave me, I gave to them; so that they may be one just as we are one.
<gave to them>: these words are in the past tense, although the event has not happened yet. Of course, this is an interpretation of the disciple John or of the tradition of the beloved apostle, who had more knowledge than the rest of Yeshua’s disciples.
What is this glory reserved for the Messiah? It is his resurrection as the first-fruits, with an immortal body. After his resurrection, he said to two disciples:
Luke 24:26 [HRB]
Was it not necessary for the Messiah to suffer these things, and to enter into His glory?
GLORIFICATION IS THE REWARD OF THE MESSIAH AND OF EVERY BELIEVER WHO JOINS HIM
The Eternal gave the prophet Daniel a vision (Daniel 7) where we read about a victorious, pre-existent Messiah, but it is a vision, not a real existence, just as the Eternal is not a real ancient man (Ancient of Days). It is a prophetic metaphor. How do we interpret these words?
The theology we see in Paul, Peter and even John, in general terms, is that when Yeshua was taken from this earth and raised to the right hand of the Father in Heaven. He occupied that place reserved for the Messiah since the foundation of the world in the Eternal’s plan and mind. If we interpret these words as Plato (Greek philosopher) would, we place ourselves in Nicaea 325. If we interpret them with the Hebrew prophets, we place ourselves in Jerusalem. We must be aware when reading the Nazarene Writings (New Testament), especially Christian versions because all these concepts are lost. The New Testament is riddled with non-Jewish language in its notes and commentaries, a non-Hebrew understanding used to introduce the false Christian orthodoxy that culminated on one hand and began on the other at Nicaea 325. The Christian Bibles we have, judging by all the footnotes, are possibly translations made in favour of traditional post-biblical ideas that seek to support the postulates of Nicaea 325 and the rest of the councils that came after. In biblical Judaism, in the language and minds of the prophets there is no known prior existence in literal physical form of any man or prophet, although Yeshua said:
John 8:58 [TS] Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham came to be, I am.
As we have seen, it does not mean that he existed and was alive before his birth. This would be interpreting Scripture with a mindset from paganism (Graeco-Roman), interpreting with a Greek mind-set, not a Hebrew prophet mind-set.
In Hebrew thought, one can perfectly exist before Abraham as part of the Eternal’s perpetual plan. Although the Messiah appears at the end, he was in the Eternal’s mind since the beginning. The Eternal’s ‘grand plan’ was not Abraham or David, the ‘grand plan’ was the Messiah. And this thought is so profound that even in the New Testament it is stated that the Messiah was crucified before the foundation of the world (1 Peter1:19-20). This does not mean he was literally crucified by the Romans in a literal world before the beginning of time. Rather, in the Eternal’s plan conceived before the foundation of the world, the Messiah’s sufferings were contemplated. That is why when Kepha (Peter) wanted to free Yeshua from Calvary, Yeshua rebuked Kepha and said:
Matthew 16:23 [TS]
Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling-block to Me, for your thoughts are not those of Elohim, but those of men.
Thinking differently from the Hebrew way was the general theme of early Christianity, not by Jews/Hebrews. We must always keep in mind that the New Testament is based on the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament), on a Hebrew mentality and not on a Greek mentality or a western Greek and pagan philosophical mentality typical of the time.
In an ancient Jewish/Hebrew document known as the Testament of Moses, it is stated the Moses pre-existed. This has the same meaning stated so far: in the Eternal’s plan, before the creation of all things, he was foreseen, and when the time came, Moses would come and be used by the Eternal to redeem the people of Yisrael from Egyptian slavery. And therefore, the Messiah, who is greater than Moses, did the same thing in his time and fulfilment.
CONCLUSION
The definite conclusion is that Yeshua does not separate himself from his Jewish matrix. He does not introduce pagan philosophy to explain his teachings, giving rise among other things, to replacement theology which has done so much damage through history. Unfortunately, the Christians who follow the Trinitarian doctrine are worshipping another ‘Jesus’, another Messiah, and another God who has nothing to do with one and only Elohim of Yisrael, the historical Jesus, the Jesus who emerged at Nicaea.
He is as pagan as the deity of Apollonius of Tyana and as pagan as Augustus Caesar, another pagan deities in the Gentile manner, nothing to do with the Jewish one. And it is about time we started uncovering all these things so that, if you are a Believer, you can decide whom to believe and whom to have as your Messiah: the Jewish Messiah or the Jesus created by the Council of Nicaea, along with the other Councils that came later with their Roman papacy, their dogmas and theologies, including the Greek and the Slavic churches, Anglicanism, Protestantism, Episcopalians, Mormons, Baptists, Quakers, Evangelicals, Jehovah’s Witnesses, etc.
As followers of Yeshua the Messiah, some may ask if it is our task to restore Christianity. The answer is quite simple and clear: it is impossible to restore Christianity because it is not an original version. What we must do is delve into the archaeology of history, search, dig scrutinize, and continue digging until we find the source which was not created by the Church Fathers, but by the Jewish/Hebrew apostles who were with Yeshua, who walked with him and learned from the dust of his feet. Many people today have encountered the real Yeshua, the Jewish/Hebrew Yeshua. He was a Jew without cultural commitments to anyone and without theological commitments to anyone. He is the one we should investigate, learn about and follow.
Source:
Aristides Moreno, Daniel Hernández
¿Cristo es Dios? La pre-existencia de Yeshua. Steadycamline