So if Jesus comes down tomorrow (first time or second, you choose), how would we know it’s really him? Aren’t there suposed to be lots of false prophets also? So if I make a mistake and believe in the wrong one, I’m going to be punished?
OK so he performs a miracle or two. Would we explain it away or simply not believe it? And if he performs a worldwide miracle, wouldn’t that just dispel the notion of having faith?
I mean when he was here before, he didn’t cure everyone, just a couple of people.
If someone comes tomorrow merely claiming to be Jesus, don’t believe him. His coming is to be light lightning flashing from the east to the west – dramatic, visible and evident to all. (That is the abbreviated explanation, as a more thorough discussion would require delving into I and II Thessalonians, the Book of Revelation, and numerous other passages.)
Uh… doesn’t that say “just like”, rather than “accompanied by”.
The implication I get from this is that this is analogous - in other words, whatever happens will be so astonishing that there will be no doubt as to what it is.
jjimm’s response to you was correct. It doesn’t say that there WILL be lightning. Rather, it says that his arrival will be LIKE lightning, so dramatic as to be visible and obvious to all.
As for the “lots of people claiming to be Him when the lightning does occur,” there would be an obvious distinction between them and the Messiah. That is, their arrival will precede Christ’s dramatic return, which automatically makes them easy to identify.
BTW, in the OP you said, “So if Jesus comes down tomorrow (first time or second, you choose)…” Are you seriously suggesting that he never arrived the first time? Virtually all historians agree that Jesus Christ did exist – and if by some chance they are wrong, then this talk of his return becomes meaningless.
Well I know that historically he did arrive but I was referring to the Jewish who do not think of him as the messiah. They are still waiting for him to arrive in the first place.
Maimonides, in his Mishneh Torah provides the means by which we will know if a person is truly the messiah. He writes:
A person is considered a “presumptive messiah” if he meets the following criteria:
[ul]
[li]Descended from David[/li][li]Observes the Torah and the mitzvos (commandments)[/li][li]causes all Jews to become observant[/li][li]fights wars for God[/li][/ul]
He is considered a definite messiah if he does the following:
[ul]
[li]Succeeds in the above[/li][li]Rebuilds the Temple on it’s proper site[/li][li]Gathers in the exiles[/li][/ul]
Furthermore, he writes that the messiah will not need to accomplish miracles or wonders, raise the dead or change the natural order of the world. Proof of this is found from Rabbi Akiva, one of the greatest rabbis of the Talmud, who thought that Bar Kochba (Bar Koziva) was the messiah, even though he performed no miracles. Once he was killed, however, they realized that he was not the messiah.
You said that a presumptive messiah causes all Jews to become observant. How will you know when this happens for all Jews upon all observances, and that it continues? (Or is it okay to get a snapshot of perfect unanimity, and then people can begin “dropping out”?)
That’s a good question, Libertarian, for which I do not have an answer. A guess (and that’s all that it is) would be that it would be self-evident that all Jews are observant.
As for your second question, I again, don’t have an answer. Another guess would be that the Jews would continue to be observant.
