Jesus As A Prophet Of God

 

CHAPTER FOUR

Jesus As A Prophet Of God

If we look at the history of religion we find that the followers of every religion, with the passage of time, deviated gradually from the true path and began to wander in the wilderness of sin. The Jewish people were no exception. By the time of the advent of Jesus they had virtually become spiritually dead. They were corrupt and used to indulge in evil practices of all sorts. They were arrogant and very hard-hearted. One of their malpractices was that they interpolated the teachings of Judaism and twisted the laws of the Torah to their own advantage. They had indeed ceased to act upon the teachings of the Torah. They also believed that they were the favourites of Allah and therefore immune from any punishment. It is to these people that Jesus was sent as a Messenger of God, the Messiah they were waiting for. The task assigned to Jesus was to transform them once again into kind hearted people and bring them back to God.

When Jesus started his Divine mission and tried to deliver the message of God, the Jews did not listen to him and rejected him outright claiming that he was an impostor. Jesus explained the true spirit of the Torah, and tried to remove the misunderstandings about the law, but the Jews did not accept his explanations. On the contrary they charged him with abrogating the laws of the Torah. In reply to these accusations Jesus told them, “Think not that I have come to abolish the Law and the prophets ; I have come not to abolish them but to fulfil them. I tell you this; so long as heaven and earth endure, not a letter, not a stroke will disappear from the Law until all that must happen has happened. If any man therefore sets aside even the least of the Law's demands, and teaches others to do the same, he will have the lowest place in the kingdom of heaven. On the other hand, whoever obeys the Law and teaches others to do the same, will be great in the kingdom of heaven. I tell you, unless you show yourselves far better men than the Pharisees and the doctors of the Law you can

never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

But the clergy among the Jews turned a deaf ear to his admonitions. The Jews also accused him of blasphemy saying. that he had claimed to be God. Jesus tried to convince them that they were mistaken and in no way had he claimed to be God, but they were adament and wanted to put him to death, as death was the punishment of blasphemy according to them.

The Jewish divines also accused Jesus for not believing in the prophecy mentioned in the Scriptures about the second coming of Elijah. They believed that Elijah had gone to heaven, bodily as the Scripture stated, “A chariot of fire pulled by horses of fire came and Elijah was taken up to heaven by a whirlwind.”

It is also stated, “Behold! I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes.”

They therefore believed that Elijah would descend bodily from heaven before the advent of the Messiah, hence they used to taunt the followers of Jesus by saying, “Where is Elijah? How can Jesus claim to be the Messiah when we haven’t seen Elijah yet descending from the sky?” Once, when his disciples told him that the Jewish clergy mockingly inquire of them about the descent of Elijah, Jesus said, “I tell you that Elijah has already come, and people did not recognise him, but treated him just as they pleased. So also the son of man will suffer at their hands. Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them about John the Baptist.”

Jesus, being guided by God, understood this prophecy correctly. He knew that Elijah was never taken up to heaven bodily and therefore would not descend bodily from heaven. He seems to have been informed by God that the prophecy was fulfilled in the person of John the Baptist and by the second coming of Elijah, it was meant that a person would come in the spirit and power of Elijah. Jesus understood that such prophecies were metaphorical and should not be taken literally. The Jews however refused to accept his explanation. They said that Jesus was an impostor who attributed things to God which God never said. Thus they became the sworn enemies of Jesus and began to persecute him and his followers as much as they could.

 

QUESTIONS

1. Why did the Jews taunt the followers of Jesus?

2. What were the beliefs of Jews about the second coming of Elijah?

3. How did Jesus interpret the prophecy?