This comment was posted to reddit on Jul 20, 2022 at 11:20 pm and was deleted within 12 hour(s) and 8 minutes.
Jesus can't be the Messiah.
It is easy enough to find this or that verse which can be read comfortably within the confines of the kind of picture where the Hebrew prophets only envision Jews to be involved in this new exodus back to the physical land of Israel, which would exclude the Christian claim of the fulfillment of the kingdom hopes in Christ. But whole totality of these passages in the Hebrew Bible absolutely cannot be read that way in my view. Reading the prophets as only including Jewish people in the eschatological hope expressed here would be holding things apart that belong together. There is nothing more fundamental to the hope of the Hebrew Bible than the expectation of YHWH's worldwide reign. And the new exodus and Kingdom is for the Jewish people (e.g., Isa. 11:12; Jer. 23:5-8; Ezek. 20:33-38; 37:15-28), and yet it will also involve the gentiles (see e.g., Isa. 11:10, 12; 12:4-6; 40:5; 49:6-12; 51:4-5; 52:7-12; 56:6-8; Jer. 3:17; 4:2; 12:14-17; 16:14-21; Ezek. 17:22-24). That is the expectation of text after text in the Hebrew Bible. Some texts and authors emphasize one aspect, others another. In addition, the land promises are spiritualized and expand unto the whole earth. "The original promises to Abraham in Genesis, fulfilled in the exodus and conquest, involved the nation's inheritance of the land of Canaan. But in the prophetic literature and the Psalms, the promise is widened, through the covenant promises to David, to embrace the entire earth" - James Ware, Paul's Theology in Context, p. 223. (Some examples of this include: Psalms 2:7-8; 22:27-28; 47:9; 67; 72:8-11; 95; Amos 9:11-12; Micah 5:2-5; Isa. 11:9-10; 49:6; 54:1-3; 61:11; Zech. 9:10; 14:9-10). See also Isaiah 26:15-19 and 27:6. Thus, in the messianic age the whole earth becomes "Israel," or the "promised land." It follows then that it makes no sense to speak of a physical return to the land of Israel in the messianic age, even if a verse here and there would appear to contradict this picture when read alone. Rather than just being about physical affairs, in the (eschatological) new exodus texts, we are dealing with spiritual affairs, namely, humanity's estrangement from the Creator God (Psalm 14; Isaiah 53:6; 59:1-18).
Regarding the temple, the central claims of the New Testament is that Jesus did build the temple (Matthew 16:16-18; Mark 12:10-11; 14:58; 15:29; John 2:19-21; 1 Cor 3:16-17; 6:19-20; 2 Cor 6:19; Eph 2:19-21; 4:12-16; 1 Peter 2:4-6). The conception that the Jewish expectation of the kingdom looked forward simply to the continuation of the same temple and the same sacrifices is radically unlike what the OT expected. In the core, standard Jewish theology of the temple, the temple is only a type of the full reality of YHWH's heavenly dwelling (vertical typology) and of the fullness of his presence at his coming (horizontal typology) (see, e.g., Isa. 66:1-2). So, it is always something partial, not the fullness. In his presence among Israel in the tabernacle and in Solomon’s temple, YHWH dwelt behind the veil of the most holy place, accessible only to the high priest once a year on the Day of Atonement (Exod 40; Lev 16; 2 Chron 5). The prophetic expectation of the coming of YHWH, by contrast, envisioned the Lord’s presence among his people in a fullness of which his dwelling in Solomon’s temple was only a foreshadowing. Many books and traditions in the OT foretell the coming of YHWH, the fullness of YHWH's presence replacing the partial. It can sometimes depict this as the Lord inhabiting a new temple, at other times as the fullness of YHWH's presence replacing the partial presence in the temple by pouring out his Spirit and presence on his people (see e.g., Ezek. 37:24-28; Joel 2:28-32) and on all creation (see e.g., Isa. 35:1-10; 40:3-11; Ps. 96:11-13). And even in many of the depictions of a new temple, the description goes beyond the conception of a physical building to a conception of God's presence filling all of Jerusalem, the earth and creation. The conception of YHWH's presence filling creation with a fullness would seem to rule out a physical temple building in the messianic age. Regarding Ezekiel and Zechariah, many factors show the "sanctuary" in Ezekiel 37 and the temple in Ezekiel 40-48/ Zechariah 6 to be non-physical. For example, the non-physicality of the future eschatological Temple is also indicated in Zechariah 6, where the crown is to be kept in "the temple" (Zech. 6:14), yet "the temple" is still yet to be built (Zech. 6:12-13)! That the crown is to be kept in an existing Jerusalem temple even though the temple from the "Zemah" was yet to be built shows that the temple that was yet to be built by the "Zemah" is different than the one that Zerubbabel was to build (Zech. 4:6-10), which actually was a physical building.
Regarding world peace, one has to understand inaugurated eschatology with regards to the promise of worldwide peace. In inaugurated eschatology, the Messiah/God inaugurates the Kingdom of God in his first coming, and consummates it in his second coming. All of the texts that speak of worldwide peace, the resurrection of the dead, the complete eradication of disease, etcetera, are speaking of the consummation of God's Kingdom. This inaugurated theology is prominent in both the New and Old Testaments, which means that the doctrine of the second coming has seeds in the OT. See Isaiah 40:3-11; 52:7-10. Besides, some messianic texts seem to contradict a conception of the Messiah coming at the consummation of God's Kingdom. The Servant Songs being one example, where the death of the servant inaugurates a new time of proclamation throughout the world from a people whose identity is defined by their faith in the servant and his vicarious death - the "servants" and "offspring" of the Servant. Ever since the essay by W.A.M. Beuken published in 1990, scholars have realized that, after the reference to the servant "seeing" his offspring in Isaiah 53:10, the figure of the individual servant is replaced by community called the “servants” in the plural (Isa. 54:17; 56:6; 63:17; 65:8, 9, 13-15; 66:14) or “offspring" (Isa. 59:21; 61:8-9; 65:9, 23; 66:22) who follow him and form a new Israel (Beuken 1990: 67-87). This is especially significant, because the heralds in Isaiah 52:7-10 (which seems to have inaugurated eschatology has indicated by the combination of perfect and imperfect verbs) are the servants of the Servant!
Regarding the messianic temple, the key being missed here is the Jewish typological theology of the temple, which runs through all the Jewish Scriptures. In biblical thought, as mind-blowingly wondrous as the temple is, as the very dwelling place of YHWH, the temple is nonetheless a type or shadow of YHWH's full heavenly dwelling (vertical typology) and of the fullness of YHWH's presence at his coming in the time of his kingdom and reign (horizontal typology). This fullness of YHWH's presence at his coming is sometimes depicted as a new, more glorious temple, and sometimes depicted as the fullness of YHWH's presence replacing the temple. Either way, the concept is always that, in YHWH's coming, something greater than the physical temple will come. This leaves no room for physical animal sacrifices (how can there be physical sacrifices in a non-physical temple?). Furthermore, a prominent theme of the Jewish scriptures is the coming of a new and ultimate divine work of sacrifice and atonement, greater than the sacrifices commanded by Moses and to which they look forward, thereby making physical animal sacrifices reductant in the new covenantal community. As is well known, the law of Moses provided a means of atonement and forgiveness through the sacrificial system (Exod 28–29; Lev 1–7; 16; Num 7–8; 28–29). Yet, as James P. Ware points out in his book Paul's Theology in Context (Eerdmans, 2019), the prophets envisioned a new and ultimate divine work of atonement, forgiveness, and renewal (e.g., Micah 7:18-20; Isa. 4:4–5; 33:24; 44:23-23; 53:5-12; Jer. 31:31-34; 33:8; 50:20; Ezek. 16:63; 36:25–27, 33; Hos. 2:19–20, 23; Zech. 3:9-10; 12:10-13:1; Mal. 3:2-4; Ps. 130:7-8). "Through this coming divine work, YHWH would “redeem Israel from all their iniquities” (Ps 130:8), “wash away” the sins of Jacob (Isa 4:4), and “purify them from all their iniquity” (Jer 33:8). “In that day a spring will be opened, to purify the house of David and the people of Jerusalem from sin and from impurity” (Zech 13:1)" (p. 170). Since animal sacrifice provided a means of atonement, the expectation of an ultimate act of divine atonement in the future eschatological age, where the sins of this new Israel are remembered no more, implies the doing away with animal sacrifices in that new covenantal age. This all contradicts the theology where the Biblical prophets expected a reconstitution of physical animal sacrifices. I see Ezekiel, Isaiah, and other authors using the past as a way to foreshadow the future. Just as there will be a new Exodus and temple, so the sacrifices they describe tell us something about the worship of the renewed "Israel."
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