If your life is not in jeopardy
for what you believe, you’re probably on the wrong side!
If you don’t believe Genesis 1:1-11:32,
how can you possibly believe John 3:16?
“Indeed, all who want to live a godly
life united with the Messiah Yeshua will be persecuted.” (2Tim 3:12)
It is what you actually believe that determines how you walk out your faith,
“but avoid stupid controversies, genealogies, quarrels and fights
about the Torah; because they are worthless and futile.” (Titus 3:9)
“The one who is testifying to these things says,
‘Yes, I am coming soon!’”
Amen! Come, Lord Yeshua! (Rev. 22:20)
Please Note: Absolutely nothing on this website should be taken as anti-Church or anti-Rabbinic. I am not anti-anything or anti-anyone. I am only pro-Torah and pro-Truth (see “Philosophy”), but sometimes the Truth upsets our long-held beliefs. I know it certainly upset mine! For example, see “Why Isn’t My Theology Consistent Throughout the Website?”
Developing a
Systematic Messianic Theology:
What Torah Says About
The Future
“The purpose of careful theological formulations is not to put barriers in the way of people who are seeking salvation, but to define clearly the truths upon which genuine [Biblical] faith rests, so that people will not be misled by false doctrines.” [Bowman]
“It must be clearly and unequivocally stated that theology cannot save you. Only faith in Messiah Yeshua can save you. Theology can only give you sound doctrine.” [RLS]
Unless otherwise specified, throughout the Theology section of my website I use the term “Torah” in the wider sense of including the entire body of inspired Scripture: both the Tanakh and the Apostolic Writings. No other so-called “sacred writings” are considered inspired by God or authoritative for the Believe’s walk of faith.
[Explanations of rabbinic citations are HERE]
[Please read the introductory comments first]
An Overview of
Rabbinic Eschatology
Jewish eschatology is the area of theology and philosophy concerned with events that will happen in the end of days and related concepts, according to the Hebrew Bible and Jewish thought. This includes the ingathering of the exiled diaspora, the coming of a Jewish Messiah, afterlife, and the revival of the dead Tzadikim [righteous individuals]. In Judaism, the end times are usually called the “end of days” (aḥarit ha-yamim, אחרית הימים), a phrase that appears several times in the Tanakh.
Until the late modern era, the standard Jewish belief was that after one dies, one’s immortal soul joins God in the Olam Haba, or world to come, while one’s body decomposes. At the end of days, God will recompose one’s body, place within it one’s immortal soul, and that person will stand before God in judgement.[1] The idea of a messianic age has a prominent place in Jewish thought, and is incorporated as part of the end of days. Jewish philosophers from medieval times to the present day have emphasized the soul’s immortality.
In Judaism the main textual source for the belief in the end of days and accompanying events is the Tanakh or Hebrew Bible. The roots of Jewish eschatology are to be found in the pre-exile Prophets, including Isaiah and Jeremiah, and the exile-prophets Ezekiel and Deutero-Isaiah. The main tenets of Jewish eschatology are the following, in no particular order, elaborated in the Books of Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel:
- End of world (before everything as follows).
- God redeems the Jewish people from the captivity that began during the Babylonian Exile, in a new Exodus
- God returns the Jewish people to the Land of Israel
- God restores the House of David and the Temple in Jerusalem
- God creates a regent from the House of David (i.e. the Jewish Messiah) to lead the Jewish people and the world and usher in an age of justice and peace
- All nations recognize that the God of Israel is the only true God
- God resurrects the dead
- God creates a new heaven and a new earth
It is also believed that history will complete itself and the ultimate destination will be reached when all mankind returns to Gan Eden, the Garden of Eden.[2]
Messianic Jewish Eschatology (my view) embraces all of these concepts, but in a slightly different order (and not necessarily this particular order):
- God creates a regent from the House of David (i.e. Messiah Yeshua) to provide the means of redemption for all people (His first advent as Mashiach ben Yosef)[3]
- God redeems the Jewish people from the captivity that began during the Babylonian Exile, in a new Exodus (the State of Israel established on May 14, 1948)
- God returns the Jewish people to the Land of Israel (ongoing at the present time)
- Messiah Yeshua returns to lead the Jewish people and the world and usher in an age of justice and peace (the Messianic Kingdom, His second advent as Mashiach ben David)[4]
- Messiah Yeshua (as God on Earth) restores the House of David and the Temple in Jerusalem
- All nations recognize that the God of Israel is the only true God
- God (as Messiah) resurrects and judges the dead (the righteous to everlasting joy, the unrighteousness to everlasting torment)
- End of the world (current world order is destroyed by fire)
- God creates a new heaven and an Eden-like new earth, Gan Eden, or the Olam Haba, over which HaShem (as Messiah Yeshua) rules eternally
1. This is similar to my own understanding, reflected in these two articles: “Is Heaven for Real?” and “Heaven or the Kingdom?” [BACK]
2. “Jewish Eschatology” at The Spiritual Life, accessed 21 November 2021. [BACK]
3. Traditional Jewish theology does not include the idea of “original sin,” so it doesn’t see the need for a “Redeemer for all people” in the same was Christian theology does. [BACK]
4. I personally do not know (nor do I care) if this “phase” will be a stand-alone thousand-year Millennial Kingdom, or just the first part of the eternal Olam Haba. Since I am already a citizen of the Kingdom of God, I’ll be just fine either way. [BACK]
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