God of the End-Around

[Chris]

God of the End-Around

God of the End-Around
By Wendy Wippel

It is good to grasp the one and not let go of the other. (Ecclesiastes 7:18) The perspective of hindsight allows us to see that God has often resolved what seemed like irresolvable contradictions in Scripture by employing the method of Solomon above.

Take Zedekiah, for example. (The king of Jerusalem when it was destroyed by Babylon.) Jeremiah warned Zedekiah that God would punish him by delivering him to Nebuchadnezzar; Ezekiel, however, said that Zedekiah would not see Babylon. God's resolution to the dilemma eventually became clear. Both were true: Zedekiah was taken to Babylon, but not before his eyes were gouged out. (Jer 39:5-7).

The Jews of Jesus time saw a contradiction between the suffering Messiah described inIsaiah 53 and the conquering one described in Isaiah 59 and answered it with two different Messiahs. (Messiah ben Joseph and Messiah ben David, respectively).

God had another answer. One man, both roles: at first rejected, but later given his rightful due. (His disciples didn't really comprehend the lag time, though, because one of the first things they asked him after his resurrection was "So now are you going to give us back the kingdom?" Acts 1:6)

When Jesus taught at the Festival of Tabernacles in Jerusalem, some believed him to be the Messiah. The skeptics in the crowd, however, asked “How can the Messiah come from Galilee? Does not Scripture say that the Messiah will come from David’s descendants and from Bethlehem"? Solution? Obviously both were true. Jesus was born in Bethlehem, but came from Nazareth. John 7:40-43

The knotty problem of our day is whether the antichrist will be a Gentile or a Jew (entities which are by definition strictly exclusive of each other). Each side has a strong argument.

In support of a Jewish Messiah are:

Deuteronomy 17:15 commands that only a Jew can be king
Daniel 11:37 says that the antichrist does not respect the God of his fathers, implying Jewishness
Ezekiel 21:25-27 says that he will be both priest and king
Ezekiel 28:9-10 says that he will die the death of the uncircumcised, implying that he is of the circumcision

Evidence for his Gentile nature includes:

Daniel 7 describes him coming up out of the great sea, symbolic of Gentile nations
Antiochus Epiphanes, the main player in the first Abomination of Desolation was a Gentile, and is ostensibly a type of the antichrist
He is repeatedly referred to as "the Assyrian" in prophetic scriptures (Isaiah 10:5,Isaiah 14:25, Micah 5:5,6)
As the ruler of the "Times of the Gentiles", he must needs be a Gentile.

So what to think? You get the impression that if God was a football coach, he'd call a lot of end-arounds, because he seems to be fond of the trick plays. This might be another one.

First of all there are actually two beasts: the first the antichrist, and the second the false prophet. It is possible that one of them could be Jewish and the other Gentile.

There is another possibility however, that has only recently come to light.

First a little history is in order: The Sephardim, descendants of the Jewish refugees that traveled across northern Africa and took up residence in Spain and Portugal after the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD, lived for the most part peacefully until anti-Jewish fervor rose in the wake of the Crusades. Persecution of the Jews began soon after.

The desire to create a Christian Kingdom prompted Ferdinand and Isabelle, Spain's royal couple, to issue the Spanish Edict of Expulsion in 1492, demanding that their Jewish citizens either accept the Catholic faith or leave the country. Most of those who left went to Portugal, which also had a large and prosperous Jewish citizenry. (Estimates are as much as 70% of Portugal's citizens at this point were, in fact, Jews.)

It didn't last long. In 1445 King Manuel asked for Ferdinand and Isabella's daughter in marriage. They agreed, with one condition: Manuel must cleanse his realm of Jews.

He, however, had witnessed the economic ramifications of Spain's edict and had no desire to reproduce them within his own borders. He acquiesced, but with a trick up his sleeve. Manuel ordered all emigrants to depart from Lisbon. Upon arrival, the Jewish families were imprisoned.

On the established deadline for departure, Manuel brought the Jews out in large groups and had them forcibly baptized. Some parents suffocated their children to avoid this fate. Manuel, upon completion, smugly announced that "there were no more Jews in Portugal."

He probably believed that. History, as well as common sense, however, tells a different story: In both Spain and Portugal, most continued to practice in secret rather than leave.

Recently developed DNA techniques allow the use of the Y chromosome to examine human heritage; research using this technology has demonstrated that many people of Hispanic descent in the U.S. and in the Iberian peninsula can be shown genetically to be of Jewish origin. Which leads us to the question at hand: will the Antichrist be a Jew or a Gentile?

Several Jewish websites lay out current Jewish expectations for the Messiah: apart from being a charismatic and learned Jew, they anticipate a figure that will facilitate a rebuilding of the temple, bring peace to Israel, and continue the regathering of the exiles of the diaspora.

Another Jewish website describes efforts to define the Messiah a little differently. The Davidic Dynasty Project is attempting to construct a massive genetic database of DNA samples from men who believe themselves to be of the Messianic line, with the goal of reproducing the success achieved with the descendants of Aaron. Namely, to identify a set of molecular markers which could be shown with reasonable certainty to be those of David.

In other words, to define the required genetic signature of the Messiah.

Which brings up a very interesting end-around with regards to the possible ethnicity of the antichrist. It could prove to be someone who for all intents and purposes is a Gentile, a man that starts the rebuilding of the temple and manages to broker an apparently lasting peace. As a Gentile, he would still have a problem. But what if, at a convenient moment, he could pull his genetic credentials out of his back pocket and prove himself to be a descendant of David?

(Think about it. The man in our Oval Office can't even produce his birth certificate.)

Done deal. An Equal Opportunity Destroyer. Both Jew and Gentile, enemy of the whole human race.

[readytogo]

Interesting...