Questions and concerns about the antichrist. Part 3 of four.

We ended part two with this. 

Because he, the antichrist, affirms the “peace” covenant, we seem to think he is the one that initiates it, and that is not what the scriptures tell us. The passage that we love to cling to and misread is Daniel 9:26, 27, where we make several huge assumptions that are incorrect.

A common translation reads like this.

Daniel 9:26-27 NKJV  "And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself; And the people of the prince who is to come Shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end of it shall be with a flood, And till the end of the war desolations are determined.  27  Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week; But in the middle of the week He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate, Even until the consummation, which is determined, Is poured out on the desolate." 

Confirm is the Hebrew word gâbar and means to be strong, exceed, confirm, and strengthen. You cannot use a word like strengthen and assume that he made the covenant. If this coincides with the covenant that the UN made in 2013, then all this mystery character can do is attempt to make the killing more efficient. Since the UN's vision has subtle bloodless death as its main method of help, then killing off more people should be an easy task.

Let's pick it apart.

• “And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off...”

  This speaks of the death (and resurrection) of Jesus, the Messiah.

• “And the people of the prince who is to come Shall destroy the city and the sanctuary.”

  This next one is where great and damaging assumption takes place.

  Followers of my blog have read, on multiple occasions, how Titus was desperately trying to preserve the temple, as an uproar in Jerusalem could have caused his death at the hands of Caesar. Titus, in his case, was the prince, but the people who came at his orders were 

  also conscripted Assyrian Troops. These Assyrian troops ignored, at their own risk of death, the orders from Titus to extinguish the fires they had started. So the people of the prince who came were Assyrians. These Assyrians match the legs, feet, and the mixed material toes of Daniel's statue. If you look up the word mixed in something like the Strong's concordance, you will find that it is the Aramaic word arab and means mixed.

• What do we know for sure?

• That violent people, on behalf of the antichrist, will once again come and destroy: the city and the sanctuary. I say once again because the serpent has obviously done this once before during the reign of Titus Vespasian. If Psalm 83 depicts a coming war (I don't think so,) then that, along with Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39, describes at least two wars.

  Those two events - the destruction of the city and the sanctuary, are not in close proximity, time-wise, because we have learned that the sacrifice will be stopped 1240 days into the seven-year covenant, which was reaffirmed by the antichrist. 1290 days later is when the abomination will be set up in the temple. Somewhere between the abomination being set up and the return of Jesus as the warring Messiah 45 days later, the temple will be destroyed.

• Considering how many people have countered with Israel will NOT be destroyed, it feels like it is necessary to emphasize, Israel will be destroyed. All at one time, right after the rapture of the church? Maybe not. 

• The allusions to "The end of it shall be with a flood" are numerous. You can only bring complete destruction once, but you can bring many destructive battles that will seem like complete destruction and still have some form of function. Just look at what is happening to Ukraine. An example of what I am talking about can be seen in the function of the rebuilt temple. 1240 days into the covenant time cycle, the antichrist will cause the sacrifices to cease. Certainly, the firebombing from God that we see in Ezekiel 38, 39 will be substantial. 

• In what form or purpose will the temple serve after the cessation of sacrifices?

• Because we understand that Israel will be completely destroyed, then a complete destruction - one that removes the functional government and the religious heads that turned the people away from Jesus the Messiah, must come to pass, but when? 

  Scripture tells us that the wanton killing that comes at the direction of the antichrist and the false prophet would indicate that people are forced to worship the beast - and, in time, the image. Islamic prophecies tell us that the false prophet steps up as the enforcer of Sharia law after wholly pledging himself to the Mahdi. The false prophet will be the primary person at this point, who enforces compliance and worship of the Mahdi - the antichrist. When it comes to worshiping the image, well, you cannot do that if the image is some animatronic head located in a temple that may be blown up. So that piece of logic just got destroyed. We are told that the desecration of the temple happens 1290 days after the cessation of the sacrifices, and, as far as I can tell, having this image sitting on the same altar where you were doing the sacrifices would be the desecration. Do the math, and you will find that we have now extended beyond seven years.

  
  This may be classified as one of those scriptural mysteries, but the Jews count a day as any portion of a day. Apply this to Jesus' death and resurrection. If Jesus died on Friday afternoon (one day), He is in the tomb before 3P.M., the beginning of the Sabbath. Sabbath lasts until 3P.M. Saturday evening (two days.) Sunday, early in the morning, no matter the time, is the third day. The logic behind this is that Sunday began at 3P.M. Saturday evening. Consider that Jesus used the Prophet Jonah as an analogy to His own time in death. I think He did this so that, beyond all questions, people would understand that Jonah was dead for three days, and God brought him back to life. (Believe it or not, I have had many arguments with people about how Jonah was dead for three days. Ask yourself would use someone who had lived comfortably in the belly of a big fish with a raft, a small table, a lamp, and a deck of cards, like Pinocchio, to represent your own death and the magnificence involved in those actions, if his experience was not even close? The Mediterranean Sea, where the narrative of Jonah took place, has a fish capable of swallowing a human whole; it is called a basking shark.)

  So, if the signs, and there are many, are telling us that the warring Messiah will be back in 2030, at the end of the seven years of wrath, then 2023 should be the year of the departure or snatching away of the church. Considering the Jewish understanding of time, then any point within this year of 2023 is fair game.

He is the antichrist, and nowhere does it say that Israel is the subject of this covenant. 

An interesting development occurred on June 13, 2023, when the UN stated, “Today, at the halfway point to 2030, that promise is in peril and a fundamental shift is needed – in commitment, solidarity, financing, and action – to put the world on a better path. And it is needed now.” If you wish to see this document, go directly to the UN's website. https://www.un.org/en/desa/we-need-7-years-accelerated-transformative-action-achieve-sdgs

So what are they calling the UN members to do about the potential that they might NOT reach their 2030 goal?

They have called for an urgent meeting where they will reaffirm the covenant for seven years. In Biblical terms, they are going to “confirm the covenant with many for one week.” In prophetic language, one week is equivalent to seven years.

If you are thinking I missed the context, then look at Daniel 9:26.

Daniel 9:26 NKJV  "… And the people of the prince who is to come Shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. ...”

It's not the man but those that follow his commands. Titus did not command his troops to destroy the temple, so don't go looking for a re-birthed Roman Empire.

When you read something like 1 Thessalonians 5:3, you need to be asking yourself, who are the “they”?

“For when they say, "Peace and safety!" then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape.”
1 Thessalonians 5:3 NKJV

An obvious but presumptive choice would be Israel. How are you not aware? Israel just recently went through three nationwide votes to get a prime minister once again, as Benjamin Netanyahu was dragged through the mud over allegations, just as former President Donald Trump still is. One of their former Prime ministers has been plotting a coup for over two years with the aid of retired IDF Generals. All this has been monitored as they met for discussions through Zoom calls (you have no secrecy in Israel.) The country is on the verge of civil war, if not already there. Doctors are on strike, and approximately 10,000 reservists are refusing to return to much-needed duty all because the Prime Minister pushed for legal reforms that put an end to leftist legal interpretations and judgments. Decisions have pushed Israel into the critical situation they are now facing.

Still, in all this turmoil, it seems there are those that think they are in the best of times.

If you have been paying attention, the UN is calling for a meeting in early September, and they are already calling for peace, safety, and the reaffirmation of the seven-year covenant that was established to bring about the Social Development Goals designed to bring about the New World Order, that Presidents Reagan, Bush, and Obama talked about with frequency.

“His power will be great, but it will not be his own. He will cause terrible destruction and succeed in whatever he does. He will destroy the mighty men along with the holy people. Through his craft and by his hand, he will cause deceit to prosper, and in his own mind he will make himself great. In a time of peace he will destroy many, and he will even stand against the Prince of princes. Yet he will be broken off, but not by human hands.”
Daniel 8:24-25 BSB

Since we know that royal honor has not been conferred upon him, then it's safe to say that he is not currently a part of the crowd that wants to dominate the planet.

You might ask, why, then, is he given the authority to do whatever he wants?

Allow me to remind you.

“Now the beast which I saw was like a leopard, his feet were like the feet of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. The dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority.” And I saw one of his heads as if it had been mortally wounded, and his deadly wound was healed. And all the world marveled and followed the beast. Revelation 13:2, 3 NKJV+

The beast was comprised of known empires until the two bronze leg aspects of the fourth showed up.

“This image's head was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay.” Daniel 2:32-33 NKJV

Empire #1, the head of gold – Babylon under the rule of Nebuchadnezzar; #2, the chest and arms of silver - the Medes and Persians; #3, the Macedonian or Grecian monarchy, set up by Alexander. Now here is where it changes. According to John Gill's commentary, the Grecian empire was followed by “the two "thighs," the fourth empire. These legs of iron denote Alexander's principal successors, the Seleucid and Ptolemaic empires. Both were Grecian generals, and both were highly integrated into the surrounding Assyrian kingdoms. If you do your homework, you will get to the feet where the toes are mixed, iron and clay. The Aramaic word for mixed is arab. Trace this lineage back to Abraham and Isaac, and you will come to Ishmael and Esau. They are both described as nations that will NOT get along with each other.

The beast is best thought of as a demonic spirit that enters particular, handpicked people to drive, empower them, and be changed in Satan's favor.

“Then I stood on the sand of the sea. And I saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns, and on his heads a blasphemous name. Now the beast which I saw was like a leopard, his feet were like the feet of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. The dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority.” Revelation 13:1-2 NKJV

And we have descriptions of the first three empires but not the fourth. Note that even within this passage, the beast takes on a singular male orientation.

Those handpicked people have ruled over kingdoms, empires, and “governmental bodies.” But as we read verse three above, we see one of these empires sustain what the world could see as a mortal wound. That means they never expected this empire to rise again. Oh, but it did as it was restored to health. Strangely, the primary word used to define this word “healing” is to serve or do service. If this was the Ottoman Empire, as I have spelled out multiple times, then the implications are that people have meticulously nursed this empire slowly and secretly back to health. History shows us that ideologies like the Muslim Brotherhood, an offshoot of the fallen Ottoman empire, began to emerge in Egypt but with much more violent motives.

Revelation 13:5 indicates that this beast, which has migrated into what appears to be a solitary being – a male, now has the “authority to do whatever he wants for forty-two months.” (That is 3.5 years.)

“Then the beast was allowed to speak great blasphemies against God. And he was given authority to do whatever he wanted for forty-two months.” Revelation 13:5 NLT

End of part three.

Gathering all the chief priests and elders he inquired about this king of the Jews. Matthew 2: 1-12.

 If you were hoping for a continued foray into the book of Romans, I must apologize because I am an obsessive multitasker. I had been feeling like I needed to do as I started almost twenty years ago, to read through the New Testament slowly while writing down my thoughts and questions as I went. I really did not want to disrupt your lives if you should be meticulously following me, but since everything in scripture is connected, just as the “New Testament” could NOT exist without the supporting words found in the Old. To my Jewish friends (I wish,) the Torah and Tenach. So it should all be good.

I also know that what I write includes so much of my heart and a strong disgust for religious zealots who add to the law, distort it, and impose their traditional teachings, merely because that is the way we have always taught some portion of scripture. Sadly, this is how I was taught and why I write, so that you and I can hopefully see the truth. 

On a humorous note, there is an old story where on a particular family holiday, one of the younger daughters, helping in the kitchen, asked the great-grandmother why they cut the ends off the roast before putting it in the oven? The reply changed everything that day as great-grandmother replied, I did it because my oven was too small. I will leave you to think about that.

 The next thing we encounter in Matthew’s gospel is,

The Visit of the Wise Men

“Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him.”
(Matthew 2:1-2 NASB)

Magi, what did they want and why were they demanding answers from Herod?

One brother in Christ, who is very skillful in the Word of God, explained that one of the roles of the Magi was to be kingdom changers, (Consider that this knowledgeable man had to look at other information, not contained within the pages of the Bible to make his valid assertion. I only point this out because a “brother in Christ” verbally lashed out at me, saying I do not believe that we should use extra-biblical texts and information to form our thoughts about God and scripture.) The Magi were the group of men that Daniel, as a young man, had been assigned to and eventually became the head of, while remaining a captive in Babylon.

Seeing the size of the entourage and perceiving a threat to his power, Herod went into panic mode and called the chief priests and elders before him to tell him what they knew about this situation.

“When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. Gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born.”
(Matthew 2:3-4 NASB)

“When Herod the king heard this.”

What did he hear?

“Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him.”

Since when has the Middle East changed so that you can merely gather up a large, armed crowd and go rolling up to another kingdom’s gates unannounced and immediately expect an audience with a king known to live in fear? It hasn’t, and so I don’t expect that was the case here, but the word was received and taken to the king. 

Now, what does the fearful man, Herod, do? 

He consults the people who most likely know the answer, the Jews, as they should know the prophecy.

All prophecy, like a criminal court case, must have two or three witnesses, one of those witnesses is found in the Book of Daniel. It is not likely that Herod, being a half-Jew, would have studied Daniel chapter seven, as it plays a significant role in testifying to what the angel declared to Mary as he explained the function of the child that she carried.

"He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David, and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have” no end.”
(Luke 1:32-33 NASB)

So, no, Herod would not know these words that we see in Luke’s gospel, as they were written long after Herod’s death, and that makes his fear and the lack of reaction by the elders even more peculiar.

The Magi, on the other hand, may have read Daniel's words with intensity.

“I kept looking in the night visions, And behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming, And He came up to the Ancient of Days And was presented before Him. "And to Him was given dominion, Glory and a kingdom, That all the peoples, nations and men of every language Might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion Which will not pass away, And His kingdom is one Which will not be” destroyed.”
(Daniel 7:13-14 NASB)

The reply of the elders is alarming to me.

“So they, “told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it has been written by the prophet: ‘And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; For out of you shall come a ruler who will shepherd My people Israel.’”
(Matthew 2:5-6 TLV)

They knew the answer to the question, but do we have any record that they went there and bowed before this new king?

Not at all. Herod responds to this by double-checking. Perhaps because even Herod could see that these magi are taking this king being born seriously and he calls them in to speak with them.

“Then Herod secretly called the magi and determined from them the exact time the star had appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem “and said, “Go and search carefully for the Child. And when you have found Him, bring word back to me so that I may come and worship Him” as well.”
(Matthew 2:7-8 TLV)

With terminology such as “determined from them the exact time,” Herod now has a ballpark idea of how old this new king is; and nothing will happen until they come back to Herod and give him the word of exactly where to find the child. Watch what the magi do.

“After listening to the king, they went their way. And behold, the star they had seen in the east went on before them, until it came to rest over the place where the Child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with” great gladness.”
(Matthew 2:9-10 TLV)

These magi had not yet found the child but they will. They will not go back for the child's protection. Notice where the family is now living.

“And when they came into the house, they saw the Child with His mother Miriam; and they fell down and worshiped Him. Then, opening their treasures, they presented to Him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their own country by another way.”
(Matthew 2:11-12 TLV)

Never once do you see the number three, what you do see are three specific names: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. A key word here is treasures, as the quantity may have been great and enough to sustain the family for several years. We, because of the age bracket that Herod ordered killed, would logically assume the age of Yeshua to be about two as they take off to the safety of Egypt.

“Now when they had gone (the magi), behold, an angel of Adonai appears to Joseph in a dream (so he has had a couple of these over the last few years), saying, “Get up! Take the Child and His mother and flee to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the Child, to kill Him.” So he got up, took the Child and His mother during the night, and went to Egypt. Now when they had gone, behold, an angel of Adonai appears to Joseph in“a dream, saying, “Get up! Take the Child and His mother and flee to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the Child, to kill Him.” So he got up, took the Child and His mother during the night, and went to Egypt. He stayed there until Herod’s death. This was to fulfill what was spoken by Adonai through the“prophet, saying, “Out of Egypt I called My son.” Then when Herod saw that he had been tricked by the magi, he became furious. And he sent and killed all boys in Bethlehem and in all its surrounding area, from two years old and under, according to the time he had determined from the magi.”

(Matthew 2:13-16 TLV)

Astronomy.com tells us that “On the morning of August 12 in 3 B.C ., Jupiter and Venus would’ve sat just 1/10th a degree apart in the dawn sky. That’s one-fifth the diameter of the Full Moon. (The December 2020 conjunction between Jupiter and Saturn will have an identical separation, albeit in the evening sky.) That wasn’t the end of the show, either. Venus and Jupiter continued their dance over most of the next year before finally appearing to merge into a single star in June.”

So approximately August of C.5 Christ was born.? (I am still not clear. If time is based on this dramatic change called Jesus birth, all I wanted or needed was a solid time frame that I could start with. If this is based upon Christ, it would seem that this timeline information puts the starting point at five months. An obvious fact is that He was NOT born at six months old, we also know that the shepherds were with their flocks, and that tends to put His birth far enough into the season for shepherds to be working the flocks comfortably in the hillsides.) At the age of two, his family takes him to Egypt to protect him. History, (and I must admit this is rather sketchy), records that Herod died around April 4 B.C., therefore it would seem that the family was only in Egypt for slightly over a year. The presumption then is that Jesus was brought back to Nazareth when He was four or five.

Why is this information important?

First, this has never been clear in my head, and that may be because no one ever talked about it. Secondly, questions occasionally arise about Jesus from toddler to maturity, which in the Jewish culture seems to be about age 13, a time when the sons are required to step up and learn their father's trade. Three, I made the mistake of reading Kahlil Gibran's book Jesus the son of Man. The title alone should tell you something about the lack of understanding and possible disrespect the man had for Jesus. A point that Mr. Gibran tried to make was that Jesus may have been a malicious brat, as he allegedly injured animals and then healed them. Sorry, but that did not sound right then nor does it sound right now. 

After the incident where the family, while in Jerusalem, had to go looking for Jesus, a 12-year-old child, they found Him in the temple where He had been for two days discussing with the Jewish leaders the scriptures. Remember, all they had were the law and the prophets, and they were precious and expensive scrolls, that only the richest of synagogues had copies. So learning the scriptures was almost exclusively through repetitious hearing.

A problem with this entire process. If your child had a disability would you focus on that, merely enabling that they lean upon that disability, or would you focus on their ability? In Jesus' case, He, by those who knew about His birth, would have been called a mumzer – an illegitimate child; and those same people had a long history, based on the law, that allowed them to treat a child like this poorly. As far as I can see, Jesus, had He been known, would have been violently expelled from the temple. An answer to this lies in the outer courts of the temple, as these were accessible to even the gentiles.

The final thought on this tells us that after His parents found Him, and I am sure expressed their displeasure at Him being lost, is that Jesus submitted Himself wholly to their wishes until He was old enough, able to take care of Himself and act on His own accord. I am thinking now of Mary. As the eldest son Jesus would have probably been the one to care for her after Joseph died. Keep in mind that Mary continued to have other children and several of them, including sisters, may have taken that role.

We, don't see support from the other family members, nor do we hear anything about siblings until the day that they came to restrain Him – so to speak.

“When His family heard about this, they went out to take hold of Him; for they were saying, “He’s out of His mind!” 

(Mark 3:21 TLV)

He conflicted with the 600+, additional Jewish laws, but He was amazingly kind to the down and out while excoriating the scribes and the“Pharisees.

“Then His mother and brothers come. Standing outside, they sent word to Him, summoning Him. A crowd was sitting around Him, and they tell Him, “Look, Your mother and Your brothers are outside looking for You.” Answering them, He said, “Who are My mother and My brothers?” Looking at those sitting in a circle around Him, He said, “Here are My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of God, he is My brother and sister and mother.” 

(Mark 3:31-35 TLV)

If Mary (Miriam) had not been the surrogate mother of Jesus we would probably never hear of her either.

I decided to post this, even though it is not, in my mind, done. 

I do not elaborate like this merely to convince you to think negatively about Jesus, just the opposite is true. If you happen to be one that thinks that every God aspect was little more than some high-speed download, I think that is illogical and works in opposition to His mission here on earth. Remember, He came as man and defeated Satan, as a human.

We have learned that Joseph, "his father," was a righteous man, some translations refer to Joseph as a good man. To be deemed a righteous man indicates that he was known among the synagogue crowd, as one that took notes (just kidding) and paid attention. Because of this he fastidiously practiced the scriptures with Jesus. 

So, how did Jesus become so knowledgeable? 

Joseph, his foster father. Let that sink in. 

If you do not know my Jesus He is as close as your breath. Merely submit yourself to the greater power and ask Him into your life, then watch the changes begin to happen because the Holy Spirit has now entered, permanently, and will begin teaching you all things and showing you things to come. 

If the rapture has come, there is no denying when that happened. (Yes, I know that the government has put it off on aliens taking the "bad" Christians off the earth.) 

If the church is gone all hell will begin to break loose. 

Constant rioting in the streets and death will come from multiple directions. Those you thought would be on your side and protect you, will be trying to kill you. Injections will be mandated that are intended to kill you. Efforts to monitor your every move will be demanded. The earth and the water supplies will be poisoned. The oceans will be filled with death. Commerce will come to a halt. The economies will become digital and tightly controlled, but will all, in a matter of time, will collapse. This time on earth, as seen in Revelation six and beyond, will include God's anger against unbelieving humanity and the Jews who rejected God. 

Within days of the Church being removed the antichrist persona will come to the forefront. If you have access to a Bible (it will be a forbidden book,) you can read about the emergence of the antichrist.

"Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a departing first, and (then) that that man of sin be disclosed, even the son of perdition,"                     (2 Thessalonians 2:3 Geneva)

Yes, I Americanized the old 15th-century wording, and yes, most translations use the phrase falling away. Just this morning, 3/11/23, I saw that the Church of England is now teaching four-year-old children, in their Sunday school class, about transitioning and perverted sex education. Try to convince me that we, the church, have not fallen over the cliff already. 

There is only one hope; it is Jesus, and if nothing else, make your life with Him personal. 

Trust me, once He touches your heart you will want to tell someone about Him.

Well then, come and see, and therefore the two disciples heard and followed. John 1:36-42.

 Previously we learned that a primary function of John the baptizer’s mission served was to announce that Jesus was manifested to Israel.

Did that happen?

Yes, but from a human standpoint, many looked at the baptizer as a crazy man; after all, look at what he wore and ate.

When the Jewish leaders showed up, he challenged them, calling them vipers – a term that gave them an association with the serpent that Moses raised up on the pole; it represented evil, poison, and death. It is challenging to perceive John as a live-screen billboard declaring that the Messiah is here. With a rant like this, you might be inclined to say that God was unfair toward the Jewish leadership, seeing as the voice doing the announcing, though a son of a priest himself, was, at best, peculiar. But never forget that at Jesus’ birth, in Bethlehem, there was, what we assume, an astrological alignment of stars that effectively pointed right to the spot where the Messiah was born.

Did the Jewish leadership accept that fact even though it was declared through the Torah and the Tenach, books that are the foundations of our faith and lead us to Yahshua, the Messiah?

No, those same leaders were quickly brought before Herod because he became alarmed that a relatively large entourage was coming their way and may have been a threat to Herod’s rule. So he asked the Jews if they knew what was going on; they did, and they quoted the words. Ah, but the Jews refused to accept this baby as the Messiah.

Approximately thirty years later, they are no less inclined to accept Jesus as the Messiah.

“Again the next day, John was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked at Jesus as He walked and *said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” 
(John 1:35-36 NASB)

I began looking for a translation that would solidify this statement with a Jewish feel and perhaps give us a blast of clarity. Look at what I found; I prefer something else to this translation, but with three words, it dominates the reality of why Jesus was here. 

“He looked up, saw Jesus walking nearby, and said, “Here he is, God’s Passover Lamb.”
(John 1:36 MSG)

“He” is referring to John, the baptizer.

Serving as the Passover lamb is one of the functions of Jesus as the Messiah.

What do we have that bears witness to this statement? 

“And Abraham said, My son, God will provide Himself a lamb for a burnt offering. So they both went together.”
(Genesis 22:8 MKJV)

Statements such as John’s and what we see in Genesis 22:8 could be interpreted in at least two ways. One would be that God would arrange to have a sacrifice provided, which is precisely what God did in the case of Abraham and Isaac. The other way of reading this passage conveys that God would provide Himself as the lamb, which is precisely what God did for those who believe and follow.

John the baptizer said of Jesus, Behold the Lamb of God. Every Jew hearing this bold assertion made a prompt association with: 

• The forgiveness of sin; 

• The faithful actions of Abraham as he made the substitutionary sacrifice and, therefore, did not kill Issac, his firstborn – according to the promise; 

• The lamb that was slain on the night of the Passover. The blood of that lamb was painted on the doorposts and the lentil as a symbol of God's possession, and it became protection from the wrath that was to come upon the firstborn of everyone not covered by the blood that night.

If they had been willing to see, (This simple phrase carries a broad meaning as the “they” would have been inclusive of any in Egypt, whether they followed the lead of God's people that night. It is not likely that they would have painted the blood because there was more to it than that, but there was nothing that prevented a scared Egyptian from seeking shelter from the wrath, which, if you follow that logic through, speaks volumes about a God of mercy that is beyond my comprehension.) they would have seen that the Messiah would be the substitutionary sacrifice, removing the penalty for all sin and all humanity. Like the Jews that day, we all have to apply some faith and trust in Him, receiving Him as the King over our lives.

“The two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus.” 
(John 1:37 NASB)

Context! The Apostle John refers to John – the baptizer, as the speaker. 

The Apostle John (and yes, I am aware that John was not given this title until much later, but it helps, especially here, to identify who is talking), when talking about events that included himself, never inserted his own name. This could be what is happening here in John 1:37. And that is the story I am going to hold to unless there is a historical account that details who this other disciple was.

Does the Apostle John's intentionally vague acknowledgment of himself affect the message and our perception? 

Not as long as we pay attention to the context.

An example of context that gave me trouble occurred as I looked at Matthew’s account of the briefing initiated in Matthew 24:1 that Jesus gave to the disciples on the Mount of Olives. 

“Now when Yeshua went out and was going away from the Temple, His disciples came up to point out to Him the Temple buildings.”
(Matthew 24:1 TLV)

Assuming you realize that none of the disciples understood that Jesus was to be the substitutionary sacrifice because they were looking for Him to be the military rescuer of Israel that would relieve them from Roman rule and oppression. As I read Matthew 24:1, the disciples come across as traumatized war veterans, and the fact that they had to defer to alluding to the megalithic stones that were part of the temple’s construction, which was well-known to all, was nothing less than bizarre and obviously, embedded in some previous action or conversation. I returned to Matthew 22 to find the context surrounding the question and Jesus’ response. The point here is that you must be willing to do your appropriate homework.

We are told these two disciples followed the Messiah, whether or not they fully understood or believed. 

Follow is the Greek word akolouthéō, and means to attend, accompany, go with, or follow a teacher.

Isn’t this what He desires from us today - To attend, accompany, and stay close by His side as we follow Him?

“Yeshua turned around and saw them following. He said to them, “What are you looking for?” They said to Him, “Rabbi” (which is translated as Teacher), “where are you staying?”
(John 1:38 TLV)

The Modern King James Version indicates that He said, “what do you seek?” Whether Jesus rudely asked, “What are you looking for?” is irrelevant and improper because He would not have been blatantly rude. I find it easier to believe that He said, “what do you seek?” Both versions of the question are rather open-ended and could imply a variety of responses. What the Jews sought was Jesus, a rabbi that could and would teach them and lead them; regrettably, they did not fully realize that.

Just the day before, Jesus had been baptized by John and had not only the Holy Spirit come upon Him, but the Father acknowledged Him as the Son in whom He was well pleased. In a sense, we did not see Him leave.

Strangely, Matthew records this as though there is a precise chronological timeline.

“Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He then became hungry.”
(Matthew 4:1-2 NASB)

Where did John the baptizer do most of his baptizing?

“Now in those days John the Baptist *came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying,”
(Matthew 3:1 NASB)

It was south of Jerusalem and Bethlehem. That is approximately 87 long miles by foot between Capernaum and Judea. So Jesus did not make any overnight round trips between these two points.

It is Matthew that tells us that Jesus had just come from Galilee.

Then Jesus *arrived from Galilee at the Jordan, coming to John to be baptized by him.
(Matthew 3:13 NASB)

For them to ask Him where He was staying, especially when He doesn't live around the area, tends to indicate that they were looking for permanence in their relationship with Him.

“Come and see,” Yeshua tells them. So they came and saw where He was staying, and they spent that day with Him. It was about the tenth hour.”
(John 1:39 TLV)

The series, “The Chosen,” initiated their series with these very words, Come and See. Those words still ring true in contrast to I don't believe, well then, come and see.

The Lamb of God willingly proved who He was and still is today, consistent.

“Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, was one of the two who heard John speak and followed Yeshua.”
(John 1:40 TLV)

All this proves is that Andrew, the brother of Simon, the fisherman, became one of Jesus' first disciples based upon what he heard from Jesus and a drive to follow Him.

“First he finds his own brother Simon and tells him, “We’ve found the Messiah!” (which is translated Anointed One).”
(John 1:41 TLV)

So Andrew goes and finds his brother Simon. He tells him, “we have found the Messiah!” The Complete Jewish Bible states, (CJB)  "We've found the Mashiach!" (The word means "one who has been anointed.")

The word Mashiach is the Greek word Messias. It is a proper noun transliterated from the Hebrew term Māshı̄ach. It corresponds with the Greek word Christós. The words are meant to indicate a consecrated or anointed person. In ancient times not only the king, but also the priest and the prophet were consecrated to their calling by being anointed. In the OT, the word is used in its literal sense, meaning one who has been anointed. This understanding of the OT is the manner in which those hearing Andrew's exclamation would have been directed. [Word Study Dictionary]

“Andrew brought him to Jesus, who looked at him and said, “You are Simon, son of John. You will be called Cephas” (which is translated as Peter).”
(John 1:42 BSB)

In just a matter of hours, Peter is standing before Jesus/Yahshua.

Did he realize that this was the Mashiach that they longed for?

I doubt it, but then there was the Holy Spirit coming upon Jesus and that voice that called Him the beloved Son.

Nonetheless, Jesus, in the process of introducing Himself, immediately designates Peter as Cephas, or, as the Tree of Life version, which was written for Messianic church groups, indicates that Peter was to be called Kefa (which is translated as Peter).” We have been told over the years that this name applied to Peter, meaning the rock - an indication that he was to be solid, steadfast, and dependable.

If you watch The Chosen, they show Peter's frailties. While scripture does show us those things, it does show us Peter's reactionary actions in the garden when cutting off Malchus' ear, and we are shown his denial and how it affected Peter. After Jesus' death, Peter seems to have reverted back to being a fisherman, and a few others joined him. The fascinating end to this story was Jesus' way of handling Peter by calling him back into the game, eating lunch with the men, and directly reaffirming Peter, just as He does with us.