Articles of Faith | CafeLogos.org
Moses Maimonides was a mediaeval scholar and Rabbi who is highly revered by the Jews. In his book, “Ordinances of the Kings,” he discusses the messiah. Included in his description, he says that the messiah will teach the Torah. He will reinstate and enforce even the most severe punishments in the law of Moses. He will write laws of his own and the people will be forced to observe them. He will begin the “Milhemet Mitsvah,” the war of ordinances; then the dominating powers will be overthrown, eliminating his opposition and he will rebuild the temple.
Maimonides, the Messiah and the Antichrist
Any serious student of the Bible can easily recognize that this description sounds more like a description of the antichrist, then a benevolent messiah.
Reinstating the harshest punishments of the law of Moses would include stoning to death any adulterers and even rebellious teenagers. In some Muslim countries today, adultery is punished by stoning, as much of the Koran is based on the Torah.
People will be forced to obey laws he invents. In the book of Revelation’s thirteenth chapter, we are shown that the antichrist forces people to take a mark, and if that mark is not taken, the people will not be able to buy or sell. God warns us that anyone who takes that mark will be rejected by Him and suffer the devastating consequences of that rejection. (Revelation 14:9,10)
God says there will be a time when He will raise up a merciless shepherd as a punishment for His people who have not obeyed Him.
For, lo, I will raise up a shepherd in the land, which shall not visit those that be cut off, neither shall seek the young one, nor heal that is broken, nor feed that stands still: but he shall eat the flesh of the fat, and tear their claws in pieces.” (Zechariah 11:16)
This prophecy correlates with Daniel’s vision of the antichrist in Daniel 11:36-45.
Maimonides rejected Jesus as the messiah and saw Him and Mohammad as forerunners to what he envisioned would be the real messiah. Therefore he was inadvertently setting up his people for a massive deception.
In Daniel’s prophecy of the seventy weeks located in chapter nine, he shows us in verse 26, that the Messiah (Anointed One) will be killed but not for Himself. Jesus was killed as prophesied in Isaiah 53: 8, for the sins of Isaiah’s people, the Jews. This is the interpretation that was taught by the Rabbis before it was changed by Rashi because so many Jews were coming to Jesus through Isaiah’s prophecy.
After the messiah is killed, “The people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary.” Forty years after Jesus was crucified for the sins of the people, Jerusalem and the temple was destroyed by the Roman Titus’ army in 70AD.
During the entire forty year period leading up to the temple’s destruction, the signs that the priests relied on to tell them that God had accepted their sacrifices had ceased. Jesus was ordained to be the final sacrifice for sin, thus God was telling the religious leadership that their sacrifices were no longer needed and would not be accepted.
Jesus was killed prior to the temple’s destruction, precisely fulfilling Daniel’s prophecy. He is the only Anointed One that raised the dead, something only God can do - give life; and He healed the blind. That is another fulfillment of prophecy that identifies Him as the messiah (Isaiah 42:7). David said that God heals the blind (Psalm 146:8). There is no record in the Old Testament of God healing anyone who is blind, only in the New Covenant through Jesus.
After Jesus’ death, there is no other beneficial messiah appearing in scripture up to the judgment. Therefore the scenario surrounding Maimonides’ messianic portrait is condensed to the time frame that showcases the arrival and reign of the antichrist, and the fulfillment of Zechariah’s prophecy of the merciless shepherd.
Getting back to Daniel 9:26, we were shown that the “prince that shall come” (the antichrist) arises from the people who destroyed Jerusalem and the sanctuary in 70 AD. This leaves two options. The antichrist could be a European, or as the Romans recruited many Arabs into their armies, he could be an apostate Muslim from a European organization. Titus did not want to destroy the temple, but the Arabs would not stop when they were commanded and destroyed the sanctuary fulfilling Daniel’s prophecy.
The prince that is to come “confirms the covenant with many for one week; and in the midst of the week he causes the sacrifice and the oblation to cease.” (Daniel 9:27)
Many interpret this to mean that he will rebuild the temple, reinstate the sacrifices and appear benevolent to the Jews. But he is the antiCHRIST, which means he opposes Christianity and most likely will use the Jews to persecute Christians. The reference to stopping the sacrifices could mean symbolically that He stops belief in the atonement of Jesus, replacing it with another version that cannot save. Halfway through the prophetic week, he turns on the Jews. Then coordinating the relating texts and prophecies, he declares himself as God, and demands to be worshipped. That is the “abomination that makes desolate” (Matthew 24:15, Daniel 9:27) which triggers another attack on Jerusalem before Jesus returns (Matthew 24:21,22, Daniel 12:1).
Because the Jews have permitted themselves to be deceived by leadership that has preferred to follow Maimonides above God’s prophets and evangelists, they must endure the deception which results in a second captivity during the tribulation prophesied in Zechariah 14:1,2, prior to Jesus’ second coming.
As we look at the situation in Israel today, the Jews are standing on perilous ground. The conditions that God has set forth for them in order to keep their land have not been met, thus opening the door for their deception and second captivity.
Those who profess a love for Israel, need to pray that her current leadership proceeds with wisdom and humility in the coming days, as the world teeters with her on the brink of unfolding prophecy, beneath the impending black clouds of disaster.
Copyright 2024 by H.D. Shively