131 of the supposed prophecies on the list of 365 prophecies Jesus is said to have fulfilled -- or 36% of the entire list -- are taken from the chapter of Isaiah. Remarkable. 43 of them are all in chapter 53, but the other 88 are still garnered from Sefer (the book of) Isaiah. So far we've seen that many of the claims about Jesus are really about:
Today's claim falls into the 2nd category. This passage is about Isaiah himself. "The spirit of the L-rd G-d was upon me, since the L-rd anointed me to bring tidings to the humble, He sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to declare freedom for the captives, and for the prisoners to free from captivity. To declare a year of acceptance for the L-rd and a day of vengeance for our God, to console all mourners." Y'shayahu / Isaiah 61:1 - 2. Who is speaking? Isaiah. What does he say? "The spirit of the L-rd G-d was upon me." ME. Isaiah. Read Y'shayahu / Isaiah 61:. Read all of it. Isaiah tells his people (the Jews) that one day their exile will end. All good things come from G-d, and He made Isaiah His prophet to relay the message that the Jews will be exiled -- but that they will eventually be freed relates from the captivity. This did not happen with Jesus. 2000 years ago more Jews lived outside of Israel than in it -- many never returned from the Babylonian Exile. . . Within a hundred years of Jesus' death the Romans exiled the Jews -- an exile which still exists, even with the rebirth of Israel as a country after nearly 2000 years. . . Isaiah declares a year of redemption and a day of vengeance. He says that the Jewish mourners will be comforted and they will have glory instead of ashes, oil and praise. This is a reference to the national mourning mentioned in Y'shayahu / Isaiah 60:20: "Your sun shall no longer set, neither shall your moon be gathered in, for the L-rd shall be to you for an everlasting light, and the days of your mourning shall be completed." Jesus did not bring comfort to the mourning nation – he didn’t comfort “all mourners." Then Isaiah says that the nations will come to the Jews to learn of G-d -- Jews will be seen as priests and servants of G-d. Nations will bring tribute to the Temple. Instead of profound shame and disgrace, the Jews will have eternal joy. None of this happened with Jesus. What does it mean to have the spirit of G-d? There is no "holy spirit" or "holy ghost" in the sense of an entity -- a part of a trinity god. There is only one G-d (D’varim / Deuteronomy 6:4). The term "holy spirit" (in which "holy" is an adjective) never appears in the T'nach even once. The term does appear in Rabbinical writings -- but it is nothing like the Christian concept. In Judaism prophets communicate directly with G-d (through visions or dreams with the exception of Moses). They relay G-d's messages to the people of their generation. Someone influenced by G-d's spirit is relaying their own words and thoughts influenced by G-d. It is not direct communication as is prophecy. It is a lesser form of communing with G-d than prophecy. It would seem that this Christian “holy ghost” (“holy spirit” of the trinity) is based on a misuse of the Hebrew term Ruach HaKodesh (mistranslated as holy spirit) But Ruach HaKodesh doesn't mean "the holy spirit.” “Holy Spirit” would be הָרוּחַ הַקָּדוֹשׁ ha-ru'ah ha-kadosh (ha meaning “the”) or perhaps הָרוּחַ הַקְּדוֹשָׁה ha-ru'ah ha-k'doshah (because רוּחַ ruach can be both masculine & feminine – all nouns in Hebrew must be either male or female). קוֹדֶשׁ (kadosh) is a noun ("holiness" or "sanctity") and literally means to be separate. The term רוּחַ literally means “wind” and is the lowest level of the soul – the life force. רוּחַ הַקֹּדֶש / Ruach HaKodesh should be translated as "a spirit of [the] holiness" or "a spirit of [the] sanctity". Meaning it is a state of holiness in a human being, NOT a mythical G-d of spirit. Let me repeat that – it is a state of holiness in a human being, NOT a mythical spirit of G-d. So what does it mean? What is a state of holiness in a human being? Divine inspiration. One inspired by G-d. A state of being of a person. Inspiration being a level below communication with G-d (prophecy). Think of it as a kind of sub-prophecy or divinely-provided intuition. A state less than that of prophecy (direct communication from G-d). What of Matthew 3:16 - 17? It has Jesus being baptized and a "spirit" of G-d descending upon him. Matthew 3:16 - 17 does not mention anointing, and a good thing, too. To be a Jewish messiah requires a very special anointing which was never done to Jesus -- and to which he had no right (by virtue of his birth). Matthew 3:16 describes Jesus baptism -- not his anointing as a king. Baptizing does not equal messianic anointing. The fact that Matthew also says Jesus "saw" the holy spirit descending on him is meaningless -- G-d clearly states in Sh'mot / Exodus 30 that to be an anointed one (messiah) a very specific oil must be used and Matthew 3:16 never claims that this oil was used on Jesus. He was never anointed as a messiah. Yet another claim by the list maker which, upon reading the chapter, is easily disproved.
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