Continued from Chapter 12
(Deuteronomy 13:2-4)
The New Testament claim that Jesus performed miracles is one more exaggeration on the part of early Christians seeking to impress would-be converts. But the assertion that Jesus performed miracles is irrelevant as far as proving anything concerning his being the Messiah.
Deuteronomy 13:2-4 declares:
If there arise in the midst of you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams and he gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spoke to you saying: “Let us go after other gods, which you have not known, and let us serve them”; you shall not listen to the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams; for the Lord your God puts you to proof, to know whether you do love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.”
Jesus did not fulfill any biblical messianic expectations during his lifetime. So-called “fulfillments” are the result of inserting stories into the Jesus myth that would appear to be fulfillments of biblical passages. But, the fraudulent nature of this usage is readily seen. He was neither the singular ruler promised nor did he exercise any real authority. Ezekiel declares: “And David My servant shall be king over them; and they all shall have one shepherd … and My servant David shall be their prince forever” (Ezekiel 37:24-25). Jesus also did not fulfill the prophecies which speak of the benefits the people of Israel were to enjoy under the Messiah’s rule and leadership (e.g., Ezekiel 34:25-31, 37:21-28; Isaiah 11; Jeremiah 23:6, 30:10-11). The prophecies concerning the Messiah and the benefits of his rule over Israel each form an integral unit. One cannot fragment them in order to proclaim limited fulfillment of prophecy during Jesus’ lifetime and to rationalize that the remaining fragments will be fulfilled during a second appearance. There was a total lack of fulfillment by Jesus of these messianic prophecies. Christians wait in vain for an expected fulfillment of messianic prophecies during a so-called “second coming” of Jesus.
According to New Testament calculations, their count is off. Their hope would have to refer to a third coming. The first coming would cover the period prior to Jesus’ death and the second coming would span the period from his alleged resurrection to his alleged ascension said to be forty days later. A third coming was to occur speedily within the lifetime of his contemporaries, but it never happened. What the historical Jesus actually believed or did is an unknown. All that we know of “Jesus” is what the authors of the New Testament wrote about him. Even if it were true that the New Testament’s Jesus performed miracles Deuteronomy 13:2-4 warns against following him. He is depicted (especially by Paul, the author of Hebrews, the Gospel of John and Revelation) as a sinless angelic being, a demi-god.
In the New Testament the character of Jesus is transformed into a god-like being ̶ ̶ the very thing Deuteronomy 13:2-4 warns us against. A careful study of the Gospels reveals that this New Testament Jesus is a fictional character, a false prophet and a dreamer of false dreams. But, on further reflection we realize that the Gospel’s Jesus did fulfill one prophecy found in the Jewish Scriptures: That fictional Jesus was a false prophet and all that went with it.
Continued