They Followed The Stars And Found The Tree Of Life: Part 3
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| What seems unclear from a distance, now becoming evidently clearer. |
Some aspects of scholarship's methodology regarding how things developed in the past, whether political or religious or culturally, are sometimes mentioned in a very narrow view, I think.
Meaning: some minds isolate ideas to one people, or place, or purpose.
The aim to explain any given thing or idea linearly seems logical enough, but that effort can be shortsighted.
There is a concept that depicts realities appearing on earth not in a linear form, but rather in ways spontaneous or somehow indescribable.
In scientific terms, this reality is called 'multiple discovery'.
Putting things in a box, instead of taking a wider and prescient view, should be avoided... especially when it comes to thoughts about God.
Does God work in a vacuum, or is God limited in any way?
In Part 2 we saw how God worked through and spoke to men who were supposedly 'outside' of the relationship God had established with ancient Israel.
There have been others who have experienced God and learned about Him.
Those people have likely enriched their communities in ways God determined and purposed.
Although God is evidenced as having worked through some people, it is their messages and their fruits that usually determine if it was in fact the God of Abraham who spoke, or if things were invented or simply dreamt up.
The point is to consider if a message agrees with, or compliments, or instead contradicts the collective messages of God.
According to events of the past (last 20 or so centuries), the case for Christ has been historically determined as valid.
This is why we can learn what God exemplified with Job and Balaam (and several others mentioned in the Bible), because those testimonies are reflected upon what had already been deterring to be from God (the Law of Moses, and the testimony of the Prophets).
These examples may teach us to consider other ideas and measure their messages for validity or a lack thereof.
Someone reading this may argue that the author may assume the Bible to be true or factually proven as such, and thus this article expresses a biased and centric argument.
What needs to be considered is the prescient quality of the Bible, and also how other prescient narratives have been not only included in the Bible, but recognizes as having their own prescient qualities complimenting the Bible's message.
One mention of a biblical prescient claim is the following:
In my vision at night I looked,
and there before me was one like a Son of Man,
coming with the clouds of heaven.
He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into His Presence.
He was given authority,
glory and sovereign power;
all nations and peoples of every language worshiped Him.
His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away,
and His kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.
- Daniel 7: 13-14 (~6th century BC)Although not all Hebrews / Jews at the time of Yeshua believed Him to have been the 'Son of Man' depicted in his passage, many Hebrews / Jews did understand this passage defined Messiah.
The message in this short passage has been notably expanded in such a way, that peoples of every language and of all nations have believed the Messiah, and have worshipped Him as God.
People of all backgrounds and places Today believe Yeshua was the Presence of God that appeared on earth in the form of this 'Son of Man'.
Yeshua is quoted as claiming to be the 'Son of Man' and echoing Daniel's testimony from several centuries earlier:
Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee,
to the mountain where Yeshua had told them to go.
When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted.
Then Yeshua came to them and said,
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me.
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.
And surely I Am with you always,
to the very end of the age.”
- Matthew 28: 16-20 (1st century AD)This is an example of one prescient quality of very many depicted in the Bible.
Accepting what compliments, rejecting what obviously contradicts.
The Zoroastrian religious narrative has a concept of 'messiah'.
We read a testimony of some Magi (believed to come from Persian influenced regions beholden to that religion) coming to worship the King of the Jews.
Here is found a link between the Zoroastrian depiction of messiah and the Hebrew definition and revelation of that Messiah.
In this way a message, in whole or in part (as pertaining to Zoroastrianism in this case), can be acknowledged as something God did in fact reveal to someone in Persia... or was retained by someone in Persia for reasons greater than religious preference.
As exemplified with Balaam and Job and others, it matters less if a message came from an ethnic Israelite or even a part of that community, but rather if the message was valid.
In the age of Christ, a similar litmus test can determine prophetic messages from hollow attempts of the deceived and those wishing to deceive.
The aim is to find if a particular message can be found agreeable with previous testimonies... case in point the testimony of Christ as the Lord thy God revealed unto mankind (what the Magi recognized from afar).
As to whether or not someone was a 'prophet' is besides the point of what their message says.
Another case in point is when Peter had a dream that rendered a spiritual message pertaining to one thing (food).
Upon further inspection, a greater and more important lesson was shown to him.
This very lesson is premised in this article:
Then Peter began to speak:
“I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts from every nation the one who fears Him and does what is right.
You know the message God sent to the people of Israel,
announcing the good news of peace through Yeshua Christ, who is Lord of all.
You know what has happened throughout the province of Judea,
beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached—
how God anointed Yeshua of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power,
and how He went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil,
because God was with Him.
- Acts 10: 34-38That portion from Acts 10 is part of the conversion of Cornelius, a Gentile who had heard about the Israelite testimonies of One who would be called Messiah.
This Cornelius believed in the God of Israel and had placed his hope in Him.
His prayers were eventually answered in the most amazing way.
The premise of this article series is to highlight how messages from God have found their way further than the close neighbors of ancient Israel.
Thus it should be no surprise to find how far and wide God's testimony has traversed the earth.
In the case of the Magi, the message of a messiah went as far as ancient Persia.
And whether or not it was through a person named Zoroaster this message and promise of a messiah, is second to the fact of the message itself.
Since the Magi were concerned with the details of their religion (stars), God used something that they were focused on (yet forbidden to Israel) to bring about what God had intended for them to do.
This is how we can discern one thing from another, and not simply dismiss an entire culture, or people, or religious concept when some details affirm God's testimony.
Don't throw out the baby along with the bathwater.
Much how God intended for Balaam to proclaim a blessing over Israel instead of a curse, and Balaam's religious practices not being mentioned, when we consider all things we can learn what God intended for us to learn.
Much how God intended to teach us Today some very intricate details about what goes on in the heavenly realms through Job, and how a man called Job was the most righteous man of his day, Job's religious practices were not mentioned and thus were less important than God's teaching.
When considering all things, odd religious practices and peculiar cultural constants are eventually identified as less important than God's testimony.
This is why wherever one goes and finds people who proclaim Yeshua as the Lord their God, they may have a variety of religious customs, but the overriding (and most important) fact is their faith in the risen Lord.
This is how God has reached not only us, but every other human being on earth.
This being stated, let us also realize not every message from a man claiming to know God... is actually from God.
Nor is every sign or miracle an affirmation of any given message's validity.
Good works (and miracles) can be evidenced, while a denial of Yeshua as Lord can be recognized.
Accept the good while identifying, whenever possible, the bad.
Look among the bad to notice the good.
This is why, for Today (the present time and for tomorrow), it is warned that a sign or miracle is not an affirmation of a message being true.
However, it is sad that some believers do not believe God still moves in miraculous and wondrous ways.
Instead of fanning the flames of the faith, they have narrowed their faith to biblical warfare instead of walking by faith in following the Word of God.
For people who have made, or currently make, a great noise about themselves or their message, consider the following:
Yeshua answered:
“Watch out that no one deceives you.
For many will come in My Name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. ...
... For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive,
if possible, even the elect.
See, I have told you ahead of time.”
- Matthew 24: 4-5, 24-25Plenty of false prophets and false messiahs have appeared since Christ.
Plenty of people have offered a method to salvation, or a teaching about God that is variant to Salvation Himself (Yeshua means 'God saves / rescues') and have clouded the representation of God on earth (Messiah).
As Peter stated, it is about 'fearing God and doing what is right' that is a basic for all mankind to consider for themselves.
Once the testimony is Voiced that God has appeared on earth as Savior, Messiah, Wonderful Counselor, and Prince of Peace, then other methods to salvation, prophetic claims contradicting Christ, the description of God in a contradictory manner to Christ, or hostilities argued as methods of peace, are recognized as null and void.
Such things, no matter how religiously thick they are with sentiment, when lacking love they are seen as lacking God.
Focusing on the message, and not the personality, is the point of discernment.
There have been people whose names are considered 'praiseworthy', yet their testimony and actions have been shown to be anything but praiseworthy.
There have been dreamers whose names are attached to confessions of God... yet they deny Yeshua as being the 'Son of God' (God on earth).
Such as these were already warned about:
Whoever speaks on their own does so to gain personal glory,
but he who seeks the glory of the One who sent Him is a Man of Truth;
there is nothing false about Him.
- John 7: 18Here Christ clarifies how imposters are motivated by personal glory.
If any human being is honest with themselves and confesses the secrets of their hearts and minds, they would confess such a pride.
A pride to 'be someone' and be honored in some way.
When it comes to religious ideas, some religiously proud people can be the most dangerous.
I've seen plenty of Christians thinking they are acting faithfully and speaking rigihtousnessly, but they are void of love, patience, kindness, and are merely puffed up with biblical verses but haven't a clue His Word is not leading them.
I don't need to mention other religious ideologies that also promote such arrogance and pride as 'truth' or a form of legitimacy for their anxious boasting.
Personal glory is usually seen as amassing material wealth, and / or being honored by men, and / or wielding power through military, religious, and / or political means.
In the Age of Christ, all temporal power is granted from God to men according to His will, not the will of men.
Then Magi recognized the King of Jews to be God, and they worshipped Him.
The man truly blessed by God need not strive against others to achieve anything when it is God who grants, by right, positions of temporal power.
This is why, through peace and the rule of law a government has been built on the shoulders of Messiah.
It is this manner, according to the kingdom established in the Messiah's Holy Name, men rise to power not through force, but according to the rule of law and submission to God in all things.
Those who have hijacked religion to forward their prowess can often times, historically speaking, be identified as mere imposters (regardless of their religious practices or their words, for actions speak what words may attempt to excuse).
In places where peace is promoted or perceived to be preached, notice how leadership or power transfers usually include blood-spilling, showing evidence that 'peace' is less than the evidence of those seeking personal glory, or to glorify imposters touted as prophets.
Consider how the depiction of a messiah was found in Zoroastrian sources, and how such a depiction compliments those understood from the Law, Prophets, and Gospel.
Pertinent compliments from Zoroastrianism's messianic message is, in summary:
... thirty years before a decisive final battle between good and evil, a maiden / virgin named Victorious Helper / Body-Maker… and sitting in the water will receive victorious knowledge… and after giving birth to a son, this son’s body will be sun-like, and this son will be considered royal glory, and a mystical force will be with him.
- the Saoshyant’s (messiah’s) conception and early life, from Denkard 7.10.15 (my emphasis in italics)To briefly highlight the complimentary message in that summary, I'll add [in brackets] the testimony from according to Christ.
... thirty years [Yeshua was about 30 years when beginning His earthly ministry]
before a decisive final battle
between good and evil,
a maiden / virgin
named Victorious Helper / Body-Maker
and sitting in the water
will receive victorious knowledge…
and after giving birth to a son,
this son’s body will be sun-like,
and this son will be considered royal glory,
and a mystical force will be with him.Keep in mind this Zoroastrian summary is considered a 10th century AD summation of themes found in texts dating back to the BC era (early Zoroastrian and before Christ appearing).
Someone reading this article series may criticize the manner I personally interpret one religious ideology into another one.
I would simply state this: who is considered throughout the world as Messiah, and to whom is that title attributed?
And this is asked not to argue that popularity 'wins' a claim.
Rather, consider how the Zoroastrianism messiah concept may not claim a Zoroastrian identity.
However, the Messiah of the Bible is one who has encompassed all identities on earth... including that of the Magi and perhaps many Persians in their time, and many Persians since.
This notoriety is what the Zoroastrian message describes.
The message is ubiquitous in nature and thus acknowledges the acceptance of Yeshua as that Messiah.
The message of the Bible is also ubiquitous, not only for those of a particular heritage or lineage, but for all mankind.
Messages never change despite the languages used to convey them.
A message originally conveyed through a single human language can resound throughout the world through a variety of human languages and a variety of human ways.
The searching of the stars for spiritual insight was a very human effort, and God used that effort (although outlawed for Israel) to bring Himself glory when revealing His glory on earth.
Over time, languages come and go... but as this article points out, messages are eternal.
Prophecy, spread by word of mouth, can turn into what people call 'legend' and 'lore' when crossing over cultural and religious and political boundaries.
To a mind hearing such a message from far away, the message may sound fantastic and akin to a 'legend'.
Yet the message is transferred despite contesting opinions about it... and the message can be considered regardless of opinion or human source.
Later, when another message is conveyed (whether a few hundred or thousands of years later), a prophecy previously mentioned may find its fulfillment finalized.
By the time the Israelites were taken in droves into exile in Assyria (740 BC) and Babylon (605 BC), portions of their legacy may have preceded them.
Jonah was sent to Nineveh (modern northern Iraq - in Jonah's time Assyria), and that event was noticed at that time and throughout surrounding areas. (800 BC)
Previously when Solomon inherited the kingdom from David, that kingdom found its mention in neighboring (Egyptian) historical records. (1200 BC)
This is how legacies, no matter how they are perceived by those outside, are conveyed.
In due time, secular minds and methods may better connect factual realities to supposed 'legends'.
The timing of ancient writings are rarely accurately defined, but given a range of years according to various methods.
In due time dates and times may be narrowed and counted more accurately.
Language, use of certain terms within a language, and how any given message finds its replication in another language, is quite interesting.
Notice how Sumerian (a language dissimilar to any other language) eventually blended with Akkadian (a Semitic language dating to the 30th century BC).
It is possible Abraham spoke a version, or blend, of one or both of these languages.
Languages come and gone, but the messages and ideas conveyed in them pass into other languages.
A message can persist despite the language a message was originally spoken having disappeared.
Latin is an example of a language that has been retired from history in terms of it not being spoken widely by many people anymore.
However, there are a variety of descendent languages derived from Latin (the 'romance' languages).
What was learned and taught in Latin (from Cicero, for example), and the many messages conveyed through Latin, have continued into the modern era in many modern languages.
Cicero has influenced the world through a particular style of writing first captured in Latin, his domestic language.
Cicero's messages, as those of Balaam and Job, and perhaps the acknowledgement of the Messiah we have come to worship being also mentioned in the Zoroastrian religion, continue despite the past being not as clear as we'd like it to be.
The issue is less about the originating languages, but rather the messages past languages and peoples have forwarded.
To be continued...
Read Part 1.
Read Part 2.
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