The Messianic Consciousness in Jewish Prophecy (XLV) Isaiah

“With my soul have I desired You in the night; yea, with my spirit within me have I sought You earnestly; for when Your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.” (26:9)

This verse is simultaneously a Love declaration and a prayer to God, out of the yearning of those who seek Him as the Source of our existence. This statement is the prelude to our Final Redemption, and the principle of the Messianic Consciousness. We recognize God as the Light for all that exists, and the purpose of all there is. Hence we seek Him in the darkness when His Presence is concealed. God is concealed when and where we don't let Him reveal to us. He does not conceal Himself from us. We conceal ourselves from Him, and the result is His concealment from us. We separate from Him, and our separation is the night from which we yearn to return to Him.

Our Sages say that the Soul God exhales in our bodies yearns to return to Him since the moment it enters the material world. We can understand the Soul in two ways. As our Essence and true identity or as a separate entity that keeps us alive as long as we are in our bodies. As a matter of fact, the Soul is both. Our Essence and identity as one keeps us alive either living in a physical body or not. We are Jewish Souls everywhere and anywhere we are or go. Therefore we are bound to God permanently, even when we choose to live in the darkness of ego's fantasies and illusions as the long night from which we yearn for Him. That is why without our Soul -- as the spirit God infused in us -- we can't call out to Him.

In darkness we realize that God is from where we come and to Whom we are going. Thus living in the night of darkness is a learning process to become aware of the goodness we are, and the goodness we are destined to be and do. Goodness is the purpose of His judgments, therefore we call for His ways and attributes as our Redemption from the vanities of ego's judgments that are the negative trends in consciousness, triggered by our own materialistic fantasies and illusions. As we open our eyes and take a look at God's Creation we can see His judgments in the earth as the ways with which He relates to His works: “The heavens proclaim His righteousness, and all peoples see His glory.” (Psalms 97:6).

All His ways are righteous, all of them are good: “The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes. The reverence of the Lord is pure, enduring forever. The decrees of the Lord are firm, and all of them together are righteous.” (19:8-9). Hence we learn righteousness from Him as the way out from the night, the place from where we call out to Him.

“Let favor be shown to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness; in the land of uprightness will he deal wrongfully, and will not behold the majesty of the Lord. Lord, Your hand was lifted up, yet they see not; they shall see with shame Your zeal for the people; yea, fire shall devour Your adversaries.” (Isaiah 26:10-11)

We have said that God proclaimed His Redemption long before we realize it. It has been there for us, and is a matter of choice from us. The Prophet reminds us again that the wicked can also redeem themselves if they make the choice. Goodness is a choice that has been always unconditionally available to us, always. Let's understand the unconditional quality of goodness as something that doesn't coexist with anything different from its ways and attributes. Goodness speaks to us like, “I am unconditionally available to you as long as you be and do goodness, and all that is part of my ways and attributes. And nothing different from them.” Then it's our choice.

Thus we assimilate that God's hand has been always lifted up, as His Love that is eternal. We just need to realize that and see it. Those who don't want to see represent not only the adversaries for those of us who seek goodness as God's hand and Love, but the negative trends in consciousness that keep us in the dark. Those adversaries are the enemies of Israel as the goodness God's zeal desires for the material world.

Every time we fall in the predicament of envy, coveting, lust, pride, indifference, indolence and cruelty we are ashamed at the zeal God has for goodness as the opposite of negative traits. Thus we understand that the fire that devours the opposite of goodness is goodness itself. The fire that devours God's adversaries [that which is opposite to His ways and attributes] is His goodness that is destined to prevail in all His Creation.

“Lord, You will establish peace for us; all that we have accomplished You have done for us. O Lord our God, other gods beside You have ruled over us, but Your Name alone do we honor.” (26:12-13)

Once we begin to recognize our Essence and true identity as the common bond with our Creator, we become aware of peace as the eternal Covenant with Him. All we are and do are possible through Him, for we emanate from His Love. Thus we realize that even we if choose ego's fantasies and illusions, and allow them to rule our life as the false gods we follow, we recognize that the Creator is God. We honor His Name as the goodness we come from, and the goodness we are destined to be and manifest.

The Messianic Consciousness in Jewish Prophecy (XLIV) Isaiah

“For in this mountain will the hand of the Lord rest, and Moab shall be trodden down in his place, even as straw is trodden down in the dunghill.” (25:10)

We have said that Jerusalem represents the awareness of God in our consciousness. Its holy mountain -- Zion -- and the Temple of Jerusalem both represent our permanent connection to the Creator, and neighboring nations as negative trends and traits. The last verse (Isaiah 25:9) quoted in our previous commentary refers to rejoicing in our Final Redemption, after the complete removal of evil from the face of the earth. The following verse cited above refers to the Final Redemption also as the permanent connection with God, as the mountain where His hand will rest. This in contrast to the high mountains of neighboring Moab that will be brought down.

As the Prophet reiterates, Moab represents haughtiness and arrogance. These negative traits are the false feelings of power and strength out of ego's desires to control and dominate all aspects of life. These, as well as other negative traits, are indeed high fortresses and strong walls in our consciousness that we can overcome only with God's compassion and loving kindness.

“And when he [Moab] shall spread forth his hands in the midst thereof, as he that swims spreads forth his hands to swim, his pride shall be brought down (made humble) together with the cunning of his hands. And the high fortress of your [Moab's] walls will He bring down (humble), lay low, and bring to the ground, even to the dust.” (25:11-12)

The Hebrew Prophets refers to the typical stubbornness of pride as the crown of our self-proclamation as gods in the unleashed fantasies and desires of ego's illusions. As we embrace God's decreed Redemption by enthroning Love's ways and attributes in all levels of consciousness, He makes us humble by bringing down our haughtiness.

Humbleness is the vessel where God bestows the total freedom He wants us to live without the burdens and chains of negative traits and trends that inflate ego's illusions of grandeur. There is a cunning quality in our pride that lure us to think, speak and act with strings attached. Arrogance and haughtiness as the ways and means that turn us into control freaks.

“In that day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah: 'We have a strong city, walls and bulwarks do He appoint for redemption'. Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation that keeps faithfulness may enter in.” (26:1-2)

God's ways and attributes are the strong cities, fortresses, walls and bulwarks He gives us to redeem ourselves from our own idols. The Prophet calls on the nations to re-direct their predicament into the goodness of Love's ways and attributes as the heralds of our Redemption. Israel is the righteous Nation as the bearer of the goodness God wants to make prevail in the material world. At the same time it is a call to our free will to lead us through Love's ways and attributes toward Jerusalem as the city where the Creator dwells permanently in us.

“The mind stayed on You, You kept [it] in perfect peace; because it trusted in You.” (26:3)

This verse reminds us that the choice is ours. As long as we keep our awareness focused and mindful of God's will for us, He gives us His Covenant of Peace. This mindfulness is the outcome of our trust in His compassion and loving kindness as the pillars of our Redemption.

“Trust ye in the Lord for ever, for the Lord is God, an everlasting Rock. For He has brought down them that dwell on high, the lofty city, laying it low, laying it low even to the ground, bringing it even to the dust.” (26:4-5)

We have mentioned many times that we are defenseless before our own addictions and attachments. Trusting God means to follow His ways and attributes, and make them the guide and direction to the goodness in life. The way out from our exile and captivity in ego's fantasies and illusions is changing the negative, stagnating and destructive ways in which our consciousness gets trapped. Trusting God is trusting the goodness He wants for us, the rock on which we remain firm toward the destiny He gives us as His people. The goodness of Love's ways and attributes bring down what denies our Essence and true identity. Thus humbleness and selflessness are the ground and the dust where only goodness exists.

“The foot shall tread it down, even the feet of the poor, and the steps of the needy. The way of the just is straight. You, Most Upright, makes plain the path of the just.” (26:6-7)

The feet take us to our destination, and even those who are not rich in Love's ways and attributes can also become aware of these as our path to return to God's Love. This is also the path of the just, straight directly back to our Creator, from Whom we came to exist. God's Love makes plain our way back to Him as we choose to discern, think, speak and do what is right and just.

“Yea, in the way of Your judgments, O Lord, have we waited for You; to Your Name and to Your memorial is the desire of our soul.” (26:8)

The Messianic Consciousness in Jewish Prophecy (XLIII) Isaiah

We must understand Jewish prophecy as something previously decreed by our Creator. Thus we grasp that the Shabbat was the first in the thought of God, and was the last in His Creation. The Shabbat already existed before all that is, as well as the Torah and Israel. Based on this principle our Sages say that God, the Torah, the Shabbat and Israel are One. Hence, as God announces His promises through His Prophets, these are already in motion. It means that they already exist in our consciousness. We just have to become aware of them. Thus we understand why the Prophet is delivering his messages in past tense.

We learn from this that in our connection and relationship with the Creator there is no time or space. All exists at the same time, and we have to assimilate this even if our consciousness is restricted by time and space. Time and space simultaneously combined are the context of life in the material world, and this does not mean we intrinsically belong to those restricting dimensions. Sooner or later we will become aware that our connection with the Creator, who is undefinable as unrestricted, also brings us to the realm where there is no time or space. Thus we understand transcendence, for transcendence is the context of our bond with God. At this point we realize that what truly transcends in our awareness of life in the material world is Love as our common bond with God.  

“He has swallowed up death for ever, and the Lord God has wiped away the tear from off all faces; and the reproach of His people He turned aside from off all the earth, for the Lord has spoken.” (Isaiah 25:8)

This verse makes us understand what we just indicated. This is the beginning to assimilate the meaning of our Final Redemption, and start living the Messianic Consciousness. This occurs as we also begin to remove the negative trends in consciousness, and the attachments, addictions, obsessions and patterns that keep us far and away from who we truly are. All these represents death or lead us to death, as the opposite of the goodness in life. Once we begin to recognize our Essence and true identity as the goodness that transcends time and space, we become immediately aware that death never existed. Tears (suffering), as the negative result of fantasies and illusions out of ego's beliefs and feelings of lack, are all removed as if they have never existed.

There is also something very important to reflect on this verse, for it refers to Israel as the chosen nation to represent and deliver the will of God for the material world. Israel will be finally recognized and acknowledge as what has been and is for the rest of the nations. All againstness, insult, mockery, humiliation, oppression and vilification as "reproach" of Israel will disappear from human consciousness. This means that humankind will begin to assimilate the goodness of Love's ways and attributes as the entire reason and purpose of God's will for life in the material world, as we know it and experience it. In this sense, as we have mentioned many times, Israel represents all the positive creative powers in human consciousness through God's Commandments in the Torah.

It is ironic that the fact that Israel has contributed more than any other nation to humankind is still denied in this world. It sounds like evil denying the good in goodness. Thus we understand the message of this verse as the end of evil in human consciousness. Once we remove all traces of negative trends in what we discern, think, feel, say and do, goodness takes over all facets and dimensions of life. This is our Final Redemption and the Messianic Consciousness. 

“And it shall be said in that day: 'Lo, this is our God, for whom we waited, that He might redeem us; this is the Lord for whom we waited, we will be glad and rejoice in His redemption'.” (25:9)

As we said above, our Redemption exists since the moment God created us and put us in the material world. He made us intrinsically good to be and do goodness, as the cause and effect of His Creation. In His eternal and unconditional Love, He endowed us with free will in order for us to use our discernment and common sense for choosing goodness as our Essence and true identity. God respects us as His creatures by giving us free choice. Hence He created darkness and evil as a reference for us to choose Light and goodness. All this doesn't contradict that goodness has been eternally available as it is for us. It is our decision to choose the goodness of Love's ways and attributes over the outcomes of ego's fantasies and illusions.

In this sense we understand these verse. We are the ones who wait to make our choice, not God. His Redemption has been around all the time, as the Prophet has indicated by referring to it in the past tense. We will begin to be glad and rejoice in this Redemption when we make the final and transcendent choice of permanently living in the goodness of Love's ways and attributes. We do that by enthroning goodness in every level and dimension of consciousness. Thus we live the Messianic Consciousness as an inheritance God already gave us even before He brought us to this material world.

The Messianic Consciousness in Jewish Prophecy (XLII) Isaiah

The Prophet predicts (chapters 20-23) the conquest of Egypt and Ethiopia by Assyria, refers to additional burdens by neighboring peoples, the fall of Jerusalem, and more burdens we relate to the negative trends in consciousness as well as destructive traits derived from ego's fantasies and illusions. Hence our Final Redemption from the Creator implies a total transformation towards the awakening of the Messianic Consciousness.

“Behold, the Lord makes the earth empty and makes it waste, and turns it upside down, and scatters abroad the inhabitants thereof. (...) The earth shall be utterly emptied, and clean despoiled; for the Lord has spoken this word.” (Isaiah 24:1, 3)

We reiterate again that God's plan for us is not about a vicious circle where suffering, pain, deception, oppression, hatred, anger, and violence repeat themselves endlessly. The only reason for this predicament is to learn from it, not to live for it. Indeed the choice to change the course is also only ours. We are destined to either drown together or emerge as one united human consciousness. Our Prophets clearly tell us that if we don't redeem ourselves together, our Creator will. They also indicate repeatedly that He will transform our consciousness after removing all traces of negative patterns and vicious circles.

“The earth fainted and fades away, the world fails and fades away, the lofty people of the earth do fail. The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof, because they have transgressed the laws, violated the statute, broken the everlasting Covenant.” (24:4-5, 6-13)

Choosing time and again living in our negative predicament means destroying goodness as the common bond with our Creator. We deny and reject goodness when we transgress the guidelines and ground rules of goodness as the material manifestation of the major goodness coming from God. In this sense we assimilate that our Covenant with Him is goodness as what we essentially are, and also destined to make prevail in life.

“Those yonder lift up their voice, they sing for joy; for the majesty of the Lord they shout from the sea: 'Therefore glorify ye the Lord in the regions of Light, even the Name of the Lord, the God of Israel, in the isles of the sea'.” (24:14-15)

Light is the symbolic paradigm for the goodness of Love's ways and attributes. In the domains of Light we glorify the goodness of our Creator. We proclaim His majesty as His Love from the awareness of our Essence and true identity. These are the sea from where we acknowledge the Source of all that is. These are part of the islands that belong to the positive trends in consciousness.

The chapter ends with more allegories and metaphors as admonitions regarding the imminent change of consciousness that precedes our Final Redemption. The following chapter begins with the acknowledgment that from the loving kindness of our Creator we come, and He is also our Redeemer. 

“O Lord, You are my God, I will exalt You, I will praise Your Name, for You have done wonderful things; even counsels of old, in faithfulness and truth.” (25:1)

Let's also be aware that our Final Redemption depends from us, too. Through free will we separate from the goodness of Love's ways and attributes, and through free will we must return to them.

“For You have been a stronghold to the poor, a stronghold to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat; for the blast of the terrible ones was as a storm against the wall.” (25:4)

We must return to the permanent awareness of our eternal bond with God, which is our land, Jerusalem, Zion as the mountain we conceive as the time and place of all goodness. This is the constant happiness in the awareness that our Love and God's Love are united. This permanent connection is our Essence and true identity, as the cause and purpose of life in the material world.

“And in this mountain will the Lord of hosts make unto all peoples a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined.” (25:6)

In this sublime awareness anything other than the goodness of Love's ways and attributes is removed.

“And He will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering that is cast over all peoples, and the veil that is spread over all nations.” (25:7-8)