The Messianic Consciousness in Jewish Prophecy (LXXII) Isaiah

"Hear ye this, O house of Jacob, who are called by the name of Israel, and are come forth out of the fountain of Judah; who swear by the Name of the Lord and make mention of the God of Israel, but not in truth, nor in righteousness. For they call themselves of the holy city, and stay themselves upon the God of Israel, the Lord of hosts is His Name." (Isaiah 48:1-2)

The Creator rebukes again Israel's reluctance to fulfill their part of the Covenant, which is to reveal God's Presence in the material world. The Torah commands us to do it by making truth and righteousness rule as the heralds of God's ways and attributes. God's call is for Israel and not for other nations, for Israel represents the creative potential of goodness in human consciousness. If Israel doesn't comply, there is no Final Redemption or Messianic Era.

"Because I knew that you are obstinate, and your neck is an iron sinew, and your brow brass. Therefore I have declared it to you from of old. Before it came to pass I announced it to you, lest you say: 'Mine idol has done them, and my graven image, and my molten image, has commanded them'." (48:3-4)

It is either ego's materialistic fantasies and illusions with negative traits and trends in consciousness or God's ways, attributes and Commandments to fulfill our mission in the material world. The egocentric mentality is obstinate by definition, as well as addictive to its destructive predicament. Hence we end up blaming our negative actions and their consequences to our fantasies and illusions as the idols we have created, and to which we become servants.

"You have heard, see, all this; and ye, will ye not declare it? I have announced onto you new things from this time, even hidden things, which you have not known." (48:5-6)

We have heard it from God through the Torah and His Prophets, yet we don't acknowledge it or proclaim it. This means that, even if we admit God's Final Redemption we refuse to accept it. We don't even recognize the good things it brings that have been concealed by God, until we begin to believe in them and embrace them. We rather keep living the fantasies and illusions that make us live a meaningless and not transcendental life, making us live in order to die. God has plans for us in His promised Messianic Era to reveal hidden things we are destined to know in order to live with a new consciousness. It manifests itself only with positive choices for positive ends that we will be able to know only when we remove the negative traits and trends that have controlled our lives thus far.

God continues confronting the children of Israel for ignoring not only God's Covenant but also their Essence and identity, calling us traitors. In spite of our predicament, He reaffirms His Love for us (48:9). He also reminds us that we have learned very little from the suffering in our exiles He calls "the crucible of affliction". God wants us to honor Him by choosing His ways.

"Hearken unto Me, O Jacob, and Israel My called: I am He, I am the first, I also am the last." (48:12)

The Creator again reiterates His absolute control over His Creation, reminding us that only His will is what matters (48:13-21). Hence our duty is to know His ways and attributes as our reason and purpose in life (48:18).

"There is no peace, says the Lord concerning the wicked." (48:22)

We have referred to the meanings of peace in our consciousness, as totality, completion and harmony that we can only achieve in our connection with God. Evil, wickedness and negativity are traits that oppose goodness as our common bond with God. Hence as long as we live by and for ego's fantasies and illusions, as well as negative traits and trends, we won't have the completion and wholesomeness of living in God's ways and attributes. In this context, Love's ways and attributes as the material manifestation of God's Love are the redeeming qualities we must enthrone in every aspect and dimension of consciousness to enter the Final Redemption, and to begin knowing what God's Love is about.

The Messianic Consciousness in Jewish Prophecy (LXXI) Isaiah

“Bel bowed down, Nebo stooped. Their idols are upon the beasts, and upon the cattle; the things that ye carried about are made a load, a burden to the weary beast. They stoop, they bow down together, they could not deliver the burden; and themselves are gone into captivity.” (Isaiah 46:1-2)

Idols as ego's fantasies and illusions are indeed burdens we carry at the expense of the vitality and strength of life, which in the Prophet's metaphors are symbolized by cattle. God didn't create our life as a beast of burden to carry idols heavy to bear. Hence we can't deliver burdens we don't need, which also keep us in captivity. There is no freedom with burdens that separate us from our Essence and true identity.

“Hearken unto Me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, that are borne [by Me] from the birth, that are carried from the womb. Even to old age I am the same, and even in your old age will I carry you. I have made [you], and I will bear [you]. Yea, I will carry [you], and I will redeem [you].” (46:3-4)

It seems we doubt not only our Creator's power and dominion over His Creation, but also His loving kindness with which He sustains it. We resist His Love when He calls us time and again to return to His ways and attributes. He clearly tells us that we are part of Him, for He carried us from the womb. We are His children He loves by making us, holding us, carrying us, and redeeming us, in spite of our choice to separate from Him. This is the greatest Love of all!

The Prophet continues quoting God (46:5-9) reiterating again His dominion over all His Creation, to make us aware of the futility in making gods of gold and silver. These are the idols we depend on that will never deliver us from addictions, attachments and obsessions we have for them. God points out ego's fantasies and illusions as the transgressions that separate us from Him, and also reminds us that He is the cause and purpose of all that is:

“I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like Me. Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done, saying: 'My counsel shall stand, and all My pleasure will I do'.” (46:9-11)

This statement must resound in every dimension of consciousness, for the reason, cause and purpose of all that exists is God. Everything else is the illusion we create out of His Creation. Hence “there is none else” and “none like God”. The Torah is His instruction for us to be, have and do within the limits of our wisdom, understanding and knowledge, for us to become aware in the material world of our Essence and true identity. The Torah is God's counsel that shall stand according to His will.

In this awareness we must understand and manifest our connection and relationship with the Creator. Thus we dissipate the clouds of our materialistic fantasies and illusions, and begin to live under the clear skies of righteousness as the cause and effect of Love's ways and attributes as the goodness God wants us to make prevail in the world. This is the nearness to His righteousness that is not far off our consciousness, for we already know what goodness is.

“Hearken unto Me, ye stout-hearted, that are far from righteousness. I bring near My righteousness, it shall not be far off, and My redemption shall not tarry. And I will place redemption in Zion for Israel My glory.” (46:12-13)

Thus we realize that goodness is our Redemption. We redeem ourselves with the goodness from which God's Love created us, and this awareness is Zion as the permanent connection to Him. In Zion we honor and glorify God, for we are the goodness with which we glory Him.

The Messianic Consciousness in Jewish Prophecy (LXX) Isaiah

The Creator continues proclaiming His absolute domain over His Creation (chapters 45 and 46). He calls the king of Persia His servant, for everyone and everything serve His will.

“For the sake of Jacob My servant, and Israel Mine elect. I also call you [Cyrus] by your name, I surname you though you have not known Me.” (Isaiah 45:4)

In this verse we learn again that anything that happens in the world is directly related to Israel. Whatever the nations and their rulers do is related to Israel's presence and mission according to God's will. He decreed Israel's liberation and return to the Promised Land after the exile in Babylon, occupied by Persia under the rule of Cyrus.

“I am the Lord and there is none else, besides Me there is no God. I gird you [Cyrus], though you have not known Me. That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside Me. I am the Lord and there is none else.” (45:5-6)

The Creator again reminds us that His will is fulfilled by everyone, including those who don't believe in Him or know Him. The general assumption of ego's fantasies and illusions is that all we create or do come from our brains, forgetting that God put in us the brains and all we are, have and do. This is probably the principle most difficult to accept and assimilate for the sense of individuality known as ego. Even the most depraved and abject among us are also fulfilling God's will. This generates one of the controversial debates around God and His Creation, for if He wants goodness to prevail there is apparently no need for evil. Thus we realize that evil and wickedness exist as references for us to know and choose goodness.

Thus we assimilate the Torah's essential purpose to teach us that God created us to be ethical and moral human beings. Hence we have laws and rules to make goodness as the justice we want to make prevail. This makes us reject all that undermines and despises the goodness in life as commanded in the Torah for the children of Israel, who have the mission to propagate this principle among the nations.

Once all humankind integrates goodness individually and collectively in all aspects and dimensions of life, we all will enter the culmination of God's plan that is the Messianic Era. Then we will know that “(...) there is none besides Me. I am the Lord and there is none else”. Then we will be able to learn the goodness from where we came, which is God's Love that is eternal.

Thus we realize that all these years living in the darkness of evil traits and trends have been the learning process to fully know and appreciate the goodness of Love's traits and trends. These are the true bond and connection with our Creator. This teaches us to help each other, care for each other, and uplift each other by eradicating evil from the face of the earth. We do it individually and collectively. We can't wipe out negativity outside if we don't do it first inside of us.

“Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness. Let the earth open, that they may bring forth redemption, and let her cause righteousness to spring up together, [for] I the Lord have created it.” (45:8)

Redemption comes from “above” and righteousness is its way. Let's grasp this with a multidimensional approach, for in our highest level of consciousness we know that Love rules as righteousness. This is our heavens and skies from which we are above the lower traits and trends where ego's fantasies and illusions keep us captive. Hence we have to open the earth as life with all its facets to the goodness we want to live and enjoy.

Thus we bring Redemption to our individual and collective selves. This also means that both righteousness from above and bellow spring up together, for they have a common bond. This bond is God's Love that has created our Redemption. We just have to start embracing goodness as our Redemption, for it is the beginning of the final and eternal stage in God's plan for His Creation.

God reminds us again that our captivity in ego's fantasies and illusions derived from these as the idols we worship. There are two references to this (45:16, 45:20) in the context of our Redemption, to also remind us that God is our only Redeemer. From God we live and justify our existence.

“In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glorify.” (45:25)

The Messianic Consciousness in Jewish Prophecy (LXIX) Isaiah

In chapter 44 of his messages (verses 1-20), Isaiah the Prophet quotes the Creator telling more reminders and warnings against idolatry as the primary cause of failures in human consciousness. Hence the unavoidable separation from His ways and attributes that constitute our permanent connection with Him. In this context we understand that we are His servants, for we serve a purpose in His Creation.

“Remember these things, O Jacob, and Israel, for you are My servant. I have formed you, you are My own servant, O Israel. Do not forget Me. I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, your transgressions; and, as a cloud, your sins. Return to Me, for I have redeemed you.” (44:21-22)

Serving God is living by our connection with Him, and He wants to makes us permanently aware of this. Our Sages point out the difference between creating or making, and forming. They infer this difference from the statement “He forms Light and creates darkness, makes peace and creates all”, taken from the words the Torah uses regarding God's Creation in the book of Genesis.

They indicate that what God “forms” serves a particular purpose, while what God “creates” serve as the accessories for such particular purpose. In the order of the Torah's narration, what He created “In the beginning” is the context for what He previously “formed”, which are Light and Israel. Hence Israel is called for their purpose in God's Creation in general, and specifically in the material world as “the Light for the nations”.

God reiterates His reminder by also asking us not to “forget” Him. Especially after telling us that He has removed the negative traits and trends in consciousness that make us transgress the goodness in life. We just have to realize that our consciousness is already free as long as we make this freedom from evil something concrete and practical in every aspect and dimension of life. Thus we must return to God, for He already has redeemed us from the captivity in our own negative creations.

“Sing, O ye heavens, for the Lord has done it. Shout, ye lowest parts of the earth; break forth into singing, ye mountains. O forest, and every tree therein, for the Lord has redeemed Jacob, and does glorify Himself in Israel.” (44:23)

All levels and aspects of consciousness also must realize our total freedom decreed by God, and celebrate His Redemption. These include the higher awareness of our connection with Him (“heavens”), the passions and instincts that drive us to live with intensity (“the lowest parts of the earth”), the values and principles by and for which we live (“the mountains”), and all that comes from the goodness of life (“the forest and its trees”). All have to rejoice by the special freedom God infuses within us in order to enter the Messianic Era. Thus we assimilate His glorifying Himself in Israel, for our destiny is realizing and fulfilling His will and purpose for His Creation, as it is reaffirmed in the following verse.

“Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, and He that formed you from the womb: 'I am the Lord that makes all things, that stretched forth the heavens alone, that spread abroad the earth by Myself'.” (44:24)

The fact that God is mentioning that He Himself formed us “from the womb” has multidimensional meanings. By definition, we can't conceive, understand or assimilate who o what God is. Hence the allegory of forming us from the womb leads us to realize that His “formation” of us comes from within Himself or as part of Himself, such as Light is “formed” by Him. Immediately He says that He makes (creates) all things based on His will, and according to His plan.

“That frustrates the tokens of the impostors, and makes diviners mad; that turns wise men backward, and makes their knowledge foolish.” (44:25)

This also means that God clears the negative trends in consciousness and ego's fantasies and illusions represented by the allegories mentioned in this verse. By definition, impostors are not what they portray as well as the fantasies we create out of beliefs and feelings of lack. We are not what we lack of, but what we have in abundance. Hence we must we aware of who we are and not what we have or lack, for in our Essence and true identity we realize who we truly are. This is God's Love from where all that exists is formed and created. God then reminds us also about the foolishness in the “knowledge” of ego's fantasies and illusions. These lead us the vanity and futility of the idols we create, that separate us from our reason (God) and purpose (His will) in life.

“That confirms the word of His servant, and performs the counsel of His messengers. That says of Jerusalem: 'She is inhabited'; and of the cities of Judah: 'They shall be built, and I will raise up the waste places thereof'.” (44:26)

The word of God (The Torah) is the plan and purpose for His servant (the people of) Israel, as the messengers that perform His will. This awareness is what our mystic Sages call Jerusalem, as the highest level of consciousness from where we realize our permanent connection with God. He promises to populate her with the goodness that the children of Israel represent, and the positive traits, qualities and trends as the cities of Judah.

In this context, Judah is the regency as the sense of purpose and leadership to fulfill Israel's destiny. Thus the emptiness as “the wasted places” left by the futility of ego's fantasies and illusions are filled with Love's ways and attributes. These are the positive trends in consciousness.

“That says to the deep: 'Be dry, and I will dry up thy rivers'. That says of Cyrus: 'He [Israel] is My shepherd, and all My delight he does right'. So as to say of Jerusalem: 'You are built'. And of the Temple: 'You are founded'.” (44:27-28)

It is God's will what happened and what will occur, as the premise for us to assimilate our mission in the world, which is His pleasure and satisfaction. God is telling us time and again in the Torah (repeatedly in the book of Deuteronomy) and through His Prophets that our Redemption has been already decreed.

Our Sages teach that these verses are related both to Cyrus the king of Persia and to Israel, in terms of God's will regarding His Redemption. In the times of our exile in Babylon, Cyrus represented the king who does God's will as also Israel does. God commands Cyrus to let the Jewish people return to their Land in order to rebuild their connection and relationship with Him (Jerusalem and the Temple), as the entire reason and purpose of Israel in the material world. Isaiah will refer again to Cyrus in the following chapter, as the means and messenger for Israel to return to their Land.

We just need to come to this realization by rebuilding the individual and collective permanent connection with Him. This connection, as we just said, is Jerusalem and the Temple as the foundation of our identity to fulfill His will.

The Messianic Consciousness in Jewish Prophecy (LXVIII) Isaiah

“I have declared, and I have redeemed, and I have announced, and there was no strange god among you. Therefore ye are My witnesses, says the Lord, and I am God. Yea, since the day was I am the One, and there is none that can deliver out of My hand. I will work, and who can reverse it?” (Isaiah 43:12-13)

God's Final Redemption is imminent, for He reaffirms that there is no reversal. He makes clear time and again that idols or false gods don't have any power besides Him. Let's pay attention to the reiterated warnings and repetitions against anything we give the power to control our lives. We must understand this as a constant invitation to recognize that we are God's creatures, and we owe all we are, have and do, to His Love for us. We are an emanation of His eternal loving kindness, which is the Essence that defines our true identity.

The only way to fully assimilate this uncontested reality is by putting aside all self-centered fantasies and illusions out of ego's belief that we are gods of our individual lives. From this delusional belief we create the idols and gods to which we serve with our greed, lust, coveting, arrogance and anger on one side; and with our frustrations, depressions, obsessions, addictions and attachments that keep us captive and away from the goodness of Love's ways and attributes as the unalienable freedom of our Essence and identity.

“Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: 'For your sake I have sent to Babylon, and I will bring down all of them as fugitives, even the Chaldeans, in the ships of their shouting. I am the Lord, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King'.” (43:14-15)

The Creator reaffirms His promise to transform our consciousness by removing the burdens of negative traits and trends referred here as Babylon, fugitives and Chaldeans, including the shouting of their ways (“ships”). Again He presents Himself not only as God but as the Sacred of Israel, which means that He is what is sacred in us. Hence He is the King as the sole conductor of all aspects and dimensions of life He expects us to embrace.

“Behold, I am doing a new thing, it springs forth. Do ye don't know it? I make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.” (43:19)

Even if we can't believe it possible to remove evil and negativity from human consciousness, our Creator can. Therefore we better believe it. He also asks us if we don't know it, in case we ignore that He can change deserts into rivers, and wilderness into blossoming fields. Thus He can transform our consciousness into a one-way direction in which only goodness is the cause and the effect, for the higher destiny the Creator has for us. This is the purpose of the Final Redemption and the Messianic Era.

God brings up our memories of the Exodus from Egypt (43:16-18) to remind us His total control over His Creation, and all the events that have occurred since the beginnings of our history. This premise is the preamble of our comprehension of the Messianic Consciousness.

“The beast of the field honors Me, dragons and daughters of an ostrich. For I have given waters in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert, to give drink to My people, My chosen. The people which I formed for Myself, My praise they proclaim.” (43:20-21)

In the Messianic Era all living creatures will honor and praise the Creator, for He not only have the power to create and sustain but also to transform. This too goes in particular for Israel, whom He gives His knowledge (the Torah) as the waters to sustain the consciousness He wants for His will. This is the same consciousness that praises Him as the King of all.

“Yet you have not called upon Me, O Jacob, neither have you wearied yourself about Me, O Israel.” (43:22)

Regardless God's Love for Israel, He questions the motives of our hearts to despise the eternal bond with Him (43:23-24). We are His chosen, but we don't choose Him back. This leads us to reflect on the Essence and identity He gives us in the Torah, which is also the water that sustains us in our journeys in the material world.

“I, even I, am He that blots out your transgressions for My own sake; and your sins I don't recall. Cause Me to remember, we are judged together; declare you, that you may be justified.” (43:25-26)

If God is ready to erase and forget our transgressions, and has already forgiven us, can we justify our misdeeds? God's Love is greater than our Love, and we must not take this as a reason to dishonor our bond with Him. He wants us to remember His Love, and return to His ways and attributes as the real freedom in our consciousness.

“Your first father sinned, and your teachers transgressed against Me. Therefore I declare profane the princes of the Sanctuary, and I give Jacob to condemnation, and Israel to reproaches.” (43:27-28)

Our separation from God broke up the bond with Him, and our negative choices led us to their destructive consequences. Yet God in His Love claims credit for this, telling us that He invalidated the priestly service in the Temple, and sent Israel to condemnation and reproach by the nations. This means that instead of us blaming God for the outcome of our negative actions, we must reflect on the choices we make.

Thus we realize that our Redemption begins as we return to our Essence and true identity with which He created us as the goodness of Jacob, and the righteousness of Israel. These are the names by which He calls us to remind us what we really are and have in life, and the purpose and destiny of these two names.