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.