JOEL SMITH ANSWER A FRIEND

Dear ............. my new friend. Thank you for your very sincere email. I will try to answer your questions.

Your questions are written in blue. The answers are written in red.

Questions: "Our prophecies explicitly state that the real Messiah will be a king who sits upon the throne of David." "Our Messiah will destroy the enemies of Israel." "Our Messiah will restore prosperity to Israel."

Answers: Numbers 24:17--- "A star shall come forth from Jacob, and a scepter shall rise from Israel, and crush Moab, and tear down all the sons of Sheth."

Jeremiah 23:5--- "'Behold the days are coming.' declares the Lord, ' when I shall raise up for David a righteous Branch; and He will reign as king....' "
"But as for you, Bethlehem... from you will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel."-Micah 5:2

Can you see the kingly theme that connects these prophecies? The Messiah "will reign as king" and he will "be ruler in Israel." Isaiah again:

"The Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king."-Isaiah 33:22

Psalms 2:6--- "But as for me, I have installed my King upon Zion, My holy mountain." Zechariah 9:9--- "Shout in triumph, O daughter in Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming."

Psalms 110:1: "The Lord says to my Lord: 'sit at my right hand, until I make Thine enemies a footstool for thy feet.'" (p. 151)

These prophecies are extremely specific. The Messiah will "reign as king", "judge" and "lawgiver" of Israel. He will be seated both in "Jerusalem" and in "Zion, My holy mountain". He will "crush Moab, and tear down all the sons of Sheth" and he will "make Thine enemies a footstool for thy feet."

Did Jesus literally, visibly do any of these things? No. Was Jesus the Messiah who, as he said, spoke the words that God gave him to speak? Yes.

Question: "Our Messiah will abolish war forever."

Answers: Micah 4:1 says: "But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains... and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths... and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation neither shall they learn war any more."

Compare this Micah passage with Isaiah 2:4 where it says: "And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord... and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths... and he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more."

Here's an article that I wrote about the Book of Isaiah >>> http://bci.org/prophecy-fulfilled/isaiah.htm

Question: "And even more explicitly, the rabbis knew that the appearance of the real Messiah will be heralded by the return of the Prophet Elijah from heaven. The rabbis probably would have asked sarcastically... "has anyone here seen Elijah come sailing down from heaven in a chariot of fire yet?" No.

Answer: Two thousand years ago, the Jewish people were expecting to see Elijah physically descend from heaven announcing the appearance of God's Messiah. This expectation comes from explicit statements made in the Bible. And Jesus explains how this prophecy actually was fulfilled.

Here's the story. According to the Old Testament account, about 850 BC Elijah the Prophet ascended "into heaven". (see: II Kings 2) Then, about four hundred years later, in 450 BC, the Prophet Malachi promised that Elijah will return from heaven before the Christ appears. This prophecy reads: "try me in this, says the Lord of Hosts: shall I not open for you the floodgates of heaven, to pour down a blessing upon you without measure... Lo, I will send you Elia (Elijah), the prophet before the day of the Lord comes, the great and terrible day." -Malachi 3:10-24 (CATHOLIC DOUAY BIBLE)
The Jewish religious leaders were well aware of this prophecy. And they had asked the disciples to explain how Jesus could possibly have been the Messiah when it was obvious that Elijah had not yet returned from heaven. The Apostles couldn't answer their questions, so they asked Jesus: "Why do the Jewish leaders insist Elijah must return before the Messiah comes?" Jesus answered by first affirming that this question was valid and that this prophecy indeed actually was true. He said: "They are right. Elijah must come and set everything in order... ."

Then he surprised them. Jesus explained: "In fact, he [Elijah] already has come, but he wasn't recognized, and was badly mistreated by many... Then the disciples realized he was speaking of John the Baptist." -Matthew 17:10-13 (LIVING BIBLE-CATHOLIC EDITION) (also see: Mark 9:11-13)

Jesus did not outwardly fulfill any of the rabbi's messianic expectations. That's why they would have had absolutely no doubt that Jesus of Nazareth could not possibly have been the Messiah. They were wrong.

Here is a link to another article that I wrote about the return of Elijah >>> http://bci.org/prophecy-fulfilled/elijah.htm

In conclusion:

When we compare the prophecies of the Bible with the life story of Baha'u'llah, we can see that Baha'u'llah clearly fulfills each and every one of them. And these are just a small fragment of the prophecies which were fulfilled by Baha'u'llah. Ask yourself, what are the mathematical odds that a man could appear at the exact time that was predicted, that he could literally fulfill dozens of specific prophecies concerning his life and his teachings and that he could give birth to a religion which today encompasses all the nations, races and tribes of the earth... what are the odds that Baha'u'llah could do all of these things and yet still be false? Almost none.

Could Baha'u'llah truly be the Promised One whose coming was foretold by Isaiah, Micah and the other Hebrew Prophets? Is he the One who, as Jesus said, was supposed to come unexpectedly as a "thief in the night"? This is a question that each individual needs to carefully consider and to answer for themselves. Keep in mind though that Micah prophesied that people would initially turn a deaf ear to the redeemer's message. Consider also Isaiah’s statement: "I will do a new thing... shall ye not know it?" -Isaiah 43 (KJV)

Dear Berthold - again I thank you for asking such pertinent questions. I hope I have answered some of them for you. The sheer volume of evidence to support Baha'u'llah's claim to be the Promised One whose coming was foretold in the Messianic prophecies of the world's great religions is overwhelming. No previous Manifestation or Prophet of God has come with more proof. Many of these proofs can be read on my webpage. Plus there are books and studt circles available.

Baha'u'llah truly was sent by God. From what you wrote in your email, I think you already know that. Since you already have caught the spark of Faith - I invite you to enroll as a Baha'i. Your friends and future family members can tell you how to do this.

Recognizing Baha'u'llah is exciting. Again, thank you for writing to me. Have fun learning more. -Joel in NW Florida USA