Yes, this is a real headline from Breaking Israel News. But no, Messiah has not actually arrived. As Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz reports, this was “a clever studio creation, and not an actual news report.” In that sense, it was much like Orson Welles’ famous 1938 radio drama, War of the Worlds, which frightened Americans with “news” of a Martian invasion of the planet. In this modern Israeli equivalent, the supposed report from the Western Wall (Kotel) in Jerusalem featured excited Jewish crowds welcoming the long-awaited Messiah at the end of Tisha b’Av, the fast of the 9th of Av which marks the destruction of both Hebrew Temples.
This is one of two significant reports Berkowitz has published this week. The other article bears the headline, “Is It Time to Reestablish the Davidic Kingdom in Israel?” It relates the verified existence of hundreds of descendants of King David, many of whom trace their family origins back to Aleppo, Syria – a city much in the news today as a central battleground of that troubled country’s civil war. The question the article poses is serious, although it is not getting much attention in Israeli governmental and rabbinical circles for what should be obvious reasons. After all, who would want to relinquish their governmental and religious power to a descendant from a monarchy that has not held any power for 2,500 years?
Except that that is precisely what is to happen, according to the Bible.
What Eliyahu Berkowitz has done with these two articles is highlight the growing interest among religious Jews in the prophecies of Messiah’s coming and the reestablishment of the Davidic kingdom. There are, of course, some very important differences in the Messianic expectations of Jews and those of Christians and Messianic/Hebrew Roots believers. What we share in common is that we all expect the Messianic Kingdom to be ruled by the Son of David, but is this Son of David a physical or a spiritual descendant of the great king? And who or what exactly is Messiah anyway?
It is a great encouragement and a monumental sign of the times to learn of the excitement building in many of our Jewish brethren about Messiah’s imminent coming – and it is imperative that we begin talking with one another to communicate our different expectations. This “Messianic expectation management” is essential, not only so that we can understand one another, but also so that we can help each other guard against the deceptions that surely will come at this culmination YHVH’s great redemptive plan.
On Saturday night, a broadcast radio station from Jerusalem interrupted its regular programming for a special newsflash: the Messiah had arrived. )(Source: Radio Station Announces Arrival of Messiah in Jerusalem – Breaking Israel News)
Hundreds of descendants of King David are alive today, with verifiable family trees dating back 90 generations. Could the Davidic Dynasty be reestablished? (Source: Is It Time to Reestablish the Davidic Kingdom in Israel? – Breaking Israel News)
