Appendix 12: The Messiah of Israel: Jesus Christ Crucified, Jesus Christ Winner; discovered by Moses ...
Christ Crucified, Christ Triumphant
2 visions for 2 men:
With 2 different missions
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Preamble
A personal experience
After my conversion and my baptism in August 1978, a great love was born in my heart for the Jewish people. From then on, I had the strong desire to embrace the 1st Jew believing that I would meet. The occasion was given to me by our Lord, in Avignon during an evangelization campaign in August 1980. Testifying of my faith in the public square, I met a man who in response to my testimony began to test me, to deeply scrutinize myself. His attitude quickly made me feel uncomfortable. I asked him, "What do you think?" His answer was brief: "I am Jewish". After making sure of his faith in the God of his Fathers, I asked him for permission to kiss him. How great was his astonishment and it had the beneficial effect of relaxing the situation on both sides. He was a French Jew who lived in Jerusalem today.
We then began a passionate discussion about the Messiah and Psalm 22-2 (Matthew 27-46) was quoted: "Eli, Eli, lama sabachtani?" that we Christians translate by: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" He was very surprised by this word "abandoned". He declares himself to respect Jesus as having been a holy man and he does not understand his "abandonment" by God. I then ask him how he understands and translates this sentence. His answer challenges me then. "Sabachtani" comes from a word ("Sene" in Hebrew) that refers to a plant, a thorny bush of the desert, so tangled that it is impossible to dissect without injury. If anything was taken inside, it would be impossible to get it out. What causes its translation: "put in a thorny bush". I then explain to him the reason for the translation "abandoned" because covered with our sins. We are then mutually amazed by our discovery of what Jesus had to undergo.
The cross
Christ, then, would have been troubled by the sin that surrounded him on every side in his soul, in his spirit. Even his body (his head) was now surrounded by thorns. Only one thing seems to have physically surmount Christ: a crown of thorns. It is also the symbol of the only thing that has crushed him: our sin. Christ took in his body (on him) the curse that had fallen on the earth following the sin of Adam. Genesis 3-18 "The ground will produce you thorns and brambles". Christ put in a thorny bush had no strength. He was overcome by sin, without strength, like us, when we sin.
Another biblical passage describes this situation in a strangely similar way.
Genesis 22-13 Abraham saw a ram caught in a bush by the horns.
What prevented the ram from leaving, what controlled him by the horns (the source of his strength - Daniel 8-3à7) it was a ...
bush.
The Messiah prisoner of a bush of thorns, a torture instrument similar to the ...
Cross