Jesus In India — Page 58
48 JESUS IN INDIA Remember that the Gospels contain two kinds of prophecies about the coming of Jesus, the Messiah: The first are those that relate to the promise of his coming in the latter days. So that promise means his coming in the spiritual sense, like the coming of Elijah before the coming of Jesus, the Messiah. So, like Elijah, he has already appeared in this, our age and it is I, the writer, a servant of humanity, who has appeared as the Promised Messiah, with the name of Jesus, the Messiah, may peace be on him. And Jesus, the Messiah, has told of my coming in the Gospels, so blessed is he who, for the honour of Jesus, the Messiah, considers my claim with justice and fairness, and saves himself from going astray. The other kind of prophecies regarding the second coming of Jesus, the Messiah, mentioned in the Gospels constitute, in fact, evidence of his life which continued, enduring and restored, after the experience of the cross, by the sheer grace of God Almighty. It was in accordance with this prophecy that has just been men- tioned that God saved his chosen servant from death on the cross. The Christians are mistaken in mixing up these two contexts with each other. And it is for this very reason that they face great bewilderment and have to endure many difficulties. The verse in chapter 16 of Matthew is, therefore, a very important piece of evi- dence in support of Jesus, the Messiah, escaping from the cross. And among the testimonies of the Gospels which have reached us, is also the following verse of the Gospel of Matthew: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn,