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There Is But One Messiah

From the Very Beginning There Was to Be but One Messiah

     The Book of Mormon that teaches that the birth of Jesus Christ was to be some 600 years from the time that Lehi left Jerusalem, also clearly teaches that there is but one Messiah and no other Messiah to come [see also 2 Nephi 9:41, Mosiah 3:17, Alma 38:9, Helaman 5:9, John 14:6]. I suppose that is but one witness' take. But the Doctrine and Covenants does echo the message in a revelation through the Prophet Joseph Smith particularly to Martin Harris though there are many generalized messages that may readily be likened, compared and of the worth of truth to us all as well.

Particularly the sacrifice of Martin Harris to fund the printing of the Book of Mormon, and that is to make the promised payments timely in its production, is a part of section 19 of the Doctrine and Covenants. It speaks of the Jew and Gentile generally speaking as the Jew representing Israel that Lehi's and Ishmael's Lamanite descendant remnant of the Jew, but that is relative only in that they were 'nationally' Jew, as that is were they came from, the Land of Jerusalem. Actually Lehi and Ishmael where of the tribe of Joseph, of Manasseh and Ephraim. And when the Book of Mormon speaks of the Gentiles, often it is that portion of the Gentiles wherein lies the scattered seed of Ephraim.

But the 'echoed' witness as to the Messiah is that we all are to "look not for a Messiah to come who has already come." That is as the Book of Mormon pointed out, there is but one Messiah and he had come in the meridian of time and was rejected by the Jews. That is only Jesus Christ and there is no other Messiah to come. The Jews still looking for a Messiah ben Joseph and a Messiah ben David to come have failed in two respects. There is NOT more than one Messiah, and if there is a Messiah ben Joseph and a Messiah ben David, then they must needs be one and the same Messiah. And second, the one Messiah has not already come and that was Jesus Christ only.

Those who would make Joseph Smith to be Messiah ben Joseph neither understand the Jewish traditions, nor are they staying to the truth that there is but ONE MESSIAH ONLY, and that is Jesus Christ. The 'Suffering Messiah' that came and died that the Jewish Rabbis have split their Messiah ben Joseph into is that 'Suffering Messiah' of the New Testament Jesus Christ. And the Biblical Old Testament references to that suffering Messiah those Rabbis have assigned to Messiah ben Joseph. They missed and denied that suffering Messiah as he was Jesus Christ. And those Mormon Scholar who zealously try to make that Jewish designed Messiah ben Joseph into Joseph Smith have also incorrectly made Joseph Smith the suffering Messiah who is Jesus Christ, and they have wrongfully looked to the coming of a second Messiah when there was alway only one Messiah that was to come and not two.

We Be One In Christ

"God, Our Heavenly Father of Spirits, selected and empowered but One to be our immediate Ministering God as Temporal Creator of Heaven and Earth to act for and in behalf of the Father by Divine Investiture. He is Jehovah of the Old Testament and he is Jesus Christ of the New Testament. There is none other, there is no oher way between Heaven and earth except but by him. He is our Intercessor, Advocate, and Mediator. He is The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. He is Wonderful, and Counsellor of Our Father Who art in Heaven. The government rests upon his shoulders. He is that Beloved, that David , our Lord and King. And what he has created he does redeem. He stands in the stead of the Father in all things, returning all glory unto the Father; though he stands as our God and Redeemer of this world. There is strength in his unity, that the power of the Godhead is endowed upon him bodily to act so empowered in one in all things. In this there is none beside him, and only through, by and in him may we reach unto God. He is the only way, the truth and the light. There is no other path or avenue to heaven but by our Messiah Jehovah who is the same as Jesus Christ. The dividing of our Lord God diminishes his power and identity. There is strength in the Unity that Messiah ben David and Messiah ben Joseph are One—One and the Same Messiah and God, the Great I AM. We, acting and following in that similitude of him, joined to that unity in him, may stand strong and confident that there is none other, no other means, he provides unto us our only access to heaven. The cutting of a Child in half, in Two, is in itself a Death Sentence, yet in Sharing the Child, the Child Does Live." ~ drh

It needs to be unmistakenly established that, from before the very foundations of the creation of this world, there was to be but one chosen, anointed and ordained Messiah, the Only Begotten of the Father in the flesh, as set out by the very Eternal Plan of God's Salvation in the preexistent counsels of Heaven. And that is of course Jesus Christ, who is the same as Jehovah. And without going deeply into the condescension of God by Jehovah of the Old Testament taking upon himself flesh and bone as the Savior and Redeemer of the World as explained by Nephi and various other scriptural references, let it simply be stated that there was the absolute necessity for the coming forth of the Anointed One of God to redeem the world from the Fall of Adam. For a further detailed discussion about Christ's selection as the Messiah and why and how that selection and mission was and had to be performed, see the preexistence discussion in this text on Christ. Now let us repeat:

Jesus Christ is the 'one true Messiah', the only and there is no other Messiah besides Him. Those who fabricate another 'Messiah' of their own 'inovation' or a Messiah to come who has not come already, as the prophets so stipulated as coming 600 years from the time that Lehi left Jerusalem, do so to the end that they do deceive the people. This would seem to include those Jews who imagined two Messiahs out of one, contriving a Messiah ben David and a Messiah ben Joseph separate from each other, as well as those who then subscribe that title of Messiah ben Joseph to Joseph Smith. Any other Messiah, which does still come since and besides Jesus Christ is and will be a false Messiah. Joseph Smith was not Messiah ben Joseph, though being the prophet descended from Joseph of Egypt as so stipulated and referenced by the scriptures. Thus if there is a Messiah ben David and a Messiah ben Joseph, they needs be but one and the same Messiah for there is no other Messiah. And those who would take the concept of 'Messiah ben Joseph' and apply it to Joseph Smith do so in error setting forth a dangerous perspective if so followed to the making of Joseph Smith a second Messiah when the scriptures so state that there be only one that should come and any other is a false Messiah.

Now indeed Joseph Smith was that prophet prophesied by Joseph of Egypt, who would come in the latter-days. But Joseph Smith WAS NOT the Messiah, not even the Messiah ben Joseph, for there is but one Messiah. And to apply the title and concept that Joseph Smith was the Messiah ben Joseph is but to steal some of the items which denote and speak of Christ and apply them in error to a prophet who is not the Messiah. Joseph Smith, as many other prophets have been, may be looked to as being a similitude of the Messiah as was Joseph of Egypt, Moses, Joshua and others; but in no respect is Joseph Smith the Messiah, Messiah ben Joseph or otherwise.

Nephi in his day stated that beyond Christ, beyond the date of His coming, we are to cease to look forward to some other Messiah than Christ, whether he be some coming Messiah ben David or Messiah ben Joseph or any such other Messiah other than Jesus Christ. Those Jews who claim to look for some other Messiah than Jesus Christ to come in the future, do so in vain. When Jesus Christ comes again, it will be His Second Coming, not the coming of any other Messiah. And those who take the title of Messiah ben Joseph, so inovated by the Jews as being a separate Messiah from Messiah ben David, and apply it to being Joseph Smith, do so carelessly without regard to the scriptural pronouncement of there being but one Messiah and one Messiah only. All the prophecies of the Messiah point only to one Messiah and that is Jesus Christ. There is no other and to make any other, even Joseph Smith, out to be some sort of 'Messiah' is to set forth a 'false Messiah'. The concept of a 'deliverer' such as the prophet Joseph of Egypt, Moses, Joshua or even Joseph Smith is one thing but to attach any to being the Messiah or some 'other' Messiah is but to make them a false Messiah for there is but 'one Messiah' and that is Jesus Christ.

Now as to the likely fact that there was a Messiah ben Joseph so prophecied in the ancient scriptures, this text does accept to be the case. But to make him separate from being the same as Jesus Christ and to make him other than the same as Messiah ben David, has just been shown to not be possible according to the scriptures. For indeed if there is to be but one Messiah and that is only to be Jesus Christ. And if there is Messiah ben David, a descendant of King Daivd, and if there is Messiah ben Joseph, which there is substantial evidence to consider; then and therefore, Jesus Christ must be He who is both Messiah ben David and Messiah ben Joseph. That one can be of both descents is made scripturally clear, for the LDS scriptures so stipulate that in reference to Isaiah 11 there is one 'who is partly a descendant of Jesse as well as of Ephraim, or of the house of Joseph.' (D&C 113:4) Now it is of particular interest, which will be discussed more fully elsewhere in this text, that it only states that he is 'of the house of Joseph' and DOES NOT also state that he is of the house of Judah though being in part a descendant of Jesse.

While the scriptually cited references do give a more complete referenced discussion upon the matter, both in their text and in their footnote references in the scriptures, we will but leave that to such scripture study. For now we will turn to set forth a summary of the preexistent where the master of 'false Christs' did attempt to replace Christ with himself there. And we will set forth the election of the one and only true Messiah as being Jehovah, the Firstborn spirit son of the God our Heavenly Father of all our Spirits. But before we go there, let it be again stated—If indeed there be a Messiah ben Joseph, and there is amble evidence that there is, then he of necessity and must be one and the same as Jesus Christ, for there is not any other Messiah but Christ. And just how it is that both Messiah ben David and Messiah ben Joseph is indeed one and the same, even Jesus Christ, is the very topic of this text.

The Selection of the One True Messiah

In the grand pre-councils in heaven, God the Father of Spirits asked who would act as the Savior and Redeemer of His Plan of Salvation for man. Jehovah, who is the same as Jesus Christ, said, 'Here am I, send me. I will perform according to the plan and according to the will of thee Father. And the glory be Thine.' (Abraham 3:27 & Moses 4:1-2) And God the Father selected, ordained and annointed Jehovah, even Jesus Christ to be His (Elohim's) 'Anointed One', His (Elohim's) Messiah. And He gave Jehovah His Power and His Authority that Jehovah might act in the name of the Father, in the stead of the Father pertaining to all things concerning the Second Estate of man, even unto the creation thereof. He gave to Jehovah by 'divine investiture' all the powers, rights and position of God. Thus the Father had anointed Jehovah to be our one and only true God pertaining to this second estate, that Jehovah might come to earth as the Son of God the Father and perform the processes of being the Redeemer of Man. And Jehovah in turn was to minister for, in behalf of, and in the name of the Father, as the Father, returning all the glory unto the Father. King David refers to this relationship of the Father and the Son when he states "The LORD said unto my Lord, . . . ", (Psalms 110:1, Mark 12:36, Luke 20:42-43, Acts 2:34-35, Hebrews 1:13-14, D&C 130:5) and it clearifies the relationships spoken of in Psalms 2, particularly verse 7 where Jehovah is speaking about God the Father's (LORD) anointing of Him (Jehovah) as His (Elohim's) chosen Messiah. And that given scriptural trail also presents the concept of why the Father so anointed the Son to minister unto the Second Estate in His stead, as only those who pertain unto it do minister there to, the Father not so pertaining unto this second estate, being progressively in advanced of it, already having obtained His Celestial glorified body of the 'final and eternal estate' of Heaven.

God the Father had already passed through the estate of mortality and had become an exaltated being of flesh and bone (D&C 130:22). We, including Jehovah in that preexistent realm of pre-mortality, were His spirit children. And we, including Jehovah, had not passed the test of this mortality. It would have been contrary to the law of eternal progression for the Father to revert, retrogress backwards to 'pertain' unto this second estate. Thus the role of Savior and Redeemer of this second estate had to be selected from, as it were, one from amoung us, 'One of Us'; that 'Ministering God' has to be 'God with or amoung us' even Immanuel or Emmanuel. Christ or Jehovah was the Firstborn of the Father in the spirit. He in that sense was our eldest or elder brother. As the Firstborn of His Generation, it was his right of responsibility to take upon himself this position of acting for and in behalf of the concern of and for the rest of God the Father's spirit children. And thus the one for one relationship of entering into and exiting from this mortal second estate of trials and self-actuating agency was established with Jehovah, the Son, acting in the stead of the Father in our behalf as our Advocate, Mediator and Intercessor. And this to the end that through Him, our Redeemer, though we had fallen through Adam, we would all be redeemed into immortality by his resurrection and that through Him, our Intercessor, we might return to the Father's presence through Him, Christ the Lord, the propitiator for our sins.

Thus in the Old Testament, our God Jehovah, who the Father appointed and anointed to minister over us, is but a God of Spirit, as Jehovah had not yet entered into his mortal second estate as Jesus Christ. Mankind fallowed our mortal Father Adam into this world. We became Adam's posterity. God the Father had covenanted with us that as we would fall from his presence into this world of veiled trials and self agency by following Adam, the Father would provide for us a Savior who would redeem us from this fall and give us not only the opportunity to become immortal like God but to eventually mature and become exalted like unto God our Father, based upon our own merits. And even as Adam and Eve where being cast out of the Garden of Eden and the presense of God, God proclaimed that covenant promise unto man.

It was 'her seed' the seed of the woman, the descendant of Eve, the son of Mary, who would be raised up to 'crush' and 'destroy' Satan. And as the evil of Satan would bring about the 'suffering and death' of the Messiah, it was the fact that, while being the moral 'seed of woman', the 'Son of Man' through the Divine Fathership of God the Father, he would overcome this death, this bruising, and take upon himself the sins of the world, and redeem all God's children from the fall of physical death through his atonement and resurrection. And this would be the ONLY way, and He would be the ONLY one and true Messiah so provided for the redemption of all mankind (2 Nephi 31:21, Acts 4:10-12) through Whom even the pains of the Spiritual Death of separation from the presence of God the Father might also be overcome. Thus if there is a Messiah ben David and a Messiah ben Joseph, they are but one and the same as the ONE TRUE Messiah, even JESUS CHIRST the ONE and ONLY WAY and MESSIAH so provided for the redemption of mankind.

This Saving Redeemer was to take upon himself the sins of the world. In so doing, one of the conditional roles to be played was to be the sacrificial Lamb of God as portrayed by Abraham's sacrifice of his son Issac and by all the related ordiances of sacrifice held throughout the Old Testament times. These vicarious animal sacrifices represented the sacrifice which the Son of Man, the Son of God, would have to perform. Once the Savior performed this great sacrifice as the 'Suffering Messiah' the need for such animal sacrificing ordiances had been fulfilled and those outward ordinances had an end in the sacrifice of Jesus the Christ. And it is the Atonement of Christ which provides mankind the ultimate 'passover' of not having to suffer for their own sins, if they will take upon themselves the Name of Christ, the blood of the Lamb, the blood of Christ's atonement, through faith on His Name and partake of the bread of life, which Christ is. This is by the true Baptism of Christ and thereafter by the renewing ordinance of the Sacrament of the Lord.

In conjunction with the great sacrifice for sin, which occured in the Garden of Gethsemene, was the opening of the door from spiritual death and unto the resurrection of the spirit being reunited to the body of flesh and bone by Christ's own death and resurrection. That is this door of physical death was opened by the performance of Christ in his death and following resurrection. All this was performed that man, who had falled into mortality and from the presence of God could once more live again in immortality with a body of flesh an bone and enter again the presence of God as each exhibited faith in Christ, repented of their sins, performed the ordinances of baptism, of the water and of the Spirit, and took upon themselves the name of Christ, and thereafter faithfully lived the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Living the Gospel of Christ takes time. Jesus had won the victory over sin and death as the 'Suffering Messiah', Whom the Jews have denoted to being Messiah ben Joseph in their 'imagined' division of the Messiah into two. And as Christ stated to Pontious Pilot, 'His Kingdom was not of this earth.' He had performed his required role as the redeemer of mankind, but mankind had now the obligation of performing their role in acceptinig Christ and coming unto Him and living his Gospel. The Lord was victorious, but not in the physical and temporal way which many of the Jews were looking forward to in being liberated from Roman rule and the pagan religions.

The role of the 'Glorious and Conquering Messiah', Whom the Jews denote as their imaged seprate 'second' Messiah ben David, he was not to come to full completion until the course of the earth's second estate of probationary testing, self-actuation, and maturation of God's spirit children had run its appointed full course. It would not be until the earth's last thousand year Mellennium that the glorious days of the Lord, Messiah ben David, would come. It was then that He, Messiah ben David, would come on earth to reign for that thousand years and then cumminate it with the great and final judgement when every knee would bow and every tongue confess that Jesus was the Christ the very Son of God the Father, the ONE and ONLY TRUE MESSIAH. At that time and date, the 'Glorious and Conquering Messiah' will fully be recognized by all the earth as the King and Lord of Heaven and Earth.

The mistake that has been made by many, particularly the Jews, is to associate the role of the Redeemer as being a 'temporal ruler' of this world and not coming to the understanding that 'His Kingdom is not of this world.' Christ was to prepare man's way back to God and the Kingdom of God and not to be of this temporal and mortal kingdom of this temporary fallen world. While God's Kingdom does have its physical aspects, it deals more with the spiritual and eternal than it does with the mortal temporal world of man. Thus Christ's sacrifice as the 'Suffering Messiah', Messiah ben Joseph in the eyes of the Jews, openned the way for man to return to God and Christ's work, majesty and glory is founded in bring about the 'immortality and eternal life of man' (Moses 1:39). And this later understanding is wasted upon those who seek after only worldly kingdoms. The fact is that Messiah ben Joseph is not only the 'Suffering Messiah', but He is also the 'Glorious Messiah' and the Messiah of the Restoration, that through the 'seed' of Joseph, that is Ephraim and Manasseh, the fulfillment of the promises of the fathers, the Covenant of Abraham, the Everlasting Covenant of God, would be fulfilled and the nations of the whole earth would be blessed (D&C 27:10 - It was through Joseph, not Judah, that the promises remained and are fulfilled). Thus in the 'Glorious Messiah', he being Messiah ben Joseph as well as Messiah ben David, the source of the blessing of the nations of all the earth is more abundantly apparent.

When God the Father and Jesus Christ appeared to Joseph Smith in 1820, God the Father said, "Joseph. This is my Beloved Son. Here Him." It well might be considered that not only what that a personal address to Joseph Smith, but in a more general consideration, as the message was given to all the earth, first beginning to that promised 'seed' of Joseph by whom the Covenant of Abraham would be taken to and be the blessing of all the nations of the earth; that the address of the Father to 'Joseph' could very well be to all the seed of Joseph, the whole of the house of Joseph, who would come forth acting as 'saviors on mount Zion' in the fulfilling of the promises of the fathers unto not only all then living nations of the earth, but unto all who have ever lived upon the earth, past, present and future, unto the source of they all receiving the blessing of heaven through the Gospel of Jesus Christ and particularly in receiving of the ordinances of salvation provided by God's temples, and the vicarious work performed in them as restored and restablised by that promised seed of Joseph.

Thus it is, when one studies the Messiah, it must always be understood and kept in the forefront that there is only one Messiah. And when any attempt to divided or multiply the Messiah into being more than one destinct being and entity, then they who have done so have wandered from the truth of the matter into the realm of false doctrine and misunderstanding. And such consideration is but a corruption which leads to confusion and failure in comprehending the purpose and opperation of God's Eternal Plan of Salvation and Exaltation as set out in the Everlasting Gospel of Christ, the One and Only True Messiah. And one must resist all temptations to make any other than Jesus Christ to be considered as the Messiah of mankind. There may be prophets, appostles, and even angels of God as well as similitudes of the Christ. But all are subject to Him who is the Savior, Shepherd and Rock of our Salvation, even Christ the Messiah, the only Messiah. He is the one and only Anointed of the Father. There is no other Messiah by whom we enter back to the presence of God. Any attempt to make other 'Messiahs' is to but create false Messiahs and false Christs. While we may serve in the various capacities of his church and kingdom, and can be 'saviors' in aiding our fellow men, there is only one to whom the formal title of Messiah, Savior, Redeemer and King belongs. He by His Father was ordained to be the one and only true God of this earth, acting for and in the Father's behalf, governing this earthly creation of this second estate.