Pre-Christian Prophesies of the Messiah (Christ)

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-TO ADD. (Mythraic Prophesies, and their connection to Judaism)
-BOM prophesies (also Isaiah)
-Kolbrin prophesies.

Several major archeological and textual finds dating to the 2nd and 1st centuries BCE (the “Intertestamental Period”) show that Jewish groups were already interpreting their law, sacrifices, and rituals as a “blueprint” for a suffering or sacrificed Messiah.

These texts provide a “bridge” between the Old and New Testaments, proving that the idea of a sacrificed Messiah wasn’t a later Christian invention, but a pre-existing Jewish expectation.

1. The Dead Sea Scrolls (The “Pierced Messiah”)

Discovered in 1947, these texts date from roughly 250 BCE to 68 CE. They represent the views of the Essenes, a Jewish sect that viewed the Jerusalem Temple as corrupt and looked for a coming “Teacher of Righteousness.”

  • Fragment 4Q285 (The Pierced Messiah Text): This fragment references a “Branch of David” and mentions a “piercing” or “killing.” Scholars have debated the grammar, but many (such as Robert Eisenman) argue it describes a messianic leader who is put to death.1
  • The “Melchizedek” Document (11Q13): This text identifies the coming Messiah with the figure of Melchizedek.2 It suggests that this figure would make an “atonement” for the people at the end of the tenth Jubilee, explicitly linking the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) rituals to the Messiah’s coming work.

He will proclaim to them the jubilee, thereby releasing them from the debt of all their sins… Then the “Day of Atonement” shall follow at the end of the tenth jubilee period (490 years), when he shall atone for all the Sons of Light and the people who are predestined to Melchizedek. (11Q13 Melchizedek Scroll)

2. The Similitudes of Enoch (1 Enoch 37–71)

While portions of 1 Enoch date back to 300 BCE, the “Similitudes” are often dated to the 1st Century BCE.

  • The “Son of Man”: This text is the first to take the “Son of Man” from Daniel 7 and describe him as a pre-existent, divine being.
  • The Sacrifice Motif: It describes this figure as the “Light of the Gentiles” and the “Stay of the Righteous.” More importantly, it hints that he is “hidden” by God until the time of his appearance, where he will undergo a struggle that redeems the elect.

3. The Wisdom of Solomon (2nd Century BCE)

Found in the Apocrypha, this text contains a “prophecy” (Chapter 2) that early Christians found so accurate it was almost haunting.

  • The Text: It describes the “Righteous Man” who calls himself the “Child of the Lord.” The wicked decide to test him: “Let us examine him with despitefulness and torture… Let us condemn him with a shameful death.”
  • The Point: Jewish writers were already theorizing that a truly “Righteous One” would be rejected and “sacrificed” by the wicked because his life was a “reproach to their thoughts.”

4. The Melchizedek / “Angel of the Lord” Connection

Several apocryphal texts suggest that the Angel of the Lord (the emanation of YHWH you asked about earlier) was the one who personally instructed Moses on how to set up the Tabernacle rituals.

  • The Logic: In the Testament of Levi (part of the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, 2nd Century BCE), it is prophesied that a “New Priest” will arise to whom all the “Gentiles” will be gathered.3
  • The Sacrifice: This text suggests that the animal sacrifices in the Temple were merely temporary “reminders” until the True High Priest arrived to open the gates of Paradise.

5. Summary of Pre-Christian Messianic Themes

TextDateMessianic “Shadow”
Dead Sea Scrolls (4Q285)~100 BCEA Davidic leader who is “pierced” or “killed.”
11QMelchizedek~100 BCEThe Messiah performing a final “Atonement.”
Wisdom of Solomon~150 BCEThe “Child of God” undergoing a “shameful death.”
Testament of Levi~2nd Century BCEA New Priest who replaces animal sacrifice with himself.

Why this supports the “Jewish Correction”

These texts show that the “Hebrew” view of the law was not just a list of rules. To these ancient Jews, every lamb, every altar, and every vestment was a “type” or “shadow” of a living Person.

When the “Gentile” church later codified the Trinity, they focused on What God is (substance). These older Jewish texts focus on Who God is through What He Does (Sacrifice and Atonement).

Would you like me to look specifically at the Book of Jubilees? It dates to the 2nd century BCE and contains a very detailed explanation of how the Passover points to a cosmic redemption

MAN:33:17 In the Book of the Bearers of Light is written: ‘Osireh says to those about him, “I am the first among lightbearers. I am the one instructed by The Great God, I am the one with knowledge concerning the building of the first Shrine of Mysteries. I, alone of those now upon Earth, hold the key to the Sacred Mysteries. I know the secret of things that are past, of things that are and of things that are to be.
MAN:33:18 God says to Osireh, “Behold the land before you, it is a chosen land for safeguarding the Sacred Mysteries. Out of its womb shall come the Child of Truth. which shall die and rise again to lead men in the struggle to glory. In the Day of his rising, the Earth will be distressed and know it not. Nor will it open its arms to the Child, which will go unrecognised and even be despised and mocked. Yet, in that day will be produced a salve to heal the scars of mankind. In that day, when men shall have forgotten the way of righteousness and turned from Truth. the light will come unto them.” These words were spoken by God. (Kolbrin, Manuscripts-Annexed Scroll#1)

An example of quotes from 300’s BC from Greek historian Theopompus showing that BEFORE the time of Christ, the concept of a Millennium where Satan is bound already existed. As well as the concept that the Zodiac or Precession cycle was baked into the cultural religions, and that it was split into 3000 year periods, each ruled by a ‘god’ or dispensation head of some sort.

They have also many stories to relate concerning the gods, for example that Horomazes… created six gods, the first three deities respectively of good-will, truth, and orderliness, the others of wisdom, wealth, and a good conscience. By the latter rivals as it were to these were formed of equal number. Then Horomazes extended himself to thrice his stature as far beyond the sun as the sun is beyond the earth, and adorned the heaven with stars, appointing one star, Sirius, as guardian and watcher before all. He made also other twenty-four gods and placed them in an egg, but Areimanius produced creatures of equal number and these crushed the egg . . . wherefore evil is mingled with good. At the appointed time however Areimanius must be utterly brought to nought and destroyed by the pestilence and famine which he has himself caused, and the earth will be cleared and made free from obstruction, the habitation of a united community of men dwelling in happiness and speaking one tongue. Theopompus further reports that according to the magi for three thousand years in succession each of the gods holds sway or is in subjection, and that there will follow on these a further period of three thousand years of war and strife, in which they mutually destroy the works of one another. Finally Hades will be overthrown, and men will be blessed, and will neither need nourishment nor cast a shadow. And the deity who has accomplished these things will then take rest and solace for a period that is not long, especially for a god, and moderate for a sleeping man. To this effect then is the legendary account given by the magi. (Plutarch ca. 100 A.D. Cumont, ii, p.33-36, De Iside et Osiride, ch. 46. Theopompus lived in the 4th c. B.C.)

He fashioned Time of Long Dominion as the first creation that was infinite. Before the Mixture, the perpetuity of Ohrmazd was fashioned finite from the infinite. For from the primal creation, when he created the creatures, to the end, when the Evil Spirit will become powerless, there is a measure of twelve thousand years, which is finite…

On the Fashioning of the Lights

These are excerpts from The Bundahišn, The Zoroastrian Book of Creation. (Domenico Thrope Translation, Oxford Press). As you can see it is DEEPLY steeped in astronomical ideas mixed with religion, and tied in with the precessionary cycle cut into 3,000 year segments. Note the FIXED stars are EXACTLY the same as what Joseph smith wrote in the Egyptian translation book

He fashioned Time of Long Dominion as the first creation that was infinite. Before the Mixture, the perpetuity of Ohrmazd was fashioned finite from the infinite. For from the primal creation, when he created the creatures, to the end, when the Evil Spirit will become powerless, there is a measure of twelve thousand years, which is finite…

1 Ohrmazd fashioned the lights and set them between the sky and the earth: the “fixed” stars (constelations) and the wandering stars (planets), then the moon, and last the sun. 2 This is how: First, he fashioned the firmament and set the “fixed” stars in it, foremost among them the twelve signs of the Zodiac called Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, and Pisces. These are further divided and reckoned in twenty-seven lunar mansions that are called Padēwar. 5 He appointed four generals over those stars, one for each of the four directions, and he appointed a single general over these four. He appointed many well-known, counted 1 stars, in every direction and everywhere, with the aim to invigorate and strengthen the stars. 6 As itsays: “Sirius is the general of the east, Deneb is the general of the south, Vega is the general of the west, and Ursa Major is the general of the north.” Polaris, which they call “the stake 2 in the center of the sky,” is the supreme general. The star Pārand, the star Mazdā-dād, and others of this kind are also district commanders. 7 Astronomers now call these inerrantes stars, and instead of “large,” “small,” and “medium,” they use the expressions “first magnitude,” “second magnitude,” and “third magnitude.” On the Fashioning of the Lights. 8 He established the firmament like the year: the twelve constellations are like the twelve months, and each constellation has thirty degrees, just as each month has thirty days. 9 He appointed Ursa Major in the north, where hell would be established after the Adversary’s onslaught. In order to arrange the continents during the Mixture (movement), a band ties each of the seven [haft/attached] continents to it. That is the reason why it is called Ursa Major [Haftōring]. 10 Ohrmazd established the sphere of the stars like a spinning wheel, so that during the Mixture (nightly movement) it would keep revolving. 11 He fixed other, unmixable (unmoving) stars above these, so that when the Adversary came they could repel him in battle and keep him from carrying his pollution higher up. He appointed the Glory of the good Mazdā-worshiping dēn as general over them. That place is called “the core of the battle,” the manifestation of purity in the Mixture. The reason why they are called unmixable (unmovable) stars is because the Adversary did not pollute them. Astronomers call this “the sphere above the sphere.” This sphere has no reckoning and progression, for they cannot observe in the pure ones any characteristics of the mixable ones. 12 Above that he fashioned the moon in which the seed of cattle is stored, 13 and above that the sun whose horses are swift. 14 He appointed the sun and moon as captains of the mixable and unmixable stars; that is, they are all bound to the sun and moon. 15 Above the sun he fashioned the place of the Amahraspands, which are fastened to the endless light, the throne of Ohrmazd. 16 These are the six stations of the six creations (planets), corresponding to the six material creations.. 15 Again, a period of six thousand years elapsed before the Adversary came: three thousand years in a spiritual state and three thousand years in a pure material state. Those six thousand years were from Aries to Virgo, each constellation ruling one thousand years.

Cosmic history is thus divided into four periods of three thousand years each. (On the chronolology of arabs of twelve thousand years)

In other words, they saw the most important astronomical cycles as 1. The 24,000 year precession cycle. 2. The precession cut in half as a summer and winter or 12,000 each. 3. Then those halfs cut into quarters or FOUR periods of 3,000 years. So in all they cut the 24k precession INTO EIGHT SEGMENTS. They overlaid 8 onto 12. Or the Lunar cycle onto the Solar.

Summary of Key Sources with 3,000-Year Cycles

  1. Bundahishn (Zoroastrian cosmological text):
    • Describes four periods of 3,000 years each, divided into phases of creation, conflict, and ultimate restoration.
  2. The Yashts (Zoroastrian liturgical texts):
    • These texts describe the long duration of time when the forces of good and evil are in opposition, culminating in the final victory of Ahura Mazda.
  3. Pahlavi Texts (Middle Persian Zoroastrian scriptures):
    • References to long cosmic cycles of 3,000 years, spiritual struggle, and eventual cosmic renewal.
  4. The Shahnameh (Persian epic):
    • Though not directly a Zoroastrian text, it incorporates Zoroastrian motifs of divine rule and the cyclical rise and fall of divine reigns, influenced by the broader Zoroastrian cosmological view.