Hi Friend, thank you for your examination of Jesus as the Messiah.
Need all believe that Jesus is the Messiah to consider what he came to offer?
—
Hi Friend!
I enjoyed your thoughtful examination of the question of whether Jesus was the Messiah, particularly your concern that sincere seekers of God can become so entangled in competing interpretations of Scripture that they lose sight of what they may have in common.
One incident you described particularly caught my attention.
You asked a Jewish writer and a Christian writer whether they could at least pray to the same God, only to discover that even this was a point of disagreement.
What a remarkable illustration of the divisions that have arisen among people who sincerely desire to know their Creator!
But I wonder whether Jesus himself might have offered a way beyond this impasse.
“And this is eternal life, that they may KNOW YOU, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” — John 17:3
Jesus identifies the Father as the only true God and himself as the one whom the Father sent.
That distinction is important because it raises a question that often gets lost in arguments over prophecy, miracles, and the resurrection.
What if we have misunderstood the very purpose of Jesus' coming?
You rightly observe that the historical evidence surrounding Jesus is subject to interpretation. Ancient documents, however sincerely preserved, cannot always establish extraordinary events beyond reasonable dispute.
And I agree that arguing over different interpretations of Scripture rarely settles anything.
But there is another possibility worth considering.
What if Jesus' mission was not primarily to establish a religion, fulfill a collection of disputed predictions, or demonstrate supernatural powers?
What if he came to reveal something about the Father that humanity had largely forgotten—and to make available something that could actually transform human nature?
This is the understanding of Jesus' mission presented in a series of spiritual communications known as Jesus' Second Coming Messages from Spirit.
Beginning in 1914, a Washington, D.C., attorney named James E. Padgett recorded communications that he attributed to highly developed spirits, including Jesus and his apostles. These writings became the foundation of what is now called the Divine Love Movement.
Communications of equal spiritual depth and significance, received through other Divine Love mediums, continue to this day.
I realize that introducing spirit communications raises another set of questions concerning authenticity and evidence. I would not ask you to accept these writings merely because they claim to come from Jesus, any more than I would ask you to accept an ancient document solely because someone declares it divinely inspired.
But I believe their teachings deserve thoughtful examination, particularly because they offer answers to several questions raised in your article.
According to these communications, Jesus was indeed the Messiah—the anointed one—but not because he was God incarnate.
He was a human being whose soul became transformed through receiving the Father's own Divine Love.
And he came to announce that this extraordinary Gift, once withdrawn from humanity, had been made available again.
His mission was to reveal the Way by which every willing person could receive that same Love into their soul and eventually become divine.
Consider this remarkable promise in the New Testament:
“Through Jesus, God has given us His very precious and magnificent promises so that by them we might PARTAKE OF HIS DIVINE NATURE and escape the corruption of the world caused by selfish desires.” — 2 Peter 1:4
What could it mean for a human being to partake of God's own Nature?
Not merely to become a better person.
Not merely to obey religious commandments.
Not merely to receive forgiveness for wrongdoing.
But to undergo an actual transformation of the soul through receiving something of God's own Substance.
Paul describes the beginning of this transformation:
“And hope does not disappoint us, for God has poured out HIS LOVE into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which He has given to us.” — Romans 5:5
The Divine Love teachings distinguish this Love, agápe in this verse, from the natural human love with which we were created.
Natural love can become wonderfully pure and unselfish. It can inspire compassion, forgiveness, and extraordinary acts of kindness.
But the Father's Divine Love is understood to be something greater: His own Essence, which the human soul may receive through sincere prayer and longing for Him.
Moses commanded:
“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:
And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.” — Deuteronomy 6:4–5
The restoration of God’s Gift of His Soul Essence for humanity’s divine transformation did not occur until the coming of Jesus.
Yet what a lovely preparatory instruction Moses gave his people!
By encouraging them to develop an intimate, loving relationship with God, he offered them a way to cultivate an attitude of receptivity for the time when the Divine Love would again become available.
As this Love enters and grows within the soul, it gradually transforms our very nature.
This, according to the Messages, is what Jesus meant by being born from above.
“Unless one is born from above, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.” — John 3:3
The New Birth is not simply accepting a religious belief.
It is the beginning of a new kind of life within the soul — eternal divine life.
And this brings us back to the question of the Messiah.
In Jewish tradition, the Messiah is expected to usher in an era of peace, justice, and widespread knowledge of God. You correctly observe that these conditions were not established during Jesus' mortal lifetime.
But what if Jesus came to introduce the means by which those conditions could eventually become possible?
The prophet Jeremiah envisioned a time when humanity's relationship with God would become something profoundly personal:
“I will put My law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts… they shall all KNOW ME, from the least of them to the greatest.” — Jeremiah 31:33–34
And Isaiah foretold:
“They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the KNOWLEDGE of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.” — Isaiah 11:9
Notice the connection.
Jeremiah describes humanity coming to KNOW God inwardly.
Isaiah describes an Earth transformed through the KNOWLEDGE of God.
And Jesus equates eternal life with KNOWING the Father.
Could these passages be pointing toward something more profound than intellectual knowledge or religious agreement?
What if they describe a transformation in humanity's relationship with God that ultimately changes the way human beings treat one another?
We can establish laws against cruelty.
But what if human souls could become so filled with God's Love that cruelty no longer arose within them?
Get Lisa Sims’s stories in your inbox
Join Medium for free to get updates from this writer.
We can teach people to forgive.
But what if forgiveness eventually became the spontaneous expression of their transformed nature?
“Everyone having been born of God does not sin, because HIS SEED lives in him, and he is not able to sin, because he has been BORN OF GOD.” — 1 John 3:9
We can debate which religion possesses the truth.
But what if the Father desires something far greater than our agreement about religious doctrines?
What if He desires to share His own Love with every one of His children?
The Second Coming Messages also offer a different perspective on the resurrection.
They teach that Jesus survived the death of his mortal body, as all humans do, and subsequently manifested his spirit body in substantial form to his followers.
They further explain that he dematerialized his entombed physical body.
These are extraordinary claims, and I do not present them as independently established historical facts.
But they make an important distinction.
The survival of Jesus' soul and his appearances after death are not, in this understanding, what made him the Messiah.
His significance rests upon the Divine Love he received and the Way to the Father that he revealed.
Indeed, the Messages identify his own transformation through the Father's Love as the true miracle of his life.
And they teach that this same transformation remains available to every human soul.
This brings me to another statement of Jesus that I find particularly intriguing:
“I have spoken these things to you in figures of speech. The hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures, but will tell you plainly about the Father.” — John 16:25
Could these communications be the fulfillment of Jesus' promise to tell us plainly about the Father?
They certainly do that…
Who and what is God?
“…God is of form such as to give Him an Entity and Substance and seat of habitation, in contradistinction to that God which…is said to be everywhere…in the trees and rocks, and thunder and lightning, and in men and beasts…and in whom men are said to live and move and have their being. No, this concept of God is not in accord with the truth, and it is vital to the knowledge and salvation of men that such conception of God be not entertained or believed in…
“…although it may be surprising and startling to mortals to hear, God has His habitation, and God the Substance, the Self-existing and Soul form, has His locality, and men do not live and move and have their existence in God; but in His emanations and expressions and spirit they do…” — Jesus, May 25, 1917, Received by James Padgett, Washington DC
…and so much more.
In a communication dated December 2, 1915, Jesus makes an even more extraordinary claim:
“...My coming to you is really my second coming on earth, and the result of my coming in this way will satisfy and fulfill all the promises of the scriptures as to my second coming…” — Jesus, December 2, 1915
According to this communication, Jesus' Second Coming is not a physical return to establish an earthly throne, but his return through spiritual communications to reveal the Father's Truths.
Whether this communication is authentic is, of course, something interested readers may wish to explore.
But it introduces a possibility rarely considered in traditional discussions of the Messiah: that Jesus' Second Coming could begin with a renewed revelation of his teachings, before the initiation of visible manifestations by him and the other divine angels of the Kingdom as foretold in the New Testament.
And perhaps the most interesting aspect of these teachings is that they do not ask us to begin by settling every theological disagreement.
They invite us to begin with prayer.
This brings me back to your question about whether a Jew and a Christian can pray to the same God.
I would suggest that the Father is not confined within the boundaries of any human religion.
The God whom Jesus called Father is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
And if the Father truly loves all His children, why should any sincere soul be excluded from approaching Him?
Jesus taught:
“Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” — Matthew 7:7
I believe this invitation extends to every human being, regardless of affiliations or beliefs.
And there is a simple way to explore what the Divine Love teachings describe.
Turn toward the Father with the sincere longings of your soul and ask Him to fill you with His Love.
A prayer might be as simple as this:
Father, I come to You with the sincere longings of my soul. Pour Your Divine Love into my soul and transform me through this precious Gift. Help me grow ever closer to You, becoming more loving, compassionate, and merciful toward all Your children. Amen.
Then spend some time in silence, opening your soul to the Father's Love.
Do this daily.
No special words, rituals, or religious affiliation are required.
And no one needs to abandon honest inquiry, historical investigation, or critical thinking.
The experience of prayer cannot, by itself, prove that a particular historical figure fulfilled a particular prophecy. Nor can it establish the authenticity of spirit communications.
But it may open a dimension of spiritual development that arguments over ancient documents cannot produce.
It may lead to knowing God.
And perhaps this is where your observation about faith becomes especially meaningful.
Faith need not be a demand that others accept our conclusions.
It can become a willingness to seek God sincerely, with humility, openness, and love.
I appreciate your insistence that religious convictions should not become weapons used to establish superiority over others.
And I wonder whether the deepest truth Jesus came to reveal might be something that transcends those divisions.
That through the Father’s Love, every willing soul may become perfected.
Paul expressed the promise beautifully:
“And we all, with unveiled faces, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.” — 2 Corinthians 3:18
Perhaps the most meaningful question is not simply whether we believe that Jesus was the Messiah.
Perhaps it is whether we have understood what he came to offer humanity.
Thank you for approaching this difficult subject with intellectual honesty and respect for those who hold differing convictions.
I hope you might find the Second Coming Messages an interesting additional avenue of investigation, even if you ultimately reach different conclusions about their origin.
Love, peace and blessings to you and yours for the coming year, dear friend, no matter what the world brings.
And may we all discover the transforming power of the Father’s Love through prayer. 🌿🙏💛
The Second Coming Messages from Spirit for All People (1914–present)
Received over the past 112 years through mediums chosen and developed by Jesus through prayer for God’s Divine Love. Communications from redeemed souls of many nations and religious backgrounds throughout the world, now dwelling together in God’s Divine Kingdom—including Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Archives: soultruth.ca | new-birth.net
Pray for the blessing of the Father’s Love to enter your soul. Ask for this Gift! 💖😌💖
