Christians today regard Jesus Christ as the Messiah (‘anointed one’) sent by God. But he is not the only man to have claimed that title and many men over the centuries have proclaimed that they are God’s true Messiah. Perhaps the most famous of all was the Jewish Rabbi Sabbatai Zevi.
Sabbatai was born in Smyrna in Turkey on 1 August 1626 —a significant Jewish holy date commemorating the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 CE. Sabbatai was named after the planet Saturn which, in Jewish tradition, was linked to the coming of the Messiah. In Europe at this time, the view that the coming of the Messiah was imminent was flourishing and, in particular, many believed the age-old prophecy that in 1648 the Messiah would come and Israel would be restored to God.
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