meditation on the 125° Anniversary of HIM Haile Selassie The First

The city of Ejersa Goro, the birthplace of the King of Kings Haile Selassie The First, is located at about 2800 meters above sea level, just outside the charming town of Harar. This is called the timeless city, its small, narrow streets intertwine between colored houses. A palette of colors generously enriched by the lively dresses and glittering veils of women flocking the city.
Always a fundamental place for the Ethiopian Empire, despite its distance from the capital Addis Ababa, Harar was one of the most important centers in the nation and was, above all, the place ruled by Ras Makonnen, father of little Lidj Tafari.
Immediately out of this ancient city stood the small center of Ejersa Goro. Here, Ras Makonnen had brought his wife Waizero Yashimabet to give birth to their male son whom so many talked about in the immortal Ethiopian country. In fact, about  this child sang and prophesied the elders, and many stories covered the expectation of His birth.

A vast and very diverse territory, Ethiopia was mysteriously united in the fervent anticipation of the day of the birth of the possible future heir to the throne. So many things were said about this son who was about to be born, there was a tense feeling that the time was about to change for the country of Ethiopia, and that perhaps nothing would have been like before.
Even the drought that afflicted the agricultural heart of the nation often remained in the background of what was about to happen, this birth that had attracted royal noblemen and dignitaries on the plateaus surrounding the house of Ras Makonnen. On the heights of Ejarsa Goro where in the morning the dew is cold and moisture in the sky quickly disappears  to give place to the intense blue that opens over the mountains.
Ethiopia is an ancient place, not only because its history. You can really feel the ancientness in the spirit of the nation and especially in the  people who populate it. One hundred and twenty-five years ago, in 1892, that scenario could well be compared to the biblical atmosphere surrounding the birth of Iyasos Krestos in Bethlehem two thousand years ago. Waiting and fervor was also the same, the male son was about to be born and of Him people was talking before he came to the world.

In Ethiopia, unlike other Christian nations in the world, it was rightly still alive the belief that the Messiah would return a second time to govern with the faithful ones and especially to redeem the "rest of Israel" meaning  all those who were scattered across the World but belonging to the spiritual dynasty of the house of David.
David, the chosen one of God, had in fact initiated the dynasty from which the Messiah would be born.
According to biblical prophecy, the Holy One sent by God had to be a ruler, a leader of the people, the king of kings.
In the Old Testament we find the expectation of the Messiah as a redeemer and deliverer, the Anointed of God who would reconcile heaven and earth, bringing mankind to an original state of harmony with the Creator.
Messianic waiting pervades the whole Bible, from the very first pages of Genesis, to the last words of the Book of Revelation, we can say that the heart of the Bible is in fact the presence of Christ, the Son of God who makes himself human in order to make humans more divine.

The word Messiah, derived from Hebrew and Aramaic, and the greek word Christ, have the same meaning: the anointed one. In the Hebrew environment, it was a title initially reserved to the king, the one who was anointed with the blessed oil was chosen by the Lord for his government. After the anointing which represented the investiture of the Spirit of God, he was sent and instructed by the Lord and committed himself to working incessantly according to divine will. The king therefore would become a sacred person (not divine), to whom all had to show reverence as representing God's will on earth.

The book of Samuel tells us clearly about the role of the anointed king and it is precisely in these pages that we read of the hope that the Messiah would come from the lineage of David.
So once established that the Messiah would descend from David, every ruler of this family became a prefiguration of Christ, though not Christ in person. The Davidic king was a messiah of the moment, though he was not the son of God, he was a devoted representative of divine design but still a human being.

It is clear that many rulers in the history of Israel, while being greedy, covered themselves  with errors and shortcomings that made them appear in the eyes of the people as traitors of the divine mission.

Before anybody else, the prophets fluttered against the corrupted kings by denouncing their misdeeds and their abuse of what was supposed to be a sacred investment. The unbiased mouths of the prophets in fact denounced the usurpers of the Davidic throne fearlessly, recalling that the Messiah would have been instead a perfect ruler who would act according to righteousness and justice by exercising His powers with grace and mercy bringing liberty to the people.
It was in fact the prophets of old who directed Messianic hope to the future Messiah and stopped focusing on  the ruler of the moment, they were to look to the person whom the Lord would call His Son. He would be the only one, the chosen future  King that would take Israel into redemption and salvation.

Right after the exile in Babylon, regal messianism became effective, on the promises of the prophets the expectation of the divine King, the only Messiah, was established in the true sense of the word. He would come from the lineage of David and be King of Kings, his government would be theocratic and peace would reside in Israel because of his wisdom and mercy.
In this biblical vision, the Messiah had three main charisms: he was king, priest, and prophet.
He should have manifested these three characteristics that together form the perfect Messianic personality.
The Messiah was to be King of David's lineage as we have seen, to govern according to God's will. He had also to be a priestly figure or a spiritual leader to reconstitute humanity to the Creator as a universal mediator between Heaven and Earth and ultimately he had to be a prophet  to express a prophetic spirit in his life, warning men of what would have happened if they had not behaved according to righteousness and justice.
According to Old Testament wisdom, to be the true Messiah, the Anointed of Israel ought to have to match these characteristics.

That is why Ian'I Rastafari proclaim that the messianic plan could not be fulfilled only with the coming of Iyasos Krestos two thousand years ago, because even though He was a priestly figure and a prophet was not a ruler, He had no kingdom nor sat on any throne but instead He prepared the way deep in the hearts of the people, teaching them to seek the Kingdom of God.

He Himself announced that He would have to return a second time when the Gospel would have been spread to the four corners of the earth.
Ian'I Rastafari declare that one hundred and twenty-five years ago, in the mountains of Ejersa Goro, the child born amongst  the prophets' expectation was the Messiah in His second coming, the Holy One announced by Isaiah as the child on whose shoulders rested the sign of sovereignty, the Omnipotent Haile Selassie The First in the glory of the heavens and the earth, the ancient ruler who came to bring the rest of Israel to the original future.

In Christianity there is a great and unresolved ambiguity, why the Holy Scriptures speak of a King Messiah if Jesus Christ was actually a master of faith, a teacher with a spiritual message? Why do psalms and prophets speak of a chief of armies who will sit on David's throne when in thruth Jesus Christ taught the people spiritual wisdom and his disciples were originally fishermen?

The answer is in the Rastafari theological vision: the Messiah in his first coming as Iyasos Krestos, born in Bethlehem two thousand years ago, plays a part of the messianic task that would be only completed in His second coming as Haile Selassie The First born in Ejersa Goro in 1892.

Only with this vision can we fully overstand biblical Messianism and dispel any ambiguity and contradiction, only in the light of the coming of Haile Selassie First as Messiah we can have a complete consciousness of His salvation that He establishes with His coming as He manifests  all the requirements that thousands of years of prophecy have clearly exposed to us.
He embodies all the charisms that tradition teaches.
If we do not accept the second coming, we lose part of Messianic work and we cannot fully overstand the power of the Messiah who, as He said, was to come back a second time to fulfill the prophecies.

Ian'I Rastafari rests serene and happy in the awareness of the Black Messiah, the Black Christ in the flesh that has opened the seven seals, giving humanity the opportunity to be truly free and united to its Creator.

In this one hundred and twenty-fifth anniversary of the birth of the divine child, Ian'I meditates on the greatness of this promise and the magnificence of its meaning. It is marvelous to observe the fact that since 1892 the world has changed as the human being had never seen before and that a new time and a new era have been established just as the Scriptures said it would have happened with the Messiah’s return in His kingly character.
Historical facts and human events have become the tangible proofs of Revelation. We can see the Bible’s book of Revelation manifested in the pages of the history books with the fascism-driven war against the Messiah as the Psalm 2 announced to us. Just as in the Old Testament when the rest of Israel only after the exile in Babylon began to call out the future King Messiah, likewise after four hundred years of slavery the Africans scattered in the West in what was a new exile and a New Diaspora, began announcing the coming of Black Christ, the redeeming Messiah who would rise from Ethiopia which is the new Israel, and the new Zion.
In one hundred twenty-five years we have received signs and manifestations of the divinity of Haile Selassie The First that would not be enough for the pages of a book to list them. But above all we have received new eyes to observe a new world, the eyes of the Spirit that instructed Ian’I, through the lips of the Rastafari Patriarchs, about the new revelation of the Christ returned.

A new day began in the yards of the Elders in Jamaica, a new page that was announced in thousands years old prophecies. Salvation and Redemption are no longer foggy and difficult to understand, but  are instead clear and manifested reality.

The King of Kings has shown the world a way that is perfect and without defect, if we follow it we’ll take our lives to a higher level, earning  our salvation with good deeds, efforts, and incessant work to show that our goal is the kingdom of God here on earth and not the physical and mental slavery of Babylon.

From 1930 onwards all promises are fulfilled and Ian'I can only rejoice in the awareness that the Messiah has manifested Himself and has chosen the Rastafari people in this time to be His announcers and artisans of the characters of a renewed and awaken mankind.

In the revelation of the King Messiah, Ian’I see the promises accomplished and this is filled with joy because the model to follow is perfect and secure. In the Nyah Binghi Livity  we live the spiritual practice of communion with the Most High and fulljoy the infinite delights of His manifestation.

Through Ian’I chants  and consciousness we live as a nation in this world but not from this world, building step by step a road towards  to the throne of our Comforter, our shield and our help in trials. He who came to pick us one by one in order to form His nation.

We were once in distant and different places, each one with its own history and culture, but the King of Kings gathered us like the sheep of His flock in a single circle under the banner of red gold and green .
In full harmony and unity with the Creation and its creatures, we sing to the Most High lifting Spiritual Words and we pledge every day to protect the poor and the needy as our Father Haile Selassie The First did every day of His kingdom.

Sitting on the rock Ian’I observe one hundred and twenty-five years of greatness, wonder, bliss, surprise and mercy, Ian’I bath in the deep joy of being here present and part of the generation of the “rest of Israel” that is called from the four corners of the earth now that the Lord has lain His hand for the second time.

What else could Ian’I want, what else could Ian’I ask?

Ian’I  lift Ian’I eyes unto the hills and heights of our spirit, from whence cometh Ian’I help, and we can finally sing that our help has arrived one hundred and twenty-five years ago among the trees and the rocky heights of Ejersa Goro.

Glory to the Black Christ in the flesh, Ancient King, Ancient Priest, Ancient Prophet.

King David’s greater Son. The Prince of Peace. The One who simply is.

Qadamawi Haile Selassie