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Messiah
From A Storehouse of Knowledge
The Messiah (Hebrew, "Annointed One") is a person chosen by God to perform His work. Specifically, the Messiah is a prophet, priest, and king foretold in the Old Testament to establish God's kingdom in the world and save people from sin. He is to be of the house of Judah, of the line of David.
According to the New Testament, the Messiah is Jesus Christ. He has already come once to save people from sin, and He will come again to establish God's kingdom.
Prophecies about Messiah
- This list is incomplete and should be lengthened.
- Genesis 3:15
- Deuteronomy 18:15-19
- II Samuel 7:16
- Job 19:25-27
- Psalm 2, 22, 23, 24, 110
- Psalm 68:18
- Isaiah 50, 53
- Daniel 9:25-27
- Hosea 6:1-2
- Hosea 11:1
- Zechariah 6:12-13
- Micah 5:2
- Malachi 3:1-3
Jewish perspectives
From the Roman conquest of Judea onward, many people raised up revolts against the Roman occupation, claiming to be the Messiah. The Romans brutally crushed every such revolt.
| “ | Some time ago Theudas appeared, claiming to be somebody, and about four hundred men rallied to him. He was killed, all his followers were dispersed, and it all came to nothing. After him, Judas the Galilean appeared in the days of the census and led a band of people in revolt. He too was killed, and all his followers were scattered. --Rabbi Gamaliel, Acts 5:36-37 | ” |
The Jewish Sanhedrin and priests frowned upon Messianic claimants, fearing that the Romans would use the constant revolts as an excuse to revoke their limited autonomy (as actually happened after the Jewish revolt of AD 70). Thus, they asked John the Baptist whether he was Messiah; when he denied it, they were at a loss to know who he considered himself to be.[1] This is also why the Sanhedrin and Pharisees and Sadducees were so eager to arrest Jesus before he raised a revolt against the Romans, as they thought he was going to do[2].
The most successful Messianic claimant, aside from Jesus Himself, was Simon bar-Kokhba, who successfully threw out the Roman occupation for three and a half years before being killed in 135 AD. Most of the rabbis of Israel, including the influential Rabbi Akiba, recognized him as Messiah. Even after his death, Jose ben-Haftala mutilated the Persian chronology in his landmark Seder Olam Rabbah so that the Messianic prophecy in Daniel 9:25-27 would appear to point to bar-Kokhba instead of Jesus.[3]
