What is the true Messiah supposed to do?
To answer this question we only need to look to the Tanach, the Jewish prophets, that form part of the 52 books of the Tanach; to save you time as I know that’s in short supply these days I have summarized below the six key tasks that the Jewish Messiah must grapple with AND accomplish in his lifetime –
- Lasting world peace – Isiah (chapter 2, v4)
- Spreading knowledge on worldwide scale that the God of Israel is the true God. – Isiah (chapter 11, verse 9)
- Bringing an end to idol worship by all other peoples of the earth. – (Isiah chapter 2, verse 18)
- Ingathering of the Jewish exiles from around the globe – see Isiah (Chap 11, verse 12)
- Rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem to its form glory – Ezekiel chapter 47
- The resurrection of the dead – Isaiah 26, v19:-
יִֽחְי֣וּ מֵתֶ֔יךָ נְבֵלָתִ֖י יְקוּמ֑וּן הָקִ֨יצוּ וְרַנְּנ֜וּ שֹׁכְנֵ֣י עָפָ֗ר כִּ֣י טַ֤ל אוֹרֹת֙ טַלֶּ֔ךָ וָאָ֖רֶץ רְפָאִ֥ים תַּפִּֽיל׃
“Oh, let Your dead revive!
Let corpses arise!
Awake and shout for joy,
You who dwell in the dust!—
For Your dew is like the dew on fresh growth;
You make the land of the shades come to life.”
AND A TECHNICAL POINT….
The Jewish Messiah will not come until Elijah the prophet makes an appearance – as stated in the Book of Malaki:
“Lo, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before the coming of the awesome, fearful day of GOD”
That as yet has not occurred.
QUESTION – WHAT ABOUT THE MESSIAH PERFORMING MIRACLES – SURELY THAT’S NEEDED?
ANSWER – There is no mention in the Tanach of the need for the Messiah to perform any miracles in order to convince people as to his authenticity – the proof will be in his ability to fulfil the prophecies as set out above. Actions speak louder than rods being turned into snakes – a feat which the Egyptians also were able to achieve.
Of course, you may say to yourself that’s all fine and good but for thousands of years being and identifying as Jewish has just caused one hardship suffering prejudice and even death. The other religions in particular Islam and Christianity dominate the world stage, have countries whose whole system is based on their particular religion, have billions signed up to their religion – yet the Jewish people can barely hang onto one country the size of Wales and account for 0.2% of the 8 billion people in the world today!
Fear not my friends – Judaism is not a head count – our “success” is not based on how many millions or billions we are.
QUESTION – From where do we learn that Judaism is not a head count?
ANSWER From Elijah the Prophet – In around the 9th century BCE we encounter Elijah the Prophet in the Book of 1 Kings ch18 – verses 22-41.
Elijah reproaches the Jewish people for their idol worshipping lifestyle and in particular their affinity for Baal Worship which was being promoted by Queen Jezebel and her husband King Ahab.
Elijah in his reproach to the Jews says to them “…how long will you continue to hold onto your idol worshipping practices? If God is King then follow Him, if Baal is the true King then follow Baal. On Mount Carmel it is recorded in the Tanach that the only way to resolve this question was to demonstrate the power of the true God – so it is told that the priests of Baal were requested to pick an animal place it on an alter and pray for fire to come and consume the animal but without them using any fire or touching the animal– and guess what – nothing happened despite a lot of wonderful heartfelt praying!
Elijah the prophet put an animal on a separate altar – not only that but Elijah went so far as to douse the animal in water and surround the alter with a trench of water– Elijah prayed and almost immediately a fire came down from the heavens and consumed the animal and all the water as well. Jezebel said – “give it time – the Jews will come back to Baal” and she was sadly correct the majority of the Jews in that time went over to the practice of Baal worship – but the Tanach confirms that 7000 precious Jewish people refused to follow Baal (1 Kings 19:18)– we are not a headcount!
QUESTION – HAS GOD FORSAKEN THE JEWISH PEOPLE?
ANSWER – NO – IF HE HAD WE WOULD NOT BE HERE!
The Covenants to Abraham and our forefathers have not been broken replaced or withdrawn nor will they ever be…. other religions claim that our God’s promises to our Forefathers have now been replaced with a “new covenant” – again not true – see Isiah 59 v21:-
וַאֲנִ֗י זֹ֣את בְּרִיתִ֤י אוֹתָם֙ אָמַ֣ר יְהֹוָ֔ה רוּחִי֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר עָלֶ֔יךָ וּדְבָרַ֖י אֲשֶׁר־שַׂ֣מְתִּי בְּפִ֑יךָ לֹֽא־יָמ֡וּשׁוּ מִפִּ֩יךָ֩ וּמִפִּ֨י זַרְעֲךָ֜ וּמִפִּ֨י זֶ֤רַע
זַרְעֲךָ֙ אָמַ֣ר יְהֹוָ֔ה מֵעַתָּ֖ה וְעַד־עוֹלָֽם׃ {ס}
And this shall be My covenant with them, said GOD: My spirit that is upon you, and the words that I have placed in your mouth, shall not be absent from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your children, nor from the mouth of your children’s children—said GOD —from now on, for all time.
The Covenant 