The term Messiah in Hebrew language Mashiach literally means “the anointed one” and refers to the ancient practice of anointing kings with oil when they took the throne. It was customary for Jewish people to consecrate their priests and kings by pouring anointing oil over them. For example, to Aaron in Exodus 30:30, to Saul in First Samuel 10:2, to David in 1 Samuel 16:13, and so on…. The oil was symbolic of being set apart by and endowed with the power of God for special service.
During the prophetic period of Israel’s history, the Jewish people were promised that God would raise up a redeemer from the seed of David who would bring the deliverance from their enemies, restore the Temple, and re-establish the kingdom rule of David. [Isaiah 9:6-7, Isaiah 11:1-2, Jeremiah 23:5].
What exactly is the Jewish belief of the Messiah? The Judaism has never viewed the Messiah as the God-Man, which contradicts the Scripture such as Psalm 110:1, Isaiah 9: 6 and so on…, but only a man with unusual power from God who will manifest the qualities of a prophet, priest, and king in Israel.
Jewish people believe the Scriptures that speak about the Messiah and His role since the fall of the MAN in a garden, eastward in Eden. However, their interpretation of messianic prophecy is limited only to their era and differs significantly.
To know the criteria to be the Messiah, we need to find the answers of following 7Ws:
1. Why MAN needed the Messiah?
2. What were the promises of God about the Messiah?
3. What will be the Mission of the Messiah?
4. Who will be the Messiah?
5. What will be the genealogy or lineage of the Messiah?
6. Where the Messiah will be born?
7. When the Messiah will be born or come?
1. Why MAN needed the Messiah?
In Genesis 1:26-27 we read that God created MAN-Male and Female in His own image and likeness; blessed them to be fruitful, multiply, replenish the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over all the earth, including over the fish of the sea, over the fowl of the air, over the cattle, over every living thing that moveth upon the earth [Genesis 1:26-30].
Moreover, Genesis 2:8-15 also reveals that God put the MAN in a garden, eastward in Eden to dress it and to keep it. And God saw everything that He had made, and, behold, it was very good [Genesis 1:31]. Prophet Isaiah reveals in Isaiah 43:7 that God created MAN for His glory and the Book of Revelation 4:11 says that all things were created for His pleasure. And time to time God also visited or walked in the garden [Genesis 3:8].
In Genesis 2:16-17 we read, “And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” This reveals that the death that is SIN had not entered into the world before the fall of the MAN.
Fall of the MAN
In Genesis 3:6-7 we read, And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food which indicates the Lust of Flesh, and that it was pleasant to the eyes which indicates the Lust of Eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise which indicates the Pride of Life, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons. The MAN disobeyed God, and death that is SIN entered into the world.
God’s effort to save the MAN
First LORD God made coats of skins that is causing bloodshed and clothed them [Genesis 3:21],
Second LORD God sent MAN forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken [Genesis 3:23], and
Third LORD God drove out the MAN and placed at the east of the garden of Eden and put Cherubims with a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life to eat and live for ever [Genesis 3:22-24].
Initially, MAN needed the Messiah for his restoration or regeneration in the Image and Likeness of God. But as time passed, MAN went on sinning and went away from Him. But God never gave up on believing on MAN. God made covenants with MAN that Messiah will fulfil all His promises that He had made to MAN.
Therefore, now God foresee that is MAN needed the Messiah who will save, judge & rule over the MAN, the Nation Israel, and all Nations that is entire world.
2. What were the promises of God about the Messiah?
As the time passed, MAN went away from God. But God never gave up on believing on MAN. He saved them and brought them back to Him. Find below some of the God’s promises that were pronounced to people over the period; first revealing to Eve, then others about the Messiah:
Promised to Eve in Genesis 3:15: “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”
Promised to Abraham in Genesis 22:17-18: “That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the seashore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.”.
In Matthew 1:1 we find its fulfilment, it says “The book of the generation of Yeshua the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham.” In Galatians 3:7 we find the further illustration for its fulfilment, it says “Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham”… and in Galatians 3: 29 it says, ”And if ye be Messiah’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”
Prophesied by Mosses in Deuteronomy 18:15, “The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken” In John 1:19-23 people asked about the promised Prophet, John the Baptist began to preach, he was asked, “Are you the Prophet?”.
People show this Prophet in Yeshua. In John 6:14 they said, “Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Yeshua did, said, this is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world.”
Moreover, in John 7:40 we read, “Many of the people therefore, when they heard this saying, said, of a truth this is the Prophet.” The evidence of its fulfilment, we find in John 5:46, where Yeshua says, “For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me; for he wrote of me.”
Psalms 72:11 says, “Yea, all kings shall fall down before him: all nations shall serve him.”
Prophesied by Isaiah in Isaiah 7:14; 9:6-7; 49:6-8. In Isaiah 7:14 it says, “Therefore, the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”
In Isaiah 9:6-7 we read, “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.”
In Isaiah 49:6-8 we read, “And he said, it is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth. Thus, saith the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel, and his Holy One, to him whom man despiseth, to him whom the nation abhorreth, to a servant of rulers, Kings shall see and arise, princes also shall worship, because of the Lord that is faithful, and the Holy One of Israel, and he shall choose thee. Thus, saith the Lord, in an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee: and I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages”.
Prophesied by Jeremiah in Jeremiah 23:5-6, “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, The Lord Our Righteousness.”
Prophesied by Daniel in Daniel 7:13-14, “I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.”Therefore, the promised Messiah will be the Saviour, the King of kings and the Lord of lords.
3. What will be the Mission of the Messiah?
Find some of the references of the Scripture that spell out about the Mission of the Messiah:
In Genesis 3:15 it says, “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”
In Psalms 2:6-9,12 we read, “Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree: the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.”
Micah in Micah 4:15 spoke of a time when the nations would go to a restored temple to learn about God. Amos in Amos 9:12 also spoke of all the nations coming to the God of Israel, and other prophets like Ezekiel in Ezekiel 17:23; 31:6, Daniel in Daniel 4:9-21 spoke of the inclusion of Gentiles into God’s redemptive plan.
This is why just as Israel is called to be a light to the entire world, the Messiah’s mission is also to be a “light to the nations” [Isaiah 49: 6]. Hence, while God’s plans are national that is for Israel, it is evidence that the nation is an instrument to bring international blessings.
Therefore, Israel’s Head, the Messiah, is called to restore the nation and use the nation to bring blessings to the other nations of the earth—blessings that are spiritual and physical.
In Isaiah 11:6-9 we read, “The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice’ den. 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.”
The primary task of Messiah is to cause all the world to return to God and His teachings, and the overall mission of Messiah is tosave, judge & rule over the MAN, the Nation Israel, and all Nations [entire world], and establish the Kingdom of God on this earth”. In Revelation 21:5 we read, “And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, write: for these words are true and faithful.”
4. Who will be the Messiah?
In Genesis 3:15 we read, “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” Therefore, he will be the seed of woman.
Genesis 22:17-18 says, “That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the seashore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.” Therefore, he shall be from the lineage of Abraham.
Deuteronomy 18:18 says, “I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.” It reveals that he will be a Jew from Israel.
Prophet Isaiah prophesied in Isaiah 9:6 that “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” Therefore, Messiah will be a God-Man.
Prophet Isaiah prophesied in Isaiah 7:14, “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”
Prophet Jeremiah prophesised in Jeremiah 23:5-6, “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, The Lord Our Righteousness.” So he will be a king from the lineage of David.
The prophet Isaiah further describes that the seven spirits with which the Messiah will be blessed. In Isaiah 11:2 we read, “And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord”
Prophet Zechariah prophesied in Zechariah 3:8-9, “Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, thou, and thy fellows that sit before thee: for they are men wondered at: for, behold, I will bring forth my servant the Branch. For behold the stone that I have laid before Joshua; upon one stone shall be seven eyes: behold, I will engrave the graving thereof, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day.” So, he will the high priest.
In Isaiah 61:1-2 we read, “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;”
In Zechariah 9:9 we read, “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.”
Prophet Isaiah also prophesised in Isaiah 49:6, “And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth.” Therefore, he will also be the light to Gentiles so that God’s salvation will be for everyone that is unto the end of the earth.
In Zechariah 11:12-13 we read, “And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver. And the Lord said unto me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was prised at of them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the Lord.”
Prophet Isaiah prophesied in Isaiah 53:1-12, “Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken. And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.”. He will be the suffering servant and will die.
In Daniel 7:13-14 we read, “I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.” Therefore, he will be the Son of Man and the King of all people, nations and languages for everlasting dominion.
In Isaiah 2:1-5 we read, “The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the LORD.”
Therefore, he will be the King of kings and the Lord of lords.
First and foremost, the Savior of humanity must be God. Not only must He be God, but He has to be a perfect human physically and morally. Now, we know throughout the Old Testament, all of the sacrifices were a type of Messiah, and the animal to be sacrificed had to be perfect physically — perfect physically, that’s as far as the animals could go.
But the implication here is for the Messiah, He had to be perfect physically as well as morally. No sin of His own, or He would have had to die for His own sin. If somebody claims to be Messiah, they have to be perfect physically. Not only God, because he’s going to claim to be God, but he has to be perfect physically, yet without sin.
There’s a heavy criterion. He has to be both God and Man in order to pay the infinite penalty for sin. But we do know that Messiah had to pay the full penalty for sin, and that full penalty is death—not just physical death, but separation from God forever, if he fails.
5. What will be the genealogy or lineage of the Messiah?
Genesis 3:15 reveals that Messiah will be the seed of the woman, it says “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”
He will be from the lineage of Abraham. In Genesis 22:17-18 we read, “That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the seashore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.”
He will be a Jew from Israel. Deuteronomy 18:18 says, “I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.”
He will be from the lineage of Jesse. Isaiah 11:1 says, “And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots:”
He will be from the lineage of David. In Jeremiah 23:5-6 we read, “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, The Lord Our Righteousness.”
Further in Jeremiah 33:14-15 we read, “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will perform that good thing which I have promised unto the house of Israel and to the house of Judah. In those days, and at that time, will I cause the Branch of righteousness to grow up unto David; and he shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land.”
6. Where the Messiah will be born?
Prophet Micah prophesised in Micah 5:2 that Messiah will be born in Bethlehem. It says, “But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.”
7. When the Messiah will be born or come?
Messiah will be born after Johan the Baptist. In Malachi 3:1 we read, “Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts.”
Suffering Messiah will come before the destruction of second Temple that is before 70AD. In Daniel 9:25-27 we read, “Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.”
After rising from the death of suffering Messiah, there will be pouring out the spirit of grace and of supplications upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem. In Zechariah 12:10 we read, “And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.”
He will come as the King of kings and the Lord of lords. In Daniel 7:13-14 we read, I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed. This time He will come after coming of the witness- prophet Elijah. In Malachi 4:5 we read, “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord”.
Conclusion
The promised Messiah is “God-Man” – the Saviour, the King of kings and the Lord of lords. The Scripture describes the Messiah in a dual role. First, there would come the “suffering servant”, who would die and save the MAN, and preparing the way for the second role of the Messiah.
Secondly, there would come a descendant of King David as “King of kings and Lord of lords” who would secure the land of Israel for the Jewish people; bring peace and blessing to Israel and the world; rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem, on its historical site; and reinstitute the worship system and everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that shall not be destroyed.
