I have a sincere question for anyone of the Jewish faith. I was recently discussing religion with someone who knew very little about any faith, & I was explaining , to the best of my ability (not being a Jew) the nuts & bolts of Israel waiting for the Messiah, Jesus being born, some accepting him (becoming Christ-ians) and those of the Jewish faith not accepting him as the Messiah...and the question came up, "Well what do Jews think now?" in regards to the whole Messiah thing...and I didn't know. That's my question..."Are Jews Still waiting for the Messiah?" "Is it more of a belief/tradition that faded out?" "Did they initially/ still think that it would literally be a return of Moses or Elijah?" This is a sincere question and I appreciate your help.... ....I have no "angle"...just wanna know...thanks
While I am not Jewish; I have studied Jewish history and religion while in college. I think it's fair to say, without going into the various sects, that Jews ARE still waiting fo the Messiah to complete their covenant with God. Jewish history, that of the ethnicity and religion, is cyclical in nature. The most important componet of their faith is following the laws and commandments of God through the establishment of a covenant. When something disasterous has happened,i.e.: fammine, flood, The Babylonian Captivity etc--Religious Jews have felt that they were not following the laws and commandments to the letter. I am referring more or less to antiquity, not recent history. In this way, the Jews would rebuild, follow the commandments and strive to be in line with the law and then fall from grace again when disaster strikes (the disaster being a result of them not honoring the laws and commandments to the fullest). This cycle continues throughout their history and up to the point where the Romans scatter the Jewish people from Israel and don't return untill after WWII. Again, the Jewish faith is certainly waiting for the return of the Messiah to complete their covenant with God. Christians, especially those of the hell-fire and "accepting Jesus as my personal savior" bent, should be crystal clear that the Jews are God's original people--his chosen with whom he formed the first covenant.
How will they know it's the messiah. What is he supposed to do for them? Or will they know when they see it.
The trouble I've had with discussing this with Orthodox Jewish friends is that they A) Hadn't actually read Isaiah and B) catagorically refused any interpretation of OT prophesy that would lead to the possible conclusion that Jesus was the Messiah.
Is this, in part due to the fact that Jesus was not the "type" of Messiah 1st century Jews expected? Its my ubderstanding, that to a certain extent people expected the MESSIAH to be a warrior-esque Messiah that would literallyoverthrow those opressing the Jewish people, so when Jesus shows up preaching promises of peace...he couldn't possibly be the right guy, again, to first century Jews....is this the line of reasoning?
That is EXACTLY what the Jews of the first century wanted. The Pharacies and High Priests, not to mention thousands of discontented in Jerusalem, wanted the return of a triumphant King David to crush the Romans and restore Israel to a theocracy.
i have encountered the same problem...i have a jewish friend/client who asked me to join him for breakfast to discuss jesus. when i told him he might want to read the book of isaiah, he told me that they don't really read the chapters that allude to the messiah.
Yes and No. I agree that there is an element of the same sort of rejection from the 1st century. There was certainly a desire for another King David type. But it seems to me there has been a movement to guard against conversion to Christianity by denying the importance of certain prophesies rather than denying that Jesus fulfilled them. For example, the Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem to a virgin. I expected my friends to deny he was born there, deny he was called out of Egypt, deny he was born to a virgin (well, they do deny that). But instead they denied that the Messiah would be born of a virgin, in Bethlehem and called out of Egypt. Instead they claimed the prophetic books were all very complicated and could be interpreted so many ways almost anyone could be the Messiah.
or in any century for that matter. but who else was there?? i've heard people say this, but never seen the historical evidence of it. who else was making these claims??
Matthew 16 15"But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?" 16Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ,[1] the Son of the living God." 17Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. Footnotes 1. 16:16 Or Messiah; also in verse 20 Matthew 26 62Then the high priest stood up and said to Jesus, "Are you not going to answer? What is this testimony that these men are bringing against you?" 63But Jesus remained silent. The high priest said to him, "I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Christ,[1] the Son of God." 64"Yes, it is as you say," Jesus replied. "But I say to all of you: In the future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven." Footnotes 2. 26:63 Or Messiah; also in verse 68 John 10 23and Jesus was in the temple area walking in Solomon's Colonnade. 24The Jews gathered around him, saying, "How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ,[1] tell us plainly." 25Jesus answered, "I did tell you, but you do not believe. The miracles I do in my Father's name speak for me, Also see Mark 8:29, Mark 14:60-62, John 1:19-21
