24 Sep Qualifications to Be the Messiah
Last week a commenter on our YouTube channel suggested we were wrong about Jesus being the Jewish Messiah, because whoever the Messiah was, they needed to do these six things. He said that Jesus failed because the only thing he did was the first.
- Be Jewish
- Descend from King David
- Influence the Whole World to Follow God
- Gather the Exiles to Israel
- Help Bring World Peace
- Rebuild the Temple.
Upon reading the comment I was struck with such gratitude to God, because it was apparent to me that Jesus HAD done these six things. I’m also grateful to our commenter and wish him every blessing.
For this post I’d like to add to this list of six, and extend it to fourteen. May I suggest there are at least 14 things the Messiah must do to be the Messiah.
- Be Jewish
- Descend from King David
- Be Born in Bethlehem
- Be Born During the Roman Empire
- Be Called God
- Be Rejected by His Own People
- Would Die
- Would Die Before AD70
- Would Make Atonement with his Life
- Would be Raised to Life.
- Influence the Whole World to Follow God
- Gather the Exiles to Israel
- Help Bring World Peace
- Rebuild the Temple.
Let’s consider them one by one as they apply to Jesus. Could Jesus truly be the Messiah?
1. Be Jewish
Jesus certainly had a Jewish mother, Mary. On the 8th day Jesus was circumcised and brought to the temple. (Luke 2:21) They sacrificed doves in accordance with the purification rules in Leviticus 12. Jesus definitely fulfils this qualification.
2. Descendant of David
The prophet Nathan sent by God, said to King David, ‘When your days are over and you go to be with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, one of your own sons, and I will establish his kingdom.’ 1 Chronicles 17:11
So the Messiah had to descend from David
In Matthew’s gospel we see this.. This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham.’ Matthew 1:1 It then goes on to specifically list the geneaology of Jesus person by person, through David’s son Solomon, right down to ‘Elihud the father of Eleazar, Eleazar the father of Matthan, Matthan the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, and Mary was the mother of Jesus who is called the Messiah.’ Matthew 1:15-16
Some might make an objection, that Jesus was not biologically the son of Joseph so not related to King David, but there is a bit more to the story.
Luke’s gospel records the geneaology of Jesus through his mother. Via that line, Jesus is descended from King David through another son, Nathan. See Luke 3:31.
3. Born in Bethlehem
The prophet Micah recorded ‘But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.’ Micah 5:2
If anyone knows the Christmas story, there probably is no doubt that Jesus was born in Bethlehem.
4. The Messiah would come During the Days of Rome.
Daniel chapter 2 records the dream of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and its interpretation by Daniel. That dream described a series of Kingdoms, the Babylonian, Persian, Greek and then Roman kingdoms. Then a rock cut out without hands was to strike, it was the kingdom of God, the MEssiah’s kingdom. That kingdom would come during ‘the time of those kings,’ during the Roman period.
Jesus of course was born during the reign of Augustus Caesar, in the time of those kings.
5. The Messiah would be called God.
Isaiah 9:6-7 states, ‘For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.’
This passage is Messianic, it describes on who will reign on David’s throne and kingdom forever. This one will be called mighty god.’
Ironically it was blasphemy, claiming to be God, that had Jesus killed. All four gospels show Jesus is not only Messiah, he was God.
6. The Messiah would be Rejected by his own People.
Jesus knew he would be rejected and said so to his own disciples. The Psalms predicted it. ‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes.’ Psalm 118 – 22-24
Isaiah also predicted it. ‘He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.’ Isaiah 53:3
Its not secret that Jesus was rejected by his own people.
7. The Messiah would Die an Unnatural Death
Dying isn’t hard to do. It’s a universal human trait. Nevertheless, the Old Testament predicted the Messiah would die an untimely death.
‘He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away. Yet who of his generation protested? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was punished.’ Isaiah 53:7-8
8. The Messiah would Die Before Jerusalem was Destroyed in AD 70.
Daniel outlined a prophetic timetable for the Messiah’s arrival. There would be 490 years, but after 483 of those years, the Messiah would come. The time would start from the decree to rebuild Jerusalem. Here is what Daniel wrote:
‘Know and understand this: From the time the word goes out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven ‘sevens,’ and sixty-two ‘sevens.’ It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble. After the sixty-two ‘sevens,’ the Anointed One will be put to death and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed.’ Daniel 9:25-26
There were three Persian decrees:
- In 539 BC, Cyrus decreed the Jewish Temple should be rebuilt.
- Darius decreed the work continue when it had stalled. See Ezra 6:1.
- In 457 BC, Artaxerxes I decreed the city should be rebuilt.
The seven sevens (49 years) and the sixty two sevens (434 years) tally to 483 years. So if we add 483 years from the third decree, for Jerusalem to be rebuilt… we have AD 26. Daniel observes the Messiah would be ‘cut off’ after AD 26. Then after this the city would be destroyed and the end would come like a flood.
Jesus died after AD 26 but before ‘the end’ in AD 70, so he matches the qualification to be the Messiah.
9. The Messiah would Make Atonement with his life
‘Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.’ Isaiah 53:4-6
Jesus was called ‘the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world,’ by John the Baptist.
Jesus gave his life on the cross, bearing the punishment for all our sin, just as the Passover lamb died to save those in the Exodus.
10. The Messiah would be Resurrected
In a Psalm, David prophesied, ‘ Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure, because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, nor will you let your faithful one see decay.’ Psalm 16:9-10
David of course did die and his body decayed. He was not talking about himself. But he was talking about ‘your faithful one’ who would not see decay. Jesus did not stay dead long enough to decay, but was risen on the third day.
11. Influence the Whole World to Follow God
Judaism as a movement has been slow to spread knowledge of God. But Jesus as Messiah specifically commanded that the knowledge of God be spread.
Isaiah predicted that ‘the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as waters cover the sea.’ Isaiah 11:9
Jesus specifically commanded his followers to ‘Go and make disciples of all nations.’ Matthew 28:18. It is a process, an ongoing and unfolding work, which thus far has resulted in 30% of the world following the Messiah and worshipping the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. It is because of Jesus that the world is being filled with the knowledge of God.
12. Gathering the exiles back to Israel.
It’s clear from various passages (like Isaiah 11:12) that the Messiah will gather the remnant of Israel back to the land.
But it’s also clear (even from that same Isaiah passage – See Isaiah 11:10) that the Messiah is gathering all of the nations to the land, not just the exiles of Israel. So he is gathering everyone.
Does this mean that the entire world is going to live in Israel? Not at all.
He isn’t gathering them to a physical location. He is gathering them to ‘his resting place.’ Isaiah 11:10 The resting place is in fact himself. The Messiah is the sabbath for all peoples, he is the place they find rest.
For a primer on how exactly Jesus is Israel, watch this video.
For a overview on how Jesus is the Sabbath, read this page.
13. Bring World Peace
There are two types of peace that the Messiah brings. The first is peace with God, and the second is peace with each other. The second is not possible without the first.
It was through the atoning work of his death and resurrection that the Messiah made peace with God. As the New Testament says, we have ‘peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.’ Romans 5:1
But Jesus also came to bring peace on Earth between people. The prophet Isaiah shows that this is a process, not an instant outcome. He writes, ‘of the increase of His government and of peace there will be no end.’ Isaiah 9:7
As the word of God spreads (see point 11) the peace of God also spreads. A great example of this occurred on the island of Malaita in the Solomon Islands. In the late 1800’s the people were tribal, antagonistic, violent and cannibalistic. They ate each other. During a visit by John Alley in 1990, he attended a church lunch with a number of churches and pastors together. One of the pastors said, ‘fifty years ago we could not have done this, we would have been eating each other.’
Such is an example of the peace that comes from the words of the Messiah, Jesus, who taught people to ‘love one another,’ and to ‘love your enemies,’ and ‘do good to those who hurt you and much more like that.
14. Rebuild the Temple
Did Jesus rebuild the temple. Certainly not the physical temple.
On this point Christians have divergent views. Some hold that Jesus when he returns a second time will rebuild the temple at that point. While I acknowledge some hold this view, it seems unbiblical in my opinion. Rather Jesus has in fact already rebuilt the temple, but it was not recognised at the time.
Consider this passage. ‘The Jews then responded to him, “What sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.” They replied, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?” But the temple he had spoken of was his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken.’ John 2:18-22
His own disciples came to understand that Jesus saw himself as the temple. When he died and came back to life he was at that point rebuilding the temple.
The idea of Jesus being the temple doesn’t seem overly logical, however consider this:
The temple is:
- Where you went to be forgiven
- Where pilgrims went to worship
- Where sacrifices were offered
- Where prayers were heard
- Where the sabbath was observed (and excused if you were a priest.)
Jesus is also the place you go for forgiveness, to worship, to offer sacrifice, and we also pray to Jesus and keep our Sabbath in him. So Jesus does replace the temple spiritually and theologically.
While its a metaphor, Jesus does in fact rebuild the temple.
IS JESUS THE MESSIAH?
Yes he is. We could search through the Old Testament scriptures and find even more requirements for the Messiah, but Jesus would meet those too. The more we find the clearer it gets that nobody other than Jesus could fill this role.
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