Question to Jews and Christians regarding their Messiah?

Question

Jews: Why, in your opinion, and based on religious texts is Christ not the Messiah?

Christians: Why, in your opinion, and based on religious texts is Christ the Messiah?

To both: List several reasons if you can.

Answer 1

We'd be here all day if I listed each and every reason why Jesus fulfilled the prophesies, which are more than 300. This is a VERY complex question. But here are some typical Jewish objections, with answers from the Messianic Jewish community (Jews who believe Jesus is Messiah):

Objection: “Isaiah 7:14 does not prophesy a virgin birth! And it has nothing whatsoever to do with Jesus, since it dealt with a crisis 700 years before he was born.”

Answer: The Hebrew text states that an "almah" (a young, unmarried girl) will give birth to a son as a "sign" to Israel. In those times, it was assumed that such a girl would be a virgin; therefore, the Hebrew use of "almah" is appropriate here. If you look at the Jews' own translation of Isaiah 7:14 into Greek (referred to as the Septuagint), the word used in place of "almah" is "parthenos," which ONLY means virgin. Therefore, the Messianic Jewish and gentile Christian understanding of this Messianic prophecy is correct. As documented in the gospels of Matthew and Luke, Mary was a virgin when she conceived Jesus. She is also the only documented Jewish virgin to conceive and give birth to a Son -- so the birth of Isaiah's son does not fulfill this prophecy, as some try to assert.

Objection: “Isaiah 9:6 [v. 5 in the Hebrew text] does not speak of a divine king (or Messiah).”

Answer: According to Dr. Michael Brown, a Messianic Jewish scholar and teacher: "The most natural, logical, and grammatically sound translation of Isaiah 9:6[5] is: ‘For a child has been born to us, a son has been given to us, and the government shall be on his shoulder, and his name is called, Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Father Forever, Prince of Peace’ (my translation). This is in harmony with other verses in our Hebrew Scriptures that point towards the divine nature of the Messiah, and the names of the child should be taken as descriptive of the Messiah himself." By this, we know the Child prophesied at Isaiah 7:14 would not only be born because of a miracle, but that He will be God Himself! The fact that Jesus is God is explained at John 1:1-5 and 14-18.

Objection: “Isaiah 53 speaks of the people of Israel, not Jesus (or, any Messiah).”

Answer: Dr. Michael Brown comments that "It is impossible, both contextually and logically, for Isaiah 53 to be speaking of the people of Israel. Rather, the text clearly speaks of one individual, and as many rabbis recognized through the ages, that individual was the Messiah." I will add this: God promised the Jewish people via the Mosaic Covenant that He would bless them if they are obedient and curse them if they're disobedient. In order for the current Jewish interpretation to be correct, God would have to punish innocent Jews for the sins of the world -- which would break the terms of the Mosaic Covenant and make God a liar! No, the prophesy clearly speaks of One, perfect Person who bears the sins of the Jewish people. This was fulfilled at John 12:37-38 and at the cross.

Objection: "The Scriptures say the Messiah will bring perfect peace to the world. Jesus didn't do this, so He wasn't the Messiah."

Answer: I've read the Bible many, many times and have studied under a Messianic Jewish scholar. There is not one verse of Scripture that rules out the possibility that there will be a gap of time between the Messiah's giving of the New Covenant to the Jews (as prophesied at Jeremiah 31:31-34 and fulfilled within the Gospels, particularly Matthew) and the beginning of the Messianic Kingdom. NOT ONE. This objection is actually an assumption without any Scriptural basis whatsoever.

EDIT: Jewish Girl, re: your reference to Isaiah 42:4, you MUST quote the ENTIRE passage. The passage reads in its entirety: "He shall not fail nor be crushed, TILL HE HAVE SET THE RIGHT IN THE EARTH; AND THE ISLES SHALL WAIT FOR HIS TEACHING." This describes Yeshua PERFECTLY. He was crushed AFTER giving the New Covenant (Jeremiah 31:31-34) which restored fellowship with God; His punishment was due to the transgressions of the Jewish people and the world (Isaiah 53:8-12).

Answer 2

The criteria that Jesus didn't fulfill has been well covered already. So I'll take the issue of those 400 prophecies that Christians insist he did fulfill.

Like the one about 'Immanuel' in Isaiah. This was specifically to a king and his court during a brutal seige. The prophet said that the seige would end by the time that the baby in a young woman's womb was grown and that the infant should be named Immanuel (G-d is with us) as a reminder. It's not a prophecy about Moshiach at all. It's about a specific historical incident.

Read Matthew carefully. He has Jesus cruising into Jerusalem on two animals because it 'fulfills' a bit of Zechariah. The thing is Zeke used the very common poetic convention of repetition. He never ever meant that Moshiach would enter riding on two animals. Anyone who understand Hebrew poetry gets that.

Jesus isn't the Messiah because he doesn't fulfill the Messianic prophecies and the prophecies that he does fulfill are misreadings of the texts. That's not my opinion, it's in the texts.

Answer 3

Jesus is not the Messiah because he did not fulfill the prophecies regarding messianic times, which are:
* The Sanhedrin will be re-established (Isaiah 1:26)
* Once he is King, leaders of other nations will look to him for guidance. (Isaiah 2:4)
* The whole world will worship the One God of Israel (Isaiah 2:17)
* He will be descended from King David (Isaiah 11:1) via King Solomon (1 Chron. 22:8-10)
* The Moshiach will be a man of this world, an observant Jew with "fear of God" (Isaiah 11:2)
* Evil and tyranny will not be able to stand before his leadership (Isaiah 11:4)
* Knowledge of God will fill the world (Isaiah 11:9)
* He will include and attract people from all cultures and nations (Isaiah 11:10)
* All Israelites will be returned to their homeland (Isaiah 11:12)
* Death will be swallowed up forever (Isaiah 25:8)
* There will be no more hunger or illness, and death will cease (Isaiah 25:8)
* All of the dead will rise again (Isaiah 26:19)
* The Jewish people will experience eternal joy and gladness (Isaiah 51:11)
* He will be a messenger of peace (Isaiah 52:7)
* Nations will end up recognizing the wrongs they did to Israel (Isaiah 52:13-53:5)
* The peoples of the world will turn to the Jews for spiritual guidance (Zechariah 8:23)
* The ruined cities of Israel will be restored (Ezekiel 16:55)
* Weapons of war will be destroyed (Ezekiel 39:9)
* The Temple will be rebuilt (Ezekiel 40) resuming many of the suspended mitzvot
* He will then perfect the entire world to serve God together (Zephaniah 3:9)
* Jews will know the Torah without Study (Jeremiah 31:33)
* He will give you all the desires of your heart (Psalms 37:4)
* He will take the barren land and make it abundant and fruitful (Isaiah 51:3, Amos 9:13-15, Ezekiel 36:29-30, Isaiah 11:6-9)

Answer 4

What is the Messiah supposed to accomplish? The Bible says that he will:

A. Build the Third Temple (Ezekiel 37:26-28).

B. Gather all Jews back to the Land of Israel (Isaiah 43:5-6).

C. Usher in an era of world peace, and end all hatred, oppression, suffering and disease. As it says: "Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall man learn war anymore." (Isaiah 2:4)

D. Spread universal knowledge of the God of Israel, which will unite humanity as one. As it says: "God will be King over all the world -- on that day, God will be One and His Name will be One" (Zechariah 14:9).

The historical fact is that Jesus fulfilled none of these messianic prophecies.

Answer 5

I think the question has been answered on the Jewish side so I'll add, not re-iterate:

Moshiach is never expected to do any miracles. By definition, miracles are only to come from G-d's instruction (like Moses being instructed to take up the staff) and not independently (like J*sus randomly deciding to turn water into wine without being told to). According to the Tanakh, independent "miracles" of that kind are a sign of a false messiah. Moshiach isn't expected to need to perform miracles to get people to believe he is the messiah, like J*sus did, fulfilling the prophecies will be enough, like J*sus didn't.

Answer 6

First of all, many of the texts in my Bible have been misinterpreted to fit the Christian worldview. You can find a lot of this in the first link below.

Second, of what's left, Jesus did *not* fulfill all of the prophecies, for example:

The moshiach will bring about the political and spiritual redemption of the Jewish people by bringing us back to Israel and restoring Jerusalem (Isaiah 11:11-12; Jeremiah 23:8; 30:3; Hosea 3:4-5). He will establish a government in Israel that will be the center of all world government, both for Jews and gentiles (Isaiah 2:2-4; 11:10; 42:1). He will rebuild the Temple and re-establish its worship (Jeremiah 33:18). He will restore the religious court system of Israel and establish Jewish law as the law of the land (Jeremiah 33:15).

Answer 7

Why Dont Jews believe in jesus?

For 2,000 years, Jews have rejected
the Christian idea of Jesus as messiah. Why?

It is important to understand why Jews don't believe in Jesus. The purpose is not to disparage other religions, but rather to clarify the Jewish position. The more data that's available, the better-informed choices people can make about their spiritual path.

JEWS DO NOT ACCEPT JESUS AS THE MESSIAH BECAUSE:
1) Jesus did not fulfill the messianic prophecies.
2) Jesus did not embody the personal qualifications of the Messiah.
3) Biblical verses "referring" to Jesus are mistranslations.
4) Jewish belief is based on national revelation.
5) Christianity contradicts Jewish theology
6) Jews and Gentiles
7) Bringing the Messiah


What exactly is the Messiah?
The word "Messiah" is an English rendering of the Hebrew word "Mashiach", which means "Anointed." It usually refers to a person initiated into God's service by being anointed with oil. (Exodus 29:7, I Kings 1:39, II Kings 9:3)

Since every King and High Priest was anointed with oil, each may be referred to as "an anointed one" (a Mashiach or a Messiah). For example: "God forbid that I [David] should stretch out my hand against the Lord's Messiah [Saul]..." (I Samuel 26:11. Cf. II Samuel 23:1, Isaiah 45:1, Psalms 20:6)

Where does the Jewish concept of Messiah come from? One of the central themes of Biblical prophecy is the promise of a future age of perfection characterized by universal peace and recognition of God. (Isaiah 2:1-4; Zephaniah 3:9; Hosea 2:20-22; Amos 9:13-15; Isaiah 32:15-18, 60:15-18; Micah 4:1-4; Zechariah 8:23, 14:9; Jeremiah 31:33-34)

Many of these prophetic passages speak of a descendant of King David who will rule Israel during the age of perfection. (Isaiah 11:1-9; Jeremiah 23:5-6, 30:7-10, 33:14-16; Ezekiel 34:11-31, 37:21-28; Hosea 3:4-5)

Since every King is a Messiah, by convention, we refer to this future anointed king as The Messiah. The above is the only description in the Bible of a Davidic descendant who is to come in the future. We will recognize the Messiah by seeing who the King of Israel is at the time of complete universal perfection.


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1) JESUS DID NOT FULFILL THE MESSIANIC PROPHECIES

What is the Messiah supposed to accomplish? The Bible says that he will:

A. Build the Third Temple (Ezekiel 37:26-28).

B. Gather all Jews back to the Land of Israel (Isaiah 43:5-6).

C. Usher in an era of world peace, and end all hatred, oppression, suffering and disease. As it says: "Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall man learn war anymore." (Isaiah 2:4)

D. Spread universal knowledge of the God of Israel, which will unite humanity as one. As it says: "God will be King over all the world -- on that day, God will be One and His Name will be One" (Zechariah 14:9).

The historical fact is that Jesus fulfilled none of these messianic prophecies.

Christians counter that Jesus will fulfill these in the Second Coming, but Jewish sources show that the Messiah will fulfill the prophecies outright, and no concept of a second coming exists.

But what you really need to understand is that these are nothing but cults competing for position and power in the world. Their bizzare teachings and silly stylized rituals are simply brainwashing techniques used to make simple minded people fall inline. Feel safe and obey your master!

Answer 8

Jesus fulfills the prophecies in the Old Testament even down to the picture of the cross in Psalms 22. He just didn't fit the preconceived view of the Messiah in the Jews teachings, He also went against the laws of man that either went against God's laws or made God's laws burdensome to man. Jesus was the sacrifice Abraham looked for and the Prophets spoke about, but the Jews did not see there being 2 times that He would come in order to fulfil all scriptures so they rejected him. I also know that just turning to Him and asking forgiveness made a lot of changes in my thoughts and desires in this life and a looking forward to seeing His return. I've also have had some prayers answered and the opening of many scriptures. The Holy Spirit, that He promised, has been my comforter and teacher. The rest is in faith at this time.

Answer 9

Jews - were looking for a king to conquer their enemies - not sacrifice his life for their sins. They were looking for victory now.

Christians - The witness of the new testament writers - they attest to the miracles of Jesus. Jesus fulfilled several prophecies and is thought to fulfill more some time to come.

Answer 10

Here is why we don't believe that Jesus was the messiah in simple terms:
1) The dead were not resurrected
2) The Jews did not beome priests to the other nations
3) There is no world peace
4) The temple is not standing
5) There is no temple service
6) There is no parah adumah or its ashes to render us tahor
7) The messiah is from the House of David. your house/tribe is inherited from your father. Your father is your BIOLOGICAL father- there is no adoption in Judaisim to another father- if God is the father of Jesus- then Jesus cannot be from the House of David as God is not frm the House of David.
8) Human sacrifice is completely forbidden in Judaism- remeber God stopping the sacrifice of Isaac? The idea of a human being sacrificed is the opposite of anything from Judaism!
9) You have to atone for yourself! An essential part of the atonement process is being repentant. Someone cannot be repentant for you- you have to do it for yourself. ONly communal sins can be forgiven communally- not individual, private sins!

And no- the messiah does NOT proclaim himself- he will be recognised by his deeds- not by his claims- in other words, through doing the above he will be recognised as the messiah. On top of that- mashiach is a HUMAN being, with HUMAN parents- the idea of an anthropomorphised God going around and impregnating young woman is completely alien to Judaism- though it fits very nicely into the pagan religions of the time which had their heroes being fathered by gods (ala Hercules and his daddy Zeus)