What The Messiah Must Accomplish

What The Messiah Must Accomplish

Has He Come Yet?
By Shlomo Phillips © 07.19.2013

---

As Jews we pray for the coming of HaMoshiach, the Messiah, daily. We will know him when he comes because the prophets give us the requirements he must fulfill. Over the past thousands of years many have arisen claiming to be our Messiah. To date NONE of them have meet the requirements. This is why knowledgeable religious Jews and Noahidim do not accept any of these men. Let's look at the essential Messianic requirements:

Mishna Torah, Laws of Kings and their Wars
Maimonides (Rambam), Chapter 11, Law #4:

If a king will arise from the House of David who delves deeply into the study of the Torah and, like David his ancestor, observes its mitzvos as prescribed by the Written Law and the Oral Law; if he will compel all of Israel to walk in [the way of the Torah] and repair the breaches [in its observance]; and if he will fight the wars of G-d; - we may, with assurance, consider him Moshiach.

If he succeeds in the above, builds the Beit HaMikdash on its site [i.e. the Third Jerusalem Temple on the Holy Mount], and gathers in the dispersed remnant of Israel, he is definitely the Moshiach.

He will then perfect the entire world, [motivating all the nations] to serve G-d together, as it is written [Zephaniah, 3:9], "I will make the peoples pure of speech so that they will all call upon the Name of G-d and serve Him with one purpose."

Who has met these requirements?
No one.

Here's a list of biblical requirements he must meet:

Isaiah 2, 11, 42; 59:20
Jeremiah 23, 30, 33; 48:47; 49:39
Ezekiel 38:16
Hosea 3:4-3:5
Micah 4
Zephaniah 3:9
Zechariah 14:9
Daniel 10:14

From the above sources we learn that HaMoshiach must meet the following essential criteria to be accepted (in no particular order):

1. He must be a fully human Jewish male who reigns as King of Israel. (i.e. not an "incarnation of God," a "space brother" etc).
2. He must be able to trace his lineage back to the House of David.
3. He must be an accomplished Torah Scholar
4. He must be a fully Torah observant Jew.
5. He must lead the Jewish people in teshuvah (repentance) and obedience to HaShem and His Torah
6. He must unite the Jewish people and do away with the movements and other distractions.
7. He must cause all the Jews of the Diaspora (i.e. those scattered among the Gentile nations) to return Home to Israel .
8. He must fight the necessary wars of God and establish Israeli supremacy throughout all the Lands granted us by HaShem in Torah.
9. He must cause the Beit HaMikdash ("House of the Holy") to be rebuilt on the Temple Mount at the Sacred Rock.

Who has met these requirements?

No one.

When someone comes and accomplishes all of the above conditions we can know that HaMoshiach has come. So whether we are speaking of Jesus of Nazareth, Rebbe Akiva, the Ba'al Shem Tov, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rebbe Nachman of Breslov, Rabbi Yisroel Dov Ber Odesser or any one else, remember these requirements. Until they are met THE Messiah has not yet arrived.

Many anointed servants of HaShem have arisen and the tzadik of the age (whoever that is) is a "messiah" (i.e. an anointed righteous person) however HaMoshiach as of this point in history has not revealed himself. Will Jesus or the Lubavitcher Rebbe or Rebbe Nachman et al return and take up the mantle of HaMoshiach? Who can say? There are many people, both Jews and others, who are convinced that one of these men will do just that. Time will tell. What we can say for certain is that thus far no one has met the requirements. Therefore we continue to wait.

May he come soon and lead us all to freedom!

Be the Blessing you were created to be

and

'Don't let the perfect defeat the good.

Source http://allfaith.com/moshiach/moshiachreq.html ©
This content is used with permission of Shlomo Phillips  AllFaith.com