The final coming of the Messiah is a fundamental belief in Judaism.
It is part of Maimonides 13
Principles of Basic Faith, and it is
recited In the Shemoneh
Esrei prayer, three times daily.
The Jewish Messiah is a God fearing, moral human being, who is both
a great scholar and leader. The Messiah is a direct descendent of King
David (Jeremiah 23:5), and will be anointed by God as the new Jewish
King. In fact, the Hebrew word for Messiah is Moshiach, which means
"anointed one", there is no source of Messiah meaning "savior."
The notion of an innocent, divine or semi-divine being who will sacrifice
himself to save us from the consequences of our own sins clearly has
no basis in Judaism.
When the Messiah comes, there will be a universal
recognition of the truth of Torah and the God Who gave that Torah
at Mount Sinai. All Jews will return to the Land of Israel, where
they will throw off the yoke of their enemies and undergo a complete
spiritual revival. They will embrace the faith of their forefathers
and dedicate themselves to God's service forever.
They will rebuild the Holy Temple, from where
the Divine presence will shine forth, spreading the light of truth,
justice, tolerance and peace throughout the world.
These days, our society is beset by jealousy,
violence, lying, impatience, deception,fraud and hopefully some love.
We are suspicious of our neighbors and cynical of our leaders. We
are factionalized, and we worship different gods. Rather than cooperate,
we compete.
When Adam and Eve left the Garden of Eden,
God assured us of a path back. Statesmen may speak of "peace
in our time," but the Jewish prophet said it best: "The
lamb will lie down with the lion... and young children will play at
the cobra's nest" (Isaiah 11:6).
"Shalom," the Hebrew word for "peace,"
comes from the root "shaleim," which means complete or whole.
"Shalom," says the Talmud, is one of the Names of God, for
His unity encompasses all. This "one-ness" is the primary
theme of the Jewish Pledge of Allegiance: "Hear O Israel, the
Lord our God, the Lord is One!" The word "Shalom" is
also part of the name "Jeru-Salem."
How can we speed up the coming of the Messiah?
The best way is to love all humanity generously, to keep the good-deeds
of the Torah (as best we can), and to encourage others to keep them
as well.
We also must pray to God to hasten the coming
of the Messiah. The Talmud says that one of the first questions a
Jew is asked on Judgment Day is: "Did you yearn for the arrival
of the Messiah?" Praying for such an event increases our sensitivity
to what we currently lack, and demonstrates our sincere desire for
the Messiah to arrive.
The Messiah can come any moment. Every generation
has a special anointed Messiah waiting, for as stated, the Messiah
is alive and present in every generation, "He is ready to be
revealed at a moment's notice" (Sanhedrin 98a).
According to the Talmud (Sanhedrin 97a), history
will last only 6,000 years from the time of creation. The Messiah
must come prior to the 6,000-years, and bring us to the next higher
spiritual reality millennium. In the year of 5761 (year 2000) leaving
us only 239 years until the deadline of the coming of the Messiah.
