Jesus didn't bring world peace—how can he be the Messiah?
The prophets say the Messiah will rebuild the Temple, gather the exiles of Israel, and usher in an age when nations beat their swords into plowshares and the whole world knows God (Isaiah 2:4; Ezekiel 37). None of this happened with Jesus. The Temple was destroyed a generation after him and the world has known little peace since. By the Bible's own criteria he cannot be the Messiah.
— A classic Jewish objection; see Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Laws of Kings 11:4
The objection is right that Jesus has not yet finished the Messiah's work. But the Hebrew Bible itself describes the Messiah in two ways: humble and suffering, and glorious and reigning. Some rabbis also noticed this tension. Jesus fulfilled the first set of promises, opened the knowledge of Israel's God to the nations, and promised to return to complete the rest. A Messiah who comes twice is not a Christian evasion; it is how the scriptural portraits fit together.
What Scripture says
2In the last days the mountain of the house of the LORD will be established as the chief of the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and all nations will stream to it. 3And many peoples will come and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us His ways so that we may walk in His paths.” For the law will go forth from Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. 4Then He will judge between the nations and arbitrate for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will no longer take up the sword against nation, nor train anymore for war.
The nations stream to Zion, and swords are beaten into plowshares, a promise Christians also await.
9Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your King comes to you, righteous and victorious, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. 10And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the horse from Jerusalem, and the bow of war will be broken. Then He will proclaim peace to the nations. His dominion will extend from sea to sea, and from the Euphrates to the ends of the earth.
Zion's king comes humble on a donkey, yet his rule extends to the ends of the earth.
26Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and will have nothing. Then the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood, and until the end there will be war; desolations have been decreed.
An anointed one is cut off before the city and sanctuary are destroyed.
6He says: “It is not enough for You to be My Servant, to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the protected ones of Israel. I will also make You a light for the nations, to bring My salvation to the ends of the earth.”
The servant is to be a light to the nations so God's salvation reaches the end of the earth.
3He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. Like one from whom men hide their faces, He was despised, and we esteemed Him not. 4Surely He took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows; yet we considered Him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted. 5But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.
The servant is despised and rejected, then vindicated.
35This Moses, whom they had rejected with the words, ‘Who made you ruler and judge?’ is the one whom God sent to be their ruler and redeemer through the angel who appeared to him in the bush.
Stephen notes that Moses too was first rejected by Israel before God sent him as deliverer.
19Repent, then, and turn back, so that your sins may be wiped away, 20that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that He may send Jesus, the Christ, who has been appointed for you. 21Heaven must take Him in until the time comes for the restoration of all things, which God announced long ago through His holy prophets.
Peter says Jesus remains in heaven until the time of restoring all things the prophets spoke of.
28so also Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many; and He will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who eagerly await Him.
Christ appeared once to bear sins and will appear a second time to bring salvation.
The case
Taking the objection seriously
For most Jewish people this is the decisive objection, and it is a fair one. Maimonides, the great medieval sage, summarized the traditional expectation: a king from David's line, devoted to Torah, who leads Israel, fights God's battles, rebuilds the Temple and gathers the exiles. If such a king succeeds, he is surely the Messiah; if he fails or is killed, he is not (Mishneh Torah, Laws of Kings 11:4). By that measure Jesus, crucified by Rome, does not qualify.
Christians should not pretend the world is already at peace. It isn't. The question is whether the Hebrew Scriptures expect the Messiah to do everything at once.
Two portraits of the Messiah
When we gather the prophetic texts, two sets of promises appear side by side.
| A Messiah who suffers and is rejected | A Messiah who reigns in glory |
|---|---|
| Despised, pierced for others' sins (Isaiah 53) | Reigns on David's throne forever (Isaiah 9:6-7) |
| Humble, riding on a donkey (Zechariah 9:9) | Speaks peace to the nations (Zechariah 9:10) |
| Mourned as one pierced (Zechariah 12:10) | Comes with the clouds and receives dominion (Daniel 7:13-14) |
| Cut off before the Temple's destruction (Daniel 9:26) | Brings justice to the nations (Isaiah 42:1-4) |
Readers have long wrestled with how these fit together. The rabbis of the Talmud offered several solutions. One teaching held that the Messiah's coming depends on Israel's worthiness: with the clouds of heaven if Israel merits it, humble on a donkey if not (Sanhedrin 98a). Another tradition spoke of a Messiah son of Joseph who would be slain, applying Zechariah 12:10 to his death, before the victorious Messiah son of David (Sukkah 52a).
The New Testament offers a different solution: one Messiah, two comings. He came first as the humble, suffering servant to deal with sin, and he will come again in glory to establish peace on earth (Hebrews 9:28).
What Jesus has already done
It would be wrong to say Jesus accomplished nothing messianic.
- He came before the Temple fell. Daniel 9:26 places the cutting off of an anointed one before the destruction of the city and sanctuary. Jesus was crucified around AD 30-33; the Temple fell in AD 70.
- He dealt with sin. The prophets saw that Israel's deepest problem was not Rome but the human heart (Jeremiah 31:31-34; Ezekiel 36:26). Jesus offered himself as the servant who bears sin.
- He brought the nations to Israel's God. Isaiah promised the servant would be a light to the nations (Isaiah 49:6). Through Jesus, billions of non-Jews worship the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and read Israel's Scriptures. No other Jewish figure has done this.
- He began the kingdom. Jesus taught that God's kingdom starts small, like a mustard seed, and grows until it fills the world (Matthew 13:31-33). The peace of Isaiah 2 is the kingdom's destination, not its starting point.
A pattern in Israel's story
Scripture often shows God's deliverers rejected before being recognized. Joseph's brothers did not know him until their second meeting (Genesis 45). Moses was rejected by his people, fled for forty years, and returned as their redeemer (Exodus 2:14; Acts 7:35). Christians believe Jesus follows the same pattern: rejected at his first coming, he will be recognized when he returns.
Why it matters
The longing behind this objection is a godly one: a world healed, Israel at peace, swords turned into plowshares. Christians share it. We believe the One who has already borne our sins is the guarantee that this future will come. We invite Jewish friends to consider that the peace they long for has a name, and that he has already begun his work.
Word study
hebrew · “anointed one” · Daniel 9:26
Māšîaḥ means 'anointed', and in the Hebrew Bible it describes kings, priests and even Cyrus (Isaiah 45:1). The anointed one is first God's chosen agent. The Messiah's tasks therefore include priestly ones, such as dealing with sin, as well as royal ones such as bringing peace. Jesus has completed the priestly work and will complete the royal work.
“But what about…?”
Where does the Hebrew Bible ever mention a 'second coming'?
Not in those words. But it describes a Messiah who is both rejected (Isaiah 53; Zechariah 12:10) and reigning (Isaiah 9:6-7), and it shows a pattern of deliverers first rejected and later recognized: Joseph by his brothers (Genesis 45), Moses by Israel (Exodus 2:14; Acts 7:35). The Talmud records a teaching that the Messiah might come either with the clouds of heaven or humble on a donkey (Sanhedrin 98a).
Hasn't Christianity itself caused wars and persecution, including against Jews?
Yes, and Christians must say so plainly. Crusaders massacred Jewish communities, and churches taught contempt for Jews for centuries. These were betrayals of Jesus, who taught love of enemies (Matthew 5:44). The failures of his followers show our need for the Messiah's return, not evidence against him.
Didn't Jesus fail to rebuild the Temple?
Jesus predicted the destruction of the Second Temple (Luke 19:41-44), which happened in AD 70. The New Testament teaches that he is the place where God now meets his people (John 2:19-21) and that his people are a temple of the Spirit (1 Corinthians 3:16). Christians differ on whether a physical temple will play a role in the future.
If the Messiah must bring peace, why did God wait two thousand years?
Scripture says the delay is God's patience, giving more people time to turn to him (2 Peter 3:9). Meanwhile the knowledge of the God of Israel has spread to every continent through Jesus, fulfilling in part the promise that the servant would be a light to the nations.
Where Christians differ
Go deeper
- bookAnswering Jewish Objections to Jesus, Vol. 1: General and Historical ObjectionsMichael L. Brown
- book · 2012The Jewish Gospels: The Story of the Jewish ChristDaniel Boyarin
- book · 1993A Rabbi Talks with JesusJacob Neusner
- book · 1996Jesus and the Victory of GodN. T. Wright
- ancientMishneh Torah, Laws of Kings and Their Wars, chs. 11-12Maimonides
Sources (4)
- Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Hilchot Melachim 11:4: criteria for recognizing the Messiah (Davidic king, Torah observance, rebuilding the Temple, gathering the exiles)
- Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 98a: Messiah with the clouds of heaven if Israel is worthy, or humble on a donkey if not
- Babylonian Talmud, Sukkah 52a: a tradition applying Zechariah 12:10 to the slaying of Messiah son of Joseph
- Josephus, Jewish War 6: the destruction of the Temple in AD 70
Related questions
Isn't Isaiah 53 about Israel, not Jesus?
Isaiah does call Israel God's servant, but he also describes a servant who is sent to restore Israel, who is innocent, who suffers silently and willingly for 'my people', dies, is buried and then lives again. Those details fit an individual who represents Israel better than the nation as a whole. Several ancient Jewish sources applied the passage to the Messiah, and Jesus fulfils it in remarkable detail.
Does Daniel 9 point to the time of the Messiah?
Interpreters honestly disagree about the details of Daniel 9: the starting point, the calendar, and how the weeks divide. But on almost any traditional reading the passage expects an 'anointed one' to be cut off before the city and sanctuary are destroyed, and it promises an end to sin and the bringing in of everlasting righteousness. Jesus was cut off a generation before the Temple fell in AD 70, and his death is explained as atonement for sin.
Can a Jewish person believe in Jesus and remain Jewish?
Jesus, his apostles and the entire first generation of his followers were Jews who worshiped in the Temple and kept the customs of Israel. They saw faith in Jesus not as leaving Judaism but as trusting Israel's Messiah. The Church's later hostility to Jews was a betrayal of its own roots and must be confessed. In the New Testament, a Jewish person who follows Jesus remains a son or daughter of Abraham and part of Israel's story, not a deserter from it.
Did Jesus fulfill Old Testament prophecy, or did the Gospel writers make it fit?
Some fulfillments in the Gospels are direct predictions; others are patterns, where Israel's history foreshadows the Messiah. Recognizing this answers many objections. And the central fulfillments could not easily be staged or invented: a Messiah from David's line who would suffer, be pierced and die for others' sins, and then be vindicated. A crucified Messiah was a scandal, not something anyone would invent to fit expectations. Jesus himself taught that the whole of Scripture points to him.
This entry is a draft and has not yet been theologically reviewed.