Concepts of the Expected Messiah

Messiah, (from Hebrew mashiaḥ, "anointed"), in Judaism, is the expected king of the Davidic line who would deliver Israel from foreign bondage and restore the glories of its golden age. The Greek New Testament’s translation of the term, Christos, became the accepted Christian designation and title of Jesus of Nazareth, indicative of the principal character and function of his ministry. More loosely, the term messiah denotes any redeemer figure; and the adjective messianic is used in a broad sense to refer to beliefs or theories about an improvement of the state of humanity or the ultimate destiny of mankind and the world. Was Jesus the expected Jewish Messiah? The expectations of the Jewish people for the coming of the Messiah were varied. Some expected a spiritual reawakening, while many hoped for a material ruler who would come in power and cast off the chains of oppression they felt under the Roman yoke. The Jews devoutly believed that, as Moses had delivered their fathers from Egyptian bondage by miraculous wonders, so would the coming Messiah deliver the Jewish people from Roman domination by even greater miracles of power and marvels of racial triumph. They were particularly hoping for a Messiah who would provide them with the long-awaited ideal of "the land flowing with milk and honey." There were differing views as to whether or not the Messiah would be human with supernatural powers or a divine visitation on earth. Little did they expect the combination of human and divine natures incarnated in one man, Jesus. Their rigid dogma caused them to stumble over his divinity, accusing him of blasphemy, and yet they balked at his humble beginnings from Nazareth as the carpenter’s son, asking: "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" Even Jesus’ own parents differed in their opinions of the Messiah.