The Signs of a True Messiah

The Old Testament lists many evidence of what the Messiah will do. For example, it says that the Messiah will become the King of Israel and will establish peace and justice forever.

Jeremiah 23:5
"The days are coming," declares the LORD, "when I will raise up to David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land.

Followers of Jesus believe these prophecies will be fulfilled when Jesus comes back to establish peace and justice and rule the earth from Jerusalem.

However, there were many other prophecies in the Old Testament as to what the Messiah will do. One of those things was raising the dead. For example, when John sends a message from prison through his disciples to ask Jesus if he is the Messiah, Jesus basically tells him that it should be obvious he is the Messiah from all the miracles that he is performing.

Matthew 11:4-5
Jesus replied, "Go back and report to John what you hear and see: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy^[a]are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor."

Performing miracles was proof that Jesus is the Messiah, which is why whenever Jesus performed miracles, such as the raising of Lazarus, more and more people in Israel believed in him as the Messiah of Israel.

Most of these Messianic prophecies are given in Isaiah:

Isaiah 29:18
In that day the deaf will hear the words of the scroll, and out of gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind will see.

Isaiah 35:5
Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped.

Isaiah 35:6
Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy.

Isaiah 61:1
The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners

Basically the Messiah's job is to fix everything that's wrong with the world. That's his mission from God. A part of that mission of Jesus was fulfilled during 3 years of his ministry on earth, a part of it is being fulfilled right now, and the rest of it will be fulfilled in the End of Days, the ultimate End of History.


PS: By the way, I was recently reading these prophecies and was surprised by something. I thought it was interesting that the Bible says that in God's Kingdom we will not remember the past. I have always wondered about this, and it looks like the answer is that we will not remember our past lives. Check this out:

Isaiah 65:17
"Behold, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind."

Another interesting thing is that we will learn directly from God, but we will not teach each other:

Isaiah 2:3
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." The law will go out from Zion, the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

Jeremiah 31:34
No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest," declares the LORD. "For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more."
In fact, everyone will be filled with knowledge of God:

Isaiah 11:9
They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.

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