Why Jews Thought the Messiah Would Be Different

Christians often wonder why so many Jews didn’t recognize that Jesus was the Messiah. As one gal put it, “How could they miss it when it’s so obvious?”

There are a number of reasons, but one was that Jesus wasn’t what the Jews of his day expected. In fact, Jesus surprised even godly Jews like John the Baptist. Here are four ways Jesus differed from expectations, and why these differences are so much better.

1. Jesus’s kingdom was not of this world.

“Messiah” comes from the Hebrew for “anointed one.” It’s one of the titles of the kings descended from David. “Christ” comes from the Greek for “anointed one. “Christ” and “messiah” are synonymous.

God interrupted David’s dynasty when the kings stopped submitting to God as the King of kings. But the prophets who announced the exile that ended their reign also announced that God would bring the exiles back and would send a new king descended from David. This king would rule forever:

Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore.

Isaiah 9:7

The Jews expected an immediate reign on earth.

By Jesus’s day, the exiles had long ago returned, but the promised messiah hadn’t appeared. Instead, Rome ruled them. Because of this, most Jews expected a messiah to lead a revolt against Rome and establish an earthly kingdom at once. In fact, others had already declared themselves messiahs and had revolted in vain.

Jesus fulfilled some prophecies about the messiah in his first coming.

Jesus identified himself as the messiah (John 4:25-26). He was descended from David and was born in Bethlehem. He also performed signs that were expected in the age of the messiah’s rule, such as giving sight to the blind and healing the lame, and he sent word to John the Baptist that this was evidence he was the messiah (Isaiah 35:5-6; Matthew 11:4-5; Luke 5:24; 18:42). He rode into Jerusalem on a donkey colt as the people welcomed him as messiah in fulfillment of prophecy (Zechariah 9:9; Matthew 21:4-9).

Because of this, Jesus’s disciples expected him to establish an earthly kingdom immediately. That’s why they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6). It’s also why John the Baptist was confused when Jesus didn’t rescue him from prison (Matthew 11:2-3).

Jesus did not fulfill all prophecies about the messiah in his first coming.

Jesus did not establish a kingdom on earth at his first coming. Instead, he said, “My kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36). He also withdrew when people tried to force him to be king. In addition, he explained that the kingdom of God was going to be a different type of kingdom:

Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, “The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed, nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.”

Luke 17:20-21

Jesus will fulfill remaining prophecies in the future.

So then, how will Jesus fulfill the prophecies about ruling forever? First, Jesus rules at the Father’s right hand now (Ephesians 1:20-21). But there’s more to come. Jesus said he will return “on the clouds of heaven” and will gather his servants “from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other” (Daniel 7:13-14; Matthew 24:30-31). God will make a new heaven and earth, and the new Jerusalem will descend on it (Revelation 21:1-2). The “throne of God and of the Lamb” will be there and Jesus’s servants will reign with him “forever and ever” (Revelation 22:3-5).

2. Jesus was both messiah and the prophet like Moses.

In the first century AD, Jews desired the fulfillment of prophecies about both a messiah and a prophet like Moses. That is why when Jesus began teaching and performing miraculous signs, “some of the people said, ‘This really is the Prophet.’ Others said, ‘This is the Christ’” (John 7:40-41).

The expectation of a prophet like Moses comes from this prophecy:

The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen… And the LORD said to me, “… I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him.”

Deuteronomy 18:15,17-19

Jesus gave many signs that he was the prophet like Moses. For example, Moses turned water to blood and Jesus turned water to wine. Like Moses, Jesus commanded the sea and it obeyed. With Moses, the people ate manna that miraculously appeared in the wilderness; with Jesus, the people ate bread and fish that miraculously multiplied in the wilderness.

Some Jewish leaders desired neither a messiah nor a prophet.

The Jewish leadership consisted of members from two competing Jewish sects: the Sadducees and the Pharisees. The Sadducees were aristocratic and wealthy priests who wanted good relations with Rome so they could stay in power. They hoped for neither a messiah nor a resurrection, partly because they held the five books of Moses in higher regard than other OT books, such as the writings of the prophets.

Jesus presented problems for priests. First, Moses had had authority over even the high priest. Therefore, if a prophet like Moses appeared, the Sadducees would have to give up their authority and status. This was apparent when Jesus drove money changers and sellers out of the temple, thus challenging the priests’ authority to run the temple as they they saw fit (Mark 11:15-18).

Second, they wanted to prevent anyone claiming to be a messiah (king) from gaining followers lest Rome quell not only the rebellion but also the Sadducees’ power.

Many Jewish leaders expected a messiah submissive to them in spiritual matters.

The rest of the Jewish leaders were Pharisees. They wanted a warrior king who would lead a revolt against Rome, but who also would be submissive to them in spiritual matters. They taught that the messiah and prophet were two different people.

Why was it important to Pharisees that the messiah and prophet be different?

The Pharisees had a set of rules that they used to interpret how the law of Moses should be applied. For example, their rules described what could and couldn’t be done on the Sabbath. The problem for them was that Moses had been the ultimate authority for how to apply the law, so a prophet like Moses might threaten their authority. Indeed, that’s what happened.

Jesus rejected the Pharisees’ authority to interpret the law of Moses.

When Jesus healed people, the Pharisees told him to stop doing so on the Sabbath. Jesus told them their reasoning was bad, and he continued healing. He also pointed out that they rejected God’s commands in favor of their rules, which he disparaged as mere “tradition of men” (Mark 7:8-13). That Jesus rejected their traditions about how to apply the law incensed the Pharisees and convinced most of them that he couldn’t be the messiah.

The crowds embraced Jesus as both messiah and prophet.

Unlike the Jewish leaders, the crowds were fine with the messiah also being the prophet like Moses. That’s why they declared him “the Prophet who is to come into the world” and then attempted to make him king (John 6:13-14). But ruling on earth wasn’t part of Jesus’s immediate plan.

Still, when large crowds started following Jesus because of his miracles, the Jewish leaders feared they would lose their power:

So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council and said, “What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.”

John 11:47-48

The Sadducees didn’t care that Jesus rejected the Pharisees’ traditions—they did too. But they cared a lot about losing their waning political power.

3. The messiah was the suffering servant.

Isaiah prophesied about a righteous, suffering servant. But no one thought the messiah and the suffering servant could be the same person. Why? Because the messiah was supposed to rule forever, while the suffering servant had to die:

And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.

Isaiah 53:9

See the problem? The Jews didn’t see how the messiah whom they thought would save Israel from Rome and establish an everlasting kingdom could also be the suffering servant who dies. That is why when Jesus told his disciples that he would suffer, be killed, and on the third day be raised, Peter rebuked him and said this would never happen (Matthew 16:21-22).

That also is why when Jesus told the crowd he would be lifted up from the earth, they surmised that he was speaking of death and replied, “We have heard from the Law that the Christ remains forever. How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up?” (John 12:34).

Isaiah gave clues that the suffering servant was the messiah.

Four Servant Songs proclaim the coming of a righteous, suffering servant: Isaiah 42:1-9; 49:1-12; 50:4-9; and 52:13-53:12. They hint of similarities between the suffering servant and the messiah, for both would

• be anointed by God’s Spirit (Isaiah 11:2; 42:1);
• bring justice (Isaiah 9:7; 42:1; Jeremiah 23:5);
• be righteous (Isaiah 42:6; 53:11; Jeremiah 23:5);
• make others righteous (Isaiah 53:11; 61:3; Jeremiah 33:15-16);
• bring peace (Isaiah 9:6-7; 53:5; Ezekiel 34:24-25);
• participate in bringing Israel back to God (Isaiah 49:5; Jeremiah 23:3-5); and
• be part of a new covenant (Isaiah 42:6; Ezekiel 34:24-25).

Jesus fulfilled prophecies about the suffering servant.

That Jesus was crucified with the wicked and buried in a rich man’s tomb clearly fulfills prophecy about the suffering servant (Isaiah 53:8-9 cf. Luke 23:32-33,50-53). But the next two verses reveal something remarkable.

Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.

Isaiah 53:10-11

This passage says that though the servant died, he shall prolong his days! in other words, the suffering servant will come back to life. Moreover, because Jesus conquered death as the suffering servant, he reigns as Messiah forever.

4. The prophet was also the suffering servant.

Moses was a type of Jesus. Jesus was not merely a prophet speaking God’s words, he was the Word who was God (John 1:1).

Isaiah’s prophecies about the suffering servant show the servant had similarities to but was far superior to Moses. The Lord God gave the first covenant through Moses, but he gave the suffering servant as the new covenant (Isaiah 42:6-7). The suffering servant fulfilled everything the sacrificial system put in place by Moses could not fully do (Isaiah 53:5-6). He was the light for the nations that Israel failed to become under the law of Moses (Isaiah 49:6). And as suffering servant, Jesus died, arose, and atoned for people’s sin as Moses wanted to do but could not (Exodus 32:30; Isaiah 53:12).

Conclusion

The Jews expected the promised messiah to lead a revolt on earth, but Jesus said his kingdom was not of this world. They thought that the messiah, the prophet like Moses, and the suffering servant were three different people, but Jesus demonstrated he is all three. Because he is the suffering servant who died and rose again, he is Messiah King who will reign forever in the new heaven and earth. As the suffering servant, Jesus fulfilled all to which Moses and the sacrificial system pointed. And because the suffering servant bore our iniquities, we can become God’s children and live in his kingdom with him eternally.

That’s good news!

Because Jesus conquered death as the suffering servant, he reigns as Messiah forever. Share on X

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Find out more about Jesus as Messiah in Discovering Jesus in the Old Testament

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Books You Might Like

These affiliate links lead to books you might like.

• Discovering Jesus in the Old Testament by me, Pam Farrel, and Karla Dornacher: This Bible study shows how God revealed his plan of redemption in the OT. It combines Q&A, short devotionals, and gorgeous art.
• Christ from Beginning to End by Trent Hunter and Stephen Wellum: An interesting, easy-to-read book that divides biblical history by God’s covenants.
• NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible edited by D.A. Carson: If you want a study Bible that traces God’s redemptive plan, this is for you! I’m currently reading this one and it’s my favorite study Bible yet.
• Typos by Leonhard Goppelt, translated by Donald H. Madvig: For those who enjoy scholarly depth, this look at how the NT interprets the OT typologically is fantastic (the Greek title is pronounced “TWO-poss”).