In the Messianic Age -- when the Messiah comes, there are several prophecies which must take place prior and during the coming of the Messiah.
So if we say Jesus was the Messiah, we must account for the fact that the following prophecies have not yet come to pass:
== Ingathering of the Exiles to Judaism
22 And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all.\\
23 Neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions: but I will save them out of all their dwellingplaces, wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them: so shall they be my people, and I will be their God.Ezekiel 37:22-23 (KJV)
This hasn't happened yet, although thanks be to God, it appears to be a process which has begun in our time!
Other similar passages on return of the exiles could be:
* Jeremiah 31:15-17
** 15 Thus says the Lord: “A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping. Rachel is weeping for her children; she refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are no more.”
** 16 Thus says the Lord: “Keep your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears, for there is a reward for your work, declares the Lord, and they shall come back from the land of the enemy.
** 17 There is hope for your future, declares the Lord, and your children shall come back to their own country.
Also see: [[https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/ingathering-of-the-exiles|Ingathering of the Exiles]] ([[Ingathering of the Exiles|local copy]])
=== Other sources
* Psalms 106:47 "Save us, O Lord our God, **and gather us from the nations,** that we may give thanks to your holy name and glory in your praise."
* Isaiah 11:12 "He will raise a signal for the nations and will assemble the banished of Israel, **and gather the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.**"
* Isaiah 27:13 "And in that day a great trumpet will be blown, **and those who were lost in the land of Assyria and those who were driven out to the land of Egypt will come and worship the Lord on the holy mountain at Jerusalem."**
* Isaiah 45:13 "I have stirred him up in righteousness, and I will make all his ways level; he shall build my city **and set my exiles free,** not for price or reward,” says the Lord of hosts."
* Isaiah 56:8 "The Lord God, **who gathers the outcasts of Israel,** declares, “I will gather yet others to him besides those already gathered.”"
* Isaiah 66:20 "20 And they shall bring **all your brothers from all the nations** as an offering to the Lord, on horses and in chariots and in litters and on mules and on dromedaries, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, says the Lord, just as the Israelites bring their grain offering in a clean vessel to the house of the Lord."
* Jeremiah 16:15
* Jeremiah 23:3, 8
* Jeremiah 29:14
* Jeremiah 31:8
* Jeremiah 33:7
* Jeremiah 52:31
* Ezekiel 11:17
* Ezekiel 20:34, 41
* Ezekiel 37:21
* Deuteronomy 28:63–64
* Deuteronomy 30:1
* Deuteronomy 30:3–5
== Building the Third Temple
The Third Temple must be built prior to the messianic age, or the following prophecy cannot come to pass:
24 And David my servant shall be king over them; and they all shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in my judgments, and observe my statutes, and do them.\\
25 And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob my servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt; and they shall dwell therein, even they, and their children, and their children's children for ever: and my servant David shall be their prince for ever.\\
26 Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them: and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore.\\
27 My tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people.\\
28 And the heathen shall know that I the Lord do sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore.Ezekiel 37:24-28 (KJV)
Frankly, this hasn't happened yet. People who claim [[Herod's Temple was the Third Temple]] completely miss the concept that Ezekiel's temple has different specifications to Herod's, which was merely an extension of the temple Ezra built -- and that it was this Temple -- this Tabernacle which is being spoken about in this prophecy. In any case there is the idea right beside that one that this is not a prophecy about people opressing Judaism, putting idols in the temple and then burning it down (which is what happened to Herod's temple) -- this is a prophecy about a temple being established **for evermore,** in the future -- after the ingathering of exiles -- with the messiah reigning over Israel as King (politically and militarily as well as spiritually).
Jesus didn't do this. It simply hasn't happened yet. How then could Jesus be the Messiah?
== A Light to the Nations Fulfilled
20 Thus saith the Lord of hosts; It shall yet come to pass, that there shall come people, and the inhabitants of many cities:\\
21 And the inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, Let us go speedily to pray before the Lord, and to seek the Lord of hosts: I will go also.\\
22 Yea, many people and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before the Lord.\\
23 Thus saith the Lord of hosts; In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you: for we have heard that God is with you.Zechariah 8:20-23 (KJV)
When quoted alone, 8:23 is often met with the incredible reply that it only means "ten men" and "one jew" -- i.e. the incredible proposition that although this event will happen it is essentially meaningless. This is a bad translation of the verse -- the word "’îš" (Strong's 0376) means //whosoever//, //each//, //any man//, //any one// etc. But, if the Christian insists on his English translation all you have to do is quote it from verse 20 and such a claim will be invalidated. How could only ten men be from "all the languages of the nations"? Do not play semantic games -- ether ten men is literal language and so is "all languages", or "all languages" is poetic and so is "ten men"; the context is well-established from verses 20-22.
Further, the verse is echoed in many other places such as Isaiah 2 and Micah 4:1-2.
2 And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.\\
3 And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.Isaiah 2:2-3 (KJV)
4 But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it.\\
2 And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.Micah 4:1-2 (KJV)
If people of all nations will go to the Jews and to Jerusalem to pray and learn about God, what then is Christianity's place in the world? If God says his plan is for the Jews to be "[[A Light to the Nations]]", what are we to make of Jesus the Messiah as a "personal savior"?
== Universal Peace and Recognition of God
What is the Messiah supposed to accomplish? One of the central themes of biblical prophecy is the promise of a future age of perfection characterized by universal peace and recognition of God. (Isaiah 2:1-4, 32:15-18, 60:15-18; Zephaniah 3:9; Hosea 2:20-22; Amos 9:13-15; Micah 4:1-4; Zechariah 8:23, 14:9; Jeremiah 31:33-34)
=== World Peace
4 And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.Isaiah 2:4 (KJV)
9 They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.Isaiah 11:9 (KJV)
==== Subversion via Donkey and Colt in Matthew
Matthew's [[Matthew's Fulfillment Citations#Riding on a Donkey and Colt|Donkey and Colt]] fulfillment citation hides the unfulfilled Messianic prophecy in Zechariah 9:10. Mathew quotes Zechariah 9:9 but forgets the next verse (which begins with "and", i.e. it is a continuation). I.E. the sign isn't what happens in Zechariah 9:9, but what happens in 9:10. Jesus did not fulfill this prophecy because he died before he brought about world peace (etc).
9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, //**thy King**// cometh unto thee: //**he**// is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.
10 **And I** will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem, and the battle bow shall be cut off: **and //he//** shall speak peace unto the heathen: **and //his//** dominion shall be from sea even to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth.Zechariah 9:10 (KJV)
Here we see the one of the things the Messiah will accomplish when he comes is the bringing of world peace.
Of the past 3,400 years, humans have been entirely at peace for 268 of them, or just 8 percent of recorded history. Since the time oft Jesus, not much has changed. Even just considering the last three hundred years, there have been 286 major and minor wars in Europe alone. More than 8,000 treaties of peace were signed, meant to remain in force forever. But on average they only lasted two years.
Total world military expenditure rose to **$1686 billion** in 2016, an increase of 0.4 per cent in real terms from 2015. Perhaps now you can see why there will be an end for War in the Messianic Age. There are just under 1 billion starving people in the world. If we didn't spend any money on war, we would literally have enough money to end world hunger and homelessness.
If Jesus was the Messiah, then what about the prophecy of World Peace?
=== Worldwide Knowledge of God
34 And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.Jeremiah 31:34 (KJV)
9 They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.Isaiah 11:9 (KJV)
9 And the Lord shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one Lord, and his name one.Zechariah 14:9
5 For all people will walk every one in the name of his god, and we will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever and ever.Micah 4:5 (KJV)
During the Messianic age, everyone will know God and worship him properly.
If Jesus is the Messiah, then why today is only 30% of the world's population Christian? In 2018, the Muslim population, overtook the Christian population for the first time in history. Of the rest, 15% are Hindu, 12% are Chinese religion including Buddhism and Taoism, and 16% are just plain Athiest. If Jesus is the Messiah, and he came, why have we not yet fufilled the prophecy of the worldwide knowledge of God?