Questions Jews Ask

Orthodox Question 02: If Jesus Is the Messiah, Why Is the World Not Redeemed Yet?

Abstract

This Orthodox Jewish objection is one of the strongest and most important questions Christians must answer. Classical Jewish expectation, especially as expressed by Maimonides, looks for the Messiah to restore the Davidic kingdom, build the Temple, gather the dispersed of Israel, strengthen Torah observance, fight God's wars, and bring the nations to serve the God of Israel. If those things have not visibly happened, why should anyone believe Jesus, or Yeshua, is the Messiah? A Christian answer must not evade the force of the question. The world is not yet at peace. Israel is not fully gathered in final redemption. The Temple has not been rebuilt. The nations do not all worship the God of Israel in purity. Therefore Christians should not claim that every messianic promise has already appeared in its final public form.

The Christian answer is that Jesus fulfills the messianic mission in two movements: first suffering, atonement, resurrection, enthronement, and the ingathering of Jews and Gentiles into the blessing of Israel's God; then final judgment, resurrection, peace, and restoration at his return. This answer stands or falls on the resurrection. If Jesus was not raised, Orthodox Jewish objections remain decisive. If God raised him from the dead, then the cross is not disqualification but the hidden path of redemption, and the visible delay is not failure but the interval between inauguration and consummation.

The Orthodox Objection in Its Strongest Form

An Orthodox Jewish questioner is usually not asking whether Christians can find suggestive verses. The question is whether Jesus did what the Messiah is supposed to do. Jewish tradition has concrete expectations. The Messiah is not simply a teacher who inspires private spirituality. He is the Davidic king through whom God restores Israel and the world. Maimonides summarizes this expectation in Mishneh Torah, Melachim uMilchamot, Chapter 11: the Messianic king renews Davidic sovereignty, builds the Temple, gathers the dispersed of Israel, restores observance, and brings the world to serve God together.

From that standpoint, the Christian claim looks backwards. Jesus was rejected by many leaders, crucified by Rome, and did not establish visible world peace. The Temple was destroyed after his death rather than rebuilt. Jewish exile continued. Christian empires later persecuted Jews. Many Christians taught that Torah observance was obsolete. If the Messiah is recognized by results, then why call Jesus Messiah?

Christians should not answer by belittling those expectations. The prophets really do speak of peace, justice, Israel's restoration, the nations acknowledging God, and creation healed. A Christian who says, "Those things are merely symbolic," has not answered Orthodox Judaism. The better Christian answer is that those promises are real, but the Messiah's work unfolds in stages.

This staged view is not a convenient afterthought if it is rooted in the resurrection. The early Christians did not say, "Jesus failed, so we invented a second coming." They said, "God raised him, exalted him, poured out the Spirit, and will send him again to complete what has begun." The question becomes whether the resurrection testimony is credible enough to authorize that rereading of messianic expectation.

The First Coming: Atonement Before Public Rule

The Christian claim is that the Messiah first came to deal with the deepest obstacle to redemption: sin and death. Rome was an oppressor, but Rome was not the root problem. Exile, injustice, violence, idolatry, and corruption flow from the broken relationship between humanity and God. If the Messiah merely defeated one empire while leaving sin and death untouched, redemption would remain incomplete.

This does not mean Christians should spiritualize away Israel's concrete hopes. The prophets do not promise only inward peace. They promise public righteousness and renewed creation. But Christians argue that public redemption must be grounded in atonement. The servant must bear sin before the king publicly reigns over a healed world.

This is why Christians read Isaiah 52:13-53:12 messianically. Jewish interpreters often read the servant as Israel, and Christians should acknowledge that Isaiah does identify Israel as servant in some contexts. The Christian claim is that the Messiah embodies faithful Israel and suffers on behalf of Israel and the nations. His suffering is not a denial of messianic glory but the path to it.

The New Testament presents Jesus' death in precisely this way: not as accidental defeat, but as atoning obedience. The resurrection then becomes God's vindication of that interpretation. Without resurrection, the cross looks like failure. With resurrection, the cross becomes the means by which the Messiah conquers sin and death.

The Resurrection as the Turning Point

For Christians, the decisive evidence is not that the world already looks fully redeemed. It is that God raised Jesus from the dead. 1 Corinthians 15:3-8 preserves the early witness tradition: Messiah died, was buried, was raised, and appeared to Cephas, the Twelve, more than five hundred, James, all the apostles, and Paul. Acts 2:22-36 shows Peter preaching in Jerusalem that God raised Jesus and made him Lord and Messiah. Luke 24 presents the risen Jesus explaining from Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms that the Messiah had to suffer and then enter glory. John 20 presents resurrection appearances that move the disciples from fear and doubt to confession and mission.

The Orthodox objection is right about one thing: a dead claimant who remains dead is not the Messiah. Christianity agrees. Paul says that if Messiah has not been raised, Christian faith is futile. Therefore the Christian answer does not lower the stakes. It raises them. The whole claim depends on whether God reversed the verdict of death.

If God raised Jesus, then the messianic timeline must be reconsidered. The resurrection would mean that God has already begun the final resurrection in one man, the Messiah, ahead of the general resurrection. That is not a small adjustment. It means the age to come has entered history before the present age has fully passed away.

Enthronement Before Visible Universal Submission

Daniel 7 helps Christians explain this. In Daniel 7:13-14, one like a son of man comes with the clouds of heaven and receives dominion, glory, and kingship. Jewish interpretation has varied: some read the figure corporately as the holy ones of Israel, others angelically, others messianically. Christians read Jesus through this text because he used Son of Man language and because his resurrection and ascension are understood as heavenly enthronement.

This means Christians see Messiah's reign as already real but not yet universally visible. He reigns at God's right hand while his enemies are progressively placed under his feet. That may sound unsatisfying to Orthodox ears because it does not yet look like full redemption. But the New Testament is aware of that tension. It speaks of waiting, mission, suffering, and future return. It does not pretend that death, war, or evil have vanished.

The analogy is coronation before pacification. A king may be enthroned before every rebel territory is subdued. Christians believe Jesus has been enthroned through resurrection and ascension, and that the present mission to Israel and the nations occurs under that authority. Final public submission comes later.

The Nations and the God of Israel

One messianic sign has already occurred on a scale that should not be ignored: the nations have come to know the God of Israel through Jesus. This does not erase Christian sin, nor does it prove every Christian doctrine automatically. But historically, through the proclamation of a crucified and risen Jew, Gentiles across the world have read Israel's Scriptures, prayed to the God of Abraham, sung the Psalms, rejected idols, and confessed Israel's Messiah.

This is remarkable. Maimonides himself, while rejecting Jesus as Messiah, acknowledges in Melachim uMilchamot that Christianity and Islam have spread discussion of Messiah, Torah, and commandments throughout the world. Christians interpret this as part of the Abrahamic promise that the nations would be blessed. The nations are not yet purified in the final prophetic sense, but the movement toward Israel's God has begun.

Of course, Christians must say this with repentance. The nations have also persecuted Jews while carrying Bibles. That is a scandal. It means the church's witness has been mixed with sin. It does not nullify the fact that Gentiles have been drawn to Israel's God through Jesus, but it requires humility in how Christians present the claim.

The Temple Question

Orthodox Jews often ask: if the Messiah builds the Temple, and Jesus did not, how can he be Messiah? Christians answer in several layers. First, Jesus predicted judgment on the Temple and identified himself with God's presence in a unique way. Second, the New Testament presents Jesus' body, death, resurrection, and people as temple-related fulfillment: God dwells with his people through Messiah and Spirit. Third, Christians still expect final public restoration in the age to come, though Christians differ on how literally to understand a future temple.

This answer will not satisfy all Orthodox objections. From a traditional halakhic perspective, a spiritualized or Messiah-centered temple fulfillment may appear inadequate. Christians should admit the disagreement. The key Christian claim is that the Temple's purpose was to mediate God's presence, atonement, and worship, and that Jesus fulfills those realities by his death, resurrection, and gift of the Spirit.

Again, the resurrection is the warrant. If Jesus is not raised, temple fulfillment claims are empty. If he is raised, then God has revealed a deeper temple reality in him.

Why the Delay?

Why would God leave an interval between Messiah's first work and final redemption? The New Testament answer is mercy and mission. The delay allows the good news to go to Israel and the nations. It allows repentance. It gathers a people from every nation into worship of the God of Israel. It also exposes the present age's resistance to God's kingdom.

This delay is painful. Christians should not speak lightly about it, especially to Jews whose history includes exile and persecution. The "not yet" includes real suffering. But the New Testament insists that the risen Messiah will return, judge evil, raise the dead, and renew creation. The delay is not permanent.

What Would Count as Completion?

Christians should be clear about what remains future. It is not enough for Christians to say that Jesus gives individual peace in the heart. That is true, but it is not the whole messianic hope. The final completion must include public justice, the defeat of death, the healing of creation, the exposure and judgment of evil, the full knowledge of God among the nations, and the vindication of God's covenant faithfulness. If Christianity permanently reduced the prophets to private spirituality, Orthodox Judaism would be right to object.

This is why the New Testament speaks of Jesus' return, the resurrection of the dead, final judgment, and new creation. Christians believe the same Jesus who came in humility will be revealed in glory. The visible messianic tasks are not denied; they are deferred until the appointed consummation. That deferral is credible only because Christians believe God has already given a public sign: the resurrection of Jesus.

Therefore the Christian answer must hold two truths together. First, Jesus has already accomplished something decisive that no later Messiah needs to repeat: atonement, resurrection, enthronement, and the opening of covenant blessing to the nations. Second, Jesus has not yet brought every messianic promise to visible completion. Any Christian account that denies either truth becomes distorted. If it denies the first, Jesus becomes only a teacher or martyr. If it denies the second, the prophets are flattened and Jewish objections are ignored.

A Direct Christian Answer

If Jesus is the Messiah, why is the world not redeemed yet? Because, Christians argue, the Messiah's work comes in two movements. In the first, Yeshua deals with sin, bears suffering, rises from the dead, is enthroned, pours out the Spirit, and begins gathering Jews and Gentiles to Israel's God. In the second, he returns to complete the visible promises: final justice, resurrection, peace, and the full restoration of creation.

This answer is not persuasive unless the resurrection is true. Orthodox Judaism is right to reject a permanently dead Messiah. Christianity agrees. The Christian claim is that Jesus is not permanently dead. God raised him, and that event changes how messianic fulfillment must be understood.

The disagreement remains serious. Christians should not pretend the Orthodox objection is weak. But Christians can answer with integrity: the promises are not abandoned, Israel is not erased, Torah is not mocked, and redemption is not merely inward. The final redemption is still coming, and Christians believe its guarantee is the risen Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth.

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