If you read my last post, “Prophecies of Jesus’ Birth”https://givingchrist.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=5541&action=edit, you read how the identity of the person God promised to send (the Messiah or Christ) was narrowed down to a specific genetic line, a town of birth, and a time within a few years. There is another time related prophecy in Daniel that I’ll use as a segue to the topic of what does a Messiah do?
44 And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever,
Daniel 2:44 (ESV)
The preceding vision Daniel had was of four kingdoms that would arise starting at his time. They were Babylon, Persia, Greece, and then Rome. It is not hard to figure this out. In the time of Rome the Messiah would establish a “kingdom”. It is completely understandable why many people then and now thought this would be an earthly government. It sure sounds like it here in Daniel and in other prophecies.
As it turns out, the Messiah had bigger fish to fry than the Romans or world politics. If you are still looking for a political Messiah, it should be clear that you missed the boat. The Romans are long gone. The actual Kingdom He came to crush was Satan’s. The problem He came to solve was humanity’s failure to keep God’s Law and the spiritual death that goes along with disobedience. The everlasting dominion the Messiah came to establish is primarily in Heaven over people that He has saved, on this Earth in people who belong to His Kingdom, and eventually in both Heaven and a New Earth post-Judgment Day. That is better than just a government that could benefit us during our short lifetime here or even the end of war.
How do some of the prophecies of the Messiah’s kingship reconcile with this hindsight? Let’s look at a few tough ones.
12 And say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, “Behold, the man whose name is the Branch: for he shall branch out from his place, and he shall build the temple of the Lord. 13 It is he who shall build the temple of the Lord and shall bear royal honor, and shall sit and rule on his throne. And there shall be a priest on his throne, and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.”’
Zechariah 6:12-13 (ESV)
Jesus didn’t build the temple. In fact, it was still standing during His earthly ministry. This passage and one other get used to establish that the Temple will get rebuilt this side of Judgment Day. It creates a bit of a political powder keg as the site of the Temple was most likely where the Al-Aqsa Mosque stands today in Jerusalem. Jesus isn’t going to build a building. God was not that smitten with the idea of a Temple in the first place. He was fine with a tent. Jesus refers to His body as the temple:
19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”
John 2:19 (ESV)
With Jesus’ resurrection consider the Temple built. God dwells in something physical. How about His reign? It is not an earthly political entity for now.
36 Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.”
John 18:36 (ESV)
The Kingdom is not “of” or “from” this world. But it is in it. All of God’s believing people are God’s Kingdom still in this world. The Kingdom is the Kingdom of Heaven. It is Heavenly based. It is a rule over people in Heaven that started with Jesus’ victory on the cross. There were no people in Heaven prior to that point (John 3:13). It was a new, big deal. The prior place of even the righteous was the “good neighborhood” of Sheol. https://afterdeathsite.com/2025/07/22/sheol-as-a-waiting-room/
Salvation that comes to people of every nation is the fulfillment of the promise to “bring justice” to the nations. Other forms of justice will wait for Judgment Day.
How about the end of war? Or dominion over nations? Consider this one:
“As for me, I have set my King
on Zion, my holy hill.”7 I will tell of the decree:
The Lord said to me, “You are my Son;
today I have begotten you.
8 Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,
and the ends of the earth your possession.
9 You shall break them with a rod of iron
and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”Psalm 2:6-9 (ESV)
This is an interesting juxtaposition. In one sentence the nations are the Messiah’s “heritage”. Jesus makes it clear that there will be people saved from every nation, however nation is defined by Him. It is more like people groups than the geo-political boundaries we draw. Then in the next sentence He will “break them” and “dash them”. I expect that Jesus has a hand in over-throwing world governments at the end of “their time” through some type of means. But I can’t help to think that this is primarily a Judgment Day function. No government will stand at that point–just the Kingdom of Heaven.
He shall judge between the nations,
and shall decide disputes for many peoples;
and they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war anymore.Isaiah 2:4 (ESV)
It would be nice if this happened before Judgment Day. The sooner the better. We are still learning war and getting better at it all the time. Our war skills are an existential threat to the whole planet. I do see this part as a Judgment Day reality, however. Perhaps we are close to that. Jesus in Matthew 24 and various parts of Revelation all suggest that war will go on until the end. Understanding the Isaiah passage as something that will immediately happen with the emergence of the true Messiah is the result of how Isaiah’s visions came to him. He often says that this is what he “saw”. The visions didn’t come with a verbal explanation. Sometimes they showed different times in the future, but Isaiah has no depth perception that way. He can’t tell what goes with the Messiah’s arrival and what goes with the completion of the Messiah’s work deep into the future.
The true key to the purpose of the Messiah is Isaiah 53. This “suffering servant” passage seems so out of step with the Kingly passages that it is natural to think that they are not Messianic, but they are core to the Messianic purpose.
He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;
and as one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.4 Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his wounds we are healed.Isaiah 53:3-5 (ESV)
This is clearly Jesus’ crucifixion and what it was for. He came to atone for our sins. That is how He forms His kingdom.
It is clear from the Old Testament that God’s plan was for “all nations”. In the end, God’s Israel, His chosen people, are all of the people saved through Jesus’ life and death. That is what a Messiah did. All other functions of the Messiah flow from this initial and necessary victory.
Giving Christ 