New Testament Insight:
When Jesus was asked when He would return to set up His Messianic Kingdom He replied “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone" (Matthew 24:36).
Anyone who claims to know the exact date of the second return of the Messiah is not in line with what the Bible teaches. We are given details of the signs of the times but not the exact date.
The talmud and the zohar confirm that Jesus words are in line with Jewish interpretation of this matter when they teach: The actual date of the Messianic Redemption is a guarded mystery unknown to man.(1)
JewishRoots.Net Note: A few hundred years after Jesus Christ did come, but was not "officially" recognized as the Messiah by the San Hedrin court, the talmud was written. Some sages liked to calculate a date for the Messianic Redemption. When this occurred without the redemption actually taking place, it created feelings which caused Israel to question the accuracy of their spiritual leaders. This caused a talmudic disapproval or prohibition for specific date setting.
Many sages calculated specific dates for the Messianic Redemption, in spite of the talmudic disapproval such as that found in Sanhedrin 97b. These saints included R.Sandish Gaon, Rashi, Ba'aler Tossafet, Rambam, Abarbanel, R. Isaac Luria etc. These sages did not follow the talmud on date setting prohibition. That is because it was believed not all prohibitions last forever.
Rambam, after citing the talmudic injunction in his code and elaborating on it in his "Igeret Teyman" himself offers in the latter (ch.3) a date passed on to him by his ancestors! Rambam confronts the problem by stating that the talmudic prohibition was but for a limited time only and no longer applies to the present era of "Ikvot Meshicha."(2)
The sages who wrote the talmud knew that the time of the Messiah's prophesied arrival had come and gone.
All the predestined dates [for redemption] have passed, and the matter [now] depends only on repentance and good deeds.(3)
Blasted are the bones of those who calculate the end. For they would say, since the predetermined time has arrived, and yet has not come, he will not come.(3)
Three things come when we are unaware. The Messiah, a found article and a scorpion.(3)
If they will not repent and thus become dependent on the final date, (The predetermined date for Mashiach's coming) the Holy one, blessed be He, will set up a ruler over them, whose decrees shall be as cruel as Haman's, thus causing Israel to repent, and thereby bringing them back to the right path.(3)
A man does not know when the Davidic dynasty will return...(4)
He unties and rebandages each bandage separately, thinking that should I be wanted I must not be delayed.(5) Rashi commenting on this verse says that in the process of bandaging up the sick the Messiah does not treat all of the sores together, thinking, if I need to go and redeem Israel, I will not delay because of bandaging two sores.(6)
Rashi: The advent of Messiah is unknowable, commenting on Sanhedrin 97b.
New Testament Insight:
When Jesus was asked when He would return to set up His Messianic Kingdom He replied “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone" (Matthew 24:36).
It is believed that the Messiah could come at any time. Traditional Jewish commentary teaches that based on Isaiah 60:22, that there is both a set time and a hastened time for Messiah to come to earth. The set time, was predetermined by God before man was even created. The hastened time allows for the set time to be bypassed if God chooses to hasten the sending of the coming of the Messiah.(7)
It is believed by some that certain good deeds can bring about the Messianic Redemption sooner. They include procreation (Genesis 1:28), observing the commandment of the four species from the Feast of Tabernacles (Lev. 23:40), and the sending away of the mother-bird (Deuteronomy 22:6-7).(8) Also included in this group is the belief that if Israel would properly observe one sabbath the Messiah would come because observing the sabbath is often viewed as observing many if not all of the commandments.
Some Christian prophecy teachers teach that there was a prophecy which gave the predetermined time for Messiah to come in Daniel 9:24-27. That was Messiah's first coming and Messiah's second coming could occur at any time, returning for His followers in the form of a Rapture and then returning to earth seven years after that to set up His Millennial Kingdom. The seven years in-between the Rapture and the Messiah's return to earth is considered to be the Tribulation Period which includes The Time Of Jacobs Trouble also known as the final week of the Daniel's seventy prophetic weeks.
In Malachi 3:1 the Messiah is expected to come "suddenly."
We do not know when this period of Jacob's Trouble will start but we do know what will happen at the end. The Messiah will return.
The Messiah will come at the end of the Tribulation Period (San. 97a).
New Testament Insight:
But immediately after the tribulation of those days...they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with great power and glory (Matthew 24:29-30).
Instead of being preoccupied with the timing of the coming of the Messiah why not focus on helping others and sharing God's word. The Messiah will come when the Father is ready to send Him.
Using Psalm 95:7 as its source the talmud teaches that the Messiah would come today if all of Israel would repent for 1 day (9) or if Israel would properly observe one Sabbath.(10)
Mashiach and the Messianic age were preconceived from the very beginning, for which the world was created.(11) Mashiach, therefore, is one of the things that precede the creation.(12)
Articles of interest related to our Messiah's coming include:
Read more about The Messiah
1). Mashiach, The Principle of Mashiach and the Messianic Era in Jewish Law and Tradition by Jacob Immanuel Schochet p.31. In reference to Pesachim 54b; Midrash tehilim 9:2 Zohar Chadash, Bereishit 8a.
2). Mashiach, The Principle of Mashiach and the Messianic Era in Jewish Law and Tradition by Jacob Immanuel Schochet (New Expanded Edition) p.43.
3). The Soncino Talmud, Mas Sanhedrin 97a&b.
4). The Soncino Talmud, Mas. Pesachim 54b.
5). The Soncino Talmud, Mas Sanhedrin 98a.
6). Mashiach, The Principle of Mashiach and the Messianic Era in Jewish Law and Tradition by Jacob Immanuel Schochet p.42
7). Mashiach, The Principle of Mashiach and the Messianic Era in Jewish Law and Tradition by Jacob Immanuel Schochet p. 41. In reference to Sanhedrin 98a. Yerushalami, Ta'anit 1:1.
8). Mashiach, The Principle of Mashiach and the Messianic Era in Jewish Law and Tradition by Jacob Immanuel Schochet (New Expanded Edition) p.47.
9). ArtScroll Tanach Series, Tehilim p.1180 quoting Yerushalmi Taanis 1:1.
10). Mashiach, The Principle of Mashiach and the Messianic Era in Jewish Law and Tradition by Jacob Immanuel Schochet (New Expanded Edition) p.45 Quoting Yerushalmi, Ta'anit 1:1.
11). Mashiach, The Principle of Mashiach and the Messianic Era in Jewish Law and Tradition by Jacob Immanuel Schochet p. 34. In reference to Sanhedrin 98b; Pesikta Rabaty 34:6 (ed. Friedmann, ch33). See also Bereshit Rabba 2:4 and cf. R. Bachaya on Genesis 1:2 and Netzach Yisrael, ch 43.
12). Mashiach, The Principle of Mashiach and the Messianic Era in Jewish Law and Tradition by Jacob Immanuel Schochet p. 34 In reference to Pesachim 54a; Pirkei deR. Eliezer ch.3 (see there Bi'ur Haradal note 14); Bereishit Rabba 1:4 (and see there Minchat Yehudah). Cf. Yeshu'ot Meshicho, Iyun Hasheni: ch.3.
