What does a messiah do?

Answer 1

The Messiah, (Jesus Christ) is about Human Beings being reconciled back to God. Jesus came to earth as a man to die for mankind's sin so that man would have a way back to God. Man sinned in the Garden of Eden and every person since that time has been born spiritually dead. Spiritually dead people hate God and if they are not ("Born Again" John 3:1-8) they will go to hell (Lake of Fire, Revelation 20: 11-15). This is the very reason Jesus came down from heaven to earth approximately 2000 years ago. This is what the Messiah, Jesus is all about.

But just because Jesus went to the cross of Calvary and died for your sin does not mean that you go to heaven automatically. You have to accept Jesus as your personal Savior. See Romans 10: 9-13, the way to salvation.

Answer 2

Jewish answer:The word "messiah" is from the Hebrew "moshiach." The word moshiach translates to "anointed." The title of moshiach was given to any person who was appropriately anointed with oil as part of their initiation to their service of God. We have had many meshichim (plural), in the form of kings, kohanim (priests), and prophets. There is nothing supernatural about a moshiach.

This being said, there is a prophecy of a future moshiach.

The Jewish requirements of hamoshiach are:

* Build the Third Temple (Ezekiel 37:26-28)

* Gather all Jews back to the Land of Israel (Isaiah 43:5-6)

* Usher in an era of world peace; and end all hatred, oppression, suffering and disease. "Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall man learn war anymore." (Isaiah 2:4)

* Spread universal knowledge of the God of Israel, which will unite humanity as one. As it says: "The Lord will be King over all the world -- on that day, the Lord will be One and His Name will be One" (Zechariah 14:9)

* Hamoshiach must be descended on his father's side from King David (Genesis 49:10 and Isaiah 11:1)

* Hamoshiach will lead the Jewish people to full Torah observance. The Torah states that all mitzvot remain binding forever, and anyone coming to change the Torah is immediately identified as false. (Deut. 13:1-4)