Messiah

This article is about the concept of a savior. For the oratorio by George Frideric Handel, see Messiah (Handel). For other uses, see Messiah (disambiguation).

In Abrahamic religions, the Messiah (Hebrew: מָשִׁיחַ‎, translit. māšîaḥ‎), Christ (Greek: Χριστός, translit. Khristós), or Mahdi (Arabic: مهدي‎‎, ISO 233: mahdī) is the one chosen to lead the world and thereby save it.

The concepts of Moshiach, Messianism, and Messianic Age originated in Judaism, and in the Hebrew Bible. The term comes from the Hebrew verb meaning "to apply oil to," to anoint. In the Hebrew Bible, Israel's kings were sometimes called God's "messiah" -- God's anointed one. A moshiach (messiah) could also be an anointed high priest or prophet. Messiahs were not even exclusively Jewish, as the Hebrew Bible refers to Cyrus the Great, king of Persia, as a messiah for his decree to rebuild the Jerusalem Temple.

In Judaism, the Jewish Messiah, hamashiach (המשיח, "the Messiah", "the anointed one"), often referred to as "King Messiah" (מלך המשיח, melekh mashiach), is to be a human leader, physically descended from the paternal Davidic line through King David and King Solomon. He is thought to accomplish predetermined things in only one future arrival, including the unification of the tribes of Israel, the gathering in of all Jews to Eretz Israel, the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem, the ushering in of a Messianic Age of global universal peace, and the annunciation of the World to come (But the specific expression, "hamashiach" (המשיח, lit. "the Messiah"), does not occur in the Tanakh ("Jewish Bible")).

In Christianity, the Messiah is called the Christ, from Greek: χριστός, translit. khristós, translating the Hebrew word of the same meaning. The concept of the Messiah in Christianity originated from the Messiah in Judaism. However, unlike the concept of the Messiah in Judaism and Islam, the Messiah in Christianity is the Son of God. Christ became the accepted Christian designation and title of Jesus of Nazareth, because Christians believe that messianic prophecies in the Christian Old Testament were fulfilled in his mission, death, and resurrection. They believe that Christ will fulfill the rest of the Messianic prophecies in the Second Coming, specifically the prophecy of a future king who would come from the Davidic line and usher in a Messianic Age and World to Come.

In Islam, Jesus was a Prophet and the Masîḥ (مسيح), the Messiah in Islam, sent to the Israelites, and that he will return to Earth at the end of times, along with the Mahdi, and defeat al-Masih ad-Dajjal, the false Messiah.

In Ahmadiyya theology, these prophecies concerning the Mahdi and the second coming of Jesus have been fulfilled in Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (1835–1908),^[13] the founder of the Ahmadiyya Movement, and the terms "Messiah" and "Mahdi" are synonyms for one and the same person.

In Chabad messianism, Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn (r. 1920 - 1950), sixth Rebbe (spiritual leader) of Chabad Lubavitch, and Menachem Mendel Schneerson (1902 - 1994), seventh Rebbe of Chabad, are Messiah claimants. Resembling early Christianity, the deceased Menachem Mendel Schneerson is believed to be the Messiah among adherents of the Chabad movement; his second coming is believed to be imminent.