ABSTRACT
The word “messiah” is derived from the Hebrew word mashiahk, which means “one who is anointed.” Messianism, however, often refers to a person chosen by God to play a crucial role in an endtime scenario. The messiah heralds the advent of an utopian epoch-the “messianic age.” For many Christians, this is the “Kingdom of God” or the “heavenly kingdom.” In Jewish tradition this age is the World to Come. The messiah represents a dramatic moment of transition. A common element in various kinds of messianism is belief in a decisive turning point in history that demarcates the present age from one that is (for the believer) much better. In many accounts of the endtime, the utopian epoch comes after one fraught with tribulation and upheavals of a vast magnitude. Times of great suffering and catastrophe are often interpreted as a sign that the end is near. Messianic movements often arise when people consider their world to be falling apart or under attack. According to the Babylonian Talmud (a multivolume work containing rabbinic teaching), such moments show the “footprints of the messiah” (Sota 9:15). But messianism has many different forms. Sometimes, rather than a messiah, priority is given to another eschatological (endtime) figure, such as the archangel Michael (Revelation 12) or Elijah (Malachi 4:5-6; Matthew 27:47). Some do not give much attention to the personality of the messiah, but focus rather on the period of history in which he is to come. But to appreciate messianism we need to understand its biblical and Jewish origins.
