It is not uncommon to hear someone refer to Jesus as the Jewish Messiah or to hear someone say, “the Jews rejected their Messiah.”

Jesus certainly is the Messiah of the Jewish people and he came to redeem the people of Israel. Yet the promise of the Messiah wasn’t a promise to redeem the people of Israel only. The promised Messiah who was to bring deliverance to the people of Israel, would bring salvation to the Gentiles well.

A distinctive characteristic of the Messianic promises is that the Messiah would bring the knowledge of salvation to all nations. One such prophecy, quoted from Isaiah by Matthew, says the following:

Behold my servant, whom I have chosen; my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased: I will put my spirit upon him, and he shall shew judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not strive, nor cry; neither shall any man hear his voice in…