In Judaism, the Messiah is expected to bring about a visible era in which all people fully observe the Torah’s commandments, and global peace and justice reign. While Christianity sees Jesus as the beginning of global proclamation and spiritual fulfillment of God’s law, Judaism awaits a transformation where the Torah is universally practiced in every detail and prophecy is fully realized.

But where does this belief come from? Prophets such as Isaiah and Micah proclaim that in the days of the Messiah, “the nations will stream to the light of Israel,” and God’s Law “will go out from Jerusalem.” The Torah is not merely a legal code, but the expression of God’s truth, justice, and wisdom, intended as a blessing for humanity. Further we read:

“But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law [Torah] in their minds and write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be My people.”

Jeremiah 31:33

as well as:

“And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.”

Ezekiel 36:27

Thus, it is expected that the Messiah inaugurates an era of knowledge, unity, and worship of God — the universal realization of the Torah.

As we read in a prior article, Christianity currently is the largest religion globally, Judaism is a minority religion, however both are currently by far not the only religion. Therefore the Torah or old testament is definitely not observed by all. Thus, how can Christians claim that Jesus is the Messiah?

Jesus – The Beginning of Universal Torah Mediation

Let’s first see what Jesus did and to what extend he fulfills those prophecies as well as what is next according to him:

• Universal Proclamation: No one can deny that Jesus’ ministry, though initially focused on “the lost sheep of Israel,” includes significant encounters with Gentiles (Samaritans, Romans), revealing a universal claim. He does not exclude on principle; instead, he opens God’s love to all.
• Deepening and Summarizing the Torah: In the Sermon on the Mount and the commandments of love, Jesus condenses the Torah to its essence: Love of God and love of neighbor. Thus, he removes cultural and ritual barriers, making God’s will accessible and understandable for everyone. Jesus also directly confirms that he did not come to change the laws and prophecies of Torah but to fulfill them:

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.”

Matthew 5:17-20

• Sending to All Nations: After his resurrection, Jesus sends his disciples “to all nations.” The Christian missionary mandate is explicitly to make God’s truth accessible to all people.

“He said to them, ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.'”

Mark 16:15

• Alignment to Ezekiel’s prophecy: As we read in the Bible, Jesus did send the Holy Spirit to his disciples and a mission to spread the word of God in the world: 

“On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you!’. After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.

Again Jesus said, ‘Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.’ And with that he breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.'”

John 20:19 – 23

These facts show that Jesus did indeed begin the proclamation of the essence of Torah – God’s truth and love – everywhere.

Does God want the detailed fulfillment of the Torah / Old Testament or it’s essence?

It is well-established in Jewish thought that the Torah is multifaceted: its mitzvot (commandments) are a sacred obligation, and their detailed observance is at the heart of traditional Jewish life. At the same time, both the Torah and rabbinic tradition teach that the spirit and purpose behind the commandments—compassion, justice, and lovingkindness—must never be lost.

Jewish tradition already acknowledges this tension. For example, the principle of Pikuach Nefesh (“saving a life”) overrides nearly every Sabbath restriction, demonstrating that the Torah’s ultimate concern is human life and well-being, not mindless rule-following. However, history and Halakhic debates have shown that overly rigid or literal interpretation can, at times, obscure these deeper values. The Gospels recount that, when Jesus healed on the Sabbath, some saw this as a violation. However since then the Jewish tradition itself evolved to clarify that not only is life-saving permitted, but acts of mercy can take precedence over technical detail, as echoed by later rabbinic authorities.

As Jesus taught:

“The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” 

Mark 2:27

This sentiment, though Christian in its phrasing, resonates with many teachings in the Talmud and Jewish ethical literature. It emphasize that mitzvot are given for the benefit and elevation of humanity, not as a burden. The purpose of the Sabbath—and all mitzvot—is to promote spiritual renewal, compassion, and connection with God and others. When meticulous legal detail stands in the way of these goals, it is a sign to re-examine and redress the imbalance.

Fulfillment of the Messianic Ideal

Same as with the other prophecies, the Christian understanding is that Jesus started the movement by successfully spreading the word about God globally, however the fulfillment of the full prophecy is still to come. The Book of Revelation in the New Testament depicts how this vision will one day be fulfilled:

• Nations Gathered Before God’s Throne: Many images show people from every nation united before God, no longer separated by origin, but brought together in the knowledge of God.
• New Jerusalem and Light for the Nations: The Holy City is not exclusive; it is open to all, its “light to the nations” shining forth and God’s teaching animating humanity.
• Christ as the Center of Fulfillment: Jesus is pictured as the Lamb at the heart of the city, whose presence perfects the Torah—God’s will is harmoniously united with the lives of all people.

In Revelation we read the following:

“I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.”

Revelation 21:22-27

In summary:

• Fulfillment of Jewish Hope: Christianity sees in Jesus the beginning and guarantee of universal Torah dissemination. He does not change a single letter of the Torah and has opened God’s teaching to Gentiles and made the word of God known to Billions globally.
• Revelation Confirms Fulfillment: The final book of the Bible affirms that messianic times are completed when Jesus is acknowledged as Lord of the world—universal knowledge of God is thus fulfilled in the future.
• Torah as basis for elevating it spiritually: Jesus does build on the Torah as a foundation and evolves it so that its spiritual and moral content can enter every culture and every heart.

Thus in my view, Jesus started the fulfillment of this prophecy of opening God’s teaching to all nations. According to Revelation, ultimately will establish God’s universal will in the future. Jesus is the bridge between traditions and the mediator of Torah for all humankind.

Jesus and the law of the Torah in the visions of Maria Valtorta

Maria sees Jesus’s confirmation that he does not change the law but confirms it:

“You can see that what I am telling you is the Decalogue. The word of the Rabbi is always the Decalogue. Because good, justice, glory consist in doing what the Decalogue teaches and orders us to do. There is no other doctrine. In days gone by it was given amid the flashes of lightning on Mount Sinai, now it is given in the refulgence of Mercy, but the Doctrine is the same. It does not change. It cannot change. Many in Israel will say, as an excuse, to justify their lack in holiness, even after the passage of the Saviour on the Earth: “I did not have the possibility to follow and listen to Him”. But their excuse is of no value. Because the Saviour did not come to impose a new Law, but to confirm the first, the only Law, nay, to reconfirm it in its holy plainness, in its perfect simplicity. To re-confirm with love and the promises of the assured love of God what previously was said with severity on one side and listened to with fear on the other.”

Maria Valtorta, The Poem of the ManGod, chapter 450.Near the Place of the Leper. Parable on the Ten Commandments

In the visions of Maria Valtorta she also witnessed the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus clarifies clearly that he did not come to change the law, however to focus on what is truly important for God. Here a rather long passage, but still an excerpt, of his speech:

“What I told you yesterday must not cause you to think that I have come to abolish the Law. No. But since I am the Man, and I understand the weakness of man, I wanted to encourage you to comply with it, turning your spiritual eyes not to the dark abyss, but to the bright Sublimity. Because if the fear of punishment can hold you back three times out of ten, the certainty of a reward will urge you seven times out of ten. Trust is therefore more efficacious than fear. And I want you to be fully and firmly confident, so that you accomplish not seven parts of good out of ten, but ten out of ten and thus gain the most holy prize of Heaven.

I will not change one iota of the Law. And Who gave it amongst the peals of thunder on Sinai? The Most High. Who is the Most High? God One and Triune. Where did He take it from? From His Thought. How did He give it? By His Word. Why did He give it? Out of His Love. You can thus see that the Trinity was present. And the Word, obedient as ever to the Thought and Love, spoke on behalf of the Thought and Love. Could I give Myself the lie? No, I could not.

But since I can do everything, I can complete the Law, make it divinely complete, not what men did throughout centuries, as they did not make it complete, but incomprehensible and impossible to be fulfilled. In fact they superimposed precepts and laws taken from their own thoughts, according to their own gain, and they thus lapidated and suffocated, sterilised and buried the most holy Law given by God. Can a tree survive if it is continuously struck by avalanches, rubble and floods? No, it will die. The Law dies in many hearts, suffocated by the avalanches of too many superstructures. I have come to remove them all, and after unearthing and reviving the Law, I will make it no longer a law, but a queen.

Queens promulgate laws. The laws are the work of queens, but they are not above queens. I instead make the Law a queen: I complete it, I crown it, putting on its top the wreath of the evangelic counsels. Before it was order. Now it is more than order. Before it was the necessary thing. Now it is more than the necessary thing: now it is perfection. Who weds it, as I present you with it, has been not only obedient, but also heroic, that is, holy, as holiness is the sum of virtues carried to the greatest height attainable by a creature, heroically loved and practised through a complete detachment from every human desire and consideration.

I could say that he is a saint, whom love and desire prevent from seeing everything but God. As his attention is not distracted by inferior sights, his eyes and heart are fixed on the Most Holy Brightness, which is God and in which, since everything is in God, he can see his distressed brothers stretching out their hands suppliantly. And without taking his eyes away from God, the saint devotes himself to his suppliant brothers. Against the flesh, against wealth, against comforts, he pursues his ideal: to serve. Is a saint poor or disabled? No, he is not. He has succeeded in achieving true wisdom and wealth. He therefore possesses everything. And he never tires because while it is true that he is always active, it is also true that he is continuously nourished. And while he understands the sorrows of the world, he feeds on the delights of Heaven. He is nourished by God and delights in God. He is a creature who has understood the meaning of life.

As you can see I neither change nor mutilate the Law, neither do I corrupt it by superimposing human fomenting theories. I complete it. The Law is what it is and shall be such until the last day; not one word will be changed, not one precept will be abolished. It is crowned with perfection. To reach salvation it is sufficient to accept it as it was given. To obtain immediate union with God it is necessary to live it according to My advice. But since heroes are an exception, I will speak to common souls, to the mass of souls, so that no one may say that I have made what is necessary unknown, in order to reach perfection.,

But of everything I tell you, remember this: he who takes the liberty of infringing one of the least of these commandments, will be considered one of the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. And he who will induce others to infringe them, will be considered one of the least both with regard to himself and led to the infringement. He, instead, who through his life and deeds, rather than by words, has convinced others to abide by the Law, will be great in the Kingdom of Heaven and his greatness will be increased by each of those whom he has led to obey and thus sanctify themselves.

I know that what I am about to say will taste bitter to many tongues. But I cannot tell lies, even if the truth I am about to speak will procure Me many enemies.

I solemnly tell you that unless you create anew your justice, detaching it completely from the poor and unfairly defined justice which the Pharisees and Scribes have taught you; unless you are really more just than the Pharisees and Scribes, who think they are just because they increase the number of formulae without any substantial change of their spirits, you shall not enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

Beware of false prophets and erring doctors. They come to you clad as lambs, and they are rapacious wolves; they come clad with holiness and they deride God; they say they love the truth and they feed on falsehood. Study them before following them. Man has a tongue and speaks with it, he has eyes and sees with them, he has hands and makes signs with them. But he has something else which is a more truthful witness of his real being: his deeds! And what are two hands joined in prayer, if a man is a thief and fornicator? And what are two eyes, which pretending to be inspired, roll in all directions, if after the farce, they greedily stare at a woman or an enemy, out of lust or for murder? And what is a tongue expert in whistling a false song of praise and in seducing by means of honeyed words, if behind your back it calumniates you and is capable of swearing falsely if only it could pass you off as a mean fellow? What is a tongue that says long hypocritical prayers and is then quick in killing the reputation of a neighbour or seducing his good faith? It is disgusting! And disgusting are untruthful hands and eyes. But the deeds of men, the true deeds, that is, his behaviour at home, in business, towards his neighbour and servants, are the things that testify: “This man is a servant of the Lord.” Because holy deeds are the fruit of true religion.

A good tree does not bear bad fruit and a bad tree does not bear good fruit. Will these thorny bushes ever be able to give you tasty grapes? And those even more stinging thistles, will they ever be able to mature sweet figs for you? No, they will not. In actual fact you will be able to pick only a few sour blackberries from the former and uneatable fruits will come from the latter, which although flowers, are still thorny.

The man who is not just will be able to command respect by his appearance, and only by it. Also the downy thistle looks like a tuft of thin silvery threads adorned with diamonds by the dew. But if inadvertently you touch it, you find out that it is not a tuft, but a bundle of thorns, painful to man, harmful to sheep, so that shepherds uproot them from their pastures and burn them on the fire they light at night so that not even the seed may be spread. A just and provident step. I do not say to you: “Kill the false prophets and hypocritical believers.” Nay, I say to you: “Leave the task to God.” But I say to you: “Be careful, keep away from them that you may not be poisoned by their juices.”

I told you yesterday how God is to be loved. I will insist on how our neighbour is to be loved.

Once it was said: “You shall love your friend and hate your enemy.” No, not so. That was all right for the times when man did not have the comfort of God’s smile. But now new things have come, when God has loved man so much as to send His Word to redeem him. Now the Word is speaking. And it is already an effusion of Grace. Later the Word will consummate the sacrifice of peace and redemption and there will be not only an effusion of Grace, but Grace will be given to every soul believing in Christ. It is therefore necessary to elevate the love for our neighbour to a perfection that unifies friend and enemy.

Have you been slandered? Love and forgive. Have you been struck? Love and offer the other cheek to him who smacked you, considering that it is better that he gives vent to his wrath on you who can put up with it, rather than on somebody else who would take vengeance for the insult. Have you been robbed? Do not think: “This neighbour of mine is greedy”, but charitable say: “This poor brother of mine is needy” and give him also your tunic if he has stolen your mantle. You will make it impossible for him to steal twice, because he will have no need to rob another person of his tunic. You may say: “It may be a vice and not a need.” Well, give just the same. God will reward you for it and the wicked man will pay for it. But many times, and this should remind you of what I told you yesterday on lowliness, when he sees how he has been dealt with, his vice will drop from his heart and the sinner will redeem himself making amends for the theft by handing back what he had stolen.

Be generous towards those, who, being more honest, ask you for what they need, instead of robbing you. If the rich were really poor in spirit, as I explained yesterday, there would be no painful social inequalities, the cause of so many human and superhuman calamities. Always consider: “If I were in need, how would I feel if I were denied help?” and act according to the reply of your ego. Do to others what you would like done to yourself and do not do to others what you would not like done to yourself.”

Maria Valtorta, The Poem of the ManGod, chapter 171. The Sermon of the Mount. The Beatitudes (Part Two)