3. According to Isaiah 11:10, what effect would the Messiah have on the nations?

³ This international brotherhood is also related to the fulfillment of God’s purpose for all mankind: that people of all nations would bless themselves by means of a promised “seed,” a descendant of Abraham, and so worship God in truth and unity. (Genesis 3:15; 22:18, JP) Later prophecies indicated that this “seed” was also to be the ‘prophet like Moses,’ who would mediate a new covenant that would serve as the legal basis for sincere people of all nations to worship God in unity. (Deuteronomy 18:15, 18, 19; Jeremiah 31:31-34) In addition this very one was to be the Messiah, a ruler from the line of David, whose throne God would establish forever. (1 Chronicles 17:11, 12) According to the prophet Isaiah, the Messiah would be the rallying figure who would unite people out of all nations (Hebrew, Goh·yimʹ). Isaiah 11:10 says: “It shall come to pass in that day, that the root of Jesse, that standeth for an ensign [“as a signal,” NW] of the peoples, unto him shall the nations seek; and his resting-​place shall be glorious.”​—JP.

4. What did one rabbi state regarding Jesus’ effect on the human race?

⁴ The identity of the Messiah has been debated for centuries. According to Isaiah 11:10 and other texts, he would be a Jew, a descendant of King David (Jesse’s son), and people of all nations would accept him as the legitimate Messiah sent by God. Referring to the first-​century Jewish teacher Jesus, Rabbi H. G. Enelow wrote: “No sensible Jew can be indifferent to the fact that a Jew should have had such a tremendous part in the religious education and direction of the human race.”¹⁰ What other Jew have so many Gentiles accepted as the Messiah? Could some other Jew receive wider acceptance? Still, there are those who find the idea that Jesus may be the Messiah very disturbing. Their reasons are worth examining.

²⁶ Is it not reasonable to see the work of Jehovah’s Witnesses as fulfillment of this prophecy at Isaiah 2:3? Do you know of anyone else who is doing this work? Or do you think it is just a matter of coincidence that millions of people make time in their lives to speak about a message prophesied some two thousand years ago, a message that was to be heralded during a time of unprecedented upheaval? Yes, in these last days, it is Jehovah’s Witnesses who have become ‘a light to the nations.’ (Isaiah 42:6; 49:6) They are the only international brotherhood serving Jehovah God unitedly and peacefully under the direction of the Messiah, “the root of Jesse,” whom they proclaim to be the ‘signal’ for the nations.​—Isaiah 11:10, NW, JP.