You buy a brand new car. Each time before you go for a drive, you carefully make a 360 degree circuit around it, checking for any scratches or dents. When you arrive at your destination, you park far from the other cars. No laissez-faire motorist is going to swing his door into your car.
Then the baby starts to crawl. Suddenly, a speck on the carpet is no longer innocuous — it might be picked up and happily popped into her mouth. Loose change becomes a potential hazard. You get down on your hands and knees, scanning the terrain from a kid’s-eye-view.
Isn’t it interesting how the slightest change in circumstances can completely alter the way you see the world around you?
The Same World. A New Perspective.
This insight goes to the heart of one of the most frequently asked questions about the Messianic Era: how is it possible that the material world will remain unchanged — with all its natural laws and characteristics — and yet we will have a heightened sensitivity to spirituality, able to perceive the G-dliness in all of creation?
The answer: the world will remain the same world. It is we who will change. Our new consciousness — our sensitivity to the good and the G-dly within ourselves and all of creation — will open our eyes to things we never noticed before.
Think of visiting an ancient historical site. You are impressed, you take photos, you move on. Then you spend an evening reading a detailed eyewitness account of what actually happened in that very place. You go back the next day — and everything looks different. The stones, the air, the silence. Your new perspective has literally opened your eyes.
And so it will be with the Redemption.
What Will Actually Change?
While our inner perspective will be transformed, the world will also undergo profound external changes. Here is what our tradition tells us to expect.
World Peace
Wars will cease. Jealousy, hatred and greed will disappear. All nations will strive toward one goal: a world of goodness, kindness and peace. The prophet Isaiah foretold it thousands of years ago — and the world is still waiting for it to come true: “Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, nor shall they learn war anymore.”
End to Evil and Sin
The transformation won’t only be between nations — it will reach into the human heart itself. Evil, dishonesty and impurity will simply cease to exist. As the prophet Zephaniah promises: “The remnant of Israel will not do any wrong, and they will not speak lies nor shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth.” The very inclination toward wrongdoing will be removed from the world.
G-d shall be One and His Name One
All of mankind will come to recognize and worship one G-d. The divisions, confusions and false beliefs that have plagued humanity for millennia will fall away. Every nation will stream toward Jerusalem, toward truth, toward the source. As the prophet Zechariah proclaimed: “G-d shall be King over the entire earth. In that day G-d shall be One and His Name One.” Every Jew who has ever recited Aleinu has been praying for this moment.
Knowledge of G-d
Hand in hand with universal worship will come universal knowledge. Today, knowledge of G-d is available to those who seek it — but it requires effort, study, and searching. In the Messianic Era it will be as natural and pervasive as the air we breathe. As Isaiah describes: “The earth shall be full of the knowledge of G-d as the waters cover the sea.” Moshiach himself will reveal profound, previously unknown dimensions of Torah. The Midrash states that the Torah we study today is nothing compared to the Torah of Moshiach.
Ingathering of the Exiles
Every Jew from every corner of the earth will return home to the Land of Israel. From east and west, north and south — no Jew will be left behind. As G-d promised through the prophet Isaiah: “Fear not, for I am with you; I will bring your seed from the east and gather you from the west.”
The Rebuilding of the Beis Hamikdash
The Holy Temple, destroyed nearly two thousand years ago, will be rebuilt in Jerusalem and will stand forever. It will once again become the spiritual center of all humanity — the place where heaven and earth meet. As Ezekiel prophesied: “I shall give My Sanctuary in their midst forever.”
Extraordinary Abundance
The earth itself will respond to the new reality. Extraordinary fertility, overflowing harvests, and material ease will characterize the age. As the Rambam describes: “All delicacies will be accessible like dust.” Physical want and scarcity will become distant memories.
End to Disease and Death
Every affliction will be healed. The blind will see, the deaf will hear, the lame will leap. And ultimately, death itself will cease — as Isaiah promised: “Death shall be swallowed up forever, and G-d shall wipe the tears from every face.”
The Goal Behind It All
With all this abundance and blessing, one might ask — is this what we’ve been waiting for? The Rambam is clear: the material bounty is not the point. It is a means, not an end. Our longing for the Messianic Era, he writes, is not for wealth, comfort or dominion. It is for one thing: to be free — free from all the forces that prevent us from dedicating ourselves fully to Torah and the knowledge of G-d. “The sole preoccupation of the whole world will be to know G-d.”
Resurrection of the Dead
The final and most profound stage of the Messianic Era will be Techiyas HaMeisim — the Resurrection of the Dead. Every Jewish soul that ever lived will be reunited with its body. The body and soul are partners in all the good deeds performed in this world — and both will be rewarded accordingly. According to the Zohar, this will take place forty years after Moshiach’s arrival — though there are exceptions: the Talmud states that Moses and Aharon, for example, will be resurrected much earlier.
Will There Be Miracles?
This is a question on which our Sages differ — and the discussion is fascinating. One view holds that the Messianic Era will be characterized by open, dramatic miracles. Another view, associated with Maimonides, holds that the natural order will largely continue — and that the prophets’ vivid imagery is allegorical. Maimonides writes: “One should not entertain the notion that the King Moshiach must work miracles and wonders… This is definitely not true.” His vision of Moshiach is of a towering Torah leader — not a miracle worker. “The main thrust of the matter: this Torah, with its statutes and laws, is everlasting.”
Yet later authorities reconcile both views by pointing to two distinct periods: first, a natural era in which the world continues as we know it but with a transformed consciousness; and then a subsequent miraculous period, culminating in the Resurrection of the Dead. As Maimonides himself writes with characteristic humility: “Neither the order of these events nor their precise detail is among the fundamental principles of faith… one should wait and believe in the general conception of the matter.”
We Don’t Have to Wait
Here is the most remarkable thing the Rebbe taught us: we don’t have to wait for Moshiach to begin experiencing this new perspective. By learning more Torah — and in particular, by learning about Moshiach and the Redemption — we can begin to open our eyes right now. We can start to appreciate the inherent harmony and G-dliness already present in the world, in anticipation of what is coming.
The world is already full of it. We just need to learn how to see it.
Sources for this topic: The Messianic Era.