Hi Gino,

You had asked:

"Did Judah ben Samuel believe that Jesus is the Messiah of Israel?
If not, no doubt he knew of Jesus and the new testament claims.
If so, did he consciously reject the Messiah?
I was wondering, that if the LORD was going to be giving prophetic understanding to him, would he not also reveal to him the truth of the gospel, that Jesus fulfilled the prophecies about Messiah thus far, and that the same Jesus would fulfill all the remaining prophecies as well?"

My answer is, I don't know.   I suspect the rabbi did know of the New Testament's claims but whether he rejected or accepted them I don't know.

I suspect that there have been rabbis who have accepted the gospel and have remained "closet believers" and kept their faith a secret.  I don't approve of such, I believe when one comes to faith in Jesus they should bear witness of it; however it remains a possibility that some have come to the faith and kept very quiet about it.

However all of this delves into the realm of speculation which is vanity and a waste of time.

I cannot judge the condition of the rabbi's heart because I simply do not know what it was, but I can judge the words of his prophecy which so far have been uncanny in their fulfillment.

They are not on the same level as biblical prophecy but are on a par with the much noted St. Malachi prophecies about the popes- something interesting to watch and see if it proves true or not.

So far the Judah ben Samuel prophecy has played out rather precisely and the good news is, we don't have long to wait to see if it is true.   If this coming fall we see something significant (either rapture or beginning of tribulation indicating  the beginning of a transfer of the kingdoms of this world and Jerusalem to Messiah) than yes I would say its an accurate prophecy, if not its a bust.

I would add one more note however, as to the requirement that a prophet must be in these days a believer in Christ, that would seem logical, however in Numbers we see the heathen Baalam used as a prophet, and his prophecies became part of the biblical record and were even used to identify the first advent of Christ - so I suspect God is not limited to who He must use to speak through, but if He chooses He can, and will speak through a heathen, his donkey - or perhaps even a rabbi.

Those are just my thoughts, I hope it answered your question.

Love and Peace
Your brother in Messiah
Remnant Navi