The response of people who encountered Jesus face-to-face varied widely, and it's not accurate to say that everyone or even most people concluded he was the long-awaited Messiah.
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Gentiles: Some Gentiles recognized Jesus' authority and performed acts of faith, but they did not uniformly conclude he was the Messiah in the Jewish sense. For example, the Roman centurion acknowledged Jesus' power, but it's unclear if he identified him as the Messiah.
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Jews: Among the Jewish population, responses were mixed. Some, including his disciples, recognized him as the Messiah, while others rejected him, viewing him as a false prophet or a controversial figure.
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General Population: Many people were amazed by Jesus' teachings and miracles but did not necessarily come to the conclusion that he was the Messiah.
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Relatively Few: Ultimately, it could be said that relatively few people during his ministry fully accepted him as the long-awaited Messiah, especially in the way that early Christians later defined it.
In summary, among various groups, there was a spectrum of beliefs about Jesus, with relatively few people concluding definitively that he was the long-awaited Messiah in the time of his earthly ministry.
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