Why was no one able to recognize Jesus as Messiah using prophesy, yet we believe end times prophesy will be easier to clarify? Unless I am missing something, it seems that absolutely no one (with the exception, in part, of the wise-men) was able to identify Jesus as the Messiah at His first coming, using the prophesy they were given to identify Him. 

All the accounts I read, including Jesus' recognition by Simeon and Anna down through the Apostles indicate that these people were only able to recognize Jesus as the Messiah either after a personal introduction by Jesus, or by revelation of the Holy Spirit to them. 

I know that all the prophesies concerning the Messiah were fulfilled by Jesus perfectly and those prophesies were used and still are used to validate His identity, but my question/concern is this--

If the best Bible/Torah scholars of all time were not able to correctly interpret the OT prophesies well enough to recognize that the Messiah had come and was in their midst, and the Bible is inspired by God, who is the same yesterday, today and forever, why do we think our best interpretation of the end time prophesies will be as cut-and-dry as we have made them out to be? 

To be honest, one can hardly blame the people of Jesus' time for being confused. According to what they saw as clear cut prophesy they were expecting someone called "Immanuel" (not Yeshua), They were expecting the Messiah to come as a King and establish a government that would deliver them from their enemies, and they were expecting Elijah to return before the Messiah appeared. I can see how anyone would be confused considering John The Baptist, Himself denied openly that he was Elijah.
It is important to note the nature of the prophecies themselves. The Old Testament gives very conflicting prophecies about the Messiah. To briefly look over them, here's an outline of a few of them:


He was to be a rejected Messiah
He was to be a betrayed Messiah
He was to be a ruler of all nations
He was to come in power 'on clouds'
He was to come in weakness 'on a donkey'
He was to be a teacher of the Gentiles
He was to be a Sacrifice for the sins of Israel.


If you notice, many of these prophecies seem to contradict each other. So to reconcile these apparent contradictions Christians, who believe Christ to be the Messiah for His fulfillment of so many of these prophecies and most importantly His death and resurrection, hold that these prophecies speak of one Messiah who exists and reveals Himself in two capacities, or at two different points in time, under distinct conditions. 

In order to answer your question regarding why most people did not realize Christ to be the Messiah until such was revealed to them, it is important to recognize what prophecies were being fulfilled by Christ in His first appearance, or in other words what type of Christ was to be seen in the first coming; the humble and betrayed or the glorified and praised. The answer to this question is clear; Christ fulfilled the prophecies of the 'suffering servant' who faced rejection, betrayal, death and resurrection. As such, Christ's main purpose in His first coming to this world was not to bring about the final elucidation, peace and clarity (which can be assumed to occur in the second coming, along with other prophecies that have yet to occur) but rather to establish His Church through His suffering and crucified body of ministry and power, so that we might grow in the Spirit and in the way we love what the Savior has done through the mystery of the Sacraments. It is through the events that occur now that the world is being prepared for the final coming of the Savior, who shall come in full recognition to all people 'on clouds' to raise the living and the dead to their respective judgement. 

With this understanding in place, one can still question why so many free willed people that Christ crossed paths with did not know Him to be the Messiah, if He indeed was the Messiah, and to answer such a question requires a brief explanation of grace. The only way in which truth of any kind is revealed to any soul is through the will of God. If God wills that we not know a certain truth, it is fully within His capacity to hide such knowledge from people. This, however, does not eradicate nor interfere with free will, for what comes to pass is still essentially through the reality of our free interaction. So it is that prophecies are secured to pass in the way that they do. Christ's purpose for coming was not to be glorified, but rather to be ridiculed, and as such, He was left with the task of avoiding glorification and renown recognition. Thus, Christ encouraged others not to speak of Him as the Son of God:

Matthew 8:4 


  And Jesus said to him, "See that you tell no one; but go, show yourself to the priest and present the offering that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them."


Mark 1:34


  Jesus healed many who had various diseases. He also drove out many demons, but he would not let the demons speak because they knew who he was.


Matthew 16: 20


  Then he warned his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ.


We as a human race did not collectively recognize Christ because it was not in God's will for us to glorify Him. His purpose in the first coming was not to be glorified by all, but to die humbly in submission to the Father for our sins.