Jesus Is the Messiah, the Christ

Day 7: Jesus is the Messiah or Christ

Prayer:

Our Father in heaven, show us Your magnificent plan that You had set in place before the foundation of the world. Help us to understand that Jesus is the One who was promised from the very beginning. Teach us the wonder of the Messiah. Amen.

Primary Scriptures:

John 1:41: He [Andrew] first found his own brother Simon, and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated, the Christ).

John 4:25-26: The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When He comes, He will tell us all things.” Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.”

Christ is simply the Greek word for Messiah, which comes from the Hebrew word Mashiach. Mashiach comes from the Hebrew verb mashach, which means to anoint with oil. In the opening chapter of the book of Hebrews, God says to His Son, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; therefore God, Your God has anointed You with the oil of gladness more than Your companions” (Hebrews 1:8-9). God the Father calls His Son God, and God the Father anoints His Son as King over His Kingdom. He is the King of Righteousness who will usher in joy and gladness.

Anointing with oil was used ceremonially in three different ways: for the appointment of a new king, for the inauguration of a new high priest, and for the recognition of a prophet. Jesus was all of these, another three in one. These three offices were distinct and counter-balancing for one another. The king held political authority; the priest had jurisdiction over the religious life of the nation; and the prophet spoke to the social order. Each office in some ways had authority over the other two, and each office was in submission to the other two.

Never had one man held more than one of these offices. This is why the prophecies regarding the Messiah were so confusing. Some prophecies speak of Him not just as a prophet, but as The Prophet, one who would be the complete fulfillment of the prophetic office: preaching good news to the poor; healing the brokenhearted; setting captives and prisoners free; healing the sick, the lame, the blind, and the deaf; calling people to repentance; and speaking authoritative judgment against sin (Isaiah 61:1-3). Other Messianic prophecies spoke of Him as a king. This would be no ordinary king, but The King who would establish an eternal kingdom (Daniel 2:44 and 7:14). Yet other prophecies spoke of Him in religious terms as both priest and sacrifice. He was to be the ultimate High Priest whose priesthood would continue forever; there would never be need of another (Hebrews 7:24). And His sacrifice would also be the final, triumphant sacrifice, after which no other sacrifice would ever be needed again (Hebrews 10:12). His priesthood and His sacrifice would save us "to the uttermost" and perfect us forever (Hebrews 7:25, 10:14).

How could one man fulfill all three? How could He suffer yet be triumphant? How could He speak prophetically, penetratingly into the culture and yet hold absolute authority? How could He mediate man’s relationship with God yet establish the laws by which the people were to live and speak with thundering judgment? The Jewish mind could not reconcile these prophecies, so they believed there would be two Messiahs. But really, would there not need to be three—or four: king, prophet, priest, and sacrifice?

But there was only One. One Messiah. At the very beginning when sin first entered the world, the plan of God was set in motion, and God's plan was Jesus. From that first promise made to man in the opening pages of Genesis when sin first entered the world, and throughout the entire Old Testament, God continued to shed more and more light on who this promised One would be and what He would accomplish. Promise after promise, prophecy after prophecy, God unveiled the portrait of His Messiah, events and timing so specific that His identification could not be mistaken. Yet it was mistaken.

Israel had waited so long; they had watched and prayed. Then one day a Man came claiming to be the One, the very One they had hung all their hopes on. But they could not see it. They had embraced only part of the picture, and He didn’t seem to fit that part. They pressed Him over and over again to clearly identify Himself. The final question of the religious leaders at His mock trial was this: "Are You the Christ? Tell us!" Jesus responded, "If I tell you, you will not believe." They were supposedly looking for the Messiah, and here He was standing before them. But they didn't really want to know; they didn't want the Truth. His works proved it, His words claimed it; but they would not believe.

Jesus went on to say: "Hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power of God and coming with the clouds of heaven" (Matt. 27: 63-68, Mk. 14:61-65, Lk. 22:67-71, emphasis added). He was quoting a clear Messianic prophecy from Daniel 7:13. Interestingly, the religious leaders then asked another key question, changing the name Jesus had used: "Are You then the Son of God?" (emphasis added). Clearly, they understood He was claiming Deity, and they erupted with shouts of "What further proof do we need? We have heard the blasphemy from His own mouth." So the promised Hope of the world was scorned, treated as an outcast, rejected, and cruelly murdered. They missed it—even though Jesus had plainly told them the Truth.

But the promise of God was not dependent on their belief. In fact, their unbelief fulfilled the very purposes of God: the Prophet became Priest and Sacrifice. Passing through death, He rose victorious over the strongest of reigning monarchs, Death itself. Then He ascended to sit on the throne of highest heaven, reigning from there till all His enemies are made His footstool (Hebrews 10:12-13).

When we speak of Jesus as the Christ or the Messiah, we are proclaiming that this is the One whom God prophesied would crush the serpent’s head in Genesis 3:15. This is the One whom God anointed as His King to one day rule the nations with a rod of iron (Psalm 2). His kingdom would not only never end (Isaiah 9:6-7) but would also put an end to all other kingdoms (Daniel 2:44, 7:14).

The Promised One, the Messiah, has come. Sin and the serpent have been dealt the crushing blow. Death, sin’s consequence, has been conquered; eternal life is freely offered. A new Kingdom is advancing. The world is not what it used to be. A new commander, a new Prince (Daniel 9:25), has wrested the power and authority from the prince of this world (John 12:31). The Second Adam—more accurately, the Last Adam—now has dominion (cf. Genesis 1:28 & I Corinthians 15:45, 47).

As we saw with the name Son of God, the book of I John also says that believing Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, is an essential of the Christian faith (I John 2:22, 5:1). The importance of this name must not be missed. Jesus is the One promised at the Fall, sent from God to reverse the effects of sin. He is the One upon whom rests the anointing of God. "Whoever believes that Jesus in the Christ is born of God."

At this season we commemorate the coming of the Messiah. But this same Jesus promised to return a second time. So we also look forward to the second coming of the Messiah and the fulfillment of the rest of the prophetic picture. As the song says, “Bethlehem morning is more than just a memory; for the Child who was born there is the King of kings and the Lord of lords, and He will come again.” He said, “Lift up your heads for your redemption draws near” (Luke 21:28). He is the promised One to whom all the prophecies point. He is the Hope of the World, the Desire of All Nations, and the Consummation of History. God is in the process of “reconciling all things to Himself, by Him (Christ), whether things on earth or things in heaven” (Colossians 1:20). And one day God will “gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him” (Ephesians 1:10). For “in all things the Messiah Jesus [will] have the preeminence” (Colossians 1:18).

Just as Jesus fulfilled the prophetic promises of the Messiah’s first coming, so He will fulfill the promises of His second coming. The “glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ” is our “Blessed Hope” (Titus 2:13). God is a promise-keeping God. Jesus the Messiah, or Christ, will come again and make all things new. The former things will pass away. “There shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain” (Revelation 21:4-5). John, the writer of Revelation, was told to “write, for these words are true and faithful” (Revelation 21:5).

Then Jesus said to John, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be is God and he shall be My son. But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death” (Revelation 21:6-8). These words are both sobering and filled with hope. Have you come to Jesus the Messiah to receive freely the life He offers? He is “not willing that any should perish” (II Peter 3:9).

Our spiritual lives, like our physical bodies, need a continuous supply of water—the water of life which the Messiah offers to us. Come daily and all throughout the day to the God-anointed Prophet, Priest, and King. Come for conviction of sin and healing of your broken places, come for forgiveness and cleansing, come for His benevolent and wise rule over your heart and mind and circumstances. Come. Simply come to Him. Drink freely. And keep coming. Drink often.

Family Worship:

Discuss with your family how the first coming of the Messiah changed the history of the world. What are some of the ways the message of the Gospel has changed governments and cultures? How is Christ’s Kingdom advancing in the world? What evidences do we see of that?

Conclude your family time with prayer for Christ’s Kingdom to come on earth as it is in heaven. Pray for specific countries or people groups to accept Jesus as the Messiah. Pray for His Kingdom to advance.

Take an evening sometime during this Christmas season to listen all the way through Handel’s Messiah. Turn the lights off, light some candles or plug in your Christmas lights, and turn your living room into a concert hall. Follow Handel’s train of thought as he uses one Scripture after another to reveal the fullness of the Messiah. Worship! Make this a yearly family tradition. Then spend the night together camping out in the living room with the Christmas lights left on. Little ones can be tucked into sleeping bags before the music starts, to fall asleep to this magnificent, Christ-exalting work of art.

Jesus Christ: The Messiah; the Christ, God’s Anointed One.

Other Related Scriptures:

John 6:69: “We have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

John 7:26-27: “But look! He speaks boldly, and they say nothing to Him. Do the rulers know indeed that this is truly the Christ? However, we know where this Man is from; but when the Christ comes, no one knows where He is from.”

John 7:31: And many of the people believed in Him, and said, “When the Christ comes, will He do more signs than these which this Man has done?”

John 7:40-42: Therefore many from the crowd, when they heard this saying, said, “Truly this is the Prophet.” Others said, “This is the Christ.” But some said, “Will the Christ come out of Galilee?”

John 9:22: His [the man born blind whose sight Jesus restored] parents said these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had agreed already that if anyone confessed that He was Christ, he would be put out of the synagogue.

John 10:24-25: Then the Jews surrounded Him and said to Him, “How long do You keep us in doubt? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly.” Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in My Father’s name, they bear witness of Me.”

John 11:27: She [Martha] said to Him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”

John 20:30-31: And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.

I John 2:22: Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son.

I John 5:1: Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves Him who begot also loves him who is begotten of Him.