Jesus Messiah
Matthew 1:1; Mar. 1:1
The Gospel of Matthew begins with, “A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham.” Mark likewise starts off, “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” We all refer to Jesus Christ so frequently, many people mistakenly think Christ is Jesus’ last name. But Christ is the English version of Christos, which is Greek for the Hebrew “meshiach” or Messiah. I’m afraid many use that word without really understanding what it means. In this study, I want to discuss the meaning of the word, look at why Christians believe Jesus is the Christ or Messiah, and what His messiahship means for us.
The Hebrew word meshiach means “anointed one.” Anointing is the rubbing or pouring of oil, usually olive oil, upon a person to symbolize that they have been chosen by God for a particular task, and they have received some measure of the Holy Spirit or the Spirit’s empowerment for that task. (the Spirit is symbolized by wind, Acts 2:2 fire, Acts 2:3, 4, a dove, Lu. 3:22, water, Jn. 7:37-39, Ez. 47, a cloud, 1 Cor. 10:2, and oil, 1 Sam. 16:12, 13, and Luke 4:18.)
In Old Testament history, there were three categories of people who received this sort of anointing; priests, prophets, and kings. When Moses was told to initiate the priesthood to work in Israel’s Tabernacle, he was to anoint them with special anointing oil as a symbol of God’s choice of the line of Aaron of the tribe of Levi (Ex. 28:41). Later we see Samuel, a prophet of God, called to anoint Saul (1 Sam. 9:16) and then David (1 Sam. 16:12) as kings of Israel. Samuel poured oil on them, but God gave them the Holy Spirit. Not all prophets were anointed, but Elijah was told specifically to anoint Elisha (1 Kings 19:16). Other kings were anointed (1 Ki. 1:34; 19:16; 2 Ki. 9:6). Olive oil was used to show God’s choice of a person, and to symbolize the Holy Spirit’s empowerment. This is seen in Ps. 23:5 and James 5:14. The anointing of the Holy Spirit is more important than the symbol of that anointing. In other words, if a person never had oil poured or rubbed onto them, but had the Holy Spirit come upon them to empower them for service, it would be far more important and significant.
Before Israel had a king, there were judges who experienced the anointing of the Holy Spirit. He would come upon them to empower them to lead and defend Israel against her enemies and so forth. Anyone who is anointed is “a” messiah, little a, little m. The truth is Israel had quite a few messiahs over the years; judges, kings, prophets and so forth, all of whom were anointed by the Holy Spirit to perform a function. Even Cyrus, a Persian king, was called God’s anointed (Is. 45:1) because God had chosen him to free His people and thus, fulfill His purposes.
Over time, Israel came to understand and anticipate a fuller expression of the messiah, “The” Messiah with a capital M. The Holy Spirit’s power and presence would be with this Person in a special and unlimited way to enable Him to bring about God’s will on earth for His people and even those of other nations. (Is. 11:2; 42:1; 48:16; 61:1) Though not always specifically referred to as the Messiah, this Person was predicted and described in detail in the Hebrew Bible. Consider some of these passages with me.
First, we have Gen. 3:15, which is called the “proto-evangelium,” the first mention of what we know as “the good news.” This promise was given right after Adam and Eve’s fall into sin in the Garden of Eden. They were deceived by the serpent, Satan, and duped into selling their birthright and plunging the whole human race into bondage and death. God decreed their terrible punishment, then He also gave them their first glimmer of hope. He promised that the seed of the woman (a totally strange and unheard of expression) would be bruised by the serpent, or bitten on His heel, while at the same time, crushing that serpent’s head. Salvation from death and Satan’s power would come through a human being, born from a woman in a special way. This Person would defeat mankind’s archenemy and reverse the effects of the Fall, but strangely, would also be bruised or wounded in some way by the serpent in doing so.
The next major promise of this anointed Person was in Gen. 12 and 22:18, where God called Abraham, and told him that through his “seed,” one special descendant, all the families of earth would be blessed (see also Gal. 3:16, where Paul explains this clearly.) The curse put on mankind by their sin would somehow be reversed and all God originally intended for them would be restored, and it would be done by a special descendant of Abraham.
Then we have many different episodes in Israel’s history which sort of typify what this Person would be like and would do. Abraham has to sacrifice his only son on a mount called Moriah (Gen. 22). Israel is trapped in slavery in Egypt, under a cruel king, the Pharaoh, but through Moses, a prophet of God, and through the sacrifice of a lamb, Israel is delivered supernaturally from that bondage. Moses brings Israel out of Egypt and into the wilderness and he gives them God’s law, the tabernacle, the sacrificial system and the priesthood, all of which really picture what is needed for people to be right with God and draw near to Him.
As Moses is nearing the end of his ministry and time on earth, he’s told he can’t lead Israel into their inheritance in the Promised Land, because even he failed to always keep the law. He’s called the lawgiver, and he represents the law, yet the law can’t bring anyone into their divine inheritance. Instead, Moses’ associate and assistant, a man named Joshua, or Yeshua (the Lord is salvation), is chosen to lead them in. He’s the Lord’s anointed (messiah) to perform that function. But Moses, before he dies, also tells Israel that God will one day raise up a Prophet like himself to lead God’s people forward (Deut. 18:17-19). That Person will obviously be very special, very great, because no one has ever been as great a prophet as Moses (Deut. 34:10). This Prophet would have to be empowered by God’s Spirit to lead God’s people into their inheritance, which means He would be the Anointed One, the Messiah.
Around 1000 BC, God had his prophet Samuel anoint a young man named David to be king. He was God’s anointed, a messiah for Israel. He led Israel wisely, defeated her enemies all around and brought the nation into its inheritance like no one before him. He fought for them and led them in godly ways, so Israel prospered and thrived under David’s leadership. He was a man after God’s own heart, a man who typified what God’s anointed would do. God spoke to David, giving him one of the greatest promises in the entire Bible, something we know today as “the Davidic Covenant.” We read this in 2 Sam. 7:8-19. I would urge you to look at this passage, especially vs. 19, in as many versions as you can. Otherwise you’ll most likely overlook something very important.
David was told by God that the Lord was so pleased with him, that He was going to bring the Messiah through his line. A descendent or son of David would actually be called the Son of God (vs. 14), and He would rule over God’s people forever. Everything David did in a small measure and in an imperfect way, this Son of his would do in a perfect measure and to the fullest extent. The Hebrew here (vs. 19) actually says the way in which God would do this was to be Torah (instruction) for all mankind. Another version says it was “instruction about the Man,” capital M. People in this world are like sheep without a shepherd. Worse, they have a terrible shepherd, because the devil leads most people of the world and they suffer terribly under his domination. But by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, David wrote the 23rd Psalm, which speaks of the Lord as David’s Shepherd, and this is the perfect picture of what God was revealing in the Davidic Covenant. God’s Son (a son of David) would be the Shepherd-King of those who would submit to His kingship. All enemies would thus be defeated and driven off, and the fullness of God’s inheritance would be made available to God’s people through His anointed One (the Messiah), or “the Man” spoken of in vs. 19. This Son of David would also build God’s “house,” the place where He would dwell forever among His people. He would reverse the effects of the Fall and bring about the fullness of all God originally intended for the human race. Ez. 34:23 also speaks of this Shepherd-King, saying God will put one Shepherd over His people, David’s Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
David’s son Solomon ruled well for many years, and Israel expanded and enjoyed peace and prosperity. Solomon built the first great temple or house of the Lord. It may have seemed for a while that he was the fulfillment of the Davidic Covenant. But Solomon went astray in his later years. He never fulfilled these promises completely at all. After him, Israel was divided and went through a gradual process of deterioration. Eventually, they were overwhelmed by the Assyrians and then the Babylonians, and they lost their homeland and were carried away into exile. No son of David ruled anymore after that, so how could it be that God said David’s son would rule forever? It seemed all God’s promises, all the bright future promised to David and for which Israel had hoped were destined to go unfulfilled, destined to fail.
Despite this, other prophets had some very significant revelations about a coming Messiah or anointed One. One prophet told where the Messiah would be born and indicated He was coming into this world from eternity (Micah 5:2). Another told of His being humble and riding into Jerusalem on a donkey (Zech. 9:9). Another said He would be the Messenger of the Covenant, the Lord whom Israel sought, and the Lord would actually come to His temple (Mal. 3:1). Isaiah had the most prophecies about Him. He spoke of a special Servant of the Lord who would come. A section of Isaiah’s book contains these so-called “Servant Songs.” We find them in 42, 49, 50, and 52-53. They are truly amazing. They speak of this Servant in a way that seems to indicate He will be more than just human. He will do things no mere human could do. He will be empowered by God’s Spirit in a very special way (11:1-3). He will eventually reach people from all nations, not just Israel (42:1-7). (There are lists of these prophecies.) But the last song is the strangest of all, because it speaks of this Servant’s greatness and huge impact, but at the same time, speaks of His being marred more than any man, being wounded, bruised, being despised and rejected to such an extent that people of the earth will cover their faces, too horrified to even look at Him. And yet, He will be exalted above anyone else on earth after that happens. This person will also be born of a virgin and will bring a great light to areas of darkness. He will bring God’s Kingdom to the earth and build God’s House as never before.
Later, the prophet Daniel also spoke of this Person in terms more than human. He tells of this anointed Person being cut off, but not for Himself (9:26), and being brought to heaven before the very throne of God, where He will be given a Kingdom that will never end, which will rule over all the earth (7:13-14). Daniel was also shown how this Person would be like a Stone cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands, which would eventually destroy and bring to an end all the kingdoms of the world (2:34, 35, 44, 45). Daniel even told us within certain parameters when this Person would come to earth (9:24-27).
Ps. 110 is one of the OT passages most frequently quoted in the NT. In this short psalm, David writes things that must have seemed really inexplicable and strange for the Jews of his time. The Lord said to his Lord? Two lords? The famous Shema says, “hear oh Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one” (or there is only one Lord – Deut. 6:4). Why then are two mentioned in this psalm? And how could this Person be Lord over David, when David was Israel’s great king? Jesus befuddled the Jewish leaders of His time asking about this (Matt. 22:42-45). How could a son of David be David’s Lord? The answer was standing in front of them at that moment! And this Lord spoken of in Ps. 110, was to rule over all nations. He was to hold the scepter, which speaks of His Kingship. And He was also to be a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek, which means “king of righteousness.” Melchizedek, we’re also told was “king of Salem, (shalom in Hebrew), which means, “king of peace.” He was a picture of Jesus, the King of righteousness and peace, King of all kings and Lord of all lords. He is the One who humbled Himself to the lowest place, and for that reason, God has highly exalted Him and given Him the name above all names, that at His name, every knee should bow in heaven and earth, and every tongue confess that He is Lord, David’s Lord, the one who rules in the midst of His enemies until they are all made the footstool for His feet and are conquered completely. (Phil. 2:5-11)
This is why Matthew and Mark talk about Jesus the Christ, the Son of God, the Son of Abraham and Son of David. This is why blind Bartimaeus cried out, Son of David, have mercy on me! (Lu. 18:38) This is why the people cried Hosanna to the Son of David and waved palm branches! (Matt. 21:9) This is why Peter, when Jesus asked who do you say I am, answered without hesitation, You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God! (Matt. 16:16) This is why the early disciples, including Paul, went about teaching everyone that Jesus was the Christ or Messiah. (Acts 2:36; 17:3) This was the essence of their message to the Jews. The Jews already knew the promises of the coming One. All the early disciples had to prove to them was that Jesus, or Yeshua, was that Promised One. And they had to prove it by explaining the scriptures that said Messiah had to suffer (Acts 3:18; 17:3; 26:23). That was the part that was so difficult for them! But it too was prophesied, as some came to learn!
The message about God’s Messiah is crucial for all of mankind to know and appreciate and share!
He is God’s anointed One, chosen to be King over the universe (Ps. 2; Acts 4:24-31). He is the One chosen to defeat the devil and take back what he usurped from God. He is the One who redeems mankind from the Fall and restores all we lost and more. He is Emmanuel, God with us, God in human flesh, come to walk this dusty earth and reveal God to mankind (Jn. 1:18). He is the One filled without measure with God’s Spirit, and who alone can give the Spirit to those who submit to Him (Jn. 3:34, 35; Jn. 1:32-34). He is the truest and fullest expression of David, because He submitted to God and was completely conformed to His heart and will, and He brings us into our inheritance, defeats our enemies, and causes God’s people to prosper and live in peace. What David did in a measure, Jesus does in fullness! He is God’s anointed King, who rules over the universe and brings everything into divine order. He is also our High Priest (Heb. 4:14), who represents us before God, and offered up Himself as the ultimate Sacrifice for our sins, atoning for them and cleansing us from all guilt and shame. He interceded and continues to intercede for us (Ro. 8:34). He is also the Prophet spoken of by Moses, who leads us out of bondage to the god of this age and into our Promised Land, all that God intended for us to receive and experience.
Prophet, Priest, and King. Jesus, our Messiah, our Savior, Redeemer, our way back to God and eternity with Him in glory. Hosanna to the Seed of the woman, the Son of Abraham, the Son of David, the Son of God, forever and ever! He is God’s King, forever installed on His “holy hill,” Ps. 2. Let us “kiss the Son” and submit to Him, for He is truly the Answer to all our hopes and dreams, the solution to mankind’s problems. Thank God, His Anointed One, the Messiah, has come!