The title ‘Messiah’ is translated into Greek as ‘Christ’, which means, “anointed one”.
The prophets of Israel foretold that God would send a Messiah to enable them inherit their promises and to rescue them from their enemies.
ANOINTED PRIEST PROPHET & KING
Jesus is Messiah, (THE ANOINTED ONE) in three ways:
· He is the ANOINTED PRIEST,
· The ANOINTED PROPHET &
· The ANOINTED KING
Samuel predicted that God would send a priest who would be a perfect priest unlike the flawed Levitical priests. This faithful ANOINTED PRIEST will build a house (Temple) for the Lord. Jesus is that PRIEST.
“And I will raise up for myself a faithful priest, who shall do according to what is in my heart and in my mind; and I will build him a sure house, and he shall go in and out before my anointed for ever.” (1 Samuel 2:35)
Moses predicted that the Lord would rise up a great and final ANOINTED PROPHET and teacher. “The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brethren–him you shall heed—“ (Deut 18:15)
Samuel, Nathan, Micah, Isaiah & Ezekiel predicted that God would raise up an ANOINTED KING who would be greater than David.
“ When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raiseup your offspring after you, who shall come forth from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he shall be my son. When he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men; but I will not take my steadfast love from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure for ever before me; your throne shall be established for ever.’” (2 Samuel 7:16)
“But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be RULER IN ISRAEL; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.” (Micah 5:1)
Jesus IS the Messiah: the anointed king, the anointed priest and the anointed prophet foretold by the prophets.
IS JESUS THE PROMISED MESSIAH? “The Holy One of Israel”, the Anointed One of God? The Hebrew Scriptures themselves prove that in fact Jesus is the Messiah
(1) The Messiah was to come from the tribe of Judah. Jesus did! Jesus was and is a Jew (Hebrews 7:14) (Matthew chapter 1) “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, Until Shiloh come; And unto him shall the obedience of the peoples be.” (Genesis 49:10)
(2) The Messiah was to be a descendant of David. Jesus was (2 Sam. 7.16 Luke 1:32, 33 Matthew 1:17)
“ When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come forth from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom for ever.
(3) The Messiah was to be born of a virgin. Jesus was! (Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:18-25)The Hebrew word for “young woman” is alma. In each of its seven uses in the Hebrew scriptures, it means “virgin”.”Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” (Isaiah 7:14)
(4) The Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem. Jesus was! (Micah 5:1) (Matthew 2:1-6) “But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.” (Micah 5:1)
(5) The Messiah was to come within 490 years of a Persian decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem i.e. he had to come in the second Temple period i.e. before 70 AD. Jesus did! (Daniel 9:25-26) “Know therefore and discern, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the anointed one, the prince, shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: it shall be built again, with street and moat, even in troublous times. And after the threescore and two weeks shall the anointed one be cut off, and shall have nothing: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and even unto the end shall be war; desolations are determined.” Daniel 9:25-26 *Note: This date has been computed by taking the time of Artaxerxes decree in 444 BC which gave Jews permission to rebuild Jerusalem (Nehemiah 2:7-8) and adding the 476 years noted in Daniel.
(6) The Messiah was to be “cut off” (die a violent death) in approximately 32 CE. Jesus did! (Daniel 9:26; Luke 23:33) “And after the threescore and two weeks shall the anointed one be cut off, and shall have nothing.” (Daniel 9:26)
(7) The Messiah is to be the Son of God. Jesus is! (Psalm 2:7; John 3:16-18) “I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.” (Psalm 2:7)
(8) The Messiah would be rejected and die for our sins. Jesus did! (Isaiah 53:3- 10; 2 Corinthians 5:21) “He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that made us whole, and with his stripes we are healed. …… Yet it was the will of the LORD to bruise him; he has put him to grief; when he makes himself an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring, he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. (Isaiah 53:3-5,10)
(9) The Messiah would die by crucifixion Jesus did! (Psalm 22:14-18; Luke 23:33) “I am poured out like water, And all my bones are out of joint: My heart is like wax; It is melted within me. My strength is dried up like a potsherd; And my tongue cleaves to my throat; And thou hast brought me into the dust of death. For dogs have compassed me: A company of evildoers have enclosed me; like a lion** they are at my hands and feet. I may count all my bones; They look and stare upon me. They part my garments among them, and upon my vesture do they cast lots.” (Psalm 22:14-18) David described the details of Jesus’ death centuries before the Romans used ‘crucifixion’ years as a means of execution.
(10) The Messiah would be resurrected. Jesus was!(Psalm 16:10; 2 Cor. 15:4)
“For thou wilt not leave my soul to the nether-world; Neither wilt thou suffer thy holy one to see corruption.” (Psalm 16:10)
Jesus is the Messiah, He came to die for our sins, and three days after His death, he rose from the grave. The Bible paints two pictures of the Messiah: the suffering servant and the reigning king. The suffering servant has come and we await his coming again as the King of Kings. Before He comes in glory to rule the world from Jerusalem He had to come to bear upon Himself the sins of the world.
All the (Hebrew & Greek) scriptures testify of Jesus “And he (Jesus) said to them,“And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.” (Luke 24:26)
Daniel reveals that the coming of the Messiah would result in His Being “cut off’. This would be followed by the destruction of Jerusalem and a dispersion of the Jewish people the anointed one be cut off, and shall have nothing: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and even unto the end shall be war; desolations are determined.”(Daniel 9:26)
Most of the Jewish people of the time looked only to the triumphant aspect of the Messiah’s coming. Consequently many of them failed to recognize Jesus as the Messiah. According to Daniel, however, between the Messiah’s first and second coming there is to be a dispersion of the Jewish people to all nations, many desolations on the earth until the end of the age. (Daniel 9:26) If Jesus, the Messiah, brought immediate prosperity to Israel (as the people of the time had hoped) then the prophecies of Daniel and Isaiah concerning Him would have been unfulfilled. The prophesies of Israel second Exile found in Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Daniel and Amos would likewise have been unfulfilled. That is why Jesus could say to His despondent disciples on the road to Emmaus: “O foolish men, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” (Luke 24:25)
It was necessary that the Messiah should first come as the Lamb of God to take away the sins of the world.
The present age will end (according to Jesus and the Hebrew prophets) in the re-gathering of Israel and then with the glorious return of Messiah, Jesus.
Only Jesus fulfilled all these scriptures. The evidence of the Bible and of history leaves no doubt that He is indeed the Messiah He gave his life for us. We can trust Him as the true Messiah and follow Him wholeheartedly. How we respond to the Messiah whom God has given to be our Savior leader and guide will determine our whole life and eternal destiny.