Jesus as Messiah
This article is part of a series here at More Than Sundays about the identities of Christ. If you struggle with understanding who Jesus is and why He is important, we pray that these articles will help you gain that understanding and come to know Christ more fully. Please enjoy!
As a parent, I want to protect my children, as any good parent would. I also want to be sure, though, that I’m raising good, kind humans. When my oldest son was just beginning to crawl and grabbing things off my bottom shelves, I’d smack his little hand and say, ‘No.’ Then I’d teach him how to put it back. One of my cousins asked me why I didn’t just move these things from the bottom shelf up to a higher shelf. I told her, “Well, if I did that, I wouldn’t be teaching him anything.” What I wanted to teach him was not to touch or grab things that didn’t belong to him because, if we paid a visit to a relative’s or friend’s home, he’d know by then not to touch or grab things from their homes. The same applied if we visited public places. The awful truth is the world doesn’t accommodate any of us; we must be accommodating enough to be considerate and kind. I’m not saying to allow manipulation or abuse – simply be kind enough to remember your manners, per se. My sons are grown now, and they still ask if they may look at something if visiting someone else’s home, or they’ll simply look at and admire something without touching it. I raised my boys looking at the big picture, the big picture being that they’ll get older and eventually leave the nest into the world. When they become productive and contributing members of society, I would hope I raised them well enough to be kind, considerate, respectable humans. I also want them to be happy and healthy, but I hope they pursue that without ever disrespecting or trampling over others. When my sons were little I told them the world doesn’t owe them anything. They aren’t entitled to awards or privileges. This way, if they earn an award for something, they’ll be humble and thankful enough to accept it. When other parents claimed their children deserved the world or that their children were their world, I claimed the opposite. I love my boys very much, but I tried to make certain I didn’t treat them like they are my world because they could potentially grow up to believe everyone else they encounter should treat them the same way. They could feel entitled to being treated like they’re the world, like they’re the only ones who matter. I always raised my boys with the big picture in mind.
God from the very beginning carefully orchestrated His creation with the big picture in mind, that big picture being Jesus Christ. Paul announces that Christ is preeminent over all creation. (Colossians 1:15-23). He not only created all things, but He sustains all things. There isn’t a moment in our lives that we, as believers of Christ, are not required to be sustained by His power and His sovereignty over us. Through Christ we have reconciliation with God. Christ, the Messiah, is the bridge connecting each of us to God our Father. Through Christ, we are able to have an intimate relationship with God in our daily lives: “Jesus answered: ‘Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, “Show us the Father”?’” (John 14:9, NIV). Furthermore, when Jesus arose from the dead and took His place with God in Heaven, Jesus didn’t leave His followers empty-handed. He sent His Holy Spirit so that we may always have Him with us, guiding us and protecting us each day of our lives (John 16:5-7). This is why when we accept Christ as the Messiah, we are agreeing with God that we are sinners and that we are ready to fully submit ourselves to the promise in Christ that Christ releases each of us from the chains of our sin and into His righteousness. In this way, we agree to take the cross of Christ and follow Him with diligence as His Holy Spirit guides our each step. Having His Holy Spirit means He is always present. Christ, our Messiah, is present always.
Jesus is the framework to our salvation, and God showed us that in the Holy Bible. Jesus Christ wasn’t simply prophesied or promised in the Old Testament – He was present (Scrivener 2018). In doing so, God prepared us, His followers, to humbly accept Christ as our personal Lord and Savior. Evangelist Glen Scrivener writes:
“But more than just patterned and promised, perhaps the most under-appreciated facet is that Christ also is present. It’s surprising how explicit the New Testament authors are about Jesus’s presence in the Old Testament:
The “I Am” in whom Abraham rejoiced was Jesus (John 8:56–58).
The Lord who motivated Moses was Christ (Hebrews 11:26).
The Redeemer who brought them out of Egypt was Jesus (Jude 5).
The Rock in the wilderness was Christ (1 Corinthians 10:4).
The King of Isaiah’s temple vision was the Son (John 12:40–41).”
In this, Jesus became the long-awaited Messiah. Jesus was anointed by God. He was the chosen one. He wasn’t just some ‘rando’ picked in a crowd to be sacrificed. Jesus was carefully and intricately chosen to be the Messiah. Jesus was chosen as the Messiah many, many years before Mary gave birth to him. God promised Jesus would come from a woman and that He would be the one responsible to defeat and crush the Enemy – breaking off the chains that keep us prisoner to death. “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel” (Genesis 3:15, NIV). Here, we have the promise of a savior who will come to strike the enemy and save each of us. After taking the fruit from the forbidden tree, Adam and Eve cowered behind trees when they heard God calling for them. Gracefully, God cloaks them with coats of skin (Genesis 3:21). We aren’t told what creature was used to cloak Adam and Eve, but in this way God is infusing the cloak of righteousness that is to come for each of us. Isaiah helps to reveal this same prophecy:
“I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels” (Isaiah 61:10, NIV).
(Paul also picks up this pattern in Galatians 3:27; when we choose to accept Christ as our Savior, we are clothed in His righteousness.)
When you further read into the elements as Christ as the Messiah, the Old Law and prophets come full circle: “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms” (Luke 24:44, NIV). Martin Luther said it well: “All the promises of God lead back to the first promise concerning Christ of Genesis 3:15. The faith of the fathers in the Old Testament era, and our faith in the New Testament are one and the same faith in Christ Jesus. . . . Time does not change the object of true faith, or the Holy Spirit. There has always been and always will be one mind, one impression, one faith concerning Christ among true believers whether they live in times past, now, or in times to come” (Commentary on Galatians).
God clearly arranged His holy truth in a certain order to prepare us, His followers, to receive Jesus. Through it all, we abide, we trust, and we put our faith in His truth – and when Jesus came to save us, we knew the truth and the promises that were fulfilled by God. How truly remarkable and intelligent our God is in intricately constructing His promises. He carefully patterned His truth and His faithfulness – completing each of them, knowing how to properly prepare us to accept Christ as our Messiah, our personal savior.
As followers of Christ, we know we aren’t promised an easy life. When we face trials, we know we have the promise of God in that He already defeated death and took all of God’s wrath so that we are saved. Jesus is our savior. So, when we face challenging obstacles, we cling to His promise. One can say we focus on the promise and not on the process. In this way, we can better see the way God is preparing for His glory and for our good. Currently, I am dealing with an unnerving medical diagnosis. Although I have fears and worries, I rely on God to ease my anxiety and take away my fear because He is faithful in His promises. Whatever His will, I am here for it, and I pray He will make me courageous and strong through it all. God has a tremendous reputation of turning grievous and adverse trials into good for His glory and our good (Romans 8:28). Our pain is never in vain when we wholeheartedly trust Christ. So, I fully trust what God is doing and will continue to do through my current hardship.
As I face this trial, a question from one of my daily devotionals presented itself: “How do you think the processes or experiences you overcame through Christ in your past prepared you for your future?” How fitting and appropriate this question is to chew over God’s tangible and orchestrated plan to prepare His people to receive Christ. Just as God carefully formulated each trial and moment to prepare His people for the coming Messiah, He carefully lays each trial and moment in our lives as if He takes one cobblestone at a time, placing it in front of us, leading us, and preparing our path to our Almighty Messiah. It is for His glory and for our good each time our dear Heavenly Father guides us. When we face pain and loss, as Christ followers, we know they aren’t in vain. Each experience, good and bad, God utilizes to bring us into His warm and already open and welcoming arms. He is sovereign; therefore no matter what choices we may make without His guidance, He will mercifully and graciously orchestrate these choices to bring us back to Him. How comforting it is to know no matter what we face during our time on earth, God has already prepared a way for us. The long-awaited Messiah is the big picture. He comes victorious every time when we trust in His truth.
“All along, true faith was messianic faith, centered on Christ himself. He was the one held out and the one trusted by the faithful” -Unknown.
Resources:
Glen Scrivener: “Where is Jesus in the Old Testament” (Desiring God)
Jeremy Bouma: “Why is Jesus Called the Messiah.” (Bible Topical Studies)
References:
Luther, Martin, and Theodore Graebner. Commentary on Galatians. Digireads.Com Publishing, 2019.