Messiah!
We have heard it a thousand times if not a million times. Jesus is the Messiah. Yet very few Christians know that the word Messiah is not mentioned once in the New Testament. People that oppose the very fact that Jesus is the Messiah will be fast to remind you that you have no scripture that says Jesus is the Messiah. The word Messiah is only mentioned twice in scripture in the book of Daniel. What do we do with the New Testament that has no reference to Jesus that is specific to Him being the Messiah?
Dan. 9:25-26 Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: 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 unto the end of the war desolations are determined.
We must understand that the Hebrew word for Messiah did not carry the connotation of someone that would come and deliver them and set up a political kingdom. The Jewish people, out of their oppression from their enemies, created that expectancy. The real meaning for the word Messiah simply means “Anointed One.” In biblical times there were three people that were anointed to a specific office or calling. They were a King, a Priest, and a Prophet. So in essence, any one of these three could have been referred to as Messiah. The good news is that Jesus is the only one who has ever qualified for all three of these offices and callings. Some have tried to do more than one but it resulted in severe consequences for them. King Uzziah tried to burn incense and the priests tried to stop him. He refused to listen and was struck with leprosy.
2Chr. 26:18-19 And they withstood Uzziah the king, and said unto him, It appertaineth not unto thee, Uzziah, to burn incense unto the LORD, but to the priests the sons of Aaron, that are consecrated to burn incense: go out of the sanctuary; for thou hast trespassed; neither shall it be for thine honour from the LORD God. Then Uzziah was wroth, and had a censer in his hand to burn incense: and while he was wroth with the priests, the leprosy even rose up in his forehead before the priests in the house of the LORD, from beside the incense altar.
Jesus is a Prophet!
Deut. 18:15 The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken;
Deut. 18:18 I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.
Moses predicted that Jesus would be a prophet. Jesus functioned in the office of a prophet. He was called a prophet, acknowledged as a prophet, and referred to Himself as a prophet. He was anointed to be a prophet and was treated like a prophet when He was not honored in His own country. He came to establish a new prophetic order with a new prophetic mission. He operated not in the spirit of Elijah that called fire down, but He came to save and redeem those that were lost.
Luke 24:19 And he said unto them, What things? And they said unto him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people:
Jesus is a Priest!
Heb. 9:11 But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building;
Heb. 8:1 Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens;
HE came as a Priest not under the priesthood of Aaron but under the priesthood of Melchezidek. He is a High Priest that represents a better covenant. He came to do away with sin, not to sacrifice and cover our sin. He came to bring us better promises and to open up the way for us to come boldly before the Father. As a priest, Aaron could represent the people because he was a person just like us. Jesus was God in the flesh so He could represent us to the Father, but He could also represent the Father to us. In the Old Testament the priest had to sacrifice for himself first, in the New Testament Jesus sacrificed Himself first. He was anointed to be a priest forever, making a sacrifice once for all of us, redeeming us forever from the bondage of sin and the curse.
Jesus is the King!
Rev. 19:16 And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.
Let me make it clear from the start. He is not coming back to be a king. He is a king! He has ruled the universe long before He became flesh to save us. He emptied Himself from that realm and took on the realm of the flesh. He didn’t come here just to suffer and die for us, He came here to redeem us back to His kingdom. Him suffering and dying was the price He had to pay to get us saved. His purpose was to restore us back to His original purpose and that was to rule and reign and be sons of a king. People stop at the cross. I thank God for the cross but He is no longer on that cross. He rose from the dead and is seated at the right hand of the Father where He waits until all His enemies are made His footstool. He will return one day as King of kings and Lord of lords. We are those kings and lords that He rules over.
Jesus was anointed to fulfill all these offices and callings. He truly is the Messiah or the anointed one. To deny that He is the true Messiah is to deny what He did as Priest, Prophet and King. Was he anointed? You bet He was.
Luke 4:18-19 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised. To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
With boldness I proclaim that He is Messiah, The anointing that HE had was to break the yoke of sin. I proclaim Him to be the one that is the savior of the world and the one that rules and reigns our lives.