III.
The Bible’s Jesus: the Messiah
The word “Messiah” in the Bible has the basic meaning, “an anointed one” and refers at its most basic level to the kings of Israel, in that they were anointed with oil as a symbol of God’s Spirit for them to rule on God’s behalf. The Old Testament, though, also predicted the coming of a divine person who would be God’s ultimate king on the earth. This ultimate King came to be referred to as The Messiah and He became the hope of the Jewish people in the time before Jesus.
As scholars have examined both the Old Testament predictions of the Messiah and Jewish literature from before and around the time of Jesus concerning this figure, some have grouped the facets of the Messiah’s ministry under three major headings. First, Messiah would be a King ruling for God over Israel as well as being the ultimate king ruling over all the nations of the earth. Second, He would be the ultimate prophet sent to mankind whose teaching would have the greatest authority. Third, this Messiah would be a Servant/High Priest who would mediate between God and mankind by personally suffering the wrath of God as a guilt offering for mankind’s sin. Also, together with the enormity of these tasks, there was a sense from the predictions that somehow this Messiah would be a powerful figure from heaven itself worthy of worship.
The Jews had a hard time figuring out how these three major strands of teaching in their scriptures could refer to the same Messiah and so by the time of Jesus there had arisen many different views. Jesus, though, presented Himself as the embodiment of all three facets.
A. Role of the Messiah
The king of Israel and ultimate king
Jesus willingly and repeatedly accepted the title “Son of David” in its meaning as the rightful ruler over Israel when people used it of him. (Matthew 9:27--two blind men; Matthew 15:22--a Gentile woman from Tyre and Sidon; Mark 10:47--Blind Bartimaeus; Matt. 21:9--the Triumphal Entry; Matt. 21:15--the children in the Temple;).
Also, Jesus referred to Himself as the ultimate King to rule over the earth in using the title “Son of Man.” This is a direct reference to Daniel 7:13,14, a prophecy made 500+ years before Christ’s birth, where such an ultimate king is predicted and named as the Son of Man.
"In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into His presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshipped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed." (Daniel 7:13,14)
When Jesus entered Jerusalem on the back of a donkey’s colt, he was openly presenting Himself as the Messiah, the rightful King of Israel, fulfilling an important prophecy from Zechariah 9:9 (Matthew 21:1-11/Luke 19:29-40).
There are more I could list, but these are some of the key ways that Jesus openly claimed to be the Messiah of the Jews.
The ultimate prophet
Another important Old Testament title Jesus took to Himself was that of the prophet that Moses predicted in Deuteronomy 18:18,19.
"I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers; I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him. If anyone does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name, I myself will call him to account." (Deuteronomy 18:18,19)
On one occasion, Jesus said to the Jewish religious leaders who were not then believing in Him:
But do not think I will accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is Moses, on whom your hopes are set. If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. (John 5:45,46)
Jesus also acted as the ultimate prophet in that He claimed to come with teaching in his own name that was greater than that given to Moses and any previous prophets (Transfiguration Matthew 17, “Truly, Truly, I say unto you” statements, Matthew 19 on divorce).
Servant/High Priest
Another title from the Old Testament that Jesus took to Himself was the “Servant.” Jesus said: “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45) Here, Jesus was claiming the title “Son of Man” for Himself and tying it with the predicted “Servant” of the prophecies from the book of Isaiah, written 700 years before.
Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life a guilt offering.... After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities. Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. (Isaiah 53:10-12)
Also, when Jesus cleansed the temple (John ), he was implicitly declaring his authority over the whole Temple system and His personal right to judge it. To a Jewish mind, only God or the rightful king had the right to do this. After this, when He instituted the Lord’s supper with His disciples (Matt. 26:26), by saying that He was inaugurating a new covenant in his blood, He was declaring to the disciples what the crucifixion would accomplish, and implicitly stating that the Temple system was no longer necessary for the forgiveness of sins. Rather than the Temple being the place to meet with God for the forgiveness of sin and to come near to His presence, He, Jesus was now that place to meet God and receive forgiveness.
Also, because in His miracles He demonstrated His personal authority over the forces of nature, His power to heal the sick and raise the dead, and His personal authority to forgive sin, He was implicitly declaring to the Jews that He had the right and power to do the things that only their God, Yahweh, had the right and power to do. By these means He was identifying Himself as the God of the Jews who had come to them in human flesh. The Jews got the point stating at one time as to why they were trying to stone Him: “For a good work we do not stone you, but for blasphemy; because you, being a man, make yourself out to be God.” (John 10:31-33). The Jewish Scriptures pointed to such a thing being possible, but the Jews of Jesus’ time did not want to believe it.
Jesus presented Himself as this Messiah from heaven of the Old Testament--the King of Israel and ultimate King of the earth, the Ultimate prophet, and the Servant suffering for mankind’s sin. The combination of these three facets shows that the Bible’s view of the Messiah makes Him much more than a prophet. He has a unique exalted identity that is greater than the greatest prophets mentioned in the Bible, an identity worthy of worship. This depiction is carried through the rest of the New Testament that Jesus Christ is to be the ultimate ruler of mankind and its judge after death.
B. The Son of God
Special note needs to be made of the title for Jesus, “Son of God”. This title was first a Messianic title in that kings of Israel were called sons of God. The Messiah as the ultimate king would then be known also as “God’s Son.”Also, “Son of God”, as used of and by Jesus, speaks of His personal and unique relationship with God the Father. In Jesus’ teaching recorded in the Gospels, Jesus taught He is of the same essential spiritual nature as the Father. They have the same kind of character, powers and abilities. They are one in essence, nature, or substance. Concerning their relationship, Jesus taught there is an eternal, spiritual relationship between God the Father and God the Son. In other words, Jesus has always been the Son. In this eternal relationship Jesus has the relationship of love, rights, and submission as a son to a Father. He voluntarily acts as a son and receives all the privileges and responsibilities that that relationship brings.
“Son of God” as it refers to Jesus the Messiah does not mean having a physical origin or any kind of idea that the eternal Son started to exist at a point in time. It has no idea of God having a sexual relationship with Mary. Rather, the title as Jesus used it means the Messianic King who exists in an eternal, spiritual relationship with God the Father, sharing the essential attributes of God.
All three of these titles, Son of God, Son of Man, and Messiah are related in the Bible. They refer to the same person. They speak to different facets of His identity, ministry, and character, but they also all refer to a person who is God in human flesh.