Have you 'found the Messiah'?

“We have found the Messiah,” Andrew proclaimed to his brother Peter. Andrew was convinced that Jesus of Nazareth was God's Anointed One. Philip was likewise convinced, for he told Nathaniel: “We have found the one of whom Moses, in the Law, and the Prophets wrote, Jesus, the son of Joseph, from Nazareth.” - John 1:40,41,45.

How could Jesus' early followers say for sure that he was the Messiah? Through the prophets, God had progressively revealed identifying marks of the coming Messiah. One Bible scholar likened this process to the assembling of a marble statue made of individual pieces. Imagine many men who never communicated with one another each bringing a piece of the statue into a room. If those pieces fit together to form a perfect statue, it would be reasonable to conclude that someone behind the scenes had drawn up the diagram and sent to each man his part of the statue. Like each piece of that statue, the Messianic prophecies each provide a vital piece of information about the Messiah.

These Messianic prophecies form a 'sacred secret' (Col. 1:26,27) that stretch back in time all the way to the Garden of Eden. Genesis 3:15 states: “And I shall put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He will bruise you in the head and you will bruise him in the heel.” Included in the secret is the judgment of Satan the Devil, who seduced humankind into rebellion, sin, and death. How would that judgment be executed? God foretold that a 'seed' produced by a 'woman' would bruise, or crush, Satan in the head. However, Satan would first inflict a 'heel' wound on the woman's seed.

Progressively over the centuries, God revealed who that 'seed' would be. To Abraham God swore: “And by means of your seed all the nations of the earth will certainly bless themselves.” (Gen. 22:18) This promise was repeated to his sons Isaac and Jacob. God told Moses: “A prophet I shall raise up for them from the midst of their brothers, like you; and I shall indeed put my words in his mouth, and he will certainly speak to them all that I command him. And it must occur that the man who will not listen to my words that he will speak in my name, I shall myself require an account from him.” (Deut. 18: 18,19)

Centuries later God revealed more clues about the coming Messiah. He promised King David: “When your days come to the full, and when you lie down with your forefathers, then I shall certainly raise up your seed after you, which will come out of your inward parts; and I shall indeed firmly establish his kingdom...And your house and your kingdom will certainly be steadfast to time indefinite before you; your very throne will become one firmly established to time indefinite.” (2 Sam. 7:12,16) The Messiah would be a descendant of his and would inherit his throne forever.

God sent forth his son to be the promised 'seed'. This required that God's only-begotten 'empty himself' of heavenly life and take a 'slave's form', that of a perfect human. (Phil. 2:5-7) The Messianic prophecies indicated where and when the Messiah would appear. Jesus was born in Bethlehem as foretold at Micah 5:2. Jews were in anticipation of the Messiah's appearance. Some asked of John the Baptizer: ”May he perhaps be the Christ?” (Luke 3:15) In the fall of 29 A.D., at the age of 30, Jesus came to John and was baptized, thus presenting himself as the promised Messiah right on schedule. (See Dan 9:25.) Then he began his ministry, saying: “The appointed time has been fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has drawn near.” (Mark 1:14,15)

The expectations of those living in Jesus' day needed adjustment, however. Jesus was rightly hailed by the crowds as a king (John 12:12-16), but that his rule would be future and from heaven would only be understood fully later. (Acts 2:32-36) Despite overwhelming proof that he was the Messiah, not the least of which was God's own attestation (Luke 9:35), the vast majority of first-century Jews rejected him. Why? Because they had their own preconceived ideas about the Messiah. They were looking for a political messiah who would liberate them from Roman oppression. Further, John 12:34 says: “Therefore the crowd answered him: 'We heard from the Law that the Christ remains forever, and how is it you say the Son of man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of man?'”.

Because of this false expectation, they could not accept the Messianic prophecies critical to discerning the true Messiah, like that found at Isaiah 53:4-6: “He was despised and was avoided by men, a man meant for pains and for having acquaintance with sickness. And there was as if the concealing of one's face from us. He was despised, and we held him as of no account. Truly our sicknesses were what he himself carried; and as for our pains, he bore them. But we ourselves accounted him as plagued, stricken by God and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was being crushed for our errors. The chastisement meant for our peace was upon him, and because of his wounds there has been a healing for us.” Even some of Jesus' loyal disciples were disappointed at his not providing political deliverance (Luke 24:21), but they remained loyal, and in time true
understanding was given them.

On the whole, however, Jesus was rejected by the people and their religious leaders. Even though Pilate found in him “nothing deserving of death,” (Luke 23:15) the Sanhedrin court judged him to be a blasphemer and succeeded in having him put to death. The Messiah was “cut off” as foretold (Dan. 9:26), being impaled on Passover Day of 33 A.D. By suffering this cruel death, Jesus suffered the “heel” wound foretold at Genesis 3:15.

Thus Jesus perfectly fulfilled all the Messianic prophecies. On the third day he was resurrected by God and for 40 days he appeared to his disciples, strengthening them. Then he ascended to his Father to present the value of his precious sacrifice and sit at God's right hand (Psalm 110:1), awaiting the time he would begin to reign as Messianic King of the Kingdom and in fulfillment of Genesis 3:15, deliver the fatal, crushing blow to the serpent's head.

There is much we can learn from considering Jesus' role as the Messiah, and there is a warning, too, in the way he was received by the people of that time. We must guard against any tendency to fall into the same trap, trying to force the Messiah into a preconceived mold. Many today want a political messiah, or at least one who will work through the human agencies and political authorities of the day.