Messiah

Is there proof that Jesus is the Messiah?

A theme runs throughout the Hebrew scriptures, what we call the Old Testament. That theme is something like this: “Someone is coming; he will be a great and powerful leader and he will make us a great nation again.” It also says of him:

• He will be a human being, a descendant of David.
• He will also be the Son of God.
• He is often called “the anointed one”.

Defining terms: Messiah and Christ

• English “Messiah” from the Hebrew masiah, means “anointed one”.
• English “Christ” from Greek christos, means “anointed one”.

When you see words like this in an English Bible translation, they are “transliterations” of the original language word. That is, rather than “translate” the original word with an already existing English word or phrase (“anointed one”), they created a new English word that “sounds like” the original word (“Messiah”, “Christ”).

Defining terms: LORD and Lord

• The English LORD (with all capital letters) is used to translate the original Hebrew word ehyeh, the official name of God which he explained to Moses in Exodus 3:14-15.
• When God says it speaking of himself, it would be ehyeh, English “I AM”.
• When the people said it speaking of God, they said yahweh, English transliteration “Jehovah”, which means “he is”.
• The English word “lord” or “Lord” in lower-case letters is a translation of the Hebrew adonai which means “Lord, Lord” in English. It comes from the Hebrew adon which means “lord”, or “master”, or “boss”.

Confrontation - Matthew 22:15-46

We are in Jerusalem three days before Jesus is crucified and he is teaching in the temple area. The religious leaders are already plotting to kill him, but they want to discredit him so they can justify their actions to the people. they come to Jesus and confront him with "trick" questions that they hope will trip him up. Matthew 23:15 says,"Then the Pharisees went and plotted together how they might trap him in what he said."

First, they ask him about paying taxes: "Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?" If he says they should not pay taxes, he would be violating Roman law and they could use that to have him arrested. If he says they should pay taxes the people would not like the response because they all hated the Roman taxes and tax collectors. So Jesus gave a very careful, clever answer, "Give to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and give to God the things that are God's.

Next, the Sadducees, who did not believe in resurrection, came and asked him another trick question, which was really meant to mock the idea of resurrection. Here is a simplified summary of their question:

A woman's husband dies before they have any children. She remarries and that husband also dies before they have any children. This happens seven times. After the resurrection, when they are all raised from the dead, which one of them will be her husband?

Jesus answers, "You are mistaken, because you do not know the scriptures or the power of God. After the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven."

Next, they send a lawyer, an expert in the Law of Moses, to ask him a question: "Which commandment in the Law of Moses is the greatest?" Jesus gives an answer that summarizes the Law completely and perfectly:

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.

Now Jesus turns the tables and asks them a question: "What do you think about the Christ [Messiah, anointed one]? Whose son is he?

They know what their scripture says, so they answer: "The son [descendant] of David."

Jesus asks them a couple of  followup questions using Psalm 110:1

• Then how does David in the Spirit call him 'Lord', saying, 'the LORD said to my Lord, "sit and my right hand, until I put your enemies beneath your feet"'? 
• If David calls him 'Lord", how can he be his son?

The Pharisees were not able to answer the question without contradicting their cultural and religious beliefs.

Explanation

In order to understand what Jesus did here, we need to understand some cultural beliefs of the time.

• A father was always considered to be greater than a son.
• A descendant many generations later was still considered to be a "son".
• They believed that Psalm 110 was speaking of the coming Messiah King.
• They saw in their scripture that the coming Messiah (anointed one) would be a great human ruler
• They missed the part in their scripture about the Messiah being the "Son of God".

They were unable to answer Jesus because they could not accept that the one David was speaking about was more than just a man. In their minds, David would never have called this person "Lord" (master) if he were just a human descendant.

Psalm 110 and Jesus

In this Psalm, God says two things to the person who is the subject of the Psalm. First, he says:

"The LORD (Jehovah God) said to my Lord (master): Sit at my right hand..."

• David acknowledged that this person was greater than himself.
• To sit at the right hand of God means being equal to God.
• Then in verses 2 and 3 this person is described as being a ruler or king.

About fifty days after Jesus' resurrection Peter was speaking about Jesus to a large crowd in Jerusalem. He spoke about his crucifixion and his resurrection, and then he said Jesus had been exalted to the "right hand of God". Peter quotes Psalm 110:1 and then says, "Therefore, let all the house of Israel know beyond a doubt that God has made this Jesus whom you crucified both Lord and Christ."  (Acts 2:36)

The second thing God says about this person is this:

"You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek."

• In the Jewish mind, it would be unusual, even unacceptable, for the same person to be both priest and king.

Jesus, descendant of David and Son of God, uniquely fits the description of the person in Psalm 110. He completed the role of the priest once and for all by humbling himself and sacrificing his life for us, he has been raised from the dead, and he is now at the right hand of God ruling over his spiritual kingdom.

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This post is the result of my studies based on the book by Mark E. Moore, Core 52: A Fifteen-Minute Daily Guide to Building your Bible IQ in a Year, published by WaterBook (Penguin Random House)

Trade Paperback ISBN 978-0-525-65325-7

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