Jesus the Messiah
So many debates as been ongoing concerning the topic of Jesus being the Messiah. People gave pieces of evidence debunking the fact Jesus is the Messiah. This article is not to cause an argument or to tackle some other claims about the “Messiah” but to give the pieces of evidence that were written in the Bible which made Jesus the true Messiah.
Different meaning has been given to the word Messiah, some said it means the savior, some said it means, the helper. Whatever people claim the meaning to be, from the way the Bible used the word, it might give a different meaning. To give the reasons why Jesus is the Messiah, we must show what the word “Messiah” means and where it came from.
The word Messiah in Greek is written as Μεσσίας which is rewritten as “Messaías” meaning “the anointed one”. The Messiah in the Old Testament is a title that is the same as Christ used in the New Testament. Christ is also “Christos” in Greek meaning “Messiah” or “the anointed one”. This means that Jesus Christ is the same as Jesus the Messiah which means Jesus the anointed one. John 1:41 “He first found his brother Simon, and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated, the Christ).”
Looking at all things which Messiah means, we will see that the prophets gave a prophecy about the coming of the Messiah and this was fulfilled in Jesus Christ. All this prophecy is evidence of Jesus being the Messiah.
1. A virgin would give birth to Him.
God told His prophet there would be a sign given to identify the Messiah that would come. Isaiah 7:14 “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.” This is the first evidence that Jesus is the Messiah. God promised a sigh and that sign would be that a virgin will become pregnant and give birth to Immanuel which means God with us.
We can see the fulfillment of this prophecy in Matthew 1:21-23 “And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.”
This is no doubt an anointed one. If we are going to move further on giving pieces of evidence on the reason why Jesus is the Messiah, we will still have to look at another prophecy that was fulfilled in Jesus.
2. He was born in Bethlehem.
Prophet Micah in the Old Testament did not just talk about the birth of Jesus Christ but also gave a precise location of where the Messiah would be born – he mentioned Bethlehem. Micah 5:2 “But thou, Beth–lehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.” This prophecy made everything clear enough that anyone could easily understand and be convinced that Jesus is the Messiah that Micah wrote about because He was indeed born in Bethlehem.
3. He will be a prophet.
Deuteronomy 18:15 “The Lord your God will raise for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear.” Here is another prophecy about the Messiah coming as a prophet. The prophet is someone who was ordained and anointed by God to do His works – Jesus was the anointed one. But forgetting the meaning of the Messiah is. The anointing of Jesus was confirmed in the book of Acts 10:38 “how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.” On the part of Jesus coming as a prophet, we can see that in the New Testament, it wasn’t Jesus declaring Himself a prophet here but the people after the heard him speak. John 7:40-41 “On hearing his words, some of the people said, “Surely this man is the Prophet.” Others said, “He is the Messiah.” Still, others asked, “How can the Messiah come from Galilee?”
4. He would be beaten for the sins of man.
Isaiah 53:5 “But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes, we are healed.” Who was wounded for our sins here? Who was killed because of the sins of man? That is Jesus Christ. Even His death was predicted and it all happened.
