The Promised One

In the Holy Bible, you will find that the two central figures is the Messiah in the Old Testament and Jesus Christ in the New Testament where it implies that He was the long-awaited Messiah. Near the start of the Old Testament, it states that the Hebrew Nation was being founded for the purpose of "blessing all nations." Soon the figure of a man begins to emerge through whom they would accomplish their mission.

There are several unanswered questions and gaps in the old records and there are mistaken translations and certain prophecies which point in the wrong direction or are attributed to the wrong person or event. The Old Testament is filled with forecasts of a coming Messiah who would deliver Israel from her enemies, restore her as a nation, and destroy the world powers in a final act of judgment.

Specific and definite forecasts became more abundant as the story moves forward. In addition to the prophecies, there are many hidden "Messianic-Implications" which are not clearly seen on the surface. There have certain meaning and bearing on later events which are not revealed until after the event has occurred. An example of this is in the near-sacrifice of Isaac that is recorded in Genesis 22:9. This is clearly a picture of the future crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

There are predictions which constitute a "Messianic-Strain recorded in the Old Testament. The "Messianic-Implications" and Messianic-Strain" join to weave a thread extending through and binding together the Old and New Testament in tone one amazing entity. The New Testament concept of a Messiah was developed from the Old Testament. The essential features are gathered up and transformed into the person of Jesus Christ. We combined the idea of a suffering, dying, resurrected, and glorified Servant of God who became know as the Messiah with that of the Son of Man who would suffer, die, rise from the grave, and then would qualify to sit at the right hand of God on His throne in heaven.

Messianic prophecy was born with the appearance of human sin in the Garden of Eden. Man's disobedience involved guilt and corruption of the heart. He could not, by himself, make himself right with his God. So God took the initiative and He did this by announcing that He would place hostility between Eve and the serpent.

Genesis 3:15 notes that God disclosed the outcome of that hostility in that the Seed of the woman would bruise the head of the serpent. This is the first definite prophecy of the coming Messiah and that His mission would be victorious and that Satan would be given a chance to prevent Him from doing this. Satan did try several times and the last time was at Golgotha. All following Messianic prophecies are based on this mother prophecy.

It was foretold centuries in advance that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem to a young woman and that He would live in Egypt, Nazareth, and Galilee. It was prophesied that He would die on the cross after being betrayed by a friend for a specified amount, and then rise form the grave after three days and three nights. As Paul Harvey would say, "You haven't heard the rest of the story yet!"

WAS JESUS THE MESSIAH?

Was Jesus the Messiah? Millions of people have believed that He was. His question to the disciples, "But who do you say that I am?" in Mark 8:29 and Luke 9:20 has two possibilities. First of all, was His claim false? If it was, the He either knew that it was or He was deluded. Secondly, was He telling the truth? If He was, then He was not lying nor deluded and He was exactly who He said He was.

How did Jesus influence so many so quickly? He never attended a seminary or had a formal church congregation. He walked everywhere He went and yet He reached hundreds of people with His message without the aid of newspapers, radio, or television. His disciples often took days, weeks, and sometimes months to reach their destinations. His message changed the world in a way that all of the kings, church leaders, and marching armies has failed to do. Jesus Christ has been worshipped, hated, denounced, and spit on. He has been called a fraud, a miracle, and many other things. Yet, wars have been fought in His name while holidays honoring His name are celebrated all over the world and "religious" con men use His name in their financial schemes.

There are three factors to consider in determining if Jesus was who He said He was. First, was He lying? When He made His claims and knew that He was not God in the flesh, then He was deceiving the people. IF it was all a lie, then He was a hypocrite because He stressed honesty. If Jesus could not back up His claims and knew it, then He was evil. He would also have been foolish because it was His claims that led to the cross. There are those who say that Jesus was a good moral teacher. But would this have been true if He was lying about the most important and critical point in His life and ministry? His identity?

When you study His behavior, it appears in a most favorable light because there is no evidence of instability. He also had great physical courage, because without it, He could not have cleared the temple of the money changers and merchants. Jesus had the courage of conviction when He confessed Himself before the Sanhedrin even though it meant His own death. He possessed all of the qualities that liars do not have.

A liar is basically a coward and would not have influenced thieves and murderers to repent and the sick could not have been healed. Demons would not have been cast out of the afflicted and possessed. A liar would not have been posed as the Messiah and then die for a lie. What would have been the purpose in inventing such a plan of deceit?

Was He deluded? If Jesus wasn't a liar, then maybe He just thought that He was the Messiah. After all, it's possible to be both wrong and sincere at the same time. For someone to call himself the Christ and then tell others that their eternal destiny depends upon believing in him would certainly qualify one as being unbalanced.

In today's world, it's not unusual to hear claims of someone who says that he is the Messiah or even Jesus Himself. The person making these statements will usually show signs of being unbalanced. But in Jesus Christ, we do not see these signs. Even in the days that He was here on earth, there were false messiahs and they all have seemed to have vanished. Except for Christ Jesus.

Was Jesus the Messiah? If He was not lying or deluded, then the only other possibility is that He was who He said He was. During the Last Supper, Jesus said many things to the disciples who did not understand most of what He said. Although they had been with Him for almost three years, they failed to grasp the full meaning of His statements.