Thursday, January 31, 2019
JESUS IS THE CHRIST -- AN EPIPHANY FROM THE LORD
THE WORLD SAYS . . .
Jesus was wrongfully called Messiah or "The Christ." At best, Jesus was a messenger from God, but wasn't God Himself, come to be the Savior of sinners. He was a rebellious man who led people to revolt against the tyrannical Romans who treated the Jews harshly. He voiced some wise sayings but did nothing to gain heaven for us. In fact, there are many in the world today who believe we can become our own gods by living and acting like this man Jesus did.
THE BIBLE SAYS . . .
Jesus is THE CHRIST. But what does that mean? "Christ" is the Greek word for the Hebrew title "Messiah." Both mean "the anointed one." Many Jews in Jesus' day, even Jesus' own disciples on occasion, mistakenly thought that Jesus had come to conquer the Romans and establish a new kingdom here on this earth. But Jesus spoke about paying taxes (Matthew 22:21), not being rebellious (Mark 14:48-49), that His kingdom was not of this world (John 18:36; Acts 1:6), and would not even "stick around" when the crowds threatened to make Him an earthly king by force (John 6:15). Therefore, who anointed Jesus as the Christ, and to what end was He anointed? Jesus specifically spoke to why He had come saying, "I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance" (Luke 5:32, Matthew 1:21). Likewise, in the temple Jesus openly declared that He was the Anointed, the Christ of God, just as His disciples believed (Matthew 16:16). As He was beginning His ministry, Jesus told the people of His hometown Nazareth that when the prophets described the Messiah to come they were talking about Him and His ministry.
"And [Jesus] was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written: 'The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed; To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.' Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began to say to them, 'Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing'" (Luke 4:17-21).
