Is Jesus of Nazareth the Messiah?

Q: What does the Bible say about Jesus being the Messiah?

The Bible affirms that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah through fulfilled prophecies in the Old Testament. Throughout scripture, particularly in the Old Testament, various prophecies foretold the coming of the Messiah. For instance, Genesis 49:10 declares that 'the scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh comes.' This prophecy signifies that the rightful ruler would come from the tribe of Judah, which is precisely where Jesus' lineage is traced. In Matthew 11:3, John the Baptist himself questioned if Jesus was the Messiah, affirming the expectation of a coming Savior. Thus, the New Testament consistently portrays Jesus as the fulfillment of these prophetic scriptures, confirming his identity as the Messiah.

Q: How do we know that Jesus is the Christ?

Jesus is recognized as the Christ through his fulfillment of biblical prophecies and the acknowledgment of his unique miracles. The identity of Jesus as the Christ is grounded in the fulfillment of numerous prophecies within the Hebrew Scriptures. His miraculous works, such as healing the blind and raising the dead, not only demonstrated his divine authority but also fulfilled prophecies such as those found in Isaiah 35, which speaks of the Messiah giving sight to the blind and enabling the lame to walk. Furthermore, when John the Baptist inquired if Jesus was the one to come (Matthew 11:3), Jesus pointed to these very miracles as evidence of his messianic identity, affirming that he is indeed the Christ, the anointed one sent by God.

Q: Why is believing that Jesus is the Messiah important for Christians?

Believing that Jesus is the Messiah is essential for salvation and understanding God’s redemptive plan for humanity. For Christians, faith in Jesus as the Messiah is imperative because it signifies belief in God's complete redemptive plan. As emphasized in Peter's confession in Matthew 16:16, recognizing Jesus as 'the Christ, the Son of the living God' constitutes the foundation of Christian faith. This belief assures believers that through Jesus’ sacrificial death and resurrection, the consequences of sin are addressed, offering eternal life and reconciliation with God. The assurance of salvation rests on the recognition that Jesus fulfills the roles of prophet, priest, and king as foretold in scripture, establishing him as the central figure in God's covenantal relationship with his people.

Let's look at some scripture
in Matthew 11, Matthew chapter 11. It says here in verse 1 of Matthew
11, And it came to pass, when Jesus
had made an end of commanding his twelve disciples He departed thence to teach and
to preach in their cities. Now, when John, John the Baptist,
had heard in the prison, he was down there in prison, the works of Christ, he sent
two of his disciples and said unto Jesus, that should come? Art thou the
Christ? Are you the Messiah? Or do we
look for another? That's my subject tonight. Is
He the Christ? Is Jesus of Nazareth the Christ? Is He the Messiah? Turn to John
chapter 4 where here was a woman That was the inquiry of a prophet,
said to be the last of the Old Testament prophets. This is a commoner, an ordinary
woman of the Straits. In John chapter 4, verse 24,
our Lord said to this woman, God is They that worship God must worship
him in spirit and in truth. And the woman said unto him,
I know that Messiah is coming. I know the Messiah is coming,
Christ. She knew it and all of these
Jews knew it. That's what the Old Testament
is all about. The Messiah is coming. Someone
is coming. It is said that the Old Testament, the message of
the Old Testament from Genesis to Malachi is, someone's coming. Someone's coming. And the message
of the evangelist, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John is, he has come. And the message of the epistles
is, he's coming back. And she said, I know Messiah's
coming, which is called the Christ. And when he's come, he'll tell
us all things. And Jesus said unto her, I that
speak unto thee am the Messiah. Now, if you start with Genesis
3.15, don't turn to it because you're so familiar with it. If
you start with Genesis 3.15, you have the first spoken promise. of the Messiah. And God said,
I'll put enmity between thee and the woman between her seed
and thy seed. And thou shalt bruise his heel,
but he'll bruise your head. The woman's seed, the Messiah,
seed of woman. But I do want you to turn to
Genesis 49. Now this is important. And Jacob was blessing his sons. Jacob was blessing the twelve
sons, the twelve tribes. And he said in Genesis chapter
49, talking about Judah, and he said,
Judah, talking to the son Judah, he said, Judah, Genesis 49.8,
Thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise. thy hen shall be
in the neck of thine enemies, thy father's children shall bow
down before thee. Judah is a lion's whelp from
the prey. My son, thou art gone up. He
stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion, who shall
rouse him up? And the scepter shall not depart
from Judah. nor a lawgiver from between his
feet, until Shiloh comes, the Messiah. Until Shiloh comes,
now listen, and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.
The scepter, the right to reign, shall not
depart from the tribe of Judah till the Messiah comes as a rod
out of Jesse, as a son of David, from the tribe of Judah, the
king priest, Messiah. In Deuteronomy 18, turn over
there, Deuteronomy chapter 18, this is what, this is the message
of the Old Testament prophets, of whom it was said, to him,
give all the prophets witness, to the Messiah, to the Messiah,
give all the prophets witness. Now here in Deuteronomy 18, I
want you to look at it. Moses is speaking to the people
of Israel. He said, Now the Lord thy God
will raise up unto thee a prophet from the midst of thee of thy
brethren like unto me. That's the Messiah. Unto him
shall ye hearken according to all that thou desirest of the
Lord thy God in Ored in the day of the assembly, saying, Let
us not hear again the voice of the Lord thy God, neither let
me see this great fire any more, that I die not." When they received
the commandments, they backed off from that mountain. They
said, we don't want to see this again. Moses, you talk to God. Don't
let God talk to us lest we die. And the Lord said unto me, they
have well spoken that which they have spoken. Like Martin Luther
said, you don't want anything to do with an absolute God. You don't want any dealings with
God out of Christ, apart from the mediator. You don't want
any dealings with God. And he said, You've well spoken.
Because, verse 18, I'll raise them up a prophet from among
the brethren like unto thee, Moses. I'll put my words in his
mouth, and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command
him. And it shall come to pass that whosoever will not hearken
to my words, which that prophet shall speak in my name," I'll
require it of him, but the prophet which shall presume
to speak a word in my name, which I've not commanded him to speak,
or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet
will die. Now listen, and if you say in
your heart, well, how shall we know? the word which the Lord
hath not spoken." How are we going to know? He said, I'll
tell you. When a prophet speaks in the
name of the Lord, or professes to, if what he says doesn't come
to pass, when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the
thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which
the Lord hath not spoken. But the prophet hath spoken it
presumptuously. I shall not be afraid of Everything
our Lord said came to pass. Everything the Messiah said came
to pass. Now, I tell you, if it doesn't come to pass, don't
worry about it. But I'm going to raise up this
king-priest and this prophet. Prophet, priest, and king. Now,
what other? Isaiah 7. Isaiah chapter 7. Another thing about this Messiah. State of woman. King, Priest,
Shallow, Prophet of God, Isaiah 7, 14. Therefore, the Lord himself will
give you a sign. You want to know who he is, who
the Christ is? He'll give you a sign that no
one can duplicate. Behold, behold, a virgin seed
of woman. shall conceive and bear a son,
and you call his name Immanuel, which is what? God with us. God in human flesh. Now, the
Messiah is described in the Psalms and in the Prophets in many ways. He's called the anointed of the
Lord. He's called wonderful, wonderful counselor the mighty
God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. He's called
that rod out of the stem of Jesse. He's called the Son of David.
He's called God's servant whom he upholds, mine elect in whom
my soul delighted. He's called a tender branch.
He's called a root out of a dry ground. He's called a man of
sorrows acquainted with grief. He's called the Lord our righteousness. He's called the branch. He's
called the messenger of the covenant. Malachi, the last book in the
Old Testament. Turn over there a moment. In
Malachi chapter 3. Now listen to this. And this is, and I've gone from
Genesis 3 to Malachi 3. From Genesis all the way through
the Old Testament. In a brief time to show you that
it's all given to declaring the one who shall come. And Malachi
3, Behold, I send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way
before me, and the Lord whom you seek shall suddenly come
to his temple. Has he come? Is this Jesus of Nazareth the
messenger? or the one Lord who came to his
temple, listen, even the messenger of the covenant, that everlasting
covenant, whom ye delight in, behold, he shall come, he shall
suddenly come to his temple, saith the Lord of hosts. Now,
over here in John 6, these disciples whom our Lord chose, they believed
that Jesus was the Messiah. In John chapter 6, it says in verse 66, and our
Lord had preached to these people concerning the bread of life
to the believer. I am the bread from heaven. And
he told them about his sovereignty and his exaltation above all
exaltation. And he said, if this offends
you, will you see the Son of God ascend up where he was? And
verse 66 says, And from that time many, and I would say most,
of these disciples, followers, these are not the twelve, but
they went back and walked no more with him. They wanted nothing
else to do with this man Jesus, elect him. And then he said to
the twelve, evidently they were the only ones left. standing
there. And he said to the twelve, Would
you also go away? And Peter, Simon Peter, speaking
for the disciples, answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? To whom shall we go? That's a
good question, isn't it? To whom shall we go? Thou hast
the words of eternal life. Now listen, and we believe. And
we're sure that you're the Christ. That's what we believe. That's
the reason we're hanging around. That's the reason we're looking
to you. That's the reason we're staying with you. Because we
believe and we're sure that you're the Christ, the Son of the living
God. Now, I want to point out several
significant prophecies concerning the Messiah. that were fulfilled
in Jesus of Nazareth so decidedly, so positively, so certainly He is the Messiah. He has to be. And the first one
is that one I gave to you a while ago. I'm going to give you eight
of them. You know, when a preacher tells
you you're going to have eight points, sometimes folks say,
oh my, my. He had four this morning and
was here an hour. But now, these will be eight brief points. I
want you to write these down. I want you to remember these.
This is significant. The time when Christ came, when
Jesus of Nazareth came, the time when he came, is very significant. You see, in the fullness of time,
God sent forth his Son. But you remember in Genesis,
I read to you a while ago, that Jacob gathered his sons together,
and he was blessing them. And we know this, the Messiah
had not come up to the time of Jesus Christ, because John the
Baptist said, are you he that should come? The woman at the
well said, we know he's coming. So he hadn't come up to that
time. And what I'm saying is, he couldn't come after that time.
Had to be Christ. For this reason, Jacob gathered
his sons together and blessed them, and he said, Judah, your
line's well, you're an old line. The scepter will not depart from
Judah till Shiloh comes, the tribe of Judah. When Jesus of
Nazareth came, he was born, I'll show you in a moment, to the
tribe of Judah. He came through David's land, the tribe of Judah.
After he came, the tribes were dispersed. After Calvary, after
Christ died, When the Romans dispersed the Jews and burned
the city of Jerusalem and plowed it under and sent them going,
there is no more Judah or Simeon or Dan or Reuben or any of the
rest of them. He can't come now, John, there's
no Judah. He couldn't have come 1,500 years
ago, there was no Judah. He couldn't have come 1,800 years
ago. He came when he came to Judah. Tell you something else. Let me take you to the book of
Haggai. The book of Haggai. I'm talking
about the time he came. The book of Haggai, chapter 2.
Now I want you to listen to this. This is a message from God to
the builders of the temple. The builders of the second temple.
The rebuilding of the temple. This is the message of God to
those rebuilding the temple. In Haggai 2. Now let's look at
In Haggai 2, verse 1, ìIn the seventh month, in the one and
twentieth day of the month, came the word of the Lord by the prophet
Haggai, saying, ìSpeak now to Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel,
governor of Judah, to Joshua, the son of Josedek, the high
priest, and to the residue of the people, saying, ìWhoís left
among you that saw this house in her first glory, when Solomon
built How do you see it now? Is it not in your eyes in comparison
of it as nothing? You compare this temple with
one Solomon built and the glory of it? Nothing. Yet now be strong,
O Zerubbabel, saith the Lord. Be strong, O Joshua, the son
of Josedek, the high priest. Be strong, all ye people of the
land, saith the Lord. And work now, I am with you,
saith the Lord of hosts. According to the word that I
covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt, so my spirit
remaineth among you, fear ye not. For thus saith the Lord
of hosts, Yet once it is a little while, and I'll shake the heavens,
I'll shake the earth, I'll shake the sea. I'll shake the dry land,
I'll shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come,
and I'll fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of hosts."
He came to his temple. He came to his temple. That old
temple that they were building saw Jesus Christ the Messiah
walk in. Not a priest coming with the
blood of others to slip behind the veil and sacrifice it, but
the Son of God, the desire of all nations. Read on. ìThe silver
is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the Lord, and the glory
of this latter house shall be greater than that of the former,
saith the Lord of hosts, and in this place shall I give peace,
saith the Lord of hosts.î Heís coming, and He came. He drove him out with a whip,
and he said, My house will be called the house of prayer. You've
made it a den of thieves. But he was there. He was there. What happened just a few years
after he died on that cross? They burned that temple down. That's right. That's right. This clearly says, Brother Ron,
that he's coming to the temple. He's coming to his house, and
the latter glory of that house will be greater than the first
one, Solomon built. And after Jesus of Nazareth walked
out of it, died on that cross, buried and rose again, Titus
came in and wiped her out. There is no temple. All right,
if he's not the Messiah, you needn't look for one. That's
right. The temple, John, is no more. And you needn't talk about him
rebuilding it either. That's a waste of time. Not going
to be done. So he is the Messiah according
to the time he came. After that, there was no Judah
and no temple. All right, second one. The place
where the Messiah would be born. Turn to Micah back here. couple or three pages back from
Haggai, where you were. Where is the Messiah going to
be born? Well, in Micah chapter 5, it says, verse 2, But thou
Bethlehem Ephrathah, though thou be little among the tri-thousands
of Judah, a little town, yet out of thee shall he come forth
unto me, that is to be the ruler in Israel, the Messiah. What's
Micah saying here? Now this is back five, six hundred
years before Christ came. Micah says the Messiah that we've
been talking about through the whole Old Testament is going
to come to Bethlehem. Now watch this. Whose goings
forth have been from of old, from everlasting, God himself
is coming to Bethlehem. The Messiah is coming to Bethlehem. That's where he's going to make
his appearance. All right, let's go to Matthew chapter 2. And
we're talking here about the birth of Jesus Christ, Matthew
chapter 2. Matthew 2, verse 1. Now, when
Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, In the days of Herod the
king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem,
saying, Where is he that is born king of the Jews? For we have
seen his star in the east, and we have come to worship him.
And Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled,
and all Jerusalem was troubled with him. And he had gathered
all the chief priests and the scribes of the people together.
He got together the Bible scholars, the Old Testament scholars. And
he demanded of them where Christ should be born. Now, Herod gathered
these fellows, Pharisees and chief priests, all of them fellows
that spent their time studying the Old Testament Scripture.
He gathered them together. He said, where is this Christ,
this Messiah, going to be born? Where is he going to be born?
And they said to him, he's going to be born in Bethlehem of Judea,
for thus it is written in the prophets. The Messiah, listen
to me, my friends, has got to be born. in Bethlehem. He can't
come riding in here on a white stallion. He can't come rise
up from any other nation. He's got to be born of the Jews,
of the tribe of Judah. He's got to be born in Bethlehem.
That's where he's got to be born. And that's where he was born. That's what's written in the
Prophets. All right, thirdly, is Jesus Christ the Messiah?
Well, the house or family from which the Messiah must descend.
He must come. What does the scripture say?
He's got to come from the rod of Jesse. He's got to come from
the tribe of Judah. He's got to come from the loins
of David. He's got to be of the house of David. That's what it
says. In other words, over here in
Matthew 22, turn over there just a moment. These fellows came
to our Lord one day and had all these questions to ask Him, to
entangle Him in His talk. You know the question. Finally,
He said to them, in Matthew 22, verse 41, Jesus Christ said to
the Pharisees, when they were gathered together, Jesus asked
them, saying, Now what think ye of Christ? He not asked them
what they think of Him. They didn't believe He was the
Christ. He's saying, What do you think of the Messiah? What
do you think of the Christ? Tell me. This Christ that you're
preaching about and looking for, tell me about him. They said
he's the son of David. He's the son of David. And he
said to them, now how does David in spirit then call him Lord?
How can he be David's Lord and David's son? Verse 45, if David
called him Lord, how is he David's son? Well, you know that and I do
too. You know that, you know the gospel. who Christ is. You've got to start on it. He's David's Lord in that under
us a son is given. He's David's son in that under
us a child is born. He's David's son in that he was
born of a woman who traces her house and lineage right back
to David. In other words, Mary's son is
of the rod of Jesse, tribe of Judah, seed of David. And the
rightful heir to the throne is Mary's son. Let me show you that.
Now turn with me back to Matthew 1. He's David's son in that under
us a child is born. He's David's son in that he was
born of a woman who traces her house and lineage by back to
David. In other words, Mary's son is
of the rod of Jesse, tribe of Judah, seed of David, and the
rightful heir to the throne is Mary's son. Let me show you that.
Now turn with me to back here to Matthew 1, just a moment.
Both. Now listen, the Messiah has got
to be of the tribe of Judah. The Messiah has got to be of
the house of David. And Matthew 1, verse 1. I'm not going to read this entire
genealogy, but I want to start it out and show you this. Genesis
of Matthew chapter 1. The book of the generation of
Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. It goes on.
Abraham begat Isaac. You come on down here to verse
5, ìAnd Simon begat Boaz of Rahab, and Boaz begat Obed of Ruth,
and Obed begat Jesse, and Jesse begat David the king, and David
the king begat Solomon of her that had been the wife of Uriah.î
And it comes on down to verse 15, ìAnd Eliud begat Eleazar,
And Eliezer begat Methan, and Methan begat Jacob, Jacob begat
Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is
called the Christ. This is Joseph's genealogy. Joseph
goes right back to David through Solomon. Joseph goes right back
to his foster father, goes right back to David through Solomon. Right above that, this is Joseph's
house and lineage, right here, from Joseph to David, by way
of Solomon. Now, let's check Mary. Luke chapter
3. Let's check Mary's genealogy.
It's all right here in the Scripture. Let's check Mary's genealogy.
And what we're doing, I'm not trying to prove anything. I'm
trying to show us, for comfort and assurance, that Jesus is
the Christ, Son of Mary. Now, in the Bible, they never
give a woman's genealogy. Always the man's. They don't
give it in her name. They give her genealogy, but
not in her name. So here we've got, down here
in Luke chapter 3, verse 23. And Jesus himself began to be
about 30 years of age, being, as was supposed, the son of Joseph,
who was the son of Heli. Joseph wasn't the son of Heli,
he was the son of Jacob. How was he the son of Heli? He's the son-in-law of Heli.
That's Mary's father. So it doesn't say, this is Mary's,
it is Mary's genealogy, but not in her name. It says, and Joseph
was the son of Heli. He's the son-in-law of Heli.
This is Mary's genealogy. And it goes on back, says, Heli
was the son of Methath, Methath of Levi. So it's already different.
And then it goes on down here to verse 31, and it gives the
different sons. And down here at the latter part
of verse 31, which was the son of Nathan, which was the son
of David. Oh, Mary, here's David. And of
course, David was the son of Jesse. It picks it up the same
way. Here, David came from Abraham. David had a son, Nathan. David
had a son, Solomon. Joseph came through Solomon. Mary came through Nathan. They
both traced their house. Now back to David. Now right
there on Luke 3, this is Mary's genealogy. And it's traced in
the name of her husband, who was the son-in-law of Heli. That's
very, like if we were going to trace Becky's genealogy, we'd
say, if yours, it'd go through you. And it'd make you my son. And I'd be proud of that. But,
you know, but you're my son in that you're her. That's what
that is. See that? So Jesus Christ came right back, right from David,
both through Mary and Joseph. All right, here's the fourth
thing. Turn with me to Isaiah 35, the miracles which the Messiah
was to perform. Over here in the Old Testament,
you know, while you're looking up Isaiah 35, let me read something
to you. While you're looking up Isaiah
35, when you find it, look up here a moment. You know, when
John the Baptist sent those fellows to Jesus of Nazareth and said,
are you the Messiah, or do we look for another? How did he
answer him? Jesus answered and said, you
go and tell John the things which you hear and see, that the blind
receive their sight, Really, not make-believe, they received
their sight. The lame walk, lepers are cleansed,
the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the gospel
preached to them, and blessed is he whosoever will not be offended
in me. You go tell John the blind see
and the deaf hear. Isaiah 35. What does it say about
the Messiah, verse 4? Verse 3 says, Strengthen ye the
weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees, and say to them of a fearful
heart, Be strong, fear not, behold, your God will come with vengeance,
even God with a recompense. He'll come and save you, and
then the eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the
deaf shall be unstopped, and then shall the lame man leap
as a heart, and the tongue of the dumb shall sing, and in the
wilderness shall waters break forth, and streams of the desert
And the parched ground shall be a pool, and the thirsty land
springs of water. In the habitation of dragons,
where each lay, shall be grass, and reed, and rushes. And a highway
shall be there, and a way, it shall be opened, and it shall
be called the way of holiness." That's the Messiah. When He comes,
the blind will see. A lot of people profess to do
a lot of miracles, but One person said over here concerning Jesus
of Nazareth, when he made that blind man see, he said this,
has it ever been heard that the blind were made to see? Never. Only Christ can give the blind
eyes. He's the Messiah. Even his enemies
had to acknowledge that old Nicodemus said, we know you from God. You
could never do what you do. All right, fifthly, the Messiah
as a king will be distinguished by his lowliness. Now, this is
why so many of them missed him. They could think of a lion, but
not a lamb. They could think of a kingdom,
but not a suffering savior. They could think of a victorious
leader. but not a lowly, humble man of
solace. It just, it wouldn't fit. It wouldn't fit. There's so many
prophecies in the Old Testament concerning his coming as a lamb
and his second coming, that they just, they just couldn't distinguish
between them. Someone told me one time, it's,
you stand off at a far distance and see mountain ranges, and
there's one mountain range and another, and they just look like
the same range, but they may be hundreds of, maybe many miles
apart. And here these Old Testament
scholars and students, they studied the Old Testament, told about
his coming, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief, we hid
as it were our faces from him, wounded for our transgressions,
all these things. And then they read about him
coming in victory and destroying his enemies and restoring the
kingdom and all these things. They couldn't see the difference,
couldn't see the distance between them. And here in Matthew, or rather
in, let's turn, his lowliness, turn to Zechariah. That's where
I want you to turn, Zechariah chapter 9. Listen to this. Zechariah
chapter 9. It says here, Zechariah chapter
9, and these fellows read this. You know, Paul says, they fulfilled
the scriptures in condemning him. They read the Scriptures
and studied them. And the bad things it said that
they would do to the Messiah, they did it! Because they didn't
recognize Him. If they had known who He was,
they'd never crucified Him. But look at Zechariah 9, verse
9. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of
Jerusalem! Behold, your King cometh unto
you! He's just and having salvation! Oh boy, that's great! Wait a
minute now. Wait, hold on. He's lowly, riding upon an ass. Upon a colt, the foal of an ass. Not our king. Not our king. Yeah. Lowly. Humble. Turn to Matthew 21. That day
came. That day came when Jesus of Nazareth
rode into Jerusalem. on an ass, Matthew 21, the full
film of that very scripture. And when, Matthew 21, verse 1,
And when they drew nigh unto Jerusalem, and were come to Bethphagia
unto the Mount of Olives, then sent Jesus two disciples, saying
unto them, You go to the village over against you, and straightway
you will find an ass tied, and a coat with her. Loose them,
bring them to me. If anybody asks you, say, or
unto you, you just say the Lord hath need of them, and he'll
send them. All this was done that might be fulfilled what
was spoken by the prophets, saying, Tell ye the daughter of Zion,
Behold, our king cometh unto thee, meek, lowly, sitting on
an ass, the coat, and a coat, the fold of an ass. And the disciples
went, did as Jesus commanded them, they brought the ass and
the coat, and put on them their clothes. outer garment off and laid it
over that old dirty jackass donkey, and they set Jesus Christ on
that donkey. Have you lately seen a donkey?
I was down on a farm, down on a farm just last week, and this
man had horses. He had Tennessee Walkers. Beautiful. That's what I'd like to ride.
He had some of those Belgian horses, like the Clydesdale,
just one step below him, not that much shorter. massive, huge,
beautiful horses with flowing manes and tails and feet about
12 inches in diameter, you know, beautiful things. He said, I
want you to see my jackass. And we went down to the barn,
and there was the ugliest old gray cub, gracious. And the man
started taunting him, he started braying. I'm not going to bray
like one of them now. But honestly, that thing, compared
to those Belgian walkers. My Lord rode into Jerusalem,
the Messiah, on a jackass, without a saddle. His condescension is amazing,
isn't it? Look at verse 6. Verse 8, And
a great multitude spread their garments in the way, others cut
down branches from the trees, and strawed them in the way.
And multitudes went before, and that followed, crying, Hosanna
to the Son of David! Blessed be he that cometh in
the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest! And when
he was coming to Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, Who
is this? Who is this? And the multitude
saw this is Jesus, the prophet of Nazareth. of Galilee. Looks like somebody stood and
said, Hey, wait a minute. Hold it. Hold it. Everybody hold
it. This is the Messiah. This is
the Messiah. That's not going to happen again.
It just happened this one time. Number six, the Messiah's got
to die at the hands of wicked men. Psalm 22. Turn over there a minute. I'm
taking a little longer. I want you to see this. This is so vital. Is He the Messiah? If He is, as God said, the man
that hears Him will be blessed. The man that doesn't hear Him
is going to be damned. So it's a good idea if we just stay with
it a minute more. Psalm 22. Listen. My God, my
God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping
me and from the words of my roaring? This is the Messiah now, David,
writing the Messianic Psalm. Verse 16, Dogs have compassed
me, the assembly of the wicked have enclosed me, they have pierced
my hands and my feet, nailed him to a tree. Verse 18, They
part my garments among them, cast lots from my robe, at the
foot of the cross. Verse 7 and 8, Psalm 22, all
they that see me lieth me to scorn. They shoot out their lips,
they shake their head saying, he trusted in the Lord that he
would deliver him, let him deliver him now, seeing he delighteth
in him. What did they say at the cross? He trusted in God, let's see
if God will have him. If you be the Christ, come down from
the tree. But he was wounded for our transgressions,
he was bruised for our iniquities. That's what the Messiah came
to do by his stripes where he was. By staying on that cross, he
proved he was a Messiah, not by coming down. If he had been
able to come down, he would have proved he wasn't a Messiah. Let
me show you one other scripture on this cross. Turn to Zechariah
again. Zechariah chapter 11. You know,
old Judas, when he betrayed, sold the Lord for 30 pieces of
silver, he asked the priest what would they give him. They told
him 30 pieces of silver, and then he betrayed the Lord. And
he came back later, and he said, I betrayed innocent blood. And
he threw the money on the floor in the temple, right there in
that temple, threw the money on the floor. He said, I betrayed
innocent blood. And they said, well, what's that
to us? And he went out and hanged himself. And they took that money
and bought a potter's field, bury the poor. And that's where
they put his remains. Listen to Zechariah. These priests
didn't recognize that. Zechariah 11, verse 12, And I
said unto them, If you think me good, give me my price, if
not forbear, so they weighed for my price thirty pieces of
silver. And the Lord said unto me, Cast it unto the potter a
goodly price, that I was prized out of them, and I took the thirty
pieces of silver, and cast it to the potter in the house of
the Lord. Seems like one of those scholars would have remembered
that when Judas cast that money and went out. Hey, I remember
something Zechariah wrote. Isn't this? Oh, let me tell you,
when men's eyes are blind, they are blind. When men are blind... If the light that's in you is
darkness, how great is that darkness? If all the light you've got is
darkness, it's a terrible darkness. Well, Psalm 16, the Messiah's
going to rise from the dead. This is number seven. The Messiah's
going to rise from the dead. Now, my friends, there have been
a whole lot of professed Messiahs and so-called here a Christ and
there a Christ, here a Muhammad, here a Confucius, here a Buddha,
here's and there, but every one of them got a tomb. You can visit
the grave of every so-called religious leader, prophet, or
messiah, every one of them without exception. Jesus Christ has no
grave for you to visit, no tomb. No, he hasn't. He just resided
there a short time. Listen to Psalm 16, verse 7. Psalm 16, I will bless the Lord,
who hath given me counsel. My reigns also instruct me in
the night seasons. I have set the Lord always before
me, because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. Therefore
my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices. My flesh also shall
rest in hope, for thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither
wilt thou suffer thy Holy One to see corruption. Jesus Christ,
the Christ, the Messiah. will not remain in the grave,
and his body will not see corruption. And that's what Peter said at
Pentecost. He said, David wrote these words.
But David is not talking about David, because David's sepulchre
is with us to this day. But David is talking about his
son, Jesus of Nazareth, whom God raised from the dead and
made both Lord and Christ. He's the Messiah. The Messiah came to his own,
the Jews. He fulfilled every prophecy given
concerning Israel. He fulfilled every type, every
Old Testament picture. But the scriptures plainly declare
that the Messiah would have a people of all nations. One more scripture. I know you're weary, but turn
to Isaiah 49. Just one more scripture. Isaiah
49. will have a people of all nations. He can't be what most of those
Jews thought he would be, only a Jewish king. It says in Isaiah
49 verse 5, listen, Now saith the Lord that formed me from
the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob again to him, He
said, Though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the
eyes of the Lord, and my God shall be my strength. And he
said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant,
to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved
of Israel. I will also give thee for a light
to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation to the end of
the earth. This is Isaiah, long before Christ
came. Gentiles. The Jews wouldn't even
let them in the temple, let alone in the kingdom. They had the
court of the Gentiles out there. Thus saith the Lord, the Redeemer
of Israel, his Holy One, to him whom man despiseth, to him whom
the nation abhorreth, To a servant of Brutus, kings shall see and
arise, princes also shall worship, because of the Lord that is faithful,
and the Holy One of Israel, and he shall choose thee, thus saith
the Lord, in an acceptable time. Have I heard thee in a day of
salvation? Have I helped thee? And I will preserve thee, and
give thee for covenant of the people, to establish the earth,
to cause to inherit the desolate heritage, that thou mayest say
to the prisoners, Go forth. To them that are in darkness,
show thyself. yourself, they shall feed in the ways, and their
pastures shall be in all the high places. They shall not hunger
nor thirst, neither shall their heat nor sun spite them. For
he that hath mercy on them shall eat them, even by the springs
of water shall he guide them. And I'll make all my mountains
away, and my highways shall be exalted. Behold, these shall
come from far, and lo, these from the north and from the west,
And these from the land of Shanim. Peter said to our Lord, when
the Lord asked him if he'd go away, he said, no, I don't intend
to leave, because I believe that thou art the Christ, Son of the
living God. I believe Jesus Christ, Jesus
of Nazareth is the Christ. Do you? It's not, and this is not someone
not using, trying to use psychology and mass psychology and power
of persuasion, these things. I'm simply, I'm not asking you
to raise your hand or do anything. I'm just saying now, in your
heart of hearts, in the depths of your soul, in
the bowels of your beard, are you convinced, is the Spirit
of God convinced you on the authority of this Word, God's Word, that
we don't look for another, that the Christ has come? He is the
Christ, and He has fulfilled all that God required, and He
did it for us. He did it, and thank God, not
just for those Jews, but for all nations, tribe, kindred,
people, and nations of the heavens. And that constitutes saving faith,
doesn't it? As I understand, I believe that
Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. Isn't that
salvation? That's what Philip said to the eunuch. He said,
I want to be baptized. He said, well, if you believe
with all your heart, you may. He said, I believe Jesus Christ
is the Son of God. And Philip baptized him. I'm
not looking for some kind of emotionals. and all the lights
to start flickering, and my fingernails as one woman told me turned green,
and all this sort of thing, you know. I'm persuaded of the Spirit of
God that Jesus Christ is the Redeemer, Messiah Christ. Are you? And He's my Lord. He's my King. He's my Prophet.
He's my Priest. He's my All-in-all. He's my Mediator. That's it. And I confess that
before God. I confess it before me. He's my hope of eternal glory.
He's at the right hand of God. Now believe that. Don't intend
to stop believing it by His grace. That's it. Isn't that it, Scott? That's just it. All right, Mike,
let's sing a song.

Is Jesus of Nazareth the Messiah?

What does the Bible say about Jesus being the Messiah?

How do we know that Jesus is the Christ?

Why is believing that Jesus is the Messiah important for Christians?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

Joshua

Articles

Featured Authors

Podcast

Sermons

Featured Preachers

Books

Browse by Format

Music

Recent Comments

About

Legal

Subscribe

Account

Articles

Featured Authors

Podcast

Recent Comments

Sermons

Featured Preachers

Books

Browse by Format

Collections

Music

About

Legal

Subscribe

Is Jesus of Nazareth the Messiah?

What does the Bible say about Jesus being the Messiah?

How do we know that Jesus is the Christ?

Why is believing that Jesus is the Messiah important for Christians?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

More from Henry Mahan

Related Sermons

Same Scripture

Articles by Henry Mahan

Books by Henry Mahan

Joshua

Where this book stands in the tradition

Plato

Augustine

The Western Christian Tradition

This Book