Mark 8: 27-30 New Living Translation 27 Jesus and his disciples left Galilee and went up to the villages near Caesarea Philippi. As they were walking along, he asked them, “Who do people say I am?” 28 “Well,” they replied, “some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others say you are one of the other prophets.” 29 Then he asked them, “But who do you say I am?” Peter replied, “You are the Messiah.” 30 But Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him. Messiah comes from the Hebrew word mashiach and means “anointed one” or “chosen one.” The Greek equivalent is the word Christos or, in English, Christ. The name “Jesus Christ” is the same as “Jesus the Messiah.” In biblical times, anointing someone with oil was a sign that God was consecrating or setting apart that person for a particular role. Thus, an “anointed one” was someone with a special, God-ordained purpose.
read more: gotquestions.org/what-does-Messiah-mean.html The disciples knew what a messiah or christ was but their answer to Jesus' question was "You are the Messiah." These four words are very important and if we just read through and not stop for a minute we will miss something very important. Remember the Holy Spirit is ultimately the one who speaks through the Bible and He does not waste words. First they acknowledged that it was Jesus to whom they were speaking by saying "You", then they said "are", not will be or may be but are. The definite article "the" tells us they knew that Jesus wasn't just any messiah or one of others to come like Moses or Joshua but rather He was THE Messiah. Now the question is were they using the same definition when they looked to Jesus as the Messiah? The Jews were expecting the Messiah to come and set them free not just spiritually but also physically like Moses did from Egypt but Jesus came the first time as the Suffering Servant who was foretold in Isaiah 53, "To whom has the Lord revealed his powerful arm?My servant grew up in the Lord’s presence like a tender green shoot, like a root in dry ground.There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance, nothing to attract us to him. He was despised and rejected--a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way.He was despised, and we did not care. Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down.And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for his own sins! But he was pierced for our rebellion,crushed for our sins.He was beaten so we could be whole.He was whipped so we could be healed.All of us, like sheep, have strayed away.We have left God’s paths to follow our own.Yet the Lord laid on him the sins of us all." Isaiah 53:2-6 Just as sure as Jesus came the first time as our Suffering Servant for our internal renewal so He will return as our conquering King. It is then we will be completely freed from these sin cursed bodies and this sin cursed world. He will make all things new. So let us not make the mistake of making Jesus what we want Him to be but rather accept Him for who He is- Lord and Savior.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Archives
August 2023
Categories
All
|