Jesus is the Messiah. What Does Messiah Mean?

What does it mean for Jesus to be the Messiah? The Messiah is the way to God. Jesus said, "I am the Way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through me." The one who came from Heaven to take us back to Heaven. Jesus said, "In my father's house are many rooms. I go to prepare a place for you. If I go to prepare a place for you I will come back to take you there." John 14:1-6. The Messiah is the mediator between God and man, like a solicitor who speaks to God in our defence when we do something wrong. 1Timothy 2:4,5. 1John 2:1,2. Jesus gives us eternal life. He is the resurrection and the life. Jesus said, "I will speak and all the dead will come out of their graves." John 5:25-29. Some will wake up to everlasting life, some to everlasting shame and contempt. Daniel 12:1-3. Jesus said, "I am the bread of life. Whoever believes in me has eternal life." John 6:35-40.

The Messiah is the promised one, the one who was spoken about in the Scriptures. When Jesus had risen from the dead, he spent some time with two disciples on the road to the village and explained to them everything that was prophesied about him in the Scriptures. Luke 24:13-35. These two disciples were not of the twelve main disciples who had spent several years travelling with Jesus. The one Jesus spoke to is called Cleopas. He thought that Jesus was going to overthrow the Romans and that this was what the Bible meant when it said that he would redeem Israel. Jesus had been a great man of God and a mighty prophet but now he had been killed. Cleopas was even more amazed when some of the women had gone to Jesus' tomb and found it empty. Jesus told Cleopas that he was slow of heart and slow to believe. These things all had to happen so that the Scriptures could be fulfilled.

Jesus' death was prophesied in the Psalms. The Psalms were written at a time when crucifixion hadn't been invented. This makes some of the details in Psalm 22 even more surprising. "They pierced my hands and my feet. I can count all my bones. They look and stare at me." This psalm also contains the words, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me," which Jesus said on the cross. It says that Jesus would be mocked by the people and that they would divide up his clothes by casting lots. All of this happened. Matthew 27:33-44. The resurrection of Jesus is prophesied in the Bible. Psalm 16:7-11. "For I will not abandon my holy one to the grave and he will not see decay. You will make known to me the path of life. You will fill me with eternal pleasures at your right hand." When Jesus died there was an earthquake and the sky went dark from the sixth hour to the ninth hour. The curtain in the temple was torn in two. Matthew 27:45-56. This was prophesied in the Bible. Amos 8:7-10. "I will never forget any of their deeds. Because of this I will make the earth quake. I will make the sun go down at noon and make the earth dark in broad daylight."

Jesus himself was prophesied elsewhere in the Bible. Adam and Eve had just eaten of the forbidden fruit and been cast out of the garden of Eden. God put a curse on the serpent who had persuaded them to eat the forbidden fruit. "I shall put enmity between you and the woman, between your seed and her seed. He shall strike you on the head and you shall bruise him on the heel." Genesis 3:15. Right from the moment humanity sinned, God had promised a Messiah. The devil would only inflict minor injuries on Jesus compared to what Jesus was going to do to him. God told Moses that he would raise up a prophet just like him from among the people. Deuteronomy 18:14-22. Acts 3:17-26.

The birth of Jesus was prophesied. Isaiah 7:14. The virgin will give birth to a son and he will be called Immanuel. An angel appeared to Joseph and told him that his wife Mary would bare him a son and he would be called Immanuel because he would save the people from their sins. Matthew 1:18-25. This is the mystery of the gospel that was hidden before time. 1Corinthians 2:3-10. God's plan to send Jesus was planned from the very beginning. The devil did not understand it or he would not have crucified Jesus. This is the mystery hidden for long ages past but now made known by God so that all the nations may obey him. Romans 16:25-27.

After he had died for our sins, Jesus ascended to Heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. Hebrews 1:1-4. He is waiting for the time that God will defeat his enemies and make them a footstool for his feet. Hebrews 10:12,13. Jesus is far above all power and authority, rule and dominion. He is ruler of the whole universe. Ephesians 1:15-23. 

The apostles watched as Jesus ascended into the sky and two men in white clothing appeared saying, "Why do you stand looking so amazed? This Jesus, who you saw taken up to Heaven, will come back down from Heaven in the same way." Acts 1:9-11. Jesus will come to reign on Earth. Isaiah 9:6,7. "For unto us a child is born and the government will be on his shoulders. His name will be wonderful, counsellor, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government of peace there will be no end." He will rule over the kingdom of David for evermore. In the words of an old hymn, "Jesus will reign where e're the sun doth his successive journeys run, his kingdom stretch from shore to shore, 'til moons shall wax and wane no more." The prophet Daniel had a vision of Jesus coming on the clouds and being given an everlasting kingdom so that all peoples, languages and nations would serve him. Daniel 7:13,14. A fountain will be opened to cleanse the Israelites of their sin and impurity. Zecheriah 13:1. They will realise what they did to Jesus. "What are those wounds between your arms?" "Those are the wounds I received in the house of my friends." Zechariah 13:6. All the nations of the world will surround Jerusalem and invade it. Zechariah 14:1-5. The Lord will fight against them and defeat them. Jesus will stand on the Mount of Olives and it will split in two. The Mount of Olives is on a geological fault. This could happen literally. The Israelites will flee to safety through the valley created by this mountain. Then the Lord Jesus will come and all his holy ones with him. Jesus will be king of all the earth. Zechariah 14:9. All the nations of the earth will come to worship God in Jerusalem every year. If they don't come they will have no rain. Zechariah 14:16-19.