Robert Jeffress - Jesus the Messiah
Hi, I’m Robert Jeffress, and welcome again to «Pathway to Victory». Throughout history, Jesus Christ has been known by many names and titles, the Prince of Peace, the Lamb of God, and the Good Shepherd, just to name a few. But perhaps his most widely disputed title is his role as the Messiah. So what does the sacred title really mean and how should Jesus the Messiah impact our lives today and in the future? My message is titled, «Jesus the Messiah» on today’s edition of «Pathway to Victory».
Tim Gagnon is known as the fire painter. He travels to churches throughout America giving powerful sermons about Jesus Christ while at the same time painting works of art and he does it with his paintbrushes on fire. The fire painter. His latest project is called The Illuminated Messiah Bible. Tim Gagnon has read through each of the 66 books of the Bible and he found a word image that described Jesus Christ in each of those 66 books. And in his Illuminated Messiah Bible, he has a different picture of Jesus for each of the books. And when you put those pictures together, they form an image of Jesus on the cross.
Now I think Tim Gagnon is on to something. If you search through the Bible, it certainly has the cross of Jesus Christ as central. The Old Testament looks forward to it. The epistles look back, but Jesus’s work on the cross was central to his plan and purpose for God. But it doesn’t stop there. The fact is Jesus didn’t spend a lot of time on the cross. He died for our sins. He was buried. He rose again on the third day. He ascended into heaven and guess what? He’s coming back again one day. And that’s why, quite frankly, you could have an image of Jesus wearing a crown that would have just as been as accurate as Jesus on a cross. And that’s why the most foundational role that Jesus Christ represents is that of Messiah.
Tim Gagnon said, the theme of the Bible is Jesus as Messiah. Now, when we talk about Messiah, what do we mean by Messiah? Messiah’s a transliteration for the Hebrew word «Mashiach». It’s New Testament equivalent in Greek is «Christos,» Christ. By the way, remember Christ is not Jesus’s last name, Jesus Christ. It’s his title. He is the «Christos». He is «Mashiach». The words both mean the same thing, the anointed one. Write it down. Messiah means anointed one. Now, in the Bible, there were people, men and women both, who were anointed by God. In Exodus 30, the anointing of Aaron as high priest by his brother Moses. In 1 Samuel 16, the anointing of David over as king over Israel by the prophet Samuel.
In 1 Kings 19, Elisha was anointed by Elijah as the next prophet. And then of course, ultimately the anointing of Jesus Christ. Jesus was chosen by God for a unique purpose. His purpose was to serve as a prophet, a priest, and a king. A prophet was one who spoke God’s Word. A priest, somebody who reconciled God and man. Jesus did that through his sacrificial death. And then as a king, somebody who would rule over a kingdom. Jesus fulfilled some of these aspects of these roles in his first coming, but they will be ultimately fulfilled at his Second coming. Now what is the evidence that Jesus is that anointed one that people had been waiting for? Well, here are just a few on your outline I’ve placed. First of all, his place of birth and his connectivity to David.
The Bible was clear in the Old Testament and Micah 5:2 written 700 years before Christ’s birth that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. Why was Bethlehem selected? Because it was the city of David where David was born. And so Jesus would be born the Messiah in Bethlehem. But he also had to be connected in his lineage to King David. 2 Samuel 7 was an Old Testament prophecy that it would be one of David’s descendants who would sit on the throne of David ultimately and rule the earth. Secondly, consider the testimony of John the Baptist.
You know, the Bible prophesied that there would be a forerunner to Jesus who would announce his arrival. And the angel remember in Luke 1 appeared Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, and say your son is going to be that forerunner. He was the sign that the Messiah was here. In Luke 1:17, it says, «It is he who will go as a forerunner before the Messiah in the spirit and the power of Elijah». What is it that John the Baptist said when he first saw Christ? «Behold the Lamb of God. He’s here who takes away the sin of the world». Consider also, thirdly, the claims of Jesus himself.
Now one of the things you hear from liberal theologians all the time is that Jesus himself never claimed to be the Son of God. That’s something that happened hundreds of years after Jesus died that people tried to claim he was the Son of God. No, throughout the scripture, he claimed to be the Son of God. Consider Luke chapter 4, for example. «The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me. Because He anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind. To set free those who were oppressed and to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord».
And with that, he sat down. The people begin to whisper, «Did you hear what he just read? Do you think he thinks he’s the», and before they could complete the thought, verse 21 says, «Jesus said, 'Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.'» Yes, he said, «I am the Messiah». They understood what he was claiming. In fact, they got so angry that they tried to drive him over a cliff and kill him right away, but it wasn’t his time to die. Consider the confession of the Apostle Peter. Remember in Matthew 16, Jesus got his apostles together. It was kind of a focus group. And he asked them, «Who are people saying that I am»? And they said, «Well, there are all kinds of opinions out there, Jesus. Some say you’re a prophet, some say you’re Elijah reincarnated». But then Jesus said, «Who do you say that I am»?
And remember Peter’s words, he wasn’t always the sharpest knife in the drawer, but he got this right. He said, «You are the,» what? «The 'Christos, ' the Messiah, the Son of the living God». Think about the affirmation of Martha in John chapter 11. Martha was upset because her brother Lazarus had died. They had sent word to Jesus, but Jesus didn’t come. When Lazarus was sick, he waited until Lazarus was died, was dead. And she said, «If only you had come, Lord, sooner, my brother would still be alive». Jesus said to her in John 11:25, «I am the resurrection and the life, he who believes in me will live even if he dies. Everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this»?
Notice three times, he says, believe, believe, believe. There’s an inseparable link between belief and salvation. Belief is not just the assenting to certain facts about Jesus, believing he was the Son of God who died on the cross for the sins of the world and rose again on the third day, even the devils, the demons believe those things, but they’re not saved. No, that word believe when Jesus said, «Do you believe, Martha»? That word believe means to depend upon, to bank upon, to put your whole weight upon. That’s what it means to believe. What are you banking on? What are you trusting in to get you into heaven when you die? If you’re depending on your good works, your church membership and maybe a little bit of Jesus, you’re gonna split hell wide open when you die. It is only totally believing, totally depending upon Jesus Christ to be your Savior that guarantees your salvation.
Another claim of Jesus involves the rebuke of the Pharisees. They didn’t nail Jesus to a cross because he was teaching people to turn the other cheek. That’s not what got Jesus in hot water. It was his claim to be Messiah. And then consider, in addition to the rebuke of the Pharisees, the evidence from the book of Revelation. Nine different times in the book of Revelation, Jesus is referred to as the «Christos,» the Christ. Just consider three of these passages. Revelation 1:1, «The revelation, the unveiling of Jesus 'Christos, ' Messiah, which God gave Him to show his bond servants». Or Revelation 11:15. The angel proclaims, «The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his,» what? «Christos,» Christ, Messiah.
And Revelation chapter 12:10. «Now the salvation and the power, and the kingdom of our Lord and the authority of his Christ have come». Jesus is the Messiah. Now, just don’t think the Messiahship of Jesus has to do with what he did in the past. It is also found in what he is yet to do. Jesus has promised two things and this is the promise related to the future of Messiah, a king with a kingdom. A king with a kingdom and that is the promise that is yet to be fulfilled. Every kingdom has to have a king. Let’s break that down for a moment. First of all, to have a kingdom, you have to have a location for the kingdom. From the very beginning, God said to Abraham and that Abrahamic covenant, «Go to a land that I will show you and I will make you the father of a great nation».
Yes, Israel would ultimately dwell in the land, but temporarily they would be displaced from the land. That’s what God said to Moses. Remember in Deuteronomy 28, «It shall come about that as the Lord delighted over you to prosper you, and multiply you, so the Lord will delight over you to make you perish and destroy you, and you will be torn from the land where you are entering to possess it». He said to Moses, «You’re gonna possess this land, but because of Israel’s disobedience, she will be uprooted from this land». And you see that in the history of Israel, there was a rebellion of Israel once they entered the land. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
The book of Judges says. Then there was a clamor for a king. «We want a king,» even though God said no, he acquiesced to their wishes and that led to a division of the kingdom. For 70 years they were in Babylonian exile and then the order was given to return and they rebuilt the city and the temple. Over the next 100 years, hundreds of years, they lived under the rule of the Medes and Persians, the Greeks, and finally the Romans and it was in the Romans that the fullness of time came. Remember God sent forth his Son born of a woman, born under the law. And we see the next phase in Israel’s history, their repossession of the Promised Land. They were promised that ultimately they were displaced, but God says they will repossess it again.
And we see that beginning with the reestablishment of the nation of Israel in 1948. You know, during this dispersion time, the American writer Mark Twain visited what we call the Holy Land in 1867, but there wasn’t much holy about it. It didn’t appear that way anyway. In his book, «Innocents Abroad,» Mark Twain wrote, «The hills are barren. They are dull of color. They are not picturesque in shape. The valleys are unsightly deserts fringed with a feeble vegetation that has an expression about it of being sorrowful and despondent. It is a hopeless, dreary, heartbroken land». But that began to change on May 14, 1948 when the nation of Israel was reconstituted as a nation and the people began to return just as Ezekiel promised.
In Ezekiel 36:22, «Thus says the Lord God, 'It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I’m about to act, but for My holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you went. For I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the lands and bring you into your own land.'» And we’ve witnessed that regathering of Israel that began in 1948. Israel is back in the land. She’s not in all the land though yet that God has promised her. That is something future that is yet to come. The kingdom of God is a location. It’s an actual earthly location from which Christ will rule for 1000 years, but you don’t only need a location in a kingdom. Guess what? You need a king. You need somebody to rule. Messiah will in the future reign from the Promised Land.
Of course, as you know, back in May of 2018, I had the privilege of giving the opening prayer for the dedication of the United States embassy in Jerusalem. It was a historic day. People say, what was the big deal about moving the embassy and recognizing Jerusalem as the capital when we, the United States recognized Jerusalem as the legitimate capital of Israel, we were recognizing Israel’s right to possess that land and their right to name their own country, a right every other nation in the world has. That’s what made it historic. It was an unbelievable day, but you know what? That embassy is not gonna last forever. There doesn’t need to be an embassy forever.
There’s a day coming when there’ll be no embassies anywhere. You know why? Because they’ll no longer be any threat of war. There will be perfect peace in the world because the prince of peace will be reigning. And by the way, listen to this promise of Joshua 1:4, «From the wilderness and this Lebanon, even as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, as far as the Great Sea toward the setting of the sun». You find those words from the river to the sea. Today, you have Hamas, you have Iran, you have Muslims threatened to destroy every Jew from the river to the sea. Hamas is nothing more than a group of pipsqueaks in the sight of God. They are gnats. They are ants that are gonna be destroyed and eliminated one day. God’s people are going to dwell forever in that land between the river and the sea. That’s the promise of God. And that leads to the promise of hope.
I have a friend who says, «With God, a promise made is a promise kept». Why do we get excited about these promises being fulfilled to Israel? Because the same God who’s gonna be faithful to fulfill his promise to Israel can be counted on to fulfill his promise to you and to me. Just think of all the things God has promised. He’s promised there’s no condemnation. No condemnation awaiting those who belong to Christ Jesus. We never have to worry that God is gonna dredge up some past mistakes, some past sin and hold us accountable for it. There’s no condemnation coming. He’s promised that these bodies that get worn out and infected with cancer and every other malady you can think of, one day we’re gonna get to exchange these bodies for a new body that is forever free from suffering and sickness. He’s promised that those loved ones of ours who have died and gone on to heaven that we’ll see them again.
There is a great reunion. Thus we shall be together with the Lord forever and ever. He’s promised that those relationships that are broken and so difficult to reconcile now will one day be healed in heaven. Those are the promises God has for us and that’s why the Bible refers to the coming of Christ whether it’s at the Rapture of the Second Coming, it’s called the blessed hope. We all need hope, don’t we? The only thing that makes living in this world bearable today is the hope of a better world tomorrow. And that’s what God gives each one of us. I think of God’s Word in 1 Kings chapter 8, verse 56. «Praise the Lord for the rest he has given to his people, just as he promised. Not one word has failed of God’s wonderful promises given to us through his servant Moses». Doesn’t that make you hopeful? A better world is coming and it’s gonna be ruled over by Jesus the Messiah forever and ever.