Jesus as the Messiah

Part 1: The Messiah
Part 2: Messianic Expectation
Part 3: Jesus as the Messiah


In the study of the Messiahship of Jesus, several questions arise: Did Jesus know that he was the Messiah? If he did, when did he, in his lifetime, realize that he was the Messiah? Did Jesus proclaim to his disciples and to others that he was the Messiah? These questions are not easy to answer, and a simple answer to these questions may, perhaps, be a way to get out of the problem. Many scholars agree that the question whether Jesus ever declared openly that he was the Messiah or that he had a Messianic self-consciousness is one of the major problems for understanding Jesus’ life and teachings.

Messianic consciousness presupposes the claim to belong to a realm which extends far beyond the range of ordinary human possibilities. The Messianic claim presupposes that everything the prophets of the Old Testament had predicted about the coming Messiah, the son of David, was finding fulfillment in the person of Jesus. The Messianic hope proclaimed by the prophets includes the eschatological nearness of salvation, the nearness of the Kingdom of God, and the advent of reconciliation and redemption.

The message of the early church was that Jesus was the Messiah. In fact, the assertion that Jesus was the Christ was proclaimed by the church and this assertion became one of the most important characteristics of the Christian message. To deny that Jesus was the Christ is also to deny the focal point of the Christian message.

The Messiahship of Jesus is the foundation of Christianity. Christianity was born not with the birth of the man who was called “Jesus,” but in the moment in which one of his followers was driven to say to him: “You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God” (Matthew 16:16 NRSV).

If Jesus is the Messiah, how and when did he become conscious of his Messiahship? The answer to this question is not easy, for the gospels do not provide much information as to the manner in which Jesus’ Messianic consciousness arose.

Some scholars affirm that Jesus never made any explicit Messianic claim and that he displayed no direct Messianic consciousness. However, the New Testament clearly indicates that the disciples regarded Jesus as the coming Messiah. They believed that Jesus was the Messiah Israel had been expecting. It is important to understand an important problem in the Messianic claims of the New Testament: some of the passages in the Synoptic gospels in which the disciples recognized Jesus as Messiah reflect the Easter story projected backward into Jesus’ life and ministry. But the fact remains that the New Testament, the proclamation of the apostles, and the traditions of the early church affirm that Jesus was the promised Messiah. In addition, the events related to Jesus’ death reveal that he was crucified as a Messianic pretender.

As one studies the Messiahship of Jesus, two questions must be asked. First, did Jesus declare that he was the Messiah? Second, when did Jesus become aware that he was the Messiah? To answer the first question, several passages must be considered.

When Jesus was arrested and brought before the Sanhedrin, the high priest asked him: “Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?” (Mark 14:61). In Matthew, the question appears in the form of a request: “Tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God” (Matthew 26:63). When asked whether he was the Messiah, Jesus answered: “I am” (Mark 16:62).

When Jesus was brought before Pilate, Pilate asked him: “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus told Pilate: “Yes, it is as you say” (Mark 15:2). Another passage that indicates that Jesus was aware of his Messiahship is Matthew 16:13-20 (cf. Mark 8:27-30), a passage that contains Peter’s confession at Caesarea Philippi. When Jesus asked his disciples, “who do you say I am?” Peter answered: “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” According to Matthew, Jesus commanded his disciples “not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.”

The restraining order of Jesus to his disciples, asking them not to proclaim to others that he was the Messiah is known in scholarly circles as “The Messianic Secret.” Jesus’ reluctance to be proclaimed as the Messiah of Israel was based on the fact that he did not want people to be led to a false conception of the Messiah, the same conception he had rejected during his temptations in the wilderness.

The second issue that arises in the study of the Messiahship of Jesus is: when did he become conscious of his Messiahship?

Some Christians believe that at the age of twelve, the occasion when Jesus went to Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of the Passover (Luke 2:41-52), he was aware that he knew that the Father had sent him to save his people from their sins (Matthew 1:21) and that he would inherit the throne of David (Luke 1:32). Others believe that the Messianic consciousness came during his baptism, when the voice from heaven declared that he was God’s son (Luke 3:22). Still others believe that this consciousness came during the Transfiguration (Matthew 17:1-13).

Although no specific occasion can be described as the exact moment when Jesus became aware of his Messiahship, it is clear that, early in the ministry of Jesus, the Synoptic gospels give evidence that Jesus was conscious of his special relationship with God and maybe even of the necessity of' suffering as a way to fulfill his mission.

During his baptism, a voice from heaven said: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased” (Mark 1:11). These words combine different Messianic ideas from the Old Testament. The first part of the statement, “You are my Son” identifies Jesus as the Messianic Son of God (2 Samuel 7:14). The second statement identifies Jesus as the Suffering Servant (Isaiah 42:1).

The temptations in the wilderness are based on the assumption that Jesus was conscious of his Messiahship, for apart from this assumption, the temptations are without meaning. What the gospels attempt to affirm is that after Caesarea Philippi the disciples recognized and acknowledged that Jesus was the Messiah. Up to this point Jesus had been waiting for the disciples to recognize him as the Messiah. Once they accepted him as the promised Messiah, Jesus changed the focus of his ministry and taught them what kind of Messiah he was to be, namely, a suffering Messiah.

The gospels affirm that Jesus was the promised Messiah but he was a different Messiah. Jesus did not fulfill the popular expectation that the Messiah would “restore the kingdom of Israel” (Acts 1:6) during the time of his visitation. His work as the Messiah was not to establish a temporal and political kingdom, but to bring about the good news of the kingdom of God to all the nations of the earth (Matthew 28:16-20).

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Christ, Jesus, Messiah, Religion

Messianic Expectation

Part 1: The Messiah
Part 2: Messianic Expectation

According to the narratives of the biblical text, David, the second king of Israel, was one of the greatest kings Israel ever had. A leader, both in battle and in politics, a good administrator, organized, and a musician, David became a hero to his people very early in his life. Because of the exceptional qualities ascribed to him in the biblical text, to the biblical writers, David became the model for all the kings who succeeded him, both in Judah and in Israel.

The dynasty of David obtained its religious legitimation by the so-called Nathan prophecy found in 2 Samuel 7 (cf. 2 Samuel 23:l-7) where God made an everlasting covenant with David (2 Samuel 23:5), a covenant in which God promised to establish the throne of his kingdom forever (2 Samuel 7:13). In this covenant between God and David, the dynasty of David was promised eternal existence (2 Samuel 7:16, 29; cf. also Psalm 89:3-4, 29-37; 132:11-12).

Thus, the Messianic expectation in Israel is linked to God’s covenant with David and to a well-developed world of ideas that came with the aggrandizement of David and the idealization of the Davidic kingdom. This Messianic ideal in Israel grew as the monarchy declined. It appears that the beginning of what is known as the Messianic hope in Israel begins to take place in the eighth century, primarily with some of the oracles of the pre-exilic prophets Isaiah and Micah. These two prophets begin to speak of a deliverer in terms which suggest that this deliverer will be an ideal king like David. Passages such as Isaiah 9:l-7; 11:l-9 and Micah 5:2-4 speak of a “shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse” and a ruler who will come from Bethlehem, one “whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.” The ancient time mentioned by Micah is a reference to the times of David.

The Messianic hope that God would send an ideal king, one who would be like David, increased during and after the exile, at a time when the people in Babylon hoped for a return to the promised land and the reestablishment of the Davidic kingdom. However, the lack of detail about a Messianic expectation in the prophetic books indicates that a developed Messianic hope in Israel did not come into full bloom until later in post-exilic times.

Later additions to the prophetic books provide a good overview of the development of the prophetic hope in the exile and the post-exilic period. For instance, an addition to Hosea declares that the Son of David would be the bond of union among the tribes (Hosea 3:4-5). An addition to Amos says that David’s tent, which had fallen down, would be set up again (Amos 9:11). Micah promised that the remnant of Israel would become a strong people and the Lord would reign over them and that Bethlehem would be the birth place of the son of David who would rule in Israel (Micah 5:2-4). Isaiah said that David’s throne would be occupied forever and that the Gentiles would come to the root of Jesse (Isaiah 11:10). Jeremiah (Jeremiah 33:15-16) and Ezekiel (34:23-24) pointed to the reestablishment of the kingdom under one Shepherd and King, who should be David (that is, a son or descendant of David). The book of Daniel speaks about the coming of the Son of Man who should become ruler over nations (Daniel 7:13-14). Haggai and Zechariah speak of a son of David who was destined to be the great temple builder who would rule as the Lord’s “signet ring” (Haggai 2:23) and as the Lord’s servant and he would be known as “the Branch” (Zechariah 3:8).

In the inter-biblical period, at a time when many people began to believe that revelation had ceased, the expectation of a coming Messiah grew. The idea of a coming Messiah is present in the several apocalyptic writings of this time.

William Barclay, in his book, Jesus As They Saw Him (London: SCM Press, 1962), pp. 112-137,
developed a list of events and ideas associated with the coming of the Messiah. This list was drawn from the Old Testament and from the literature of the inter-biblical period:

(1) Elijah will return to be the herald and the forerunner of the Messiah.

(2) The Messianic Age was to begin with what was called the “travail of the Messiah.”

(3) Before the arrival of the Messianic age, there will be a time of terror.

(4) This time of terror will be a time of complete disintegration of society.

(5) The coming of the Messiah will be preceded by a time of cosmic upheaval.

(6) The beginning of the Messianic Age will be a time of judgment.

(7) The Gentiles will have a place in the Kingdom.

(8) The time of the Messiah will be a time for the ingathering of Israel.

(9) In the Messianic Age, Jerusalem would be restored and renewed.

(10) The resurrection of the dead is a regular hope and expectation of the Messianic Age.

At the beginning of the first century, the Messianic hope in Israel was in full bloom. In the Judaism of the time of Jesus, the Messiah expected by Israel was to be someone who would reveal God’s glory. This Messianic hope included the expectation of a deliverer who was to free the people of Israel, who for centuries were ruled and oppressed by foreign conquerors. The Messiah, who would be a man of Israel, would defeat Israel’s enemies and rule over the nations.

Thus, the Messianic expectation in Israel pointed to a coming king, a king who would be raised up from the family of David, reign over the house of Israel, who would rule supreme over the nations, and who would bring the end of time. This was the Messianic expectation of the first century.

This picture of the Messiah is not what the writers of the gospels presented in their writing. The Synoptic gospels’ presentation of Jesus’ life and work, when measured by Messianic expectations of first century Judaism, leaves no doubt that Jesus Christ was not the kind of Messiah people expected.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Christ, David, Messiah, Religion

The Messiah

The Hebrew word messiah (מָשִׁיַח) means “anointed one.” The word is derived from the verb מָשַׁח which means “to anoint.” The word occurs thirty-nine times in the Old Testament. Of these, thirty-seven times the word is translated as "anointed” and twice it is translated as “Messiah” (Daniel 9: 25-26). This latter meaning appears only in the King James Version, the New American Standard Bible, and the Holman Christian Standard Bible. Other versions, however, differ in the translation of Daniel 9:25-26. For instance, the NIV translates the word as “the Anointed One,” the RSV as “an anointed one,” and the New Jerusalem Bible as “an Anointed Prince.”

There are two specific uses for the word messiah in the Old Testament. The word is used to refer to the anointed priest and to the anointed king. The word messiah is used to designate kings Saul and David as “the Lord’s anointed.” Although all the kings of Judah were anointed at the time of their accession to the throne, the word messiah is never used to identify another king of Judah by name. The only exception is found in the prayer of Solomon where, speaking to God, Solomon called himself “your anointed one.”

A reference to an “anointed one” appears in Habakkuk 3:13: “You came to deliver your people, to save your anointed one.” The mention of the anointed one in Habakkuk is a reference to an unidentified anointed king and not to Jesus Christ as some commentators have interpreted. The reference to “the anointed of the Lord” in Lamentations 4:20 could be a reference to Jehoiachin who was considered the legitimate king of Judah (Ezekiel 1:12) or to Zedekiah, the last king of Judah who was deported to Babylon (2 Kings 25:7). The mention of the anointed one in Lamentation is a reference to the theocratic king as spiritus vitalis. The word messiah was also applied to the priest who served in the Tabernacle and the Temple (Leviticus 4:3, 5, 16; 6:22). The reference to the Messiah in Daniel 9:25-26 may be a reference to the high priest. However, these two verses in Daniel have been interpreted in different ways by scholars. Because of its controversial nature, these two verses will not be considered here since I have dealt with Daniel 9:25-26 here, here, and here.

The Hebrew word messiah is also applied to the patriarchs who were regarded as prophets: “Do not touch my anointed ones; do my prophets no harm” (Psalm 105:15; cf. 1 Chronicles 16:22). In 1 Kings 19:16 Elijah is told to anoint Elisha, the son of Shaphat, a man from Abel Meholah, to succeed him as prophet. However, there is no evidence that the patriarchs or the prophets were anointed. Finally, the word messiah is used to describe Cyrus, king of Persia, as the agent YHWH used to deliver Israel from exile: “This is what the LORD says to his anointed, to Cyrus” (Isaiah 45:1).

The form of the title “The Lord’s anointed” is used of Saul (1 Samuel 24: 6, 10) and of David (2 Samuel 19:21). Another form of the title appears as “His anointed” referring to Saul (1 Samuel 12:3, 9), referring to David (2 Samuel 22:51), and to a king who is not identified (Psalms 2:2; 20:6). The form “Mine anointed” is used of a Davidic king (Psalms 132:10). The title “your anointed one” refers to a Davidic king (Psalm 89:38, 51); it refers also to Solomon (2 Chronicles 6:42). The expression “the anointed of the God of Jacob” (KJV; NIV: “the man anointed by the God of Jacob”) is used of David in 2 Samuel 23:1.

The use of the word messiah to describe the king as “the Lord’s anointed” is due to the Israelite conception of the inviolability of the king and the belief that the king was endowed with the Spirit of YHWH (1 Samuel 24:26; 2 Samuel 1:14, 16).

The word messiah is also found in the Qumran literature. In reality, because the Messianic doctrine present in the documents found at Qumran includes many unique features that are closely related to the teachings of the early church, some scholars have suggested that John the Baptist and even Jesus himself borrowed many of their ideas from the people who lived at Qumran. However, such a suggestion has been rejected by most scholars for nowhere at Qumran, at least in the documents that have survived, is there a reference to the unique idea present in New Testament Christology: the pre-existence of the Messiah. One aspect of the eschatological view of the community at Qumran was that the community expected the coming of a Royal Messiah. This Messiah would be the head of the New Israel and the commander of the troops in the Final War against the sons of darkness.

In the New Testament, the transliterated Aramaic form messiah is found only in John 1:41 and 4:25, both times followed by the Greek translation Christos. Elsewhere in the New Testament, when the translation of the Hebrew word messiah is found, that is, “Christ,” the use of the word is a result of the Easter faith.

The form "Christ” became part of the name of Jesus who in the beginning was called “Jesus the Christ” (Matthew 16:20 KJV; cf. John 20:21) and later came to be known simply as Jesus Christ. It must be noted, however, that the word “Christ” is always used by other people to refer to Jesus and not by Jesus to refer to himself. One exception is found in Matthew 16:20 where Jesus “warned his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ.”

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Anointed One, Christ, Messiah

The Nails on Jesus’ Cross

There is an old song that speak of the three rusty nails that were used to crucify Christ on the cross. The first verse of that hymn begins as follows:

Three Rusted Nails

Two thousand years ago you sent your son
You wanted us to understand
That who so ever would believe in him
Would be safe in his hands

(Chorus)
With three rusty nails and an old dogwood tree
The sacrifice was made for you and me
We were afraid to say that he was the one
What have we done to your son

Now, those three rusty nails that were used to crucify Christ is available for sale on eBay. Anyone interested in having that treasure of antiquity can have it by paying 10,000 euros. Below is a picture of the three rusty nails. However, if you are planning the buy the authentic nails used to crucify Christ, you better hurry up, I believe there are only a few sets left.




HT: Lingamish


Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Christ, Cross, Nails