The Messiah

SLIDE 1 You are all probably familiar with the game show Family Feud. Contestants are asked to guess how one hundred people responded to various survey questions. Several years ago one of the survey questions asked: SLIDE 2

When someone mentions ‘the King,’ to whom might he or she be referring?

How would you have answered that question? What would have been your first response? Since we’re sitting in a church building perhaps you would have answer Jesus, the King of kings and Lord of lords. Here are the top four answers from one hundred people interview on the street: SLIDE 3 (CLICK THROUGH LIST)

2 people said, Burger King

3 people said, Martin Luther King, Jr.

7 people said, God or Jesus

81 people said, Elvis Presley

SLIDE 4 I guess I’m surprised that even seven people referred to Jesus. However, what may seem obvious to us was not so obvious to the hundred people asked the question. Nor was it obvious during the years of Jesus’ earthly ministry. In fact, even Jesus’ closest disciples took a long time to understand his true identity. Massive crowds were drawn to Jesus, primarily because of his miracles. His preaching and teaching were also impressive to vast numbers of people. Nevertheless, it took years for some of them to understand his true identity.

SLIDE 5 We are going to be in Luke 9 this evening, but before we get started I want you to turn to the first chapter of John’s gospel. As you turn I want to point out an important word — “Messiah.” In the New Testament Greek the word Messiah is translated as Christ. They mean the same thing. To say that Jesus is the Christ is to say that he is the promised Messiah from the Old Testament.

The word “Messiah” comes from the Hebrew word מָשִׁיחַ (maw-shee'-akh). It simply means anointed or anointed one. It’s found more than three dozen times in the Old Testament. When we hear the word Messiah we probably think of Jesus, but in the Old Testament most of the time it isn’t referring to Jesus. The first time it occurs is in Leviticus and refers an anointed priest. It’s also the word David used referring to King Saul when he was encouraged to take Saul’s life. David said he could never take the life of the Lord’s anointed. Eventually, the term also came to refer to a future deliverer who would rescue his people and usher in a time of prosperity and blessing. While this future blessing had a spiritual sense more often they thought of it a physical reality. Especially in the New Testament, the Jews looked forward to a time when the throne of David would be re-established.

Imagine living under the control of a foreign government that heavily taxed you and stationed troops in our country on a continual basis. We would long for a time when we could return to self-rule. That’s what the Jews were feeling when Jesus was born. They were looking the promised Messiah who would deliver them from Roman tyranny. There were some, both before and after Jesus, who falsely claimed to be the Messiah and who would stir up the hopes of the people but they were all put down by Rome.

One of the more famous was Bar Kochba who claimed to be the Messiah and led a revolt against Rome in 135 AD. Bar Kochba was able to rally troops and after a few early local victories began to convince both the Jewish masses and some in the religious leadership that he was the Messiah and would deliver the Jews from oppressive Roman rule. But Rome crushed the uprising and over half a million Jews were slain and hundreds of thousands more were exiled.

As word began spreading about Jesus — his teachings and his miracles — people began wondering who he was and if he could possibly be the Messiah. They had wondered the same thing about John the Baptist.

John 1:19-23 19 Now this was John’s testimony when the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was. 20 He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, “I am not the Messiah.” 21 They asked him, “Then who are you? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” He answered, “No.” 22 Finally they said, “Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” 23 John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, “I am the voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.’ ”

SLIDE 6 Now turn to Luke 9. The Jewish leaders asked John if he was the Messiah. When John said he wasn’t, they came up with other strange explanations as to who he might be: Elijah or the Prophet. Why would they think that John was Elijah? Through the prophet Malachi, God had said that Elijah would come. SLIDE 7

Malachi 4:5-6 5 See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. SLIDE 8 6 He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction.

SLIDE 9 The Jewish leaders took this to mean that before the Messiah came God would send Elijah or one like Elijah. The description of this Elijah certainly sounds like John. Though John said he wasn’t that Elijah, Jesus said that he was. SLIDE 10

Matthew 11:13-14 13 For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John. 14 And if you are willing to accept it, he is the Elijah who was to come.

SLIDE 11 They also asked John if he was “the Prophet.” In the NIV the word “prophet” is capitalized because they were not just referring to any prophet, but a particular prophet. God had sent many prophets to the Israelites, but they were waiting for the prophet spoken of by Moses. SLIDE 12

Deuteronomy 18:15 The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him.

SLIDE 13 Moses wasn’t referring to the one who would come before the Messiah, he was referring to the Messiah, to Jesus. When John once again says no they just ask, “Then who are you? The guys that sent us want an answer. What should we tell them. It’s then that John finally explained that he was the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy, the one who would prepare the way for the Messiah. We will hear many of these same ideas in our passage from Luke.

Luke 9:18-19 18 Once when Jesus was praying in private and his disciples were with him, he asked them, “Who do the crowds say I am?” 19 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, that one of the prophets of long ago has come back to life.”

Once again Luke gives us a glimpse of Jesus’ prayer life. That Jesus was praying tells us that he and the disciples were no longer with the crowd. They had finally managed to get some time alone. Jesus not only taught the disciples how to pray, but led by example.

Who did the disciples think Jesus was? They’d been traveling with Jesus for months and possibly for a couple of years. They marveled when Jesus calmed the storm: SLIDE 14

Luke 8:25b In fear and amazement they asked one another, “Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him.”

SLIDE 15 The question of Jesus’ identity had been asked since the beginning of his ministry. The religious leaders wanted to know. SLIDE 16

Luke 5:21 The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, “Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

The civil leaders wanted to know. SLIDE 17

Luke 9:9 But Herod said, “I beheaded John. Who, then, is this I hear such things about?” And he tried to see him.”

SLIDE 18 But now, Jesus is asking the disciples what they had heard the people say about him and they come up with the same answers the Jewish leaders had suggested about John: Elijah, one of the prophets, or maybe even John the Baptist who had been killed by this time and had come back to life. The majority of the common people held Jesus in high regards, but they had no idea who Jesus really was.

If we were to ask people today who they think Jesus is, I’m not sure we’d get answers that are much better than those mentioned by the disciples. I think C. S. Lewis but it best in his book “Basic Christianity” when he wrote:

I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: “I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.” That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic—on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg—or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.

It is important to have an answer and not just someone else’s answer. We each need our own answer to the question. There are even some Christians who have a difficult time with this question. They are ready to say he’s their Savior who died for their sin, but they aren’t ready to say he’s their Lord who has authority to tell them what to do. However, that’s who he is. Paul wrote to the Philippians: SLIDE 19

Philippians 2:9-11 9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, SLIDE 20 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, SLIDE 21 11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

And Jesus said: SLIDE 22

John 14:15 If you love me, keep my commands.

SLIDE 23

Ray Ortlund, who preached in Nashville for many years, described how we are to come to Jesus this way:

You and I are not integrated, unified, whole persons. Our hearts are multi-divided. It’s like we have a boardroom in every heart. Imagine: a big table, leather chairs, coffee, bottled water, and a whiteboard. A committee sits around the table in your heart. There is the social self, the private self, the work self, the sexual self, the recreational self, the religious self, and others. The committee is arguing and debating and voting, constantly agitated and upset. Rarely can they come to a unanimous, wholehearted decision. We tell ourselves we’re this way because we’re so busy with so many responsibilities. But the truth is that we’re just divided, unfocused, hesitant, and unfree.

That kind of person can “accept Jesus” in two ways. One way is to invite him onto the committee. Give him a vote too. But then he becomes just one more complication. The other way to “accept Jesus” is to say to him, “My life isn’t working. Please come in and fire my committee, every last one of them. I hand myself over to you. I am your responsibility now. Please run my whole life for me.”

That’s what Jesus wants. He wants to be Lord over our lives. It is important that we know who Jesus is and his role in our lives. So, Jesus asks the disciples:

Luke 9:20 20 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Peter answered, “God’s Messiah.”

The Greek says “Christ” but it means Messiah. Peter is acknowledging what many had hoped for, the coming of God’s Anointed One. That Jesus was God’s Anointed, the Messiah, had been revealed to the shepherds out in the field watching over their sheep the night Jesus was born: SLIDE 24

Luke 2:11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.

It had also been revealed to Simeon. SLIDE 25

Luke 2:26 It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah.

And now, it had been revealed to Peter and the other disciples. SLIDE 26

Matthew 16:17 Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven.”

SLIDE 27 Some have supposed that Jesus asked the disciples because he needed to be reassured of their knowledge of who he is. I don’t think so. I don’t think Jesus’ self-identity was wrapped up in what the disciples thought of him. He knew who he was and he was confident in his relationship with his Father. He didn’t need to know what they thought. He already knew because he knew the hearts of people. But, the disciples needed to know. They need to express it verbally for themselves. And what was Jesus’ reaction?

Luke 9:21 21 Jesus strictly warned them not to tell this to anyone.

In the Greek, there’s more to this command. The NASB translates it this way: SLIDE 28

Luke 9:21 (NASB) But He warned them and instructed them not to tell this to anyone.

SLIDE 29 Jesus did not want the disciples making his identity know.

It’s been almost three years since Jesus began his ministry. Soon, he would be heading to Jerusalem where he would be crucified. Other than for the demons, Peter is the first to rightly declare Jesus’ true identity and Jesus tells them, as he did the demons, not to tell anyone. Perhaps it was because of the many misconceptions about who the Messiah was and what the Messiah would do. If that sentiment had spread throughout the region it wouldn’t have taken much to start a political movement or a rebellion against Rome. There had already been some who had tried. In Acts 5, Gamaliel mentioned two uprisings which the Romans quickly put down. Jesus didn’t want that of his followers so he instructed the disciples not to tell anyone of his identity.

“Who do you say I am?” We each need to be ready with an answer to this most important question.

One man going through customs, when asked for the hundredth time that day, “Do you have anything to declare?” answered, “Yes, I do. I declare that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”

What we think about Jesus is everything. Our acceptance or rejection of him makes all the difference not only in this life but in the life to come. We must understand that Jesus is the Messiah, God’s Son who came in the flesh, was crucified, buried, and rose from the dead. He died not simply because the Jews arrested him and the Romans crucified him, he died because he willing laid down his life for us. SLIDE 30

John 10:18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.

SLIDE 31 Jeff Strite imagines a man who had a dream. In his dream he witnessed the Day of Judgment. He saw billions of people scattered out across a great plain before the throne of God. And then, he overheard voices.

“How can God judge us?” one asked “What does He know about suffering?” said another, who rolled up her sleeve to reveal a tattooed number from a Nazi concentration camp “We endured terror, beatings, torture and death!” From another group came the comment from a black man who pulled down the collar of his shirt “What about this!” he demanded, showing an ugly rope burn. “Lynched for no crime but being black! We were suffocated in slave ships, been wrenched from loved ones, toiled till death gave release.”

Far out across the plain were hundreds of such groups. Each had a complaint against God for the evil and suffering he had permitted in his world. So, they decided to make their case before God.

Each group sent a representative to prepare their defense. There was a Jew from Germany, a Black man from the United States, an untouchable from India, an illegitimate person, a victim of Hiroshima, and someone who’d endured the horrors of a Siberian slave camp. Their decision was that before God could judge them he should be “Sentenced to live on earth as a man!” And then they made their list of demands

He must be born of a despised race

The legitimacy of his birth should be doubted so that no one would know who was really his father

He should champion a cause so just, but so radical that it would bring down upon him the hate, condemnation, and efforts of every major traditional and established religious authority to eliminate him

He should have to try to describe what no man had ever seen, tasted, heard, or smelled — he must try to communicate God to man

He should be betrayed by someone he considered a friend

He should be indicted on false charges, tried before a prejudiced jury, and convicted by a cowardly judge

He should see what it is to be completely and terribly alone

And he should be tortured and die the most humiliating of deaths

As the man dreamed he realized that God had already done those very things.