What Do You Believe About Jesus?

Introduction: Jesus, the Jewish Messiah

Tonight, let’s begin with a question. What do you believe about Jesus?

Often, we take our faith in Jesus for granted. An aspect of being a Christian is being one who believes in the testimony about Jesus Christ. The anchor of our faith is planted in the fact that Jesus is the Son of God, Israel’s Messiah (1 John 5:1, 2:22-23).

Yet, to understand what we believe, we must also understand what one was not to believe. It becomes too easy to base our beliefs on the current matters of the day (who should we vote for, how should we deal with matters of sexuality, should we have a Arminian or Calvinist understanding of soteriology). However, the greatest opposition to the gospel is found in the arguments of Jesus’s day and how those ideas are somehow present in the world today. Essentially, we are still fighting against the reality of Jesus’s Messiahship. Consequently, we must firmly place our faith into Jesus as Christ, the Son of the living God (Matthew 16:16).

A healthy faith walk with Christ grows from a healthy understanding of who He is. Tonight, I am going to argue that the correct belief in Jesus as Christ, the Son of the living God is the only way to know we are in a right relationship with the Father. Any diversion from this faithful testimony is the spirit of the Antichrist (1 John 2:18-20).

If we should think that a gentle reminder of the testimony of Jesus Christ is not needed, we should only look at the recent findings of some of the latest research. In 2022, Christianity Today published an article Top 5 Heresies Among American Evangelicals. This article revealed,

56% of evangelicals in this study believe God accepts the worship of all religions, including Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.

73% believe Jesus is “the first and greatest being created by God.”

43% believe Jesus is not God.

These statistics demonstrate how few Christians actually hold a biblical view of Jesus Christ. As a result, very few are actually Christians. We must take this data seriously, because we are called to absolutely declare the testimony of Jesus Christ. That is, we must, without hesitation or uncertainty, declare that Jesus is Messiah, Son of God and He is the only way to the Father.

Now, Christianity becomes a simple social institution if Jesus is not who He says He is. Many of the individuals of the time had a different understanding of what the Messiah would do. Consequently, many of them failed to see Jesus for who He really was. Although religious, they were blind to the reality of their Messiah. There were two main arguments during the first century that made believing in Jesus difficult:

Israel did not need a Messiah at the time

Israel’s Messiah is not a deity, but a man

*Play video*

Two Arguments Against Jesus as Messiah

Israel did not need a Messiah at the time of Jesus’s arrival.

As we noted in the video, one of the critical arguments is that Jesus’s arrival as Messiah was not needed because Israel was doing perfectly fine. After all, the temple was standing and things were continuing as normal. Therefore, the Jews had no need for a Messiah.

Another substantial note concerning the Messiah is the idea that they are supposed to gather all of the exiles and rebuild the temple. This is incredibly important deserves our attention to understand why this is so important. Where did this Rabbi get this understanding of the Messiah?

Immediately, we see that salvation is a way of returning back to a previously held position of favor. This favor is manifested through by inhabiting the land that was given to Israel after the exile. Again, salvation is the return to a land that was lost through disobedience and the rebuilding of a temple. This idea is based out of the exilic period that began during the Assyrian empire and flowed throughout the Babylonian captivity (2 Chronicles 36:17-21). Therefore, the Messianic figure that is in mind to relieve the people of God from this sort of bondage is not what we get in Jesus, but what was understood by the example of Cyrus, the king of Persia–who is actually called Messiah (2 Chronicles 36:22-23 c.f. Jeremiah 25:1-14; Isaiah 44:21-45:13).

Three things happen from this model of Messiahship: 1) Israel’s enemies are punished (Jeremiah 25:1-14) and 2) Jerusalem’s temple is rebuilt (Isaiah 44:28, and 3) the people return to Jerusalem (Isaiah 45:13).

Surely, as we will see, all these things happened. So, the big question is—why or was Israel looking for a Messiah in the first century?

Remember, Jeremiah stated the captivity of Babylon would last for 70 years. Then, the Babylonian empire would be destroyed. However, he did not say that their exile would last only 70 years. We soon discover that Judah’s exile would last over 400 years.

Daniel 9 provides incredible insight on this matter. Daniel 9 is prophesied nearly 67 years after Israel had been in exile. Darius is the king and Daniel learns that what was thought to be 70 years of exile is really 490 years (Daniel 9:24). During this time, we have the desolation and desecration that is to convene during this 400 year period that leaves Israel hopeless as their temple is desecrated and sacrifices are put to an end (Antiochus Epiphanes who murdered Onians III and worshiped Zeus). In short, their times of trouble are far from being over. Rather, we have evidence for a continuation of troubles that would necessitate a Messianic figure. The troubles experienced during the 400 years of silence actually demonstrate how this great anticipation occurs as the nation of Israel is faced with brutal afflictions from pagan empires, notably Antiochus Epiphanes and ultimately Rome.

The long history of Judah’s suffering is documented in history. However, Scripture gives us this evidence of these circumstances in Matthew 9:35–38 “Jesus traveled through all the towns and villages of that area, teaching in the synagogues and announcing the Good News about the Kingdom. And he healed every kind of disease and illness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were confused and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. He said to his disciples, “The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields.””

Notice the exilic reference to sheep being scattered. In essence, this verse is not a invitation to evangelize the world. Rather, it is an invitation to gather those ones who have been the subject of pagan brutality for over 400 years. Let them know their Messiah has arrived.

Jesus embodied the typical idea of Messiah and spiritualized it, because He recognized the ultimate way for Israel to be redeemed was through spiritual reformation; not national reformation, which seemingly failed several times over. So, when the Jews of Jesus’s day were analyzing the validity ofJesus’ testimony, their major mistake was failure to see the evident proof of Jesus being the Messiah. Another key proof in our text is the fact that John was looking for the One (Matthew 11:2-6).

Israel’s Messiah is not a deity, but a man.

This portion of our study is the most controversial and most difficult to defend, because there are a few subtle hints that the fact that the Messiah would be God (Isaiah 9:6, Jeremiah 23:5-6, Micah 5:2). However, this is what makes the message about Christ unlike A message about David, Cyrus, or some other priest or king. Jesus is not just a messiah. He is the Messiah. Nevertheless, at best what we have is Jesus’s acceptance of being God and the testimony of those who were convinced He was God, which provides ample evidence of such claims. Since we believe their testimony is reliable, we accept their claims and invest our faith.

One of the greatest debates on Jesus’s equality with God is found in John 5:16-47. There are three things that validate the fact that Jesus is God:

The teachings of Jesus (John 14:10)

The miracles of Jesus (John 14:10-11)

The resurrection of Jesus (John 11:25, Romans 1:3-4)

Other passages are: Matthew 9:23, John 1:1, 14, John 8:58, John 20:28, Romans 9:5, Colossians 2:9, Hebrews 1:8, 2 Peter 1:1, 1 John 5:20

Conclusion

What we believe as Christians are no small claims. We believe, the man who walked on earth, known as Jesus was Israel’s God. We don’t believe this, because we witnessed it. Rather, we believe it because Scriptures gives us sufficient evidence to invest our faith.

How did the earliest believers find the means to accept this testimony? How did they come to this conclusion? They believed, the Word, which is eternal and very God, came alive to them. They were able to capture the essence and the message of Scripture, and with faith they were able to see beyond the costume of flesh and perceive the divinity of God.

Once, I was at the beach. As I sat looking at the sea shore and watching my kids, I noticed a subtle coat of dullness that was not previously there. I took my glasses off and wiped them with my shirt only to discover no drastic change. Then, I took them off again and wiped the lenses with the opposite side of my shirt. Oh the clarity I experienced upon placing them back onto my face. The sea was clearer, brighter, bolder, and more enjoyable than ever before.

This is how many of us are when it comes to Christ. The salt of the ever-vibrant oceans has veiled our eyes in a way that makes it nearly impossible to see Christ. However, as the Spirit gives us the ability, and as our hopes drive us towards a longing for Him, may we see Him more clearly than ever before (2 Corinthians 3:13-18).