The Messiah

Intro

Good evening students! It is great to see everyone here. This week, we are taking a little break from our study through the Gospel of Mark. Tonight, we will be our Christmas message as we will look at the Messiah who was prophesied, came, and brought salvation. As we look in tonight’s message, we will be bouncing around a little bit within Scripture. That being said, have your Bibles ready to flip between pages. However, go ahead and open your Bibles up to Isaiah 9. That is where we will begin tonight.

While you turn there, I want to think back and remember from the very beginning of Scripture. In the beginning, God created the whole universe. Everything that He created was good. He created male and female. The man named Adam and the female named Eve. God gave them the command to not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This was the one command that they were given. But, what happened? Adam and Eve ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. In doing so, sin entered the world and spread to all mankind. Sin spread as far as you and me. We are all born with a sin nature and inclined or have the desire to sin. In the Old Testament, Jesus had not come yet. God had instituted His law and sacrificial system that would bring about the forgiveness of sins. However, because humanity was so sinful, the sacrificial system no longer accomplished what it was supposed to accomplish, it was distorted by man. However, hope was given through the prophets that an anointed one or a Messiah would come and deliver God’s people from oppression.

Look with me at Isaiah 9:1-7

Isaiah 9:1–7 ESV

1 But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations. 2 The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone. 3 You have multiplied the nation; you have increased its joy; they rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as they are glad when they divide the spoil. 4 For the yoke of his burden, and the staff for his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian. 5 For every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult and every garment rolled in blood will be burned as fuel for the fire. 6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

Pray.

The Messiah was prophesied.

In the book of Isaiah, we see that this Messiah was prophesied. He is prophesied by the prophet Isaiah. During the time of Isaiah, Israel and Judah were facing oppression from the Assyrians. In Isaiah 9, the prophet speaks of a child that is coming and will establish a government that will free Israel or God’s people from oppression.

We notice that Isaiah writes,

Isaiah 9:1–2 ESV

1 But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations. 2 The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone.

Isaiah has just prophesied that the Assyrians are coming to invade. This will bring about doom and gloom. These people were not living for God, practicing sinful things, and cursing God. Now, they were coming to invade. These people were dark as described by their sinfulness.

However, verse 2 reveals that light has come and light has shone on them, God’s people. This light has come and now the nation is increasing and rejoicing with victory. Look back at verse 3

Isaiah 9:3 ESV

3 You have multiplied the nation; you have increased its joy; they rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as they are glad when they divide the spoil.

God’s people will be rejoicing at the coming of this great light. As the light came in the midst of darkness is it though victory has come and rejoicing is now taking place. Verse 4-5 tells us:

Isaiah 9:4–5 ESV

4 For the yoke of his burden, and the staff for his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian. 5 For every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult and every garment rolled in blood will be burned as fuel for the fire.

The burden and oppression or suffering that God’s people had faced would be gone and done away with. No longer does fear, death, oppression, and suffering face God’s people because the light or Messiah had come to deliver them from the enemy.

This was all prophesied by Isaiah that deliverance would come for God’s people, Israel and Judah. Isaiah prophesied that they would be freed from their enemies by a coming Messiah. This is detailed in verses 6-7

Isaiah 9:6–7 ESV

6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

In verse 6, we see that a child is born and a son is given. This is the Messiah. The Messiah will be both natural and supernatural. He will be a child born which is natural. We were all born. However, He will be a son given. That speaks of the supernatural. What I mean there is that the Messiah will be a son that is given. This speaks of the divinity or how the Messiah will be of God. Isaiah points out the fully man and fully God nature of this coming Messiah. The Messiah will be God incarnate. As Isaiah 7:14 says,

Isaiah 7:14 ESV

14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

The Messiah will be called Immanuel meaning God with us.

Isaiah even states that the government will be on His shoulders and He will carry all these magnificent titles such as Wonderful Counselor, Might God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. The Messiah conqueror that will bring about the things mentioned in verses 1-5 is revealed in verses 6 and 7. It seems as though this Messiah will set up an earthly reign and have an ever increasing government. The Messiah would be the great deliverer of God’s people. He would free them from their oppression. He would be their king and God would reign with His people. The Messiah is prophesied.

The Messiah has come.

As we just saw the Messiah prophesied, we turn to the New Testament. This Messiah is promised and supposed to come and establish His government which will free God’s people from oppression and be a blessing. In the Gospel of Matthew, we see that One has come and His name is Jesus.

Matthew 1:18–25 ESV

18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. 19 And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. 20 But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: 23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us). 24 When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, 25 but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.

Matthew writes and the Messiah that was prophesied has come. Notice, He is born of a virgin as pointed out in Isaiah 7:14. Likewise, His name is called Immanuel meaning God with us. The deliverer has come. Finally, the king that will deliver God’s people is here.

We see that the child is born of a virgin. Mary was the mother of Jesus. She was a virgin meaning that she was pure and had never been intimate with a man. She conceived by the Holy Spirit a child. The angel appeared to Joseph and revealed to him that this child would be called Jesus and He would save his people from their sins. Jesus was born natural from His mother, Mary. Yet, Jesus is the son given as He was given by God from the Holy Spirit. Jesus was given by God and fully God. He truly is the One prophesied about in Isaiah 9. He is natural yet supernatural as He is both fully man and fully God. Jesus has entered the world and hope for restoration and forgiveness of sin is found.

Jesus came born of a virgin in a lowly manger in Bethlehem. Jesus being fully man and fully God lived and walked on the earth perfectly and never sinning. He is God’s Son that was given to us. Jesus came and served as a suffering servant instead of as a lofty king. Look at some of these verses that detail why Jesus came.

Luke 19:10 ESV

10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

Mark 10:45 KJV 1900

45 For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.

Throughout the Gospels as we have study in Mark, we see that Jesus came healing the lame, leper, blind, demon-possessed, and deaf. He came and loved the least of these. Likewise, Jesus lived perfectly never sinning, but He was attacked time and time again by the religious leaders of the time: the Pharisees and Sadducees.

For the Jews, the hope was still rooted in Isaiah 9 as they were seeking for a messiah king to come and establish his government. Their hope was in an earthly king that would establish a government that would make Israel a world power and they would no longer be oppressed by other nations. They were seeking an earthly ruler. They wanted one to establish a kingdom and reign for their betterment. They were looking for a ruler on a great horse not a carpenter riding on a donkey knowing His death was certain.

Because of this, they rejected Jesus as Messiah. The Messiah that was promised was rejected. This was also prophesied by Isaiah. Isaiah prophesied that a Messiah would come. His kingdom would be established; however, His kingdom is not earthly. His kingdom is eternal. Jesus came to deliver humanity from their ultimate oppression: sin. All the way from the Garden of Eden sin has affected humanity. Humanity has fallen to sin and was hopeless. Humanity needed a savior. They got one in Jesus Christ, the Suffering Servant.

Isaiah prophesied about Jesus’s suffering.

Isaiah 53:1–12 ESV

1 Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? 2 For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. 3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. 7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. 8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? 9 And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. 10 Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. 11 Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.

Jesus was the suffering servant that bore the ultimate oppression of sin for us.

The Messiah brought salvation.

John 19:16–30 ESV

16 So he delivered him over to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus, 17 and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. 18 There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them. 19 Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” 20 Many of the Jews read this inscription, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Aramaic, in Latin, and in Greek. 21 So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but rather, ‘This man said, I am King of the Jews.’ ” 22 Pilate answered, “What I have written I have written.” 23 When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his garments and divided them into four parts, one part for each soldier; also his tunic. But the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom, 24 so they said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it shall be.” This was to fulfill the Scripture which says, “They divided my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.” So the soldiers did these things, 25 but standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” 27 Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home. 28 After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.” 29 A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. 30 When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

Jesus was the true Messiah that came and was rejected by sinful humanity. However, in His rejection, Jesus paid the price for our sins. Were are sinful humanity that is incapable of honoring God apart from saving faith in Jesus Christ. The whole point of Christmas is that salvation has arrived through Jesus Christ the child born and the son given. Our ultimate problem and oppression is sin. We all sin and fall short of the glory of God. As I said, we cannot honor God and gain the forgiveness of sins. The sacrificial system was set up but because of sinful humanity it was insufficient. Humanity could not live according to God’s Law. Humanity was hopeless in sin.

But God, loving us so much sent Jesus to live a perfect life in fulfillment of Law and then, He died on the cross for the sins of the world. He took my place. He took your place on the cross and paid the price for the sins that we commit against God the Father. As He hung upon the cross, God’s wrath was poured out upon the perfect Messiah. Then, as the payment for sin was made, Jesus cried out “Tetelestai” or It is finished meaning that the wrath of God had been satisfied and our sin was paid for by Jesus.

As He died, He was placed in a borrowed tomb, but He rose from the grave after three days victorious over sin, satan, and death. Then, He ascended to the right hand of the Father were His throne is established and He reigns. The Messiah Jesus Christ did come to establish a kingdom. He established a heavenly kingdom that will eternally increase.

Invitation

Christian: This Christmas will you reflect on the true meaning of Christmas: The Coming of Jesus to Save Humanity?

Non-Christian: Gospel.