The Roles of the Messiah
Tre Cime di Lavaredo, the Sexten Dolomites, northeastern Italy.
In a previous post I mentioned that the Messiah was a unique one who would be set apart for he would function in three ways by being a prophet, priest, and king.
His coming as a prophet goes all the way back to when Israel became a nation before God at Mt. Sinai. This is what Moses told the people at that time: The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me [i.e., Moses] from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him. For this is what you asked of the LORD your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said, “Let us not hear the voice of the LORD our God nor see this great fire anymore, or we will die.”
The LORD said to me: “What they say is good. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their fellow Israelites, and I will put my words in his mouth. He will tell them everything I command him. I myself will call to account anyone who does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name (Dt 18:15-19).
Jesus functioned as a prophet like Moses in four main ways: (1) Both followed God’s commands. In John 6, Jesus said: For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me (Jn 6:38); (2) Both did signs and miracles. Peter said in Acts 2: … Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him … (Ac 2:22); (3) Both admonished, warned, directed, encouraged, and taught the people; and (4) Both established covenants God gave: Moses, the Law; Christ the New Covenant. To make a new covenant, Christ did not abolish the Law of Moses but fulfilled the Law. Because he fulfilled it, it was no longer in effect and he was able to create another, and better, covenant with us.
This then begs the question: How did Jesus fulfill the Law? Isaiah prophesied the following: Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life an offering for sin (in Hebrew, this word is ashem: אָשֵׁם), he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand (Is 53:10).
Ashem (אָשֵׁם) = trespass offering (Lev 5:19). This means Jesus became our trespass offering.
This, and other scriptures about the coming Messiah, led some Jewish leaders to think the Messiah may be two different people as it seemed unclear how one could last forever and still give his life as an offering for sin. Yet, by saying his days would be prolonged, this verse implies he would rise again.
There were seven feasts God provided to the Israelites under the Law of Moses. Four were prophetically fulfilled at Jesus’ first coming. Three are still to be prophetically fulfilled because they are for the nation of Israel and not for the church. However, Jesus himself did fulfill each of them in regard to the expectation of the Law as he was the true Messiah.
Four he directly fulfilled prophetically: Passover, Unleavened Bread, Firstfruit, and Pentecost.
He became the Pascal lamb of Passover (Pesach) and as we just stated, he became the trespass offering for all our sins. He bore our sins, so we don’t have to. Unleavened bread, or matzah, is without yeast meaning the Messiah would be without sin. Matzah contains stripes of small holes which can symbolically represent the stripes from the beating he was given just prior to his crucifixion. Isaiah states we are healed by these stripes (Is 53:5). Yet he was raised back to life to prove who he was and to become the firstfruit (Bikkurim) of the resurrection, which is now the hope of all who trust in him (1Co 15:20). Pentecost (Shavuot) was the first feast that Gentiles were able to participate in. While Jesus stated he came for the Israelites, he was always willing to bestow his kindness and healing on Gentiles who had faith in him. There is a story in Luke where Jesus healed 10 lepers and told them to go present themselves to the priest so they could be officially declared healed. Only one came back and offered their thanks. Why? He was a Samaritan and would not be accepted by the priest in Jerusalem because of his ethnicity—not because of his not being healed. He came not only to give his thanks but came to the only one who could pronounce him clean and healed. This feast also represents the giving of the Holy Spirt and birth of his Church.
Three feasts have not yet been prophetically fulfilled: Feast of Trumpets (Rosh Hashannah), Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), and Feast of Tabernacles (Succot). See the following for the rationale for the order of these feasts (Fall Jewish Holidays). However, Jesus did meet the Law’s requirements for what these feasts represented. He fulfilled the Feast of Trumpets as this was a feast asking God to remember his covenant with them as that was the only basis they had to stand before him because they were sinful. After 400 years of prophetic silence, the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary stating she would give birth to their promised Messiah. During the Day of Atonement, there were two goats presented before the LORD: one was chosen by God as a sacrifice for sin and the other, called the scapegoat, was released into the wilderness representing their sins being removed from their presence (Lv 16). At Jesus’ trial, Pilate presented the people a choice. Jesus or Barabbas. Some ancient manuscripts state that Barabbas was also named Jesus: Jesus Barabbas, meaning: Jesus, son of the father. They had to choose between which Jesus, son of the father, they would free as the scapegoat and which to choose as a sacrifice for sin. They chose Jesus Christ, son of the Heavenly Father, as their sacrifice. Jesus was called Immanuel, meaning God with us. Jesus was with his people for 33-35 years.
The time of his coming and his death was also prophesied. In Daniel, it says: Know and understand this: From the time the word goes out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One [Messiah], the ruler, comes, there will be seven ‘sevens,’ and sixty-two ‘sevens.’ It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble. After the sixty-two ‘sevens,’ the Anointed One [Messiah] will be put to death and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed (Da 9:25-27).
From history, we are told that Nehemiah finished building the wall of Jerusalem in 444 BC. The 69 sevens would represent 483 years of prophetic years (i.e., 7 x 69) and then if we convert a prophecy year into a calendar year (360 days/year / 365.25 days/year) and then subtract the 444 years in order to go from BCE to CE and realize there was no year zero, we come to 33 CE (or 33 AD).
This verse should have alerted the Jewish scholars and leaders to three things: (1) Jesus may have been the Messiah or at least worth investigating since this verse pointed to the time in which they were living; (2) This verse reveals that the prophecies about the Messiah may have a time component to them; and (3) If the temple and Jerusalem were destroyed before they recognized a Messiah had come, then that meant they missed the Messiah’s coming.
The Messiah’s role as priest was prophesied as was his eternality: “The LORD has sworn and will not change his mind: “You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek” [Ps 110:4].
Christ now functions as our high priest by the following four ways: (1) He is not a priest like Aaron who administered worship according to the Law given to Moses. Jesus fulfilled the Law and provided a once-for-all sacrifice. … he [Christ] entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption (Hb 9:12); (2) Christ continuously intercedes for believers. He [Christ] is able to save completely for those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them (Hb 7:25); (3) His priesthood is eternal. Peter tells us in his first epistle: Because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood (Hb 9:24); and (4) We can now approach God with confidence because of Christ’s role as our mediator. Peter tells us the following in his first epistle: But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy (1Pt 2:9-10).
The Messiah’s kingship was also prophesied: Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. I will take away the chariots from Ephraim and the warhorses from Jerusalem, and the battle bow will be broken. He will proclaim peace to the nations. His rule will extend from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth [Zc 9:9-13].
This is what the Jewish leaders taught and most Jews looked for: a conquering hero. There are probably more verses about the coming Messiah’s reign as king than either as a prophet or priest. So, him coming as a king became the Jewish mindset and focus, causing many to ignore and not reconcile most other prophecies about him.
Although the people shouted “Hosanna” (i.e., “please, save”), the Jewish leaders did not. Despite prophecy being fulfilled before their eyes, they believed Jesus to contrive fulfilling the prophecy and did not receive him as their Messiah because of their pride. They could not envision their Messiah not welcoming them and praising their efforts in keeping the Law.
Christ’s responsibilities as King include governing with authority, serving with compassion but with righteousness, and establishing a kingdom characterized by justice and mercy. There are several key verses to support this: (1) The greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever (Is 9:7); (2) He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in his faithfulness (Ps 96:13b); and (3) On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: King of Kings and Lord of Lords (Rv 19:16).
As we can see, all three roles of the Messiah were prophesied. But why did he not fulfill all these prophecies about each of these roles at his coming? This was one of the main reasons the Jewish leaders were critical of Jesus because he did not do this. Was there a reason? Yes, a very important reason. This is what we’ll talk about next time. I hope you join me.
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Visit Books & Words to Inspire by Randy C. Dockens