Messiah

Christology 101 (His names)

He is the head of the body, the church( i.e. the congregation); he is the beginning, the first-born from the dead, that in everything he might be pre-eminent. Col. 1:18

Jesus/Yeshua appears 612 in the Gospels. In the rest of the New Testament, it only appears 71 times.
Messiah/Christ appears 56 times in the Gospels. In the rest of the New Testament, it appears 256 times.

He is called Jesus/Yeshua before His death and resurrection, however after those events His followers especially those who wrote the New Testament, fully recognize Him as the Messiah/Christ.

The Old Testament is full of Messiah predictions and the New Testament is full of Christ fulfillment. It is just a matter of language. Messiah is Hebrew and Christ is Greek, their meaning is exactly the same, “anointed one”.

Yeshua/Jesus

Yeshua/Jesus is not an uncommon name, it is, in fact, a truncation of the name Joshua, which means Salvation is of the LORD or YHWH, (sometimes miss-transliterated as Jehovah). It is the name Jesus/Yeshua that was nailed over His head on the cross. (See Also: God? What’s in a Name)

There is nothing special about His name, in fact, the whole world believes that there is a Jesus, but only a believer believes that He is the Messiah, and as Messiah, He is our Lord and Master, and it is this declaration that, “saves”.

. . . because, if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Rom. 10:9

It does not say, “ask Jesus into your heart”, it does not say you must have some water poured or sprinkled, nothing about believing in some prophets from here or there. Just a simple statement that He is Master of your life. Not our friend, not our buddy, our Master, our Lord, our King.

Messiah

All Judea was waiting for the Messiah. They had the prophecies of Daniel. They knew that the 480 years were up. (See Also: Dan 9: Proof that Jesus/Yeshua is the Messiah) They were looking.

He first found his brother Simon, and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means Christ). John 1:41

The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ); when he comes, he will show us all things.” John 4:25

However, they had so fantasied about the Days of the Messiah, that when the real Messiah showed up He was nothing like their fantasies. They were expecting a political messiah. One who destroyed the Roman Empire and made a Jewish Empire. They imagined great wealth and power for all the Jewish people. There was nothing of the “good tidings, of great joy to ALL peoples.” They had imagined that it was about them and only them. So when He wasn’t what they expected, the larger part of them rejected Him.

Messiah/Christ is the anointed one and doesn’t have to mean The Messiah or even deity, the high priests were anointed ones, the kings of ancient Israel and Judah were anointed ones, and so were the prophets. [Lev 8:1,2,12; 1 King 15:1; 1 King 19;16] However from the very first prophecy it was known that one was coming that would be anointed for the task of taking back what Satan had done.

I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” Gen. 3:15

Most all pagan systems have a memory of this first universal prophecy as they have redeemer deity or semi-deity that kills a snake while dying from the snake biting his heel. They understood the literal meaning of the passage but not the symbolic. So when Messiah did come and fulfill this promise the pagan world was ready for their true redeemer, and they saw the connection clearly. That old serpent was defeated.

Satan had moved and manipulated all the people to turn on the Messiah and have Him crucified. Then for three dark days, it had seemed as if Satan had won. Probably even Satan thought that he had beaten the prophecy. But three days later the tomb was empty and the serpents head was crushed. His doom was marked, his battle lost, there is nothing for him but to go prowling for crumbs at the edges of the kingdom.

Be sober, be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking some one to devour. 1 Pet. 5:8

Those who call Him Lord cannot be devoured. It is only the weak, silly, and ignorant, who claim to be Messiah’s friend or buddy but their faith is not built on solid ground, He is not their Lord, so Satan can get make an easy meal of them. They sit in the pews thinking that they are full when they are empty husks, as they have already been devoured.

We know them by the habits, they call Him, Blessed Jesus, or Sweet Jesus, he is all of that and more, but to the true believer, he is LORD. His Kingdom and Reign is in our hearts.

He is the Anointed Prophet

23 And it shall be that every soul that does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from the people.’ 24 And all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those who came afterwards, also proclaimed these days. Act 3:22-23

He is Anointed Priests

14 Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we have not a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Heb. 4:14-15

He is Anointed, King

31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. 32 He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there will be no end.” Luke 1:31-33

Deity

For centuries men have been attacking the Deity of our Lord either subtly or straight on. Everyone believes that there was a historical figure named Jesus/Yeshua, however most false systems do not believe in sin, so there is no need for a Savior. They have no need of His blood, His resurrection, His substitutionary sacrifice, or His return. He died for nothing. Which leaves them with a Jesus/Yeshua who was either a liar or a madman?

Some of His own followers thought that they might have been following a madman, for those three dark days.

19 And he said to them, “What things?” And they said to him, “Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, 20 and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him. 21 But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since this happened. Luke 24:19-21

At that point to them, he was just plain Jesus/Yeshua. But as He went on they came to understand that He had to fulfill all the prophets had spoken. He explained that the Messiah had to suffer before entering the glory. Those few went back to the others in Jerusalem an announced, “He has risen”. The others told them the Peter had also seen Him.

It is at this point that we see the change in the text from plain Jesus/Yeshua to Messiah/Christ.