Jesus Christ (the Messiah)
Titles are important, and Jesus has a great number of them ascribed to Him. The most familiar is Jesus Christ, which in the Hebrew is Jeshua Ha’Mashiach. In other words, Messiah (Hebrew) is the equivalent title to Christ (Greek).
Christ/Messiah means “anointed” or “the anointed one.” This points us to Jesus’ baptism in the River Jordan (Mt 3:13–17). It was there that the Holy Spirit descended upon Him with the appearance of a dove (Mt 3:16). This marked the beginning of Jesus’ earthly ministry.
The term, Messiah, is rare in the Old Testament. Only the prophet Daniel in the Babylonian exile (586–516 B.C.), uses the term in relationship to the timing of His arrival (Dan 9:25–26). This is part of the Messianic fervor surrounding Jesus’ first advent. People were looking for the fulfillment of the prophecy, written by Daniel.
The prophecy has a time element: 70 weeks. There are seven days in a week. This means the equation presented to us is 70 times 7. It had been some 490 years since Daniel’s ministry in exile.
Messiah’s connecting point in the New Testament is Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well in Sychar. This is recorded in John 4. Much ado has been made about the timing the prophecy, but our purpose centers on the Person, title, and the works He would accomplish (Dan 9:24).
The Samaritans were descendants of the Israelites, who had been of the northern tribes conquered by the Assyrians in 722 B.C. God had given these tribes over to judgment because of their separation from Jerusalem and the house of David. Samaria had become Israel’s capitol city (northern kingdom), along with high places of worship (ie. Dan; Samaria), other than Jerusalem.
When the Assyrians conquered the northern (ten tribes) kingdom, they dispersed the people among the other conquered lands. This strategy weakened each of the nations, individually. It also caused co-mingling of people groups. Eventually, the half-breed Jews — at least some of them — returned to the central region of the Promised Land. In Jesus’ day, they were known as “the Samaritans.”
As the text tells us, the Jews had no dealings with the Samaritans because of their half-breed status (Jn 4:9). They worshiped God — again, not at Jerusalem — but as their forefathers had on that mountain (Jn 4:20). When Jesus’ disciples had returned from town, they were amazed that Jesus had been conversing with this woman.
She was astonished, too (Jn 4:9), but Jesus chose this very unlikely person, to be the recipient of His clear confession that He was the long-awaited Messiah of Israel. We, too, should marvel at this fact.
Not only was the woman a despised Samaritan, Jesus also exposed her as a serial adulterer (Jn 4:16–18). She had been honest in her reply, “I have no husband,” which was a societal shame. Jesus’ intimate knowledge of her deplorable string of failed marriages, however, won her to Himself. She knew Jesus was no ordinary man, but a prophet (Jn 4:19). He was about to reveal to her that He was much more than a prophet (Jn 4:26).
Her knowledge of the Messiah was limited and her people’s worship was ignorant (Jn 4:22), but when she uttered the word “Messiah” (Jn 4:25),” Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He (Jn 4:26).” This confession is breath-taking by itself, but it is even more profound with the fact of His preferred audience. Why her, and not the religious leaders? Why her, and not His disciples (although they were on to Him — Jn 1:41)?
The Gentile inclusion into the body of Christ, the Israel of God, would not take center stage until after the Apostle Paul’s first missionary journey some 19 years after this encounter (Acts 15). Thus, we see the early seed of the Gospel finding good soil with some of the most unlikely people.
The woman left Jesus with the impetus to make her encounter with Him, known to others (Jn 4:28–30). The people of Sychar came to Jesus, based on her word to them. They believed in Jesus Messiah, having heard His Word about Himself. In this, we are not privy to all that Jesus taught them during those two days (Jn 4:40), but their conclusion is noteworthy, “We have heard for ourselves and know that this One is indeed the Savior of the world (Jn 4:42).”
God chose His only begotten Son (Jn 3:16), to come into the world, to be its one and only Savior (Acts 4:12; Titus 1:4; 2:13; 3:6; 1 Jn 2:2). This was told in advance to the prophets, like Daniel. In fact, the Messianic prophecies of the Old Testament number 350 or so.
For Jews, half-breed Samaritans, and Gentiles from every nation, Jesus is Messiah — the Messiah — their Messiah, whether they believe it or not. Only one man in the history of the world even comes close to fulfilling the Old Testament prophecies of the coming Messiah. In fact, only one man fulfills every single one of those prophecies to perfection. As Jesus said to the woman of Samaria, and as the Spirit says to all men everywhere…“I am He.”
David Norczyk
Spokane Valley, Washington
December 21, 2022
