The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming (He who is called Christ); when that One comes, He will declare all things to us.” Jesus said to her, “I AM, the One speaking to you.” John 4:25-26.
Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Jesus replied, “You are blessed, Simon son of John, because my Father in heaven has revealed this to you. You did not learn this from any human being.” Matthew 16:16-17.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God (אלהים) says:
As we continue our life lessons on the unfathomable riches of Christ, we have come to a very important revelation of who Jesus is, that as Jesus stated, must be revealed to you by Me. Matthew 16:17. And I have revealed it for all people for all times in My Word as written by the Holy Spirit inspired writers in My book, the Bible. My Spirit testifies to Jesus from the beginning until now. And the revelation we are looking at today is that Jesus is the Messiah (which in Greek is rendered “Christ”).
At the time Jesus came people were looking for the promised Messiah. They inquired of John the Baptist if he were the Messiah and the chief priests and Sanhedrin asked the same of Jesus. And then there were those that recognized Him as the Messiah without questioning, such as Peter and Martha. Matthew 16:16; John 11:27. But there was only one person to whom Jesus willingly offered the information that He was the Messiah, and it was an “I AM” revelation, and that was the woman at the well in Sychar, and she was a Samaritan. John 4:25-26. But Jesus knows what is in a person’s heart and her heart had already received Him as such as they spoke and He confirmed to her that it was He she was seeking. And once she heard, she ran and became a witness to her town and brought them all to meet the Messiah. And you will note that Samaria received Philip later with joy as he preached Jesus as the Messiah and they received Jesus as Lord. Acts 8:4-8.
What does it mean that Jesus is the Messiah? It means He is the anointed One whom I sent to save you. The people longed for the promised Messiah to set them free from the oppression of sin. Since being expelled from the Garden of Eden, mankind has been seeking a way to get back to that place of righteousness, peace, joy, and abundance—a life of union with Me. I have placed eternity in each person’s heart and there is an emptiness deep in your soul until you are made complete again in the Messiah. Colossians 2:9-10.
The Samaritan woman who encountered Jesus at the well where she came to draw water is a picture of the longing of each thirsty soul to find again the fountain of living water filling the empty well within them bubbling up to eternal life. John 4:4-14. Her life had been one of confused seeking for fulfillment, resulting in immorality and unstable relationships, and she had heard when the Messiah came He would tell her all the answers she was looking for in her empty life. John 4:17-25. And she found a Man that told her everything. John 4:29. She knew He was the Messiah. She was never thirsty again.
Messiah in Hebrew and Christ in Greek are identical terms. So wherever you read “Christ,” you can substitute “Messiah” and vice versa. In Hebrew the word you translate “Messiah” written in Hebrew letters is מָשִׁיחַ and is pronounced “Mashiach,” and simply means “anointed.” In Greek the word you translate “Christ” in Greek letters is Χριστός and is pronounced “Christos,” and means “the Anointed One, Messiah, Christ.”
The first announcement of the Messiah was in the Garden of Eden. I told Adam, Eve and the devil that there would come the seed of a woman who would crush the devil’s head, that is, his authority over man which he had taken by deception, as the devil struck his heel. To Noah I gave the foreshadowing of the ark, a likeness of being in Christ, shielded from the wrath. I gave Abraham revelations of the Messiah, the Lamb I Myself would supply for the burnt offering and the great High Priest. I revealed the timeline of exactly when the Messiah would come to My prophet Daniel and visions of His triumphant return to Me when His work on earth was done. And I revealed much to David (Psalm 22), Micah, Zechariah and Malachi.
But to My prophet Isaiah, I gave tremendous revelations about the coming Messiah. From the virgin with the child who is God with you to the child born to you and Son given you who would be Wonderful, Counselor, God Hero, Father forever, and Prince of Peace on whose shoulders dominion would rest. But the greatest revelations came in his depictions of the Messiah as My servant, the anointed One, that came to set the oppressed free, to heal the broken hearted, to set the captives free, to preach the good news to the poor, to heal the lame and the deaf and make the blind see, and to announce the jubilee year. And he revealed that the Messiah would only do this by suffering—by bearing the sins of mankind and taking their punishment so that they would be free of guilt, shame, sin, iniquity, illness and pain. He would give His back to those who beat Him and not shield His face from buffets and spitting. He would be pierced for your sins and crushed for your iniquities, upon Him would fall the chastisement that makes you whole, that is your shalom. And yet He would bear it all meekly and open not His mouth, though He had done no wrong.
He was despised and rejected— a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief. Isaiah 53:3. As a baby, Herod sought to destroy Him and Mary and Joseph fled to Egypt with Him. When they returned and raised Him in the town of Nazareth, later those very people who should have been so honored He had grown up in their midst, rejected Him as Messiah and sought to kill Him by throwing Him from the brow of the hill. He could work no great miracles there, though in His great compassion He wanted to do so, but their unbelief stopped the flow of the power in Him to them. He was rejected by the religious leaders of His day so much so that they were seeking to take His life away and were expelling anyone from the synagogue who confessed Him as Lord. They tried to stop Him from healing people on the Shabbat day and were always trying to trip Him up in speech in order to have something to accuse Him of that would bring about His execution. They tried to stone Him for what they called blasphemy when He was the very One they accused Him of blaspheming. And one of His twelve disciples and dear friends who had walked with Him for three years and left all to follow Him betrayed Him for just thirty pieces of silver. And once He was arrested all his disciples fled and abandoned Him except His closest disciples, Peter and John, who followed along after Him, but then Peter denied Him and only John remained faithful.
On the road to Emmaus, when Jesus walked with two of His disciples after I had raised Him from the dead, though at first He did not allow them to recognize Him, He asked, “Wasn’t it clearly predicted that the Messiah would have to suffer all these things before entering his glory?” Then Jesus took them through the writings of Moses and all the prophets, explaining from all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. Luke 24:26-27.
And yet He did all this with joy. Yes, that is correct. I had anointed Him with the oil of joy above His companions. He was perfect, flawless in keeping My Commandments and the Law. And He forgave and blessed. He lived everything and more that He taught. He is My Word and He lived My Word. He only spoke My Words and did My Works. He humbled Himself though He is God Himself. And in seeing Him you are seeing Me. And I have joy over you. Have you ever read My prophet Zephaniah? “For the LORD your God is living among you. He is a mighty savior. He will take delight in you with gladness. With his love, he will calm all your fears; He will rejoice over you with joyful songs.” Zephaniah 3:17. I sing over you and I even define the songs for you. I surround you with songs of deliverance! Psalm 32:7.
The Messiah, the One who would be pierced and wounded in the house of those who loved Him but did not recognize Him though His goings forth have been from eternity.
And why did I send the Messiah? I tell you quite plainly. “The Son of God came to undo the works of the devil.” 1 John 3:8. From the dark void of chaos, as My Spirit hovered over the waters, I created a world of perfect order, beauty and Light by My Word and for My Word. And I formed man in My image and according to My likeness to have dominion authority over the creation I made for him and with him in mind. The devil went to work with the man I formed in My image and according to My likeness, whom I seated on the throne of the Son of Man, above the angels, to use the man as a shield for himself from My wrath and to advance his will using the man I made. The devil took Adam captive to do the devil’s will. And what is the devil’s will and plan? To undo all the good I did for and in you and take you back to the dark void of chaos. He wants to destroy the earth and the man that I made out of jealousy at your authority and place with Me. He comes only to steal, kill and destroy. And if you obey him, that is what he makes your mode of operation become as well. Just look around. Wherever you see violence and chaos destroying order and beauty you know men are following him. But Jesus came to seek out and save the lost. He came to loose you of your infirmities and all that binds you. He came to UNDO the works the devil has done. The devil tries to return you to darkness, violence, and chaos, while I came in the person of Jesus so that you could HAVE LIFE and have it abundantly, until it overflows! The devil drives you into darkness and My Son came as the Light of the World to rescue from the power of darkness and bring you safely to His Kingdom. Simply put, Satan drove you out of Eden into the chaos and darkness of the world. And My Son came to shepherd you back in—to make you in the world but not of the world.
To undo the works of the devil for he undoes My Work. The wise woman builds the house, but the foolish one tears it down with her own hands. My Son looked upon illness, disease, death and lack, and He immediately went to work to loose the person from whatever was their affliction. He was undoing the works the devil has done in your life. I restore what he stole.
Consider what took place when Jesus healed the woman bent over for many years and you will see Him undoing the works of the devil. He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath and there was a woman who for eighteen years had had a sickness caused by a spirit; and she was bent double, and could not straighten up at all. When Jesus saw her, He called her over and said to her, “Woman, you are set free (apoluó (ἀπολύω): to set free, release) from your sickness.” And He laid His hands on her; and immediately she was made erect again and began glorifying Me. But the synagogue official, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, began saying to the crowd in response, “There are six days in which work should be done; so come during them and get healed, and not on the Sabbath day.” But Jesus answered him and said, “You hypocrites, does not each of you on the Sabbath untie (luó (λύω): to loose, to release, untie, to dissolve, set at naught, annul) his ox or his donkey from the stall and lead him away to water him? And this woman, a daughter of Abraham as she is, whom Satan has bound for eighteen long years, should she not have been loosed (same word: luó λύω untied) from this bond on the Sabbath day?” As He said this, all His opponents were being humiliated; and the entire crowd was rejoicing over all the glorious things being done by Him. Luke 13:10-17. And luo is the same word used when Jesus restored Lazarus to life and told them to untie him and let him go free.
Jesus explains the Messiah by His life. He came to free you from all that bound you and to heal you from all the devil had destroyed in your spirit, soul, and body. He comes to undo all the devil has done in your life. To make up for and restore the years the devil stole. Jesus restores what He did not steal and He takes from you the sins He did not commit.
And He read the mission statement of the Messiah from the great Isaiah scroll in the synagogue in Nazareth to begin His public mission on earth, “The Spirit of the Lord LORD is upon Me, because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the favorable year of the LORD.” Luke 4:18-19; Isaiah 61:1-2. And He closed the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” Luke 4:20-21. And so began the greatest three years of a life given for you to reconcile you to Me and give you back the Eden blessing that the devil had stolen from you. The long-awaited Messiah had come. But He came so humbly that the proud missed Him. Do not miss your visitation. Now is the acceptable time, now is the day of Yeshuah (salvation), your Messiah, Savior and Lord.
The angel proclaimed the night He was born the good news: “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Messiah the Lord.” Luke 2:10-11. And the heavens opened and glory filled the sky. Man and God had become one again. It was time for jubilee.
I love you. There is so much more to tell you about the Messiah, that is, the Christ, but for now that is enough for you to ponder in your heart. Isn’t it time you too brought others to Jesus, just like Andrew, once he met Jesus, immediately went to share the news with his brother, Peter, “We have found the Messiah” (which translated means Christ), and he brought him to Jesus. John 1:41-42. And you know the rest of the story. Peter brought many, many more to Jesus. What if his brother had not shared the good news with him?