Jesus didn’t go around flaunting His power or greatness. Since He had come to do the Father’s will (John 6:38), redeeming the lost was His priority and purpose. However, the Lord didn’t hide His identity from the world either. When necessary, Jesus clearly identified Himself as the Messiah. One of Jesus’ most beautiful sermons was given to an audience of one—a woman drawing water from a Samaritan well. After listening to Jesus’ teaching on living water and His prophecies of a change in the way people worshipped God, the woman mentioned the promised Messiah. The Lord replied, “I who speak to you am He” (John 4:26). Her response was to gather as many townsfolk as she could find to listen to this man who knew her life story and offered love and redemption anyway. When the time came for Jesus to reveal His identity to the priests and religious leaders, He did so by reading the prophecy of Isaiah 61 and then claiming to be its fulfillment (Luke 4:18-21). He announced that He was the One who would preach the gospel to the poor, release the captives, and give sight to the blind. He didn’t use the word “Messiah,” nor did He have to. All Israel knew that Isaiah’s words applied to God’s “Anointed One.” Some modern thinkers would like to marginalize Jesus as simply a good man with a message of love. But He was the first to proclaim Himself as more than that. He is the virgin-born Son of God, who came to bear the sins of mankind and die on the cross. He is the Messiah.
Posted on: Wed, 31 Dec 2014 13:13:38 +0000
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