Luke 9:20 “But what about you?” He asked. “Who do you say I am?” Peter answered, “God’s Messiah.”
The name we are exploring today is the Messiah. Let’s start with a word study, as usual, then move on.
The name or title Messiah comes from the Hebrew word Mashiach. It is literally translated as “anointed one” or “chosen one.” In the Old Testament, any time there was a new king he was anointed with oil. This happened not only for kings, but also for priests and prophets. It was a sign that God had chosen that person and set them apart for the work He planned for them to do.
The Greek word for Messiah is Khristos. Because so many people came to see Jesus as the Messiah, Christ became the name most frequently associated with Him. Thus, we get Jesus Christ, or Jesus the Messiah. The name appeared 41 times in the Old Testament and 529 times in the New Testament.
The Old Testament contains 322 Messianic prophecies about the coming King. The odds of one man fulfilling even a small portion of these prophecies is near impossible. Yet Jesus fulfilled over 300 of them during His time on earth. If you like numbers or simply want to go down the rabbit hole of prophecies, do a search on Google for how many prophecies did Jesus fulfill. It is quite interesting to read!
Today’s verse is a confession of faith from Peter. He recognized Jesus as the long awaited Messiah and put his total belief in Him. We have Peter’s example as a model for our own faith (though remember Peter WAS fallible and messed up a lot, just like all of us do). Is YOUR faith in the anointed one, the deliverer, our prophet, priest, and king?
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