Messiah is
the English form of the Hebrew word Mashiach,
which means “Anointed One.”
The Greek equivalent is Christos,
from which we get the title Christ.
In the Bible, the Messiah is
the promised deliverer and king
whom God would raise up
to rescue His people,
defeat their enemies,
and establish His righteous rule.
The New Testament presents
Jesus of Nazareth as
the long-awaited Messiah.
In the Old Testament, anointing with oil was a symbolic act that set a person apart for a special office or task. Kings, priests, and occasionally prophets were anointed. The oil represented the empowering presence of God’s Spirit for the work to which the person was called.
Over time, “the Anointed One” (the Messiah) came to refer especially to the ideal future king from the line of David whom God had promised to send.
Several strands of Old Testament teaching contributed to the hope of a coming Messiah:
By the time of the New Testament, many in Israel were looking for the Messiah to come as a political and military deliverer who would free them from foreign rule and restore the kingdom to Israel.
First-century Jewish expectations of the Messiah varied, but common hopes included:
These expectations form the background against which Jesus’ ministry and the apostles’ preaching must be understood.
The New Testament declares that Jesus is the Messiah (the Christ). Key points include:
Jesus is the Messiah who has already come in humility and will come again in glory.
Messiah means “Anointed One.” The long-awaited deliverer promised throughout the Old Testament has come in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. He fulfilled the messianic hope not by immediate political conquest, but through suffering, death, and resurrection, and He will return to bring the kingdom in its fullness. To confess Jesus as the Messiah is to acknowledge Him as the promised King and Savior.