Messiah means “an anointed one.” The phrase means “one anointed with oil.” In the Bible, oil is symbolic of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit empowered prophets to declare the Word of God. God’s presence was manifest through the Spirit. God’s wisdom and will was executed through the power of the Spirit. Men who were chosen and empowered by God to fulfill His purposes were filled with the Holy Spirit. The divine appointment of men of God to service was symbolized through anointing with oil. In the Bible, priests, prophets, and kings were anointed with oil to fulfill the work of the Spirit through Israel. All of these “anointed ones” pointed to “The Anointed One” who was promised to come and redeem man as Prophet, Priest, and King.
Many Jews failed to assemble the prophetic puzzle pieces of Christ’s suffering rightly and therefore were unable to recognize the signs and purpose of His first coming. The prophets spoke of the suffering of the Messiah as well as the salvation blessing that the Messiah would provide to all nations. Galatians 3:8 states,
And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.
The Jew expected a conquering Messiah who would come to establish the eternal reign of David. Their hope was the restoration of the Kingdom to Israel: “And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious” (Isaiah 11:10).
What a blessed hope not only for the Jew but for all people!
Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion: for, lo, I come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith the LORD. And many nations shall be joined to the LORD in that day, and shall be my people: and I will dwell in the midst of thee, and thou shalt know that the LORD of hosts hath sent me unto thee. And the LORD shall inherit Judah his portion in the holy land, and shall choose Jerusalem again.
Zechariah 2:10-12
In this blessed kingdom, salvation will be offered to all Gentiles who will “take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you: for we have heard that God is with you” (Zechariah 8:23). This was and is the blessed hope of the Jews.
What they failed to understand was the necessity of the vicarious suffering and death of the Messiah, which would bless the nations with salvation (see Isaiah 53). However, there were men like Simeon and John the Baptist and women like Anna and Mary (the sister of Martha) who put the pieces together and recognized not only the signs of the first coming of the Messiah, but understood that He came to suffer and die for the sins of the world. The story of Simeon is recorded in the second chapter of the gospel of Luke:
And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him. And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. And he came by the Spirit into the temple: and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of the law, Then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said, Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel. And Joseph and his mother marvelled at those things which were spoken of him. And Simeon blessed them, and said unto Mary his mother, Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against; (Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also,) that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed”
Luke 2:25-35
The Blessed Hope for Israel
God promised Simeon that he would not see death until he saw the Lord’s Christ (Christ is the Greek equivalent to the Hebrew word Messiah). Simeon understood the suffering that the consolation of Israel had to endure before entering into His glory. He tells Mary that her child was destined to be “the fall and rising again of many in Israel.” The fall he speaks of is the Jew’s rejection of the Messiah, the subsequent scattering of the nation, and desolation of the land. This thread of prophetic thought, connecting the coming of Messiah with His rejection by Israel over their shame of His suffering, is rooted in the Old Testament.
And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And many among them shall stumble, and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken.
Isaiah 8:14-15
Expounding on this prophecy, Jesus speaks of the rejection and suffering of Messiah by His own people in Matthew 21,
Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes? Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.
Matthew 21:42-44
In the next lesson, we will see how that in the sovereign plan of redemption, God uses the unbelief of Israel to expand the preaching of the gospel to the nations.