Characteristics of the Messiah | thebereancall.org

Characteristics of the Messiah

November 8, 1999
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Tom: Dave, in our ongoing discussion of the doctrine of salvation, we’ve been talking about the qualifications. Jesus is our Savior, and the Bible lays out certain qualifications that the Savior must fulfill.

Dave: Right.

Tom: And we’re going through those just so people understand that, you know, we’ve been talking about the Antichrist, we’ve been talking about false ideas, false religions, and so on. But the Bible makes it very clear who the Savior of the world has to be: the Messiah, the Christ.

Dave: Mm-hmm.

Tom: First and foremost, the Savior of humanity must be God.

Dave: Or you’re looking to somebody less than God to save you.

Tom: Exactly. Not only must He be God, but He has to be a perfect human physically and morally. First Peter 1:18-19: “Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things…but with the precious blood of Christ [Christ the Messiah], as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.”

Now, we know throughout the Old Testament, all of the sacrifices were a type of Christ, and the animal to be sacrificed had to be perfect physically—perfect physically, that’s as far as the animals could go. But the implication here is for the Messiah, He had to be perfect physically as well as morally.

Dave: No sin of His own, or He would have had to die for His own sin.

Tom: Right, right. Well, in being sinless, let’s look at some scriptures that tell us about that. First John:3:5: “And ye know that he [that is, Jesus, the Christ] was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin.”

Second Corinthians 5:21: “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God….”

Hebrews:4:15: “…in all points tempted [talking about the Lord being tempted]…”

Dave: Tested. Can I just explain that for a minute?

Tom: Sure.

Dave: Because that confuses a lot of people. Jesus was not tempted in the way that you and I are tempted: “Oh, I’d like to do that, but I won’t…”

Tom: Yeah, because He didn’t have a fallen nature.

Dave: That’s right. He was tested. He was presented with the opportunity to sin, but Jesus says, “The prince of this world has nothing in me.” So there was nothing in Him that would respond to this, but He was tested, okay?

Tom: Okay. We were talking earlier about the Antichrist. Now that’s not the thrust of this, but just to bring it up again, we’re talking about the Antichrist. If somebody claims to be Christ, they have to be perfect physically, all right? Not only God, okay, because he’s going to claim to be God, but he has to be perfect physically, yet without sin. There’s a heavy criterion, okay? He has to be both God and man in order to pay the infinite penalty for sin. Isaiah:53:6—and it was a wonderful time. We went through Isaiah 53. 

For those of you who haven’t—didn’t have some of the early programs, or we weren’t on in your area, I would recommend ordering some of those tapes, because I just…I was blessed by the discussion on Isaiah 53.

Dave: Isaiah:9:6: “His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father….” This is the Son that is born unto this world! The Scriptures said so, the Old Testament as well as the new. 

Tom: Right. But regarding Him having to be God and man, which you just quoted, Isaiah:53:6 says, “And the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.” 

Now you see, He has to be man to die, okay, but He has to be God to take on the iniquity of us all. I mean, for somebody who is lost, who’s going to die for their own sins, that’s the only capacity they have!

Dave: That’s right. But, Tom, the reason you’re laying this out is because this is the gospel. And Paul says in Romans:1:16, “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes.” 

So there is something that I’ve got to believe. If I don’t believe it, I’m dishonoring God. I’m trying to climb up another way. So we’re not just trying to be—to split theological hairs. We’re trying to say, you know, this is what God says in His Word. These are the standards that He’s laid down. He has the right to do that, and He wants men to be saved. 

And Jesus wept in the garden, you know: “If possible, let’s do it some other way!” It wasn’t possible. 

So now I can’t believe something false about Christ, about God, about the way of salvation. I have to believe what God has said. So that’s why we’re laying it out.

Tom: Yeah, well, in a previous show you talked over and over again about knowing Him. You can’t know Him unless you find out the truth about Him.

Dave: Right.

Tom: I mean, or you have a false idea—you have a false idea. You have a belief in somebody who really doesn’t exist, so that’s a problem.

So, you know, again, He has to be both man and God in order to pay the infinite penalty. Hebrews:2:9: “…that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.”

Now, I’m not saying that all of us, or there may be few of us that understand this [unintelligible]. But we do know that Jesus on the cross had to pay the full penalty for sin, and that full penalty is death—not just physical death, but separation from God forever. 

Dave: Mm-hmm. And because He’s infinite, He could do that, endure it, on the cross. 

Tom: Right.

Dave: I can’t explain it, but I must believe that God is both just and the justifier of those who belief in Jesus. Therefore, He has paid the penalty…

Tom: Right.

Dave: …or there’s no salvation. I don’t understand it, but this is what the Bible says, and I believe it, and I must. 

Tom: You see, as finite beings, there are some things that God lays out for us to understand, because He’s a reasonable God. I mean, there’s a logic to this. But in terms of fully comprehending, I mean, how can anyone—and this will be our joy for all eternity, to understand the Creator of the universe died for us! I mean, there’s something…I mean, it isn’t just wonderful in this temporal world, that as we think about it, but to understand and to grow in our understanding of that for all eternity, Dave.

Dave: Took the penalty that His own infinite justice required. 

And you were there at a debate I had a few months ago with a Catholic, you remember, and over and over…

Tom: Catholic apologist.

Dave: Right, and over and over he said, “Christ did not pay the penalty for our sins. His death…”

Tom: Give me one verse. Just give me one verse.

Dave: “His death appeased God, but He didn’t pay the penalty for our sins.” Appeased—that’s a pagan term. He didn’t just appease God, the penalty had to be paid, and this is what the Scripture teaches.

Tom: Right. Dave, not only does the Messiah, the Christ, did He have to fulfill all of these qualifications, there were other biblical prophecies regarding the Savior of humanity. 

For example, in Romans:1:1-3 it says, “Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, (which he had promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures,) concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh….” 

Once again, Paul pointing out that the Scriptures—I mean, Jesus said this Himself, and we quoted the verse with regard to Jesus with those He walked on the road to Emmaus, that they missed it. They didn’t understand that He was the Messiah. They thought, Oh, He died! He was crucified! He couldn’t have been the Messiah. 

Dave: Right.

Tom: But the Scriptures lay these things out. He had to be of the seed of David—there’s one criterion—“seed of David according to the flesh.”

Dave: Mm-hmm. He is a Jew. There were, you know, about 300 Old Testament prophecies that had to be fulfilled, and this is why Paul, when he explains the gospel, 1 Corinthians:15:1-4, he says, “This is the gospel that I have preached unto you by which you are saved, wherein you stand. You keep in mind, remember what I said, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. According to the scriptures, he was buried and rose again the third day.” 

“According to the scriptures…” This is the [unintelligible], and he says, “This is the Messiah,” because He fulfilled what the prophets of God had laid out as the requirement for the Messiah. He fulfilled it to the letter, and if He did not, He’s not the Savior. But He did, and He is the Savior!

Now, why not believe in Him? Why not accept the pardon that is offered on this basis that God has so carefully laid out—He has so wonderfully fulfilled in Himself becoming a man, and paying the penalty for our sins? I mean, Tom, this is the most—you said it—all through eternity, this is the most fantastic thing, that God would love me that much that He would do this! That He would not compromise His justice—He loves us, but He can’t compromise His justice. And that He has done all that is required to be done by His own infinite loss, and He offers pardon as a free gift! That is so wonderful! I just pray that everyone listening, if they haven’t believed, will believe this…

Tom: Right.

Dave: …because that’s how we’re saved.

Tom: And not because just Hunt is saying it or Tom McMahon. 

I want to direct them to—you know, we refer to this, but I want to direct them to Luke:24:25-27. I’ll read it, but go to…you know, we talked about meditation. Scriptural meditation is to read these things, take it into your heart, and think upon these things. 

“Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he [Jesus himself with these two on the road] expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.” 

When you go to those words, and the Lord will open your heart if you do it with a heart that wants to know truth, He will reveal these things to you. There they are in God’s Word.

Dave: Yeah. We believe whoever believes on the Son has everlasting life, in Jesus’ name.

Program Number: 
1129d

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