Jesus is The Greatest Hope of Israel!

        Said the Samaritan to the Jew, “I know that Messiah is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”

        And that Jew replied, “I AM HE.” [John 4:25, 26]

    That Samaritan was a five-times-divorced woman, and that Jew was Jesus. When we remember that the Samaritans use only the five books of Moses as their Bible (the Samaritan Pentateuch), it’s amazing that she knew to expect a Messiah.
    So to backtrack just a little, what does the word “messiah” really mean? The Oxford Dictionary says it is, “the promised deliverer of the Jewish nation prophesied in the Hebrew Bible“; and usage in the Bible relates to an “anointed, usually a consecrated person (as a king, priest, or saint).” All these words, Hebrew, Greek, and English (Messiah, Christ, and Anointed One) have somewhere in their etymology, the idea of “smeared with oil”.
    Usually, by going back to the first mention of a subject in the Bible, we can get some measure of its significance. In this case, we come to Genesis 28:18 for “oil”. Jacob poured oil on a stone pillar as a marker for his unique and wonderful sight of the stairway into heaven.
    The next thing we’re looking for is some form of the word “anoint”; we find it in Exodus 28:41, and 29:7. The anointing oil is to be poured on Aaron’s head, to consecrate him and set him apart from every other Israelite.
    Others anointed in the Bible include Aaron’s sons (priests); Saul, David, and Solomon (kings); psalmists (Psalm 23:5); the coming true Ruler (Dan. 9:25, 26); and above all, Jesus (John 12:3, Luke 4:18, Acts 10:38, and Mark 16:1).
    But what did that woman of Sychar know? Probably not much. From those five books of Moses, and particularly from Genesis, she knew enough:

· There is one God, who created all things (1:1-1:25)

·He created mankind, male and female (1:26-30)

· He gave mankind rules of conduct (2:15)

· There is an evil force loose in the earth (3:1)

·They were lured into breaking those rules, and found themselves condemned (3:2-24)

· God promised that a man would one day crush the evil one’s head. (3:15)

· Sin and death became the lot of all mankind. (3:19, 4:8)

· Mankind was driven out of Paradise. (3:23)

· God promised to bless all peoples on earth through Abram. (12:2-3)

· “Kings of peoples” would come from Sarah. (17:16)

· God would provide a lamb. (22:8)

· The scepter, the ruler’s staff, would belong to the Coming One from Judah. (49:10)

    From this little bit of background, we would have to say that anointing was used in ancient Israel to identify someone very special. Logically, “the most special person” would be called “The Messiah”. And Martha takes the ultimate step when she realizes that Jesus is not only the promised Messiah but even the very Son of God (John 11:27).

        Looking back from our day, and with all the New Testament as witness, we can see that Jesus really is The Messiah: He was anointed by the Spirit of the Lord (Luke 4:8); by Mary of Bethany (Matthew 26:6); and even by His mourners (Mark 16:1, John 19:39). The writer to the Hebrews (Heb.7:26) magnifies His name above all other men: “He is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, and exalted above the Heavens.”

 

        Jesus is the Only Hope of Israel!