Jesus - Messiah, Master, Lord And Friend By: James R. Harrigan

Not long ago, we commemorated how Jesus was born in an austere stable under the stars in Bethlehem. His coming meant that there would be a conspicuous change to the spiritual condition of His people. By His power, He would deliver them from the hands of their oppressive enemy – not just their political or military enemies now, but more so, the enemy of their souls. Now we are on the verge of celebrating how He arose in triumph over the grasp of death from a gloomy, cold tomb early one Sunday morning, over 2000 years ago.

Today, as it was back then, those who are willing to allow Jesus to govern the affairs of their lives would surrender to Him as Lord and Master. And what a privilege it is to honor this Master, not only as Lord, but as a Friend who is so faithful. Evidently, Jesus has proven to be a friend to people from all walks of life. With us He walks; with us He talks; and He tells us that we are His own. Ah! What a friend we have in Jesus. By simple faith we can be His friends just as He, by His coming, has chosen to be ours.

In the first verse of his carol Oh Holy Night, John Dwight reflects upon the condition of this world at the time when Jesus the Messiah came. He writes, “Long lay the world in sin and error pining, ‘til He appeared and the soul felt His worth. A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices, for yonder breaks a new and glorious dawn.” In part, the second verse goes: “Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother, and in His name all oppressions shall cease.”

Since B.C. 63 and some 270 years after Jesus’ birth, the Romans had ruled over the Jews of Jerusalem with bitter oppression. Prior to this period of social strife, the Egyptians had dominated the Israelis through brutal slavery during 430 miserable years in Egypt.

When God prompted Moses to deliver His people out of Egyptian bondage and into the promise land, it was to be only the first phase of a comprehensive deliverance in His redemptive plan. Later still, the Babylonians had captured multitudes of faithful and devout Hebrews and had taken them into exile. Babylonian armies destroyed the holy temple, and burnt the city of Jerusalem, laying it waste and exposing it to be plundered by other merciless enemies. Thus, Jewish civilization was virtually non-existent or simply miserable.

Furthermore, after so many warnings and chastenings from their Creator, Israel had repeatedly turned away from God to the abominable worship of idols. To compound their plight, the Jews killed some of the very prophets who had systematically rebuked them for their waywardness and who had bitterly bewailed their backslidden condition.

The social hardship and spiritual decadence that transpired between the promise- land experience and that era just before Christ’s advent had made it necessary for God to provide His people with a Messiah – a liberator: one who would rescue and restore His “chosen” people to a level where He could relate with them freely.

The Jews had been, in fact, looking for this Messiah or Saviour who would come to redeem them out of their long-standing desolation. The Hebrew word Messiah literally means an anointed one, and the prophet Isaiah was used by God to foretell the coming of Jesus, the anointed one, centuries before He actually came. Jesus would be coming to redeem the nation from spiritual depravity, back to God, through His atoning sacrifice on a remote hill called Calvary.

In retrospect, Christ would first come to His own Jewish people for the purpose of bringing them salvation and deliverance, but “few realized His true identity”, as the opening song says. Sadly, they ignored His mission and, by enlarged, they just took His coming for granted.

It was mainly due to the circumstances surrounding Christ’s lowly arrival that His own people did not regard Him with any kind of honor as the promised Messiah. Though they were oppressed, the Jews were traditionally a class of prestigious people. By the time Jesus came, Israel was considered a nation of modest social repute. After all the hardships they had undergone, the Jews were expecting this coming Messiah to rule and reign as an earthly monarch who would miraculously fight and destroy their enemies and providentially win their freedom from Roman domination.

But even His less-than-common birth indicated to the Jews that this could never have been that “anointed one” – the one for whom they had waited. For the Messiah to be born in a manger, sheltered in a stable, and wrapped in swaddling clothes was absolutely contrary to Jewish taste. The lowly birth of one who would be destined to be their deliverer would definitely demean Jewish national pride.

Besides, this Messiah, being the “son” of a common village carpenter who lived on the dusty streets of Nazareth, was neither relevant to the culture nor compatible to the expectations of this self-conscious people.

If He had come to rule, reign and deliver, why couldn’t He have been ceremonially born in a palace in the capital Jerusalem? But after all, He was the Messiah – God’s anointed one. Still, it must have sounded rather sarcastic to the Jewish masses to hear Him later claim: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and the recovery of sight to the blind; to set at liberty those who are oppressed”… as it is recorded in Luke 4:18.

But by the order of predestination and divine design, God in His infinite wisdom had allowed His anointed one to enter Jewish society with low-keyed humility in order to show mankind that, of a truth, He is not particularly fascinated with residing in temples or palaces made with man’s hands. He is not impressed by regal habitations that are of an earthly, temporal nature, but rather He is more interested in values that are of eternal consequences. Thus, for the sole purpose of promoting His relationship with mankind’s hearts, God distances Himself from material-based pomp and ceremony. No wonder He walked and talked with His faithful friend Abraham, who simply pitched a tent wherever he roamed.

As a divine redeemer, born of such lowly estate, Christ’s only interest was to reign in the submissive hearts of those who would humble themselves enough to own Him not only as Messiah, but as Lord. Like one line of another old carol puts it: “where meek souls will receive Him still, the dear Christ enters in.” Evidently, as far as God is concerned, the “throne” of man’s heart is of exceedingly grater value to Him than the thrones of earthly kingdoms. Your heart can become His throne today. Would you allow Him to reign there?