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"But He kept silent and
did not answer. Again the High Priest was questioning
Him, and saying to Him, ‘Are You the Messiah, the Son of
the Blessed One?’ And Jesus said, ‘I Am; and you shall
see the Son of Man sitting at the right Hand of Power,
and coming with the clouds of heaven." Mark 14:61-62
Jesus so dramatically and openly performed signs and
wonders that only the prophesied Messiah could do, it is
amazing to me how some today teach that He never claimed
to be God or the Messiah. When the noted Rabbi Nicodemis
came to Jesus secretly at night it is clear that he
wanted to know if Jesus was the Messiah, -"We
know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no
one can do these signs that You do unless God is with
Him." (Jo.3)
The Jews believed that the Messiah would come as a King
and restore Israel’s sovereignty by ushering in the
Kingdom of God. Since he was an Israelite by birth,
Nicodemis believed that he was an heir of this Kingdom,
but Jesus quickly threw him a curve saying, -"Truly,
truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot
see the Kingdom of God." Jesus
was saying that to be an heir of God’s Kingdom one must
be born of the Spirit.
At His return in glory Jesus will crown His saints,
establish His righteous Kingdom upon the earth and will
rule the nations with a rod of iron. Then the world will
be forced to yield to His will, but this is not to say
that the Kingdom of God is not already operating in the
hearts of His chosen ones, -"Now
having been questioned by the Pharisees as to when the
Kingdom of God was coming, He answered them and said,
‘The Kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be
observed; nor will they say, ‘Look, here it it!’ or,
‘There it is!’ For behold, the Kingdom of God is within
you." (Luke 17)
Notice also, -"For He
rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred
us to the Kingdom of His beloved Son." (Col.1) The
Messiah did establish the administration of His Kingdom
which now rules in the hearts of His saints. The Church
of God is founded upon the truth that Jesus is the
promised Messiah who is both Savior and King. Now, Jesus
is not Savior and King to those who do not receive Him,
but is both Savior and King to His Church.
Our text is not the only place in Scripture where Jesus
plainly proclaimed Himself to be the Messiah, notice His
conversation with the woman at the well in John 4, -"The
woman said to him, ‘I know that Messiah is coming; when
He comes, He will declare all things to us. ‘Jesus said
to her, ‘I who speak to you am He.’"
It is true that Jesus did not want this
readily proclaimed during most of His ministry because
it wasn’t the time. But He did let the miracles speak
for themselves. God’s plan was for Jesus to train his
disciples and send them forth with this message, notice
Peter’s message on the Day of Pentecost, -"Let
all the house of Israel know for certain that God has
made Him both Lord and Christ (Messiah) -this Jesus whom
you crucified. (Acts 2)
The Apostles and more than 500 witnesses testified that
Jesus was the Messiah and that He had risen from the
dead. He first came to His own, but sadly His own did
not receive Him. (Jo.1) Then a great Light was seen
among the Gentiles.
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