How Do You Know That Jesus Is The Christ?

Psalm 40:6-8

In these three verses David tells us four things by which the true Messiah, the Christ of God, must be identified. Study them carefully. These four requirements find their fulfilment in only one Person.

First, according to this prophecy, THE COMING OF THE MESSIAH WOULD PUT AN END TO ALL THE SACRIFICES AND CEREMONIES OF LEGAL WORSHIP. "Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire." The law was never intended by God to be a means of salvation. The commandments, ceremonies, and sacrifices of the Mosaic economy were designed only to portray Christ, show sinners their need of Christ, and point men to Christ. Once Christ came the whole system of legal worship was set aside by God (Rom. 10:4; Heb. 10:1-4). The priesthood, the altar, the temple, the ark of the covenant, and the nation of Israel were all destroyed by God after the coming of Christ. To demonstrate Christ's fulfilment of all the law, when he died the veil of the temple was ripped apart by the hand of God (Matt. 27:51).

Second, THE MESSIAH MUST BE A MAN WHO IS JEHOVAH'S VOLUNTARY SERVANT."Mine ears hast thou opened."That man who is Jehovah's voluntary servant is Jehovah's equal. All creatures are Jehovah's servants by virtue of their being his creatures. Only one who is himself God can be God's voluntary servant (John 10:16-18; Phil. 2:5-11).

Third, THE COMING OF MESSIAH MUST BE IN FULFILMENT OF THE VOLUME OF SCRIPTURE PROPHECY CONTAINED IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. He had to be born at Bethlehem (Mic. 5:2). He had to come before the destruction of civil government in Judah (Gen. 49:10), while the temple was still standing (Hag. 2:6-9), and about the beginning of Daniel's seventieth week (Dan. 9:24-27). He had to be of the house of David (Isa. 11:1). He had to come into Jerusalem in humiliation (Zech. 9:9). He had to suffer and die by crucifixion at the hands of wicked men (Psa. 22; Isa. 53). And he had to rise from the dead before his body began to decay (Psa. 16:9-11).

Fourth, THE MESSIAH MUST PERFECTLY ACCOMPLISH THE WILL OF GOD. "I delight to do thy will, O God." We know that Jesus is the Christ because he has fulfilled all the will of God, obtaining eternal redemption for his people (Matt. 1:21; Heb. 9:12; 10:5-14).

Don Fortner