Why Do People Call Jesus “Messiah”?

When I first became a Christian, one of the things that puzzled me around Christmas time every year was why people called Jesus “Messiah.” I didn’t know what the word meant, but the way people said it made it sound like something super special. I was also confused over why people said the Jews were waiting for this Messiah.

So in this post, I’ll answer three questions:

1. What does messiah mean?
2. Why were Jews waiting for a messiah?
3. What New Testament word is equivalent to messiah?

1. What Does “Messiah” Mean?

The Hebrew word translated “anointed” and “anointed one” is māshîaḥ,from which we derive our English word messiah. A priest or prophet (or both) used oil to anoint David and his descendants as kings, so they were called anointed ones, or messiahs. It’s one of several titles the kings held.

2. Why Were Jews Waiting for a Messiah?

The short answer is that when Jesus was born, the Jews were governed by foreign rulers, but the prophets had promised that one day they would have an anointed king (messiah) descended from David ruling over them again.

Here’s the longer answer.

The Davidic Covenant

The Lord made a covenant with King David that promised this:

The Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house. When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.

2 Samuel 7:11–13

Although David had wanted to build God a house in the form of a temple, God promised to build David a house in the form of a dynasty—the house of David. Because David had shed so much blood in wars, he could not be the one to build a temple. Instead, an offspring would become king and build the house of the Lord. That offspring’s throne would last forever. These promises are called the Davidic Covenant.

After David died, his son Solomon built a temple. People thought that Solomon’s throne would last forever through a never-ending succession of sons. But that didn’t happen because eventually the kings and people forsook God for other gods.

The Bad News and the Good News

About 300 years after David, the prophet Isaiah prophesied that God would send the people into exile because of injustice and bloodshed (Isaiah 5:7).  But Isaiah also prophesied good news. First, a remnant would return from exile. Second, after the return, God would send a new king who would differ considerably from the flawed kings the Israelites had known:

For to us a child is born,
        to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
        and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
        Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his government and of peace
        there will be no end,
on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
        to establish it and to uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
        from this time forth and forevermore.
Isaiah 9:6–7

So this king would sit on the throne of David and would reign forevermore!

What Isaiah and the other prophets warned about came to pass. About 400 years after David reigned, God exiled the people and temporarily halted David’s dynasty. When the exiles returned about 70 years later, they had no anointed king—no messiah—of their own yet. That’s why the Jews were awaiting a messiah, an anointed king.

The Messiah Comes

A thousand years after King David’s reign, the angel Gabriel greeted a young virgin named Mary who was a descendant of David’s:

And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”

Luke 1:30–33

When the angel told Mary that Jesus would reign forever, he meant her baby would be the promised Messiah. Later, the prophet John the Baptist witnessed the Holy Spirit anoint Jesus for ministry, making him an Anointed One. Jesus reigns now in the heavenly places. One day, God will create the new heavens and earth where Jesus will reign forevermore as the King of kings (Revelation 19:16; 21:1; 22:3).

3. What New Testament Word Is Equivalent to “Messiah”?

Although most of the Old Testament was written in Hebrew, most of the New Testament was written in Greek. The Greek word for “anointed one” is christos, from which we get our word Christ. So, Christ is the New Testament equivalent to Messiah.

Conclusion

People call Jesus “Messiah” (which means “Anointed One”) because that was one of the titles that the kings who were anointed to sit on David’s throne possessed. The people in Jesus’s day were waiting for a messiah because prophets prophesied that one day King David would have a descendant whose throne would last forever. The angel Gabriel said Jesus was that king. The New Testament calls him “Christ,” which is equivalent to Messiah.

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