He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means Christ). – John 1:41
Today, as we seek to know Jesus better, let’s open up the treasure of the Word to discover what it means that He is our Messiah.
Looking at the context surrounding this verse, we see in verses 19-28 that John was questioned about his identity. He firmly explains that he is not the Christ. The following day John “saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on [Jesus]” (John 1:32). This was the sign to John that Jesus was the Son of God, so he declares, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29) The next day John states again that Jesus is the Lamb of God when he sees him nearby with his disciples. These disciples then follow Jesus, and one of these disciples is Andrew.
What did Andrew mean when he told his brother Simon Peter that they had found the Messiah or the Christ? Researching these words tells us He meant that they had found the promised Anointed One. In the Old Testament, prophets, priests, and kings were anointed to show that they were set apart for their special task for which God had chosen them. All of these men were shadows of the ultimate Anointed One God promised to send to redeem us and reconcile us to Himself. It was prophesied about the Messiah that “He would be a prophet like Moses” (Deuteronomy 18:15), “bear our sins and suffer in our place (Isaiah 53:4-6,11), and He would be the King (Micah 5:2) (Quotations). Jesus is the promised Anointed One.
At the synagogue in Nazareth Jesus reads the following passage from Isaiah 61:
“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor…”
And then He says: “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” (Luke 4:18-19, 21) Sisters, how awesome! He declared He was the Messiah! He proclaimed good news as the ultimate prophet! He secured spiritual liberty to the captives and gave sight to the spiritually blind for he was their sacrifice and their ultimate high priest! He, the King of kings, declared the year of the Lord’s favor! He secured these blessings for us through his life, death, and resurrection!
This is the gospel! And this is good news not just for the lost, but also for us whom He has already set free. Every day it is good to remind ourselves that Jesus is our Messiah; he has brought us good news, he has set us free and given us spiritual sight to see him as the ultimate treasure, and he is our good King. Oh, I pray that this would affect more and more how we daily live. May we listen to and heed His Word. “…let us hold fast our confession” and “…with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:14 & 16).
Finally, let’s obey Him as our loving King for He said, “if you love me, you will keep my commandments” (John 14:15); therefore, like Andrew may we also go and tell others that we have found the Messiah!