Messiah/Savior

The Hebrew word for “anointed one.” It applies in a special way to Jesus. The Old Testament nearly always speaks of God as the Savior of His people. He saved His people from Egyptian slavery and delivered them from enemies in many other ways. The Messiah would be a special Savior, one who would bring peace and establish His kingdom. The people of Israel looked forward to the day when this Messiah would come. But many didn’t understand what the Messiah would do. They wanted the Savior to defeat their Gentile rulers—the Romans. Instead, the Messiah was a suffering servant who had come to die for wrongs He didn’t commit.

When Jesus first began to teach and preach, He went to the synagogue and read a passage about the anointed one from Isaiah 61. He then announced that this passage had now come true.