Topic: Messiah

Some of the Sadducees and Pharisees demanded a sign from Jesus to demonstrate the He is the Hebrew Messiah, but He refused to give them a sign and departed from them. Later He warned His disciples to beware the “leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees. They thought that He was speaking about the leaven of earthly bread, but He chastised them saying to remember His provision of bread in the feeding of the 5,000 and later the 4,000. Then they realized that He wasn’t speaking of actual leaven, but the spiritual leaven that is symbolic of the sinful false teaching of Israel’s religious leaders. Of course, the same warning is applicable to the false teaching in the Church today.

Matthew records a number of miracles in his gospel account. Matthew’s purpose in sharing these stories was to show his Jewish audience that Jesus is their מָשִׁיחַ mâshîyach – the promised anointed one whom the Jews have been awaiting since the time of Abraham. Jesus Himself speaking to Phillip said that if Phillip didn’t believe Jesus was in the Father and the Father in Jesus, then at least Phillip should believe on account of the works that Jesus performed. Jesus never performed His miracles to put on a show or to convince anyone He is God. Most often, Jesus healed people in response to their faith that He could rather than the other way around.

WARNING – Unscrupulous prosperity gospel preachers in our world today have twisted this concept to say that if we only have sufficient faith, God will be obliged to bless us in any way we might choose. Of course, this is blasphemous heresy put forth by men and women with no fear of God.

Matthew records a number of miracles in his gospel account. Matthew’s purpose in sharing these stories was to show his Jewish audience that Jesus is their מָשִׁיחַ mâshîyach – the promised anointed one whom the Jews have been awaiting since the time of Abraham. Jesus Himself speaking to Phillip said that if Phillip didn’t believe Jesus was in the Father and the Father in Jesus, then at least Phillip should believe on account of the works that Jesus performed. Jesus never performed His miracles to put on a show or to convince anyone He is God. Most often, Jesus healed people in response to their faith rather than the other way around.

Here in Matthew 15, we see that Jesus went out of His way to cast a demon out of the daughter of a Gentile woman of Tyre in response to her faith. Matthew points out that this woman recognized Him as the Jewish מָשִׁיחַ mâshîyach – calling Him Lord, Son of David. He then healed many in a crowd probably made up of Jews and Gentiles together in the region of Decapolis, before feeding 4000 men, plus women and children. As part of our study, we look at the various times in which bread played a key role in the ministry and teachings of Jesus.

Jesus is the Messiah