"Tell Us Plainly"
"Then came the Jews round about him, and said unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly." (Jno. 10:24)
The Christ was first an Old Testament promise, then a New Testament Redeemer. Most of us are familiar with at least a few of the Old Testament prophecies concerning the Christ: the seed of the woman, (Gen. 3:15) and of Abraham, (Gen. 12) the Son of David, (Psa. 2:12) the Prince of Peace, (Isa. 9:6) the Sun of righteousness. (Mal. 4:2) There are actually hundreds of others with which we may not he as well acquainted. As a matter of fact, the entire Old Testament is one grand prophecy of a coming Messiah. In language sometimes veiled in figures and parables, at other times distinct and specific, the life, work, death, and resurrection of our Lord is set forth. It was history in advance, biography before the fact. Surely one of the most marvelous proofs of the Messiah-ship of Jesus of Nazareth is the manner in which His life perfectly fulfils the ancient prophecies.
After the close of the Old Testament canon there seemed to be a surgance of messianic expectation. Literally hundreds of pretenders arose, claiming to be the promised Saviour, and leading away many after them. The literature of the time, called apocrypha, is replete with "prophecies" of the speedy appearance of One who would be Messiah, King, the Son of God.
As the time drew near for the birth of Christ, after four centuries of silence, God began to increase His special preparation for the advent of His Son. He placed His people under the stabilizing and peaceful dominion of Octavius Augustus Caesar. Unto certain just men He revealed that the Lord should come in their lifetime; such as Simeon. (Lk. 2:25, 26) These men gathered about them numerous men and women who "looked for redemption in Israel." (Lk. 2:38)
When Jesus was born in Bethelem of Judea, the very nature of His conception and birth identified Him as the Christ. The prophet Isaiah had predicted that a virgin should conceive and bring forth a son. (Isa. 7:14)
After becoming a man, Jesus presented Himself to John, to be baptized in fulfillment of the command of God. As Jesus came out of the water, the voice of God spoke from "the excellent glory," acclaiming Him as God's Son. (Matt. 3:17)
The miraculous signs of Jesus identified Him as the Christ. "These are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ...." (John 20:31) No man could heal the sick, raise the dead, or defy the waves of the sea as did Jesus, without Divine power.
The crowning miracle, and the crowning evidence of His Christhood is the Resurrection. He is "declared to be the Son of God with power....by the resurrection from the dead." (Rom. 1:4) The resurrection fulfilled Old Testament prophecies; (Isa. 28:18) it climaxed an already finished ministry on the earth; it laid the foundation for Christ's church. (Matt. 16:18)
Truly the Lord tells us plainly by this munificence of evidence that He is indeed the Christ.