Must Messiah suffer?

There are some who believe that there are Scriptures which predict that Messiah will suffer and even die and come back to life. Among these are Psalm 22, Isaiah 53, Zechariah 12:10, and 13:6. I intend to address these verses separately. But perhaps some general observation are in order.

The messianic age does not come without a Messiah. And Messiah by definition is the one who ushers in the messianic age. Messiah is the one who is responsible for bringing in the messianic age of peace, understanding, and prosperity. He is not simply lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time to receive all this blessing that will be brought about. But he takes an active role in establishing it. As Isaiah 11:3-9 says, he will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked. Then the wolf will lie down with the lamb. And they will neither harm nor destroy on the holy mountain.

And so if Messiah takes an active role in establishing the messianic age of everlasting peace, then there must be no peace and prosperity just before Messiah establishes it. For you cannot be the one responsible for establishing peace if it is already established when you get there. And if the efforts of Messiah are really as profound and as great as the prophets seem to indicate, then it will have to be some great evil that the Messiah will fight against and vanquish.

And so, if the Messiah will take an active role in fighting against such great evil in order to establish peace, then it seems inevitable that Messiah will suffer some sort of loss in the process. For if he does not suffer any kind of loss, then it must not have been any great evil that he was fighting against. Yet Messiah must be healed and restored from the pain and loss that he suffers, for he is predicted to be there in the Messianic age of peace. He is triumphant, over evil.

Furthermore, Messiah is to be a great spiritual leader who inspires us with his faithfulness, devotion, sincerity, and determination. These virtues will most certainly need to be demonstrated by Messiah since he must continue in his efforts to fight against evil to bring about the messianic age. As Isaiah 11:5 says, "Faithfulness (will be) the sash around his waist."

But the very definition of faithfulness and sincerity is to continue good will and good deeds even in spite of adversity and opposition. And Messiah must be the Champion of Faithfulness. And so it is inevitable that Messiah will continue in good will to do great deeds to destroy the effects of evil even in spite of great opposition and adversity, persecution and affliction. And so Messiah will prove to be sincerely devoted to the cause of love, devoutly loyal to righteousness, and completely faithful to what is just. He will prove to be worthy of honor and love from all the nations and worthy to rule as Lord.

Given this much as a necessity, I can think of no more greater or expedient way of fulfilling this hope than to continue in doing miraculous good deeds of deliverance and healing even in the face of threats until he suffer for the cause of love and prove sincerely devote to righteousness. And then showing that God rewards all who continue to preserver by raising him from the dead. This is the most inspiring message of all.

 

 

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