Again the high priest asked Him, saying to Him, “Are You the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” Jesus said, “I am. And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.”
(Mark 14:61-62)

Jesus Absolutely Did Claim To Be The Messiah—Period

At the outset I state emphatically that I admire John Hagee as a speaker. The truth is I have known of his work for many years which is why this is all the more grevious. One might wonder why I am not more gentle in how I have approached this issue. The reason is simple: What Word Faith megapastor John Hagee is teaching regarding the work of Jesus Christ is an affront to my Master and as a minister of Jesus Christ Hagee should know better than to teach this flat out blasphemy.

Frankly I am amazed that Hagee is so blind spiritually in this area that he is unable to grasp the text of Holy Scripture referenced above. He still makes the asinine assertion that Christ (Hebrew: Messiah) did not claim to be the Messiah to the Jews. Who is the world does he possibly think Jesus is speaking to when the Master answers the direct question: Are you the Messiah by saying: “I Am.”

In his excellent book Jesus Divine Messiah: The Old and New Testament Witness Dr. Robert Reymond lists three passages of Scripture containing direct claims by Jesus of Nazareth to be the Messiah. These include the above text with the others being John 4:25-26 and John 17:3. And Reymond is absolutely correct when he points out:

It may come as a surprise to learn that only on rare occasions did Jesus himself directly claim in so many words to be the “Christ” (Christos), the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew and Aramaic “Messiah”…

This sparing use of the term [Messiah] on His part was due, no doubt, to the fact that the messianic idea had become distorted in one way or another from the balanced vision of the Old Testament messianism…

Consequently, evidence would suggest that [Jesus] acknowledged that he was the “Christ” only when there was little or no danger of his claim being politicized, as in the case of the Samaritan woman, or in private conversation with his own disciples (at the same time, demanding that they tell no one that he was the Messiah) or in semi-private prayer or, finally, before the Sanhedrin when silence no longer mattered or served his purpose… (172, 173, 175).

Hagee Does Teach Jesus Did Not Claim To Be The Messiah Of The Jews

Over at The Expositor, which is the blog of Christian Research Net contributor Mike Corley, John Hagee has personally clarified his position concerning his teaching that Jesus rejected the claim to be Messiah of the Jews:

Jesus claimed to be Savior several times in the Bible. He never claimed to be Messiah to the Jewish people. (Online source)

As I said in my own comment there:

The only positive in this is that now we have heard John Hagee himself clarify further his heretical view that Jesus did not come as the Messiah for all men: “He refused the role. He never promised to be Messiah.”

There is only one Messiah and how sad it is to see John Hagee be so willing to twist the Scriptures to fit his preconceived views.

And in this piece John Hagee Denies That Christ (means Messiah) Jesus is the…Messiah! from Apprising Ministries you will see for yourself that Hagee has been teaching this for many years and further that he personally withholds preaching the Gospel to precious people of Jewish decent for whom Christ died: “I do not target Jewish people for salvation.”