Man of Sorrows (Isaiah 53:3)
He is despised and rejected of men, a Man of Sorrows, and acquainted with grief. He was wounded for our transgressions, bruised, and we are healed by his stripes (Isaiah 53:5). He “puts our tears into thy bottle” (Psalm 56:8) and will never fail or forsake us (Deut. 31:6). He can emphasize with our pain and weaknesses (Heb. 4:15-16).
He suffering in Gethsemane caused him to “tremble because of pain and bleed at every poor” (D&C 19:18) and the flogging by the Romans (John 19:1) which was a brutal form of torture, depleted his energies to the point that he could not even carry his cross to Golgotha (Matt 27:32).
But in spite of all he suffered, because of his love towards all mankind, he invites all to come unto him and take their rest (Matt. 11:28-29).
Master (Matthew 8:19)
A master is someone who has control over something or someone, or someone who has advanced knowledge in the study, interpretation and application of a concept.
Christ is the most important person individual ever to live on the earth. He is known as the master teacher and the master of life. His roles of creator, savior, redeemer, advocate, judge and messiah point to him as the central part of our lives. He is master of our hearts and souls, and the sure guide in lives.
His role of master includes one who has all knowledge, all understandings, all scientific learnings, and all religious insights that lead to eternal life.
Where did Christ receive his knowledge? From his father, God the Eternal Father, thus Christ said, “For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak.” (John 12:49) The Savior declares that He received commandments of the Father to teach some things and not others because of the unbelief manifested by the Israelites in the Old World (see 3 Nephi 15:15–18) and then He tells the Nephites that He must go unto His Father to fulfill other commandments that the Father has given Him (see 3 Nephi 18:27).
Mediator (1 Tim. 2:5)
What is a mediator? It is a person who attempts to make people involved in a conflict come to an agreement; a go-between; a trained impartial third person who assists two parties in reaching a settlement.
What is the conflict with man and god that has to be resolved/reconciled? Sin, which is a transgression against divine law. (1 Cor. 6:9-10)
God lives in a state of everlasting burnings, a glorious state of knowledge, perfections, creations and eternal family units. Nothing can dwell there that is not personified by those attributes and characteristics. God desires that his children come and dwell with him and partake in the full glories of his Kingdom. (John 3:16)
Man, as a spirit child of God, while living with God in man’s pre-earth existence, became aware that to become like their Father and Mother, they needed to obtain a body, be tested to see if they would continue faithful to God’s teachings, and be put in a state to develop godly attributes and characteristics more fully. Thus the earth was created and peopled starting with Adam and Eve down to the present time.
Man, on the other hand, is in an infantile state of learnings and progressions, but with continual errors and misgivings. (Rev. 21:27, This is a state of sin, unrighteousness, impurity, selfishness, immorality and disobedience that would cause man to be burned or consumed if they were to be in God’s full presence.
The mediation of Christ is resolving the conflict between supreme righteousness needed to be in God’s presence and the unseemly state of man.
Christ offered to bridge this gap (Isaiah 53:5; Eph. 1:7; Heb. 1:3) by performing the Atonement which reconciles man’s sins and allows him to be presented to God as a “celestial” soul, thus ” just men made perfect through Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, who wrought out this perfect atonement through the shedding of his own blood.” (D&C 76:69)
Messiah (Daniel 9:25)
The “Messiah” is the promised deliverer of the Jewish nation prophesied in the Hebrew Bible. The word comes from Hebrew “mashiaḥ,” which means “anointed.” The Greek translation of Messiah is Khristós (Χριστός), anglicized as Christ. In Judaism, it is the expected king of the Davidic line who would deliver or liberate Israel from foreign bondage and restore the glories of its golden age (David and Solomon united the 12 tribes of Israel into one political nation, 1000 BCE). The Messiah would also rebuild the temple in Jerusalem, and bring about a new Messianic Age in which all the people would live in peace (Micah 4:1-3)
Traditionally, when kings were inaugurated, they were “anointed” with oil and declared to be the proper heir to the throne of the kingdom. For example, David was anointed with oil by the prophet Samuel to become King of Israel (1 Samuel 16:13); even today the modern king and queen of England are anointed with oil by the archbishop of Cantebury.
Christ declared himself to be the Messiah, “I [the woman at the well] know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things. Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he (John 4:25-6). In Luke 4:18-21, Christ declares that “he [God] has anointed me…Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” Christ also declares himself to be a king where Pilate asked, ” Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world.” (John 18:36-37); “I am Messiah, the King of Zion, the Rock of Heaven” (Moses 7:53).
However, the political deliverance by a Messiah for the Jewish nation is a future event. When Christ appears on the Mount of Olives at his Second Coming, He will rescue the beleaguered Jewish nation, destroy the armies that encircle them, and become their King as well as the King of the entire earth.
