What Does The Bible Say About The Messiah?

What Does The Bible Say About The Messiah? One might ask, “what does messiah mean?” Messiah comes from the Hebrew word “mashiach” which means “anointed one” or “chosen one.” The Greek equivalent of this word is “Christos” or, in English, “Christ“. It is important to understand here that the name “Jesus Christ” is the same as “Jesus the Messiah.” In Biblical times, anointing someone with oil or pouring oil on someone’s head was a sign that God was consecrating or setting that person for a particular task. Hence, we can say without doubt that an “anointed one” was someone with a special, God ordained purpose to accomplish. In the Old Testament of the Bible, people were anointed for the position of Prophet, Priest, and King.

Remember how God asked Elijah to anoint Elisha to succeed him as a prophet to the people of Israel (1 Kings 19:16). It was in this same light that Aaron was anointed as the first high priest to the people of Israel (Leviticus 8:12). Prophet Samuel also anointed both Saul and David as Kings of Israel (1 Samuel 10:1; 16:13). All of these men held highly “anointed” positions in the presence of God. However, almost all the Old Testament Prophets, Priests, and Kings predicted and awaited the coming Deliverer, chosen and anointed by God to deliver the people of Israel (Isaiah 42:1; 61:1–3). This Deliverer was referred to as the “Messiah” by the Jews people. The Messiah was to start His saving mission in the household of Israel, a mission which was to afterward extend to all nations.

What Does The Bible Say About The Messiah?

What does the Scripture say about the Messiah

Jesus of Nazareth was and is the prophesied Messiah (Luke 4:17–21; John 4:25–26). This spiritual truth is supported by all the Biblical Scriptures. Across the entire New Testament, we see proof that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah, the Chosen One. Let’s support this by reading from John 20:31 – “These [miracles] are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” Matthew 16:16 tells us that Jesus is “the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” The ultimate testimony and evidence that Jesus is the Messiah or God’s promised savior of the world is His resurrection from the dead. All His immediate Apostles were eyewitnesses of His resurrection and divinity.

Acts 10:39–43 is also an eyewitness testimony of the resurrection of Jesus and the very fact that “he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead.” Jesus of Nazareth fulfills the role of a Prophet, Priest, and King, which is additional evidence to His divinity and Hi being the Messiah. Jesus of Nazareth is a Prophet, because He embodied and preached the word of God Almighty (see John 1:1–18; 14:24; and Luke 24:19). Jesus of Nazareth is a Priest, because His death atones for our sins and reconciles us with God the Father Almighty. And Jesus of Nazareth is a King, because after His resurrection, God gave all authority in Heaven, on Earth, beneath the Earth and in the world to come to Jesus (see Ephesians 1:20–23; John 18:36; and Revelation 19:16).

Facts about Jesus the Messiah

According to Acts 1:6, the Jews of Jesus’ day expected the Messiah to redeem Israel by overthrowing the Roman rule and establishing an earthly kingdom. However, it was not until Jesus’ resurrection that His Apostles and Disciples began to understand what the prophecies in the Old Testament really meant about the mission of the Messiah (see Luke 24:25–27). It is important to understand here that the Messiah was anointed first to deliver His people spiritually; that is, to deliver them from the power and wages of sin (John 8:31–36).

Jesus accomplished this mission through His death and resurrection (John 12:32; John 3:16). He paid the price for our sins by willingly giving-up Himself to be crucified on the Cross at Calvary. The Bible says in Romans 3:23 that we have all sinned and deserve to die (physical and eternal death). Jesus of Nazareth also has as mission in the later days to deliver His people from their physical enemies when He setup His kingdom on Earth (see Isaiah 9:1–7).

What The Bible Says About The Messiah

Matthew 24:44 – “So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”

Acts 5:42 – “Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah.”

Isaiah 9:6 – “For to us a child is born,to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

Luke 2:11 – “Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.”

Matthew 16:15-16 – “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

John 4:25-26 – The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.” Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.”

Acts 26:22-23 – “But God has helped me to this very day; so I stand here and testify to small and great alike. I am saying nothing beyond what the prophets and Moses said would happen— that the Messiah would suffer and, as the first to rise from the dead, would bring the message of light to his own people and to the Gentiles.”

Revelation 20:6 – “Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years.”

Group 1 – What The Bible Says About The Messiah

Malachi 3:1 – “Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts.”

John 1:41 – “He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means Christ).”

Micah 5:2 – “But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.”

Isaiah 7:14 – “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”

Deuteronomy 18:15 – “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen—”

Zechariah 9:9 – “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”

Genesis 3:15 – “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

John 14:6 – Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Group 2 – What The Bible Says About The Messiah

Isaiah 53:3 – “He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.”

Psalm 22:16-18 – “For dogs encompass me; a company of evildoers encircles me; they have pierced my hands and feet— I can count all my bones— they stare and gloat over me; they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.”

Genesis 49:10 – “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him; and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.“

Isaiah 11:1 – “There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.”

Group 3 – What The Bible Says About The Messiah

John 4:25 – The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.”

Isaiah 9:5-7 – “For every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult and every garment rolled in blood will be burned as fuel for the fire. For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.”

Acts 2:38 – And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

Zechariah 12:10 – “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn.”

Genesis 12:3 – “I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

Group 4 – What The Bible Says About The Messiah

Isaiah 9:1-2 – “But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shined.”

Isaiah 53:12 – “Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.”

Isaiah 53:5 – “But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed.”

Hosea 11:1 – “When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.”

Isaiah 53:7 – “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.”

Isaiah 53:12 – “Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.”

Group 5 – What The Bible Says About The Messiah

Isaiah 53:1-12 – “Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. …”

Isaiah 11:2-9 – “And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear, but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his loins. The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, …”

Group 6 – What Does The Bible Say About The Messiah?

Matthew 27:46 – “And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?””

Isaiah 50:6 – “I gave my back to those who strike, and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard; I hid not my face from disgrace and spitting.“

Matthew 1:1 – “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.”

Psalm 110:1 – A Psalm of David. The Lord says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.”

Psalm 22:1 – “To the choirmaster: according to The Doe of the Dawn. A Psalm of David. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?”

Psalm 16:10 – “For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption.”

Psalm 41:9 – “Even my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me.“

Isaiah 9:6-7 – “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.”

Psalm 22:16 – “For dogs encompass me; a company of evildoers encircles me; they have pierced my hands and feet—”

Group 7 – What Does The Bible Say About The Messiah?

2 Corinthians 5:21 – “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

Psalm 22:18 – “They divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.”

John 1:29 – “The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”

Isaiah 61:1-2 – “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn;”

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Matthew 1:23 – “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).”

John 19:34 – “But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water.”

Psalm 68:18 – “You ascended on high, leading a host of captives in your train and receiving gifts among men, even among the rebellious, that the Lord God may dwell there.”

Zechariah 11:12-13 – “Then I said to them, “If it seems good to you, give me my wages; but if not, keep them.” And they weighed out as my wages thirty pieces of silver. Then the Lord said to me, “Throw it to the potter”—the lordly price at which I was priced by them. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the Lord, to the potter.”

Group 8 – What Does The Bible Say About The Messiah?

Isaiah 53:4 – “Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.“

Psalm 69:21 – “They gave me poison for food, and for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink.”

Psalm 2:1-12 – “Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying, “Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.” He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision. Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying, …”

Matthew 27:34 – “They offered him wine to drink, mixed with gall, but when he tasted it, he would not drink it.”

John 19:33 – “But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs.”

Psalm 22:7-8 – “All who see me mock me; they make mouths at me; they wag their heads; “He trusts in the Lord; let him deliver him; let him rescue him, for he delights in him!””

Matthew 26:67 – “Then they spit in his face and struck him. And some slapped him,”

Jeremiah 23:5 – “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.”

Luke 23:34 – “And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And they cast lots to divide his garments.”

Group 9 – What Does The Bible Say About The Messiah?

Luke 3:33 – “The son of Amminadab, the son of Admin, the son of Arni, the son of Hezron, the son of Perez, the son of Judah,”

Jeremiah 31:15 – Thus says the Lord: “A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping. Rachel is weeping for her children; she refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are no more.”

John 3:16 – “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

Psalm 2:7 – I will tell of the decree: The Lord said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you.”

Matthew 27:57-60 – “When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who also was a disciple of Jesus. He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered it to be given to him. And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen shroud and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had cut in the rock. And he rolled a great stone to the entrance of the tomb and went away.”

Daniel 9:24 – “Seventy weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place.”

Group 10 – What Does The Bible Say About The Messiah?

Isaiah 35:5-6 – “Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy. For waters break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert;”

Isaiah 42:1-4 – “Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations. He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street; a bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice. He will not grow faint or be discouraged till he has established justice in the earth; and the coastlands wait for his law.”

Revelation 22:16 – “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.”

Psalm 34:20 – “He keeps all his bones; not one of them is broken.”

Psalm 22:1-31 – “To the choirmaster: according to The Doe of the Dawn. A Psalm of David. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning? O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest. Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel. In you our fathers trusted; they trusted, and you delivered them. To you they cried and were rescued; in you they trusted and were not put to shame. ...”

Group 11 – What Does The Bible Say About The Messiah?

Isaiah 49:6 – He says: “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”

Luke 23:35 – “And the people stood by, watching, but the rulers scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his Chosen One!””

Genesis 22:18 – “And in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.”

Galatians 4:4 – “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law,”

Isaiah 52:14 – “As many were astonished at you— his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of mankind—”

Isaiah 9:7 – “Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.”

Mark 15:27-28 – “And with him they crucified two robbers, one on his right and one on his left.”

Malachi 4:5-6 – “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.”

Group 12 – What Does The Bible Say About The Messiah?

Luke 23:46 – “Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last.”

Isaiah 40:3 – A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.”

John 1:14 – “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

Daniel 9:26 – “And after the sixty-two weeks, an anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing. And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end shall come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war. Desolations are decreed.”

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Isaiah 52:13-53:12 – “Behold, my servant shall act wisely; he shall be high and lifted up, and shall be exalted. As many were astonished at you— his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of mankind— so shall he sprinkle many nations; kings shall shut their mouths because of him; for that which has not been told them they see, and that which they have not heard they understand. Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. …”

Group 13 – What Does The Bible Say About The Messiah?

Isaiah 11:2 – “And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.”

Isaiah 53:1 – “Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?“

Isaiah 53:6 – “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.“

Isaiah 61:1 – “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;”

Isaiah 49:7 – “Thus says the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One, to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nation, the servant of rulers: “Kings shall see and arise; princes, and they shall prostrate themselves; because of the Lord, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.””

Matthew 27:38 – “Then two robbers were crucified with him, one on the right and one on the left.”

Isaiah 40:3-5 – A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

Group 14 – What Does The Bible Say About The Messiah?

John 20:31 – “But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”

Numbers 24:17 – “I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near: a star shall come out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel; it shall crush the forehead of Moab and break down all the sons of Sheth.”

Psalm 69:4 – “More in number than the hairs of my head are those who hate me without cause; mighty are those who would destroy me, those who attack me with lies. What I did not steal must I now restore?”

Psalm 35:11 – “Malicious witnesses rise up; they ask me of things that I do not know.”

John 19:23-24 – “When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his garments and divided them into four parts, one part for each soldier; also his tunic. But the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom, so they said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it shall be.” This was to fulfill the Scripture which says, “They divided my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.” So the soldiers did these things,”

Matthew 13:34-35 – “All these things Jesus said to the crowds in parables; indeed, he said nothing to them without a parable. This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet: “I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter what has been hidden since the foundation of the world.”“

Group 15 – What Does The Bible Say About The Messiah?

Matthew 1:2 – “Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers,”

John 1:11 – “He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.”

Psalm 110:4 – The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, “You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.”

Psalm 8:2 – “Out of the mouth of babies and infants, you have established strength because of your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger.”

Group 16 – What Does The Bible Say About The Messiah?

Luke 1:32-33 – “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”

Psalm 69:8 – “I have become a stranger to my brothers, an alien to my mother’s sons.”

Matthew 2:1 – “Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem,”

Group 17 – What Does The Bible Say About The Messiah?

Daniel 9:24-27 – “Seventy weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place. Know therefore and understand that from the going out of the word to restore and build Jerusalem to the coming of an anointed one, a prince, there shall be seven weeks. Then for sixty-two weeks it shall be built again with squares and moat, but in a troubled time. And after the sixty-two weeks, an anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing. And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end shall come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war.”