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Glory · Jesus Christ
'Christ' is not Jesus' last name: it is His title, the Greek word for Messiah, the Anointed One. Prophets, priests, and kings were anointed for their office; Jesus is the One anointed with the Spirit beyond measure to be Prophet, Priest, and King forever, and the resurrection is God's public declaration of it.
https://glorystudy.com/questions/what-does-the-title-christ-mean · Scripture quoted from the World English Bible
Psalms 2
As you read: The nations rage against Yahweh and His Anointed, yet God installs His King on the holy hill.
1Why do the nations rage, and the peoples plot a vain thing?
2The kings of the earth take a stand, and the rulers take counsel together, against Yahweh, and against his Anointed, saying,
3“Let’s break their bonds apart, and cast their cords from us.”
4He who sits in the heavens will laugh. The Lord will have them in derision.
5Then he will speak to them in his anger, and terrify them in his wrath:
6“Yet I have set my King on my holy hill of Zion.”
7I will tell of the decree. Yahweh said to me, “You are my son. Today I have become your father.
8Ask of me, and I will give the nations for your inheritance, the uttermost parts of the earth for your possession.
9You shall break them with a rod of iron. You shall dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”
10Now therefore be wise, you kings. Be instructed, you judges of the earth.
11Serve Yahweh with fear, and rejoice with trembling.
12Give sincere homage to the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish on the way, for his wrath will soon be kindled. Blessed are all those who take refuge in him.
Luke 4:16-30
As you read: Jesus reads Isaiah's words about the One anointed by the Spirit, then says they are fulfilled in their hearing.
16He came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. He entered, as was his custom, into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read.
17The book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. He opened the book, and found the place where it was written,
18“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to heal the broken hearted, to proclaim release to the captives, recovering of sight to the blind, to deliver those who are crushed,
19and to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”
20He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fastened on him.
21He began to tell them, “Today, this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
22All testified about him, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth, and they said, “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?”
23He said to them, “Doubtless you will tell me this parable, ‘Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we have heard done at Capernaum, do also here in your hometown.’”
24He said, “Most certainly I tell you, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown.
25But truly I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut up three years and six months, when a great famine came over all the land.
26Elijah was sent to none of them, except to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow.
27There were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed, except Naaman, the Syrian.”
28They were all filled with wrath in the synagogue, as they heard these things.
29They rose up, threw him out of the city, and led him to the brow of the hill that their city was built on, that they might throw him off the cliff.
30But he, passing through their midst, went his way.
Acts 2:22-41
As you read: Peter's Pentecost sermon: the resurrection is how God publicly declared Jesus to be the Christ.
22“Men of Israel, hear these words! Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved by God to you by mighty works and wonders and signs which God did by him in your midst, even as you yourselves know,
23him, being delivered up by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by the hand of lawless men, crucified and killed;
24whom God raised up, having freed him from the agony of death, because it was not possible that he should be held by it.
25For David says concerning him, ‘I saw the Lord always before my face, For he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved.
26Therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced. Moreover my flesh also will dwell in hope;
27because you will not leave my soul in Hades, neither will you allow your Holy One to see decay.
28You made known to me the ways of life. You will make me full of gladness with your presence.’
29“Brothers, I may tell you freely of the patriarch David, that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.
30Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, he would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne,
31he foreseeing this spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that neither was his soul left in Hades, nor did his flesh see decay.
32This Jesus God raised up, to which we all are witnesses.
33Being therefore exalted by the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this, which you now see and hear.
34For David didn’t ascend into the heavens, but he says himself, ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit by my right hand,
35until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.”’
36“Let all the house of Israel therefore know certainly that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”
37Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”
38Peter said to them, “Repent, and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
39For the promise is to you, and to your children, and to all who are far off, even as many as the Lord our God will call to himself.”
40With many other words he testified, and exhorted them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation!”
41Then those who gladly received his word were baptized. There were added that day about three thousand souls.
John 20:24-31
As you read: John tells you exactly why he wrote: that believing Jesus is the Christ, you may have life in His name.
24But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, wasn’t with them when Jesus came.
25The other disciples therefore said to him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”
26After eight days again his disciples were inside, and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, the doors being locked, and stood in the midst, and said, “Peace be to you.”
27Then he said to Thomas, “Reach here your finger, and see my hands. Reach here your hand, and put it into my side. Don’t be unbelieving, but believing.”
28Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”
29Jesus said to him, “Because you have seen me,you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen, and have believed.”
30Therefore Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book;
31but these are written, that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name.
'Christ' (Greek christos) translates the Hebrew word for Messiah: 'anointed one.' In Israel, anointing with oil marked someone out for office: Saul and David were anointed king, Aaron and his sons were anointed priest, Elisha was anointed prophet. To call Jesus the Christ is to say He is the Anointed One, set apart and empowered by God's Spirit for His saving office.
“Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brothers: and the Spirit of Yahweh came mightily on David from that day forward. So Samuel rose up, and went to Ramah.”1 Samuel 16:13
“Then you shall take the anointing oil, and pour it on his head, and anoint him.”Exodus 29:7
“You shall anoint Jehu the son of Nimshi to be king over Israel; and you shall anoint Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel Meholah to be prophet in your place.”1 Kings 19:16
The psalmist pictures the nations raging 'against Yahweh, and against his Anointed,' while God answers: 'Yet I have set my King on my holy hill of Zion.' Daniel was told the Messiah, the Anointed One, would come at an appointed time. By the first century, Israel was waiting expectantly for this promised deliverer.
“The kings of the earth take a stand, and the rulers take counsel together, against Yahweh, and against his Anointed, saying,”Psalm 2:2
““Yet I have set my King on my holy hill of Zion.””Psalm 2:6
“Know therefore and discern, that from the going out of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem to the Anointed One, the prince, shall be seven weeks, and sixty-two weeks: it shall be built again, with street and moat, even in troubled times. After the sixty-two weeks the Anointed One shall be cut off, and shall have nothing: and the people of the prince who shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and its end shall be with a flood, and even to the end shall be war; desolations are determined.”Daniel 9:25-26
“As the people were in expectation, and all men reasoned in their hearts concerning John, whether perhaps he was the Christ,”Luke 3:15
In Nazareth Jesus read Isaiah's prophecy of the Spirit-anointed servant: 'The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor,' and then said, 'Today, this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.' To the Samaritan woman, who spoke of the Messiah to come, He answered plainly: 'I am he, the one who speaks to you.'
““The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to heal the broken hearted, to proclaim release to the captives, recovering of sight to the blind, to deliver those who are crushed, and to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fastened on him. He began to tell them, “Today, this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.””Luke 4:18-21
“The Spirit of the Lord Yahweh is on me; because Yahweh has anointed me to preach good news to the humble. He has sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to those who are bound;”Isaiah 61:1
“The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah comes, he who is called Christ. When he has come, he will declare to us all things.” Jesus said to her, “I am he, the one who speaks to you.””John 4:25-26
The three anointed offices of the Old Testament converge on Jesus. As Prophet He reveals God perfectly, greater than Moses. As Priest He offered not an animal but Himself, entering not an earthly sanctuary but heaven itself. As King He reigns now at God's right hand, and 'of the increase of his government and of peace there shall be no end.' He is anointed not with oil but 'with the Holy Spirit and with power.'
“For Moses indeed said to the fathers, ‘The Lord God will raise up a prophet for you from among your brothers, like me. You shall listen to him in all things whatever he says to you.”Acts 3:22
“But Christ having come as a high priest of the coming good things, through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation, nor yet through the blood of goats and calves, but through his own blood, entered in once for all into the Holy Place, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled, sanctify to the cleanness of the flesh: how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without defect to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?”Hebrews 9:11-14
“Therefore he is also able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, seeing that he lives forever to make intercession for them. For such a high priest was fitting for us: holy, guiltless, undefiled, separated from sinners, and made higher than the heavens;”Hebrews 7:25-26
“Of the increase of his government and of peace there shall be no end, on the throne of David, and on his kingdom, to establish it, and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from that time on, even forever. The zeal of Yahweh of Armies will perform this.”Isaiah 9:7
“even Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.”Acts 10:38
At Pentecost Peter preached that God raised Jesus up and exalted Him to His right hand, and concluded: 'Let all the house of Israel therefore know certainly that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.' Paul says Jesus was 'declared to be the Son of God with power... by the resurrection from the dead.' The empty tomb is the public coronation announcement.
““Let all the house of Israel therefore know certainly that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.””Acts 2:36
“who was declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord,”Romans 1:4
“because he has appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he has ordained; of which he has given assurance to all men, in that he has raised him from the dead.””Acts 17:31
John wrote his Gospel 'that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name.' Peter confessed it at Caesarea Philippi: 'You are the Christ, the Son of the living God,' and John says everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. The title is not trivia: it is the confession on which life hangs.
“but these are written, that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name.”John 20:31
“Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.””Matthew 16:16
“Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God. Whoever loves the Father also loves the child who is born of him.”1 John 5:1