The prophet Isaiah also uses the appellation, 'the anointed one,' with reference to the promised deliverer, hut, when he does so, he speaks of him as a prophet or great teacher. He introduces him as saying, 'The Spirit of the Lord God is upon tne, because the Lord God bath anointed ine to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn,' etc. (Is. lxi :I, etc.).
Daniel is the only other of the prophets who uses the appellation, 'the anointed one,' in refer ence to the Great Deliverer, and he plainly repre sents him as not only a prince. but also a high priest, an expiator of guilt. 'Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for in iquity, and to bring an everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and the prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy. Know therefore and un derstand that from the going forth of the com mandment to restore Jerusalem unto Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore ann. two weeks; the city shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times; and after three score and two weeks shall Aiessiah be cut off, hut not for himself' (Dan. ix:24-26).
During the period which elapsed from the close of the prophetic canon until the birth of Jesus, no appellation of the expected deliverer seems to have been so common as the Messiah or Anointed One, and this is still the name which the unbe lieving Jews ordinarily employ when speaking of him whom they still look for to avenge their wrongs and restore them to more than their for mer honors.
Messiah, Christ, - Anointed, is, then, a term equivalent to consecrated, sacred, set apart ; and as the record of divine revelation is called, by way of eminence, The Bible, or book, so is the Great Deliverer called The Messiah, or Anointed One, much in the same way as Ile is termed, The Alan, The Son of Man.
The import of this designation as given to Jesus of Nazareth may now readily be appre hended: When lie is termed the Christ it is plainly indicated that HE is the great deliverer promised under that appellation, and many others in the Old Testament Scriptures, and that all that is said of this deliverer under this or any other appellation is true of Him. No attentive reader of the Old Testament can help noticing that in every part of the prophecies there is ever and anon presented to our view an illustrious per sonage destined to appear at some future distant period, and, however varied may be the figura tive representations given of him, no reasonable doubt can be entertained as to the identity of the individual. It is quite obvious that the Messiah is the same person as 'the seed of the woman' who was to 'bruise the head of the. serpent' (Gen.
iii :is) ; seed of Abraham, in whom all the na tions of the earth were to be blessed' (Gen. xxii: IS) ; the,great 'prophet to be raised up like unto Moses,' whom all were to be required to hear and obey (Deut. ; the 'priest after the order of Atelchizedek ;"the rod out of the stem of Jesse, which should stand for an ensign of the people to which the Gentiles should seek' (Is. xi to); the virgin's son whose name was to be Immanuel (Is. vii:t4); 'the branch of Jehovah' (Is. iv:2); 'the Angel of the Covenant' (Mal. iii ; 'the Lord of the Temple,' etc., in the same place. When we say, then, .that Jesus is the Christ, we in effect say, 'This iS HE of whom Afoses in the law, and the Prophets did write' (John i:45) ; and all that they say of HINI is true of Jesus.
Now what is the sum of the prophetic testi mony respecting him? It is this—that he should belong to the very highest order of being, the in communicable name Jehovah being represented as rightfully belonging to him; that 'his goings forth have been from old, from everlasting' (Mie. v :2); that his appropriate appellations should be 'Wonderful,"Counsellor,"the Alighty God' (Is. ix:6) ; that he should assume human nature, and become 'a child born' of the Israelitish nation of the tribe of Judah (Gen. xlix :to), of the family of David (Is. xi:t) ; that the object of his ap pearance should be the salvation of mankind, both Jews and Gentiles (Is. xlix :6) ; that lie should be 'despised and rejected' of his country men; that he should be 'cut off, but not for him self': that lie should be 'wounded for men's trans gressions, bruised for their iniquities, and under - go the chastisement ckf their peace:' that 'by his stripes men should be healed ;' that 'the Lord should lay on him the iniquity' of men; that 'ex action should be made and he should answer it ;' that he should 'make his soul an offering for sin:' that after these sufferings he should be 'exalted and extolled and made very high that he should 'see of the travail of his soul and be satisfied. and by his knowledge justify many' (Is. throughout) ; that Jehovah should say to him, `Sit at my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool' (Ps. cx:1) ; that he should be brought near to the Ancient of Days, and that to him should be given 'dominion, and glory, and a kingdom. that all people, and nations, and lan guages should serve him—an everlasting domin ion which shall not pass away—a kingdom thit shall not be destroyed' (Dan. vii :13, 14). All this is implied ir saying Jesus is the Christ. In the plainer language of the New Testament 'Jesus is the Christ' is equivalent to Jesus is 'God mani fest in flesh' (i Tim. iii:i6)—the Son of God, who, in human nature, by his obedience, and suf ferings, qnd death in the room of the guilty, has obtained cgIvation for them, and all power in heaven and earth for himself, that he may give eternal life to all coming to the Father through him.