While the statement, 'Jesus is the Christ', is thus materially equivalent to the statement, 'all that is said of the Great Deliverer in the Old Testament Scriptures is true of Him,' it brings mote directly before our mind those truths re specting him which the appellation, 'the Anointed One' naturally suggests. He is a prophet, a priest, and a king. He is the great revealer of Divine truth, the only expiator of human guilt, sole legitimate ruler over the understandings, consciences and affections of men. In his per son, and work, and word, by his spirit and provi dence, he unfolds the truth with respeet to the Divine character and will, and so conveys it into the mind as to make it the effectual means of conforming man's will to God's will, man's character to God's character. He has, by his spotless, all-perfect obedience, amid the severest sufferings, 'obedience unto death, even the death of the cross,' so illustrated the excellence of the Divine law and the wickedness and danger of violating it, as to make it a rightecius thing in 'the just God' to 'justify the ungodly,' thus•pro pitiating the offended majesty of heaven ; while the manifestation of the Divine love in appoint ing. and accepting this atonement, when appre hended by the mind under the influence of the Holy Spirit, becomes the effectual means of reconciling man to God and to his law, 'trans forming him by the renewing of his mind.' And now, possessed of 'all power in heaven and earth,' 'all power over all flesh,"He is Lord of All.' All external events and all spiritual influences are equally under his control, and as a king he exerts his authority- in carrying into full effect the great purposes which his revelations as a prophet, and his great atoning sacrifice as a high-priest, were intended to accomplish.
But the full import of the appellation the CHRIST is not yet brought Out. It indicates that He to whom it belongs is the anointed prophet; priest, and king—not that lie was anointed by material oil, but that he was divinely appointed, qualified, commissioned, and accredited to be the Savior of men. These are the ideas which the term anointed seems specially intended to con vey. Jesus was divinely appointed to the offices lie filled. He assumed them involuntarily, 'he was called of God as was Aaron' (lIeb. v:4). 'Behold mine ELECT, in whom my soul delight eth.' He was divinely qualified: `God gave to him the Spirit not by measure."The Spirit of the Lord was upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding. the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord, and they made him of quick understand ing in the fear of the Lord, so that he does not judge after the sight of his eyes, nor reprove after the hearing ,of his ears, but lie smites the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he slays the wicked; and right eousness is the girdle of his loins, and faithful ness the girdle of his reins' (Is. xi:2, 4). He was divinely commissioned ; Father sent him.' Jehovah said to him. 'Thou art my serv ant, in thee will I he glorified."It is a light thing that thou shouldst be my servant, to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel; I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayst be my salvation tu the ends of the earth' (Is. xlix:6). 'Behold,' says Jehovah, 'I have given Him for a witness to the people--a leader and commander to the people.' lle is divinely accredited; 'Jesus of Nazareth,' says the Apostle Peter, was 'a man approved of God among you by miracles, and wonders, and signs which God did by him in the midst of you' (Acts ii:22). 'The Father who hath sent me,' says Jesus himself, 'hath borne witness of me' (John v:37). This he did again and again by a voice from heaven, as well as by the miracles which he performed by that divine power which was equally his as his Father's. Such is the
import of the appellation Christ.
If these observations are clearly apprehended there will be little difficulty in giving a satisfac tory answer to the question which has sometimes been proposed—when did Jesus become Christ ? when was he anointed of God? We have seen that the expression is a figurative or analogical one, and therefore we need not wonder that its references are various. The appointment of the Savior, like all the other Divine purposes, was of course from eternity. 'He was set up from everlasting' (Prov. viii:23); he 'was foreor dained before the foundation of the world' (I Pet. i:2o). His qualifications, such of them as were conferred, were bestowed in or during his incarnation, when `God anointed him with the Holy Ghost and with power' (Acts x:38). His commission may be considered as given him when called to enter on the functions of his office. lie himself, after quoting, in the synagogue of Nazareth, in the commencement of his ministry, the passage from the prophecies of Isaiah in which his unction to the prophetical office is pre dicted, declared, 'This day is this Scripture ful filled in your ears.' And in his resurrection and ascension, God, as the reward of his loving righteousness, and hating iniquity, 'anointed him with the oil of gladness above his fellows' (Ps. xlv :7), e., conferred on him a regal power, fruitful in blessings to himself and others, far superior to that which any king had ever pos sessed, making him, as the Apostle Peter ex presses it, 'both Lord and Christ' (Acts ii:36). As to his being accredited, every miraculous event performed in reference to him or by him may be viewed as included in this species of anointing— especially the visible descent of the Spirit on him in his baptism.
These statements, with regard to the import of the appellation, 'the Christ,' show us how we are to understand the statement of the Apostle John, 'Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ, is born of God' (i John v:i), e., is 'a child of God,"born again,"a new creature;' and the similar declaration of the Apostle Paul, 'No man can say that Jesus is the Lord.' i. e., the Christ, the Messiah. 'but by the Holy Ghost' Cor. xii:3). It is plain that the proposition, 'Jesus is the Christ,' when understood in the lati tude of meaning which we have shown belongs to it, contains a complete summary of the truth re specting the divine method of salvation. To believe that principle rightly understood is to be lieve the Gospel—the saving truth. by the faith of which a man is, and by the faith of which only a man can be, brought into the relation or formed to the character of a child of God; and though a man may, without divine influence, be brought to acknowledge that 'Jesus is the Lord,"Messiah the Prince,' and even firmly to believe that these words embody a truth yet no man can be brought really to believe and cordially to acknowledge the truth contained in these words, as we have at tempted to unfold it, without a peculiar divine influence. That Jesus is 6 1X065y, 6 Xpw-r6s, is the testimony of God, the faith of which constitutes a Christian, r6 i'v. the one thing to which the Spirit, the water and the blood, unite in bearing witness (1 John v:6, 8, 9).
(3) Offices of Jesus Christ. The offices are generally considered as threefold: (a) A pro phet to enlighten, warn, and instruct (John vi: t4; iii :2). (b) A priest to sympathize, intercede, and make atonement for his people (Is. 'Hi; Heb. vii). (c) A king to reign in, rule over, protect, deliver, and bless them (Zech. xiv :9; Ps. ii:6). (See articles INTERcEssioN; IvIEDIAToR.) J. B.