The prophet Isaiah also uses the appellation, the anointed one,' with reference to the promised deliverer, but, 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 me, because the Lord God hath anointed me 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 who are bound, to proclaim the acceptable year oi the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all that mourn,' etc. (Is. lxi. 1, 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 transgre.ssion, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for ini quity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and the prophecy, and to anoint the most holy. Know therefore and under stand that from the going forth of the command ment to restore Jerusalem unto Mersiah the Prince shall be seven weeks and threescore and two weeks; the city shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times ; and after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for him self ' (Dan. ix. 24-26).
During the period which elapsed from the close of the prophetic canon till 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 unbelieving Jews ordinarily employ when speaking of him whom they still look for to avenge their wrong. and restore them to more than their former honours.
Messiah, Christ, Anointed, is, then, a term equivalent to consecrated, sacred, set apart ; and as the record of divine revelation is called, bv way of eminence, The Bible, or book, so is the Great Deliverer called ne Messiah, or Anointed One, much in the same way as he is tenned The Man, The Son of Man.
The import of this designation as given to Jesus of Nazareth may now readily be apprehended.— 0.) When he is termed the Christ it is plainly indicated that HE is the great deliverer promised under that appellation, and many others in the O. T. Scriptures, and that all that is said of this deliverer nnder this or any other appellation is true of Him. No attentive reader of the O. T. can help noticing that in every part of the pro phecies there is ever and anon presented to our view an illustrious personage destined to appear at some future distant period, and, however varied may be the figurative 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. 15); the seed of Abraham, in
whom all the nations of the earth were to be blessed ' (Gen. xxii. i8) ; the great prophet to be raised up like unto Moses,' whom all were to be required to hear and obey (Deut. xviii. 15); the priest after the order of Melchizedek ;" 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. 1, so) ; the virgin's son whose name was to be Immanuel (Is. vii. 14) ; the branch of Jehovah ' (Is. iv. 2); the Angel of the Covenant ' (Mal. iii. 1) ; the Lord of the Temple,' etc. etc. (A) When we say, then, that Jesus is the Christ, we in effect say, This is HE of whom Moses, in the law, and the prophets did write ' (John i• 45) ; and all that they say of Him is true of Jesus.
Now, what is the sum of the prophetic testimony respecting him ? It is this—that he should belong to the very highest order of being, the incommuni cable name Jehovah being represented as right fully belonging to him ; that 'his goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting' (Mic. v. 2); that his appropriate appellations should be Won derful, Counsellor, the Mighty 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. xlbc. so), of the family of David (Is. xi. 1) ; that the object of his appearance should be the salvation of mankind, both Jews and Gentiles (Is. xlix. 6); that he should be despised and rejected ' of his countrymen ; that he should be cut off, but not for himself ;' that he should be wounded for men's transgressions, bruised for their iniquities, and undergo the chas tisement of their peace ;' that by his stripes men should be healed ;' that the Lord should lay on him the iniquity ' of men ; that exaction 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. liii. passim); 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 domi nion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, and nations, and languages should serve him—an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away —a kingdom that shall not be destroyed (Dan. vii. 13, 14). All this is implied in saying Jesus is the Christ. In the plainer language of the N. T., Jesus is the Christ' is equivalent to Jesus is 'God manifest in flesh' Or Tim. iii. 16)—the Son of God, who, in human nature, by his obedience, and sufferings, and death in the room of the guilty, has obtained salvation 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.