anointed, the
Greek translation of the
Hebrew word rendered "Messiah" (q.v.), the official title of our
Lord, occurring five hundred and fourteen times in the New
Testament. It denotes that he was anointed or consecrated to his great redemptive work as
Prophet, Priest, and
King of his people. He is
Jesus the
Christ (
Acts 17:3; 18:5;
Matt. 22:42), the Anointed One. He is thus spoken of by
Isaiah (61:1), and by
Daniel (9:24-26), who styles him "Messiah the Prince."
The
Messiah is the same person as "the seed of the woman" (
Gen. 3:15), "the seed of Abraham" (
Gen. 22:18), the "Prophet like unto Moses" (
Deut. 18:15), "the
priest after the order of Melchizedek" (
Ps. 110:4), "the rod out of the stem of Jesse" (
Isa. 11:1, 10), the "Immanuel," the virgin's son (
Isa. 7:14), "the
branch of Jehovah" (
Isa. 4:2), and "the
messenger of the covenant" (
Mal. 3:1). This is he "of whom
Moses in the
law and the prophets did write." The Old Testament
Scripture is full of prophetic declarations regarding the Great Deliverer and the work he was to accomplish. Jesus the Christ is Jesus the Great Deliverer, the Anointed One, the
Saviour of men. This name denotes that Jesus was divinely appointed, commissioned, and accredited as the Saviour of men (
Heb. 5:4;
Isa. 11:2-4; 49:6;
John 5:37;
Acts 2:22).
To believe that "Jesus is the Christ" is to believe that he is the Anointed, the Messiah of the prophets, the Saviour sent of
God, that he was, in a word, what he claimed to be. This is to believe the
gospel, by the
faith of which alone men can be brought unto God. That Jesus is the Christ is the
testimony of God, and the faith of this constitutes a
Christian (
1 Cor. 12:3;
1 John 5:1).