“THE CHRIST”
(All Scriptures are from the KJV,
1611)
(Emphasis is mine)
When
reading your Bible, have you ever come across a Word, a Scripture, or a phrase
that suddenly just jumps out, or it just caught you eye too many times to just ignore,
and the fact is that it is there for a purpose and that the Holy Spirit might
be trying to get your attention? Well the Scripture that got my attention was
Mathew 24:5 which read “For many shall come in my
name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.”
Well,
Scripture tells us in Proverbs 25:2
that “It is the glory of God to
conceal a thing: but the honour of kings is
to search out a matter.”
So just
as the Bereans, let’s search the Scriptures to find the truth and allow the
Holy Spirit to teach us.
In the
New Testament, the Word of God makes mention of the phrase “the Christ”.
1.
What
does it mean?
2.
Who
is this person that the Word of God is referring to?
3.
And
who is ‘the Christ’ seeing that Jesus
was called “the Christ” in the
following Scriptures.
The
following Scriptures contain the phrase “the
Christ” which we are going to examine.
1. Matthew
2. Matthew
3. Matthew 26:63 But Jesus held his peace. And the high
priest answered and said unto him, I adjure thee by the living God, that thou
tell us whether thou be the
Christ, the Son of God.
4. Mark
5. Mark 14:61 But he held his peace, and answered nothing.
Again the high priest asked him, and said unto him, Art thou the Christ, the Son of
the Blessed?
6. Luke
7. Luke
8. Luke 22:67 Art thou the Christ? tell us. And he said unto them, If I
tell you, ye will not believe:
9. John
10. John
11. John
12. John
13. John
14. John
15. John
16. John
17. John 20:31 But these are written, that ye might believe
that Jesus is the Christ,
the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.
18. 1John
that denieth the Father and the Son.
19.1John 5:1 Whosoever
believeth that Jesus is the
Christ is born of God: and every one
that loveth him that begat loveth him
also that is begotten of him.
According to Thayer’s Greek
definitions “Christ” is defined as
follows:
G5547
Χριστός
Christos (Greek)
Thayer Definition:
Christ = “anointed”
1) Christ was the
Messiah, the Son of God
2) Anointed
Part
of Speech: adjective
A
Related Word by Thayer’s/Strong’s Number: from
G5548
Citing
in TDNT: 9:493, 1322
Strong’s Hebrew and Greek
Dictionaries define “Christ” as the
following:
G5547
Χριστός
Christos (Greek)
khris-tos'
From G5548; anointed, that is, the Messiah, an epithet of Jesus: - Christ.
You
will notice that in both cases the word “Christ”
has the true meaning of “anointed”
and that tells me that there could only be one
“Anointed” person, according to the TaNaKh (Old Testament).
In the Old Testament, when somebody was ‘anointed’
it was nearly always accompanied by the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit or as
the Word says that ‘the Holy Spirit came upon him’.
There
is an interesting Scripture in Isaiah 61 from which the Lord read in the
Synagogue and I quote:
Isaiah 61:1 The Spirit of the
Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD
hath anointed me to preach
good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to
proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;
Isaiah 61:2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the
LORD,….
[and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all
that mourn;]
Notice that this part of the
Scripture hasn’t been fulfilled yet! The Lord stopped in the middle of the
sentence! (2 Timothy 2:15b) Rightly dividing the word of truth.
Notice that this is what JESUS said in the Synagogue and I quote:
Luke 4:18 The Spirit of the
Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to
preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to
set at liberty them that are bruised,
Luke
(See HE stopped here in the middle of the sentence, and didn’t read the
rest!).
Luke
Luke
It is very interesting to
note, who was the only person that could have taken the scroll of Isaiah
and read it out aloud in front of all the people gathered and make that
profound statement; “This day is this
Scripture fulfilled in your ears.” JESUS of course!
(Can someone else fulfill it again?)
I have never heard of a
Prophecy that has been fulfilled twice!
Have you?
Ø
When Jesus said this, did it
go unnoticed?
Ø
What was the reaction of
those sitting in the synagogue when Jesus read these powerful words?
Ø
Or how did those sitting in
the synagogue reacted to the words spoken by Jesus, seeing that they knew
the Scriptures and that they knew that only ONE person could read this particular Scripture and to make that
profound statement that “This day is
this Scripture fulfilled in your ears.”
They knew that it could only
be the “SON OF GOD”, and therefore
they asked this question in Luke
4:22 “And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which
proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is
not this Joseph's son?”
And their reaction was clear
which is revealed in Luke
4:28 “And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath,”
Have you ever wondered why
they were filled with wrath?
Is it not, because they knew
that this person now claims
to be the “ANOINTED SON OF GOD”?
It could only be one person
and one person only, the one that has been “ANOINTED” by the Father
and not by man. What was
Jesus saying when HE said that? HE said that by saying what HE said, that HE was “ANOINTED”. And
HE also confesses then that HE was “Christ” “Christos” “Messiah” or
the “Anointed” Son of God! Do you
see this?
See Acts
“How God anointed Jesus
of Nazareth with the Holy
Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing
all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.”
See here, Jesus was
fulfilling Isaiah 61:1 – 2!
Look at John 1:41:
“He first findeth his own
brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ.”
Here they say that they have
found the “Messias” which according to the Word of God is interpreted as
being “the Christ”. This tells me
that the word “Messiah” is interpreted as the “ANOINTED” according to the ‘Strong’s and Thayer’s’.
Let’s look at John 4:25:
“The woman saith unto him, I know
that Messias cometh, which
is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things.”
It is interesting to note
that the Word of God says, “which is called Christ”. So what I gather is
that the Word “Messias” also means “Christ” which also means “Anointed.”
According to the Strong’s
Hebrew and Greek Dictionaries, the word “Messias”
is defined as:
G3323
Μεσσίας
Messias
mes-see'-as
Of Hebrew origin [H4899]; the Messias (that
is, Mashiach), or Christ: - Messias.
Ø
Here you will see that the
Word “Messias” is translated into Hebrew as “Mashiach” and into English as “Christ”.
It is stated that the Hebrew
origin, the number is [H4899] and
this is what it says in the Strong’s Hebrew and Greek Dictionaries;
H4899
îùׁéç
ma^shi^yach
maw-shee'-akh
From H4886; anointed; usually a consecrated person (as a king, priest,
or saint); specifically the Messiah: - anointed, Messiah.
Ø
Just look at this! The word ‘Mashiach’ in the Hebrew tongue
is also translated as “ANOINTED”,
meaning a consecrated person as in a King,
Priest or Saint.
Take a look at John 20:31;
“But these are written, that
ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that
believing ye might have life through his name."
What does the Word say about this
Scripture? It clearly states that if you believe that Jesus is the Christ,
the Son of God, you can have
life through His Name.
Now to wrap this up.
“The Christ” means to be an “ANOINTED”
person, who has been anointed by God Himself, and there could only be one person to fulfill that position
according to the Old Testament, and that would be the Son of God!
(See Matthew 26:63!).
“Mat 26:63; But Jesus held his peace. And the high priest answered
and said unto him, I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God.”
Therefore Only Jesus was qualified to stand in
the Synagogue reading Isaiah 61:1 –2, meaning no-one can ever again say that they are the “ANOINTED / CHRIST / MESSIAH” of God, again, seeing that Jesus said
that this Scripture has been fulfilled in your ears on that
specific day!
Ø
PS: Please note that I’m not talking about the ‘Anointing of the Holy Spirit”. That is
something totally different than what I’ve tried to expound here today, but I
hoped that it could shed some light on the meaning of the phrase called “the
Christ’.
Now, let’s look at the next
phrase and see whether we can put some light on the subject.
The Word of God says in the
following Scriptures, “many shall come in My name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.”
1. Matthew 24:5 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.
2. Mark 13:6 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.
3. Luke 21:8 And he said, Take heed that ye be not
deceived: for many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and the time draweth near: go ye not therefore after
them.
You will see from the “Strong’s
Hebrew and Greek Dictionaries” that the word ‘Christ’ in the first Scripture is translated to be the following;
G5547
Χριστός
khris-tos'
From G5548; anointed,
that is, the Messiah, an epithet of Jesus: - Christ.
You will see that the Phrase
“I am Christ” only appears ONCE in the New Testament and that is
in Matthew 24:5. The inscription of the word Christ in the other two Scriptures are in Italics and the question is why?
According to “John Gill’s
Exposition on the Entire Bible”, the phrase is expounded like this.
‘I am [Christ]; the word "Christ", is rightly supplied
from Mat_24:5; otherwise in the original it is only, "I am"; which the Persic version
doubles, reading it, "I am indeed, I am": he that was promised and expected, the true Messiah; he that
was to come:”
He stipulates that in the
original it is only “I am” and that
of course changes everything, because we all know who “I AM” is in the Holy Scriptures.
But that is not the object of
this study.
What we have seen here is
that “many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.” We have also
seen that the word Christ is the
Greek word ‘Christos’ and have a
look at the following taken from above: “From G5548; anointed, that is, the Messiah, an
epithet of Jesus: - Christ.”
If you examine G5548 in the
Strong, the following is revealed:
G5548
χρίω
chrio¯
khree'-o
Probably akin to G5530
through the idea of contact; to smear or rub with oil, that is, (by
implication) to consecrate to
an office or religious service: - anoint.
This confirms what I said
that in the Old Testament, to ANOINT
someone is to apply oil and in the New Testament the oil represents the
anointing of the Holy Spirit. See 1 John
“But the anointing
which ye have received of him abideth in
you, and ye need not that any man teach
you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even
as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in
him.”
(Showing here that the Holy Spirit teaches you all things)
So if we have to paraphrase,
what we have learned here, is that Jesus said that many shall come in my name
saying, I am Anointed
(Christ); and shall deceive many. Have you ever heard this phrase?
Do you see where I am going
with this and the danger of saying things that can not, and will not be allocated to you, due to the
fact that it belongs only to one person
and one person only, which is the Son of God?
I have heard from the pulpit
that Preachers and Pastors quote Isaiah 61.1 and that they have allocate that
Scripture to themselves which has troubled me and compelled to search out the
matter and as this study shows the seriousness of not ‘rightly dividing the
Word of God’.
Ø
At this point I would like to
make it very clear again that I am not talking about the “Anointing of the Holy Spirit”, because the Holy Spirit lives in you and therefore the
Anointing will flow through you as our Lord Jesus is
ministering to your fellow brethren.
May you be richly Blessed my friends,
which labour with me in Christ.