I Believe in … Christ

Curist is the Greek translation of the Hebrew Messiah, and of each Anointed is the English rendering. There is evident reference to the ancient Hebrew custom of anointing with oil Priests, Prophets and Kings.

Our Lord was not only the Son of the Virgin Mother according to the flesh, and the Son of God in virtue of His eternal union with the Deity. He was also the one white flower of the Hebrew race, the fulfilment of its ideal, the gathering up of all the points and suggestions contained in Hebrew life, during long centuries of preparation, the Man of whom the greatest men of Judaism were only fragments. All that was sweetest, noblest and best in Joseph, Moses, David, Jeremiah, met in Him in exquisite harmony and proportion. Of Him poets had sung; to Him seers had borne testimony; a long line of priests had set forth one side of His glorious nature; an unbroken descent of kings, another; all these concurrent streams poured their floods into the

great reservoir of His nature. This is the inner 49 meaning of the genealogy of Matthew in which he shows the line of descent of whom was born Jesus, who is called CHRIST.

His anointing took place at the waters of baptism, when the heavens were opened, and the Spirit of God descended upon Him. Thereafter it was competent for Him to say, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He hath anointed Me.” In after days the Apostles spoke of God’s holy Servant, “‘ whom Thou didst anoint” (Acts iv. 27; x. 38). In the old dispensation it was prescribed that when any offered an oblation of a meal offering, it should be of fine flour on which oil and frankincense were placed (see Lev. ii.). How precisely the type was realized in the Christ! His manhood was even and pure as fine flour; it was fragrant with aromatic spice and anointed with fresh oil. Throughout His life He was a sweet savour sacrifice, holy and acceptable and well-pleasing unto God.

Christ is for the most part used as another Name for our Saviour, but indeed it is rather the designation of an office. When we use it we are justified in placing “the” before it. Herod demanded ‘“‘ where the Christ should be born”; Simon Peter said, “‘ Thou art the Christ;” the chief priests mocking said, ‘‘ Let the Christ, the

King of Israel, descend from the cross” ; — “If this is the Christ of God His chosen, let Him save Himself.”

We believe that Jesus is the Christ because He so exactly fulfils the whole Levitical dispensation. The prophets had foretold that the Messiah should be God and Man; exalted and debased; the Ancient of Days and a babe of a span long; the Almighty, but dependent upon a woman’s care; Master and Servant; Priest and Victim; King and Subject; Mortal, but the Conqueror of Death; anointed with the oil of Joy, but a Man of Griefs; acquainted with the woes of men, and the Fellow of the Almighty. So complex were the wards of the lock that no. key has been found which would perfectly meet their demand until He came who fulfils in His Person every one of these apparent contradictions.

Without hesitation our Lord challenged the erudite scholars of His time who were versed in Old Testament scriptures to deny the validity of His title. They had thought of only one side of the ancient prophecies, those that depicted the Messiah as a Conquering King. He insisted that there was another side which could only be fulfilled by one who had trodden the path of humiliation and suffering. ‘‘O fools,” He said, “and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Ought not Christ to suffer these things, and to enter into His glory?”

It is because our Lord exactly realises the complex conception of the Messiah yielded by the Old Testament, that the Christian Church is able to affirm its belief in Him as the Christ,