Professing Christian, have you believed that Jesus is the Christ? Do not tell me you have been baptized, and confirmed, and have gone to the sacrament, and have been doing your best, and no one can accuse you of an immoral life! I dare say all that is true; but all this is not believing that Jesus is the Christ! You may be a good Church man, a high ritualist, and yet be as ignorant of the reality of Jesus being the Christ as an infidel; and I hope, if you will bear with me, and have patience to read this, that I shall be able to prove it to you.
Messiah is the Hebrew word for the Christ, which is the Greek word for the Anointed. It is not always marked in our English Bibles, but whenever, or generally when the definite article is prefixed to the word Christ, it does not merely mean a name, but is the official title of the Lord, just as we say the official title of the eldest son of Her Majesty is the Prince of Wales. It means, then, in simple words, the Anointed. A Jew would have told you at once, who lived in those days, that the Christ signified the Anointed Prophet, Priest, and King who was coming, of whom the Jewish prophets, priests, and kings were types. Elisha was anointed as prophet. Aaron was anointed as priest. David was anointed as king. Oil was poured on their heads, and they were set apart for their office in that way. So Jesus, after His baptism by John, was anointed and sealed by the Holy Ghost, set apart in that way for His threefold office as Prophet, Priest, and King. The Jew also ought to have known, from Isaiah 6:1, 5, and Psalm 2, that the Messiah was Jehovah, and Son of God, as also from Jer. 23:6. Now, reader, perhaps you will be interested to read a little longer, and to see whether you really do believe in Him—for remember, if you do not, it is fatal!
First, He is the Anointed Prophet, who came down to give a new testimony from God, which had never been given before—that is, of grace—God no longer requiring men to fulfill certain commandments or laws, but God giving His Son! He said to the Samaritan woman—who presently confessed Him a Prophet— “If thou knowest the gift of God, and who it is that saith unto thee, Give me to drink, thou wouldest have asked of him. and he would have given thee living water!” (John 4:10.) Reader, God hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son, the Anointed Prophet. He has been down to the earth to tell us God’s mind, that we, who are already proved guilty sinners, under sentence of death by the law, may now, by hearing His voice, receive grace and pardon for all our sins—yea, eternal life—through simply believing in His name. Therefore it is as clear as noon-day, that if you are trusting in the law, or in your good works, for salvation, you are not believing the Anointed Prophet’s voice, and God says, “How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?” (Heb. 1:2; 2:3.)
But, secondly, He is the Anointed Priest! Every priest, we are told, is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices. Therefore a priest and a sacrifice go together. Aaron and his sons offered the daily sacrifices on the brazen altar before the tabernacle; Christ, through the eternal Spirit, offered Himself without spot to God. (See Heb. 5:1; 9:14.) He is therefore both Priest, Altar and Sacrifice. Why did He offer Himself? Because the law sacrifices were insufficient to take away the sins, and God wanted sin to be put away, and for sanctified worshippers, saved out of the world, to be in His presence. (See Heb. 10:1-10.) We read that in the tabernacle service the priests always stood, and offered continual sacrifices that could never take away sins; but that this Man, when He had offered one sacrifice for sins, forever sat down on the right hand of God! (Vers. 11, 12.) If a man stands, it is generally to do some kind of work; the priests under law always stood, because the work was never done, the sacrifices were being continually offered, and they never put away sins; but if a man sits down after having done his work, it is a clear case that the work he was about is done—he has sat down. So it was with the Anointed Priest. When He had done the work of putting away our sins. He forever sat down at the right hand of God, for by one offering He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified I What is the use, then, of ritualist priests offering fresh sacrifices on new altars put up? Why, it is as clear as noon-day that they do not believe in the Anointed Priest, and in the eternal efficacy of His one sacrifice. My reader, beware of following such priests. There is one Priest at the right hand of God, who has sat down after having completely put away every believer’s sins, and that is the Christ. Do you believe in Him? The only other priesthood now is that of all believers. (1 Pet. 2:5; Rev. 1:6.)
Thirdly, He is the Anointed King. He was the Heir to Jerusalem’s throne, the true Son of David; but the Jewish nation rejected and crucified Him. He now, therefore, sits as the rejected King on the Father’s throne in heaven, and is coming presently to sit on His own throne, when He comes again to restore Israel, and to judge this world in righteousness. (See Acts 2:30-33; Rev. 3:21.) My reader, we are living in the interval between His rejection and His return to reign. He claims now the subjection of our hearts to His scepter. Have you submitted to the authority of the King during the time of His rejection? Woe betide you if you have not! Substitute law for grace, for salvation; it shows you do not believe in Him as God’s own Anointed Prophet. Substitute eucharistic altars and sacrifices, and man-appointed priests, for God’s one Priest, one altar, and one sacrifice, and it shows you do not believe in Him as God’s Anointed Priest; and if you have any other authority to rule your life, be it church authority or human authority of any kind, except the word of God, it shows that you have not believed in Him as God’s Anointed King; and “he that believeth not shall be damned!” (Mark 16:16.)
One word more. “Whosoever abideth not in the doctrine of the Christ, hath not God,” we are told in 2 John 1:9. Christian, test those who teach by this doctrine. If they bring it not, receive not such in your house, nor bid them God speed. (Vers. 10,11.) The Anointed Prophet now speaks from heaven the word of grace, in contrast to the one who spoke on earth, from Mount Sinai, the law! Hear Him, I beseech you! (Heb. 12:25, 26.) The Anointed Priest has sat down as the great Center of christian worship, having opened the way of access to God by His one sacrifice! Get absolution, I beseech you, from no other priest, nor have any other center of worship. The Anointed King is about to come to reign! Are you ready for Him? Have you bowed to His word? A. P. C,