The Anointed one

Jesus Christ, the name of our Lord and savior. Yes…. or no? In reality, the name of our Lord is Jesus. It was God who made him our Lord and Christ. 

Acts 2:36:
Therefore let all the house ofIsraelknow assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ. 

We see then that God has made Jesus our Lord and Christ and that his name was simply Jesus, not Jesus Christ. The word Christ was not Jesus’ last name. It was something much more than that. If God has made this Jesus both Lord and Christ then we need to understand what it means to be both Lord and Christ. In this letter, I want to look only at what it means to be “Christ.” What does this word mean? The word “Christ” is the Greek word christos it comes for the word chrio which means to anoint. Christos means one who is anointed or anointed one. When we talk about Jesus Christ, we are talking about Jesus the anointed one.

According to the American Heritage Dictionary, the word anointed means “1) to apply oil, ointment, or similar substance to. 2) To put oil on as a sign of sanctification or consecration in a religious ceremony. This is good, as far as it goes, but if we are really going to understand what it means scripturally to be anointed, we are going to have to find out from the Bible how it is used. I believe that we will see that there are at least three aspects to being anointed. We will see that first it is a calling to service; second it is a setting apart or sanctification for a purpose; and third we will see that it indicates that the person was given the means and ability to carry out this purpose. We can see this calling to service and setting apart in Exodus in the calling of Aaron and his sons as priest. 

Exodus 28:41:
And thou shalt put them upon Aaron thy brother, and his sons with him; and shalt anoint them, and consecrate them, and sanctify them, that they may minister unto me in the priest’s office. 

Exodus 40:12-15:
And thou shalt bring Aaron and his sons unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and wash them with water.
And thou shalt put upon Aaron the holy garments, and anoint him, and sanctify him; that he may minister unto me in the priest’s office.
And thou shalt bring his sons, and clothe them with coats;
And thou shalt anoint them, as thou didst anoint their father, that they may minister unto me in the priest’s office: for their anointing shall surely be an everlasting priesthood throughout their generations. 

We can see from this that the act of anointing called Aaron and his sons into the priest hood. Along with the anointing, they were given the instructions on how to carry out their function as the priests of God’s people. We can see a calling to an office of a different kind in I Samuel when Saul was made king. 

I Samuel 15:1, 2a:
Samuel also said unto Saul, The LORD set me to anoint thee to be king over his people, overIsrael: now therefore hearken thou unto the voice of the words of the LORD.
Thus saith the LORD of hosts…. 

Samuel had anointed Saul to be king overIsrael, with that anointing came a responsibility, to hearken to the voice of the Lord. When God calls one to an office or position, along with that calling comes a responsibility to carry out that office. God gave those who He anointed the means and the authority to carry out the office to which they were called. We can see this clearly in the life of David when he was anointed to be king overIsrael. 

I Samuel 16:12, 13:
And he sent, and brought him [David] in. Now he was ruddy, and withal of a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look to. And the LORD said, Arise, anoint him: for this is he.
Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren: and the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel rose up, and went to Ramah. 

It was at this point in time that David was anointed and called to be king overIsrael. Notice that it was at this point that the Spirit of the Lord came upon him. David was called to be king and God gave him the means to hear God’s direction so that David could carry it out. If we will look at verse 14 we will see that prior to this Saul had the spirit of the Lord upon him. 

I Samuel 16:14a:
But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul… 

The spirit of the Lord could not have departed from Saul had he not had it available to him in the first place. While Saul was anointed to be king, he had the means available to him to hear from God and to carry out His will. When the calling was removed because of Saul’s disobedience, then Saul lost the spirit of the Lord and David who was now king received the spirit of the Lord.

God always honored the anointing and the calling with which He called His people into office. Whether the person called walked in the power and reality of that anointing was up the person called. For example, every High Priest was anointed into his position when he came into it. Many of the High Priests did not walk in a manner that utilized the power of God that was available to them. This is nowhere more evident than in the life of the High Priest Caiaphas, the High Priest during the ministry of Jesus Christ. He sought to have Jesus killed. He had gathered his leadership to plan this terrible act. I would like to note something unusual that happened during this planning session. 

John 11:49-52:
And one of them, named Caiaphas, being the high priest that same year, said unto them, Ye know nothing at all,
Nor consider that it is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not.
And this spake he not of himself: but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation;
And not for that nation only, but that also he should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad.

Caiaphas prophesied. In order for him to have prophesied he would have had to have the spirit of God upon him. It would have had to have been available to him. From this, we can see that God honored the anointing that Caiaphas had, even if Caiaphas himself did not and he did not understand the real meaning of what he had just said. If God calls one to office He will make sure that person has the tools to carry out his calling.

Now it is time to look at the anointing of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have seen that God has made Jesus both Lord and Christ. We have seen that the word Christ means anointed one. We have seen that when a person was anointed by God it was for a specific calling and purpose and that the person was given the means to carry out the calling to which they were called. There are only two places in which the anointing of God upon Jesus is mentioned and defined. They can be found in the Gospel of Luke and the book of Acts. 

Luke 4:17 – 20:
And there was delivered unto him [Jesus] the book of the prophet Esaias [Isaiah]. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written,
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,
To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.
And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. 

What Jesus did at this point was walk in to the synagogue, find a place that defined his ministry as the Christ of God and say, “I am the one this applies to. This is my purpose and this is my calling.” He defined it clearly, 1) to preach the gospel, 2) to heal the broken hearted 3) to proclaim deliverance and recovering of sight to the blind. 4) to set a liberty those in bondage. What a statement to make. When we see the word Christ, we need to always think of it in terms of how what we have just read applies to the fulfilling of these purposes.  Now lets look at the record in the book of Acts. 

Acts 10:37, 38:
That word, I say, ye know, which was published throughout all of Judea and began fromGalileeafter the baptism which John preached;
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. 

Look at the wonderful calling that is upon our Lord Jesus Christ. Everyplace in the Bible that we see the word Christ used we will see evidence of this calling and ministry referred to in what we read. All though the New Testament we see evidence of this purpose being carried out. What is just as amazing in all of this is what it means for our lives. It means first that this ministry, this purpose was carried out for our deliverance, for our freedom from bondage, that we might receive the benefits of the ministry of Jesus Christ. However, it does not stop there. 

Acts 1:8:
But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both inJerusalem, and in all Judea, and inSamariaand unto the uttermost part of the earth. 

According to Acts 10:37, what was Jesus ofNazarethanointed with? The Holy Ghost. What are we to have come upon us according to this verse? The Holy Ghost. 

Ephesians 2:10:
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

God has ordained, or prepared before, that we should walk in good works. There is a purpose to our walk with God and with Christ. 

John 14:12:
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. 

I ask you, what were the works that Jesus Christ did? They were the works relating to his calling by God, that which he was anointed to do. This verse says that whoever believes on him [Jesus Christ] will do those same works and even greater ones. 

I John 2:20:
But ye have an unction [anointing] from the Holy one, and ye know all things. 

The word of God says we have and unction, or an anointing from the Holy One. We! Are you part of “we?” Yes, you are. If you are born of God then you have an anointing on your life. That means that you were called to a purpose and given the means to carry out that purpose in your life. There may be many purposes in our lives. Some may be called to serve in many different functions in the body of the Church, but all of us have one purpose to which we have been called and all of us share this same purpose. 

Colossians 1:27:
To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: 

If it is Christ in you, and it is according to this scripture, then each of us shares the anointing that was upon Jesus Christ. Each of us has in us the same anointing and purpose that was upon Jesus Christ. To preach the gospel, to heal the broken hearted, to proclaim deliverance and recovering of sight to the blind, to heal all who are oppressed of the devil. This same calling is upon you. You can choose to walk in it or not, but God has given you the tools and abilities to carry it out. Why? Because it is Christ in you and you have an anointing from the Holy One.