Other than the name Jesus, the title most familiar to us and used most often in the New Testament for our Lord and Savior is Christ. Often used in conjunction with the name Jesus, Christ is actually the Greek equivalent to the Hebrew word Messiah.

God promised the ancient Israelites that a Messiah would come to deliver them from their sin. Jesus Christ is that Messiah. Both Christ and Messiah mean “the Anointed One.”

In the Old Testament, three groups of people were anointed with oil: prophets, priests, and kings. When Christ came as the Anointed One, He came as One set apart by God to be our Prophet, Priest, and King.

• As Prophet, Jesus Christ spoke forth the Words of God. When He raised the dead son of the widow from Nain, Luke 7:16 says of Him, “A great prophet has arisen among us!” and “God has visited his people!“
• As our Priest, Hebrews 10:11-12 says, unlike the priests of the Old Covenant who repeatedly offered the same sacrifices, “Christ offered Himself for all time a single sacrifice for sins.”
• When He returns at His second coming. He will reign at King of Kings. As it says in Revelation 17:14, “They (ten kings who give power to the beast) will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings…”

Isaiah 61:1 -2a speaks of this Anointed One Who was to come, “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor…”

Jesus quoted these words in the Temple, as recoded in Luke 4:18-19, clearly identifying Himself as this Anointed One.

My heart is full of gratitude today that I have come to know Jesus Christ as the Prophet Who regularly speaks forth the Words of God into my life, as the Priest who offered the perfect sacrifice for my sin, and as my soon coming King. Without Him in my life, I would be a spiritual beggar, brokenhearted, captive and imprisoned by sin.

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