(2.) While the statement " Jesus is the Christ" is thus materially equivalent to the statement " all that is said of the Great Deliverer in the Old Testament Scriptures is true of Him," it brings more directiy be- fore our mind those truths respecting him which the appellation "the Anointed One" naturally suggests. He is a prophet, a priest, and a king. He is the great revealer of divine truth ; the only expiator of human guilt, and reconciler of man to God ; tiie supreme and sole legitimate ruler over the understandings, con- Bcienoes, and affections of men. In his person, and work, and word, by his spirit and providence, he un- folds the truth with respect to the divine character and win, and so conveys it into the mind as to make it the effectual means of conforming man*s will to God's will, i man's character to God's character. He has by his spotless, all- perfect obedience, amid the severest suf- iisrings, "obedience unto death, even the death of the ;
cross," so illustrated the excellence of the divine law, and the wickedness and danger of violating it, as to make it a righteous thing in " the just God" to " jus- tify the ungodly," thus propitiating the offended maj- esty of heaven ; while the manffestation of the divine love in appointing and accepting this atonement, when apprehended by the mind under the influence of the Holy Spirit, becomes the effectual means of reconciling man to God and to his law, "transforming him by the renewing of liis mind." And now, possessed of " all power in heaven and earth," "all power over all flesh, " " He is Lord of all." All external events and all spiritual influences are equally under his control, and as a king he exerts his authori^ in carrying into full effect the great purposes which his revelations as a prophet, and his great atoning sacrifice as a high- priest, were intended to accomplish. See Chbist, Offices of.
(8.) But the full import of the appellation the Chbist is not yet brought out. It indicates that He to whom it belongs is the anoinied prophet, priest, and king — not that he was anointed by materLEd oil, but that he was divinely appohUed^ quaiffied, cotninunonedj and cuf^ credited to be the Saviour of men. These are the ideas which the term anointed seems specially intended to convey, a. Jesus was divinely appointed to the offices he filled. He did not assume them, *^he was called of God as was Aaron" (Heb. v, 4), " Behold mine Elect, in whom my soul delighteth." b. He wa^ divinely quaiffied: " God gave to him the Sphrit not by meas- ure." "The Spirit of the Lord was upon him," etc. (Isa. xi, 2-4). e. He was divinely commUsioned: "The Father sent him." Jehovah said to him, " Thou art my servant, in thee will I be glorified," etc. (Isa. xlix, 6). "Behold," says Jehovah, "I have given Him for a witness to the people— a leader and com- mander to the people." <f. He is divinely accredited: "Jesus of Nazareth," says the apostle Peter, was "a man approved of God among you by miracles, and wonders, and signs which God did by him in the midst of you" (Acts ii, 22). " The Father who hath sent me," says Jesus himself, "hath borne witness of me" (John V, 87). This he did again and again by a voice from heaven, as well as by the miracles which he per- formed b}' that divine power which was equally his and his Father's. Such is the import of th^ appella- tion Ckriet.
8. If these observations are clearly apprehended, there will be littie difficulty in giving a satisfiictory answer to the question which has sometimes been pro- posed—when did Jesus become Christ? when was he anointed of God ? We have seen that the expression is a figurative or analogical one, and therefore we need not wonder that its references are varying. The cgi>- poiniment of the Saviour, like all the other divine pur- poses, was of course from eternity: he "was set up from everlasting" (Prov. viii, 28); he "was foreor- dained before the foundation of the world" (1 Pet. i, 20). His qualifications, such of them as were confer- red, were bestowed m or during his incarnation, when "God anointed him with the Holy Ghost and with power** (Acts x, 88). His commission may be consid- ered as given him when called to enter on the func- tions of his office. Ifele himself, after quoting in the synagogue of Nazareth, in the commencement of his ministry, the passage from the prophecies of Isaiah in which his unction to the prophetical office is predicted, declared, " 7%w day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears." And in his resurrection and ascension, God, as the reward of his loving righteousness and hating in- iquity, " anouited him with the oil of gladness above his feUows" (Psa. xiv, 7), L e. conferred on him a re- gal power, fruitful in blessings to himself and others, fiir superior to that which any king had ever possessed, making him, as the apostle Peter expresses it, " both Lord and Christ" (Acts ii, 86). As to his being ae- credited^ every miiacnlous event performed in refer-
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