priests, and in some instances the prophets also, were anointed with oil at the time of their consecration to their work : and therefore it behoved Jesus, in whom all these offices were to be combined, to be set apart for them by a nobler unction. Accordingly he was " anointed with the oil of joy and gladness above his fellows g." It had been expressly foretold that he should be so anointed11, and that " the Holy Spirit should rest upon him1 ; and he himself mentioned, in his very first sermon, that these prophecies were then accomplished ; and that he was then executing the very office for which he had been commis- sioned and qualified by that peculiar unction k.]
Besides this visible attestation to his character, we are called to notice also,
II. The audible testimony of the Father to him —
In many different ways did the Father bear witness to his Son : every miracle that was wrought by Jesus was a seal whereby the Father attested the truth of his divine mission. But on this occasion he addressed his Son by an audible voice ; and therein bore witness to,
1. His person as the promised Messiah —
[The Messiah had been long foretold under the character of "the Son of Man1:" and that term was understood by the Jews as equivalent to the Son of Godm. That Jesus did indeed sustain this character, and that he was the very person of whom all the prophets spake, was a point to be proved ; and God determined that it should be proved by every species of evidence that could be adduced. Hence, besides the foregoing proof which was offered to the eyes of men, another was added which appealed to their ears. And in the very words which are used, there seems a reference to the prophecies which were accomplished in him. " Thou art that my beloved Son," that Son, whose advent has been so long foretold, and so long expected11. In this view the expression of the text precisely corresponds with that which had been long before used by the Prophet Isaiah: " Behold my servant whom I uphold, mine elect in whom my soul delighteth : / have put my Spirit upon him ; he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles0." What- ever pretensions, therefore, false Christs may urge, or whatever
e Ps. xlv. 7. h Isai. lxi. 1. • Isai. xi. 2.
k Lukeiv. 17 — 21. • Dan. vii. 13. m Luke xxii. GO, 70.
n There is a force in the repetition of the article, which, though lost in the Translation, should not be overlooked. 0 Isai. xlii. 1.