Ark of the Covenant - Bible History Online
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JESUS CHRIST
        JESUS = "Jehovah salvation;" for "He Himself (autos , not merely like Joshua He is God's instrument to save) saves His people from their sins" (Matthew 1:21). C HRIST , Greek = M ESSIAH , Hebrew, "anointed" (1 Samuel 2:10; Psalm 2:2,6 margin; Daniel 9:25,26).Prophets, priests, and kings (Exodus 30:30; 1 Kings 19:15,16) were anointed, being types of Him who combines all three in Himself (Deuteronomy 18:18; Zechariah 6:13). "By one offering He hath perfected forever them that are being sanctified" (<581005> Hebrews 10:5,7,14; 7:25). "Christ," or the Messiah, was looked for by all Jews as "He who should come"(Matthew 11:3) according to the Old Testament prophets. see IMMANUEL "God with us" declares His Godhead; also ohn 1:1-18. The New Testament shows that Jesus is the Christ ( Appropriately, in undesigned confirmation of the Gospels, Acts, and epistles, the question throughout the Gospels is, whether Jesus is the (the article is always in the Greek) Christ (Matthew 16:16; John 6:69), so in the first ministry of the word in Acts (2:36; 9:22; 10:38; 17:3). When His Messiahship became recognized "Christ" was used as His personal designation; so in the epistles. "Christ" implies His consecration and qualification for the work He undertook, namely, by His unction with the Holy Spirit, of which the Old Testament oil anointings were the type; in the womb (Luke 1:35), and especially at His baptism, when the Holy Spirit (as a dove) abode on Him (Matthew 3:16; John 1:32,33). Transl. Psalm 45:7; "O God (the Son), Thy God (the Father) hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows."Full of this unction without measure (John 3:34) He preached at Nazareth as the Fulfiller of the scripture He read (Isaiah 61:1-3), giving "the oil of joy for mourning," "good tidings unto the meek" (<420417> Luke 4:17-21). Jesus' claim to be Messiah or "the Christ of God"(Luke 9:20), i.e. the anointed of the Father to be king of the earth (Psalm 2:6-12; Revelation 11:15; 12:10), rests:
        (1) On His fulfilling all the prophecies concerning Messiah, so far as His work has been completed, the earnest of the full completion; take as instances Isaiah 53; Psalm 22; Micah 5; Hosea 6:2,3; Genesis 49:10, compare Luke 2; "the testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of prophecy"(Revelation 19:10; Luke 24:26,44-46; Acts 3:22-25).
        (2) On His miracles (John 7:31; 5:36; 10:25,38). Miracles alleged in opposition, or addition, to Scripture cannot prove a divine mission (2 Thessalonians 2:9; Deuteronomy 13:1-3; Matt 24:24), but when confirmedby Scripture they prove it indisputably. "Son of David"expresses His title to David's throne over Israel and Judah yet to be (Luke 1:32,33). "King of Israel" (John 1:49), "King of the Jews"(Matthew 2:2; 21:5), "King of Zion." As son of David He is David's "offspring"; as "root of David" (in His divine nature) He is David's "lord" (Revelation 22:16, compare Matthew 22:42-45). His claim to the kingship was the charge against Him before Pilate (John 18:37; 19:3,12). The elect of God (Luke 23:35, compare Isaiah 42:1). The inspired summary of His life is, "God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil, for God was with Him" (<441038> Acts 10:38). To be "in Christ,"which occurs upward of 70 times in Paul's epistles, is not merely to copy but to be in living union with Him (1 Corinthians 15:18; 2 Corinthians 12:2), drawn from Christ's own image (John 15:1-10). In Christ God is manifested as He is, and man as he ought to be. Our fallen race lost the knowledge of man as utterly as they lost the knowledge of God. Humanity in Christ is generic (<461545> 1 Corinthians 15:45,47), as the second "man" or "last Adam," "the Son of man" (a title used in New Testament only by Himself of Himself, except in Stephen's dying speech, Acts 7:56; from Daniel 7:13; marking at once His humiliation as man's representative Head, and His consequent glorification in the same nature: Matthew 20:28; 26:64). Sinless Himself, yet merciful to sinners; meek under provocation, yet with refined sensibility; dignified, yet without arrogance; pure Himself, yet with a deep insight into evil; Christ is a character of human and divine loveliness such as man could never have invented; for no man has ever conceived, much less attained, such a standard; see His portraiture, Matthew 12:15-20. Even His own brethren could not understand His withdrawal into Galilee, as, regarding Him like other men, they took it for granted that publicity was His aim (John 7:3,4; contrast John 5:44). Jesus was always more accessible than His disciples, they all rebuked the parents who brought their infants for Him to bless (Luke 18:15-17), they all would have sent the woman of Canaan away. But He never misunderstood nor discouraged any sincere seeker, contrast Matthew 20:31 with Matthew 20:32-24. Earthly princes look greatest at a distance, surrounded with pomp; but He needed no earthly state, for the more closely He is viewed the more He stands forth in peerless majesty, sinless and divine. (On His see MIRACLES and see PARABLES ). He rested His teaching on His own authority, and the claim was felt by all, through some mysterious power, to be no undue one (Matthew 7:29). He appeals to Scripture as His own: "Behold I send unto you prophets," etc. (Matthew23:34; in Luke 11:49, "the Wisdom of God said, I will send them prophets"). His secret spring of unstained holiness, yet tender sympathy, was His constant communion with God; at all times, so that He was never alone (John 16:32), "rising up a great while before day, in a solitary place" (Mark 1:35). Luke tells us much of His prayers: "He continued all night in prayer to God," before ordaining the twelve (Luke 6:12); it was as He was "praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended, and (the Father's) voice came from heaven, Thou art My beloved Son," etc. (Luke 3:22); it was "as He prayed, the fashion of His countenance was altered, and His raiment was white and glistering" (Luke 9:29); when the angel strengthened Him in Gethsemane, "in an agony He prayed more earnestly," using the additional strength received not to refresh Himself after His exhausting conflict, but to strive in supplication, His example confirming His precept, Luke 13:24 (Luke 22:44; Hebrews 5:7). His Father's glory, not His own, was His absorbing aim return in like manner as they saw Him go into heaven,"probably at the same mountain (Zechariah 14:4,5). Thus, there were ten appearances of the risen Saviour recorded, nine in the Gospels and Acts, and one in 1 Corinthians 15, namely, to James, on the independent testimony of Paul, who mentions all those to men which the Gospels record, also the special one to himself after the Lord's ascension. Most of the above is gathered, with occasional differences however, from Bishop Ellicott's valuable Life of Christ. Four stages of development in the order and fullness of Christ's teaching have been traced: (1) In the first year a slight advance on the teaching of John the Baptist.
        (2) The second year inaugurated by the Sermon on the Mount.
        (3) The third year the teaching of parables, setting forth the nature, constitution, and future prospects of the church.
        (4) The fourth year, the sublime discourses in the upper chamber, recorded by John, just before His betrayal and crucifixion.
Bibliography Information
Fausset, Andrew Robert M.A., D.D., "Definition for 'jesus christ' Fausset's Bible Dictionary".
bible-history.com - Fausset's; 1878.

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