I N D E X
THE LORDØS ANOINTED 25
Prejudice is evident in the next altercation:
`Others said, This is the Christ. But some said, Shall Christ come out of Galilee?' (John 7:41).
That the question persisted is evident, for at the feast of dedication the Jews said:
`How long dost Thou make us to doubt? If Thou be the Christ, tell us plainly. Jesus answered them, I told you,
and ye believed not: the works that I do in My Father's name, they bear witness of Me' (John 10:24,25).
and earlier He had said:
`Ye search the Scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of Me. And
ye will not come to Me, that ye might have life' (John 5:39,40).
When Martha was put to the test regarding the resurrection with the question `Believest thou this?', she did not
reply by merely saying `yes' or making a confession of faith that embraced any aspect of Resurrection, but said:
`Yea, Lord: I believe that Thou art
(i.e. The Messiah), the Son of God, Which should come into the
THE CHRIST
world' (John 11:23-27).
With the close of John 12, the Gospel of John brings the record of Christ's public ministry to an end. With the
opening of the thirteenth chapter He concentrates His attention upon the twelve apostles and the approaching
change. So the last reference to `the Christ' before the closure, is found in John 12:34 :
`We have heard out of the law that Christ abideth for ever: and how sayest thou, The Son of Man must be lifted
up? Who is this Son of Man?'.
So, some could see that He was the One of whom Moses and the prophets did write, others failed, for, said the
Lord, `Had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed Me'. The Jews were offended at the idea of a suffering
Messiah, or One Who came from Galilee or Nazareth (John 7:41). They `trusted in Moses', but they did not believe
the testimony of Moses (John 3:14-16; 5:39-47).
Let us now retranslate John 20:31 and bring it into line with what we have seen, as to this title `The Christ'.
`But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is THE ANOINTED, THE MESSIAH ... `
The Christ is the Anointed or the Messiah, but the `explanation' still needs explaining, for the Messiah is an Hebrew
word. In the English A.V. of the Old Testament the word Messiah occurs but twice, namely in Daniel 9:25,26 :
`Messiah the Prince'.
`And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for Himself'.
The prejudice and blindness that led to Israel's rejection of their Messiah persists to this day, as we have
experienced when talking to the Jews, for they are under a prohibition imposed by the Rabbis `not to attempt to
compute the days of the Messiah', so that such chapters as Daniel 9 or Isaiah 53 are closed to them. Israel would
probably have welcomed a King Who rid them of the Roman yoke, but the Messiah was a King-Priest after the order
of Melchisedec, and would first rid them from the yoke of sin, which was not so acceptable. To be told `Messiah
shall be cut off, and have nothing', to realize that `He was to be despised and rejected of men', was something
repulsive to all their upbringing:
`For they that dwell at Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they knew Him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets
which are read every sabbath day, they have fulfilled them in condemning HIM' (Acts 13:27).
Returning to the word Messiah, it is derived from the Hebrew Mashach meaning ointment. The `oil of holy
ointment' was made from a divinely given recipe (Exod. 30:23,24), compounded after the art of the apothecary and
used for the anointing of Prophet, Priest and King, the ark, candlestick, laver and other vessels of the tabernacle, and
also the tabernacle itself.
`Whosoever compoundeth any like it, or whosoever putteth any of it upon a stranger, shall even be cut off from
his people' (Exod. 30:33).