This genealogy concludes with the key subject: Jesus! Note Matthew states His name as Jesus and adds: “who is called Christ.”
What does Christ means?
Christ is the Greek word for “Anointed One.” Messiah is the Hebrew word for “Anointed One.” So what was this “One” anointed with?
Under the Mosaic covenant, a person was anointed with olive oil. I had some olive oil on my dinner this evening, and it served many purposes in Ancient Israel, including oil for lamps and being a healthy flavoring to food. Now for the priests the olive oil for anointing included other ingredients added in. Under the Mosaic Law, there was a “sacred” anointing oil recipe which is recorded in Exodus 30: 22-24.
So who was anointed?
People in three positions were anointed: priests, kings, and most likely prophets.
Regarding priests, the LORD said to Moses, as is recorded in Exodus 30:30-31: “Anoint Aaron and his sons and consecrate them so they may serve me as priests. Say to the Israelites, ‘This is to be my sacred anointing oil for the generations to come.’”
Regarding kings, we see kings being anointed with olive oil, such as David in I Samuel 16:13 and Jehu in 2 Kings 9:1-6.
Regarding prophets, Scripture records the anointing with oil of one prophet, Elisha in I Kings 19:16.
Incredibly, the Christ turned out to be all three! As we learned last week, Christ is the King of kings. As we learned from the book of Hebrews in the posting in September, Jesus is the eternal high priest. And a teaching for another day is the fact Jesus is the Prophet foretold in Deuteronomy.
And the Anointed One was expected. God told Daniel the Anointed One would come, and even gave a time period which used Hebrew time lingo, which I learned from a Jewish Christian in a great book I read many years ago by Stan Tilchin. At the time of Christ, people were anticipating the Messiah, which is shown in New Testament passages such as in John 1:41.
I conclude this message saying we learn from the book of Hebrews that in addition to the Christ being the eternal high priest, the Christ was the Sacrifice. Jesus sacrificed Himself. Incredible.
Thus I close this teaching this morning telling the Good News that Jesus Christ died on a cross for the forgiveness of sins of anyone. Jesus was the substitute for the wages of sin which is spiritual death. And then Jesus was resurrected. If you do not know Jesus, the Anointed One, as your Savior and Lord, you can right now. All you need to do is believe in Jesus. To believe is to receive, and if you believe in Jesus, you will have eternal life in heaven with Him.
Hunter Irvine
Question for pondering:
1.) Nowhere in Scripture is it shown Jesus being anointed with olive oil. What was Jesus anointed with?
