This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of “The Name of Jesus Christ” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, January 25, 1987.
About this sermon
‘Christ’ is not a surname but a title: the anointed one, standing in a line of anointed prophets, priests, and kings stretching back through the Old Testament. Paul’s language of corporate anointing in 2 Corinthians 1:21 and John’s in 1 John 2:20 mean believers don’t merely admire that anointing from a distance. It binds them to Christ himself, already in heaven.
Sermon transcript
For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, even by me and Silvanus and Timothy, was not yea and nay, but in him was yea. For all the promises of God in him are yea and in him amen, unto the glory of God by us. Now, he which establishes us with you in Christ and hath anointed us is God, who hath also sealed us and given us that down payment of the Spirit in our hearts. Moreover, I call God for a record upon my soul, that to spare you I came not as yet on the court. Not for that we have dominion over your we have dominion over your faith, but our helpers of your job or by faith.
And then from first John chapter two. Beginning with. This is 1 John 2, beginning with verse 18. Little children, it is the last time. And as ye have heard that Antichrist shall come even now, there are many Antichrists whereby ye know that it is the last time. They went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us, but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us. But we have an anointing from the Holy One, and ye know all things. I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth. Who is the liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is Antichrist that denieth the Father and the Son Whosoever denieth the Son the same hath not the Father, but he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also.
Let that therefore abide in you which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise that he hath promised us. even eternal life. These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you. But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you. But as the same anointed teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, And even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him. And now, little children, abide in him, that when he shall appear we may have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his coming. If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him.
Let us pray briefly. Our hearts, Lord, are melted before you. Do place before us out of your word those visions of your coming, our appearance before you, and that that appearance means that we do in fact melt. all of our pretense and show God. But though, Father, we bow before you, it is your intent that we might stand upright, and thus, Lord, by your word you beckon us and grant us assurances concerning our election in and our standing and status before you as sons and daughters of the King. This through Christ. Teach us more and more about our Savior. We would be built up through Him who is our life. Amen.
I decided this morning to take a little break. We have been plowing through Matthew 5, 17 through 20, and looking at the verses that follow there in Matthew 5, we have been plowing through that passage for some time, and it has been a difficult, arduous task. for a breather, not just for myself but for you as well, maybe something a bit simpler so that we can all catch our breath before we dare plunge in again. Just to rehearse things that we know well, things that are familiar to us in our faith, that are good and proper to keep before us, to rehearse so that our faith is kept on track.
At Christmas time, we took up some verses at the end of Matthew 1 and spoke about the naming of the child that was to be born. We concentrated on the angel’s visit to Joseph. We spoke about the name that Joseph was to give the child, and that at the direction of the angel.
You shall call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. Now there are few verses as magnificent as that to be sure, and I think that you have figured out in keeping with the pattern of things moving through Scripture that name have great significance, so that the name given by the angel to Joseph matches the explanation that the angel then gives of the name or of the child. Jesus means salvation is of the Lord. Salvation is of Jehovah. and it is the New Testament counterpart to the Old Testament name, Joshua.
And I think that you can recall that as we move through that message on the name, we drew the parallels and the contrast between Joshua, the Old Testament figure, and Jesus, the New Testament deliverer. But looking once more at Matthew chapter one. We will note that there is another name. And you knowing me, you’re probably thinking that he’s going to race on to verse twenty three and pick up on Isaiah seven fourteen, the quotation of that passage there and the name Emmanuel. Well, no, I’m not. I’m not going to deal with Emmanuel this morning. Rather, I’m going to focus on the name that is given in the very first verse of the opening of Matthew. Jesus Christ. That name repeated throughout that chapter. In fact, it is mentioned four times. Jesus Christ.
Now, how many of us know what the name Christ means? Well, we’ll all learn a little bit something this morning. I’m reminded of the little child who always thought that Christ was Jesus’ last name. No, it wasn’t his last name. In fact, originally, that word Christ was a title. It doesn’t appear to be that, as we have come to understand it in relationship to the figure of Jesus, but originally it was entitled. The English word Christ comes from a Greek word, Christos, and that Greek word means anointed one, the anointed one, and maybe you’re already ahead of me now, because in thinking of 2 Corinthians 1 and 1 John 2, I came to those portions of the reading where anointing is mentioned, and I expressed them for you, so there was the tip-off with regard to what we were going to be speaking about this morning. The name Christ, or the title, comes from the Greek word christos.
It means the anointed one. Now, it’s come into our vocabulary, and ways with which we are familiar. Maybe some of you have friends that are involved in what we might call the high church, and when there is a baptism and the conferring of a Christian name on a child, it’s called a christening. Well, there’s an anointing. It’s the baptism and the appointment of the name for that child going together. Anointed, or the anointed one. That’s the meaning of the word, the title, Christ.
Well, behind this, of course, there stands a tremendous amount of wealth out of the Old Testament. The Hebrew word, well, I won’t give you the Hebrew word, I’ll give you what we’ve made of the Hebrew word out of the Old Testament, the word that comes to us out of the Old Testament background that informs the New Testament word Christ. is that of Messiah. Signifying precisely the same thing in the Hebrew language, the word Messiah means precisely the same thing that in the Greek language we have derived from the word Christos or Christ. Messiah, then, means the anointed one.
And the marvelous thing is that as we see the full picture laid out for us throughout Scripture, we become aware that this one who is called the Messiah or Messiah, this one who is called the Christ, Christ, he is also the one being anointed who has the power to anoint. The anointed one. Also, the anointer.
Those passages then in second Corinthians and first John become very important for us. This, of course, picked up upon in documents here to the church, like the Heidelberg catechism, even the Westminster catechism, in which it is made plain that we become participants in the anointing that has been conferred upon Christ. become participants with him, the anointed one.
In filling out this idea of Christ, the Messiah, thinking about it as it comes to us out of the riches of the Old Testament, we can think about various figures in Old Testament times who were anointed. We think of how certain individuals within Israel assumed a position within Israel, not of their own choosing. Rather, they were chosen unto those positions and offices were conferred upon them, and they were set apart by an anointing by an ordination. And therefore, they were looked upon as set apart for certain functions and responsibilities, within the life of the people of God. Who comes to mind first with regard to anointing?
Well, if you think of 1 Samuel, you think of the actions of that prophet priest Samuel, that judge, the one who seems to have had every office in Israel. You think immediately of the figure of Saul having been anointed by Samuel for the office of king, the king then. being an anointed office within Israel, the Kings being set apart for their responsibilities and duties. We think of David, how Saul was ruined, how Saul was spoiled through his vanity and through the emptiness that arose within his heart. He even being a premonition of what was in store for Israel as a whole. He being from the least of the tribes, Benjamin, exalted to the top of the heap, and Israel being the least of the nations, exalted to the top of the heap. The story of Israel being played out in her first King Saul. Tragedy upon tragedy.
Samuel going to the house of Jesse at Bethlehem, and there anointing another David, you remember. But what was David’s attitude towards Saul? Do you recall? Here was Saul, the anointed of the Lord. He was set apart by God, ordained. And when David has opportunity to lay his hands upon Saul, to take advantage of Saul’s weakness, he instructs his men, don’t you dare lay your hand against the Lord’s anointing. Very special. The anointed ones set apart.
I might say parenthetically here Do you understand on the background of those actions by David, what is going on in Acts chapter two, when Peter takes on the Jews in Jerusalem? What is the charge that he has laid against the Jewish nation and against the rulers? They, unlike David, have extended their hand against the Lord’s anointed, and they have taken him and executed him. Could there be a more heinous crime on the face of the earth?
Well, the king had that office. He had an anointing in the Old Testament. We see it in Saul and David. We see the sanctity with which then the office is to be viewed. Were there others who had an anointing in the Old Testament? Besides the king, were there others who were going to back up in your Bible, the book of Exodus, the book of Leviticus. I know that you’re ahead of me here.
You’re thinking of the priest, the priest among God’s people. He also was anointed. In fact, the high priest there for a special title, a unique role within Israel’s life for he was described as the only thing it’s almost as if the Old Testament term for Messiah was applied to the priest in a special way. He was the Messiah priest, the anointed priest.
You can see that combination of terms used repeatedly in the book of Leviticus, fourth chapter, third verse, fifth verse, the sixteenth verse, later on in the sixth chapter, the twenty second verse. The role then of the priest. Now, thinking about the king once more, we can. Call to mind the sort of things that that officer was to fulfill, he was to. exercise amongst the people of God, he was to rule, he was to protect with regard to the priest.
What was he to do? What was his office? He was to make sacrifice. He was to mediate between God and man. He was to stand in the breach. He was to teach as well. He was to make sure that the law, the Torah was given to the people and that they had a proper and right understanding of it. With regard to the high priest, he was to Make that unique.
That unique journey year by year into the holy of holies there to place the blood of the lamb of atonement upon the altar so that the sins of the people may be removed. The king and the priest. Offices set apart by anointing. In keeping with what we have seen In relationship to that name, or were the king and the priest, the only offices within Old Testament Israel. There was the profit as well. We don’t have any special instance within Scripture of and anointing of a prophet there is reference made to the anointing of Elisha, but we are not specifically told about an anointing ceremony in which Elisha is set apart or any other problem.
It seems as if the prophetic office was one that arose out of the priesthood and arose for special purposes as the people were in need of a special message from the Lord. The prophets were called out of the priesthood at large, and then they went and declared the message of God in order to call the people back to obedience. They were, in effect, the executors of God’s lawsuit against his people. They, too, of course, were set apart, but they’re setting apart being an extension of that ordination, that anointing that was conferred upon the priest.
But judging from the Old Testament now, thinking about those who bore the anointing in the Old Testament, Saul, David, Aaron, the other priests, even the prophets, are we left as we conclude the Old Testament with an overwhelming sense of the perfection of these offices in the performance of the functions related to them by no means for the king’s stumble and fall.
The king proved unworthy. The king proved to be men filled with weakness, overcome by David himself, the greatest among them, not being an exception. And what of the priest? Will they fare any better than Aaron, who was at the head of the priestly order in Israel. You remember how Aaron fell, how he stumbled, how he led the people into sin? No. Beyond Aaron, they look for one greater.
Beyond the sons of Aaron, there must be one who will come whose priesthood is perfect without sin, one who need not make atonement for his own sin, one who is in himself. sinless. A greater king yet. One whose rule does not fail, one whose protective interest in us does not fall by the wayside. A priest and a king who is perfect, and a prophet, a prophet who teaches the fullness of the reality of God’s presence and the blessings of his kingdom. Yes, the Old Testament As the people of God are looking forward to one who will perfectly fulfill his ordination, perfectly keep his office. The one who in his anointed anointing does not disappoint the Lord, the one who is perfect king, perfect priest, perfect prophet. So it is that the stage is set for the coming of the Messiah, not a Messiah, not just another anointed one, but the Messiah. So intimately now is Jesus attached to this hope of Israel that the article, the, drops away, no longer the title, it becomes a name, for there is no other Messiah, but Jesus, none.
There is no other King. There is no other priest. There is no other profit. But Jesus. Jesus Christ. Or as Paul says often. Christ Jesus. Truly. The anointed. You can think of the story of his ordination is anointing. It’s recorded for you in Matthew three and other places in Scripture. He is baptized in the Jordan, and what an ordination it was. Grander than that of Aaron, grander than that of Saul or even David. Here you see the anointed one, the hope of Israel, the fulfillment of all their expectations, the one who is going to overcome the deficiencies that are in the past. the spirit of the devil on. The heavens break apart and the voice of this is. In whom I am well. The ordination. The ordination the anointing of Jesus. The Messiah the Christ.
But as I said, and intimated to you at the beginning, our focus was to be on 2 Corinthians 1 and 1 John 2, the fact that this one who is the anointed is the anointer, and that you have now been blessed with an anointing yourself. Think of those passages, run through them in your mind. The 1st, 2nd Corinthians 1 passage there pertains to the unity of the people of God and the integrity of the servant that Paul is as he endeavors to minister to these Corinthians. And the fact that he with them share a common anointing and there is this bond between them so that, by root of this anointing, the Apostle is not set apart from them, nor they from him, but they together are set apart by God, they sharing an anointing. Here, the unity of the people of God underscore.
Now, he who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us is God, who has also sealed us, the inclusive pronoun. and gave us the spirit in our hearts of the pledge of down payment and earn of the inheritance that is out the commonality of this anointing that and isn’t that what is emphasized in first John two where John is so bold as to say you received an anointing and by that anointing you know all things.
We might be thinking here that this anointing in mind by John, as he speaks of it, and possibly the anointing that’s in view here in 2 Corinthians, pertains specifically to the prophetic role, that we have a knowledge of things that are hidden from the world. That is true. That is true. The focus is upon those things that are made known to us and in us, and we all have that anointing, from the least of us to the greatest of his from the smallest, the youngest to the oldest.
It is an anointing that comes upon us, given to us by God through Jesus Christ, the anointed one. We, the anointed ones as well, and by the anointing, we know all things. Primarily, we know eternal life. And by virtue of that, we become those who are able to make assessments of all things. the eternal life that has been given to us. Is life a mystery? Is life confusing? Is life a distress to you?
You will not understand it by standing on the earth and looking up. The only way that you can understand life is by standing in heaven and looking down. And it’s precisely that vantage point that your anointing gives you. You have to stand in heaven and look down. You have to begin with eternal life to understand life. This anointing, which we share in Christ, therefore gives us a vantage point in the risen, exalted Christ in heaven.
And by virtue of that, we too have become kings. Do you not know that you will judge angels? I didn’t make that up. Paul wrote that to the Corinthians. Do you not know that you will judge angels? By your anointing, you are a priest. You become an intercessor for others. There is the priesthood of all believers. You become a priest in that you are a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable under God, offering up yourself to Him, which is your proper, right, spiritual labor. And you are prophets. You are prophets as well. your life becoming a declaration of the excellence of God.
One final thought. We’ve spoken about what Christ means. Messiah. The Old Testament background, prophet, priest, and king. New Testament fulfillment in Christ. We’ve spoken about how you are Those who participate in the anointing of Christ, you have been anointed as well. But do you see now that the very thing that David said about Saul and the very thing that Peter pressed upon the people in Jerusalem with regard to Christ is pressed before the world with regard to you?
How dare the world reach forth its hand and lay its hand upon you, the Lord’s Son? How dare them? You are the apple of the Lord’s eye. How precious in the sight of the Lord are the death of his saints. Oh, woe to the world that in its presumptive pride and arrogance and utter stupidity it would reach forth its hand to do violence against the Lord’s might. Your vindication is clear and certain. Throughout the world, you can be confident of this, that the Lord’s people shall indeed be saved and vindicated because they have received the anointing and God will protect them and execute justice in their behalf.
Let us pray. Father, for us to call Jesus Christ, what does it mean for us to do that? But to acknowledge that he is the anointed one, the one supremely and specifically, especially set apart as our king, as our priest, as our prophet. And that by root of his sacrifice, by root of his ministry for us, we too have received an anointing. and an anointing father that binds us together in unity, that proclaims to us that yes, we know all things from the vantage point of eternal life, that we have become kings and priests and prophets unto you through him, and that we are secure, for not even the world can stretch forth its hand against us and think that it shall escape your righteous judgment. Father, we pray that therefore we might lie down at night in peace and security and arise in the morning with the song of deliverance upon our lips.
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