Thursday, September 28, 2005
John 20:31 . . . these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ.
I BELIEVE IN JESUS CHRIST
When we hear the name Jesus we should remember that this is the name that was given to the second person of the Godhead when He was "made flesh" as John states in the opening verses of his Gospel. The name Jesus was the personal name given to our Savior at His birth as directed by the angel of the Lord to Joseph saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins." This personal name, Jesus, was descriptive of what He would do for all people, through His perfect life, and horrible death.
Added to that name we commonly add the word "Christ." This was not Jesus' surname as we have today. To the general populace Jesus was known rather as "the son of Joseph" or "Jesus of Nazareth." The word "Christ" is not so much a name as it is an office. The Greek word "Christ" was the equivalent of the Hebrew word "Messiah." In the Old Testament the word Messiah meant "the Anointed One" or "the Chosen One." It was used in the time of the early kings of Israel to show that God had chosen them to rule over His people. Later in the Old Testament the prophets used the word Messiah to describe the work of the coming Savior whom God had promised since the fall into sin. In the time of Jesus, the Jewish people referred to this coming Savior as "the Messiah," or in Greek, "the Christ."
While the Jewish people had a hard time believing that this man Jesus could be the Christ, Jesus' followers became convinced that Jesus was the long-awaited Savior foretold in the Old Testament Scriptures. Jesus' followers willingly confessed Him as the Christ. Through sermons, written accounts of the life of Jesus and letters they proclaimed to the world their faith in Jesus as the Christ - for the purpose of leading others to make that same confession. Thanks be to God that we to have been brought to believe in fact that Jesus is the Christ!
