The Life of Jesus in Harmony | Index

Messiah

MESSI'AH (Heb. mashiah, "anointed"; rendered in the LXX by the Gk. equivalent Christos).

The word Christ is therefore almost invariably used instead of Messiah in the NT as the official designation of our Lord. In the Old Testament PRIESTS are referred to as the "anointed" (Lev 4:3; 8:12; Ps 105:15), as are KINGS (1 Sam 24:7-11; 2 Sam 23:1; 1 Ki 19:16). We also read (19:16) of anointing to the office of PROPHET.

But along with these lesser uses of the term, which undoubtedly foreshadowed the three great offices of Christ as Prophet, Priest, and King, its highest use was employed to designate the One promised of God as the great Deliverer, and who was to be in a preeminent and altogether unique sense the Anointed, or the Messiah, of God.

The subject is therefore extensive, and offers to the student an immense field for investigation not only in the OT and NT Scriptures but also in Jewish and Christian literature.

(See Messianic Prophecy Topic)