Christ or Messiah means “The Anointed One.” But what does that really mean? To the Jews it meant a savior and king, as David was anointed by the Prophet Samuel to be King of Israel. Christ or Messiah for them would be a great monarch who would deliver the people from the tyranny of foreigners and re-establish the supremacy of the Jewish Nation. In terms of savior, they meant one like Judas Maccabeus who saved the Jews from annihilation by Antiochus Epiphanies. The people of Israel did not understand that the Messiah, the return of the king would be God, that the Lord would reverse their decision of the past when the Jews wanted a king like all the nations and rejected God as their king (1 Samuel 8). They failed to see that Jesus is God restoring the kingship back the Almighty because He is the Almighty made flesh!
There is a reason why the apostles emphasize that Jesus is the Christ (King) and Lord (God). For the Jews had failed to understand that the Messiah (Anointed King) and The Bridegroom (God) are one, not two separate persons. This was a major reason they failed to believe in Jesus, not understanding that Yeshua was both Lord God and Anointed King; that God had promised them a time when He would restore His place as their ruler over fallen humans.
The term Chosen One is the same as Messiah and Christ. There have been leaders in our age who claim to be the Chosen One, and this is blasphemy! For only Jesus is the Chosen One, The Christ, The Son of the Living God, and God in human flesh. Anyone claiming to be the Chosen One is a false christ, “For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect,” (Matthew 24:24), and antichrist, “Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour.” (1 John 2:18).
Christ comes from the Greek rendering Christos, while Messiah comes from Mashiach which is the Hebrew and Aramaic. As aforementioned it means anointed one, but it is now a formal name as in Jesus The Christ. The apostle Paul often uses Christ in place of Jesus’ name as in “I count all things lost but knowing Christ.” (Philippians 3:8).
It is important we understand the semantics, because when we Christians say Christ, when mean our Lord Jesus Christ who is God The Son who came and saved us from eternal damnation by his saving work and death on the cross for all our sins. But when a Jew says christ or messiah, they are looking for a Davidic or Maccabean Liberator who will make the nation of Israel great again. They do not understand Savior as we do, that Jesus is our salvation from sin (separation from God) and hell. They are focused on the temporal rulership, we the eternal. One day Jesus will rule Israel as they expect the Messiah to, “Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.” (Revelation 20:4), however, it will not do anyone, Jew or Gentile any good to seek to serve Jesus like a mere liberator king, they must believe in Jesus as Lord God (Romans 10:9, Philippians 2:8-9) and trust Him to cleanse their sins for all time (Hebrews 9:28), and save them, or else they shall go into the Second Death and are condemned already, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” (John 3:16-18). Jesus is not just a christ, anointed king, He is God The King! In fact His title King of Kings and Lord of lords (Revelation 17:15, Revelation 19:16), comes from Hebrew which really reads King of Kings and God of gods (Deuteronomy 10:17): king above all kings and greater than all gods.
It is key we call Jesus Lord (God) and Christ, that He is The I AM that I AM who is Creator and Savior, Bridegroom and Messiah. Christ is His Name yes, but we must understand that the Jews view the word differently, the majority do not read The Prophets who detail via The Holy Spirit that the Messiah must be God come in a human body; instead the Jews spend their time memorizing the Pentateuch, the first five books of Moses, and The Talmud (commentaries by Rabbis). The Prophets like Isaiah were clear the Messiah would be God, “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace,” (Isaiah 9:6), but the Jews sadly did not grasp this and to this day retain their unbelief via a veil, “But the people’s minds were hardened, and to this day whenever the old covenant is being read, the same veil covers their minds so they cannot understand the truth. And this veil can be removed only by believing in Christ. Yes, even today when they read Moses’ writings, their hearts are covered with that veil, and they do not understand. But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. ” (2 Corinthians 3:14-16)
Christ is a proper name now, Jesus The Christ. It always meant God who became Man and would save us from eternal death. It is just that at some point the Jews lost that knowledge, focusing on the books of Moses and forgetting the prophecies that make it clear that The Bridegroom (God) and Messiah are One and the Same Person. Amen.
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