Exploring the Gospels 6: The Meaning of the Name “Jesus Christ”

To get right into the sermon today, then, have you ever wondered why some things are named or called what they are? In our society today, names don't mean a whole lot. We don't think in terms of the meaning behind names. People tend to pick names because they sound good or because the name is popular at the moment.

Or, in the case of one person I used to know, who named his son after a rich uncle who did not have any children of his own and who was expected to die soon. So, I'm not sure why my parents chose the name that they chose for me. My name literally means shining warrior, tattooed wild man who lives in an ash tree meadow. I've never worked up the courage to ask my mother why she chose that name for me.

I'm kind of afraid what the answer is. Maybe my wife will have to ask her that sometime. We don't really think that much about the meaning of names, but God does. And God chooses to name things what they mean. We see that brought out many, many times in the Bible here. To give one example, Satan. Satan means enemy or adversary. And that is a one-word description of what he is and what he does. He is man's enemy, man's adversary. And that is his purpose and his mission. And God calls him, labels him, what he is. But today I would like to talk about the significance of one particular name.

It is the most important name in Scripture because there is no other name given under heaven by which mankind can be saved. We know from Acts 4 and verse 12. And that name, of course, is Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ. Today, what I want to do in this sermon is go through the meaning and the significance of those two words because they give us a much deeper understanding and appreciation of God's plan and the part and role of Jesus Christ in it.

And before we get into going into the Gospels verse by verse, it's important that we understand this, who Jesus Christ was, and what he was, and what he will do, and what he is doing now, and what he will do in the future. Because all of these things are wrapped up in the meaning and the significance of his name and these two words, Jesus Christ. So let's start with the first of these with the name Jesus. Where did that name come from? Did Joseph and Mary just pick it out because they had a relative with that name or thought it was a cool sounding name or whatever?

Or because that was part of a family tradition or something like that. Why was Jesus named Jesus or Yeshua, as it was most likely pronounced in Hebrew? Let's turn back to Matthew 1 and see where the name came from and why. This is early in Matthew's Gospel right after he goes through the genealogies leading up to Jesus' birth. And Matthew tells us in Matthew 1, verse 18, Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows. After his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found with child of the Holy Spirit.

Then Joseph, her husband, and husband here, they are engaged. They are in a legally binding marriage, even though it has not been consummated yet. The engagement was much more strict than our engagement periods today. But Joseph, her husband, being a just man and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly or to divorce her, to do it quietly. And we see several things here that Joseph was a just man, a righteous man, is what that would have meant in that time.

And he was struggling with how to deal with his situation because he has his fiancée, a young woman, who he obviously cares for, deeply there. And he doesn't want to do anything that would disgrace her, embarrass her and her family, but she is expecting a child. And he knows that he is not the father here. So he wants to take care of the situation as quietly and honorably as he can without destroying her reputation and humiliating her. So continuing, verse 20, So what we see here is that an angel, a messenger, comes to God in a dream here and tells Joseph to name this child Jesus.

This is written in Greek here, but the name Jesus here is a translation of the Hebrew, Joshua, or Yeshua, as it would be commonly pronounced in Hebrew. And what does it mean? It means literally, God saves. Yah, Shua, Yah, an abbreviated form of Yahweh. God saves. God saves. So what the angel tells Joseph is, you shall call his name, God saves. For God will save his people, for he will save his people from their sins. So right up front we have Jesus' name telling us about his mission and his purpose, that it is through him that God saves.

That God saves us, that God saves mankind. But how does that happen? This is a huge subject, but let's just cover two very brief points to that. We're actually saved in two ways. First of all, all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, as we know from Paul and Romans.

So as a consequence, all of us have earned the death penalty. That's what we deserved. And that death penalty is eternal. We die, and we're not something else to happen. We're like the proverbial cat. When he died, he died all over. We're dead. We go to the grave. We are all consciousness ceases, and so on. And that would be our fate, without the role of Jesus Christ, to die and be forgotten. To no longer exist, to be totally forgotten there.

And that is the situation we would be in without Jesus Christ. That death penalty that we have earned would be carried out when we die, and that would be it. There would be nothing left for us. Our memory would be forgotten. But something happened to prevent that fate from happening. And Paul talks about it over in Romans 5 and verses 6-10.

He talks about our state before God calls us. He talks about how we were cut off from God, how we didn't know God, how we didn't want to know God. We were going along, living our lives, stumbling about in our blindness and ignorance, and in our sins. But something happened. And Paul talks about that here in Romans 5, verse 6. For when we were still without strength, when we were still nothing, still condemned to death, and our sins, in other words, Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely, or rarely, is what that means in this context. For rarely, for a righteous man, will one die.

Yet, perhaps, for a good man, someone would even dare to die. So it's possible Paul says that for a good person, someone might be willing to give their life for that. But that's not us. He goes on, verse 8. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, and that while we were still sinners, while still condemned to death, Christ died for us. So what he's saying, in other words here, is that God did not need us. I mean, after all, what good are we to God?

What can we do to God that He needs us for? Well, really nothing. And Paul makes the point that on a rare occasion, somebody might give their life for a good person, but that's not us. We weren't good. We were, as he says here, still sinners. And yet, God intervened, and Christ died for us. He stepped in and took on Himself the penalty that we deserved. In other words. And then continuing on, verse 9, Much more than having now been justified, or set right with God, is what that means, having been justified by His blood, His sacrifice, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.

For if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. So by His death, we have the penalty paid for us, and we tend to think that that is what saves us, but not necessarily.

Because if you think about it, that just pays the penalty for our sins. We're saved, actually, as Paul says here, by His life. Now, how does that work? What does that mean? Well, again, Christ stepped up, took the death penalty that we deserved in our place, and that penalty is paid.

It is removed from us. We are no longer cut off from God in that sense. We are viewed as a result of that sacrifice as justified, as made right with God, reconciled to Him, and pure and cleansed of our sins there. And of course, we commemorate that every year at Passover. So it means we have access to God once that penalty has been applied to Jesus Christ. So we have access to God again. We have access to life again, not being under the penalty of eternal death. So in this sense, Jesus Christ, which means Jesus, meaning God saves, has saved us from being erased from existence through the death penalty being applied to us.

But then Paul says we are saved by His life. So what does that mean? How are we saved by Jesus Christ's life? Well, where is Jesus Christ now? He is no longer dead and crucified. He is resurrected. He sits at the right hand of God the Father and lives forever, as we know. But there is another aspect of Him being alive, and this is what saves us and gives us salvation, allows us to be saved.

And Paul talks about that over in Galatians 2, a very familiar passage. And Paul talks about here how His life has been transformed. And he says, Galatians 2 and verse 20, I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So what he is saying here is that if we were crucified with Christ, what does that mean?

Well, what happened when Christ was crucified? He died. He died. He shed His blood and died. And that is what is pictured by baptism. In baptism, we symbolically go down in the grave. We die. And we rise up out of that watery grave as a new person, a new creation, in a sense, there. The old person is dead and buried. We died. The old man is buried, as Paul talks about in Romans 6 here.

And that person no longer lives. A new person lives. And what is this new person like? Well, as Paul says here, it is no longer I who live, the old person died, but Christ now lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

So the old person is dead. And there's a new person now coming up out of the waters of baptism. And what is different about that person, what is different now, it's not the old person living again, it is Jesus Christ living again within us through the power of God's Spirit here. And the man, Paul, was no longer important to Paul. Jesus Christ living again within Paul is what was important to Paul. And he goes on to say, in the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

And that sums up Jesus Christ's mission and sacrifice for us. He loved me and gave Himself for me. And Jesus Christ did give Himself out of love for every one of us.

I'm going to focus in on something the way Paul puts this on a deeply personal level.

Because notice how he ends this.

Who loved me and gave Himself for me. Now to Paul, that's not an abstract concept. And what do I mean by abstract concept? To Paul, it wasn't a matter of God loving him because he's part of the human race and God loves all of mankind. That's not what Paul is telling us here. No, what Paul is saying here is this is deeply personal here. Paul felt it with all of his being.

Why would Paul focus in so deeply on the personal meaning of this sacrifice?

Well, what is Paul's background? Where do we first encounter Paul in the Bible?

Early in the book of Acts at Stephen's murder, when Stephen is stoned to death, and Paul is standing around approving it. When we're introduced to Paul, he is a man who is persecuting the church. Church members arresting them, going around seeking them, trying to hunt them down and have them brought to the authority so that they can be imprisoned or executed. And this is Paul's background. Paul had no doubt what he deserved.

That he deserved what happened to those innocent people that he had hunted down, who were executed for their belief in Jesus Christ. He had no doubt that he deserved to die, to be annihilated, to be blotted out for all eternity. But he knew that Jesus Christ had intervened directly and personally, and we read about his miraculous conversion there on the road to Damascus, to save him from that. So that is why I think Paul puts this in not abstract terms but very deeply personal terms, that the Son of God loved me and gave himself for me. Do we take that sacrifice or view that sacrifice in these kind of personal terms like this? We won't turn there or go there, but just think about the parable of the Pharisee and the publican or the tax collector there. Which attitude reflects us? Which are we like? Are we like the Pharisee thanking himself who goes to pray to God and thinks himself he's not like other people or like this evil, dirty, rotten, scum-sucking tax collector here? Are we like the tax collector who bows his head, who doesn't even consider himself worthy of looking up to God, and says, have mercy on me, a sinner? He knew exactly what he was, but the Pharisee—and Paul was like the Pharisee. Paul was a Pharisee. He called himself a Pharisee of the Pharisees, somebody who was so immersed in the law and meticulous law-keeping and self-righteousness and so on. But when he came to understand the significance of Jesus Christ and his sacrifice, he realized that everything that he had ever done, everything he had strived for, all of his righteousness, was worth nothing, utterly worthless in God's sight. So to Paul, the sacrifice of Jesus Christ was very real and very personal. Do we realize that and do we internalize that to that extent? Do we realize that it should have been us who was nailed up on the wooden beams to hang there dying in the sun? We deserved it. That's what we deserve. Jesus Christ did not deserve any of that. And that's what Paul means when he says, he loved me and gave himself for me.

And in recognition and gratitude for that, we allow Jesus Christ to live again within us.

And we walk as he walked. We think as he thought. And we live as he lived. And we do everything within our power to strive to become like him and to submit to him and his leading.

So to sum up this first part, yes, the name Jesus means God saves. And we are saved, as we mentioned, in two ways. One, by him taking on himself the death penalty that we deserved. And then second, because he lives again within us. We are saved by his life, by him living again within us through the gift of God's Holy Spirit. And that is briefly how God saves.

And no other person could fulfill that role because there is no one who has lived a perfect and sinless life. It took a being who was both fully human and fully God, to do that. Because if you or I could, by some miracle, live a sinless life, what would that accomplish? You might argue that it could save us from death, but we know that's not going to happen because all of us sin, every human being, has sinned. Does it take one perfect life to save the lives of all mankind? No, obviously not. At best, one could save himself. But Jesus Christ's life was worth so much more than that, as we covered in the first two sermons in this series here, because he was God in the flesh. He was a manual God with us. And his life, as the creator of all things, as the creator of human life and all life, his life was worth more than the billions of people who have lived and died over human history. The billions who are alive now, the billions who may yet live before his return. And his life alone is worth more than all of that. And that is how much more valuable his life is than all of ours. And without him giving his life as an offering for our sins, and without dying as a sacrifice for our sins, there would not be any sacrifice.

No payment of the death penalty for you or for me or for any of mankind. And we would have no hope, as Paul put it. We would be, of all men, most miserable if we did not have that hope of the resurrection. So it is through Jesus whose name means God saves that we are saved. We can receive God's gift of salvation through his accepting the death penalty on our behalf, and through him living again within us. That gives us salvation.

What about the second part of the two words? Let's move into that now. What does Christ mean?

Christ, actually, some people will think, well, that's his last name. His first name is Jesus. His last name is Christ. Well, no. Christ is a title. It's a title, and it's not really a translation. It simply is the Greek word Christos. Christos, which means anointed, or anointed one. It's the exact equivalent of the Hebrew Messiah. Both of them mean anointed, or, in the sense, one who is anointed, the anointed one. So when you talk about the Messiah or the Christ, it's talking about the exact same thing. In two different languages, either Hebrew or Greek, they both mean exactly the same thing. But what is the significance of being anointed?

Now, today we think about anointing in terms of being anointed by an elder when we need help and healing when we're sick and ask for God's intervention. But this is only one type, or purpose, of anointing. In the Hebrew Scriptures, we find anointing being used in four different situations. Four different situations. And each one of these teaches us something about Jesus Christ and His role and His purpose and His mission here. And they all show us something about why He is called the Christ, the Messiah, the anointed one.

And the Jews of Christ Day expected a Messiah. We see that thread running throughout the Gospels from beginning to end. And they, unlike us today, understood the significance of anointing.

They knew what anointing was used for, so they understood what the role of the Messiah would be far better than we do today. But when most of Christianity today throws out the Old Testament, they have thrown out an understanding of what Jesus Christ's role really is all about.

And when they throw it out, they lose that understanding. And you just don't see it anymore. So if you don't understand anointing, and these four types of anointing, or circumstances for anointing here, you don't understand Christ's purpose and His role and His mission and what He was anointed for. So you end up with a very shallow understanding of Jesus Christ's role.

So what does anointed mean? What was the significance of that to people in biblical days? Again, there were four types or purposes or circumstances for anointing.

The first one we find back in Exodus 40. And it's when the tabernacle, the work on the tabernacle, has been completed. And this chapter describes how the tabernacle was to be set up after it had been completed, after the different parts of it, the components of it had been done, and the furnishings, the menorah, the altar, all of this had been done. And God gave very specific instructions for how that was to be made, because it's a type of heavenly things, which we'll see more later on. And after it's done and set up, then God tells Moses to do something very specifically. So let's read it here, beginning in Exodus 40 in verse 1.

Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, On the first day of the first month you shall set up the tabernacle of the tent of meeting. You shall put in it the ark of the testimony, that's the chest, with the mercy seat on it, and within the chest were the tablets of the ten commandments there, and some manna and Aaron's rod that had butted there. So that would be put in there. And partition off the ark with the veil. So this is a big tent, and it was to be what he's describing here is the Holy of Holies. That would go in the Holy of Holies, and it would be partitioned off from the rest of the tent with a veil, a curtain, as we might say here. Verse 4, You shall bring in the table and arrange the things that are to be set in order on it. And you shall bring in the lampstands, referring to the menorah with the seven branches on it, and light its lamps. So he goes on through the instructions. We won't read all of that, but when everything is done and set up, then Aaron was supposed to do something.

We read about it in verse 9. And you shall take the anointing oil and anoint the tabernacle and all that is in it. And you shall hallow it and all its utensils, all its furnishings, and the menorah, and things like that, table of showbread, the altar, and it shall be holy.

So Moses is to anoint the tabernacle and the altar and everything in it, and that anointing would hallow the tabernacle. Now, what does hallow mean? Hallow is not a word we use much today. We see the roots of it in Halloween there. But hallow, rather the word, simply means to set something apart for holy use. To set something apart for holy use. To make it holy, in other words. Holy in the Hebrew means to set apart. You have several objects. You set one apart. It is set apart. It is separated from what is unholy. The holy is separated from the unholy. It is set apart. The key is in why it is set apart. It is set apart for holy use.

And what that means, a modern term we would use today, it is dedicated. It is dedicated. Dedicated to God's use. Not any ordinary or secular use. It's dedicated to God's use. So we see from this example here that the first circumstance for anointing is that it was used to set apart or dedicate something for holy use to God. It is dedicated for God's use.

And anointing was symbolic of that. Of setting that apart. And that was an act of great significance, as we see here. It was God's explicit instruction here to set these things apart to dedicate it to Him and Him alone. It wasn't to be used for any other purpose. Now how does it apply to Jesus Christ? Does it apply? How was He dedicated to God's use or set apart for God's use? What made Him different from anybody else, any other human being? Let's look at some words from Jesus Christ's own mouth. A set of statements that He personally made that tells us what was different about Him. What His motivation was. What it was that made Him tick. What was He focused on? How did He view His mission and His purpose in life? We'll start with John 4 and verse 34. Jesus said to them, My food is to do the will of Him who sent me and to finish His work. In other words, that is His motivation. Straight from His own mouth here. That's what nourished Him. To do the will of Him who sent me and to finish His work. And why does He call it His food? Well, that's what strengthened Him. That's what kept Him going. That's what motivated Him. Doing the will of God the Father and finishing His work. Next chapter we see another statement, John 5 verse 19. Then Jesus answered and said to them, Most assuredly I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do.

For whatever He the Father does, the Son also does in like manner. So what does Jesus say about what He does? He says He does only what He sees the Father do. In other words, He didn't do things on His own apart from the Father. And He never did His own thing. You know, I'm a child of the 70s. It was all, do your own thing then. Do what you gotta do. This kind of thing. But Jesus wasn't like that. He did only and exactly what He saw the Father do. He didn't come to do away with the Father's laws, as so many people assume today. He came to magnify that law to make it honorable.

Let's skip down a bit to verse 30. He says, Again, I can of myself do nothing.

As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is righteous, because I do not seek my own will, but the will of the Father who sent me. So again, Jesus didn't try to please Himself or do what He wanted to do, or do His own thing. His motivation was one thing, and that is to please the Father.

And what God wanted was most important to Him.

Another example, next chapter, John 6, verse 38. For I have come down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of Him who sent me. So He says that is His specific purpose in coming, not to do my own will, but the will of Him who sent me. And His entire life, we see from these examples, was totally dedicated to doing God's will. The Father's will. His whole life was set apart for God's purpose. A total example of total commitment and surrender to God's will and God's purpose. Not to change that. Not to do His own thing. Anything like that. Among His final prayers, the night before He is captured and taken away for execution, Luke 22, verse 42. What does He pray on His last day? His last night on earth. Father, if it is Your will, take this cup, what I have to experience, away from Me. Nevertheless, not My will, not what I want, but Your will be done.

And a little while later, shortly after this, we read in Matthew 26, verse 52, when they come and arrest Him, Peter pulls out his sword and tries to split up in the skull of one of those in that party, not knowing it's the high priest's servant here. And what does Jesus Christ tell Peter? He says, put your sword in its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword.

Do you think that I cannot now pray to My Father and He will provide me with more than 12 legions of angels? Now, that's quite interesting, because at the peak of its power, Rome only had about 10 or 12 legions. So, what He's saying essentially here is, don't you know the Father can provide me with as many angels as are in the entirety of Rome's military forces? How then, verse 54, could the Scriptures be fulfilled that it has to happen this way? So He tells Peter, put your sword away. That's not the way it's going to happen.

It has to happen this way, with my capture and death, because I have to die to fulfill God's will.

And He lived His life perfectly in accordance with God's will. And He lived and died in accordance with God's plan and purpose. And one of those purposes was that He was set apart, like the tabernacle, like its furnishings and all of that, set apart, completely dedicated to the use of God. And He was the set-apart, divinely chosen individual to be the perfect sacrifice, to pay for the sins of all mankind. So He was, indeed, anointed, set apart or dedicated for the holy use of God. And His entire life is an example of that. What about another example of anointing where it's used for? We actually find it following on the heels of what we just read there in Exodus 40 about the tabernacle and everything in it being dedicated to God's use.

So let's notice another type of anointing that also teaches us a great deal about Jesus Christ, about the anointed one whose name means God saves. Let's now read Exodus 40 in verse 12.

After the tabernacle and everything in it is anointed, dedicated for God's use, Moses receives other instructions from God. Bring Aaron and his sons to the door of the tabernacle of meeting and wash them with water, so there to be washed, cleansed, parallel of baptism. This is where Jewish ritual washing gets some of its origins there in baptism from that as well.

Verse 13, you shall put the holy garments on Aaron and anoint him and sanctify him. What does sanctify mean? Same thing is set apart or hallow. It means to set it apart as holy, as sanctified, as different, as dedicated. So you shall anoint him and sanctify him that he made minister to me. Minister means to serve God as priest. And you shall bring his sons and clothe them with tunics. You shall anoint them as you anointed their father, that they may minister or serve me as priests. For their anointing shall surely be an everlasting priesthood throughout their generations. And the priesthood was to be passed on through heredity through the line of Aaron. So here we see a second use or circumstance for anointing, and that was to set someone apart to serve as priest. To set someone apart to serve as priest. Now, how does this apply to Jesus Christ? We know that he's set apart as our high priest. We hear that. We mention it in sermons and prayers and so on. And the book of Hebrews in particular goes into great detail about Jesus Christ as our high priest and what that means. But to kind of summarize up front, what is a priest's job? What is a priest's function? It's basically to bring people to God.

To be an intermediary, you might say. To represent God to man and to represent man to God as the intermediary there. And a priest's job is not something that's easy for us to grasp and understand today because we've never experienced, never seen a priest in the way that the Israelites or the early members of the church there had experienced it. I mean, those people could go to the tabernacle every day or the temple in the first century and see a priest carrying out his function. So it was very real to them, the role of a priest, what that meant.

So they knew that, but we haven't seen that. So it's a hard concept for us to grasp.

So let's read through some sections of the book of Hebrews to get a better understanding and how this applies to Christ's role and his mission and his purpose as high priest. We'll start in Hebrews 4, verses 14 through 16 through 5 and verse 2. Seeing then that we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens. Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.

Why this reference to passing through the heavens? Well, how did the high priest in the temple days or tabernacle days get to the holy of holies? He passed through something, passed through the veil, the curtain, as we've read earlier. So the analogy here is that Jesus Christ passes through from this physical earth, passes through the heavens to enter the holy of holies.

God's throne there. It's a very clear reference here to the day of Atonement, the one day of the year when the high priest would pass through the curtain to enter the holy of holies. Continuing, verse 15, for we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Very popular passage for us here.

So what we're being told here is that Jesus Christ has been there and done that. He has experienced everything that we go through in this life, the only difference being, the primary difference being, He never sinned like we did, like we do.

So continuing, verse 16, let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace.

Now continuing with the metaphor that's used here of Christ passing through the curtain into the holy place, what was in the holy of holies? Well, there was the Ark of the covenant there, also known as the mercy seat. Why is it called the mercy seat? Because it is thought to be where God sat. It was God's throne. Why is it called the mercy seat? Well, as we read here, let us come boldly before the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. That's why it's called the mercy seat, because a merciful and gracious God is there, waiting for us to come to Him. Continuing right on into the next chapter, there's no chapter break in the original, for every priest taken from among men is appointed for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts, offerings, in other words, and sacrifices for sin. So there were offerings that were given, and sacrifices that were given by the priest. He can have compassion on those who are ignorant and going astray, since he himself is also beset by weakness. So the point that's being made here is that Jesus Christ, because He lived as a physical human being, knows what we are going through in this life. And therefore, because of that, He knows that we are weak, and that we need God's mercy and God's grace and help.

And because of this, He is perfect for the position of high priest.

Another aspect to bring in here, just a brief interruption, John 5 and verse 22 is very relevant. And here Jesus Christ says, For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son. Why does the Father give all judgment to the Son? Well, because what's the difference? Well, the difference is key, but it's important, because the Son is a judge, who, as we just read, has experienced everything that we do in this life. He's been there. He's done that.

He's walked a mile, many miles in our shoes and so on. And that makes Him not only a perfect high priest, but a perfect judge as well. Does that mean the Father is an imperfect judge? No, not at all. It just means that Jesus and the Father are different in that Jesus has lived this physical life and knows what it's like, knows what it's like to be tempted in every way that we are tempted, knows what it's like to be tired and hungry and exhausted and at the end of our rope and ready to give up and so on. And the Father has never personally experienced that as Jesus has.

So therefore, the Father has committed all judgment to the Son. And this ties in with Him being a better priest because of that as well. Now let's skip over a little bit to Hebrews 7 and verse 23 and read more about how Jesus is uniquely qualified to be our high priest and the high priest of all mankind. Continue this thread about the priesthood. And there were many priests—talking about throughout history—there were many priests because they were prevented by death from continuing. In other words, the priest gets old, he dies, he gets succeeded by the next priest, and he lives until he dies, and he gets succeeded by another one. So there's been this succession of priests who have died and had to be replaced. But he, verse 24, because he continues or lives forever, has an unchangeable priesthood.

Therefore, he is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through him, since he ever lives to make intercession for them. So in other words, what we're being told here is, unlike the physical priests who died and had to be replaced, Jesus Christ is permanent.

He's our permanent high priest. He doesn't need to be replaced. He's never going to die, and he will always, as we read here, always be there to save those who come to God forever.

And not only is he always there and always available, but it goes on to say in verse 26, For such a high priest was fitting or appropriate or perfect for us.

In other words, he fits that position perfectly. Why? And then we see some of his qualifications. Who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens.

Who does not need daily, as the high priests were before this time, to offer up sacrifices, first for his own sins, and that's what a priest had to do, first offer an offering for his own sins, and then offer an offering for the people. For this he did once for all when he offered up himself. For the law appoints his high priest men who have weaknesses, but the word of the oath which came after the law appoints the son who has been perfected forever.

And continuing right into the next chapter, now this is the main point of what we are saying.

We have such a high priest who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the heavens, a minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord erected and not man. What's he saying here? He's talking about the true tabernacle. What tabernacle is the true one? It's the one in heaven. The one on earth, the tabernacle in the temple, were just models of the things in heaven. That's where the true tabernacle is. And that's where he serves, as high priests. So he is a better high priest than was previously possible at any time. So he is perfect for that position as we saw the reasons why. That he is completely holy, that he's unpolluted by sin, that he has the authority for that position, and that he isn't busy making sacrifices for his own sins because he already did that. Not that he had any sins, but he already made the sacrifice for the sins of all time. And on top of that, he lives forever, so he'll never need to be replaced. And on top of that, he's not confined to a physical temple or physical tabernacle, but he is in the true spiritual tabernacle in heaven. The real holy place of God, the real throne of God, the real mercy seat of God. Now let's jump forward a little bit more, Hebrews 9, verse 11, and read about how this helps us, how it helps purify us and bring us to God. And again, that's a function of a priest and intermediary between God and man to bring God and man together to reconcile us. Hebrews 9, verse 11, But Christ came as high priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. Again, talking about the heavenly tabernacle, the real holy place. Up there, not with the blood of goats and calves, but with his own blood, he entered the most holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption, or buying back from our sins. And this is another clear reference to the Day of Atonement here, because here, about entering the most holy place, which the high priest could only do once a year. But now he's done it once for all. We don't need that.

Again, anymore. And the author of Hebrews says that the New Covenant is superior because Christ is now our high priest, and he bypasses a need for a physical temple, or a physical tabernacle, or tent, and he goes straight to the real thing, the real holy place, the real mercy seat up in heaven. And he bypasses the blood of the bulls and goats and animals, which really couldn't pay the sacrifice for sin. And he's done that through his own sacrifice, his own perfect sacrifice, which paid the penalty for all sin. And verse 13, for if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, it's referring to the red heifer there, sprinkling the unclaimed sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot to God, as a perfect offering, perfect sacrifice again, as the offering said to be, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

And for this reason, he is the mediator of the New Covenant by means of death.

For the redemption of the transgressions, covering the transgressions, under the first covenant, that those who were called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.

So to kind of briefly summarize what we're being told here is that Christ's sacrifice is so much better in so many ways. That the sacrifices of the old covenant of bulls and goats and so on didn't really clean a person inside. Yes, in a sense, they reminded people of sins and the cost of sin, which is death, the death of that animal, but it didn't purge their conscience and didn't remove the death penalty. But Christ's sacrifice does purge the conscience through the faith in Christ's sacrifice and does remove the death penalty. And as a result of that, it clears the way for eternal life. So the New Covenant is much better than the old for two reasons we're told here. One is the Old Covenant only had physical promises and no real forgiveness of sin, just a reminder of sin, and it had no offer of eternal life. But the New Covenant has two big things the old didn't, and that was real forgiveness of sin, courtesy of Christ's sacrifice and also the spiritual promise of eternal life. How? In Galatians 2, 20, by Christ living in us, as we read earlier. And that's pretty wonderful. Amazing! So we see the net effect of this brought out again, skipping forward to another chapter in Hebrews 10 and verse 19. Because of all of this, therefore, when you see a therefore, that means in light of everything that's been explained before this, here's the implications for us. Therefore, brethren, because of all of this, having boldness to enter the holiest, the holy of holies in heaven, by the blood of Christ, by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which He consecrated, that means to make holy for us, through the veil, now He says the veil, how do we get into the holy of holies now? Through the veil that is Christ's flesh, the sacrifice of Himself.

And having a high priest over the house of God, what is the house of God? It's the Church of God.

Let us draw near, in light of all these things, let us draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled or washed from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. And this paints a wonderful picture of Jesus Christ's sacrifice, and how that allows us to be reconciled to God. It shows us that Christ has removed the barriers between man and God through the veil that is His flesh now, and making us one with God, giving us direct access to God again. And therefore, because of all of this, we can come boldly before God's throne of grace, in the true holy of holies, full of faith, and confident that we are forgiven, and sprinkled, and washed clean before God the Father and Jesus Christ. So again, all of this, I mean, this is... you could go on and on through the book of Hebrews. I've just hit the high points there. But again, this is all part of Christ's role, one who is anointed to serve as a priest, as our high priest who lives forever. We find a third type, or circumstance for anointing, purpose for anointing, in 1 Kings 19 and verse 16. And this is where Elijah is told to go in anoint Elisha as his successor in the position of prophet. And here's what God told Elisha.

He tells Elijah... excuse me, told Elijah. He says, in Elisha, the son of Shaphod, of Abel, Mahola, you shall anoint as prophet in your place, or as your successor. So from this example we see another type of anointing that applies to Jesus Christ. And that was that it was to use to set apart someone as a prophet of God. Was Jesus Christ a prophet? Well, he's referred to as a prophet many times in the four Gospels, and he clearly foretold the future a number of times during his ministry. There's Matthew 24 and 25, a continuous prophecy there just a few days before his crucifixion, where he talks about what's going to happen in the time leading up to his return. And there are many other shorter prophecies about his disciples, about the church, about other things scattered sprinkled throughout the four Gospels there.

And then we have the entire book of Revelation, which is called what? The revelation of Jesus Christ. There in Revelation 1 and verse 1. But is that the most important part of the role of a prophet? Is foretelling the future most important? Was it most important to him?

Even though Christ did foretell the future, that was really a very small slice of his teaching.

Of his instruction, because a prophet does more than just foretell the future.

A prophet isn't just somebody who tells the future. A prophet is somebody who reveals the will and the purpose of God to mankind. Who reveals the will and the purpose of God to mankind.

Let's take a look at how Jesus summarized what he taught and what he spoke about when he was on earth. What did he speak about? This is from his own words here. He tells us where he got his ideas and his teaching. John 12 verses 49 and 50. He says, For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me gave a command what I should say and what I should speak.

And I know that his command is or leads to everlasting life.

Therefore, whatever I speak, just as the Father has told me, so I speak.

So what did Jesus Christ reveal? As we see here, just what the Father has told me to speak.

So he taught and revealed the plan and the purpose and the will of God. He was a prophet, yes, he foretold the future, but more so than that, he was a divine teacher who revealed the will and the plan and the purpose of God.

And there's a beautiful section over in Luke 10 and verse 21 where Christ talks about what it is that he revealed to people. Let's take a look at that. Luke 10 and verses 21 through 24. In that hour, Jesus rejoiced in the Spirit and said, I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them to babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in your sight.

And what was it that was being revealed? Well, he tells us in the next verse, verse 22, All things have been delivered to me by my Father, and no one knows who the Son is, but the Father, and who the Father is but the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal him.

So here is part of what was being revealed by Jesus Christ. God the Father was.

And what was he revealing about God the Father? Well, he was revealing a new view of God.

A new understanding of God. Not the kind of God envisioned, as the Pharisees did of that day, who was just waiting for somebody to break his law so he can squash us like a bug.

No, he revealed God as a loving Father, as a loving Father who wants only the best for his children.

And that was a new concept for them. A new concept. Verse 23, continuing, And he turned to his disciples, and said privately to them, not to everybody, Blessed are the eyes which see the things you see. For I tell you that many prophets and kings have desired to see what you see, and have not seen it, and to hear what you hear, and have not heard it.

So again, this is that concept of God as a loving Father. And that was something that he says here the Old Testament prophets and kings did not understand. Granted, obviously a few did, Isaiah, Daniel, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, a few others, but for the most part, prophets and kings died without that understanding, without that view, that picture of God. And Jesus Christ came to give that concept to mankind. He revealed it to his disciples, and he reveals it to us.

And as a result of that, he says, as we read here, Blessed are the eyes which see the things that you see. For I tell you that many prophets and kings have desired to see what you see, and have not seen it, and to hear what you hear, and have not heard it. So he's talking about what he came to teach and to reveal.

And this applies just as much to us today as it did to them there, to see and to understand what we do through Christ's teaching there. So we see here, again, some of this third point, that anointing was used to set someone apart as a prophet, and a prophet not being just someone foretelling the future, but far more importantly, someone who reveals God's will and his purpose and plan to mankind, and who revealed to us what a loving God we worship. Let's move on to the fourth and final circumstance for anointing that we'll find. And we find this over in 1 Samuel 16 and verse 1.

And this is where God tells Samuel, the prophet Samuel, that he has rejected Saul as being king over Israel for Saul's disobedience. And Samuel also obviously has a soft spot for Saul, and breaking into the story here, 1 Samuel 16. Now the Lord said to Samuel, How long will you mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel, again because of his disobedience there? And he tells Samuel, Fill your horn, this is like a goat's horn or something like that, a ram's horn, fill your horn with oil and go.

I am sending you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided myself a king among his sons.

So we remember the story here, how Samuel goes down to Bethlehem to Jesse, and has Jesse bring out his sons one by one. And each time God says, No, he's not the one.

No, not him. No, not him. And finally get through the end. And Samuel's got a puzzle, because God has rejected all of the sons. And finally, he says, Jesse, do you have another son? Well, yeah, there's a scrawny little kid out taking care of the sheep and goats out there.

And he says, Well, go get him. Send for him. So picking it up in verse 12, So Jesse said, And brought David in. Now David was ruddy with bright eyes and good-looking. And the Lord said, Arise, anoint him, for this is the one. Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. And the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward. So from this example, we see that Samuel was instructed by God to anoint David to be the next king over Israel. And the anointing signified that God had chosen that individual to be king. And several times in the Old Testament, you'll see a phrase where the king of Israel or Judah is referred to as the Lord's anointed. And that was a title of great honor and respect, signifying that God had chosen that person to be king. So the fourth purpose that we see for anointing is that it was used to set someone apart as king. To set someone apart as king. Now how does that apply to Jesus Christ? Well, it's pretty obvious we know that Jesus Christ will return as King of Kings, as Lord of Lords, and that is pictured by the Feast of Tabernacles and the Feast of Trumpets. And traditional Christianity, again, by doing away with the Old Testament and seeing it's no longer relevant, what they've done by that is it removes the significance of what Jesus Christ's reign is all about. Why He is called the Christ, the Messiah, the anointed one. That's not glorifying Christ, it's diminishing Him by removing everything to help us understand what His role is, as we've seen through the examples here so far. And we are familiar with dozens of prophecies about His reign, about the fulfillment of that reign, about His return to earth, and the fulfillment of so many prophecies. So we won't go through all of that. But I will say that sometimes we can get so focused on when Christ is going to return, and where He's going to return, and why Christ is going to return, that we miss the main point. And what's the main point? The main point is the how.

The how Christ will govern. Because the other things, they'll happen.

We know He will return. We know where He will return. We don't know when. But the key thing that God wants us to understand is the how He will reign.

Because that has application to you and me. Let's turn back to Isaiah, a very familiar passage, Isaiah 9, 6 and 7, and read about it. And this tells us that Christ will establish God's government forever, and He will be king over all creation. But how will He reign?

How will He reign? And what will that kingdom and that government be like?

And that is what is really important for us, much more so than when He will return, or where He will return. And Isaiah sums it up here very neatly in these two verses here.

He says, For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon his shoulder. In other words, He is going to shoulder that responsibility there of government. And His name will be called, as it's translated here, Wonderful, comma, Counselor. There was no punctuation in the Hebrew, and a lot of scholars, and I agree with them, says that's really one term, Wonderful Counselor. The role of a Counselor was very important in the Old Testament period, and we see that reflected in various threads. Their counselors were very important. So He will be a Wonderful Counselor, not just any counselor. Mighty God, Everlasting Father.

Any of you ever been puzzled by that one? Does that mean Jesus and the Father are one?

What does that mean? I did a deep dive on this several years ago for a sermon that I never finished, never completed. Everlasting Father. It's really, really interesting Hebrew words that are used there, and I don't remember them off the top of my head. I don't have this in my notes, but basically what it means, the Father there, the term, is basically progenitor, or creator, or source, you might say. And Everlasting is kind of related to eternity.

Essential, if you had to sum that up in just a couple of words in English, it would be Father of Time, or Originator of Time. And you kind of see that Everlasting Father, the Eternal Father, or Originator, you might say. He's the Creator of Time. Now, Jesus Christ and the Father live outside of our time and space continuum. They're apart from that. They live in eternity. They dwell in eternity, which is beyond our comprehension. But what is Jesus Christ?

John 1.1, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

All things were created by Him. How do we measure time? We measure time by the movement of the heavenly bodies, one year for the earth to make a revolution around the sun. One day, as earth's rotation, we measure time by the movement of the very heavenly bodies that Christ created. So in that sense, He is the Father of Time, of the Originator of Time, the Creator of Time, because He made everything there. Again, I just have difficulty wrapping my mind around all of this, but that's kind of the root of the Hebrew words that are being used here. And another name, another title for Him, Prince of Peace, something we see so precious, a little of anymore.

Verse 7, of the increase of His government and peace, there will be no end upon the throne of David and over his kingdom to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the Lord of Hosts will perform this.

So notice here the words that are used to describe Jesus Christ's reign as King and what His Kingdom will be like. Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, and there will be no end of peace under that government. It will be established and upheld, as it says here, with judgment and justice forever. And that is the kind of King and ruler and priest Jesus Christ will be. And if we are to rule and reign with Him, that is the kind of people we need to be. People of justice, out of peace. The New Testament has a couple of terms. The Gospel is in particular, but Paul's writings too refer to Jesus Christ consistently by two terms.

The Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ, or simply the Lord. The Lord. And in Greek, that term means master. Master. And that signifies that He will be not only the King over all creation in the future, as we read here, but also that He is our master, and our Lord, and our ruler, and our King right now. Do we realize that He is our Lord and Master?

And what does it mean to put His will first in our lives? We read earlier a number of passages where He continually put the Father's will first in His life. Do we put His will first in our lives, or our own will? The church in Ephesus had a bit of a problem with this. They didn't quite grasp how great the Lord was. And Paul prayed that they might understand that. And they didn't quite understand what it means that Christ is Lord. They didn't quite understand the kind of authority that He had. And do we? Do we grasp what it means that Jesus Christ is Lord, our Lord, our Master?

Maybe we need to pray that we can understand what Paul prayed that the Ephesians would understand.

Let's notice Ephesians 1 in verse 16. So this is breaking in verse 16. Leading into this, Paul says that he prayed for the church there in Ephesus for the members. And then we see why he prayed beginning in verse 17. He prayed that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you—you Ephesians, you Colorado springians—may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe according to the working of His mighty power. Which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places. Far above all principality and power and might and dominion and those terms Paul uses elsewhere in referring to different kinds and ranks of angelic beings like seraphim and caribim and all of this. This is the term that he's using there. So Christ has been raised far above all of the ranks of angels in the spirit world and every name that is named not only in this age but also in that age which is to come. And then Paul says, and he put all things under his feet and gave him to be the head over all things to the church which is his body the fullness of him who fills all in all. So kind of cut to the chase. What is Paul saying here? Well, he's saying that Jesus Christ is over everything. Everything now, everything to come. Everything including the heavens, everything including the angels in that spirit world that exists alongside our world that we can't see.

That he's over all power, has all power and all authority both now and in the age to come. And that everything is in subjection to him. And included in that is his church, the spiritual body that includes you and me. And that is the greatness and the power and the authority of our King and Master Jesus Christ. To conclude this sermon, I'd like to share with you a story that I've heard about a famous Bible scholar who devoted his entire lifetime to studying the Bible. And he wanted to understand it and to help other people understand it and made that his life's mission and his life's work. And he spent years and decades studying God's Word through and through.

And near the end of his life, he was asked, what is the most important thing you have learned from all of the years you have dedicated to studying the Bible?

And the man who asked this scholar this question was a little bit surprised by the answer because it wasn't quite what he expected. Because the scholar's answer was very simple. He said, God loves me. God loves me.

That's how he summed up everything he had learned about God's Word through a lifetime. And it's a simple answer, but it's really, if you think about it, it's the most important thing we can learn from the Bible. And if we can just learn and internalize that lesson in life we've done better than most people, then God loves us.

He loves us with a level and a depth of love that we can't fathom in our limited minds.

And Jesus Christ, and what we've seen today, if you think about it, he epitomizes that love.

One way I would summarize what we've seen today is that Jesus Christ is God's love for us in the flesh.

It's God's love manifest in the flesh, in flesh and blood. And he can't help but be reminded of John 3 verses 16 and 17, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved.

And God loves us so much that he gave his one and only son to pay the penalty for sin in our place, taking on himself the penalty that each of us deserved. And he loves us so much he wants to share everything, literally everything, that he has made, seen and unseen with us.

And God owns everything and he wants to share all of that with us as his inheritance, giving us things we can't even comprehend physically and giving us eternal life to enjoy it forever and a life where there will be no more death, no more sorrow, no more pain or crying or suffering. And all of this is made possible through Jesus Christ. Through Jesus Christ, whose name means God saves. Through Jesus Christ, who, first point of anointing, was set apart to live a life totally and completely dedicated to serving God. Through Jesus Christ, who sacrificed himself to pay the death penalty for us in our place. Through Jesus Christ, who lives again within us, Galatians 2.20, changing us to become more like God and develop the nature and the character of God within us. Through Jesus Christ, second point, who is our high priest, drawing us ever closer to God and giving us greater understanding of God in his ways.

Through Jesus Christ, third point, set apart by God to be a holy prophet, a divine teacher, showing mankind the way to peace and happiness and everlasting life.

Through Jesus Christ, fourth point, who will return to this earth as King of kings and Lord of lords, to establish a kingdom that will bring peace forever and that will offer salvation to all.

And finally, through Jesus Christ, our King, our Lord, and our Master. So let's all be thankful very much for what Jesus Christ means for you and me.