Last week we learned that when the first Christians went out into the world to proclaim the message about Jesus, there was one thing above all else that they said: “Jesus is the Christ.” We also noted that this claim is not directly related to Jesus’ deity. The followers of Jesus did indeed believe that he was the incarnation of the God of Israel. However, the assertion that Jesus is God is completely different from saying that Jesus is the Christ.
The English word Christ found throughout the New Testament is a transliteration of the Greek word Christos. (A transliteration is when a word is brought more-or-less directly from one language to another.) But if we were to translate Christos into English, we would use the word Messiah. Messiah is derived from the Hebrew term mashiach, which means “anointed one.”
In the Old Testament, the man chosen by God to rule as king over Israel was marked out by anointing him with oil (that is, pouring oil upon his head). For example, “Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed [David] in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the LORD came upon David in power.” This solemn act was regarded as a sign of blessing and hope that God’s spirit would be poured out upon the king so that he could provide justice, security and prosperity for the people of Israel.
The Christ, or Messiah, then, is the anointed king of Israel. Many people in the modern world are puzzled by this. Why was this title so vitally important to the early Christians? In order to answer this question, we must dive deep into the story of the Bible.
From the very beginning, God created humans in his image so that they might govern the creation. Humanity was meant to reflect the wisdom and goodness of God so that the whole creation might flourish. The book of Genesis describes how God pronounced his blessing upon human beings as they assumed their role as regents, exercising dominion over the world.
Tragically, humans turned away from God and fell into idolatry and disobedience. Since God had given humans sovereignty over the world, their sin was nothing short of a catastrophe, plunging the whole creation into corruption, misery, enmity and death.
The creator responded by revealing himself to a single man named Abraham. God promised Abraham that through his descendants, God would restore his blessing to the entire world. “I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you…and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”
Many Bible readers fail to grasp the full import of God’s covenant with Abraham. God’s promise to bless Abraham, and to bless the whole world through him, are nothing less than a re-institution of the original blessing God given to humanity. In other words, God is pledging to set the entire creation right again, to cleanse it of evil and injustice, to make it a place of eternal joy and peace.
Abraham’s descendants would indeed become the nation of Israel. After rescuing them from slavery in Egypt, God re-affirmed his purposes by establishing a covenant with the children of Israel. Israel was given the law, or Torah, which required them to worship and obey the one true God. If Israel remained faithful to the covenant, God promised to pour out his blessing upon them.
It’s crucial to recognize that when God calls Israel, he is assigning them the central role marked out for humanity. Adam (humankind) had been given dominion over creation but had failed. Now the people of Israel are given this key responsibility. Israel is meant to be the new humanity; those who would love and serve God with all their heart, mind, soul and strength. Just as Adam was given authority over the garden, Israel was brought into the promised land of Canaan. If Israel was faithful to the covenant, God would bless them with life and abundance.
But God’s purposes were never intended for Israel alone. God called Israel precisely so that his blessing could flow through Israel to all the nations. After all, God is the God of all things, the maker of all peoples. He wanted all the nations to be able to look to Israel and see genuine human beings, faithfully serving God and in turn receiving his blessing.
The long subsequent history of Israel documents how, like Adam and Eve in the garden, Israel turned away from God. They fell into idolatry, immorality, injustice & violence. Instead of being the light of the world, their behavior was as bad or worse than the pagan nations around them. Rather than enjoying God’s blessing, they suffered the Almighty’s covenant curses.
The latter part of Israel’s history focuses more and more tightly upon her kings. The key principle is this: in order for Israel to fulfill her purpose as God’s true humanity, she needed a faithful king who would lead her in righteousness.
Without a doubt, David was the most important figure in the royal line of Israel; he was known as a man after God’s own heart. God gave him victory over his enemies and Israel prospered greatly during his reign. However, even David fell woefully short, committing adultery with Bathsheba, then murdering her husband in an attempt to cover up the affair.
When David’s son Solomon died, the nation was divided into the northern kingdom (called Israel) and the southern kingdom (called Judah). From this point on, the history of Israel is marked by failure and decline. The kings of Israel were uniformly evil and led the people into national apostasy. Judah fared slightly better, having a few good kings who brought about fleeting times of renewal. But ultimately Judah too was flagrantly unfaithful to God’s covenant.
In the end, the LORD brought disaster upon both Israel and Judah according to the terms of the covenant. They were defeated by their enemies and the survivors were dragged into exile.
Based upon this all-too-brief summary of the Old Testament, we can draw the following conclusions:
(1) God always intended to govern his world through human beings, made in his image.
(2) Faced with human depravity, God promised to rescue the creation through his covenant with Abraham and Abraham’s descendants Israel.
(3) In order for Israel to fulfill her role, she needed a righteous king who would lead her in covenant faithfulness.
This is the crucial logic which undergirds the entire story of the Bible.
As the Old Testament winds to a close, the reader faces an urgent question. Have God’s purposes been thwarted? Israel was the creator’s chosen instrument to bring blessing to creation! The LORD equipped them with his law so that they might love, honor, worship and serve him. But Israel was an abject failure. They constantly worshiped the detestable gods of the nations around them. They rejected God’s laws and instead embraced immorality and wickedness. In light of their sin and exile, is the whole creation doomed to perpetual corruption, decay and death?
When we grasp the narrative logic of the scriptures, we realize what is absolutely required so that God’s plans can prevail. Israel needs a righteous king who will lead her in covenant faithfulness. Only then can Israel be restored to her rightful role as genuine image-bearing human beings, living in obedience to God and showered by his favor. Only then can the covenant blessings flow through Israel out to the whole world. Only then can all humanity become fit to exercise dominion over the world and the creation can flourish.
This stunning vision might seem to be suffocated by the sad litany of Israel’s corruption and decline. However, amidst all the darkness and gloom, there are many, many passages of scripture pointing forward to the glorious hope that God will send his Messiah, his anointed king, who will redeem Israel and bring justice and peace to the whole earth.
No wonder why the first Christians were so excited to find him.
