Christians-Those
Anointed by the Spirit
Are you a Christian?
If there is any doubts about it, if you are
not quite sure, your testimony for Christ is
worthless. The blind man to whom Christ gave
sight had no doubts about it. The dead that
He raised again to life knew they were alive.
You cannot be a Christian and not know it.
If you have
unconfessed, unforgiven sins in your life,
whatever your profession, you are not a
Christian. The Christian has an inner witness
of the Spirit that he is a child of God. Paul
said, “the Spirit itself beareth witness
with our spirit, that we are the children of
God.” Romans 8:16. Right now, we may
know we are God’s children, born from
above.
He who thinks himself
a Christian because of his church membership,
his honesty in business dealings, his
standing as a good citizen and a good
neighbor, misunderstands the meaning of the
word Christian.
When the church at
Jerusalem sent Barnabas to Antioch to care
for the developing interest there, what kind
of man did they send? The Book of Acts says,
“He was a good man, and full of the Holy
Ghost.” Moreover, what resulted from the
work of this leader inspired by the Holy
Spirit? Luke stated, “Much people was
added unto the Lord.” And the disciples
were called Christians first in
Antioch.” Acts 11:24,26. Evidently,
these disciples had so much in them of what
Christ had in Him that the people decided the
only appropriate name for them was
“Christian.” What a tribute!
If you have in you
what Jesus had, you are a Christian. The
disciples of Antioch had in them the same
Holy Spirit who had given Jesus power.
“We have found
the Messias,” Andrew exclaimed. (John
1:41.) Ever since Adam and Eve had been
driven from Eden, the world had lived in
anticipation of the coming of the Messiah.
The word Messiah is a Hebrew word. The Greek
form of the word is “Christ,” and
the English equivalent is “The
Anointed.” Andrew was saying that
God’s Anointed has come, and that he
found Him. What an announcement!
Two thousand years
ago, the name Jesus was common in Israel. But
there has been only one Jesus to who God gave
the title “Christ.” John the
Baptist, who viewed the anointing of Jesus,
declared, “I saw the Spirit descending
from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon
him.” John 1:32. At that time the Father
said, “Thou art my beloved Son; in thee
I am well pleased.” Luke 3:22.
When the Apostle
Peter later presented the gospel to
Cornelius, a Gentile and a Roman centurion,
he emphasized one grand truth: “God
anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy
Ghost.” Acts 10:38. God Himself did the
anointing. God used no intermediate agency,
no prophet, priest, or preacher.
Following His
anointing Jesus spent forty days in the
wilderness tempted by the devil. After this
ordeal “Jesus returned in the power of
the Spirit” (Luke 4:14) and went to
Nazareth, where He gave the Sabbath
discourse. Taking the Sacred Scroll, He read
from a prophecy of Isaiah, who centuries
before had foretold His anointing: “The
Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because
The Lord hath anointed me.” Isaiah 61:1.
Then He applied this prophecy to Himself,
saying, “This day is the scripture
fulfilled in your ears.” (Luke 4:18,21.)
The fact that Jesus,
one of their fellow townsmen, claimed the
Messiahship (the divine anointing) stirred up
such resentment in the hearts of the
congregation that unless God had intervened,
they would have murdered His Son that day.
This issue still lives today. Many are
willing to accept Jesus as a good man, a
miracle worker, a great teacher, and even as
a prophet, but like the Jews of Nazareth they
revolt against accepting Him as the anointed
of God. This is the crux of the matter. To
accept Jesus as the Anointed implies that we
are calling to be anointed with the same Holy
Spirit with which He was anointed. Then a
Christian is one who not only believes that
God anointed Jesus with the Holy Spirit, but
also allows God to anoint him. The Apostle
Paul states it, “He which hath anointed
us, is God.” 2 Corinthians 1:21.
When converted, Paul
“straightway preached Christ,”
proving that this is the very Christ.”
(Acts 9:20,22.) The eloquent Apollos preached
Christ: “He mightily convinced the Jews,
showing by the scriptures that Jesus was
Christ.” Acts 18:28. The two words Jesus
Christ, coupled together so often throughout
the New Testament, underscore the fact that
Jesus was the Anointed of God.
No one preached a
funeral sermon for Jesus. However, Peter,
God’s mouthpiece at Pentecost, preached
a glorious resurrection sermon. He quoted the
prophecies that foretold the resurrection of
Jesus, the Anointed, and concluded,
“Therefore let all the house of Israel
know assuredly, that God hath made that same
Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and
Christ.” Acts 2:36.
The Spirit moved the
listening throng, now realized that Jesus was
indeed the Christ, to cry out, “Men and
brethren, what shall we do?”
Peter replied,
“Repent, and be baptized every one of
you in the name of Jesus Christ.” Then
Peter went on to promise every one who thus
accepted Jesus as the Anointed of God the
same anointing that Jesus had: “Ye shall
receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.”
Acts 2:38.
Brought before King
Agrippa, Paul preached Christ so fervently
that the King cried out, “Almost thou
persuadest me to be a Christian.” Acts
26:28. However, the king never humbled
himself to accept Jesus as the Christ and
receive the anointing of the Spirit. But all
who have been anointed with the Spirit will
enjoy both the fellowship of the Spirit and
fellowship with their fellow Christians.
Memory Verse:
Romans 8:16. Paul
said, “the Spirit itself beareth witness
with our spirit, that we are the children of
God.”
