John 4:41-43 - Anointed One

“So when the Samaritans arrived, they asked Him to remain with them, and He did stay there two days. Then many more believed in and adhered to and relied on Him because of His personal message [what He Himself said]. And they told the woman, Now we no longer believe (trust, have faith) just because of what you said; for we have heard Him ourselves [personally], and we know that He truly is the Savior of the world, the Christ.” John 4:41-43

The word Christ is the Hebrew word “Xpiarros” meaning “anointed. So each time that we say the name ‘Jesus Christ’ we are actually saying “Jesus anointed”. It was common practice in the Old Testament to anoint those with special oil who had a holy calling on their lives such as the prophet, priest and king. The prophet was God’s spokesperson, the priest was the mediator between God and people and the king was God’s ruler over His people. These representatives of God would undergo a ceremony in which the oil was poured over their heads, the oil being symbolic of the Holy Spirit coming upon them in a special way, empowering them to do the special task the Lord had called them to.

When the Samaritans recognized Jesus as the Anointed One, the Christ, it is because they could see God’s anointing on His life. Psalms 45:7 predicts this One Who God has anointed: “You love righteousness, uprightness, and right standing with God, and hate wickedness; therefore God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of gladness above Your fellows.” How did God anoint Jesus above others? While we read of these prophets, priests and kings who were anointed with special oil representative of the Holy Spirit we see in Luke 3:21-22 that after Jesus had been baptized with the other people He was anointed not by oil but by the Holy Spirit Himself who came upon Him empowering Jesus for the task God had Him to (“Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also was baptized, and [while He was still praying, the [visible] heaven was opened. And the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove, and a voice came from heaven, saying, You are My Son, My Beloved! In You I am well pleased and find delight!”). This personal anointing of the Holy Spirit showed Jesus not only to be a prophet, priest and king, it showed Him to be The Prophet of all prophets, The Priest of all priests and The King of all kings. No one could compare to Jesus and not only was He anointed for these tasks, He was and is The Anointed One! Praise be to God. Jesus, name above all names, The Anointed One of God, how we thank You for all You have done, all that You are and all that You will evermore be. Father, thank You. Hallelujah!