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Saviour of Israel (Dan. 7. 13; 9. 24-26). So that the term 'the Anointed' is a synonyme for the Deliverer of Israel and the Saviour of the world. When, therefore, we say, Jesus, the Christ, or the Christ Jesus, we mean Jesus, the anointed man, or the anointed man Jesus. The Greek dispenses with the article in certain cases in which it must be used in English, and thus Paul writes, en Christo,' that is, in Christ, or 'in Anointed;' but we cannot omit the article, for the word Christ is not a proper name like Jesus, but an appellation of the Son of God, which he received when he was anointed by the Holy Spirit as the sacrificer and the prophet and the king of his people at his baptism. And Jesus is called the only Son of God because he is the only man who was begotten by God, and he is the Son of Man because he was the son of David (Rom. 1. 4), having been made in the likeness of sinful flesh (Rom. 8. 3) 'for when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, who was begotten of a woman, begotten under the law' (Gal. 4. 4); and bence we infer that his mother was of the family of David, and that Joseph, having accepted him as his son, he was legally his father, and he is so called in the Scriptures. And the Son of Man was announced as the Messiah in Psalm 45. 7, 8, and in Dan. 9. 24, 25; that is, as the Christ, which is his official designation as the holy man who is the Saviour of his people and their Lord and sovereign sacrificer.

In the book of Luke it is recorded that the angel of Jehovah revealed the birth of Jesus as the King of Israel to his mother, saying, 'Behold, thou shalt be with child, and bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus; and he shall be great and shall be the Son of the Highest, and the Lord God shall give him the throne of his father David, and he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ages, and of his kingdom there shall be no end. The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall over

shadow thee; therefore also the holy [babe] which shall be begotten shall be the Son of God.' (Luke, 1. 31-35.) We see, then, from this circumstance, the reason why Jesus is the Son of God, namely, because he was begotten by God of a Virgin; and on his divine generation, which is here recorded, depends his essential holiness as a man, by virtue of which he was appointed before the foundation of the world to be the Mediator of the covenant of grace and the Saviour of his people. For verily he took not on him of the nature of angels, but he took on him of the nature of the posterity of Abraham (Heb. 2. 16); wherefore, when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou formed for me' (Heb. 10. 5). Accordingly the angel who announced his birth to the shepherds said unto them, ' Fear not, for I bring you good news of great joy, which shall be to all the people; for unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is the Christ, the Lord.' (Luke, 2. 10, 11. Comp. Mic. 5. 2-5.) He who was to sit on the throne of his father David, and to be the King of kings, was worshipped in a stable in Bethlehem by the Magi, showing that God's ways are not as our ways, nor his thoughts as our thoughts. And when after eight days were accomplished for the circumcision of the child, his name was called Jesus, for he was so named of the angel before he was conceived; and his parents having performed all things commanded by the law of Moses, they fled shortly afterwards from Judæa into Egypt, to escape the persecution of Herod, the king of the Jews. But when Herod died, they returned with the young child into Galilee, to the city of Nazareth, in which they resided; for it was prophesied that Jesus should be called a Nazarene, that is to say, a despised one. (Isa. 53. 3. John, 1. 46.) And the poverty of his parents is revealed to us by the fact that the sacrifice which his mother offered was either a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons, she being unable to bring a

lamb. (Lev. 12. 8.) And it is written of the child Jesus that he 'grew and became strong, filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him' (Luke, 2. 40), for he did always those things that were pleasing to the Father. Jesus is called the Holy Man, for having been begotten by God (Mark, 1. 24) he was without sin, and thus at his birth he is called 'to hagion [brephos],' the Holy Babe (Luke, 1. 35); and as a man, ‘ho hagios [anthropos], the Holy Man (John, 2. 20, and Mark, 1. 24; Rev. 3. 7); and Jesus is called 'ho dikaios [anthropos],' the Just Man (1 John, 2. 1), as it is written, 'But ye denied the holy and just [man], and desired a murderer to be granted unto you.' (Acts, 3. 4, comp. Acts, 7.52; 4. 27; Matt. 27. 19; 1 John, 3. 7.)

Beyond these simple facts no further details are recorded concerning the earlier years of Jesus till he was twelve years old, when it is stated that he appeared in the sacred place, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them and asking them questions, and all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers, a circumstance which proves that he had already acquired a knowledge of the law and the prophets. And when Joseph and his mother found him in the sacred place, they were amazed, and his mother said unto him, 'Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? Behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing. And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? Did ye not know that I must be about my Father's business? And they understood not the saying which he spake unto them.' (Luke, 2. 48-50.) It would appear, therefore, that his parents had not made known to him the secret of his birth, which was revealed to him supernaturally. Nevertheless, though conscious that he was the Son of the Highest, and aware of his future glory as the Messiah, whose kingdom was to last for ever, he lived in poverty and obscurity as the son of Joseph the carpenter, which humble occupation he followed in the midst of the

depraved population of Nazareth, till he was thirty years of age, when the time arrived when he should be manifested to Israel by means of his baptism by John in the river Jordan, when he was anointed by the Holy Spirit as a prophet, and sealed as the Son of God (Luke, 3. 21-23).

It is recorded that some time after his baptism Jesus appeared again to the prophet John on the banks of the Jordan, who testified of him as the Christ, saying, 'Behold the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the world. This is he of whom I said, After me cometh a man who is preferred before me, for he was before me, and I knew Him not: but that he should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptising in water. And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him, and I knew him not; but he that sent me to baptise in water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining on him, the same is he who baptiseth in the Holy Spirit; and I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God.' (John, 1. 29-34.) Now when Jesus was declared to be the Son of God by a voice from heaven, saying, 'This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased,' he was virtually sealed as the Christ; for the prophet Isaiah announced that the Christ should be born of a virgin, saying, 'Jehovah himself shall give you a sign, Behold the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Emmanuel' (chap. 7. 14). Wherefore he who confesses that Jesus is the Son of God confesses that he is the Lord and the Christ, which no one can do except he be begotten by the Holy Spirit. (John, 1. 12, 13; 3. 3-8. 1 Cor. 12. 3.)

When John the Baptiser was questioned by his disciples concerning Jesus, he testified of him as the prophet who was announced by Moses, saying that he himself was not the Christ, but that he was sent before him; for He that cometh from above is above all he that is of the earth is earthy

and speaketh of the earth, he that cometh from above is above all, and what he hath seen and heard he testifieth, and no man receiveth his testimony. He that receiveth his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true, for he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God, for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him.' (John, 3. 28-34. Comp. Luke, 4. 1; Isa. 9. 2; 42. 1-4 ; 61. 1.)

When the man from heaven was anointed or set apart by the Holy Spirit, all the fulness of God was enshrined in him as in a temple, and he was qualified to be a minister of the circumcision, to confirm the promises which God had made to Israel; for the ministry of John, who prepared a people to receive Jesus as the Christ, was at an end, and now the ministry of Jesus, who was to prepare a people to receive Jehovah, began. (Mal. 4. 5, 6; 3. 1-3).*

II. The Son of God is manifested as the Prophet.

'I shall raise them up a prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and I will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him.' (Deut. 18. 18, 19. Comp. Acts, 4. 22.)

'Then those men, when they had seen the sign that Jesus did, said, This is in truth the prophet who should come into the world.' (John, 6. 14.)

'No man hath seen God at any time; the only Son who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath made him known.' (John, 1. 18.)

*The Son of God was born about four years before the commencement of the Christian era, and his ministry lasted nearly three years and a half, so that he is supposed to have been thirty-four years of age at his death; and he had brothers and sisters, the children of his reputed father, Joseph, and of his mother, Mary. (Matt. 1. 25; 12. 46.)