Preaching Jesus Series...Part III: The Office of Christ
I believe the goal of preaching should always be to preach Jesus so that a decision will be made by one to come to him, or another to stay in Him! If we don't preach Jesus, it's not the gospel. Today many people are experiencing a deep desire to know Jesus Christ in a more personal and fulfilling way. Therefore, we are beginning our Preaching Jesus Series. In this exciting series, we will help you prepare to effectively preach Jesus by reviewing some of His names, His life, history and various other aspects of who He is. It is so important that we as ministers of the gospel have a thorough understanding of Jesus and the atoning work He has done on behalf of the world. Therefore, for convenience, we will create bulleted points to help you as we journey to learn more about our Savior, His name, life and work. Please know that none of the information these articles presented in this series are intended to be exhaustive. We are providing a very general framework for your ease of use and learning. So, let's get started!
Part III: The Office of Christ (John 4:29, Revelation 19:16)
- Jesus has three primary names that are expressed at least 49 times in the Epistiles: "the/our Lord Jesus Christ"-- "Lord" represents His title, "Jesus" is His name, and "Christ" is His office.
- The name Christ comes from the greek work Christos which means "anointed one" and is commonly used to translate the word "Messiah."
- The Messiah is more commonly referenced in the Old Testament, while Christ in the New Testament both refer to the same person, Jesus.
- According to Dr. Elmer Towns, "Messiah" is always used in the context of a Messianic hope, whereas the predominate use of "Chirst" in the New Testament is as an official name of Jesus in the context of a work completed.
- Christ is said to have three distinct offices: Christ as prophet (Rev. 1:1), priest (Rev. 1:13), and king (Rev. 11:15).
- In the Old Testament the name "Messiah" was related to the three offices prophet, priest, and king and usually inititated by an act of anointing upon the candidate.
We will go more indept in our next installments as we look more closely at the roles of prophet, priest, and king individually.
**The above article is based upon personal research with ephasis based upon the text, "The Names of Jesus" by Dr. Elmer Towns. No part of the "The Names of Jesus" text has been reproduced or republished by the PreachingWoman.com organization. However, we do credit Dr. Elmer Towns for the initial research and information that inspired this article.