Jesus’ lineage shows how his life was intertwined with God’s covenant with his chosen people as well as his legal claim to the throne of David. While we tend to skip over the lists of names in Mary and Joseph’s family trees at the beginning of the Books of Matthew and Luke, the Jewish culture kept extensive genealogies to establish a person’s heritage, inheritance, legitimacy, and rights. The genealogy of Jesus also points to the fact that he was the prophesied Christ or Messiah. In addition, the name “Jesus” is actually the historically common Hebraic “Joshua” or “Yeshua,” which means “God saves” ( Nehemiah 7:7 Matthew 1:21). In fact, he fulfilled ten unique messianic prophecies just in the final 24 hours of his life on earth. The elderly Simeon and Anna, as well as the king-making Magi, recognized young Jesus for who he was and worshiped him for it. This is made clear in John 1:41 when Andrew invited his brother, Simon Peter, to follow Jesus by saying, “‘We have found the Messiah’ (which means Christ).” The people and Rabbis of Jesus’ time would have been looking for the Christ to come and righteously rule God’s people because of the Old Testament prophecies they were taught ( 2 Samuel 7:11-16). The word Christ is from the similar-sounding Greek word “ Christos,” which describes the divine Son of God, the Anointed King, and the “Messiah” who is positioned and purposed by God to be the Deliverer of all people in a way that no regular person, prophet, judge, or ruler could be ( 2 Samuel 7:14 Psalm 2:7). So, what does “Christ” mean, and what does it signify about who Jesus is? Who Is Jesus: The Word Christ Also, an angel delivered the good news to the shepherds that Jesus was born as “a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” ( Luke 2:11, ESV).īut this term “ Christ” is so commonly and flippantly used today by people that do not know what it means or that assume it is no more than Jesus’ last name instead of a meaningful title. This epithet or descriptive phrase is used regularly throughout the New Testament to the tune of 569 times.įor example, in John 4:25-26, Jesus declares to a Samaritan woman standing by a well (appropriately called “Jacob’s Well”) that he was the Christ that was prophesied to come. One of the most prevalent titles is “Christ” (or the Hebrew equivalent, “Messiah”). There are quite a few names throughout Scripture spoken about Jesus or given by Jesus himself.
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