Here's a trivia question for you: what is Jesus' last name? if you ask that question to most people, they will answer that it's "Christ", they would be surprised to find out that they are wrong. To start with, the name "Jesus" is dereived from the greek "Iesous", this is the greek equivalent of the hebrew "Yehoshua" (pronounced 'Yeshua') which is rendered "Joshua" in the old testament. Interestingly enough, it means "Yahweh is Salvation". So if you follow hebrew tradition, Jesus full name spoken in hebrew would be 'Yeshua bar Yosef', or Jesus son of Joseph. Of course we know that Jesus was not actually the son of Joseph, but so far as the people living then knew, he was. So where does the word 'Christ' come into it?

Remember that the new testament was written in greek, and that Paul, for example, didnt know that he was writing nearly two thirds of the new testament. He was writing letters [epistles] in greek to greek speaking groups of believers. And then he was not writing what he preached, he was writing ABOUT what he preached. 'Christ' is an anglisized form of the greek word Christos, and since from Matthew 1:1 to Revelation 22:21 the word "Christ" appears 555 times in 522 verses, it seems that it would be a good idea to know the meaning of a word that has so many direct usages, and essentially the entire new testament talking about it. Christos has the same meaning as the hebrew 'mashiyach {maw-shee-akh}' which is rendered 'messiah' in the king james and most other translations. It means 'the Anointed One and or his Anointing'.

To anoint is to pour on, smear over, rub in. Reading the new testament with this in mind brings a whole new light on the whole thing. For example, lets take a look at Luke 4, right after satan's tempting him.

Luke 4:16, "And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read."

Note here that this was his custom, meaning that wherever he went, he would go to the synagogue on the sabbath and preach this same message.

Luke 4:17, "And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written,"

also, he didnt just read some scripture at random, nor did he read something that the leaders of the synagogue had picked out. He read from the book of the prophet Esaias (Isaiah), and went to a specific portion of scripture. He then reads from what we know as Isaiah 61:1-2.

Luke 4:18-21, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears."

Why is the Spirit of the Lord upon you, Jesus? 'because he hath anointed me'. remember, to anoint is to pour on, smear over, rub in. So the Spirit of the Lord is upon Jesus because the Lord has poured on, smeared over, and rubbed in His Spirit on Jesus. Therefore we see that the Anointing IS the Spirit of God. When a person is baptised in the Holy Spirit, that person has the Spirit of God literally poured on them, smeared over them, and rubbed into them. The same anointing that Jesus walked in is available to each and every one of us!

The most basic function and purpose of the Anointing is given in Isaiah 10:27, "And it shall come to pass in that day, that his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing.". This gives us a good test to determine if a person, meeting, church service or anything is anointed or not; Were burden's removed? Were yokes destroyed? was anyone saved? was anyone delivered from a yoke of oppression? was anyone healed? Regardless of how anything makes you feel... good, bad, indifferent, happy, joyfull, sad, or anthing else. If a burden was removed, a yoke destroyed, then the Anointing is involved.. If not, then no matter how good or how much fun or how lofty a sermon, prayer, church service or anything else feels, there is no Anointing there. Other functions of the Anointing is to reprove, to convict of sin, to instruct, bring all things to remembrance and more. All of which are derived from removing burdens and destroying yokes.

It is a good idea to re-read the new testament, translating and meditating on [to meditate is to focus one's thoughts on : reflect on or ponder over] each occurance of the word "Christ". for example, lets look at a popular verse that when it is read as it appears in the King James, doesnt quite sound right...

Matthew 16:16, "And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God."

If "Christ" is Jesus' last name, then that statement makes NO sense whatsoever. But if we translate the word "Christ" it suddenly takes on new life:

"And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Anointed One, the Son of the living God."

and another verse

Philippians 4:13, "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me."

If "Christ" were simply Jesus' name as most people suppose, then that sentance does not make sense, if that is Jesus last name, then 'Christ >which< strenghteneth me' is gramatically incorrect. but if we translate "Christ" it becomes much more powerfull;

"I can do all things through the Anointed one and His Anointing which strengheneth me."

Now that is a statement of power! through the Anointed one (Jesus), and His Anointing (the Holy Spirit) which strengthens me, I can do ALL things! Here's another example:

Philippians 4:19, "But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus."

Translate the word "Christ": "But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by the Anointed Jesus.". Re-read the new testament, and translate the word "Christ" in every place it appears. In each and every case, it will translate:

the Anointed One and His Anointing,
the Anointed One,
the Anointing,

One need only take a prayerfull look at the context in which it is used to see the proper translation. Then meditate on what a verse says when "Christ" is translated. I guarantee that doing this will bring a whole new light on the new testament, and new understanding to any who seek.

Acts 8:5, "Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them."

Most people, when they read that verse, simply assume that what he preached to them was simply preaching ABOUT Jesus. And as far as that goes, it is correct, but by translating "Christ", we learn more of what Philip preached in Samaria...

"Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached the Anointed One and His Anointing unto them."

So yes, Philip preached about Jesus, but more to the point, he preached the Anointing. He preached the same thing that Jesus preached, which we have a record of in Luke chapter 4. All of the Apostles, when they preached, did the same thing. They preached the Anointed One and his Anointing. An excellent example of this is Peter. When he was sent to Cornelius:

Acts 10:34-35, "Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him."

The first thing we see is that he pointed out that God is totally impartial, that anyone who reverences and respects Him is accepted. This means that if God has done something for anyone, then He will, because He is no respecter of persons (that is, He does not consider any one person to be more important than any other), do the same thing for any other person. In short, God does NOT play favorites.

Acts 10:36-37, "The word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ: (he is Lord of all) That word, I say, ye know, which was published throughout all Judaea, and began from Galilee, after the baptism which John preached;"

Here he's telling them where he got what he's preaching, the word or message of peace by Jesus the Anointed One. Reminding them that they've heard this before, because it was published throught Jedaea starting in Galilee, after John was preaching and baptising in the Jordan river which is of course when Jesus began his earthly ministry.

Acts 10:38, "How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him."

This is nothing less than a retelling of the message Jesus preached everywhere he went:

Luke 4:18-19, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord."

Everywhere Jesus went, burdens were removed, yokes were destroyed. People were healed, demons were cast out. Anyone who came to him in faith received, and when people did not respond with faith, as when he preached this message in his hometown of Nazareth:

Mark 6:5, "And he could there do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them."

Note that it does not say that he wouldnt do a mighty work, but that he could not. There were some people there that were willing to exercise some degree of faith, because he did lay hands on a few sick people and heal them. He marvelled because of their unbelief because the children of Israel were heirs to the Abrahamic covenant. They had God's promise, given to Abraham, and reaffirmed to Issac, and again to Jacob, that if they would do as he asked, they would be blessed in everything they did. Jesus had the Anointing, but they did not have the faith to accept what God had Anointed Jesus to give.

So what did he do? Instead of simply letting them continue in their unbelief and lack of faith, he did something about it.

Mark 6:6, "And he marvelled because of their unbelief. And he went round about the villages, teaching."

What did he teach them? He taught from the law of Moses and the prophets. He taught them about the covenant God made with Abraham, and what that meant to them. He showed them from the scriptures what the Anointing meant, and what they as decendants of Abraham and partakers of the covenant, had a right to expect from God. He taught because

Romans 10:17, "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."

So Jesus loaded them up with the word of God, and what it said about what God expects and what God wants us to have, building their faith in the process.

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