John 1: Jesus Is the Christ, God's Anointed One

Introduction

How would you answer if someone asked you, "What does the word Christ mean?" You have probably sung it, you read it in your Bible, and you carry the name because you call yourself a Christian. Yet, as Tom Foord reminds us, "Christ" is not Jesus' last name. Mary and Joseph were not called "Christ." It is a title, and its meaning is vital to understanding who Jesus is.

In John 1:31-42, the message the first disciples pass on fits in one sentence: "We have found the Messiah." Saying "We have found Jesus" would have meant almost nothing, because Yeshua was a very common Jewish name in Galilee. What mattered was to say: we have found the Christ.

The preacher warns that this is less a sermon than a simple Bible study, where you take notes and move through the text together. He says he would be failing in his duty as a preacher if he assumed that everyone already knows what "Christ" means.

Message Outline

1. "Christ" Is a Title: God's Anointed One

In the Old Testament, holy offices were conferred by an anointing, often with oil. Prophets were anointed more rarely, but Elijah is told to anoint Elisha and throws his cloak over him.
Priests were anointed: Aaron in Exodus 29, and then Leviticus 4:3 speaks of "the anointed priest." Priests were, in a way, "little christs."
Kings were anointed too: in 1 Samuel 16, Samuel looks over the sons of Jesse, one looking like a pilot, another like a real estate agent, and thinks: "Surely Yahweh's anointed is before him." But it is David, still busy tending the sheep, who is chosen.
The anointing said two things: God has chosen this person and declares it publicly, and he confers on him his authority to speak for him as a prophet, serve for him as a priest, or reign for him as a king.
By the first century, "the Christ" had become a title in its own right: the promised anointed one, God's chosen servant who would come with authority to accomplish God's work. Jesus is presented to us as the Christ of all christs.

2. John the Baptist's Testimony

Tom Foord pictures John the Baptist in the witness box, hand on the Bible, swearing to tell the whole truth. Verse 32: "I have seen the Spirit descending like a dove out of heaven, and it remained on him." Every word of this testimony is deliberate.
"I didn't know him" (v. 33) does not mean he was unaware of who Jesus was, but that he did not yet know him as the Messiah. God had given him a sign: the one on whom he saw the Spirit descend and remain would be the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.
John's Gospel does not tell the story of Jesus' baptism, unlike Matthew and Luke. Yet it is there all the same, through John the Baptist's eyewitness testimony.

3. The Spirit Who Remains on Jesus

For John the Baptist, the point was not first of all visual. The preacher does not know whether the Spirit took the form of a bird or came down in the manner of a dove. That is not the main thing: what matters is that the Spirit came down and remained on Jesus.
It was not like Samson, on whom the Spirit came for a mission and then withdrew. Jesus had no need to pray as David did: "Don't take your Holy Spirit from me" (Psalm 51:11). The Spirit was given to him in a sealed and permanent way.
The dove recalls the one in Noah's story in Genesis 8. With humor, Tom Foord imagines life on the ark: the home gym becomes all too familiar, you dream of walking barefoot on the grass, but there is no grass on the ark. Noah sends out the dove to find out whether the new world has arrived.
The early church understood it this way: "God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power" (Acts 10:38). Not a prophet, not John the Baptist, but God himself.

4. The Fulfillment of the Prophecies

We often point to the prophecies about the Messiah's coming, but we sometimes overlook the link between the Spirit of God and God's anointed one. Isaiah 11:2 announces the Spirit of wisdom and understanding who will rest on him.
Isaiah 42:1: "I have put my Spirit on him. He will bring justice to the nations." This text connects the servant, the chosen one, the anointed one, and the Spirit.
Isaiah 61:1, which Jesus himself will quote: "The Lord Yahweh's Spirit is on me, because Yahweh has anointed me to preach good news to the humble."
This is the thesis of the whole Gospel: "but these are written, that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in his name" (John 20:31).

5. "Behold, the Lamb of God": The Disciples Follow Jesus

The next day, John the Baptist repeats the same message (v. 35-36). He does not change it for a new audience: "I have only one sermon. Jesus is the Lamb of God."
His two disciples then leave the most popular preacher in centuries to follow Jesus. Recognizing the Christ changes your whole view of life: nothing is worth holding on to if it means not following Jesus.
Verse 38: Jesus turns around. Many commentators hear in this an echo of the prophets' call: "Return to me, and I will return to you." The disciples turn to Jesus, and Jesus turns to them.

6. "What Are You Looking For?"

These are the first words of Jesus in this Gospel. Jesus asks this question three times in the Gospel: here, then in the garden when Judas comes to betray him ("Who are you looking for?"), and after the resurrection, to the women who came looking for his body.
The disciples' answer makes the preacher smile: "Rabbi, where are you staying?" It sounds like first-year theology students looking for free room and board.
But their real request is something else: we want to become your disciples, we are looking for a master to follow. Jesus answers: "Come, and see." They stay with him that day, around the tenth hour, that is, four in the afternoon.

7. Andrew Goes to Find His Brother

The first thing Andrew does (v. 41) is to go and find his brother Simon and tell him: "We have found the Messiah."
Tom Foord asks the question: do you have a brother, a sister, a brother-in-law still outside God's kingdom? Jesus chose two men from the same family among the Twelve, and he did it twice. God may want to give life through you.
Simon was a fisherman, rough, foul-mouthed, not the disciple type. "Never think that your brother, your sister, or your loved one will not come to Jesus. How dare you?"
Jesus looks at Simon and tells him that he knows him and that he will be called Cephas: Peter, that is, the rock.

Key Takeaways

"Christ" is a title: it designates the anointed one whom God publicly chose and clothed with his authority.
The Spirit came down on Jesus and remains on him: he is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit, according to Isaiah's prophecies.
Seeing Jesus as the Christ shows the unity of all Scripture: he does not abolish the Old Testament, he fulfills it.
To call yourself a Christian is to call yourself a disciple of the one who has all authority. You cannot speak of the Christ without speaking of authority.
Understanding who Jesus is sets off a chain reaction in the soul: the desire to announce him, even when you feel clumsy.

Personal Application

If someone asked you today what "Jesus is the Christ" means, how would you answer from the Bible?
Do you read the Old Testament as a book that announces Jesus and that he fulfills?
Is there an area of your life that you do not yet submit to Jesus' authority, or a known sin you need to repent of?
Who in your family or circle have you stopped imagining will ever come to Jesus?
You may feel like a "failure" at evangelism: do you at least have the desire to tell someone, "I have found the Christ"?

Tom Foord ends with an image: in the nineteenth century, a man from Africa, sent to England as part of a delegation, discovers snow, then ice. He is told he is going to walk across a great lake twenty or thirty fathoms deep, although he cannot swim. Perhaps you are like him before the forgiveness, salvation, and adoption that Jesus offers. Jesus means "God saves": "for it is he who will save his people from their sins" (Matthew 1:21). John the Baptist staked his life on this testimony and died for it. Andrew, John, and Peter lived and died proclaiming it. He is the Lamb of God, he will pay the full price of your sin and bring you near to God. Walk out on the ice: it will bear your weight.

Verses Cited

Frequently Asked Questions

What does the word "Christ" mean?

"Christ" is not a last name but a title. It translates the Hebrew Messiah and means "anointed." In the Old Testament, the anointing publicly designated the one whom God had chosen and conferred on him the authority to speak, serve, or reign for God. Jesus is the anointed one above all others.

Why does John the Baptist insist on the Spirit remaining on Jesus?

God had given him this sign to recognize the Messiah: the one on whom the Spirit descends and remains. Tom Foord stresses that the point is not first of all visual but theological: the Spirit remains on Jesus permanently, which fulfills the prophecies of Isaiah 11, 42, and 61.

What does Andrew's example with his brother Simon teach us?

The first thing Andrew does is to go and find his brother and tell him: "We have found the Messiah." Tom Foord sees in this a chain reaction in the soul that has understood who Jesus is, and he urges us never to think that a loved one will not come to Jesus.