Who is the Christ/King?
The “Anointing” Ceremony of King David
In about 1000 BC a young man called David son of Jesse (of "˜David and Goliath fame) was selected to be the first in a long line of dynastic kings to rule ancient Israel. The ceremony by which he is made king establishes the importance of "˜anointing for the future hope concerning the "˜Anointed One, or the Christ.
The Lord said to Samuel. "How long will you grieve over Saul. since I have rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go. I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons." And Samuel said, "How can I go? If Saul hears it, he will kill me." And the LORD said, "Take a heifer with you and say, "˜I have come to sacrifice to the LORD: And invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do. And you shall anoint for me him whom I declare to you." Samuel did what the LORD commanded and came to Bethlehem. The elders of the city came to meet him trembling and said. "Do you come peaceably?" And he said. "Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to the LORD. Consecrate yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice." And he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.
When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, "Surely the LORDs anointed is before him." But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature because I have rejected him. For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart." Then Jesse called Abinadab and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, "Neither has the LORD chosen this one." Then Jesse made Shammah pass by. And he said, "Neither has the LORD chosen this one." And Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse, "The LORD has not chosen these." Then Samuel said to Jesse, "Are all your sons here?" And he said, "There remains yet the youngest, but behold, he is keeping the sheep." And Samuel said to Jesse, "Send and get him, for we will not sit down till he comes here." And he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy and had beautiful eyes and was handsome. And the LORD said, "Arise, anoint him, for this is he." Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. And the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon David and from that day forward. And Samuel rose up and went to Ramah.
(1 Samuel 16:1-13)
Each king of Israel from this time on was occasionally known as an "˜anointed one (a messiah or christ). But it was not until much later (about 200 BC) that Jewish people were crying out for the anointed one, the Christ of God. The language of this hope (Christ) derived from the coronation ceremony described above, but the real substance of the hope came directly from a number of prophecies contained in the pages of the Old Testament which predicted the arrival of a descendant of King David who would speak and act on behalf of the Almighty and rule the nations for ever. Below is a brief outline of some of the elements of these promises.
The Promise of an Eternal King
Despite the length and greatness of King Davids reign, the prophet Nathan promised David on Gods behalf that one of his descendants would become even greater. According to the prophecy, this heir would rule for all of history.
But that same night the word of the LORD came to Nathan, "Go and tell my servant David, "˜Thus says the LORD…When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers. I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son…And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever:" In accordance with all these words, and in accordance with all this vision, Nathan spoke to David.
(2 Samuel 7:4-17)
In a matter of generations after King David, Israel and its kings sank into religious, political and military turmoil. To cut a long story short, by 587 BC the Jewish people had been reduced to prisoners in their own land. Foreign armies invaded and virtually destroyed them. The old promise of a descendant of King David who would rule forever seemed like a dim and ridiculous hope.
There were some, however, who during the final years of Israels royal history did remember the promise Nathan relayed to King David. These people were the "˜prophets and they preached and wrote enthusiastically during a time of great pessimism about Gods intention one day to send that leader of their dreams. Their writings, contained now in the Old Testament part of the Bible, provide the clearest predictions about the "˜Anointed One, the descendant of David who would reign eternally.
Here are four of the most significant prophecies concerning the eternal king, all of which were written hundreds of years before the birth of Jesus.
Ezekiel 37:22-25 (600BC)
"And one king shall be king over them all, and they shall be no longer two nations. and no longer divided into two kingdoms. They shall not defile themselves anymore with their idols and their detestable things, or with any of their transgressions. But I will save them from all the backslidings in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them; and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.
"My servant David shall be king over them, and they shall all have one shepherd. They shall walk in my rules and be careful to obey my statutes. They shall dwell in the land that I gave to my servant Jacob, where your fathers lived. They and their children and their childrens children shall dwell there forever, and David my servant shall be their prince forever."
Calling the future king "David" is a deliberate reflection on the promise quoted earlier that one of King Davids sons will arise. Like that original promise, this prophecy also insists the king will rule forever. It is difficult to know how the Jews of this period would have understood this promise, since they, like us, knew that people do not live forever. The Gospels of Luke and Matthew both begin with Jesus genealogical records, establishing him as a direct descendant of King David, and they both end (as do all the Gospels) with the account of Jesus resurrection. It is his resurrection, according to Jesus himself, that ensures his status as the king who rules forever.
The other interesting thing about this prophecy is that the arrival of the king will mark a time of forgiveness for past wrongs. As the story of Jesus unfolds, precisely this theme is highlighted again and again.
Micah 5:2 (700BC)
A brief, though important, prophecy concerns the whereabouts of the coming ruler, In his prediction about what God would do for his people, Micah writes:
But you, 0 Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient days.
Bethlehem is a small town in the South of Palestine, 10 kms from the city of Jerusalem. Though small and apparently insignificant, it did have at least one claim to fame. It was the birthplace and family home town of the great King David 500 years before. According to this prophecy, it would have an even greater claim to fame in the future. It would be the place from which the "ruler over Israel" (in other words, the promised anointed king) would come. Jesus, as we know from Luke (and elsewhere), was in fact born in the city of David, Bethlehem.
Isaiah 9:1-7 (700BC)
But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan. Galilee of the nations. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shined. You have multiplied the nation; you have increased its joy; they rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as they are glad when they divide the spoil…For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall he upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there wiII be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the L.ORD of hosts will do this.
Here God promises that the Northern region of Palestine, Galilee, which was first to be decimated and overrun by “Gentiles” (700 BC), will become the very district from which a great “light” will appear. This will be the cause of great “rejoicing” since the light turns out to be none other than the promised descendant of King David who would emerge from Galilee and rule forever.
On the face of it, this appears to contradict the prophecy of Micah that the promised “ruler” would come from Bethlehem in the South of the country. For years, anyone who put these two texts side by side must have wondered how the anointed descendant of King David could come from both the Southern town of Bethlehem and the Northern district of Galilee, over a hundred kms away.
Though Jesus was born in the South (Bethlehem) of Palestine, this was only because of an unexpected Imperial requirement in that precise year that all Jews return to the town of their ancestors so that a documented census could take place throughout the land. Jesus real home town - where he spent his entire childhood, right up to the time of his inaugural sermon - was, in fact, Nazareth, a town in the Northern district of Galilee. When the “light” of Jesus ministry appeared to the public eye, it was out of Galilee that it first shone.
Isaiah 11:1 -10 (700 BC)
Here the coming king is described as a “shoot” from the “stump of Jesse”. Jesse was King Davids father. By the time Isaiah wrote these words this family dynasty was in tatters and on the verge of total destruction, which is why it is described as a “stump” instead of a whole tree. Nevertheless, the prophecy is clear: from this family line a “branch” will grow.
There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his root shall bear fruit. And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD. And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear, but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his loins. The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adders den. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowredge of the l.ORD as the waters cover the sea. In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples-of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious.
There are several important aspects of this prophecy. First, this descendant of David is described as ruling with his “mouth”, that is, by the mere force of his words. This must have sounded unusual to its first hearers since they must certainly have felt that what they needed was not a "talker" but "warrior ". Jesus worked hard at dispelling the view that his was going to be a reign of warfare. Instead, he was indeed a great teacher. By his words he ruled.
Furthermore, it is odd that this coming king would be rallied to not only by Israel but also by all the nations. This idea was quite contrary to the political mood of both Isaiahs time and Jesus time. The “nations” were regarded as the enemies of God and Israel. Nevertheless, the prophecy is adamant that "The Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him". In other words, this was a king for the world not just the Jews. This ends up being one of the very striking features of Jesus ministry. He had an unusual openness to non-Jews whenever he met them. And in his final words to his colleagues he insisted that the news of his reign as the Christ must be "announced to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem" (Luke 24:47).
Isaiah 52:13-53:12 (700 BC)
The final and most striking prophecy I will quote (though there are many others) comes again from the prophet Isaiah. Here Isaiah speaks of the appearance of a mysterious figure known as the “Servant”. There are no names or dates provided, but he is described as a “tender shoot" who "grew up out of the dry ground". This is clearly a reference back to the prophecy just quoted about the "shoot" that grew up out of the "stump of Jesse". In other words, both prophecies are a reference to the promised descendant of King David. But there is an extraordinary difference between this and all the other prophecies about the future anointed king. Whereas most of the prophecies describe this figure as a powerful and majestic monarch, someone who rules the nations forever merely by the words of his mouth, the promise of Isaiah 52 - 53 describes him as a suffering and dying servant. The passage is long but it is remarkable when you keep in mind that we know this was written hundreds of years before the birth of Jesus of Nazareth.
BehoId, my servant shall act wisely; he shall be high and lifted up, and shall be exalted. As many were astonished at you-his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of mankind - so shall he sprinkle many nations; kings shall shut their mouths because of him; for that which has not been told them they see, and that which they have not heard they understand.
Who has believed what they heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form of majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.
Ive known about this prophecy for over a decade but I am still amazed by its message. This “Servant” of God would not attain "˜majesty but instead be "pierced" and "wounded". He would die a horrible death "“ "cut off from the land of the living" - for the sake of others. He was punished for the sins of others so they could be forgiven. Eventually, however, this Servant would again "prolong his days" and "see the light of life". In other words, he would be raised from death. This story of tragedy to triumph would, according to the introduction to the prophecy, touch the world; he would "sprinkle many nations".
For a text composed 700 years before Christ this is not a bad summary of the story of Jesus Christ, the promised descendant of David who since his life, death and resurrection has, indeed, "sprinkled" many nations.
Reproduced with Permission from
John Dickson “Simply Christianity” (Matthias Media and John Dickson 2001)
