You know, when you think about it, the Old Testament from beginning to end is really about this Messiah.
God told Moses that He would raise up a prophet like Moses from among his brothers, and that they were to listen to that coming prophet (Deut. 18:15).
God described the Messiah’s work through Isaiah: “He was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all like sheep have gone astray; each of us has turned to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” Isaiah also said that this coming One would be called “Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom forever.”
You know, it’s an interesting feature of this word, “Messiah” (“Anointed One”), that in the Old Testament period, there were three classes of people who were anointed. The prophets were anointed, the priests were anointed, and the kings were anointed. It’s also an interesting feature that neither one was to cross over into the bounds of the other.
But when the Messiah comes, the Anointed One, He is to be a Person who embraces all three of those offices in Himself. He’s going to be a prophet because, as God said to Moses, “He will speak my words. I will raise up under them a prophet like you who shall speak my words to the people.” He should be a priest because, as God said to Isaiah, He’s going to die. He’s going to bear in Himself the transgressions and iniquities of His people. He was also to be a king because, as God also said through Isaiah, “He’s going to reign on David’s throne and, unlike David, reign forever.”
You see, that’s another reason why this message of God to the shepherds was a message of joy– that the promised Savior had been born, the One who in Himself united all the offices and who in Himself is able to do all that you and I need.
And then there’s a third thing. Not only was this One who was born a Savior and the Christ, He was also the Lord. When this text says that the One who is born was the Lord, it means He was Jehovah. It’s an interesting feature of the language here that makes this particularly clear.
In the Greek text, the words “Christ” and “Lord” are both in the nominative case. Now it would be quite possible, and far more common, in the Greek language, for the word Christos to have been in the nominative case, as it is, but for the word, “Lord,” to be in the genitive case, which it is not. If “Christ” had been in the nominative case and “Lord” had been in the genitive case, then the translation would be “the Lord’s Christ”—that is, the Christ of the Lord, the Christ the Lord has sent. And I say that would be quite proper and was actually a phrase that was frequently used because that’s the kind of phrase you would use for a mere human savior. When the king is appointed by God, you’d call him “God’s anointed.” He would be the “Lord’s anointed,” but He wouldn’t be the anointed, the Lord. When a prophet is appointed by God, you’d call him “the Lord’s prophet.” That would be very, very significant, but the prophet would not be identified as the Lord. He would not be the prophet, who is the Lord.
But in our text, both “Christ” and “Lord” are in the nominative case, which means they’re equivalents. The only proper way to understand that in English is to put a comma in between. You have to read it this way, “He is Christ, the Lord.” That is, He is Christ, very God of very God. So when the angels made their announcement, they were making an announcement of the birth of God’s own Son. I think, too, that we need to apply this in terms of the lordship, and particularly because we have difficulty with that. “Lord” means “Master.” And it’s why the word is used as an equivalent for “God.” God is called “Lord” because He’s the Master of us all. So when we speak of Christ, the Lord, we speak of Christ, who is God. But we also speak of Christ, who is our Master.
