In this lesson we will see how the Old Testament prophets prophesied concerning Christ’s being anointed and His living and work during the three and a half years of His ministry on earth.
Christ is the equivalent of the Hebrew word Messiah, which means “the anointed.” The earthly ministry of Christ began with His being anointed. Isaiah 61:1 prophesied concerning the anointing of Christ, the Anointed of Jehovah. This verse says, “The Spirit of the Lord Jehovah is upon Me, / Because Jehovah has anointed Me.”
According to Matthew 3:16 and Luke 3:21-22, after His baptism Christ rose up from the water, and the Spirit of God descended in bodily form as a dove upon Him. This was the fulfillment of Isaiah 61:1. This prophecy was fulfilled and carried out to anoint the new King, Christ, and recommend Him to God’s people. In His first coming the Lord was conceived of the Holy Spirit. Moreover, when the essence of the Holy Spirit was added to His humanity, He was constituted a God-man. He then lived thirty years as a man in the essence of the Holy Spirit. At the age of thirty He was ready to come forth to carry out His ministry. When He was baptized in the water, the Holy Spirit descended upon Him economically. Before that time, He was constituted with the Holy Spirit essentially. However, in order to carry out God’s economy, He needed the Holy Spirit economically for power and authority (Acts 10:38) so that He could be the Servant of Jehovah to minister God into man. This is the significance of “the Spirit of the Lord Jehovah is upon Me.”
According to the prophecy of Isaiah 61:1, Christ was not only anointed to have the Spirit of God upon Him; for His whole life the Spirit of God was upon Him in His living and work. At the beginning of His ministry He was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted, tested, by the devil (Matt. 4:1). During His ministry He had the Spirit of God with Him; thus, when He spoke God’s words, He could give the Spirit without measure (John 3:34). He also cast out demons by the Spirit of God and released man from the bondage of Satan (Matt. 12:28; Luke 4:18).
Isaiah 42:2 says, “He will not cry out, nor lift up His voice, / Nor make His voice heard in the street.” The fulfillment of this prophecy is referred to in Matthew 12:19, which says, “He will not strive nor cry out, nor will anyone hear His voice in the streets.” Christ in His living and work on the earth did not strive with others, nor promote Himself; He did not seek to make Himself known to people on the streets. He had no fame, and He made no name for Himself. His quietness indicated His victory, which qualified Him to be the Servant of Jehovah. His hiding was related to His breaking of religious regulations. Consequently, He was rejected by the religionists, and He was limited in His freedom to minister openly. In order to care for His headship and for the members of His Body, He had to hide Himself.