significance

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF JESUS CHRIST

Recently I asked an Arab Muslim friend of mine what masih meant. He said it was the title that was given to Jesus Christ. So I wrote out the word msh is Arabic. "What does that mean," I asked.

"To rub," was the answer.

"Or to anoint," I said.

"What does it mean, to anoint?" was the reply.

"To anoint, is to rub oil on someone. It was the practice in Bible times when kings were given authority to reign. The oil was a symbol of the Holy Spirit that God would bestow upon them to give them authority and power to reign," I said. He accepted that, so I continued, "So what is this word?" I said, as I wrote memsuah on the board.

He looked at it and replied, "That means the one who is anointed."

"So what does this word mean?" I asked as I wrote masih on the board?

"That's just a title," came the answer.

"But every title in Arabic has a meaning!" I politely insisted. "What is the meaning based on the grammatical form of the word?"

He paused a second or two and then simply said, "The anointer."

"So why are David and Solomon referred to as memsuah (or possibly even masih at times when referring to the fact that they were the kings of the land, the highest persons and the ones who give authority to their subjects and commission them to do certain work) but Jesus is referred to as Masih and in fact is usually called al-Masih, The Anointer, whereas none of the other prophets are called al-Masih?" I asked. To this there was no reply.

The answer that was given in the forenamed situation, is the same answer any Arab speaker who understands the grammatical structure of the word will give. In fact some realise that masih is an intensified form causing it to take on the meaning of either "anointer" or "most anointed" with the understanding that he is able to anoint others. Yet many people are taught that this word is simply a title. Abraham was given the title Khalil-ullah, meaning "friend of God. Moses was given the title Kalim-ullah, meaning "speaker for God." Muslims call Muhammad, Rasul-ullah, meaning "messenger of God." But all of these titles have a meaning.

The Bible mentions that the birth of Hadrat 'Isa al-Masih ibn Miriam was a miracle from the Holy Spirit. (Luke 1) The Qur'an, the holy book of Muslims, makes a similar statement, "The similitude of Jesus before Allah is as that of Adam; he created him from dust then said to him: 'Be': And he was." (Sura 3:59) Isaiah 7:14 in the Bible prophesies the birth of 'Isa as a sign, "Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel." The Qur'an also says that his birth was a sign. (Sura 21:91) As we know, a sign is an indication that we need to be alert and to observe carefully what is going on and take heed to where the sign is pointing. When we are given a sign, we need to ask why it was given. One question we should be asking is, "Since Jesus was similar to Adam, why was Adam born in a different way from Jesus?" We know that Adam was born without any parents, but the fact is that there were no parents for him to be born from. Because of this fact we can understand why Adam needed to be created by God in a special way. The fact is that at the time of Jesus there were many parents. Why then was Jesus born without a human father? Some people may try to say that the birth of Jesus Christ was not so special because Adam was born without parents too. Though Jesus' birth was similar to Adam's, only Jesus' birth was a sign. What does this sign point to? What is its significance? By looking carefully at what the angel Gabriel said to Mary in the Injil in the book of Luke, chapter 1 and looking carefully at the events of Jesus Christ's life in the gospel, we see the uniqueness of Jesus Christ.

The Bibles shows that the answer to this fact is why Jesus Christ is called the ruh-ullah, the Spirit of God. Some people say that he was called "a spirit of God" because he was created by the breath of God as was Adam. If that is so, then why isn't Adam also, referred to as "a spirit of God"? Also, if the reason why Jesus Christ is called a spirit from God is that God gave them breath, then animals could be called spirits of God because God gave them breath and life as well. We know this is not why Jesus Christ is referred to as a spirit of God, because Jesus Christ breathed on his disciples (who were already breathing human beings) and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit." (Injil, John 20:22) He also told an outwardly religious man, "no-one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again. I tell you the truth, no-one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit." (Injil, John 3:3,5) Jesus Christ went on tell the religious man that he needed the Spirit when Jesus said, "You must be born again." (John 3:7b) This religious man had the breath of life but still needed the Spirit of God. This is confirmed by his closest disciple who wrote, "We know that we live in him [God] and he is us, because he has given us of his Spirit." (Injil, 1 John 4:13) So we see that when referring to Jesus Christ "spirit of God" does not mean "breath of God."

Others claim that Jesus Christ is called the ruh-ullah because he did a lot of miracles. This answer is a bit closer. But we all know that there were other prophets who did miracles as well. But still they were not called spirits of God. The fact is that his birth was a sign because his origin was unique (Anbia, Micah 5:2; Injil, John 8:54-58); he embodies the Spirit of God existing from eternity.

The prophet Yahya said about Hadrat 'Isa, " 'I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. I would not have know him, except that the one who sent me to baptise with water told me, 'The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is he who will baptise with the Holy Spirit.' " (Injil, John 1:32-33) A reference is made in the Qur'an about Jesus Christ that God "strengthened him with the Holy Spirit." (Sura 2:253, The King Fahd English Translation of the Meanings of the Holy Qur'an, Ifta Call and Guidance) Some people say this refers to the angel Gabriel, but there is no indication of this in the text of the Qur'an or the Bible. If we follow proper rules of interpretation and go back to when the Holy Spirit was first mentioned--in the Holy Bible--he is always referred to as the very Spirit of God. (Injil, John 14:15-31) It was Jesus Christ's special connection with God, who is spirit in his very essence, which caused him to be called "the Spirit of God" and also "al-Masih". This is confirmed in the Holy Bible when Jesus himself says, "before Abraham was born, I am." (Injil, John 8) He did not use the words, "I was," but instead used, "I am" referring to the words that God, the ever-existing one, gave Moses to tell to Pharoah as to who was giving him the authority to ask for the release of the bani-Israel from Egypt.

Much more can be learned about "the anointer" from the Holy Bible. As humans we not only should learn more about this but we should not reject the anointing that God offers.

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