And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching that the Christ is Jesus.
Acts 5:42 (ESV)
The Jewish authorities had forbidden the apostles from speaking to the people concerning Jesus. But they did anyway—every day. In the temple grounds and from house to house, they preached and taught the people. And at the heart of their message was that Jesus was the Christ.
We often overlook the full impact of this statement today. It is easy to think of Christ as simply a part of Jesus’ name. But it is actually more of a title. Just as we might say ‘King David,’ ‘President Washington,’ or ‘Coach Carroll,’ so ‘Christ Jesus’ tells us His title and name.
But Christ has more significance than just a title. To the Jews that were hearing the message of the apostles, ‘the Christ’ referred to the long-anticipated Son of David who would reclaim the throne in Jerusalem, throw out the Romans, and establish an eternal kingdom.
In proclaiming Jesus as ‘the Christ,’ they were claiming that Jesus was the one whom the prophets had foretold. The one that they had been waiting for since the fall of Jerusalem over 600 years prior.
The apostles were announcing to the people that the one whom they had rejected and crucified, but God had resurrected, was their long-awaited king. Not at some distant time in the future. He was reigning as king even then (1 Cor. 15:24-25). King of a kingdom, not of this earth (John 18:36), but within us (Luke 17:20-21).
Jesus’ reign is not yet all that it will be when he returns. But, even now, he is ‘the Christ,’ the long-awaited Messiah announced in the Old Testament. And we are invited to become a part of his eternal kingdom.
