1Jn 3:34; Ps 45:7; ²Jn 6:27; Mt 28:18–20; ³Acts 3:21–22; Lk 4:18, 21; ⁴Heb 5:5–7; 4:14–15;
⁵Ps 2:6; Mt 21:5; Isa 9:6–7; Phil 2:8–11

Unlike ‘Jesus’, ‘Christ’ is not a name. It is certainly not the Lord’s surname as some ignorant persons may assume. It is rather a title. This is why in the Scriptures, the definite article is often used with ‘Christ’, such as in Matthew 16:16, where Simon Peter confessed to the Lord: "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God."

The title ‘Christ’ is the anglicised form of the Greek Cristov" (pronounced khris-tos), which means ‘Anointed One.’ The Hebrew for ‘Anointed One’ (such as in Ps 2:2 and 18:25) is the word j'yvim; (pronounced ma-shee-akh), which is also translated "Messiah" (Dan 9:25-26). So ‘Christ’ is in fact the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew ‘Messiah.’ When we talk about the Old Testament saints looking forward to the coming of the Messiah, we are talking about how they were looking forward to the coming of Christ. Indeed, in numerous places where the AV has j'yvim; rendered as "Anointed One," it would not be wrong to translate it as "Christ." So Psalm 2:2 can read:

But why is our Mediator called the Anointed One? He is so called "because he was anointed with the Holy Ghost above measure; and so set apart, and fully furnished with all authority and ability." In the Old Testament times, anointing with oil was the means by which prophets, priests and kings (e.g. 1 Kgs 19:16; Ex 28:41; 1Sam 16:13) were set apart and appointed to their respective offices. There was nothing magical in the anointing oil. It was a symbol of the Holy Spirit who would come upon them the wisdom and abilities, as well as the divine authority necessary for the duties, which God has appointed them to. Thus we read in 1 Samuel 16:13 that once Samuel anointed David, "the Spirit of the LORD came upon David."

The Lord Jesus was not anointed with oil. He was anointed with the Holy Spirit without the oily symbol. The Old Testament offices, were types of the office of Christ, although they were also of functional use for the duration of the Old Testament. So the anointing oil was also typical, though functional. The Old Testament anointing of prophet, priests and kings has its fulfilment or antitype in the anointing of Christ by the Holy Spirit, which was manifested when the Holy Spirit descended upon Him at His baptism (Mt 3:16).

Now, we say ‘manifested’ because we must bear in mind carefully that it was not only at that moment that the Holy Spirit anointed our Saviour. The Lord Jesus Christ is the God-Man, and as such, He is constantly in perfect union with Father and the Holy Spirit. It is really by this union that the Lord is anointed by the Spirit above measure (cf. Jn 3:34). Our Confession of Faith acknowledges this verity in WCF 8.3, which reads:

The Lord Jesus, in His human nature thus united to the divine, was sanctified, and anointed with the Holy Spirit, above measure, having in Him all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. The anointing of the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove at the Lord’s baptism was really a kind of visible ratification, for our sakes (cf. Jn 12:30), much like the way that water baptism is a visible ratification of our Spirit baptism in regeneration.

Nevertheless, the fact that the Lord Jesus, the Anointed One has come, is why the Church no longer have the offices of prophets, priests or king. Other officers, namely elders (including ministers) and deacons have been instituted by the Lord for the care of the church, but these are not continuation of the Old Testament officers, and must not be confounded with them. Bear in mind that the Old Testament officers, which were of typical nature. The Prophet, Priest and King of the Church is the Lord Jesus Christ.

So our catechism teaches us that Christ was anointed "to execute the offices of prophet, priest, and king of His Church."

He executed these offices, firstly, in the estate of His humiliation, namely, during His earthly existence from the time of His conception in the womb of the virgin Mary, to His birth in a lowly condition, to His life of subjection under His parents, to His public ministry (after His baptism and anointing), to His sufferings at the Cross, to His death, and finally to His burial.

Christ executed the threefold office, secondly, in His estate of exaltation too. That is to says, Christ was and is our Prophet, Priest and King in His rising from the dead on the third day, in His ascension to His Father, in His intercession on our behalf at the throne of God, and finally in His coming again at the Last Day to receive His Church and to judge the world.