Jesus is the Christ. Christ is a title, and not a surname. It means anointed one and it refers to God’s King (Psalm 2:6). The early church emphasized the fact that Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ. Many non-Christians kept hearing the word ‘Christ’ and as a result they give the followers of Jesus the nickname Christian (Acts 11:26).

In the Heidelberg Catechism, the following confession is made:

Why is Jesus called Christ, that is, Anointed?

Because He has been ordained by God the Father, and anointed with the Holy Spirit, to be our chief Prophet and Teacher, who has fully revealed to us the secret counsel and will of God concerning our redemption; our only High Priest, who by the one sacrifice of His body has redeemed us, and who continually intercedes for us before the Father; and our eternal King, who governs us by His Word and Spirit, and who defends and preserves us in the redemption obtained for us.

The truth that Jesus is the Christ is a truth that makes his suffering and death wonderful news, because it means that his one sacrifice for sins, his death on the cross, was not an accident. Instead it was the means by which God paid the penalty for my hard-hearted and sinful rebellion against him.

Our response to Jesus can be nothing but worship. He is the Christ who has redeemed us from our sin. He is the King who rules over us. He is the Prophet who reveals God to us. We must worship him. We must devote our lives to him.