The name Jesus, as also that of Christ, was both known and
EUSEBIUS' ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY
Jesus Christ in distinct commentaries" on this subject and having elsewhere digested whatever is revealed concerning him in a more demonstrable form, what has been said upon the subject here may suffice for the present.
The name Jesus, as also that of Christ, was both known and honored from ancient times by the inspired prophets.
(1) Ir is NOW THE PROPER PLACE to show that the very name of Jesus, as also that of Christ, was honored by the pious prophets of old. (2) First,
Moses himself, having intimated how exceedingly august and illustrious the name of Christ is, delivering types and mystical images according to the oracle which declared to him, "See that thou make all things according to the pattern which was shown thee on the mount" (Exod. 25:40)—the same man whom, as far as it was lawful, he had called the high priest of God, the selfsame he called Christ.> In this way, to the dignity of the priesthood which surpasses with him, all superiority among men, as additional honor and glory, he attached the name of Christ. Hence, he evidently understood that Christ was a divine Being.
(3) The same Moses, under the divine Spirit, foreseeing the epithet Jesus, likewise dignified this with a certain distinguished privilege. This name, which had never been uttered among men before Moses, he applied first to him alone who, by a type and sign, he knew would be his successor after his death in the government of the nation. (4) His successor, therefore, who had not assumed the appellation Jesus+ (Joshua) before this period, being called by his other name Oshea, which his parents had given, was called by Moses Jesus VJehoshua, Joshua) (Num.
13:17). This name, as an honorable distinction far superior to any royal diadem, was conferred on Joshua, because Joshua the son of Nun bore a resemblance to our Savior as the only one after Moses and the completion of that symbolical worship given through him that should succeed him in a government of pure and undefiled religion. (5) Thus, Moses attached the name of our Savior Jesus Christ as the greatest honor to two men, who, according to him, excelled all the rest in virtue and glory; the one to the high priest, the other to him who should have the government after him.
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(6) The prophets who lived subsequently to these times also plainly announced Christ before by name; at the same time, they foretold the machinations of the Jews against him and the calling of the Gentiles through him. Jeremiah bore testimony, speaking thus: "The breath5 [the spirit] before our face, Christ the Lorp, was taken away in their destructions; of whom we said, under his shadow will we live among the nations"
(Lam. 4:20).
David also, fixed in astonishment, spoke of him as follows: "Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things? The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lorp and against his Christ" (Ps. 2:1-2). To which he afterward added, in the person of Christ himself,"The Lorn said to me, thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee; ask of me, and I will give thee the nations for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession" (Ps. 2:7-8).
(7) Nor was the name of Christ among the Hebrews given solely as an honor to those who were dignified with the priesthood, in consequence of their being anointed with oil prepared for the purpose as a sacred symbol. The same was done also to the kings, whom the prophets, after anointing them under a divine impulse, constituted certain typical
Christs, as they themselves also were, the shadows of the royal and princely sovereignty of the only and true Christ, of that divine Word which holds sovereignty over all. (8) Moreover, we are told respecting the prophets that some were typical Christs by reason of their unction; so that all these have a reference to the true Christ, the divine and heavenly Word, the only high priest of all men, the only King of all creation, and the Father's only supreme Prophet of the prophets.
(9) The proof of this is evident from the fact that none of those anciently anointed, whether priests, kings, or prophets, obtained such power with divine excellence as our Savior and Lord Jesus, the only and true Christ, has exhibited. (10) These, although illustrious among their countrymen in dignity and honor for a long series of generations, never called their subjects after themselves by a similar epithet, Christians.
Neither was there ever divine honor paid to any of these from their subjects; nor even after their deaths was there ever so strong a disposition in any as to be prepared to die for the honored individual. And never was there so great a commotion among the nations of the earth respecting anyone then existing, since the mere force of the type could not act with such efficacy among them as the exhibition of the reality by our Savior.
EUSEBIUS' ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY
(11) Though he received no badges and emblems of priesthood from any; though he did not even derive his earthly origin from a sacred race, nor was raised to empire under the escort of guards; nor installed a prophet like those of old; nor obtained a peculiar or even any dignity among the Jews, yet despite this, he was adorned by the Father with all these not merely typical honors, but with the reality itself. (12) Although he did not obtain then the same honors with those mentioned above, yet he is called
Christ by a far superior claim; and as he is the only and the true Christ of God, he has filled the whole world with a name really august and sacred, the name of Christians. To those who are admitted among these, he no longer imparts mere types and similitudes but undisguised virtues and a heavenly life in the doctrines of truth. (13) He received an unction, not formed of material substances but that which comports with Deity, the divine Spirit itself, by a participation of the uncreated divinity of the Father.
This was shown by Isaiah, who seemed to exclaim in the very person of Christ, "The spirit of the Lord is upon me, wherefore he hath anointed me, (he hath sent me) to, proclaim glad tidings to the poor, to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the recovery of sight to the blind" (Isa. 61:1). (14) And not only Isaiah but David also addressing him said, "Thy throne, O God, is from everlasting to everlasting. A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity. Therefore hath God, thy God, anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows" (Ps. 45:6-7). In those words, he called him God in the first verse; and in the second he ascribed to him the royal scepter, and thus proceeding after the divine and royal power; (15) in the third place, he represented him as Christ, anointed not by the oil of material substances but by the divine oil of gladness. By this also, he showed his excellence and great superiority over those who in former ages had been anointed as typical images with the material substance. (16) The same spoke of him in another place, thus: "The Lorp said unto my Lord, sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool" (Ps. 110:1); and a little after, "From the womb before the morning star did I beget thee; the Lorp hath sworn and he will not repent, thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedek" (Ps. 110:3-4). (17) This
Melchisedek was mentioned in the Holy Scriptures as a priest of the Most High God, not consecrated by any unction prepared of any material substance and not even succeeding to the priesthood of the Jews by any descent of lineage. Hence, Christ our Savior was denominated, with the