08/23/2026
*CHRISTâTHE GOD-MAN DELIVERER*
Sunday, August 23rd 2026
*Pastor Chris Oyakhilome D.Sc., D.Sc., D.D*
And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God (Matthew 16:16).
We have to understand something about the name, Christ. Itâs the English form of the Greek âChristos,â and that is the Greek form of the Hebrew âMessiah.â What does âMessiahâ mean? It means the God-man deliverer. Thatâs why Jesus is called the Anointed One, the God-man Messiah.
From the prophecies of Moses and the other prophets, they understood that a Messiah would come, the God-man would come, and that this God-man would deliver them. And what kind of deliverance were they expecting? The ultimate deliverance! It was the deliverance from all evil and from all thatâs human. Why did the Jews think that way?
Itâs because they knew that what was human had become corrupted. They knew the story of how man fell in the Garden of Eden through Adamâs transgression. Thus, they believed that only the God-man deliverer, the ultimate deliverer, could set humanity free from Satanâs bo***ge and the corruption that worked in nature.
Manâs heart became deceitful above all things and desperately wicked (Jeremiah 17:9). So, man realised he needed deliverance from himself, from that fallen nature. Thatâs why they looked forward to the coming of the God man, the Messiah. Thatâs why He was called the Anointed One. Not because they didnât know about the anointing.
They knew Moses was anointed, likewise the priests. They knew the Kings, for example, David, and even Saul, and then the Prophets, were all anointed. They were familiar with the anointing. So, they werenât just talking about an anointed one but the God-man. That was their expectation.
But sadly, when He came, they didnât recognise Him. The Bible says, "He came unto his own, and his own received him notâ (John 1:11). Jesus is that God-man. He is the Christ. Not just an anointed man, but the One who brought the ultimate deliverance. In Him, youâve been delivered from all thatâs evil and from the fallen human nature. Youâve been brought into a new life.
Youâre not trying to be delivered; youâve been delivered: âWho hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Sonâ (Colossians 1:13). Youâre not of the old human order; youâre a new creation by reason of Christâthe God-man deliverer. Blessed be God!
*PRAYER*
Dear Father, I thank you for the revelation of Jesus Christ, the God-man and my ultimate deliverer. I live in the consciousness of this truth that Iâve been brought into a new life in Christ, a life of glory and righteousness. I walk in this reality today, in Jesusâ Name. Amen.
*FURTHER STUDY*
John 1:14; Psalms 37:39-40; Isaiah 19:20
*1-YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN*
1 Corinthians 8; Psalms 120-127
*2-YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN*
Colossians 2:1-7; Jeremiah 8