The Titles of Christ

If you want to have an expanded understanding of Jesus, pay attention to the titles that are given. I remember several years ago, there was a theological seminary in the United States that had scheduled a convocation on campus—an academic convocation—and they had invited a famous theologian to come in and give an address in the area of Christology.

And this man was highly learned with all the right academic credentials. And you have to understand that in a university or an academic institution, a convocation is not a pep rally. It’s not a chapel service. It’s a very formal academic type of a gathering where a renowned scholar will come in and give his latest research or his latest insights into a technical problem related to a scholarship.

And so when this gentleman arrived on the campus, all the students flocked into the hall where the convocation was being held and the faculty was all there in full regalia. And they were expecting him to give a technical dissertation on some aspect of Jesus because he had told them in advance that he would lecture in the field of Christology.

And he shocked everybody because he got up in front of the entire convocation and he said, “Here’s what I want you to learn today about Jesus.” And instead of giving an address of analysis of biblical Christology, all he did for forty-five minutes was stand there and recite, one after another, all the titles that are found in the Bible for Jesus. Without comment, without analysis, without interpretation, he just stood up there and said, “Jesus is the Christ, Lord, Son of David, Son of God, the Lion of Judah, the Lamb of God, our Righteousness, the Prince of Peace, the Suffering Servant, Savior, Lord, the Lily of the Valley, the Rose of Sharon, our Great High Priest, the Mercy Seat.”

And for forty-five minutes, it went on. Not a word of theological comment. And when he was done, the entire theological community was wiped out just by a litany of the biblical titles for Jesus. Just overwhelming. What an experience to have them compressed into one short space of time. And so when we talk of Jesus, we have to talk of Jesus as the Incomparable Christ.