Somehow the Messiah concept is burned into folk-knowledge and oral tradition of our society. People use the word in phrases like "he was a Messiah-figure" and people know what it means. Yet formal definitions are lacking. Simple lexicon translations like "Anointed One" do not say much because anointing is not a major feature of our daily lives and general knowledge. When the UK monarch is anointed it is done behind a screen so there is no film of the Queen being anointed to which we can refer in our minds in the UK. As for Christ in us, or Messiah in us, it is not something any translation can help us to understand or lexical meaning. Really the anointed concept seems to be about divine approval. So it is the divine equivalent of official or definitive truth and teaching and authority. Hence we can have divinely approved knowledge of truth and hope of salvation. It overflows from our Messiah himself. We share in his approval status if we share in him and are permeated with his teachings and authority and hope of salvation (his name Jesus means salvation so definitive divinely sealed truth is that our salvation is at hand). The sealing of the manifestations of the Holy Spirit is a heavenly sign of approval of being in Christ. When we see the Holy Spirit gifting us it helps us realise that heaven has directly laid a seal of approval on our state of being persuaded of the truth from God Himself. It is the ultimate status and recognition greater than any approval mere humans can give. Having this heavenly, God-Himself-given, seal, bestowed by Jesus the one approved above all others, is the greatest recognition anyone can have and it is a source of hope like none other. Not everyone can be sure they have this seal of the Holy Spirit. It is a great gift. Many rely on being associated with others who have it, yet even that is a source of hope, that they can know that those teaching them are themselves heaven-approved teachers. In the UK we have gas boiler workers who have to be registered and tested to gain a certification to allow them to fix domestic boilers. It is a bit like that. We have people with Messianic approval from the Messiah and from the Father among us or we ourselves have that seal of approval and so we have assurance of hope. Really folk-knowledge tells us a Messiah figure is one whose approval is such that it gives genuine hope to all this person's followers that they will be utterly safe to follow this Messiah and will experience salvation as a result. That is the kind of status we get when we trust in and follow Jesus, holding to his teachings.
