At His baptism, Jesus was anointed by the Holy Spirit:

“As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.’”
—Matthew 3:16, 17.

Following Christ’s anointing by the Holy Spirit at His baptism, the disciples realized that the Messiah had arrived:

“‘We have found the Messiah’ (that is, the Christ).”
—John 1:41.

Knowing that the Hebrew word Messiah and the Greek word Christ both mean “the anointed one,” the disciples concluded that Jesus was anointed by the Holy Spirit as the Messiah at the time of His baptism.

Luke, a disciple of Jesus, recorded the date of Jesus’ anointing as the Messiah as the fifteenth year of the riegn of Tiberius Caesar (Luke 3:1, 2). To us that would be the year A.D. 27.

The coming of the Messiah was predicted by many of the Old Testament prophets, and Christ appeared right on time as a fulfillment of Bible prophecy. As He began His ministry, Jesus announced:

“The time has come . . . The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!”
—Mark 1:15.