The Biblical revelation about the person and work of Jesus God's Anointed One?

Where the Bible is concerned, Jesus, God's anointed one is firmly in the realm of humanity, a genuine human being. We can be sure that we are on firm Scriptural ground when we affirm that Jesus is truly and certainly man. Is this to say that he is “just” a man like the rest of us? Not at all. No? But did we not say just now that he is truly human? Certainly, but which of us can be described as a “perfect man” or a “sinless man”? None of us. So it is clear that in this most important sense he is unlike us. Since he alone is a perfect man, does it not follow that he alone is perfectly human? Does it not likewise follow that in the light of Jesus’ unique perfection, all mankind must admit to being not perfectly human? Thus, human beings are not truly human in the way they were created to to be until they too are finally “made perfect” (cf. Hebrews 5:9; 7:28; 11:40; 12:23).

The great Apostle obviously did not consider this a possibility in this life when he said, “Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because God's anointed one Jesus has made me his own” (Philippians 3:12). This means that Jesus is the only true man who has ever existed on the earth because he is the only perfect, sinless person who has ever lived.

Where Scripture is concerned, there is therefore no question about Jesus being human and, indeed, the only truly human person. Herein is his absolute uniqueness; he is incomparable. This is precisely why he alone could be the savior of the world. For the problem with humanity is that because of its self centeredness and sin it has behaved as less than human, less than what God intends man to be. This is, sadly, something many people experience all too painfully on the personal and social levels, as also on the international level; something we are reminded of daily by simply turning on the world news reports and hearing about the interminable conflicts and wars going on in the world. But there is hope in God's anointed o ne, because in him Yehovah God will reconcile all things to Himself (Colossians 1:20).

The Biblical revelation brings us to the realization that there is only one true God and there is also only one true man. Moreover, between them, as might be expected, there exists a unique relationship of oneness, which Jesus repeatedly spoke about. This oneness or union he described in terms of a mutual “abiding” or indwelling: “I am in the Father and the Father is in me” (John 14:11). Because Jesus alone was sinless, he alone was the “place” (John 2:19) where the holy God could dwell in His fullness. This divine fullness is represented by God’s Word (John 1:1) which, as words do, might be described as having welled up from the innermost depth of His being – and having come forth to dwell in the one true man, and in His anointed one to dwell among us (John 1:14).

In the early church there was a description of this oneness of God in His anointed one in terms of the picture of a piece of iron placed in the fire until it glows in the fire; thus the iron is in the fire, and the fire is in the iron, yet the fire is still fire and the iron is still iron, the one does not change into the other, but it beautifully and effectively illustrates Jesus’ words, “I am in the Father and the Father is in me” (John 14:11). The union is such that Yehovah could freely speak and work through His anointed one to accomplish His eternal purposes in the world, and His anointed one could speak and act for Yehovah as His fully empowered plenipotentiary. That is why there are some places in Scripture where it is not always clear whether the reference has to do with Yehovah or with His anointed one. Yet it must be remembered that the union of iron with fire does not mean that the iron becomes fire, or that the fire becomes iron; they are united but remain distinct. Likewise, the union of Yehovah with the anointed one does not mean that the anointed one is Yehovah or that Yehovah is the anointed one.

So the Biblical revelation reveals not only that Jesus is the only true man, which in itself would be marvelous enough, but just as amazingly, that Yehovah God came into the world in His anointed one to reconcile the world to Himself, that is, to save it.

Jesus, therefore, is uniquely Yehovah’s “temple” (John 2:19) in the world where atonement for sin was made through his truly human and sinless blood, and from which Yehovah God's truth is proclaimed to the ends of the earth. And because Jesus is the only true man, he is the only mediator acting on man’s behalf (1 Timothy 2:5), just as Moses mediated on Israel’s behalf. His is also the only name effective for mankind’s salvation: “there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). “Given” by whom? Who else but by Yehovah God Himself?

Since it pleased Yehovah God, the Father, to exalt Jesus over all other beings, such that every tongue should confess him as “lord,” that is how he is to be regarded and honored “to the glory of the Father” (Philippians 2:10-11).

We are eternally grateful that he is the perfect man who “loved us and gave himself for us” in order “to bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18). And now we are united with God and with His anointed one in “the body of God's anointed one,” which is the called-out Assembly of God, and of which God's anointed one is the head and we are the members. In this new life we now learn to relate to Yehovah God as the center of our lives, while always gratefully remembering and honoring His anointed one, the perfect sacrifice (as at the Communion, or lord's supper) that Yehovah provided for us. God's anointed one Jesus, the only perfect man, made the salvation of mankind possible.

Written by Eric Chang... edited by Bruce Lyon

The Only True God: http://www.christiandc.org/content/only-true-god