THE UNIQUENESS OF CHRIST JESUS
- by Lewis Hrytzak
The Scriptures trace the
lineage of Christ Jesus through Joseph, as recorded by Matthew. However, Luke
generally provides more detail in his writings and, on this topic, this is what
he has to say about the genealogy of Jesus, (at Luke 3:23) “Furthermore, Jesus
himself, when he commenced (his work) was about thirty years old, being the
son, as the opinion was, of Joseph. Luke then goes on to trace Jesus’ ancestry
right to God. Of course, the writer Matthew also testifies that Jesus is God’s
son. (Matthew 1:18)
Adam was created directly by
God, thereby becoming his son and, in turn, the human father of mankind. Christ
Jesus came into existence, as a human, by being born of a virgin, but unlike
fellow humans, he did not descend from Adam. He was, directly, God’s son, for
Jehovah God was his real Father. The apostle Paul, in writing to the
Corinthians, said: (1 Corinthians
Regarding Jesus’ birth, Luke
(
Mary then explained to the
angel, by way of a question, saying: “How is this to be, since I am having no
intercourse with a man?” In answer the angel said to her: “Holy spirit will
come upon you, and power of the Most High will overshadow you. For that reason
also what is born will be called holy, God’s Son.” (Luke 1:34,35)
In Matthew’s account we are
told that Joseph was concerned when he learned that Mary was pregnant, (for he
knew the child was not his). Then the angel appeared to him in a dream and
said: “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife home, for
that which has been begotten in her is by holy spirit. She will give birth to a
son, and you must call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
Please note, the reason why Jesus was born as a human was to “save his people
from their sins.”
The account further states:
“All of this actually came about for that to be fulfilled which was spoken by
Jehovah through his prophet, saying: “Look! The virgin will become pregnant and
will give birth to a son, and they will call his name Immanuel,” which means,
when translated, “With us is God.” (Matthew 1:20-23; Isaiah 7:14) The
declaration, “with us is God”, indicates God’s active step to allow mankind to
come back into his friendship through his Beloved Son, Christ Jesus, who was
given that unique privilege.
As already mentioned, unlike
all other humans, the birth of Jesus was
outstandingly unique. This was by design, for God required his birth to be
that way. While every descendant of Adam is under the condemnation of death,
even as Paul explains in his letter to the Romans 5:12, Jesus’ human life came
directly from his Heavenly Father. For that reason, we are told in Scripture,
that Jesus was without sin. This factor was critically important for Jesus to become
the last Adam, a life-giving spirit.
Therefore, when John the Baptist saw Jesus approaching, he correctly identified
him as “the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” (John 1:29) In
Romans
Concerning Jesus, Isaiah
prophesied the following (Isaiah 9:6,7): “For there has been a child born to
us, there has been a son given to us; and the princely rule will come to be
upon his shoulder. And his name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty
God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. To the abundance of
his princely rule there will be no end, upon the throne of David and upon his
kingdom in order to establish it firmly and to sustain it by means of justice
and by means of righteousness, from now on to time indefinite. The very zeal of
Jehovah of armies will do this.”
Isaiah shows Jesus’
uniqueness in that he would be called, that is, become “Wonderful Counselor”, “Mighty God”, “Eternal Father” and the “Prince of Peace.” Even the reign
of Christ will be unique, for “his rule will be sustained by means of justice and righteousness.” How very different that is from man’s rule.
As we have seen in Scripture,
Jesus was Jewish, born into the nation of
The Encyclopaedia Judaica says: “The Jews of the Roman period believed
(the Messiah) would be raised up by God to break the yoke of the heathen and to
reign over a restored
Of course, that prophecy also
connected the coming of Messiah with “making
an end of sin,” and Isaiah
chapter 53 clearly shows that Messiah would have to die in order to
make that happen. Well, not only did they miss this very important part of
Daniel’s prophecy, but they totally overlooked Isaiah’s prophecy as well. And
yet, since they were the keepers of God’s law, how could they not notice the
very unique nature of Messiah’s appearance?
The reason for their failure
to see what God was doing is that the Jews, in general, did not feel the need
for someone to die for their sins. They believed they had a righteous standing
before God because they were descendants of Abraham. The book, A Rabbinic Anthology, states: “So great is the (merit) of Abraham that he can
atone for all the vanities committed and lies uttered by
It is most appropriate to mention,
at this juncture, that the Jews not only ignored Isaiah’s prophecy about the
manner of Messiah’s death, but in later years, after translations of the
Scriptures revealed that the Messiah was “being pierced for our transgressions;
he was being crushed for our errors” (Isaiah 53:5), this text was actually
modified in Jewish copies of the book of Isaiah. Undoubtedly, this move was
influenced by charges that their ancestors had brought about Jesus’ death. And
yet, The Dead Sea Scrolls, (found in1948 and a few years thereafter) which
include the scroll of Isaiah, do corroborate the accuracy in translation of
Isaiah 53:5, namely, that Messiah would be “pierced for our transgressions” and
“crushed for our errors”.
Nevertheless, even with the
erroneous ideas they had, which under normal circumstances could have been
corrected, in this particular instance that was quite impossible. Why so? Why
could they not have checked the Scriptures again, just to make sure they were
not missing something? Jesus provides the answer for us.
As we know, Jesus always
spoke in parables or illustrations. On one occasion, he had just finished
giving the parable about the sower, recorded in the 13th chapter of Matthew.
His disciples came to him, and said: “Why is it you speak to them by the use of
illustrations?” In reply he said: “To you it is granted to understand the
sacred secrets of the kingdom of the heavens, but to those people, it is not
granted.” Then Jesus adds: “This is why I speak to them by the use of
illustrations, because looking, they look in vain, and hearing, they hear in
vain, neither do they get the sense of it; and toward them the prophecy of
Isaiah is having fulfillment, which says: “By hearing, you will hear but by no
means get the sense of it; and looking, you will look, but by no means see. For
the
heart of this people has grown unreceptive, and with their ears they have
heard without response, and they have shut their eyes; that they
might never see with their eyes and hear with their ears and get the sense of
it with their hearts and turn back, and I heal them.” (Matthew 13:10-15; Isaiah
6:9,10)
The example of the Jews
illustrates a very fundamental truth that we must never lose sight of. Simply
possessing the Scriptures and reading them, will not, in itself, give us
accurate understanding of what God is doing. Not at all! If anyone, including
natural Jews, wish to understand what God is doing through his Son, Christ
Jesus, they must be responsive and receptive to God, for only then
will God grant us his holy spirit. This is critical, for without God’s holy
spirit, it is impossible to understand anything that he is telling us. It
matters not how smart we are, how educated we are, nor how much we may read or
study the Scriptures. As Jesus so clearly shows from Isaiah’s prophecy, an
unresponsive, unreceptive heart will remain in darkness. That happened to the
Jews, and it continues to happen to people today. And I might add, for exactly
the same reason.
As shown in the book of Acts
3:22,23, Jesus is the unique prophet
that Moses prophesied about in Deuteronomy 18:10. To refuse to listen to this
prophet, Moses said, would bring God’s adverse judgment upon such a person.
That judgment leaves the unreceptive person in darkness and, consequently, as
Jesus said, they do not get healed.
The Jews, like much of the
world today, failed to see that sinful humans cannot redeem themselves. They
cannot free themselves from either sin or death. It is just as the Psalmist
said: “Not one of them can by any means redeem even a brother, Nor give to God
a ransom for him;…That he should still live forever (and) not see the pit (or
grave).”
On the other hand, Christ
Jesus was uniquely appointed by God
to heal mankind, to save them from sin and death. Moreover, Jesus is uniquely equipped to do that, for unlike the human race, descended
from Adam, Jesus was born without sin, for his Father is Jehovah God, the
Heavenly Creator. The uniqueness of Jesus Christ, and the uniqueness of his
position, is attested to by the apostle Peter in Acts 4:12. Peter was speaking
to the rulers of the people of
As we have already
considered, the apostle Paul said: “…through one act of justification the
result to men of all sorts is a declaring
of them righteous for life.” (Romans 5:18)
In the book of Acts (
On another occasion, when
Paul and Silas were imprisoned, a great earthquake occurred in the middle of
the night and their shackles came off miraculously. The jailer thought they had
escaped. As he was about to do away with himself, Paul called out: “Do not hurt
yourself, for we are all here!” At this, the jailer, overcome by emotion and
trembling, fell at the feet of Paul and Silas saying: “Sirs, what must I do to
get saved?” Their response: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will get
saved, you and your household.” (Acts
From the foregoing, it is
quite clear that salvation comes only by believing in Christ Jesus. Moreover,
as a result of our belief, our faith in Christ Jesus, “God declares us
righteous for life.” Only the uniqueness of Christ Jesus, and his ransom
sacrifice, can bring this about for us, for “there is no other name under
heaven by which we can be saved.” The Scriptures are very clear on this
point: Jesus first appearance, as Messiah, was to lay down his life in
sacrifice, so that those who believe on him might have life. But what about
his kingdom rule, that the Jews, and even his own disciples, had anticipated at
that time? When would that be?
Just as the Jews did not
understand the purpose of Messiah’s coming almost 2,000 years ago, and that
situation persists until today, even so, many believers in Christ do not fully
comprehend the real purpose of his return.
During his earthly ministry,
Jesus spoke to an Israelite named Zacchaeus, who showed a contrite spirit.
Jesus told him: “This day, salvation has come to this house, because he is,
also, a son of Abraham, For the Son of man came to seek and to save what was
lost.” The account continues: “While they were listening to these things he
spoke in addition an illustration, because he was near
Obviously, Jesus was speaking
about himself. He was talking about the time when he would return as ruler,
with kingly power. Moreover, this is in harmony with what the Scriptures tell
us about his rule. After his death and resurrection, Jesus ascended into
heaven, to wait for the time that such rule would begin. For example, Psalm
110:1,2 prophecies that Jesus would sit at God’s right hand until God would
place his enemies as a stool for his feet, meaning, they would be subjugated to
him. But how was Jesus uniquely prepared
for this?
Let us go back to the time of
his birth as a human. The Scriptures tell us that Jesus accepted the assignment
to appear as Messiah both willingly and humbly. Let us read the account at
Philippians 2:5-8, and let us carefully examine the uniqueness of God’s Son,
Christ Jesus. The account reads as follows:
“Keep this mental attitude in you that was also in
Christ Jesus, who, although he was existing in God’s form, gave no consideration of a seizure, namely, that he should be equal to
God. No, but he emptied himself
and took a slave’s form and came to
be in the likeness of men. More than that, when he found himself in
fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient as far as death, yes,
death on a torture stake.”
Christ Jesus was truly
unique, for “he existed in God’s form.”
And yet, he was very humble. He did not aspire to be equal with God. His
attitude of humility directed his life totally. Continually, he gave praise to
God, and said that he did nothing of his own initiative, but all he did was
what his Father wanted him to do. He always gave God, his Father, the praise
and honor that is due him.
Although Christ Jesus
“existed in God’s form, he emptied himself, and took a slave’s form, and
came to be in the likeness of men.” Christ Jesus was uniquely humble. We can
especially appreciate this if we consider that he did actually exist in God’s form, and that from such a glorious position he, “emptied himself and took a slave’s form and came to be in the likeness of men.” What an
outstanding example of modesty! No wonder the Bible writer, Paul, admonishes
Christians to “keep the mental attitude” that Christ Jesus possessed, an
attitude of humility.
The reward God bestowed on
Jesus for his faithfulness was glory. In Philippians 2:9-11, Paul goes on to
say: “For this very reason, also, God exalted him to a superior position and
kindly gave him the name that is above every other name, so that in the name of
Jesus every knee should bend of those in heaven and those on earth and those
under the ground, and every tongue should openly acknowledge that Jesus Christ
is Lord to the glory of God the Father.” What outstanding uniqueness is
ascribed to Christ Jesus!
We have seen that Jesus
inherits the throne of David, as future king. He gets this regal right through
his adoptive father, Joseph, who descended from the tribe of
However, what is remarkable
about Jesus’ appointment as king-priest,
is that in Israel the offices of king and priest were always kept separate. For
that reason, an Israelite king was prohibited from performing priestly duties.
And yet, Jesus inherited both offices, that of king and that of priest. That is truly unique! Of course, it had
to be so, for Jesus offered his own life in sacrifice, in order to redeem
mankind from sin and death. As Hebrews 9:24 states: “For Christ entered…into
heaven itself, now to appear before the person of God for us.” A priestly duty.
Moreover, he is to rule as king.
What is even more outstanding
is that Jesus shares his kingship and his priesthood with his brothers,
his joint heirs (Romans 8:17).
Revelation 20:6 states: “Happy and holy is anyone having part in the
first resurrection; over these the second death has not authority, but they
will be priests of God and of the Christ, and will rule as kings with him
for the thousand years.”
In Revelation 2:26, we are
given this promise. “And to him that conquers and observes my deeds down to the
end, I will give authority over the nations, and he will shepherd the people
with an iron rod...” As Paul asks rhetorically at 1 Corinthians 6:2, “Or do you
not know that the holy ones will judge the world?”
Psalm chapter 2, tells us
essentially the same thing. What this means is that the time will come when it
will be said, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and
of his Christ, and he will rule as king forever and ever” (Revelation 11:15).
Even as we read in Daniel 2:44, that kingdom of this world will be replaced by
the kingdom of God. In Ephesians 1:9,10, the apostle Paul speaks of this rule
as an administration, that is, a new administration for the coming age.
The Scriptures have much to
say about this administration, and the heralding of a completely new age, even
as we are reminded at Revelation 21:5, which states: “And the one seated on the
throne said: “Look! I am making all things new.” Well, then, how will this
happen?
The very same chapter of
Revelation, starting with the first verse, states: “And I saw a new heaven (that is, a new administration) and a new
earth (or new culture, society), for
the former heaven and the former earth had passed away, and the sea is no more
(that is, mankind in its state of
upheaval). I also saw the holy city, New Jerusalem (that is, the Christian congregation that has remained loyal to God and to Christ), coming down out of heaven
from God and prepared as a bride for her husband. (I suggest that what we are being
told is that the origin of this new
administration is God himself).
John continues: With that I
heard a loud voice from the throne say: “Look! The tent of God is with mankind,
(that is, the spiritual temple consisting
of the loyal members of Christ’s
congregation, and with Christ as Head) and he will reside with them, and
they will be his peoples. And God himself will be with them. And he will wipe
out every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither will
mourning, nor outcry, nor pain be anymore. The former things have passed away.”
There are numerous prophecies
that further describe such new conditions. For example, Micah 4:3,4 make this
promise: “And he will certainly render judgment among many peoples, and set
matters straight respecting mighty nations far away. And they will have to beat
their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning shears. They will
not lift up sword, nation against nation, neither will they learn war anymore.
And they will actually sit, each one under his vine and under his fig tree, and
there will be no one making them tremble; for the very mouth of Jehovah of
armies has spoken it.”
The prophet Isaiah also spoke
of this new administration and said: “For here I am creating new heavens and a
new earth; and the former things will not be called to mind, neither will they
come up into the heart.” Jesus’ rule will be peaceful, in every sense of the
word. No wonder he is called the Prince
of Peace. And yet, the most important peace that Jesus brought to his
believers is peace with God. During
his kingdom rule, he will continue to bring such peace to those of mankind who
choose to submit to his reign. We must bear in mind that without such peace,
humans cannot live and function, for God Almighty, our Heavenly Creator, is the
very origin of life. (Please read Ephesians
2:17,18)
When on earth, Jesus taught
the wisdom of his Heavenly Father, and for his disciples, he was a Wonderful Counselor. During his coming
kingdom rule, however, such wonderful counsel will not escape anyone’s notice
“because the earth will certainly be filled with the knowledge of Jehovah
(Heavenly Father) as the waters are covering the very sea.” ((Isaiah 11:9)
Isaiah also foretells that
Jesus would be called, Mighty God.
Yes, Jesus is to be called by that title. Why? It is because his office
necessitates such great authority. Please note, however, that he will not be
called, “Almighty God” for that title
belongs, exclusively, to Jehovah God, Sovereign Ruler of the Universe. It is
precisely for this reason that at the end of his reign, Jesus will turn the kingdom
back to his God and Father so “that God may be all things to everyone.” (Genesis 17:1; Revelation 4:8; 11:17; 1
Corinthians 15:28)
What about the remaining
title by which Christ Jesus is to be called, namely, Everlasting Father? How can that be said of him?
Actually, Christ Jesus
becomes the Everlasting Father in various ways. Let us remember that he is the last
Adam who “saves his people from theirs sins.” Christ did this by laying
down his life as a ransom sacrifice so that we might have the prospect of
eternal life. This is how Jesus became the last Adam, “a life-giving spirit.”
Furthermore, he restores to
life those who have died and are now in the grave, for as he said, “There is
going to be a resurrection of the righteous and the unrighteous. In this
instance too, he becomes “a life-giving spirit” and is rightly called Everlasting Father. Also, Jesus is
rightly called “Everlasting Father” for he has opened up the way for obedient
mankind to become reconciled to our Heavenly Father, Jehovah God. Even as Paul
wrote to the Romans (5:19) “For just as through the disobedience of the one man
(Adam) many were constituted sinners, likewise also through the obedience of
the one (Christ Jesus) many will be constituted righteous.”
Finally, by reversing the
damage brought upon the human race by Adam’s disobedience, namely, sin and
consequently, death, Christ Jesus became the second Adam, “the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.” In this way,
he becomes a “life-giver” and, since such life is everlasting, Jesus is
correctly identified by Isaiah as “Everlasting
Father”.
In this age, Christ Jesus has
already become Everlasting Father to all who exercise faith in him, namely, the
Christian Congregation. Furthermore, “those who are dead in union with Christ
will rise first” (1 Thessalonians 4:16;
Revelation 20:4-6). Upon
resurrection, together with the living who are also in union with the Lord,
they will form the new administration (“new heavens”) for this earth. These
will be granted eternal life first, for they are identified as “firstfruits”
(Revelation 14:4). Also read 1
Thessalonians 4:14-17 and 1 Corinthians 15:35-56.
To those who are in union
with him, Christ Jesus makes this promise: “I will give (to them) authority
over the nations”, meaning, they will rule with him (Revelation 2:26,27). In
turn, such nations are admonished to “Kiss the Son” that he may not become
incensed and they “perish” from the way (Psalm 2:10-12). This means that Jesus will yet become Everlasting Father to untold millions,
yes, perhaps billions, of all who will choose to exercise faith in him during
his rule. The Scriptures tell us in no uncertain terms that “all things” (all
of obedient mankind), must yet be
gathered under Christ. After that has been accomplished, he will turn back the
kingdom to his God and Father, the Almighty, “so that God may be all things to
everyone” (Please read: 1 Corinthians 15:24-28).