The Only One
Revelation 5:2-5, 9 & 10
2. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a great voice, who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof?
3. And no one in the heaven, or on the earth, or under the earth, was able to open the book, or to look thereon.
4. And I wept much, because no one was found worthy to open the book, or to look thereon:
5. And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not; behold, the Lion that is of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath overcome to open the book and the seven seals thereof.
9. And they sing a new song, saying, worthy art thou to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou was slain, and didst purchase unto God with thy blood men of every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation,
10. And madest them to be unto our God a kingdom and priests; and they reign upon earth.
Why is it that only Christ was able to bring salvation to Earth?
Could not some righteous man like Job or Enoch do the job? Or how about one of the Holy angels, couldn’t one of them be found worthy? According to Revelation chapter 5 there was no one, whether in heaven or earth, suitable to accomplish our salvation; only the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ was found worthy.
When man was created his duties were to serve God and keep his commandments, thereby giving glory to God. From thence however he fell from grace by disobedience and sinned. Mankind therefore deserved to be totally destroyed on account of his uselessness. If you or I raised a flowerbed or a flock of sheep that became diseased and unproductive, one natural course of action for us would be to destroy the whole stock: especially, if that particular breed proved continuously susceptible to failure. An alternative course of action however, depending on our disposition, would be to attempt to save the stock: perhaps by some sort of in breeding of a more resistant stock.
It so happens that we, mankind, are the diseased stock: weak and prone to repeated, deadly infection: sin.
The Lord, our Creator, it so happens also is characterized as loving and merciful, so it would be in his interest and nature to save us before his righteousness demands our complete annihilation!
Now if he would have taken a few from among us men that were righteous (for the purpose of in breeding a better breed), like for instance a Noah or an Abraham, the results would prove men to be continuously useless.
Romans 3: 10-12
10. as it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one;
11. There is none that understandeth; there is none that seeketh after God;
12. They have all turned aside, they are together become unprofitable; There is none that doeth good, no, not, so much as one:
And again:
Jeremiah 10:23
23. O Jehovah, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.
What about the angels then? Shouldn’t the angels be able to fit the bill?
Well as is seen in the following passages, some of their actions do not inspire confidence in their reliability as far as man’s salvation is concerned.
Genesis 6: 1-5
1. And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the ground, and daughters were born unto them,
2. That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all that they chose.
3. And Jehovah said, My spirit shall not strive with man for ever, for that he also is flesh: yet shall his days be a hundred and twenty years.
4. The Nephilim were in the earth in those days, and also after that, when the sons of God came unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them: the same were the mighty men that were of old, the men of renown.
Jude vs. 6&7
6. And angels that kept not their own principality, but left their proper habitation, he hath kept in everlasting bonds under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.
7.
Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them, having in like manner with these given themselves over to fornication and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the punishment of eternal fire.
2 Peter 2: 4
4. For if God spared not angels when they sinned, but cast them down to hell, and committed them to pits of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;
Job 4:18
17. Shall mortal man be more just than God? Shall a man be more pure than his Maker?
18. Behold, he putteth no trust in his servants; and his angels he chargeth with folly:
19.
How much more them that dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed before the moth!
Job 15:15
14. What is man, that he should be clean? And he that is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?
15. Behold, he putteth no trust in his holy ones; Yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight:
16.
How much less one that is abominable and corrupt, A man that drinketh iniquity like water
There are also other reasons why angels could not provide our salvation.
For one thing, since it is man that sinned then it is man that would have to provide the reason for his salvation: as in the example of the diseased flowerbed. It is a resistant strain of the same type of flower that makes the flowerbed useful. Bringing in some fruit tree or vegetables would not serve any relevance to the saving of the flowers. So it is with the angels, if they would become the source of man’s salvation then they would have to do so as men, not angels!
Here also is another reason why angels could not suffice to save man. That work is the prerogative of God! It is only God who saves. After all, it is against him only that angel or man or anything else, sins. It is God who created everything, he only who set things in order and prescribe their borders that they might serve his purpose. So that when they transgress and deviate from their intended paths, it is against Gods will that they transgress.
Hence David’s proclamation in 2 Samuel 12: 13 (though it was Uriah whom he harmed.)
2Samuel 12:13
13. And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against Jehovah. And Nathan said unto David, Jehovah also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die.
When Moses asked God to show him his glory (Exodus 33: 18) Gods answer (verse 19) was that he would cause his goodness to pass in front of Moses and that he would proclaim his name to him. Exodus 34:6&7 explains that it is God’s Name and Glory to love and forgive. Thus it is only God’s prerogative to absolutely forgive and love! This is the relevance of Isaiah 42:8.
Isaiah 42:8
8. I am Jehovah, that is my name; and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise unto graven images
Exodus 33:18&19
18. And he said, show me, I pray thee, thy glory.
19. And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and will proclaim the name of Jehovah before thee; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.
Exodus 34:6&7
6. And Jehovah passed by before him, and proclaimed, Jehovah, Jehovah, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness and truth,
7.
Keeping loving kindness for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin; and that will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, upon the third and upon the fourth generation.
A seeming paradox appears now because on the one hand, it is man that sinned therefore it is man that must prove that he can be saved. On the other hand, it is only God who can save man and forgive him his sins; but he has no basis on which to save man.
Adding fuel to the fire is the fact that whoever saves man will have all rights and power over man, since his very existence is derived from such a redeemer. All the benefits and nourishments that the flowerbed will need must go through the new strain that’s being introduced: and all those flowers that will be accepted must become more like the new strain. How can any living being wield such authority over mankind except he be God? And yet it must be man that provides the relief.
So it states in Hebrews 2: 11,14,16 & 17
11. For both he that sanctifieth and they that are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren,
14. Since then the children are sharers in flesh and blood, he also himself in like manner partook of the same; that through death he might bring to nought him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;
16. For verily not to angels doth he give help, but he giveth help to the seed of Abraham.
17.
Wherefore it behooved him in all things to be made like unto his brethren, that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.
Once again, it is necessary that the new strain or the new man prove, for righteousness sake that man can be saved. However, if through a man comes mankind’s salvation and true forgiveness then that man would trespass on what is God’s prerogative! Unless, he was also God!
John 1: 1,11-14
1. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
11. He came unto his own, and they that were his own received him not.
12. But as many as received him, to them gave he the right to become children of God, even to them that believe on his name:
13. Who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
14. And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld his glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father), full of grace and truth.
1Timothy 3: 16
15. And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness; He who was manifested in the flesh, Justified in the spirit, Seen of angels, Preached among the nations, believed on in the world, Received up in glory.
But how, you might say, is it possible? Can a person be both man and God at the same time? Certainly yes! If we look at Genesis 1:26 and 1Corinthians 11:7 we find that man has something about him that is similar with God.
Genesis 1:26 & 27
26. And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
27. And God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him: male and female created he them.
1Corinthians 11: 7
6. For a man indeed ought not to have his head veiled, forasmuch, as he is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man.
Man has a spirit that comes from God and God is Spirit, therefore we need no leap of imagination to comprehend God putting on flesh and making himself a man, since he need not cease being the self existing spirit that he is. All that was necessary was to shed some of the characteristics that man cannot contain and retain those that are shared in the image and likeness that is man. This is what we find when we read Philippians 2:5-11
Philippians 2:5-11
5. Have this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
6. Who, existing in the form of God, counted not the being on an equality with God a thing to be grasped,
7. But emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men:
8. And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, becoming obedient even unto death, yea, the death of the cross.
9. Wherefore also God highly exalted him, and gave unto him the name, which is above every name:
10. That in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven and things on earth and things under the earth,
11. And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
It is in him that we find the solution to our problems and confusion. Now the question that we all ask, expressed by Job (Job 9:32-34):
Job 9:32-34
32. For he is not a man, as I am, that I should answer him that we should come together in judgment.
33.
There is no umpire betwixt us that might lay his hand upon us both.
Is answered by Paul (1 Timothy 2: 5)
1Timothy 2:5
5.
For there is one God, one mediator also between God and men, himself man, Christ Jesus,
Now all the doubts and questions are answered in the work of Christ. Whether there were questions in heaven or earth concerning God’s seeming contradiction of his love versus his righteous wrath, they were answered in Christ.
Romans 3: 25& 26
25. Whom God set forth to be a propitiation, through faith, in his blood, to show his righteousness because of the passing over of the sins done aforetime, in the forbearance of God;
26. For the showing, I say, of his righteousness at this present season: that he might himself be just, and the justifier of him that hath faith in Jesus.
And thus John 3: 16-18
16. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life.
17. For God sent not the Son into the world to judge the world: but that the world should be saved through him.
18. He that believeth on him is not judged: he that believeth not hath been judged already, because he hath not believed on the name of the only begotten Son of God.
Now we return to Revelation 5 and we join with the Kingdom of God in praise and a new song:
Revelation 5: 9-12
9. And they sing a new song, saying, worthy art thou to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou was slain, and didst purchase unto God with thy blood men of every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation,
10. And madest them to be unto our God a kingdom and priests: and they reign upon earth.
11. And I saw, and I heard a voice of many angels round about the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands;12. Saying with a great voice, Worthy is the Lamb that hath been slain to receive the power, and riches, and wisdom, and might and honor, and glory, and blessing.
Walter