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The First One Anointed with Holy Spirit and PowerHoly Spirit—The Force Behind the Coming New Order!
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21. Who were made earthly eyewitnesses on the night of Jesus’ birth, and how?
21 The Messiah-to-be had come! That was the thrilling news that a glorious angel of God announced to shepherds keeping watch over their flocks by night out in the fields near Bethlehem. “The angel said to them: ‘Have no fear, for, look! I am declaring to you good news of a great joy that all the people will have, because there was born to you today a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.’” Although the newborn Jesus in the manger in Bethlehem was not aware of it, “suddenly there came to be with the angel a multitude of the heavenly army, praising God and saying: ‘Glory in the heights above to God, and upon earth peace among men of goodwill.’” Then the informed shepherds went looking for the babe in the manger and found him, and thus they were rewarded with becoming eyewitnesses of the birth of Jesus that momentous night.—Luke 2:8-20.
22. When was it that Jesus became what the angel called him, “Christ the Lord,” and how?
22 When did this Jesus become actually “Christ the Lord”? Not on the eighth day of his birth, when he was circumcised. He was not anointed on that day. It was when he was thirty years old. He went to John the Baptizer, who was then baptizing at the Jordan River. He did not ask John to anoint him with any official oil to be the Messianic king over all twelve tribes of Israel. He asked to be baptized in water, as many other Jews had done during the months of John’s public activity. “Now when all the people were baptized, Jesus also was baptized and, as he was praying, the heaven was opened up and the holy spirit in bodily shape like a dove came down upon him, and a voice came out of heaven: ‘You are my Son, the beloved; I have approved you.’”—Luke 3:21-23.
23. How did John the Baptizer bear witness as regards how Jesus was made to be Christ?
23 Afterward the prophet John bore witness of this to disciples of his, to whom he said: “Even I did not know him, but the very One who sent me to baptize in water said to me, ‘Whoever it is upon whom you see the spirit coming down and remaining, this is the one that baptizes in holy spirit.’ And I have seen it, and I have borne witness that this one is the Son of God.”—John 1:33, 34.
24. Whom did Andrew tell his brother that he had found, and what acknowledgment did Nathanael make of Jesus?
24 Some forty days after Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan River, John called the attention of two of his disciples to Jesus. They followed Jesus and accepted Bible instruction from him. Overwhelmed with joy at his marvelous find, one of them, Andrew, found his brother named Peter and said to him: “‘We have found the Messiah’ (which means, when translated, Christ).” A little later a man named Nathanael was brought to Jesus. After listening to Jesus, Nathanael said to him: “Rabbi, you are the Son of God, you are King of Israel.” This was, in effect, a confirmation by Nathanael that the anointed Jesus was the Messiah, the Christ.—John 1:35-49.
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The First One Anointed with Holy Spirit and PowerHoly Spirit—The Force Behind the Coming New Order!
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28. Jesus was thus anointed to be what kind of Messiah, and to reign from where?
28 Upon the spiritual Son of God, who had just been brought forth, God’s holy spirit descended, to anoint him as the Messiah or Christ. He was to be mightier than a mere human Messiah of flesh and blood. He was to be a spiritual Messiah, who would eventually reign in the heavenly kingdom of God. At the ascension of this Messiah to heaven the “throne of David his father” would be exalted to heaven. So it has to be from a heavenly throne that “he will rule as king over the house of Jacob forever.”—Luke 1:32, 33.
29. What title could Jesus as the Anointed One have attached to his name, and with what was it that he was anointed?
29 After being anointed with God’s holy spirit at the Jordan River, Jesus could have attached to his name the title Messiah or Christ, and rightly he became called Jesus the Messiah or Jesus Christ. Months later, when Jesus was on his way back to Galilee, a Samaritan woman said to him: “I know that Messiah is coming, who is called Christ. Whenever that one arrives, he will declare all things to us openly.” Then Jesus quietly said to her: “I who am speaking to you am he.” (John 4:25, 26) As Messiah or Christ, Jesus was anointed, not with official oil poured upon his head, but with something that only God could pour out upon him as a spiritual Son. With what, then? The apostle Peter answers: “God anointed him with holy spirit and power, and he went through the land doing good and healing all those oppressed by the Devil.”—Acts 10:38.
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