Get Your Pretense On!

Chapter 5: Represent Strong! • 113

Phil. 2.5-11). Our Lord was judged by the One who sent him to be faithful and true in all aspects of his work (Matt. 3.16-17).

With no respect to himself, Jesus fulfilled his task with perfect compliance with the Father’s will, even to the point of death (Phil. 2.5-8). And, as a result of his obedience, he was exalted and rewarded by God for his faithful commission with never ending glory and honor (Phil. 2.9-11). This pattern, which I see as being reproduced in person after person in Scripture, I believe is the pattern for the apostles, and for all who name the name of Christ (Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you ” [John 20.21]). This representation was seen in the public witness of his ministry. In the baptism of Jesus, our Lord is confirmed and commissioned as God’s Son and representative (Mark 1.9-11), and in the temptation of Jesus, we see Satan’s attempt to undermine and challenge that role (Mark 1.12-13). During the public ministry of Jesus (i.e., his exorcisms, teaching, miracles, healings, and prayer) Jesus communicated and verified in open display his role as the anointed One of God, his Messiah and final representative (Mark 1.14-15). The word of Hebrews 1 is correct: Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, [2] but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. ~ Hebrews 1.1-3 Let this discussion suffice to say that the Bible, through its depiction of the various offices of ministry and foremostly in the person and work of Jesus, shows ministry and calling as a kind of representation, to be selected to stand in the place of another, fulfilling assigned duties and exercising the rights and privileges of a deputy. Applied to all of us, each one of us is