The Man Hidden in the Text

A Scripture study tracing how the Man hidden in promise and revealed as Immanuel is publicly manifested as the Christ, the Anointed One, and how those who believe are brought from old identity in Adam into new identity in Christ by the Spirit, awaiting the finished image in glory.

“Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus... both Lord and Christ.” — Acts 2:36

“How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power...” — Acts 10:38

“And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.” — Ephesians 4:24

1. The Fulness of Time and the Son Sent Forth#

The earlier witnesses prepared the reader to recognize the Son. The Man appeared in the Old Testament with divine markers. The Man of the right hand was promised. Immanuel was announced. The tabernacle and temple taught that God desired to dwell with man. Then, in the appointed time, the promise moved from sign, shadow, and appearance into flesh.

“But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law.” — Galatians 4:4

The fulness of time does not mean God was absent before. It means God’s promise reached the appointed moment. The Son who could be with His people before the incarnation now entered mankind through Mary. He came not merely near man, but as man; not as fallen Adam repeated, but as the holy Son sent forth by God.

This keeps the thread intact. The story begins with man made in God’s image. The fall adds Adamic corruption, death, and separation. But the promise does not fail. The Seed will come. The true Man will come. The Son will be born. The Son of Man will stand inside mankind, yet without becoming the fallen Adamic source He came to redeem.

Promise → fulness of time → Son sent forth → true Man revealed

2. Jesus the Christ: The Anointed One#

Christ is not merely a second name for Jesus. Christ means the Anointed One. The Old Testament offices of prophet, priest, and king were marked by anointing. In Jesus, the offices meet in one person. He is the Prophet who speaks the Word of God, the Priest who offers Himself and intercedes, and the King who receives the throne and rules in righteousness.

“The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me...” — Isaiah 61:1

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor...” — Luke 4:18

When Jesus reads Isaiah and applies the passage to Himself, the anointing becomes visible. The promised Man is not only born. He is anointed. He does not move by Adamic self-sufficiency or natural force. He moves by the Spirit of God.

This matters for the whole study. The true Man is not the old man repaired by human will. The true Man is the Spirit-anointed Son. The life He brings is not Adam strengthened. It is new life from God.

Jesus → anointed by the Spirit → the Christ

3. Acts 2: Exalted Lord and Christ#

At Pentecost, Peter does not present Jesus as a tragic teacher whose influence survived death. He presents Him as the crucified, risen, exalted Lord. The One rejected by men has been raised by God and seated in the place of authority.

“This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses.” — Acts 2:32

“Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this...” — Acts 2:33

“The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, Until I make thy foes thy footstool.” — Acts 2:34-35

“Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus... both Lord and Christ.” — Acts 2:36

Acts 2 draws directly from Psalm 110. The Man of the right hand is not an idea. The crucified Jesus is raised, exalted, and declared both Lord and Christ. The promised right-hand rule has begun.

Then the Spirit is poured out. The exalted Christ receives the promise of the Holy Ghost and sheds it forth. The Anointed One now pours the Spirit upon those who believe.

Right hand → Lord and Christ → Spirit poured out

4. Acts 10: Anointed With the Holy Ghost and Power#

Acts 10 gives one of the clearest summaries of Jesus’ public ministry. Peter says that God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power. This is the visible ministry of Immanuel: God with us in the Son, moving in the Spirit, doing the works of God among men.

“How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.” — Acts 10:38

The sentence is simple, but it gathers the whole thread. Jesus is the historical Man, Jesus of Nazareth. He is the anointed Man, filled with the Holy Ghost and power. He is the deliverer, healing those oppressed of the devil. And the reason given is: God was with Him.

Immanuel is not only a birth announcement. It is seen in the works of Jesus. God was with Him. The invisible Father is made known through the Son. The Spirit rests upon Him. The kingdom breaks into the world through Him.

5. God Was With Him: Immanuel in Public Ministry#

The words “God was with him” should not be passed over quickly. Matthew has already said Emmanuel means God with us. Acts says God was with Jesus. John says the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. These are not competing statements. They show the fullness of the Son’s mission.

The Son reveals the Father. The Father is with the Son. The Spirit anoints the Son. The works of God are done through the Son. The old separation introduced by sin is being answered by God’s own presence in the Man Christ Jesus.

“No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son... he hath declared him.” — John 1:18

“He that hath seen me hath seen the Father...” — John 14:9

The Son does not replace the Father. He reveals Him. The Spirit does not compete with the Son. He anoints Him and bears witness to Him. The Father, Son, and Spirit work in perfect unity to bring man out of Adamic death and into the life God purposed from the beginning.

Father revealed → Son incarnate → Spirit anointing → God with us

6. From Christ to Christians: Belonging to the Anointed One#

The word Christian appears in Acts after the gospel begins moving among the nations. The disciples are called Christians at Antioch. The name is fitting because they belong to Christ, the Anointed One.

“And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.” — Acts 11:26

Believers are not the Christ. Jesus alone is the Christ, the Anointed One, the Lord, the Son, the King, the Priest, the last Adam, and the Man of God’s right hand. Yet those who believe are joined to Him. They receive His Spirit. They bear His name. They become His body in the world.

“Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God.” — 2 Corinthians 1:21

“But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things.” — 1 John 2:20

Christians are not little replacements of Christ. They are people incorporated into Christ. The anointing is His before it is theirs. Their identity is derivative, received, and dependent. They are anointed because they belong to the Anointed One.

The Christ → those in Christ → Christians

7. From Adam Identity to New Man in Christ#

The earlier man-word trail showed the difference between the individual man-form thread and Adamic mankind. After the fall, ordinary man is not merely H376 as individual. He is man under Adamic identity: H376 joined to H120 (H376+H120 is the normal man status), and through sin, joined to death and separation.

“Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin...” — Romans 5:12

The gospel does not merely improve the old man. It brings a new identity in Christ. The believer is moved out of the old Adamic order and into Christ. The old man is crucified. The new man is created after God in righteousness and true holiness.

“Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed...” — Romans 6:6

“And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.” — Ephesians 4:24

“And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him.” — Colossians 3:10

The new man is image language. The image that was marred in Adam is being restored in Christ. Believers are not returned to Adam as he fell. They are brought into Christ as the head of a new humanity. Believers are now H376+Spirit and no longer H376+H120. This is what it means to be adopted through the power of God, and to be “of God”, from John 1. God’s mercy and power strip away the H120, and by God’s power, He freely gives His Spirit to all who believe. The progression has now taken another stop forward for humanity (that believes), where God said “let us make man in our image”, man was capable to walk with God, but now, the Spirit indwells mankind (believers). Where Adam was man and desire/sin/death, and where Jesus was man/Spirit, through Gods power, and believing in God’s promise and Seed, Jesus, man/desire/sin/death can now be man/Spirit. Jesus is the firstborn of the new creation!

Colossians 1:12-18, “Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.”

8. An Anointed People for the Blessing of the Nations#

God’s purpose was never only private rescue. The promise to Abraham included blessing to the nations. The people of God are blessed in order to become witnesses of the Blesser. They receive mercy in order to show mercy. They receive the Spirit in order to bear fruit. They are brought into the kingdom in order to live as a priestly people before the world.

“And in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.” — Genesis 12:3

“But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me...” — Acts 1:8

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith...” — Galatians 5:22

“And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.” — Revelation 5:10

The anointed people do not seize the kingdom by fleshly strength. They witness, serve, bless, forgive, pray, endure, and bear the fruit of the Spirit. Through them the nations see a people no longer governed by Adamic self-rule, but by the life of Christ within them.

9. The Finished Image: From Earthly to Heavenly#

Paul brings the Adam-Christ contrast to its appointed end.

“The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.” — 1 Corinthians 15:45

“The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.” — 1 Corinthians 15:47

“And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.” — 1 Corinthians 15:49

This is the finished image moving toward glory. The story that began with man made in God’s image does not end with man permanently trapped in corruption. In Christ, the image is restored and brought beyond the reach of sin and death.

“For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son...” — Romans 8:29

“...whom he justified, them he also glorified.” — Romans 8:30

Glorification is not an extra thought added at the end. It is the completion of the purpose. God’s accounting reaches its balance. What He promised, He fulfills. What He began, He completes. The image is not abandoned. The image is finished in the Son.

Image given → image marred → image restored in Christ → image glorified

10. Closing: The Account Moves Toward Glory#

The account has been moving from the beginning. Adam was made in the image of God. Sin brought death and separation. The promise announced the Seed. The Man appeared with divine markers. The Son of Man was promised. Immanuel came. The Word tabernacled among us. Jesus was anointed as the Christ. The exalted Christ poured out the Spirit. Believers are brought into the new man.

The story is not finished until sin, death, and rebellion are removed forever. The new man in Christ awaits the completed image: glorified humanity dwelling with God, no longer under curse, no longer under death, no longer separated from the face of God.

“And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men...” — Revelation 21:3

“And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death...” — Revelation 21:4

“And there shall be no more curse...” — Revelation 22:3

The Anointed One creates an anointed people. The Man of God’s right hand brings many sons to glory. The last Adam does not merely undo the first Adam’s fall; He brings the image to its promised completion. The account moves toward glory because the God who promised cannot lie.