s such by the
names he assumed,[62] for the names "Anointed," "King," "Lord," "Son of
David," "Son of Man," "Son of God," all denote the Messianic office, and
were familiar to the greater part of the people.[63] But though, at
first, they express only the call, office, and power of the Messiah, yet
by means of them and especially by the designation Son of God, Jesus
pointed to a relation to God the Father, then and in its immediateness
unique, as the basis of the office with which he was entrusted. He has,
however, given no further explanation of the mystery of this relation
than the declaration that the Son alone knoweth the Father, and that
this knowledge of God and Sonship to God are secured for all others by
the sending of the Son.[64] In the proclamation of God as Father,[65] as
well as in the other proclamation that all the members of the kingdom
following the will of God in love, are to become one with the Son and
through him with the Father,[66] the message of the realised kingdom of
God receives its richest, inexhaustible content: the Son of the Father
will be the first-born among many brethren.

5. Jesus as the Messiah chosen by God has definitely distinguished
himself from Moses and all the Prophets: as his preaching and his work
are the fulfilment of the law and the prophets, so he himself is not a
disciple of Moses, but corrects that law-giver; he is not a Prophet, but
Master and Lord. He proves this Lordship during his earthly ministry in
the accomplishment of the mighty deeds given him to do, above all in
withstanding the Devil and his kingdom,[67] and--according to the law of
the Kingdom of God--for that very reason in the service which he
performs. In this service Jesus also reckoned the sacrifice of his life,
designating it as a [Greek: lutron] which he offered for the redemption
of man.[68] But he declared at the same time that his Messianic work was
not yet fulfilled in his subjection to death. On the contrary, the close
is merely initiated by his death; for the completion of the kingdom will
only appear when he returns in glory in the clouds of heaven to
judgment. Jesus seems to have announced this speedy return a short time
before his death, and to have comforted his disciples at his departure,
with the assurance that he would immediately enter into a supramundane
position with God.[69]

6. The instructions of Jesus to his disciples are accordingly dominated
by the thought that the end, the day an