The Son

Introduction

Well, good morning…Merry Christmas! For those of you visiting with us, thank you so much for choosing FBC, thank you for worshiping with us this morning. It’s our hope that you find us welcoming…that you find us loving.

Listen, if you have your Bibles, go ahead and keep your places there in John chapter 1, we’ll dig into that in just a moment…but before we do that, let’s recite our memory verse together. If you’re visiting, you can turn in your Bibles a couple of books over to the Gospel of Matthew…we’re gonna recite chapter 28, verses 19 and 20. We’ve been doing this for over a whole year now…and we’re doing this because this is who we’ve committed ourselves to be. We wanna be a church without walls by being a church that delivers, disciples, deploys. We wanna be a church that delivers the message of hope to those around us, we wanna be a church that disciples those that turn to Jesus, and we wanna be a church that deploys each other out all for the gospel of Jesus Christ. And so, for that reason, we recite it to keep it fresh on our hearts.

And so, if you’re ready, I’ll get us started:

Matthew 28:19–20 (ESV)

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

[Prayer]

Alrighty…John chapter 1…over the past several weeks, we’ve been walking through John chapter 1, trying to answer the question, “Who is Jesus?” And of course, the author, John the Apostle…he tells us that Jesus, He’s the Word…Jesus was in the beginning with God and was Himself God. Through Him all things were created. And because of that, Jesus is the source of life.

And then John says that Jesus, He’s the incarnation. The Word, He came and He dwelt among us. He became the very thing He created, all so that He could redeem us. Through Him, He revealed God to us.

And then last week, in continuing through John chapter 1, John the Baptist, he identified Jesus as the Lamb of God…who he says, came to take away the sins of the world. Jesus was the Lamb, our substitute…His death, it was our atonement. It was there, on Calvary, that Jesus wore the weight of all sins and paid the punishment that man brought on themselves.

Which brings us to our passage this morning.

Three times, Jesus, He’s referred to as the Son of someone. He’s referred to as the Son of Joseph by Phillip here…the Son of God by Nathanael…but what’s fascinating is what Jesus calls Himself…He says at the end of our passage, that He’s the Son of Man.

Listen, as we think about Christmas, our minds, they immediately go to the scene that Luke chapter 2 paints for us. We think about Joseph and Mary, traveling to Bethlehem, looking for a place to have the baby Jesus. Of course, because of the census going on, Bethlehem, it’s crowded and there’s no inns, no places for them to rent for the night…and so, they’re forced to sleep in a place meant for animals. Luke 2:7, it tells us that “[Mary] gave birth to her firstborn son [Jesus] and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.”

And then we see this scene with the angel announcing the birth of Jesus to these lowly shepherds in the field…and the worship service that happens with the multitude of angels…we read about the wise men traveling from the far east and making their way to this baby Jesus…everyone in the story, they understood the huge impact this birth was gonna make on the world.

We know the story…but too many times, we forget or we neglect the reasons for the story. This story, it’s incredible and its incredible because of who this baby really was and what this baby was really meant to do. We’ve talked about Him being the Word, right? The very Creator lying there in that manger…we’ve talked about Him as the incarnation and as the Lamb meant to be sacrificed up for us…but too often, we forget that Jesus, He’s also the Son. And listen, that identity, it really tells us so much about God and His great love for us…It shows us His patience and His grace and His sovereignty.

Listen, back in the day, when you introduced yourself, it was always Steven, son of Chris Prinz, son of Henry George Prinz, and so on, right? I’m a huge Lord of the Rings fan, I just read through all the books this Fall…and the characters, they all introduce themselves this way…Frodo, son of Drogo…or Aragorn, son of Arathorn. And listen, they did this because these titles, it gave people their identity, right? It let others really know who they were, where they came from, where they belong.

Listen, as we dig into this passage this morning, none of these guys were wrong…Jesus is the Son of Joseph…and Jesus, He is the Son of God…and as we’ll find out, thank God, He’s also the Son of Man. And this title…this identifying mark…that’s what really makes Christmas so special…it’s that Jesus, He’s the Son of Man and not just because someone else gave Him that title, but because He gave Himself that title. That’s how He wanted to be identified.

And so, with that, let’s jump into this first point.

I. Jesus is the Son of Joseph (vv. 43-45)

Jesus is the Son of Joseph.

And so, if you remember, last week we saw this scene with John the Baptist, he was out baptizing people, preparing the way for Jesus to come…and then of course, Jesus, He enters the scene…and if you remember, that was where John tells us about Jesus’s purpose as the Lamb. He then goes on, if you’re familiar with the other gospel accounts, and baptizes Jesus. This was actually the start of Jesus’s earthly ministry.

And then, in verses 35 through 42, John talks about the first few disciples Jesus called to “follow Him.” It was Simon Peter, who’s called Cephas and his brother Andrew…and that gets us all the way up to verse 43, where Jesus begins calling other disciples…but the focus here, it’s actually on who Jesus is. As He began to form this group of disciples, they begin making assumptions about who He is…probably because of how Jesus approached them or what He revealed to them at each specific incident…but the first assumption, it’s that Jesus is the son of Joseph.

Look at verse 43 with me again. It says, “43 The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” 44 Now Philip was from Bethsaida (Beth_say-a-duh), the city of Andrew and Peter. 45 Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”

And so, according to Phillip, Jesus is the son of Joseph. Now maybe he said that because Jesus was speaking about the Old Testament to him…we don’t know entirely…it certainly would be in Jesus’s character to do that. But listen, there’s way more significance here in Phillip’s comment than Jesus just being the son of Joseph. Look at what he said, “Jesus, He’s the one whom Moses in the Law and all the prophets wrote about.”

Well, remember…Moses, He wrote the first five books of the Bible (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy), right? And listen, throughout those five books, there’s all kinds of prophecies about the coming of Jesus and who Jesus would be. We talked about Genesis chapter 3 last week and God’s promise to send a Messiah. If you were with us last year at Christmas we talked about Genesis 49 where Moses talks about the Messiah coming from the tribe of Judah…how this Messiah would rule…In the Exodus accounts, when God’s freeing His people, the entire Passover story, it’s pointing to Jesus and it’s showing God’s might even over the greatest nation on the face of the planet. There’s all kinds of prophecies that point to Jesus in the Old Testament.

But of all the things said about the Messiah, it’s His lineage that Israel clung to the most. It’s was His royalty from David’s line that they looked for the most.

Second Samuel 7, it explains God’s promise to King David. It says:

2 Samuel 7:12–14 (ESV)

When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son.

And so, this Messiah, that’s been prophesied since the third chapter of Genesis, the One whom all the Israelites awaited…the prophesies say He’d be the son of David, right? He’d physically come from the body of David. And notice, this passage, it’s definitely talking about Jesus because of what it says about the kingdom being established forever.

That’s why Matthew chapter 1, in giving Jesus’s genealogy, the author begins by saying:

Matthew 1:1 (ESV)

The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

Listen, Jesus being the son of Joseph, it’s important because as Matthew shows us, it means He’s also the son of David…meaning He has claim to the throne of Israel…and listen, if Jesus had claim to the throne of Israel, He’d be able to come and free them from their captors…You see, Israel, they thought the Messiah would come and free them from their physical bondage like God did in Exodus with the Egyptians. They thought they’d be freed from Roman occupation. Of course, like so many of us do today, they missed the significance of Scripture and what God was trying to show them. They needed a Savior from the far more terrifying reality that their sin caused…which was death and separation. They needed someone to pay the price of their sin. But the only way man would trust in this Messiah was if He came through this manly line…this line that God had anointed before…and what’s fascinating, its the lengths at which God went to fulfill this prophesy. I mean if you just turn to Matthew chapter 1 and you see the line of Jesus and all the things God had to do in order to ensure this prophesy was just as He had said…because what would’ve happened if one piece of it was different?…There’d be no credibility, right? There’d be no authority, at least in man’s opinion, without claim to David’s throne.

And listen, if you’re familiar with the accounts in Luke’s gospel…he actually gives you a completely different genealogy…which of course has caused some critics to challenge the trustworthiness of Scripture…but do you understand what God did there? He gave us Joseph’s genealogy in Matthew and then He gives Mary’s genealogy in Luke chapter 3. Luke’s gospel, it’s an eye witness from Mary’s perspective. And so listen, no matter how you look at it, either from Joseph or from Mary, Jesus was still from the line of David. And the reason that’s important, its because if God didn’t do that, they’d say, “Well, Joseph wasn’t really Jesus’s biological father…and so, is He really the son of David?” Well, God took care of that argument from the get go. Jesus is the son of David and therefore has claim to the throne of Israel…in which God promised Abraham, that all the nations would be blessed…That day, it’ll happen because Jesus is the son of David.

And so, what’s this mean for us? Well, first and foremost, if God could work out the small and big details about the coming of Jesus so perfectly and so precise…He’s certainly capable of working out the details of our lives…we can trust Him, because as these prophesies show us, He’s trustworthy and He’s faithful…which is exactly the reason why Phillip follows Jesus…He follows Him because of how precise these prophesies were and he realized there was no one more worthy of following than Jesus. Phillip’s fascinated here just as we should be. He knew the prophesies and he knew that only God could send someone that fulfilled them.

But it also means that when Jesus comes back like He promises…He’ll rule from His rightful place in Jerusalem and He’ll be a fair king and mighty king…He’ll care for His people because He is the son of David.

And so that’s the first point.

II. Jesus is the Son of God (vv. 46-49)

The second thing we see here…its that Jesus is the Son of God.

Look at verse 46 with me again. It says, “46 Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” 47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!” 48 Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” 49 Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!”

And so, first…Philip, he starts following Jesus…and of course just like our natural response, he wants to tell others about this Jesus, right? And so, he goes and he finds Nathanael and he tells him what happened. Nathanael’s response, “What good comes from Nazareth?”

What’s that mean? Well of couple of things…first, Nazareth, its not the “city of David.” We have to remember, it’s the “city of David,” that this Messiah’s supposed to come from…and so, already…Nathanael’s skeptical of this Jesus. When Philip came and told him about Jesus, he didn’t know what we know from Matthew’s gospel or Luke’s gospel…he didn’t realize Jesus was born in Bethlehem in the actual “city of David”…But also, people from Nazareth, they were just different…it’s like a southern guy coming up here to pastor a church, right?…You just know I’m not from here, I can’t hide it. There’s an accent, right? Matthew 26:73 confirms that about the people from Nazareth. They were different.

But Philip, he’s like, “Nah dude, you gotta just come and see for yourself.” And so, he does…and as he approaches Jesus, Jesus makes a very strange comment. He says to Nathanael, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!”

Listen, to understand what Jesus meant here, you really have to understand the events in Genesis, because what Jesus is doing, he’s referring to one of Israel’s patriarchs here, Jacob. And in that story, if you’re familiar with your Bibles, there’s these two twin boys, Jacob and Esau who are born to Rebekah and Isaac…and in describing these two boys…the story in Genesis, God names these two boys based on what He knows will happen at their born…Jacob, the second son comes out grabbing the heel of his older brother Esau…And so, Jacob, he’s known as the “heel grabber,” or the “one who deceives.” And listen, even though the blessing and the birthright belonged to the older son in this cultural context, Jacob, with the help of his mother, he steals that birthright from his older brother. And so, Esau gets mad, Jacob flees and lives among his relatives in the northern regions of Canaan and it’s there he’s deceived by them. And then, after marrying both, Leah and Rachel, Jacob decides to travel back to Canaan.

Well, on his way back, of course still afraid of his brother and his response…he encounters this man and he wrestles with him during the night…The result? Jacob’s given a new name… Israel, which means he who “struggled with God and with men and prevailed.” Jacob literally wrestled with the preincarnate Christ…this is what’s called a Christophany. Jesus appearing before the first Christmas story, in the flesh. Jacob literally wrestled with the God-man, Jesus…But listen, it’s this name change that defines Jacob for the rest of his life. It was at that moment, Jacob was transformed, he was no longer defined by his deceit, but instead a man prepared to grapple with the consequences of his actions as he moved to meet Esau.

And so, understanding that background…it gives us clarity to what Jesus is saying here to Nathanael…Like Jacob, Nathanael, he’s a man who’s encountered God (of course through Jesus, in this incident) and a man that’s been changed by that encounter. And the main reason we know he’s referring to Jacob here, its mainly because of what he says next and the small details about Philip that John gave us before, which we’ll cover in the last point…but Nathanael’s response, he says, “How do you know me?” And Jesus says, “Because, before Philip even came, I saw you under the fig tree”…which of course speaks to Micah’s prophecy in chapter 4…and so, in hearing this response, Nathanael recognizes that only God could respond in such a way to see the condition of his heart…that Nathanael didn’t live in fear, that he lived in anticipation for this future kingdom…and because of that, he doesn’t declare that Jesus is simply the son of David, but that He’s truly the King of Israel because He’s ultimately the Son of God!”

And listen, being the Son of God, we have to remember, these titles, they’re meant to be identifying marks…to show people who they are. In Jesus’s case…being the Son of God…it meant that he was the exact imprint of His Father, right? We talked about that a couple weeks ago. The author of Hebrews says that in the first several verses of chapter 1. Jesus is the exact imprint of the Father. It’s not like our children today where they share some features. Jesus is entirely and completely the exact image of the Father and for that reason, is God Himself…which is why John says in verse 1 that Jesus was not only with God in the beginning but that He Himself was also God at the same time…

The Father and the Son, they’re both distinct…two separate members of the Trinity, which is why they have different titles…but they’re also one at the same time, which is the reason why Jesus is called the Son of God so often. In this culture, the son, he would become the leader of their family when the father passed on. Being that the Father and the Son are the exact imprint of one another and being that they’re both eternal, it means that while they’re different in responsibilities, they’re the same in nature and character…they’re the same, they’re united…and together they make up the same God. Listen, there’s a ton we could talk about when it comes to the Trinity of God, but the important thing to understand, it’s that when Jesus was truly revealed to Nathanael…Nathanael saw Him for who He truly was…God! His eyes were opened to that reality. Jesus wasn’t just some man…He was also the Son of God…who came with all the same divine capabilities as the Father.

When Jesus lied there as a babe, in that manger, He was the Son of God, God Himself, in the flesh as the son of David…which leads straight into our last point this morning…Jesus is the Son of Man.

III. Jesus is the Son of Man (vv. 50-51)

Look at verse 50 with me again. Jesus says, “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these.” 51 And he said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

I absolutely love Jesus’s response here. He’s not saying that neither Philip or Nathanael are wrong…he actually takes on both titles…he says, “I’m the Son of Man.” He’s saying, “I’m the God-man! The God-man that was promised!”

Jesus says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.” Back in Genesis, one of Jacob’s most famous encounters with God, it involved a dream in which he saw a stairway, and on that stairway “the angels of God were ascending and descending.” That’s Genesis 28:12. Sound familiar? That’s exactly what Jesus is saying here. And listen, the name of that place, Jacob named Bethel…which meant “house of God.” And so, what we see here in our passage, it’s a contrast of two cities, Bethsaida (Beth-say-a-duh), which means “fish town,” and Bethel, which again refers to as “God town.” And what Jesus is saying, it’s that He’s at the center of “God town,” and He is the true stairway to heaven…He’s the true Jacob’s ladder…which is why Jesus’s ascension, later on, is so important. Jesus says, its the Son of Man who’s the center of this stairway. He’s the one that reveals God.

That phrase, the Son of Man, it’s actually a phrase that’s used all throughout the Old Testament which typically referenced the nature of man himself. But there’s several places that actually takes that phrase and directly correlates it to the coming Messiah. Psalm 8:4 and 5, it says:

Psalm 8:4–5 (ESV)

what is man that you are mindful of him,

and the son of man that you care for him?

Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings

and crowned him with glory and honor.

David, in this Psalm, he’s marveling at the fact that man, though they’re insignificant, they’re created in God’s image, “a little lower than the heavenly beings,” and designed to rule over all of God’s creation.

Hebrews 2, it picks up this Psalm and adds some observations. It says:

Hebrews 2:5–9 (ESV)

For it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking. It has been testified somewhere,

“What is man, that you are mindful of him,

or the son of man, that you care for him?

You made him for a little while lower than the angels;

you have crowned him with glory and honor,

putting everything in subjection under his feet.”

Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

The author of Hebrews, he says that man, he hasn’t obtained this dominion…but he says, the cause, it isn’t lost…which is why the author says what he says in verse 9 about Jesus being made a little lower than the angels for a short time…and he was made lower so that through His suffering and through His death as man, He could take on death for all, which ultimately would allow man to be restored and to have dominion as intended in the beginning.

Pay attention to the author’s words here…it’s an amazing announcement of the gospel…it’s that the Son of God, sharing in the shining glory of deity above all the angels, He became one of us. It says, “He ‘TOO’ ‘for a little while was made lower than the angels.” Who are the angels subject to? Verse 1, it said that angels are subjected to God. And so, becoming lower than the angels, it means this Jesus, He was God and He became man.

Why you ask? Why would Jesus do something like this to save us? Well, Daniel spoke about the Son of Man, coming as our Messiah in his book, chapter 7. And what he was alluding to, it’s that Jesus, as the Son of Man, would also be the son of Adam…the first man, who according to Paul in Romans, “just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin…(that’s Romans 5:12). He continues, “17 For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ (that’s verse 17).” You see, what Paul’s saying, it’s that through Adam, through his decision to sin…sin entered the world and for that reason, all have been born to sin since…we’re all impacted by the effects of sin which of course is death and separation from God. But he says, through Jesus, our Messiah, the Son of Man…the one who became like us, born to a virgin…this God-man, through Him, we’re saved, because of His death.

Why’s the Christmas story so important? Because it speaks about a virgin woman, impregnated by the Holy Spirit to bear God’s Son. And because of these details, this child that Mary would carry, He was entirely God, able to live a righteous life, blameless and holy because that’s His character, which ultimately allowed Him to be our perfect sacrifice…and He was entirely the seed of Adam through Mary (because remember what Paul said, sin comes through one man and Jesus wasn’t born from a man). And so, because of this, He was able to live without sin and yet still take on man’s punishment. He wasn’t just like us, He became us…He dwelt among us, as flesh and blood…willing and ready to be the sacrifice offered for man’s mistakes.

Christmas is important, because it shows us the lengths at which God was willing to go to redeem us…to buy us back. It shows us just how much He loves us and desires us. And listen, in our passage this morning, Jesus, He can say anything He wants about Himself because just as John’s already said, He’s the Creator, the Word, He has all authority…but when identifying Himself, He says, “I’m the Son of Man.”

Closing

Do you realize what Jesus cares about the most? It’s those made in His image…because it’s through them, through us, His glory, it radiates to all of creation. Jesus did everything to save you from the grips of sin…He did everything to take away death and separation…And He offered this gift, freely…for anyone that would believe and turn to Him.

Listen, reflecting on this passage and the Christmas story, would you bow your head and close your eyes with me?

Too often we neglect the reason for the season. We forget about what the Baby Jesus represented, we forget about the incredible story of the virgin birth and what God was showing us through that. We forget that it’s all about God and His desire to be with His people, to be with us. That He became the very thing He created through His Son Jesus. The Word, He came and He dwelt among us. And guys, He did that so that we could have life. And He identifies with us, as the Son of Man today because that’s how much He wants you…that’s how much He loves you. And listen, He’s not some God that sits on His throne, not understanding the worries of our lives. Guys, Christmas, it shows us that our God, our King, He knows absolutely everything we face…He knows the heartache we feel, the pain, the suffering, the struggles of this life…and He knows it because He lived it. He stepped off His throne and He came to us. He’s our Emmanuel!

And listen, so many of us, we know this truth, we live in this truth, we’ve been changed by this truth…but what we need to do as we close this morning is just meditate in this truth. I know I’ve been saying this over and over, but whatever we do this holiday season, we need to center everything around this truth.

But listen, if you’re here this morning and you don’t know Jesus as your Lord and Savior. If your life’s never been changed by His power. If you’re not sure what would happen if you died today. Guys, the Christmas story, it shows us that Jesus loves you…and He desires you…even before you were ever created…even as you sit in sin now, Jesus wants a relationship with you. That’s what Christmas is about. And guys, it doesn’t matter what you’ve done…it doesn’t matter who you are…Jesus, because He’s the Son of Man…there’s nothing He can’t set right…ask Him for forgiveness…turn to Him…tell Him that you believe. That’s all it takes, repent and believe and you can receive salvation.

And so listen, I just wanna give you a chance to respond to the Spirit, whatever He’s doing in your heart right now. Maybe you just need to reflect on this truth where you’re at this morning. Maybe you need to come to these steps. But maybe, even now, the Spirit’s tugging at your heart, and He’s telling you He wants you…He’s showing you that what you hear it’s true…respond to that. Come talk to me this morning, I’m gonna be right down front. Let me pray with you.

And so, whoever you are…whatever you need to do…you respond as our praise team leads us in worship and we’ll close in just a moment.

[Prayer]