A Long-Awaited Son

Main point: Jesus, the eternal Son of God, became incarnate, uniting to himself a human nature, so that we can truly say “God is with us”.

Isaiah 7:14 “14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”

For nearly four thousand years, humanity had been waiting. In Genesis 3, after humanity fell into sin and God was in the middle of declaring a curse, he also made a promise; a promise that someone would come to put an end to the deceiver, once and for all.

Genesis 3:15 “15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.””

The seed of the woman would one day crush the head of the ancient serpent; that wicked dragon. The prophesy spoke of a singular male offspring; a son, in other words. It seems that Eve thought this promised son was Cain, based on her exclamation in Genesis 4:1

Genesis 4:1 CSB

1 The man was intimate with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain. She said, “I have had a male child with the Lord’s help.”

No doubt, Lamech and his wife thought Noah was the one who would bring relief from the curse:

Genesis 5:28–29 CSB

28 Lamech was 182 years old when he fathered a son. 29 And he named him Noah, saying, “This one will bring us relief from the agonizing labor of our hands, caused by the ground the Lord has cursed.”

It is likely that Abraham and Sarah may have thought that Isaac was the one of whom this prophecy spoke.

It is possible that Moses’ parents though the same thing about him.

Maybe Joshua.

Maybe David.

Maybe Solomon.

It would seem that every woman who believed this first prophecy would have wondered at some point, “Could I be the mother of this chosen seed who would destroy the dragon?”

After four thousand years of women wondering, God finally chose a woman through whom he would fulfill this: a young woman named Mary. Likely a teenager at the time, Mary was a humble Jewish girl who lived in one of the poorest places in Israel: a town called Nazareth. She was a virgin and from all accounts, appears to have been a faithful Jew. She was betrothed to a man named Joseph, who’s lineage was traced back to King David.

This is the woman God chose. A woman, humble and pure. Nothing in the world’s eyes, but in God’s eyes, very precious because of her faith. In His kindness and grace, he chose her to be mother of the Son who would save humanity from their sins, destroy the wicked serpent, and defeat death itself.

When the Angel Gabriel told Mary of this news, she burst out into song, saying:

Luke 1:46–55 CSB

My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, because he has looked with favor on the humble condition of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed, because the Mighty One has done great things for me, and his name is holy. His mercy is from generation to generation on those who fear him. He has done a mighty deed with his arm; he has scattered the proud because of the thoughts of their hearts; he has toppled the mighty from their thrones and exalted the lowly. He has satisfied the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, remembering his mercy to Abraham and his descendants forever, just as he spoke to our ancestors.

But who exactly was the son she would conceive and what would he become? We will be exploring the answers to these questions in the coming weeks.

This season of Advent is all about anticipation. For two thousand years, Christians have seen this season as a time to bring to remembrance what the world was like before Christ came and how the world eagerly awaited him. Today, we will be reminded that Jesus was the long-awaited Son of God and Son of Man. In the following weeks, we will see how he was also the long-awaited prophet, long-awaited priest, and long-awaited king.

Finally, on the last Sunday of the year, we will meditate on the long-awaited return of Christ, which is yet in our future.

In the sermon today, we will be asking an answering five questions regarding this long awaited Son:

What does it mean for Jesus to be the Son of God?

What does it mean that the Son of God became Man?

How do his divine and human natures relate?

What is the significance of Jesus being born of a Virgin?

What is the significance of Jesus having the title “God With Us”?

What does it mean for Jesus to be the Son of God?

1. It Means He is Loved By His Father

Illustration of the father-son time I had yesterday with Knox

I have a deep love for my son.

If I as an imperfect man have this sort of love for my son, how much more intense is the love that God the Father has for his Son?

Mark 1:11 “And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.””

John 3:35 “35 The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand.”

These Scriptures queue us in on how deeply the Father loves the Son. And this love did not begin when the Son became incarnate. No, his love for the Son existed before the foundation of the World.

John 17:23–26 “23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. 24 Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. 25 O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. 26 I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.””

This leads us quite naturally into the next thing it means for Jesus to be the Son of God: He is just like his Father.

2. It Means He is Just Like His Father

Before we continue, we need to define some terms a we will be using them many times throughout the rest of this sermon: nature and person.

By “nature”, I mean the essential qualities of a thing. The “doggyness” of a dog is its nature; the “treeness” of a tree is its nature, and so on.

By “person”, I mean “self”. My nature is “human”, but my person is “Isaac”. My nature is what I am while my person is who I am.

Some throughout the history of the church have asserted that the Son must be inferior to the Father in regards to his divinity or “God-ness”. They have done this one of two ways:

(1) Some have said that the Son came into being at a point in time—that he was “created” in other words.

(2) Other have said his divine nature is somehow lesser in quality that the Father’s nature.

Both of these assertions are wrong and dangerously so. They are dangerous because the implications of these errors effect who and how we worship. If the Son was created, then he is not truly God and should not be worshipped. If the Son’s divine nature is less than the Father’s then he is not fully God and should not be worshipped. To say that the Son is less divine than the Father is actually to misunderstand what it means to be a son.

What it means to be a son

A true son shares the same nature as his father. A dog begets a dog. A cow begets a cow. And a man begets a man. A puppy shares the same “dogness” as its father. A father dog isn’t more “doggy” than his little puppy son.

Likewise, I am not more human than my son, Knox. He is just as human as I am. Because I am a human, whatever is true of human nature is true of me. Furthermore, because my son, Knox, is a human, whatever is true of human nature is true of him.

Eternal Sonship

The principle of “begetting” is vital for understanding what it means for Jesus to be the Son of God. It means that whatever is true of God the Father’s nature as God, is true of his Son as well.

Part of what it means to be God is to be self-existant. In fact, the self-existence of God may just be the most fundamental aspect of what it means to be God. To be self-existant means to be uncreated and eternal. Having no beginning and no end. This fact is the most essential thing that separates the Creator from creatures: the creator is uncreated, while creatures are created.

Thus, if what it means to be God is to be self-existent, uncreated, and eternal, and Jesus really is the only begotten Son of God, thus sharing fully in his nature, then Jesus must also be self-existent, uncreated, and eternal.

Listen to this passage of Scripture from the book of Hebrews:

Hebrews 1:1–3 “1 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. 3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,”

To put it in a syllogism:

(1) Self-existence is essential to the nature of God.

(2) A true son shares the same nature as his father.

(3) The Son of God is truly God’s Son.

(4) The Son is self-existent.

In other words, what it means for Jesus to be the Son of God is to share the divine nature with his father, which sets the stage for the most incredible miracle to ever occur: God becoming man.

What does it mean that the Son of God became Man?

1. It means he actually became human

So astonishing is the notion of the Son of God becoming a man that some have argued he did not really become one, but only appeared so. And in one sense, I can’t blame them; it really is shocking. However, the Scriptures are abundantly clear: the Son of God became man.

Hebrews 2:17 “17 Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.

John 1:14 “14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

It is not enough that the Son appear to be human; he had to become human. If the Son of God did not actually become a human, we would have no hope of being rescued from Satan, sin and death.

It was a man who first handed over the title deed of this world to the Serpent and it must be a man who reclaims it.

It was a man who first broke the divine law and it must be a man who obeys it.

It was a man who first brought death into the world and it must be a man who takes death out.

2. It means he remained divine

Another error is to think that the Son of God somehow traded his divine nature for a human nature. But this is contrary to the Scriptures:

Colossians 2:9 “For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily,”

Still others think he mixed the two natures, being part God and part man. But one cannot be partly of one nature and partly of another. Can a dog be part cat? Can a rock be part tree? Certainly not. In fact, to only be part something is to not be that thing at all. If the Son is not fully God, he is not God at all. If he is not fully man, he is not man at all.

This brings up an important question: How then do his divine and human natures relate?

How do his divine and human natures relate?

The Christian answer is that the Son is fully God and fully man; two distinct and unmixed natures, united in one person: Jesus Christ, the Son of God. This is what theologians call the Hypostatic union; “hypostasis” being a technical Greek word for “person”.

We read in part of the Athanasian Creed before the sermon, but it bears repeating here:

…Although he is God and man, yet Christ is not two, but one. He is one, however, not by his divinity being turned into flesh, but by God’s taking humanity to himself. He is one, not by the blending of his essence, but by the unity of his person. For just as one man is both rational soul and flesh, so too the one Christ is both God and man.

This doctrine is very important helps us make sense of much of what we see in Scripture, such as the apparent limitations of Jesus’s earthly knowledge:

Matthew 24:36 “36 “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.”

It also helps us understand the crucifixion: Jesus died on the cross according to his human nature. Divinity is inherently immortal and cannot die.

What is the significance of Jesus being born of a Virgin?

So we have seen what it means for Jesus to be the Son of God, as well as the Son of Man, but what about his virgin birth? Why did he need to be miraculously conceived in the womb of a virgin?

Headship of Adam

To understand its significance, we actually need to understand something else first: Sin is passed down to the human race from our first father Adam. This is because he is the “fountain head” or representative of the human race. Thus, when Adam sinned, we sinned with him and his sin nature is passed down to us. But it is passed down through our fathers, not our mothers, because fathers are covenant heads of their families, not their mothers.

But it would be impossible for the infinitely Holy Son of God to take upon himself a human nature that was corrupted by sin. For this reason, the Holy Spirit miraculously made the Virgin Mary conceive the Son in her womb, thus ensuring he was truly human, yet without sin.

Christian Errors Regarding the Virgin Mary

Failure to understand how male headship relates to the Virgin Birth is actually the primary reason why so many strange teachings surrounding the Virgin Mary have crept into the Church over the centuries.

For example, Christians adamantly believed that all humans are sinners because of what Adam did; sinners not merely by choice, but also by nature. Sin is hereditary in other words. Yet they also believed that Jesus had a truly human nature yet without sin. How could this be? How could Jesus become a human yet avoid a hereditary sin nature? To solve this problem, some Christians proposed that Mary also had a miraculous conception in that she was somehow conceived by her father and mother without hereditary or original sin. This is what the Roman Catholic Church calls the Immaculate Conception of Mary.

One can respect the reasoning behind this doctrine. It primarily about glorifying Mary; it is about protecting the holiness of Christ. And while the motivations for formulating this doctrine may have been good originally, it fails to take into account the fact that in God’s economy, original sin is passed down through our fathers.

The Glories of the Sinless Son

But such a glory is it that the Son of God never sinned!

1 Peter 2:22 “22 He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth.”

He was perfect; a totally obedient Son in every way; even to the very point of death.

2 Corinthians 5:21 “21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

It is because of his sinlessness that he is able to be the pure and spotless sacrifice to atone for our sins.

What is the significance of Jesus having the title “God With Us”?

He understands us

I’m sure most of you have seen the “He Gets Us” commercials that have made their rounds at Super Bowl each year. I’m certainly not a fan of the commercials or the organization behind them since it seems to me they are offering a different Jesus than the one Scripture presents. Regardless, there is much truth in the phrase “He Gets Us”. Listen to this scripture:

Hebrews 4:15 “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.”

In other words, Jesus is able to sympathize with us in a unique way as the incarnate Son of God. Prior to the incarnation, the Son did not experience suffering. In fact, the divine nature cannot suffer. But when the Son of God took upon himself a human nature, he did so precisely to suffer. As it has been put by many in the church: the divine Son of God, would could not of himself die, contrived to do it, and became man, to experience suffering on our behalf.

Of course, we are very familiar with the aspect of Christ’s suffering in which he bore the wrath of God for our sin. That was suffering at its greatest. But we often neglect the aspect of Christ’s suffering throughout his entire life. He was at various points, hated, mocked, poor, misunderstood, hungry, thirsty, abandoned, betrayed, abused, and killed. Having gone through all of this, it uniquely qualifies him to be our mediator. He is able to sympathize with our weaknesses because he actually experienced weakness.

Because of what Jesus did, God’s dwelling will once again be with humanity, physically and permanently

Revelation 21:3 “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.”

God’s intention from the very beginning has been to unite heaven and earth in such a way that God’s home is man’s home. Through Christ, we are adopted as his sons and daughters. And having been made like his Son Jesus, he is very pleased with us. A father loves being with his children and that is precisely what he intends to do.

How glorious will that day be! So take heart, Christian. Whatever sufferings you are going through, Jesus knows it and he really does know it. It will not last forever. These momentary afflictions will not be worth comparing to the day when we will be with our God in-person, delighting in him and being delighted in by Him.