Christ: Son of God and Son of Man

Luke 1:30–35 NASB95

The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God. “And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.” Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” The angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God.

Introduction

1. Christ: The Son of God (1:32a, 34-35)

What does it mean for Jesus to be called “The Son of God?”

Mormons: literal biological offspring of the god of this earth and his goddess wife

By Being the Son of the Most High

Luke 1:32 NASB95

“He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High . . .

“Great” - The greatness Jesus has is over and against all humanity; it transcends all the greatness of any individual. In the context here it is actually a contrast with John the Baptist.

God described as great:

Deuteronomy 10:17 “For the Lord your God is the God of gods and the Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God who does not show partiality nor take a bribe.”

Robert Stein says, “Jesus’ greatness is an unqualified greatness. . . . [great is] not a a name but rather indicates his being and nature.”

“Most High” = always a reference to God

Psalm 7:17 “I will give thanks to the Lord according to His righteousness And will sing praise to the name of the Lord Most High.”

Luke 6:35 “But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men.”

“Most High” is not about location (how “high” God is in the sky or somewhere) but status. He is the greatest of all. The designation carries with it the idea of being a king.

Jesus being great and referred to as “the Son of the Most High” means, then, that he has a special relationship with and to God the Father who rules over everything.

But what kind of relationship exactly? We come to understand in the following verses where we are told that this child, Jesus, will be called the Son of God, which is directly related to the idea that Jesus will be conceived miraculously.

By Being Conceived Miraculously

Luke 1:34–35 NASB95

Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” The angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God.

We often refer to this as “the virgin birth,” and rightly so for that is what is was. However, it was also a virgin conception. In v.31 the angel explicitly tells Mary: “You will conceive in your womb and bear a son.”

This is very important to get right because it tells us the origin and nature of Jesus.

The whole point of Luke’s telling of the Christmas narrative here is to emphasize the miraculous nature of Jesus’ becoming a man and his supernatural origin. We cannot miss this:

Luke says that Mary replied by saying, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?”

The angel answers, by saying, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.”

And to put an exclamation point on the fact that this is a miraculous, supernatural event, the angel adds in v.37:

Luke 1:37 “For nothing will be impossible with God.”

How is it possible for Mary, a virgin, to conceive a child? Because God is an all-powerful God who rules and controls all of the universe. What is impossible for us to accomplish is not impossible with God.

What does this have to do with Jesus being referred to as the “Son of God?” Did you catch what the angel said? ““The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God.”

I.e., the title Son of God refers to the fact that Jesus’ origin and nature is that of God, not human. Jesus is the Son of God not son of Joseph. Do you see the point here? Saying that Jesus is the Son of God is saying that he is God in the flesh.

When the Apostle Peter exclaimed, “You are the Crist, the Son of the Living God,” he was proclaiming the deity of Jesus.

When we confess that Jesus is the Son of God, we are proclaiming that Jesus is the God-man.

Application:

How is the virgin conception and birth even possible? It sounds preposterous in our scientific age.

Richard Dawkins:

“Did Jesus have a human father, or was his mother a virgin at the time of his birth? … Whether or not there is enough surviving evidence to decide it, this is still a strictly scientific question with a definite answer in principle: yes or no. Did Jesus raise Lazarus from the dead? Did he himself come alive again, three days after being crucified? There is an answer to every such question, (…) and it is a strictly scientific answer.”

His reasoning is that the claims of miracles violate the principles of science because they assert events outside ordinary natural causes.

But there is a hidden assumption behind all this: that no supernatural events can occur in the universe. I.e., he is assuming that no God exists. But what if God exists? We no longer have a problem with miracles because “nothing is impossible with God.”

William Lane Craig: “For a God who could create the entire universe, making a woman pregnant wasn’t that big a deal! Given the existence of a Creator and Designer of the universe (for which we have good evidence), an occasional miracle is child’s play.”

The virgin conception is one of the essential doctrines of the Christian faith (see creeds, early quotes)

Apostles’ Creed, second stanza:

I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,       who was conceived by the Holy Spirit       and born of the virgin Mary.

It is essential b/c: (1) if anyone other than God had saved us, we would be indebted and obligated to honor a mere man. But glory, honor, etc. belongs to God alone. (2) Who other than God truly has the power to save? Not a mere human; only God. [(3) Also, a man must save a man (like redeem like) - the law had to be fulfilled by man.]

So Jesus is the Son of God. But he is also called “Son of Man.”

2. Christ: The Son of Man (1:32b-33)

Interesting fact: Jesus refers to himself mostly as the Son of Man, not Son of God.

We often hear that Son of God refers to Jesus being God and Son of Man means his humanity. But when we take a closer look at the title Son of Man in Scripture, we see a different picture begin to appear.

Son of Man comes from Daniel 7:13–14 “I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming, and He came up to the Ancient of Days and was presented before Him. And to Him was given dominion, glory and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations and men of every language might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not pass away; and His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed.”

Explain highlighted phrases.

The title “Son of Man” is much more than a title of a human. It is a heavenly figure who has the audacity to go before God the Father no his own initiative and is then given a kingdom to rule forever—and to rule over ALL the nations.

With Daniel’s vision in mind, we begin to see what exactly the angel was telling Mary about Jesus.

Notice that the angel says Jesus will be taking the throne of David:

By Taking the Davidic Throne

Luke 1:32 NASB95

. . . and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David;

OT promise and prophecy to Israel:

Isaiah 9:6–7 “For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; and the government will rest on His shoulders; and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this.”

I.e., the angel is telling Mary that he is the promised Davidic king, the Messiah. By description, then, he will reign forever:

By Reigning Forever

Luke 1:33 NASB95

and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.”

This clearly echoes the vision of Daniel.

Also, OT promises and prophecies:

2 Samuel 7:13–16 “He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be a father to him and he will be a son to Me; when he commits iniquity, I will correct him with the rod of men and the strokes of the sons of men, but My lovingkindness shall not depart from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. Your house and your kingdom shall endure before Me forever; your throne shall be established forever.”

Jesus as the Son of Man fulfills the heavenly vision of Daniel. As the Son of Man, Jesus is more than just a human. The title Son of Man means he is the God who rules all the nations.

Application/Illustration:

Old hymn “Fairest Lord Jesus”; last verse:

Beautiful Savior! Lord of all the nations! Son of God and Son of Man! Glory and honor, praise, adoration, Now and forevermore be Thine.

If Son of Man was a title of mere humanity, we should not give glory and honor and praise and adoration to Jesus. But he is much more as the title actually suggests. And as the hymn also here proclaims, he is the Son of God!

Conclusion