The Son of God
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Christmas Prophecy
Christmas Prophecy
He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David,
The Son of God.
What does it mean and why does it matter?
What does it mean and why does it matter?
Concept that Jesus is the Son of God is not unique to just this passage. It is a well accounted for NT truth.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
But what does it mean? Lets begin by explaining what it does not mean.
Jesus is not God’s son in the biological sense of the word.He is not God’s offspring.God did not get married and have a child.God did not mate with Mary and produce a son.
He is not God’s offspring.
The phrase “Son of” does mean offspring or child of - it means “manifestation of”. Jesus is God’s Son in the sense that he is the manifestation of God in human form.
God did not get marraied and have a child.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
God did not mate with Mary and produce a son.
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.
This must be understood or else much of scripture will be misunderstood.
Along with Jesus claims to be the Christ, His claims to be the son of God caused great outrage from the religious leaders.
The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die because he has made himself the Son of God.”
Why would calling yourself the Son of God count as blasphemy? because the Jews knew exactly what that phrase meant.
To be the Son of God was to be of the same nature as God.
As further proof that “son of” means manifestation of and not offspring off look at Judas Iscariot. Judas was the son of Simon.
He spoke of Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the twelve, was going to betray him.
That is - in this passage Judas is the offspring of Simon, but look at
While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.
Judas is called the Son of Destruction, because destruction was the manifestation of Judas’s life.
So Jesus is the manifestation of the Father.
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,
Jesus Makes the Claim
Jesus Makes the Claim
I and the Father are one.”
The Word One in Greek is Milkros.
It does not mean that Jesus and the Father are identical persons, that is, one and the same being.
Oneness Pentecostalism.
It means that they are one and same in essence., The Father is God, the Son is God, but the Son is not the father, and the Father is not the Son. Milkros refers to unity, not identity.
But the implications are clear and powerful.
If Jesus is of the same essence as the Father then it means that we do not need to wait till we get to Heaven to know the Father.
It means that we can know the infinite God of the Universe here and now in the person of Jesus.
It reminds me of Philip’s great desire to know the Father.
jn 14
Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works.
“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going.” Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”
Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.
The burning desire of each and every believer ought to be to get to know God better. We out to read and study the word, pray and follow the Spirit, fellowship and serve the church all out a deep desire to know the Father who loves us more and more each day.
God wants us to Know Him
God wants us to Know Him
who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.
According to the Gospel of John there are 4 levels of knowing someone.
The lowest level to simple to know something as a fact - “the sun is hot.”
The second level of knowing is to the reason behind the fact. - “The sun is hot because it a huge ball of explosive fire”.
The third level of knowing introduces relationship.
Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord.”
But there is a 4th - it is a deep communion and only exists between God. It is a knowing that will never change, an intimacy that will never falter, a connection that death itself cannot separate.
that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,
The miracle of Christmas is that the baby in the manger is the Son of God, and we can get to know what God is like through His Son.
400 years before first Christmas Plato said:
“To find out the father and maker of all this universe is a hard task, and when we have found him, to speak of him to any man is impossible” - Plato
Ive got news: Plato was dead wrong. you and I can get to know the Father and it is no hard task, because the father wants us to know him and made himself knowable by sending the son who is the manifestation of the Father, and telling people about Jesus is perhaps the simplest thing we can do.
So what is the Father like?
So what is the Father like?
To answer that question all we need to do is look at Jesus. What Jesus did for 3 years and in a small geographical locations, The Father now does for all His followers, in all locations, in all times.
Jesus was compassionate and caring.He was concerned about the wellbeing of others. He cared about the poor, sick and the despised. He always had time to talk, he was patient with his disciples. He was honest and truthful and always only ever intended good for those whom he cared for. His word at times hurt but they were always for our benefit and profit.
If all these things are true for Jesus then they are true for our father well.