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Lessons From the Geneology of Jesus

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Lessons From the Geneology of Jesus

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Lessons From the Geneology of Jesus

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Today let's examine the four aspects of the Sonship of God.

Transcript

[Mr. Andy Lee]: As we move around in society right now, whether we’re working or talking with others or going to the store, it’s probably not unusual to hear references to the story of the birth of Jesus Christ. It’s that time of year when society around us turns their minds to that. That account begins in Matthew – first book of the Bible. And it begins in verse 18. There’s a lot of depth and meaning to it, but ha-ha, I tricked you. We’re not going there. At the same time, there’s not a lot of airtime given to verses 1 through 17 – all of which precede that account in verse 18. And I’d like to spend a little time there today.

I was thinking about this this week. As I was preparing this, I was thinking back to when I was probably 13 or 14 years old, and my parents offered myself and my two sisters $20 if we would read the Bible from cover to cover within a year’s time. And being the budding young accountant that I was, I was very excited about that and went to it. I remember going through the different passages of the Bible, and the ones that were probably the most challenging, and if I’m honest, the most boring were the genealogies. They would sort of drone on from word to word to word, and all these crazy names, wondering why in the world they were there.

So, today, I’m going to do something daring, and I’m going to base my sermon on two of the most boring passages in the New Testament. How’s that for a start? Now that everyone is on the edge of their seats, let’s move forward. We’ll start in Matthew 1:1 – and yes, I’m going to read all seventeen verses of the genealogy of Jesus Christ.

Matthew 1:1-18 – “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham begot Isaac, Isaac begot Jacob, Jacob begot Judah and his brothers. Judah begot Pharez and Zarah by Tamar. And Pharez begot Hezron, and Hezron begot Ram, Ram begot Amminadab, Amminadab begot Nashon, and Nashon begot Salmon. Salmon begot Boaz by Rahab, Boaz begot Obed by Ruth, Obed begot Jesse, and Jesse begot David the king. David the king begot Solomon by her who had been the wife of Uriah. Solomon begot Rehoboam, Rehoboam begot Abijah, and Abijah begot Asa. Asa begot Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat begot Jehoram, and Jehoram begot Uzziah. Uzziah begot Jotham, Jotham begot Ahaz, and Ahaz begot Hezekiah. Hezekiah begot Manasseh, Manasseh begot Amon, and Amon begot Josiah. Josiah begot Jechoniah and his brothers about the time they were carried away to Babylon. And after they were brought to Babylon, Jechoniah begot Shealtiel, Shealtiel begot Zerubbabel. Zerubbabel begot Abiud, Abiud begot Eliakim, Eliakim begot Azor. Azor begot Sadoc, Sadoc begot Achim, Achim begot Eliud. Eliud begot Eleazar, Eleazar begot Matthan, and Matthan begot Jacob. And Jacob begot Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called the Christ. And so the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations. And from David until the captivity into Babylon is fourteen generations. And from the captivity into Babylon until the Christ is fourteen generations.”

So Matthew sets these things up in three natural chunks, as he takes the genealogy of Jesus Christ all the way back and talks about Him being the son of David and the son of Abraham.

We’re not going to read the whole genealogy that’s in Luke, because I do want people to stay awake for at least part of the sermon, but Luke 3:23-38, provides another genealogy of Jesus Christ. And I’ll point out just a couple of interesting things here that are a little different.

We’ll read the first verse of the genealogy, which is verse 23, what states:

Luke 3:23 – “Now Jesus Himself began His ministry at about thirty years of age, being as was supposed the son of Joseph, the son of Heli.” And so immediately reference is made here to the fact that Jesus Christ was not the actual physical son of Joseph.

The other that’s interesting is, it doesn’t stop at Abraham. And if we look at the latter part of verse 34, into verse 35, to the end of the genealogy in verse 38, this genealogy goes all the way back to Adam, the son of God. So, it’s interesting that Luke decides, rather than going back to Abraham, that he’s going to take this genealogy all the way back to God – as we heard in the sermonette – who created the heavens and the earth and the first man, Adam.

Now, we’ll talk a little bit more down the line about why there are two genealogies, and why they’re different. Some of you might be aware that there are other differences between the two genealogies, and we’re not going to dive into that today. But what I’d like to do is use these two genealogies of Jesus Christ as a jumping off point to delve a little deeper into the identity of Jesus Christ – and specifically in four different parts – four different aspects of the sonship of Jesus Christ that are pointed out via these genealogies that we see in the Bible.

So, if this is working – I realize the text is maybe a little bit small for people to see – we’ll try reconnecting here… and if it doesn’t work, that’s okay. So, let’s start with Jesus Christ as the son of David. Matthew 1:1, as we read a moment ago, points out, in the very first words that we’ve got in the New Testament – the order that we have it today – that Jesus Christ was the son of David, as well as the son of Abraham. This is only one of the seventeen passages in the New Testament that talk about Jesus Christ as the son of David. Now it tends to be, probably, something that we read over, and we don’t really notice very much, but why is it that Jesus Christ would be referred to, as the first lines we see in the order of our Bible, as the son of David? What’s the significance of that? Both of the genealogies – both in Matthew and in Luke – run through David. So, physically, it’s true, even if we ignore the fact that Jesus was adopted by Joseph. His physical bloodline, through Mary, went back to King David. It takes only a brief reading to see that the lineage through the two is a little bit different.

Now, I mentioned earlier, we’d talk a little more about why that is. Scholars and commentators have all kinds of different reasons that they point out. There’s a fair-sized group – and certainly the United Church of God believes this as well – that what Luke was doing was presenting the bloodline of Jesus through Mary, his mother. Because, as we know, even though He had a legal bloodline through Joseph – as an adopted son of Joseph – He was the actual son, through the Holy Spirit, of Mary, and not actually the flesh and blood son of Joseph. And that’s why in Luke 3:23, immediately as Luke is writing his genealogy, he points out the fact that Jesus began His ministry at thirty years of age, as was supposed, the son of Joseph. So, he begins that genealogy going right in, saying, “Hey guys, He’s not actually the son of Joseph,” and then giving the genealogy from there.

Matthew 1:12 is another area that is relevant to this. And again, we’re not going to go deep into these things. It’s some interesting reading, if it’s the kind of thing you’re interested in. But Matthew 1:12 lists someone named King Jeconiah in the lineage of David. And one of the things interesting about King Jeconiah is that Jeremiah 22:30, says that no son of Jeconiah the king will ever sit on the throne of David. So, through the fleshly bloodline that is laid out in the Matthew 1 genealogy that goes through Joseph, it would be impossible for Jesus Christ, as a physical son of Joseph, if the prophecies of the Old Testament are correct, to sit on the throne. But of course, we know that He’s not a flesh and blood descendant of Joseph, but rather of Mary. And this, again, supports the idea that the lineage that’s laid out in Luke is actually Jesus Christ’s physical heritage through Mary, which does not go through Jeconiah.

But son of David wasn’t so much a name as it was a title. There were plenty of people running around Judea at that point in time who could have called themselves, physically, a son or descendant of David. But it did mean something else.

Matthew wrote his gospel to the Jews, as many of us know, and the Jews, of course, were looking for a Messiah. And Messiah was clearly prophesied in the Old Testament. Among the many messianic prophecies was the promise made to David through Nathan the prophet. And let’s read that in 2 Samuel 7, and we’ll read verses 12 through 17. Some people call this the Davidic Covenant, because it’s an agreement that God made with David. It’s really more of a promise, I’d say, than an agreement, because it’s something that God really – like some of the other covenants He made – is unconditionally saying that He’s going to do this. 2 Samuel 7:12, through Nathan, God speaks to David and says:

2 Samuel 7:12-16 – “When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I’ll set up your Seed after you, who will 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.” So, He’s speaking here of a time that will last forever. “I will be His Father, He shall be My Son. If He commits iniquity, I will chasten Him with the rod of men and with the blows of the sons of men, but My mercy shall not depart from Him, as I took it from Saul, whom I removed from before you. And your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you. Your throne shall be established forever.” And this is widely understood to be a messianic prophecy – not just a prophecy about a physical throne that would exist, but a prophecy about the fact that the Messiah that would come – who would sit on, figuratively, the throne of David – would be that Son of David – that eternal King – who would come. So, it’s a promise of a King on an everlasting throne. And it shows that this term son of David means a whole lot more than who a physical forebearer might have been. It was a reference to Jesus as the promised Messiah.

Now, there are a lot of different references which we’re not going to take the time to go through in the Gospels, where people who encountered Jesus start to refer to Him as the Son of David. And what they’re doing by calling Him the Son of David is that they’re acknowledging that they understand Him to actually be that prophesied Messiah. And a few those, if you want to jot them down, one is Matthew 15:22. It’s a woman who comes to Jesus Christ with a demon possessed daughter, and says, “Oh Son of David, heal her.” So, she’s making an expression of faith – of belief – that He is the actual Son of Jesus Christ, the promised Messiah. There’s another account in Matthew 20:30. You might remember, there were two blind men by the side of the road, and through whatever means – maybe some crowds saying, “Here He comes!” – they called out as well. They said, “Son of David, heal us,” and He restored their sight – in part, because of the faith that they expressed in Him as the Messiah. The third one that I’ll mention is Matthew 21:9. Matthew 21:9 is the account of the triumphal entry into Jerusalem. So they had the donkey. Jesus was on the donkey. And He rode into Jerusalem when He was entering Jerusalem for the last time before He would be crucified. And what did the crowd say? “Hosanna to the King, to the Son of David!” And they referred to Him again, as the Son of David – very clearly treating Him as a coming King, seeing Him as Jesus Christ, the Son of God. So, it was much than an expression of what His physical lineage was.

Now, as we take that through what it means for us today – let’s see how we’re doing here on the screen… ok. Jesus needs to be the ruler in our lives. So, as we think, as Christians, as people who follow Him, we think of the Kingship of Jesus Christ – Jesus Christ has to reign in our lives through His Spirit. We give up our will. We give up our human lives as we go under the water in baptism, and we give our lives over to Him to rule in our lives.

Let’s turn to Philippians 2:9-11, and we’ll read one scripture to that effect – Philippians 2, and we’ll read verses 9 through 11. Here, Paul writing to the Philippians, says:

 

Philippians 2:9-11 – “Therefore, God also has highly exalted Him, given Him the name which is above every name – that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, of those on earth, and of those under the earth – and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.”

So, in verse 10, when he talks about every knee bowing, he’s using this idea of bowing to royalty, and getting on our knees to royalty, when we think about Jesus Christ – acknowledging Him as Lord and King. And, of course, we know there are many other passages in the Bible, as well, that refer to that.

So, one of these expressions that we see, in effect, is right in the beginning of the first chapter of our New Testament, is the son of David. Jesus is the son of David, standing for the fact that Jesus will rule forever. And in our lives, as Christians, He has to rule supreme in our lives, in our priorities, and in what we do on a day-to-day basis.

So, let’s go next to another aspect of sonship that’s laid out for Jesus Christ in these passages. And that is the son of Abraham – Jesus Christ, the son of Abraham. Again, we don’t have to look beyond Matthew 1:1 to see this talked about. Before we go into any descendants or anything else, Jesus Christ is very clearly laid out as the Son of God and the son of Abraham.

Now, if you take this literally, again, based on physical lineage – son of Abraham – you basically say, “Well, duh…” Right? He was born to Jewish parents in Judea at the time of the Romans. All of the Jews there were sons of Abraham, so why bother to refer to Him as the son of Abraham? After all, everyone who was there was a son of Abraham, unless they were Gentiles and acknowledged to be Gentiles.

Jesus refers several times, in the Gospels as well, to the Pharisees – talks with them – we’ll read one of those passages – and references the fact of how proud they were that they were sons of Abraham. So, it was no secret. The Jewish people very clearly understood that they were sons of Abraham. They were proud of that fact. They relied on the covenant – the physical covenant, the national covenant – that God made through Abraham for all of the things that they had. It’s kind of like today. We don’t announce when we announce the birth of a child, the child was named such and such, and he was born an American. We kind of take that for granted that they were born here in the United States, because that’s the way our citizenship laws work, that they were born American. So, there’s something deeper here pointing to Jesus Christ as the son of Abraham. What is that? What is it that’s being pointed to?

Let’s turn to Genesis 22. As we know, and of course, the Jews of this time relied heavily on the promises that were made to Abraham about physical blessings, about a physical nation that would come from the descendants of Abraham. And that was certainly one piece of the promises that were made to them. But it’s not the totality of the promises that were made to Abraham. Let’s start in Genesis 22:16.

Genesis 22:16-18 – “‘By Myself have I sworn,’ says the LORD, ‘because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son – your only son’” – so this is at the conclusion of that time period where God had sent Abraham and asked him to offer his son, Isaac. And as we heard in the sermon a week or two ago, there was an expectation – there was a faith and understanding on Abraham’s part – that Isaac would live. He wasn’t really sure how that was going to play out, but he had faith in that, and he did believe that. And after that entire time, and the ram that was given in the thicket, to be offered instead of Isaac, this is what God is saying to him. In verse 17: “In blessing, I will bless you, and in multiplying, I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven and the sand which is on the seashore. And your descendants shall possess the gates of their enemies.” Of course, this is a promise made to the physical descendants of Abraham – the greatness that they would have – the number of people that they would have, the fact that they would possess strategic locations, and they would therefore have power, might, and likely, economic riches as a result of that as well. But that’s not all that He says. In verse 18: “In your Seed, all the nations of the earth shall be blessed because you have obeyed My voice.” So, in addition to the physical promise that He makes to Abraham, that God makes to Abraham – of all kinds of descendants, riches, in other places we see some other national promises – there’s this clear promise that is widely recognized – and we see it again in the New Testament – Paul even calls it out – as a prophecy of the Messiah – “in your Seed, all of the nations of the earth will be blessed.” So, at one time, He was making a promise to Abraham about his physical lineage and what would happen with it, but also, through a descendant of Abraham, the entire world would be opened up to the blessings that are given to Abraham.

So, at first glance, this seems the same as being the son of David, right? Being the Messiah – the promise of a Messiah. But there’s more meaning behind this. This is what I was referring to just a moment ago. And that’s the expansion of the covenant relationship with God – the expansion of the covenant relationship with God beyond a physical set of descendants to anyone who would be called by God through Jesus Christ. Let’s see exactly how that’s laid out in the New Testament by Paul.

Galatians 3, and we’ll start in verse 16, and we’ll read verses 26 through 29. Galatians 3:16, 26-29 – here Paul says, writing to the Galatians:

Galatians 3:16 – “Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, ‘To seeds,’ as in many, but as of One, ‘And to your Seed,’ who is Christ.” So Paul is telling us very clearly in this passage in Galatians that there was much more than just a physical set of promises and a physical lineage that was being given through Abraham. But that this idea of “through your Seed, all the nations of the earth will be blessed,” was a specific prophecy of Jesus Christ. Paul makes that extremely clear here in his statement in verse 16. And if, we read on in verse 26 – hopefully, a familiar passage to all of us:

V-26-29 – “For you are all sons of God through faith in Jesus Christ.” We’re all sons, or children, of God through faith in Christ Jesus, just as Abraham had that faith. “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is, therefore, neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”

So, what he is saying very clearly is, this promise that was made to Abraham in this covenant relationship, which was to his physical descendants, through Jesus Christ, who was prophesied back in Genesis, is open to everyone who God calls and brings to Him. And he makes it clear that it doesn’t matter what nationality or race you come from – when he says, “Jew or Greek.” It doesn’t matter what your physical lineage is. Secondly, “slave or free” – economic situation, who you work for – whether you’re a free person or not – doesn’t matter. And thirdly, “male or female.” The promises are not just made to the males of the line, like they might have been in a patriarchal society. But women have equal value and standing before God through Jesus Christ, the Seed of Abraham. Very clearly laid out here. And so, in that very first verse of Matthew – the very first, before we even get to the expression of all of whom begot whom in the background of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ, as the son of Abraham, is being laid out as somebody who’s not only physically the Son, but somebody who is going to open that door of a covenant relationship with God to all humanity – anyone who God calls. And that’s made possible through the person of Jesus Christ. Very powerful statement – we pause and reflect on it.

The genealogy of Matthew, likewise bears this out. Again, we’re not going to dive deep into this, but if you want to look at it a little bit further, first of all, Matthew 1:5, lists Rahab. Rahab was two things that was not a God-fearing Jew. She was a Canaanite. So, if we remember when the children of Israel came to Jericho, Rahab was inside the walls. Not only was she inside the walls of the Canaanites, she was performing the “oldest profession,” as people will name it, so she was living a sinful lifestyle. But she practiced faith in God by taking the spies, who were hidden there, helping them, realizing who the Israelites were and that God was working with them, and she actually, in the end, converted, and she became part of the lineage of Jesus Christ – shown in Matthew 1:5. I find it really interesting that there is, at least, this first proof point right in the lineage of Jesus Christ of that promise to Abraham – that even Jesus Christ, the Seed of Abraham, had bloodline – in this case, legal, through Joseph – that was not Jewish. It was a Canaanite.

And, if we go one, we’ll see as well, Ruth. What do we know about Ruth? She’s listed there. We recognize Ruth and Boaz probably as a story. And of course, there’s a book in the Bible named after her. But she was a Moabitess. The Moabites descended from Lot, not from Abraham. And, at point in the Bible, in Deuteronomy 23, it said that Moabites were not to be admitted to the assembly of the Lord. And Ruth shows up not only in Matthew 1:5, which is the legal lineage of Jesus Christ through Joseph, she shows up in Luke as part of the actual bloodline of Mary. So, even if we want to argue the fact that Rahab’s not in the bloodline of Jesus Christ, Ruth is – as a Moabitess. So, again, in these two names, these two events, that show up through the genealogy of Jesus Christ actually give us a proof positive, and an actual demonstration of His lineage of this idea that’s born out through Jesus Christ as the Seed of Abraham. And the fact that, by faith through Jesus Christ, that we can come to God. It’s not through any physical bloodline that we lay claim to.

So, the identification of Jesus as the son of Abraham validates Him as the One who opens the door to a covenant relationship to God for all of humanity that God will call. I think that’s even more important today as we live in a time that focuses increasingly on tribalism and on division by whatever kind of marker we can find. And Jesus Christ, the Son of Abraham, makes it clear that those are not the things that matter to God. What matters to God is truth and that we come and gain forgiveness through Jesus Christ as we’re called. God views all races, sexes and economic classes as equal before Him. And we’re asked to do exactly the same thing, regardless of what’s going on in society around us.

Let’s move next to the third sonship of Jesus Christ laid out, and that is the Son of God. Luke 3:23, as I pointed out earlier in that genealogy indicates right at the outset that Jesus was supposed to be the son of Joseph – He was assumed to be by some – many, perhaps – but the fact is that He wasn’t. Matthew 1:20, after that genealogy, further tells us that Jesus was miraculously conceived by the Holy Spirit. We have the vision that came to Mary. We have later the fact that Joseph was told also that he should not put her away, because what was done in her was done by the Holy Spirit. And he followed that. So, He was miraculously conceived by the Holy Spirit – in that sense, completely and fully the Son of God. And likewise, as I pointed out earlier when we were looking through the genealogies, Luke 3 records that genealogy all the back to Adam, the son of God, as if to show one more time and one more different way the fact that this bloodline goes all the way back to God, and putting that stamp on Jesus Christ as the Son of God.

Now, Jesus Himself claimed to be the Son of God as well, as we know, and of course, not surprisingly, that made plenty of people around Him angry – especially those who were in authority at that time because it was a threat to them – that He didn’t come in a way that they expected that He would.

Let’s look at John 8 for one of those sections – John 8:37-41 – we think of Jesus as the Son of God. John 8:37 – breaking into this discourse – back and forth, Jesus says to the Pharisees:

John 8:37-41 – “I know that you are Abraham’s descendants, but you seek to kill Me because My word has no place in you.” So He’s acknowledging – like we talked about before – the descendants of Abraham. And then in verse 38, He says: “I speak what I have seen with My Father, and you do what you have seen with your father.” So He was very clearly referring to God as His Father. “And then they answered, and they said,” “Hey,” “Abraham is our father.” “We have the authority that we have because we are the sons of Abraham and we are stewards of the law of God.” “And Jesus said to them, ‘If you Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham.’” – talking about the fact that they would express Godly faith, if they really were living according to the way of Abraham. “But now”in verse 40 – “you seek to kill Me – a Man who has told you the truth, which I heard from God.  Abraham did not do this. You do the deeds of your father.”He uses a small “f” for the word father there. So, what He’s saying by implication is the fact that, “Look guys, you’re not following God. You’re following Satan. You’re following an evil path. You claim to be following God as sons of Abraham, but the things that you’re doing don’t reflect what God is, and therefore, you’re not following Him. You’re following a completely different spirit in a completely different way.” “Then they say to Him, ‘We were not born of fornication. We have one father, God.’” Make no mistake about what they were saying there. I’m sure there were no secrets around at that time. They were saying very clearly to Jesus Christ, “You have no right to tell us anything, you illegitimate child.” That’s exactly what they were telling Him. “Don’t start getting on us. We’re in charge around here. You claim to be the Son of God. You’re nothing but an illegitimate child with no standing.” That’s what they’re telling Him. It’s quite a discourse between them. Jesus clearly claims sonship of God Himself. They say He’s a delusional, illegitimate child – not a great to start working an understanding. And of course, we know where that ended. The book of John, overall, depicts Jesus as the Son of God. There are a number of other passages that we’re not going to go into in that way.

I’d like to take a little bit of a side trip here at this point, and read a quote I think is really spot on here, and ties a little bit to what we heard in the sermonette as well – what Mike was pointing out as something called apologetics. Apologetics is commonly known as people who are providing explanations to non-believers why we believe what we believe as Christians in a compelling way. How many people have heard people say, “I kind of believe in God.” Maybe they’ll even say, “I’m an atheist, but you know, Jesus Christ, I think He was good teacher. I think He was a good man, did some good things, but I’m not so sure He was the Son of God.” Who’s ever heard someone say that? Okay. We’ve probably all heard somebody say some permutation of that. Jesus Christ never claimed to be anything short of the Son of God. C. S. Lewis is probably one of the most famous apologetical writers that is out there. There’s a fantastic quote that I just love him, and I’d like to read it. He says: “A man who is merely a man and said the sort of thing Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic on the level with a man who says he’s a poached egg, or else the devil of hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was and is the Son of God, or else a madman, or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon, or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great moral teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”

What a powerful statement that is. I think it really sums up what Jesus Christ lays out in the Bible, what four different Gospels – people who lived and walked with Him, people who assembled the accounts of others – all lay out. The fact that Jesus Christ unquestioningly said, “I am the Son of God.” And as C. S. Lewis so perfectly points out, there isn’t a choice left. You can’t say He was just a great moral teacher, because, would a great moral teacher be a delusional maniac who decided he was the son of God and was going to give up his life? If you don’t believe He was, then the only thing you can is, He was completely off of His rocker. He gave no other choice, exactly as Lewis says.

So what “Jesus is the Son of God” mean for us? Let’s turn to Romans 8. We’ll read verses 16 and 17, and then verse 29 of Romans 8, as think of the Son of God – Jesus’ identity as the Son of God – what does that mean for us as an individual Christian? Romans 8, we’ll start in verse 16. Here we read that:

Romans 8:16-17, 29 – “The Spirit bears with our spirit that we are children of God”just as Jesus Christ was, we are children of God. “If children, then heirs – heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ.” So just as Jesus Christ was the Son of God, we have been brought in – adopted, if you will – as joint-heirs with Christ – “if we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.” So the hope we have, what we look forward to, in terms of being glorified as spirit beings, comes through Jesus Christ and the fact that He is the Son of God. Moving on to verse 29, Paul writes: “For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son that He might be” – referring to Jesus Christ – “the Firstborn among many brethren.”

So we understand about Jesus Christ as the Son of God. He is the first of many. He’s not the last. He’s not the only Son of God. Through Him, we can have eternal life, and, as Paul lays out here, we’re predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son. We’ve been called to that very image, so that we can be joint heirs with Jesus Christ of all the promises that God has. It doesn’t mean we’re going to be equal to Jesus Christ. It doesn’t mean anything like that. But it means that we will receive the same reward, in terms of eternal life, spirit bodies and being children of God. So, the promise of eternal life as children of God is through Jesus, the Firstborn Son of God.

Let’s go to the last aspect here – the last aspect of sonship – and that is the Son of Man – Jesus Christ as a human being. And we’ve probably all heard Jesus Christ referred to as the Son of Man. In fact, this is most frequent name by which Jesus Christ refers to Himself in the Bible. There are over a hundred times in the Gospels that Jesus Christ is referred to as the Son of Man. And He used that term a lot when He was speaking to people and referring to Himself in the third person.

We talked already about Luke 3:38, and it symbolically talks about Jesus as the Son of Man, even though it doesn’t use those words, when it takes His lineage all the way back to Adam, the original man. So it’s tying Him back to that original man that was created by God. So, Son of Man – let’s look at a few places – and we won’t turn to all of these, but I’ll refer to a couple, where Jesus Christ refers to Himself as the Son of Man. If you’re looking for an interesting study to do this week, and you didn’t have anything in mind, this would be a great one. Go through and look at the hundred places in the New Testament – or in the Gospels – where Jesus Christ is referred to as the Son of Man. You’ll find some very interesting and instructive passages, I think.

It’s used as a statement of humility. In Luke 9:58, Jesus Christ mentions the fact that the Son of Man has no place to lay His head. He had a ministry, like others at that time would have, of where they went itinerantly and moved around all the time. He didn’t have a home. He didn’t have a set place to live. He was received into other places – in people’s homes. And He talked for a while, then He moved on to another place and did the same thing. So, He had a very humble situation. It was a statement of humility in this case.

It’s also a statement of deity. Son of Man is also a statement of deity – Matthew 9:6, is where Jesus heals a paralytic. And what does He say with the paralytic? He says, “This is so you’ll understand that the Son of Man has the power to heal sins.” And so, there He was really using it to point to His divine power, even though He was also fully human.

So, the heart of the matter is that this humility and this deity both lived within a human form. God was fully human and fully divine. His humanity is referred to repeatedly in the Gospels. We see Him talked about as being hungry when He was fasting before His temptation and going out in the wilderness. Probably the biggest understatement in the Bible says that after He was fasting for 40 days, He was hungry. It goes to reason. He’s human. He’s talked about as being tired. Before He met the Samaritan woman at the well, He’d been walking a long distance with His disciples, and it says Jesus was tired, and He sat down by the well. Again, referring to Him as being human. We see reference to Jesus weeping – shortest verse in the Bible, right? “Jesus wept.” – shortest sentence. At the death of Lazarus, He saw the sorrow that was there and all the people who loved Lazarus, and how they had lost their hope because he had died. And He cried – not because He was hopeless Himself, but out of human compassion for the people and the sorrow that they were feeling at that time.

For me, as an introvert sometimes, I love seeing the fact that Jesus needed to escape the crowds to regain His energy. After He fed the 5,000, what do we see? He departed. He said, “Guys, let’s get in the boat and head to the hills. I need some time alone.” Right? He needed to collect Himself. He couldn’t always have that onslaught of people. He was, in that sense, fully human. At some point, it sapped His energy and He needed to recharge.

Additionally, we talked earlier about a couple of the women who are a part of His lineage. But His lineage, as well – as it’s laid out in those genealogies – shows frailty and human even sinfulness. For example, we talked already about Rahab and what her occupation was before she took in those spies. Despite that fact, she turned herself to God, became a woman of faith – she was with the Israelites after that time – and became part of the lineage of Jesus Christ. Ruth – again, we talked about her being a Moabitess – part of this set of people for ten generations who should not be allowed to be part of Israel. And she was part of the lineage. Bathsheba is in the lineage, because Solomon was the son of David and Bathsheba. In fact, she’s pointed out – I believe it’s in the account in Luke – not by name, but as the wife of Uriah. So even within the lineage, she’s talked about and mentioned the fact that she’s the woman that David took who had been the wife of Uriah. So, someone who was in an illicit relationship with David and their descendants were part of the descendants of Jesus Christ. And lastly, there’s Judah and Tamar. We won’t go deep into that account, but Tamar, actually, had disguised herself as a prostitute and sat on the side of the road, and Judah came by, and that was how Pharez – I believe it was – was conceived. It’s part of the lineage of Jesus Christ. There’s humanity in it. There were people who were sinful – just like all of us are – but God saw fit that there would be people – and of course we know that every human that was in the lineage of Jesus Christ sinned, because every human being has sinned – but very prominent – laid out there right in front of us in the Bible – sins, and those people are named as part of the lineage of Jesus Christ.

So, again, we think of the Son of Man, we think of somebody in all aspects had humanity. There was sinfulness in His background in His lineage. He had all of the human emotions and weaknesses and difficulties that we have to deal with as well, but as we know, did not sin. So, despite His humanity, He was fully divine.

Let’s turn to Colossians 2:8-9 – here Paul writing to the Colossians, as heresies start to sweep across the churches in the time after the death of Jesus Christ. He talking to them here in Colossians 2:8-9, and he’s warning the members there – the brethren in Colossae – and he says:

Colossians 2:8-9 – “Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.”

So, this is where we see it combine the fact that all the fullness – so fully divine – all the fullness of God dwelt within Him bodily – in a human body. Ultimately, His humanity – and this is the greatness of it at the end of the day – enabled Him to be our Intercessor. He’s able to be a perfect sacrifice for our sins, because He was human and sinless, and He’s able to operate, then, as our Intercessor.

Let’s turn to Hebrews 4:14-16. Verse 14:

Hebrews 4:14-16 – “Seeing then we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot be touched who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us, therefore, come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

I love the way these things are tied together in this passage in Hebrews. And the doorway to that mercy and that grace to help in time of need is the humanity of Jesus Christ – the fact that He can understand us. He’s lived within our lived within our bodies, lived within our heads, so to speak – with a human mind, knowing what happens to us in terms of our emotions, the way that we think when we’re tired, or hungry, or run down and we’ve just had too much. He gets it. He knows what that’s like. And that’s why we can come boldly before the throne of grace, and we can just say to God, “God, You know through Jesus Christ, I’ve taken this blow, I feel this way, this is happening in my life. Give me grace and give me mercy.” We can say those things because Jesus Christ is there at the right hand of God – we talked about – as our Intercessor. He’s lived in our shoes. He can understand our ways, and forgiveness comes through Him, and mercy, because He understands and He grants those things to us.

So, in conclusion, we’ve only scratched the surface today on this topic. Hopefully, it’s brought some interesting thoughts to mind for all of us. These aspects of the sonship of Jesus Christ all point, in some way, to the new life that we have in Him and meaning that He has in our lives as we live as Christians.

He’s the Son of David. And likewise, we are subjects of Jesus Christ, who as the Son of David, is a King. He will rule in the future in God’s future Kingdom. He must rule today in our lives as Christians. He’s the son of Abraham. Our physical background is no barrier to a covenant relationship with God, because Jesus Christ came as the son of Abraham. And we shouldn’t fall into the trap of the world around us of looking at other people differently because of those different characteristics that God is blind to. Jesus is the Son of God. And through Him, we are children and heirs of God through Jesus Christ. And lastly, He’s the Son of Man. His humanity gives Him understanding of our frailties, and through that, we receive mercy and grace that we certainly need every day.

So, as ones who go by the name of Jesus Christ – Christians – let’s continue to deepen our understanding of Him and our deepness of walking in the way that He did. Have a great rest of your Sabbath.