John 5:19-23
19 Then Jesus answered and said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner. 20 For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel. 21 For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will. 22 For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son, 23 that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.
John 3:14-17
14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in Him should [c]not perish but have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
John 1:49-51
49 Nathanael answered and said to Him, “Rabbi, You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!”
The term, Son of man, is usually used by Jesus to refer to himself in the gospels. In some texts He is referred to as the Son of God, but Jesus referred to Himself mostly as the Son Man and never as the Son of God.
This month we are looking at “knowing the son”.
In the book of Daniel 3:24-25
24 Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished; and he rose in haste and spoke, saying to his counselors, “Did we not cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?” They answered and said to the king, “True, O king.” 25 “Look!” he answered, “I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire; and they are not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.”
Nebuchadnezzar the King of Babylon exclaims and calls the 4th man in the fire the son of God.
Nathaniel refers to Jesus as the Son of God.
So, who is the SON?
The clue is in the scriptures,
John 1:18
18 No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.
and John 3:16
16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
We can see the reference, only begotten Son
So, who is this Son of Man or Son of God?
As we look closer, we realize that this is one of the titles or names of Jesus.
Who is Jesus?
John begins his Gospel in a rather unique fashion, He laid emphasis on the fact that Jesus existed before creation.
So, he opens his gospel with the words of Genesis 1.
Gen 1:1
In the beginning
John1:1
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
So, if John is emphasizing the fact that Jesus was before creation what was He called?
What should we call one who existed before creation?
What should we call Him?
John therefore gives us a clue to His name before creation in John.
John 1:10-14
10 He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. 11 He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. 12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: 13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
The Word became FLESH.
Many have focused on one aspect of the Son, solely on His humanity and some have focused solely on His divinity. Unfortunately, we will be making a big mistake if we focus on just one aspect of the Son.
To really know the Son and who He is we have to know His humanity and His divinity.
When we read through the gospels especially the first three books, Matthew, Mark and Luke. We discover a trend in that they all reveal the Son’s humanity. They also make it clear that everything about Him was different from other humans, even though He was born like every other human.
He spoke with authority, He had the power to forgive sins, He casts out demons, He raised the dead, He commanded the storm to cease, He walked on water, He was transfigured before His disciples, He had compassion for humanity, He opened blind eyes, made the lame to walk. These things did set Him apart from other humans.
John however recognized and focused on His divinity as seen in the opening of his gospel, John chapter 1.1-3
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.
John 20:31
John 20:31 but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.
In 1 John 5:13 John writes
13 These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.
We can therefore deduce from the gospels that the SON was fully Human and Fully divine and His name is Jesus. Jesus the only begotten Son of God. Who came to reconcile the world to God.
