Jesus of
Nazareth is the Son of the living God. |
The angel
Gabriel said to Mary about Jesus, before He was conceived in the womb, “The Holy
Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you;
therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of
God” (Luke 1:35 – NKJV). |
In the
days of His flesh, God spoke twice from heaven declaring that Jesus was His
Son. The first time at the Jordan river, after Jesus was baptized by John, as
it is written: “And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway of the
water, and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of
God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: And lo a voice from
heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew
3:16-17). The second time on the holy mountain, when Jesus was transfigured
before three of His disciples, as it is written: “And after six days Jesus
taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high
mountain apart, And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as
the sun, and his raiment was white as the light. And, behold, there appeared
unto them Moses and Elias talking with him. Then answered Peter, and said
unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here: if thou wilt, let us make
here three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias.
While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a
voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well
pleased; hear ye him. And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their
face, and were sore afraid” (Matthew 17:1-6). |
Jesus Himself
declared that He was the Son of God on many occasions. I will cite just two
of them. One day Jesus asked a man, who was born blind to whom He gave sight,
‘Do you believe in the Son of God?’ He answered and said, ‘Who is He, Lord,
that I may believe in Him?’ And Jesus said to him, ‘You have both seen Him
and it is He who is talking with you.’ Then he said, ‘Lord, I believe!’ And
he worshiped Him (John |
The Jews
condemned Jesus to be deserving of death because He declared that He was the
Son of God. Here is what Mark wrote: “Again the high priest asked Him, saying
to Him, Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?’ Jesus said, ‘I am. And
you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and
coming with the clouds of heaven.’ Then the high priest tore his clothes and
said, ‘What further need do we have of witnesses? You have heard the
blasphemy! What do you think? And they all condemned Him to be deserving of
death” (Mark 14:61-64 – NKJV). And when they delivered Him to Pontius Pilate
they said to him, “We have a law, and according to our law He ought to die,
because He made Himself the Son of God” (John 19:7 – NKJV). The reason why
according to the Jews Jesus was guilty of blasphemy, and thus He had to be
put to death, was that by calling God His own Father He made Himself equal
with God (John 5:18), that is to say, He made Himself God (John 10:33). |
Jesus
Christ was declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit
of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead (Romans 1:4). |
The apostles
of the Lord believed and confessed that Jesus is the Son of God (Matthew
14:33; 16:16; Acts 9:20). |
Demons
know that Jesus is the Son of God, for in the days of His flesh demons came
out of many, crying out and saying, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of God!’
(Luke 4:41). |
To
conclude this teaching on the sonship of Jesus, I want to point out that
Jesus did not become the Son of God, either at His birth or sometime during
His earthly life, for He existed prior to His conception. In other words, He
existed in heaven with God the Father before He was conceived in the womb of
Mary his mother. He Himself said that He came down from heaven (John 6:38),
and that He came forth from the Father and came into the world (John 16:28).
Was Jesus eternal in His preexistence or was He a created being? He was
eternal, because He existed with God the Father from eternity. For Jesus said
to the Jews, “Before Abraham was born, I am” (John 8:58 - NIV), and the
apostle John states that Jesus was “that eternal life which was with the
Father and was manifested to us” (1 John 1:2 – NKJV). As you can see, these
words confirm His everlasting pre-existence in heaven with God the Father.
Therefore we proclaim that the Son of God is the First and the Last. He was
and is the eternal Son, coexistent and coeternal with the Father. |