Sermon: Names of Jesus: Son of God

I pray with me again as we turn to the, the scriptures tonight. Father, what a privilege it is to reflect on your very nature, the creator of all things and the redeemer of this world. You've given us minds that can comprehend and you've given us your word to reveal yourself. And so we ask tonight, as we spend time in the pages of this book, that you would grow us in the knowledge of our God when you enlighten our minds

and expand our hearts to know more and to love more. And we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

When you look at Jesus, and we are looking at him in the pages of the scriptures, but when you look at Jesus, what do you see? Or maybe another way to say that is, is when you encounter the words of Christ, that the testimony of who he is, who is it that you see? That's what we are considering, is we are thinking through the names of Jesus, his titles, his names. We are, we're asking the question, who is this person? Who is this Jesus?

And tonight we come to a title that is, uh, probably the, the most common title, that we know him by the title of the Son. So tonight, we are thinking of Jesus as the Son. Now, in the scriptures, there's different ways that this title or this name, the Son is applied to Jesus. Jesus himself uses it most often, often in reference to himself. He calls himself the son of man. That's what we'll consider next Sunday. We see the gospel writers, uh, we see

Satan and demons. We even see the centurion as he's standing at the cross called Jesus the Son of God, Jesus the Son. As we think of this title, there are two different ways that Jesus, the son of God is revealed to us in the scriptures. And so I wanna think of those two things together, these two different ways. This title, uh, is given to us. Uh, the first, uh, we will think about this title as a messianic title. And in some ways this will function as an introduction

for us tonight, a a rather long introduction. Uh, but we're gonna think about this title as a Messianic title. And then secondly, we're gonna come to Jesus, the Son, the Eternal Son, and we will spend our time in Matthew 11 when we get to the eternal Son. So Messianic son, where does this idea come from that the Messiah would be a son? Well, if you think with me for a minute, as, as we go back into the pages, in the revelation

of the Old Testament, one place we see this title applied is to angels. Angels. And in many places in the Old Testament are called the Sons of God. But what's interesting about angels, even though they, they refer to as sons of God, they do not bear the distinct image of God. That image of God, that privilege of reflecting the very image of God was not given to the angels, but rather was given to Adam. So if you remember all the way back, Genesis chapter one,

Adam and then Eve were created in the image of God. And by virtue of being created in God's image, Adam was the first son of God. And so think what Adam's, uh, role or task was to be. He was the son of God who was called to be perfectly obedient to his father. And his task was then to fill the earth with more of these images, with more of these sons of God. That was Adam's task. But what we find in these first opening chapters

of the scriptures is Adam, the, the first son of God failed to follow God in perfect obedience. And so what we learn is that the world falls into sin through a son, but we're also given a promise, Genesis chapter three, that the world is going to be redeemed by another son. This promise of grace God gives in Genesis chapter three 15 in there, God's promise is that a, another son would be born an offspring of Eve, and this son would rise up.

And he, this other son, this second son, would crush the head of the snake. This, this second son would succeed where Adam had failed. So the question then, who is this second son? Who is this offspring of Eve? Who is he? And, and and where will he appear and when will he appear? This is one of the undercurrents you might say, all through the Old Testament. So think with me. We, we fast forward, we come to Abraham and God calls Abraham to himself

and God gives us specific promise to Abraham later would be called Abraham. And remember what God promised to Abram that he would bless the entire world and through Abram would come many offspring, many sons, Lots of sons would be born to him. And one of those sons, a very particular son would rise up and through this son, the entire world would be blessed. So Abraham is given this promise of a son to be born. Abraham, of course, has sons, many sons,

one of his sons, Isaac. Isaac then has Jacob. Jacob is renamed Israel, and Israel then becomes the focal point of God's plan of redemption. Israel is a son, he is called a son. So if you remember, Israel, uh, has many, many offspring, and the nation is a voice from heaven. And here's what the voice says. This is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased. This is my son. Just like we saw in Exodus, God speaking, Israel is my son,

and now he's looking to Jesus at his baptism in this voice from heaven announcing that here is my son. There's an echo here from the Psalms. You'll recall Psalm two verse seven there in that psalm, if you're to go back and read it, it's this, this great messianic psalm where the Lord is speaking directly to the Messiah, to the anointed one. And the Lord says to him that you are my son today. I have begotten you. Now it, it's not as if Jesus was not a son up

until this point, and now he becomes the son. No, he is the son. He is eternally the son. We'll see that in a minute. But here what we see is that Jesus is being announced, he's being declared that here he is. This is the great fulfillment of the Messianic son. Now immediately following Jesus' baptism, what does Matthew tell us? Happens. Jesus then goes out into the wilderness. So again, think of Israel. Israel crosses through the Red Sea, and where do they go?

They go out to the wilderness. Here we see again Jesus repeating, retracing these steps of Israel. There's also this echo back to Eden as well, just as Adam was tempted in the wilderness by Satan. So now Jesus is being tempted by Satan in the wilderness. And notice what the temptation is that Satan brings to him. Verse three of chapter four, if you are the son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread. Again, if you look down at verse six, if you are the son

of God, Satan says, throw yourself down for it is written. And he quotes couple passages of scripture. Notice here this temptation by Satan to Jesus in the garden or in the wilderness is, is mirroring his temptation of Adam in the garden? Are you really the son of God? Did God really say, are you sure you can trust God and his word that he has given to you? And what does Jesus do? Well instead of falling into that temptation, like Adam,

Jesus quotes from the scriptures, he quotes from Deuteronomy, and he's showing that no God's word is true. It is good. I can trust God. I am not doubting God. I am following God. I am obeying God. Here we see Jesus as as the second Adam who is succeeding where Adam had failed. And we see from this point forward in Matthew's gospel, the beginning of, of Jesus crushing the head of the snake. He does it by turning away from these temptations.

And then he continues to do it as he overrules Satan's power through his miracles and his healings, we see as Matthew is showing us that Jesus is the true son of God. He's the second Adam, he's the greater Israel. He's resisting the temptation to which Adam and Eid had succumbeded. And in doing so, Jesus is reversing the curse that Adam had brought into the world. This theme will continue in Matthew's gospel. Immediately following this, Jesus calls the 12 disciples,

the the 12 disciples, an echo of the 12 tribes of Israel. Jesus is recasting a new Israel. He's, he's reforming a new Israel. And then what do we see? Matthew chapter five, Jesus goes up on the mount and he gives the law. He gives his word just like Moses goes up on the mount and receives the law from God. Matthew is showing us that Jesus is reliving Israel's history in his life and in his ministry. He's showing us that Jesus came as the son of God

and he is fulfilling all of these Old Testament promises and shadows. So it's to quote one scholar, Greg Beale. He says this, Jesus came as the last Adam in the true Israel, two sides of one redemptive historical coin. He came as the end time Adam like son of God. And in this role as the endemic son of God, this new Israel, this second Adam, Jesus is obeying God completely. And as he does so, he is restoring the image of God

that was lost in the garden. And he is inaugurating a new kingdom, the kingdom of, of the new creation. He is the messianic son of God. Now, what's amazing and surprising is all of that, as amazing as all of that is, and and there's so much you can unpack and, and, and look back to and see all the, the, the lines that connect as amazing as all of that is, he's actually more than that. He's more than just the messianic son of God.

And this brings us to see Jesus as the eternal son. So stay in Matthew's gospel and turn with me, if you will, to the, uh, 11th chapter, Matthew chapter 11.

We'll look at verses 25 through 27.

What we see as, as we read these verses and and unpack them is Jesus revealing himself is more than just the Messianic son. He's actually the eternal son. So follow along as I read from these verses. At that time, Jesus declared, I thank you Father Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children. Yes, father, for such was your gracious will.

All things have been handed over to me by my father. And no one knows the son except the Father. And no one knows the father except the son and anyone to whom the son chooses to reveal him.

We see here a glimpse of the essence of who Jesus is as the Son to understand what's happening here. Notice the context here in this chapter. Matthew 11, what we just read immediately follows Jesus's condemnation against the unrepentant cities. Luke, in the parallel account, Luke 10 tells us that Jesus had sent out the 72 and they go out and they are proclaiming that the kingdom of God is here, the kingdom of the sun.

And and as they proclaim this message, it was both received, but it was also rejected. And Matthew tells us Jesus is woe against these unrepentant cities. That these cities who, who heard the message, they, they saw the mighty works. That Jesus had been performing the these works of recreation, right? Mirroring his works of creation in the garden, and now he's doing works of recreation. They, they had seen all these things.

They saw his mighty works. But Matthew tells us that they did not repent. And so Jesus says, verse 24, I tell you that it will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom than for you. You see, this message goes out and and it's received by some and it's rejected by others. Now, what's so in interesting here is following this, this, this declaration of judgment. Matthew then says in verse 25, at that time, Jesus

declared, and then notice what Jesus does. He's giving thanks, he he's thanking the Father. Now in Luke's account, as I mentioned the parallel account, he has the exact same words of Jesus. But Luke gives us one little detail at the beginning of verse 25, that, that Matthew doesn't record. Luke tells us that in that same hour, Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and then declared, and then we see these words. I thank you Father Lord of heaven and earth.

So pause here for a minute. 'cause here's what we see. We see Jesus who is rejoicing in the Holy Spirit and he is speaking to the Father. See, we're, we're getting a glimpse here into the very personhood of God himself. One commentator called this here a, a personal autobiography from Jesus himself. We're, we're seeing who he is. Who is Jesus? Well, as we just looked at, Matthew has showed us that, that Jesus is the Messiah.

He's the son of God. But now in Matthew 11, in these verses, Jesus is, is pulling open the veil. He's, he's giving us a window to see who this messiah, the son of God actually is. He is not just the son of God who comes in the steps of the Son of Adam, but rather he is the eternal son, the Son who rejoices by the power of the spirit. This is the son. He tells us who alone is known by the Father and who alone knows the father.

This is the son as Jesus tells us, who has the exact same authority as the Father because the father has given it to him. See, Jesus is telling us that he's not just the messianic son of God, but he is the eternal son of God, the second person of the Trinity. And as we see Jesus, as we see the Son, we're seeing him enter into human history through this Davidic line to become the messianic son of God. Now, notice the mood of this text.

I I've already mentioned it, but it it's surprising because Jesus here is rejoicing in something. He's thanking the Father for something. Again, this is not what we would expect following this section on, on his woes. For those who did not repent when they saw his mighty works, he immediately follows by rejoicing in something. What is he rejoicing in? Well, look at what he says. He says, I thank you, father Lord of heaven

and earth, that you have hidden these things. He's rejoicing in the fact that the Father has hidden these things. Now, that's surprising. See, we, we would expect Jesus to say, father, I thank you that you're so patient with people. I I thank you that you're so understanding. I thank you that you, you overlook our ignorance. Now, that's not what Jesus is rejoicing in here. He is rejoicing that the Father has hidden things.

What are these things? We can see what these things are when we see that it's contrasted. This verb to hide is contrasted with another verb in this verse to reveal. He's hidden some things, but he's also revealed some things. This idea of revealing things has to do with God's revelation. It, it, it, it refers to knowledge, knowing things, understanding what things mean. It's understanding not just that did, that Jesus did miracles,

but what these miracles actually mean, what they pointed to it. It's understanding, having a knowledge of this messianic age as it is unfolding in real time in history. Jesus is rejoicing that the Father has hidden these things from some, and he tells us who these things have been hidden from. So look back and and notice what he says. There's a contrast that he's painting for us. He's hidden these things, these things from this

self-sufficiency on, on the one hand. And he's revealing these things to those who have a God word dependency. It's being hidden from the wise and the understanding standing and it's being revealed to those who come to the Father. As little children think about being self-sufficient. For a minute, Kelvin calls this, this sort of mindset or, uh, this sort of heart attitude as being sw, that's a good word. We like that word sw with diabolical pride.

That's what it means to be wise or understanding in our own eyes. We're, we're flexing thinking as if we understand and, and as if we know who God actually is and what he is actually like and what his plan is. And, and I'll come to God on my own terms. That's that's the wise, that's the understanding the wise in understanding according to their own ways. See, God is a God who hides these things if we try to approach God in our own way.

Now, the flip side of this is amazing. God hides these things from some, but he also reveals them to those that come in the right way. So what is the right way to come to the Father? Well, it's the exact antithesis of what it means to be proud and arrogant. It, it means we come not according to our own understanding, not according to our ways, but according to what God has said, it's trusting God's word. Think back to the garden, right? What did Adam do?

He did not trust that God was good. He did not trust that the word God had said is true and will stand right. What does it mean to come to God like a child? It means that we come to God, not according to our own way, but trusting that his way, what he has given to us in his word is right and true and good. This is what it means to come to him as little children do. And what we see, what Jesus is telling us in this verse is

that when we come to God in this way, we are actually coming to the son himself. I think that's why Jesus is rejoicing at this moment. See, when we come to God in the right way, it means we must come to God through the sun. We are coming to the sun. And this causes Jesus to rejoice. I think this, this helps us to understand why the Pharisees could not answer Jesus's question. Later on in Matthew's gospel in Matthew 22, Jesus comes

to the Pharisees and he, he asks them a question. He says, um, the Messiah, the Christ, uh, whose son will he be? And the Pharisees, they they knew the answer, right? They, they knew the Old Testament scriptures. So they immediately say, well, he'll be the Son of David. And Jesus says, that's right, you, you, you've answered correctly. But they also didn't answer correctly because Jesus presses them a bit and he follows up with another question.

Since you're right, you, you, you understand that, that the, the Messiah is gonna be a son and he's gonna be the son of David. That that's right. Uh, but, but there's this, there's this psalm, uh, Psalm one 10, it happens to be the most quoted Psalm in the, in the New Testament. And there David is actually speaking, and David in the Spirit is addressing his own son, the Messiah. And David calls his own son the Messiah Lord.

And so Jesus says, how can David do that? How can he call his own son the Lord? And Matthew tells us there that the Pharisees couldn't answer his his question. And so they were silent. And and from that moment on, it says they, they were afraid to ask him more questions. See, they were willing to embrace Jesus as the son, the Messianic son. But what they missed was behind this son, we might say antecedent to the Messianic son is actually

a sonship that predates and transcends this messianic role. This is a sonship that is eternal. That's what they missed. And in all of their hopes for a messiah, they missed that the Son, this Messiah who was to come, was actually going to be the eternal Son. And because he's the eternal son, he can take all of these threads, all of these promises from the Old Testament, he's able to weave them together into one person

and fulfills them all. See, Jesus is revealing here in Matthew 11, verse 27, that there's this intimacy and royalty, this relationship that he has not just with God, but rather with the Father. And that that distinction is, is key to see. Jesus is not just saying that I know God and God knows me. See, if he had said that, then it would allow us to see Jesus as a, a sort of prophet, right? A prophet knows God, and God knows a prophet.

Well, maybe Jesus is just a, a more enlightened prophet. Uh, maybe Jesus is the greatest of all prophets, but he's not God. He, he, he maybe could fulfill some of these messianic roles, but we can believe that and, and just not embrace him as God. Uh, Jesus doesn't allow us to do that. Why? Because he says that it's not just God who he knows, but rather the Father who he knows. And how does he know the father? Well, he knows the Father

because he's in relationship to him as a son. The language, a father and son is speaking of essence just as much as it is speaking of a relationship. Now, we, we understand in human terms, you think of a father and a son. And, uh, I don't think we say this anymore today, but we might say that, uh, you are a, a spitting image of your father, right? It means that every time I look at you, I, I think I can see your father, right?

We we're seeing a certain appearance, uh, certain looks, uh, mannerisms, ways of speaking or communicating right? That, that, that likeness, that resemblance is, is unique and close because of this relationship that a father has with a son. As as we look at that and and understand that in our, in our sort of human way on a social level, what we realize is this relationship has an antecedent that predates time. It's actually in the very essence of God himself, A God

who exists eternally as father and son and spirit. And so as we think of this in a human realm, and, and we can look at that and say, well, this is, this is unique. But when we see it in the heavenly realm like we are here in this verse from Matthew, we are seeing it heightened. We're, we're seeing the fullness of what this relationship actually is. You see, when we look at it here, we are seeing things that are finite.

But when we look up into the heavens, we see the infinite, what we see here as a mere resemblance. There we see an exact image and an exact imprint. What's here is partial, but and, and partial and imperfect. But what is there is fullness and radiance. The Father perfectly nose knows the son by virtue of this eternal eternity, this eternal fatherhood. And the son perfectly knows the Father by virtue of this eternal, the word here is affiliation or sonship.

And this is a relationship that's not simply temporal and finite, but rather it's essential and eternal. And so when we look at verse 27, when Jesus says, with the same knowledge that the father has of the Son, so the son has the same knowledge as the Father, it's exclusive, it's perpetual, it's intensive, it's exhaustive. We are seeing Jesus reveal himself to us as the Messianic son who is also the eternal Son. And seeing this, we, we started with

what do you see when you see Jesus? Well, if you see this as I'm, as I'm talking about it, and as Jesus is saying, if you see this, it's wonderfully good news. And it's good news because of one little conjunction in the English that's in verse 27. It's the word. And so look back and find this, and it's the, the second half of the verse. No one knows the father except the son. And here's the good news. It's not just that the son knows the father alone,

but the son delights to reveal the Father to whoever he chooses. There's the good news. The good news is that in Jesus we can see the eternal son who has become the son of God, the second Adam, the son of David. And by seeing him, we can know with the same sort of knowledge that the son has of the Father, we can know the father as well. So a wonderful little phrase that I found in reading through, uh, older Dutch theologian, Gerhard Voss,

and he said, this soteriology is christology to be saved, to know God is to know Christ. Soteriology is Christology as we are looking to Christ, the son of God, when we see him, when we see him as the messianic son, but also this eternal son, we are also seeing the Father, the Son is revealing to us the very knowledge of God, the Father himself. So to summarize, Jesus is the son of God who came to be rather lemme back up.

Jesus is God the Son who became the son of God for us to reconcile us, to restore us, to bring us back to the Father. Now, there's a lot more that could be said and could even be impact from this one verse, but what I wanna do is to close and highlight, uh, a few verses throughout the New Testament there. There's a lot that that is mentioned that uses this, this terminology, Jesus as the Son, the Son of God. Uh, but I wanna look at six different ways that this

theme of Jesus as the Son of God informs and shapes the Christian life. So six ways, and this will be much briefer. Number one, look to the resurrection as vindication, that God the son is indeed the son of God. Look to the resurrection as vindication, that God the son is indeed the son of God. And say, how do we know Jesus is not just a prophet? Uh, how do we know he's not just another enlightened figure? Well, the answer is the resurrection.

Here's what Paul tells us in Romans chapter one. Paul says, he's a servant of Christ. Jesus called to be an apostle set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, this gospel concerning his son who was descended from David according to the flesh. And here's the key, this son verse for and was declared to be the son of God in power according to the spirit of holiness by his resurrection

from the dead, the eternal son of God who came into history to descend in the line of David, according to the flesh was declared for us was vindicated. You want evidence that Jesus is indeed the fulfillment of all of these messianic promises will look to the resurrection. He is the Son of God. Here's the second way. Look to Jesus as the son of God, the personal and final revelation of God, because he is the son of God, the eternal son of God.

He is the personal and final revelation of God. Hebrews chapter one long ago at many times, and in many ways God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days, he has spoken to us by his son. He is the personal and final revelation of God. So you wanna know what is God like? Who is God? Well, you have to look to the sun. And that's what we have in the scriptures. Look to the sun. Here's the third thing, because Jesus,

the sun is the personal revelation of God. Then we can come to the sun to find both assurance and rest. We come to him. That's what Matthew goes on to tell us in verse 28, where Jesus says, come to me. Come to me. And what will you find? You will find in me? Rest. Think of that theme of rest going all the way back to Israel's day, right? Israel is to come out of Egypt. And where are they to go into the promised land to find rest?

We hear Jesus as the new Israel is saying, come to me. Come to me and I will give you this rest. He gives us rest by also giving us assurance of this rest that we truly are reconciled to the Father. So first John tells us, this is the testimony that God has given us eternal life and this life is in the Son. Whoever has the son has life. Whoever does not have the son of God, does not have life. Do you wanna know? Do do you have this rest?

Do you, do you have life? Do do you know this true God? Well, what do you see when you look to Jesus? Do you see the Son? Have you received him? Have you embraced him? So that leads us to the fourth thing. We come to the sun by faith. We also continue to live in the sun by faith. Galatians two 20, I have been crucified with Christ is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me. The life I now live in, the flesh. I live by faith in the son of God

who loved me and gave himself for me. This is the gospel of God's sovereign grace on display here in Matthew 1127, whoever the father wants to reveal the son to and whoever the son wants to reveal the father to come to him, how do you come? The only way you can come is by faith. You must believe that what you see in the person of Christ, what you see is actually true and you trust it and you hold onto it. You come by faith and you continue to live by faith.

Here's the fifth thing. We grow in the knowledge of the Son of God. That's what we're called to in the Christian life. This path of discipleship is growing until we attain to the unity of faith and the knowledge of the Son of God. Ephesians four. So we grow in our knowledge of the Son of God. And fifth or sixth lastly, embrace the Son of God to become adopted sons and daughters of God. Here's how it sounds in Galatians four.

But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his son, born of woman born under the law to redeem those who are under the law so that we might receive adoption as sons. Because you are sons. God has sent the spirit of his son into our hearts crying, Abba, father. So you're no longer a slave but a son. And if a son and an heir through God. Friends, this is wonderful. Good news. This is what caused Jesus to rejoice here in Matthew 11.

That God the Son, became the Son of God in order that we, by faith, would be reconciled, would be adopted into this family, that we would be filled with the knowledge of the eternal Father by the eternal Son. Amen. Join me as we pray,

father Lord of heaven and earth, we rejoice tonight that in the wonder of your sovereign grace, you would send your son the only begotten Son of God, God of God, light of light, he of who, of one substance with you equal with you in both power and glory that he would come to reveal to us the Father. We praise you that you have revealed him to us and we praise you, oh Son, for revealing the Father to us. And would you grow us in the knowledge of you, our great God

and king, we pray you'd give us faith to walk humbly with you. Our God, we pray all this in Jesus' name. Amen.