Son of God, Son of Man
We’re kicking off a brand new series at VFC: The Biography of Jesus. Throughout March and April, we’ll be discovering more about who Jesus is and what that means for us. We’re considering the question, “Who do you say that Jesus is?” and learning about His ways, How words, and who He truly is.
As we see throughout the Bible, Jesus was given lots of different titles throughout Scripture. He’s the Messiah. He’s the King. He’s the Lamb. He’s the High Priest. He’s the Son of David. He’s a Rabbi.
In her message, Son of God, Son of Man, Annie Spangler explores with us the details of these 2 titles Jesus holds to help us understand who He is on a deeper, more personal level.
What’s in a Title?
Titles help us know who somebody is; they describe a person. Understanding a person’s title gives insight to who they are, what their motives are, what they're like, and how your life could look if you have a relationship with that person. Whether you’re “Samantha the wife” or “Brent the Christian” or “Kathy the dog owner” or “Jonathan the tennis player”...each of these titles indicate traits and qualities about a person.
By looking at these 2 titles of Jesus–Son of God, Son of Man–we’re able to unlock new, key insights about Jesus. Here’s the deal: We are going to be studying Jesus for all of eternity. The expanse of our spiritual existence will be spent getting to know God more and more.
There are truths about Jesus we will be discovering beyond the end of times! As we look at Jesus as the Son of God and the Son of Man, we’ll unravel new truths about Jesus as we come to further understand who Jesus is and decipher for ourselves who we say He is.
What Do Jesus’ Titles Tell Us?
Have you ever needed to be rescued? In Son of God, Son of Man, at timestamp 4:30, Annie Spangler shares a hysterical story about a time she and her husband Zach were very much in need of a rescue and comically relates the concept of us desperately needing a Savior.
We have all been stuck and in desperate need of rescue; all of humanity for all of time has been stuck and in need of rescue. By the miraculous grace of God, Jesus came to the world and rescued and restored us into a right relationship with God. Jesus didn’t just bring hope; He is hope. Amen!
But what kind of man could be hope? The only kind of man that could fully restore the world was a man that was fully God and simultaneously fully man. Here’s the simplest way to explain and understand the truth that Jesus is both the son of man and the Son of God: The Son of God speaks to Jesus’s deity and the son of man speaks to Jesus’s humanity.
“Son of man'' is the title Jesus most often uses to describe himself. When he says this, he’s not just saying that he’s a human. What he’s really doing is referencing an Old Testament prophecy in the book of Daniel that speaks of this son of man as an exalted figure, a messiah, that was to come. When Jesus calls himself the “son of man,” what He’s doing is revealing His true identity.
“Son of God” defines Jesus’s deity and explains that He is of God, having the same nature as God. As the “Son of God,” Jesus is in fact God himself–he’s not a created son, He is actually God.
Saying that Jesus is both fully human and fully God may sound contradictory, but as we see in Son of God, Son of Man, both aspects of Jesus–both of these identifying titles–are so important and reveal to us key insights surrounding Jesus’s humanity and His deity.
Discussion:
How does Jesus symbolize hope for you?
What revelation knowledge did you gain in understanding that Jesus is both fully God and fully man simultaneously?
Jesus is Fully God
Jesus was in the very beginning. The story of His human life begins in the book of Matthew, but the depiction of Jesus’ story actually begins much earlier.
John 1:1-15 (NLT) 1 In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He existed in the beginning with God. 3 God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him. 4 The Word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it. 6 God sent a man, John the Baptist, 7 to tell about the light so that everyone might believe because of his testimony. 8 John himself was not the light; he was simply a witness to tell about the light. 9 The one who is the true light, who gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. 10 He came into the very world he created, but the world didn't recognize him. 11 He came to his own people, and even they rejected him. 12 But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. 13 They are reborn-not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God. 14 So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father's one and only Son.15 John testified about him when he shouted to the crowds, "This is the one I was talking about when I said, 'Someone is coming after me who is far greater than I am, for he existed long before me.'"
This passage is our most convincing truth that Jesus was both God and man simultaneously. In the beginning, the Word was with God and the Word was God–Jesus existed from the very beginning. Jesus was not a created being; he is God.
This truth may leave you wondering, “Where was Jesus in the Old Testament then, if He has always been?” It’s true, we aren’t physically introduced to Jesus walking on the earth until the New Testament of Matthew. However, He is present and predicted throughout the entire Old Testament; He is the central figure. Everything about the Old Testament points to Jesus; it’s all about Him!
What is a Christophany?
The Old Testament prophecies the coming of the Messiah–Jesus–the One who rescues, redeems, and restores all of creation. Let’s look at an Old Testament example where Jesus isn’t just predicted; He’s present:
Genesis 16:7,13 (NLT) 7 The angel of the Lord found Hagar beside a spring of water in the wilderness, along the road to Shur…13 Thereafter, Hagar used another name to refer to the Lord, who had spoken to her. She said, "You are the God who sees me." She also said, "Have I truly seen the One who sees me?"
In Son of God, Son of Man, at timestamp 15:03, Annie Spangler shares Hagar’s backstory with us to help us better understand Jesus in action before his life on earth began in the New Testament. Hagar’s experience in Genesis is what theologians call a “Christophany,” which is a temporary appearance of Christ to His people.
The many Christophanies throughout the Old Testament tell us a lot about who Jesus is, about His character, and about who our God is. In the moments where people were the most distressed and in need of hope, Jesus came down to speak a word of truth, a word of life, a word of hope to His people and he was motivated by love to intercede for them. Amen!
This is who Jesus is: fully God, motivated by love to redeem and restore the world ever since the beginning of time. He wasn’t just a man born in the first century with special abilities; He is quite literally God. We know that Jesus is fully God because he himself claimed to be God.
John 10:30,33 (NLT) 30 The Father and I are one."...33 They replied, "We're stoning you not for any good work, but for blasphemy! You, a mere man, claim to be God."
Christian thinker and theologian C.S. Lewis shares an argument that Jesus is either a liar, a lunatic, or He’s actually Lord. In Son of God, Son of Man at timestamp 18:36, Annie shares the idea behind Lewis’s trilemma and reiterates the prevailing reality that Jesus is fully God.
Discussion:
In what ways does Jesus embody God the Father?
How is Jesus fully God to you?
In what scenario would you pray to Jesus the Son as opposed to God the Father?
Jesus is Fully Man
How do we know Jesus is fully man and why is this important to us? We know the title Son of God refers to Jesus’ deity and son of man refers to His humanity, but now what?
Philippians 2:6-8 (NLT) 6 Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. 7 Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, 8 he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.
Jesus is what we would call God incarnate, which simply means “God in the flesh” and He made His home among us. We also use the title Emanuelle to describe Jesus in reference to His birth. He was Emmanuel–God with us. Jesus came fully God and He came as a man to be God with us.
Jesus gives us a visual representation of who God is, and there is no other person or figure on earth who has ever come and said “I am God in the flesh” or who has done what Jesus did.
This is impactful to us because Jesus came and experienced humanity. He came in the lowest form possible, as a baby; He came as a servant. He came as a child, vulnerable, and He lived a life like us, experiencing all that it means to be human. He experienced grief and suffering and pain and sorrow. He felt emotional and social rejection and He understood physical pain and endured it on the cross.
Hebrews 4:15 (NLT) This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin.
What great comfort there is in this verse! When we find ourselves in situations feeling like no one understands what we’re going through, we have a God who subjected himself to come to earth and experience the trials of humanity to be with us and relate to us and comfort us.
We needed a perfect human mediator who could live a sinless, perfect life and redeem us from the curse of sin and ultimately bring us back into a hopeful relationship with the Father. That is why it matters that God took on flesh. That is why Jesus is fully man.
Galatians 4:4-5 (NLT) 4 But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. 5 God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children.
In order for us to experience true freedom and hope in Jesus, we needed somebody else who was subject to the law to come and buy back our freedom. We needed Jesus to become human because only a human could save humanity. We needed Jesus–a perfect, sinless human–to rescue us by being the once and for all sacrifice. Only Jesus could take the full weight of all the sin of the world!
Discussion:
Does Jesus humanizing himself help you relate to Him?
In what ways?
What does it say about God’s character knowing He sent Jesus as a sacrifice for our sins?
Jesus Will Be in the End
Jesus is in the beginning, He’s in the middle, and Jesus will be in the end.
Romans 8:23 (NLT) 23And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us.
Philippians 2:10-11 (NLT) 10that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
In Son of God, Son of Man at timestamp 27:50 ish, Annie describes Jesus’ return as it’s depicted in Revelation 19. At timestamp 29:40, she goes on to share the story of the Roman centurion witnessing Jesus breathe His last breath.
Mark 15:39 (NLT) When the Roman officer who stood facing him saw how he had died, he exclaimed, “This man truly was the Son of God!”
Throughout all of human history, people have been trying to understand who Jesus is. A man who lived and died two thousand years ago with millions of people still coming around His name.
On the day that Jesus returns and rules with justice and grace, the question remains:
Who will you say that He is?
Is the son of man and the Son of God in your life?
Was He just an interesting figure?
Was He just a man with good moral teaching?
Or is Jesus who He actually said He was?
How will you live your life knowing the truth?
Will you allow it to transform your life and everything that you do?
Prayer:
Lord, we love you and we’re so grateful to learn about you, study you, understand you, and worship you. God as we look at who Jesus is, as we look at our Lord and Savior, please bring fresh revolution to our hearts and open the eyes of our hearts to understand who You are more and more. Lord, we ask that you help these truths not just be heard knowledge but that they also become embedded in our souls as heart knowledge that transforms the way we live, the way we talk to you, the way we worship you, and the way we live for you. God grant us new insights as to who you are, who your Son is, so that we may come to know you and love you more. In Jesus’s holy name, Amen.
Throughout the Biography of Jesus series, we as a church are coming together to complete a 6-week Bible reading plan to encourage us as we dig deep into the life of Christ. Download the plan here and follow along with us as we continue to discover who Jesus is!
