Tuesday 8 March 2011

The Lord Jesus as the "Son of..."

Welcome fellow believers! I think it is time for a mid-week pick-me-up perhaps! Let's look at some thoughts concerning the Lord Jesus together.

As we read through the scriptures, we can see many different titles and pictures of the Lord Jesus, and in this little study we will look at those titles where he is referred to as the "Son of..." I looked at this last year and found that these titles each bring out a different facet of the Saviour's character, so I hope these simple thoughts are of benefit to us and once again cause us to glorify God for His Son.

An open Bible for study


The Son of God


What a tremendous place to start by thinking once again of the Lord Jesus as the Son of God! This truth is often refuted by the world (as it was by the Jews in His day) so we do well to remind our hearts of this and encourage ourselves in the enjoyment of this truth. The Gospel of Mark would commence with that bold proclamation - "The Gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God" and of course this is something that John is particularly concerned about in his Gospel, in fact it closes - "but these are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Son of God". He was God manifest in flesh, he was co-equal with God, the brightness of his glory, the express image of his person - he was the very Son of God. We remember that God would proclaim from heaven:

"this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased"

Here was God's estimation of his Son, despite what men would say and do to him, God was well pleased with his Son!

The Son of Man


But equally, we see the Lord referred to many times as the Son of Man. If we were to write down all the references to this title we would see that almost all of the references are in connection to one of two ideas:

  • His Coming ("the Son of Man is come...")

  • His Sufferings and death on the cross ("the Son of Man must suffer...")


In either case it draws attention to the meekness and humility of the manhood of the Lord Jesus and his saving work in coming into this scene to die on the cross. We should rejoice in the fact that we have a Saviour who not only is the Son of God, but was willing to humble himself and condescend to coming into this sinful world, and here to suffer and to die on the cross! We remind ourselves of the words of the apostle:

"But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. " Philippians 2:7-8

The Son of David


There are fewer references to this title but they are certainly beautiful in that they are used to illustrate the grace and compassion of the Saviour in his dealings with poor and needy souls. Remember that Bartimaeus would cry out in faith  "thou Son of David, have mercy on me!" Also the Canaanite woman would appeal to him on behalf of her demon-possessed daughter using this title, and again there was another occasion with two blind men and they once again appealed to him as the Son of David. This was faith on their part for they were recognising him as the Messiah that should come from the line of David, and the Lord would take time to deal with them and bless them in such a miraculous and tender way. We love to think on the compassionate nature of the Saviour who took the time to bless those who were needy, and how he has blessed us as sinners saved by grace!

The Son of Mary


Surely this title would remind us of the rejection of the Lord Jesus, and the disgust and indignation of the Jews as they would recall that he was merely the son of Mary, the carpenters son, the man from Galilee of the Gentiles! We recall the words of Nathaniel; "Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?" Of course the scriptures would prophesy of him that he would be "despised and rejected of men" and that he would come unto his own but his own would not receive him. How sad that here was one who came from the mansions of glory, and they were privileged to come into contact with him, and they could have known him, the very Lord of heaven! But how sad that the Lord Jesus would say "and ye will not come to me that ye might have life".

He would be rejected and crucified at the hands of wicked men, but we know that this was not defeat but victory, as he would offer himself as a willing and perfect sacrifice for our sin, and accomplish the work that God the father had given him to do.

We started our thoughts by thinking of the title "the Son of God" and we close by remembering that the scriptures would say that "he spared not his own Son..." How lovely to think that God would give his very own son to die in our stead!

As we journey through another week, let us keep these thoughts in our hearts and offer praise and worship to God for his lovely Son.

Yours in Christ - Mark

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