Jesus — Son of God/Son of Man

| Sarah Jones

Sarah Jones

With the Holy Spirit as our teacher, today we will get to know Jesus better as our God (the Son of God) and our King (the Son of Man)!

First, we see Jesus is our God! Jesus has just healed a lame man on the Sabbath, the day of rest. The religious leaders are furious, so they confront Jesus. His amazing response that God is His own Father infuriates them even more (in v. 17). In vv. 17-26, Jesus then explains who He is as the Son of God with six declarations of deity:

  1. He is the Lord of the Sabbath.
  2. He is God’s Son “in the sense of one who [is] equal to God in His nature and in every way, yet who [relates] to God in a Father-Son relationship” (ESV Study Bible).
  3. He “can do nothing of His own accord, but only what He sees the Father doing (v. 19).” This means that “He can’t act in independence from the Father. They are eternally interwoven. When one acts, the other acts” (Alistair Begg).
  4. He grants life. In verse 25, He says beautifully, “the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.” Verse 26 expounds on this truth but can be easily misinterpreted. One commentary explains: “He has granted the Son does not mean that the Father created the Son but that the Father authorized the Son to be able to give life to other people” (ESV Study Bible).
  5. He is the Judge of mankind.
  6. He is to be honored in the same way that the Father is honored.

These declarations indicate that the Son of God is truly God. Therefore, to call Jesus the Son of God is to call Him God.

Second, we see Jesus is the Son of Man. God the Father has delegated judgment to the Son of God (v. 22), “because [Jesus] is the Son of Man” (v. 27). What does this mean? In Daniel 7:13-14, Daniel sees someone in a vision who looks like a man, but is truly divine since He enters the scene atop the clouds (see Psalm 104:1-3). Then this person is given authority over every person forever; He is the ultimate King! This can only be one person: Jesus! When Jesus says He is the Son of Man, He is referring to this vision.

If you believe in Him, it is because he has called you from spiritual and eternal death to spiritual and eternal life. If you do not believe in Him, I hope and pray that the Holy Spirit would use the Word of God to help you see that Jesus is the only Way to the Father, and in seeing, you would know that Jesus has called you by name and given you new life through the Holy Spirit.

How beautiful: Jesus is our God and our King! All praise be to the Son of God for giving us life! May we act more and more like we have eternal life and go and tell others of the way in which they can receive this gift. Let us remember that we have eternal life because we heard the voice of the Son of God Himself! Lastly, let us daily submit to and follow our King Jesus!