NAMES OF JESUS—SON OF GOD—SON OF MAN

From The Heart

Publish date: 02/07/2010

Now when Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, Who do people say that the Son of Man is? 14 And they answered, Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets. 15 He said to them, But who do you [yourselves] say that I am? 16 Simon Peter replied, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.  Matthew 16:13-16 AMP
 
[The Gospel] regarding His Son, Who as to the flesh (His human nature) was descended from David, 4 And [as to His divine nature] according to the Spirit of holiness was openly designated the Son of God in power [in a striking, triumphant and miraculous manner] by His resurrection from the dead, even Jesus Christ our Lord (the Messiah, the Anointed One).  
Romans 1:3-4 AMP
 
Jesus Christ is not just a man—neither is He just God—He is both God AND man. He is God in the form of man—God clothed in human flesh—born of a virgin, conceived by the Holy Spirit. In the New Testament, Jesus was referred to 88 times as the Son of Man and 47 times as the Son of God. The term “Son of man” denotes a human being, a natural descendant of Adam. It denotes the true humanity of Jesus. He had a body and a soul like any other man ever born on the earth.
 
Inasmuch then as we have a great High Priest Who has [already] ascended and passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession [of faith in Him]. 15 For we do not have a High Priest Who is unable to understand and sympathize and have a shared feeling with our weaknesses and infirmities and liability to the assaults of temptation, but One Who has been tempted in every respect as we are, yet without sinning.  Hebrews 4:14-15 AMP
 
Jesus was like us in every way. He functioned on the earth as a true man; He went through all the trials and temptations that we all face, yet without sinning. He did not overcome the temptations by His divine nature, but He overcame them in His humanity by standing on the Word of God and yielding to the Holy Spirit and not to His flesh. He passed the test that Adam failed.
 
Jesus is also the Son of God. Many people just see the Man, Jesus—but He existed long before He was born into the earth as a baby in Bethlehem. He always was with God; He Himself IS God. He was there when all things were made and all things were made by Him; nothing was made without Him. Jesus is not called the Son of God because of His miraculous birth, or of His incarnation, His resurrection, or exaltation to the Father’s right hand. The name designates His nature, not His office. It denotes that He is equal to the Father; He is divine; the second Person of the Trinity. He is the Son of God as to His divine nature, while as to His human nature He is the Son of David
 
And yet no one has ever gone up to heaven, but there is One Who has come down from heaven—the Son of Man [Himself], Who is (dwells, has His home) in heaven. 14 And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert [on a pole], so must [so it is necessary that] the Son of Man be lifted up [on the cross], 15 In order that everyone who believes in Him [who cleaves to Him, trusts Him, and relies on Him] may not perish, but have eternal life and [actually] live forever!  John 3:13-15 AMP
 
For just as [because of their union of nature] in Adam all people die, so also [by virtue of their union of nature] shall all in Christ be made alive.
  1 Corinthians 15:22 AMP
 
Thus it is written, The first man Adam became a living being (an individual personality); the last Adam (Christ) became a life-giving Spirit [restoring the dead to life]. 46 But it is not the spiritual life which came first, but the physical and then the spiritual. 47 The first man [was] from out of earth, made of dust (earthly-minded); the second Man [is] the Lord from out of heaven. 48 Now those who are made of the dust are like him who was first made of the dust (earthly-minded); and as is [the Man] from heaven, so also [are those] who are of heaven (heavenly-minded). 49 And just as we have borne the image [of the man] of dust, so shall we and so let us also bear the image [of the Man] of heaven. 
1 Corinthians 15:45-49 AMP
 
In Luke 3:38 Jesus’ genealogy goes back to Adam, who is called the son of God. Adam was created in God’s image, but fell away from God and became just a man, dominated by sin and death. Every person born thereafter was born into sin with no way to buy his/her way back into God’s presence. A man sold the earth out to the devil and a Man had to buy it back. Jesus, the Son of God, had to come down from heaven and be born into the body of a man—the second Adam, as He is referred to—to undo what was done and bring us back into the image of God by His death and resurrection. God’s grace, in Jesus, has done so much more than restore to us what was lost in the Garden. If we believe in Him, He bestows upon us His everlasting life. Never again will we experience death. God’s grace is SO much greater than man’s transgression, that the two can never be compared to one another!
 
Yet death held sway from Adam to Moses [the Lawgiver], even over those who did not themselves transgress [a positive command] as Adam did. Adam was a type (prefigure) of the One Who was to come [in reverse, the former destructive, the Latter saving]. 15 But God’s free gift is not at all to be compared to the trespass [His grace is out of all proportion to the fall of man]. For if many died through one man’s falling away (his lapse, his offense), much more profusely did God’s grace and the free gift [that comes] through the undeserved favor of the one Man Jesus Christ abound and overflow to and for [the benefit of] many.  Romans 5:14-15 AMP
 
Thank God for Jesus Christ, the Son of God and Son of man! Even as He sits on the right hand of the Father’s majesty on high, He still bears the scars on His body and the nail—prints in His hands!

Archives