Let's open in a word of prayer. Gracious Heavenly Father, we thank you for our time tonight. And Lord, we ask for guidance by the Holy Spirit that indwells us as we open this fourth chapter. And Lord, as we embark on a study of the person of Jesus Christ, may we understand him more fully and more deeply. It seems so important, according to Scripture, to know Him and understand all the facets about His person. So, Lord, help us to do that over the next few weeks. I'll ask it all in Jesus Christ's name. Amen. Well, 1 John 4, 1-6, it says, Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God. Every spirit that confesses that Jesus has come in the flesh is from God. Every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the Antichrist, of which you have heard that is coming and is already now in the world. You are from God, little children, and have overcome them, because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. They are from the world, therefore they speak as from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God. He who knows God listens to us. He who is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. Well, last week I stated how important it was to understand the incarnation of Jesus Christ, specifically verse 2 of 1 John 4. It says, By this you know the spirit of God. That every spirit that confesses that Jesus has come in the flesh is from God. That's a Christological statement. That's a statement about his incarnation. And therefore, I think I closed last week with the importance of not only where you walk is important in the light and how you walk in obedience, but with whom you walk, which God are we walking with? And I think that is the most crucial of the three. And that's what we're going to do for a little while. By the way, if you just walked in, are there any more handouts floating around? If not, I think there's five or six on the back table. You may want to grab one of those tonight. And there's a little space there for you can use to make some notes as we go through this, because you'll notice I'll go through somewhat fast. And therefore, you won't have to keep up with the notes so much if you go by the handout. Well, I think as you study the person of Christ, that should be a focus of any pastoral ministry. I think it should be a very strong part of any church ministry. I like 1 Corinthians 2, 1 and 2. Paul said when he's talking about the Corinthian church, he says, when I came to you, brethren, I didn't come with superiority of speech or of wisdom. proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified." And I think both those statements highlight two areas of theology. Jesus Christ, to know Him, would be Christology or the person of Christ. Who is He? But also, Him crucified would be what we call Soteriology. It comes from the Greek word for salvation. Soteria. So we want to know about his crucifixion or his work on the cross. So again, according to the Bible, these should be focal things in a ministry. And we should all as believers know these truths. Well, so that leads us to Christology, which last week I showed you this slide. It's the study of the person of Christ. And here are some of the categories within the theology of Christology. Prophet, priest, and king. son of God, son of David, son of man, the deity of Christ, his humanity, his kenosis and hypostatic union. We'll talk about those in more detail. If you're not familiar with those, you will be in the next few weeks. His virgin birth and his impeccability. Now, tonight, we'll probably only get through prophet, priest, king, son of God, son of David, son of man. No further than that, I'm sure. Those aren't quite as directly related to the statement that Jesus has come in the flesh as some of the others, like deity and humanity, in the later part of the study. But definitely a good part of the study, and I want to cover it at least in some brief... I think, what, three or four years ago at the church, I must have spent a year on this. We talked about the Father, the Son in great detail, some about the Holy Spirit. I never did give a full-blown work of pneumatology, but that was something I still may end up working on. But we worked a lot about with the Father and mostly the Son. And I'm going to condense this down to just a few weeks rather than several months. Well, let's look at our first category. Our first category is going to be Jesus Christ, Prophet, Priest, and King. Before I go into this, you should be able to, as a believer in Jesus Christ, to be able to talk about all three of these titles for him, his offices of prophet, priest, and king. You should have a good understanding of it, but after tonight you should have a better one. So you have the handout there. You can probably follow along. I made it real short on the handout to give you the scripture so you don't have to burn through trying to write them all down. They're all written down, but I will make comments along the way. And therefore, you can use your margin if you wanted to take additional notes. But let's look at prophet first. Now, the Hebrew word for prophet is the word Navi. It's a whole section of the Hebrew Bible called the Prophets. You have Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and then the 12 minor prophets. But a prophet is a... Navi means a prophet. Some scholars just say it's a spokesperson or an appointed spokesman of God. And so a prophet would come with a message of God. Now I'm going to be very brief with this, hitting the high points, but God spoke through the prophets in the Old Testament. Jeremiah 1.9 says, The Lord stretched out his hand and touched my mouth, and the Lord said to me, Behold, I have put my words in your mouth. So the prophet of God gave the word of God. He doesn't make up his own message. He gives what God has revealed to him. Isaiah 51.16 I have put my words in your mouth, God says to the prophet Isaiah, and have covered you with the shadow of my hand to establish the heavens, to found the earth, and to say to Zion, you are my people. So again, God spoke through the prophets. Now, the word of the prophets are actually from the source of God, specifically the third person of the Trinity, God, the Holy Spirit, 2 Peter 1, 20 and 21. Peter says, But know this first of all, that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever made by an act of human human will, but men moved by means of the Holy Spirit spoke from God. So again, what the prophets said were from the source of God, and what is written in Scripture is God breathed, 2 Timothy 3.16, and is also from the source of God the Holy Spirit. So God the Holy Spirit supernaturally directed these writers of Scripture to write what we have in our 66 books of the Bible. Now, as this starts to pertain to Jesus, we know from many, many times we've studied this, Jesus' office of prophet was predicted in the Old Testament all the way back through the prophet Moses, who was a prophet, by the way, and he predicted the coming of Jesus, who would be the greatest prophet of all. Deuteronomy 18, 15 through 19, but two of the verses on the board. Verse 15 says, The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your countrymen, and you shall listen to him. So Moses is speaking in 15. When he says, like me, it would be a prophet like Moses. He would be a Jew. He would be from the countrymen of Israel. Obviously, he must be a Jew. And you shall listen to him. So you must pay attention to what this great prophet will say when he comes. Deuteronomy 18, 18, God says, I will raise up a prophet among their countrymen like you, Moses, and I will put my words in his mouth. There's that same terminology we just read earlier. and he shall speak to them all that I command him." And so Jesus would come later from this period of time in Deuteronomy to fulfill this and would be a prophet speaking the word to the nation Israel. Now a prophet's ministry was authenticated in five ways. Number one, the prophet must be an Israelite. Number two, he must be or must come and speak in the name of Yahweh the Lord. Three, he had a supernatural knowledge of the future. And number four, the prophet would perform miraculous signs. And five, the prophet's words would have, make sure you get this, must have strict or exact agreement with previous revelation from God. The prophet must have strict agreement with previous revelation from God. A prophet of God could not come and get the message half right. or just a portion of it right. He couldn't be just 99% right. He had to be 100% right, or he was a false prophet and not worthy to be listened to, even to be executed according to Deuteronomy 13, verses 1-18. So the prophet's ministry was very important. And Jesus fits all of these. He was a Jew. He was from the tribe of Judah. He spoke in the name of God. He had the supernatural knowledge of the future. He performed miraculous signs and his words lined up exactly with the Old Testament. Do we run out of sheets? Sorry, Reggie. Putting Reggie to work tonight. By the way, there's some handouts here tonight, and hopefully we have enough. We're probably getting pretty close to the end. Thank you, Reggie. Now let's look at these. And pertaining to Jesus Christ, he did claim to be a prophet. No doubt the Bible says that, reveals that he claimed this. In Matthew 13, 57, They took offense at Jesus, but Jesus said to them, a prophet is not without honor except in his own hometown and in his own household. John 4, 44, for Jesus himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country. So again, he's referring to himself as a prophet. Luke 13, 33, nevertheless, Jesus says, I must journey on today and tomorrow and the next day, for it cannot be that a prophet would perish outside Jerusalem. So again, he reveals himself as a prophet. The Bible clearly says he functioned as a prophet. John 8, 26, he says, I have many things to speak and judge concerning you. But he who sent me is true. The things which I heard from him, these I speak to the world. So remember, a prophet does not only predict the future. I think that's a shortcoming in some people's view of a prophet. They think all a prophet does is predict the near or distant future. But what a prophet does is just come and give the word of God, whatever it is, whether it's about the future or sometimes they told things about the past. They would take out the Torah and basically say, Israel, you have failed to keep the law and therefore God will judge you. So sometimes a prophet has this function of like this prosecuting attorney against the nation Israel as God would send many, many before Jesus ever came. But again, with Jesus, John 12, 49, he says, For I don't speak on my own initiative, but the Father himself who sent me has given me a commandment as to what to say and what to speak. John 1250, and I know that His commandment is eternal life. Therefore, the things which I speak, I speak just as the Father has told me. So again, He reveals exactly what God the Father told Him. Nothing less, nothing more. John 1515, Jesus says, No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing. But I have called you friends for all things that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. Also, If you want to just talk about a passage where Jesus predicts the future, whether there's some passages where he predicts the immediate future. But all of that discourse of Matthew 24 and 25, those two chapters are dealing with the future tribulation period, which we're not in yet. We're still waiting for Daniel's 70th week to come. And he also predicts the second advent. So that was prophecy, which, or those prophecies haven't come true yet, but they will. So again, Jesus did function as a prophet. He was not guessing. When he was asked about these things, he gave accurate testimony of what was to come. And so we'll see all that come to pass. There's still a lot of prophecies in scripture that have not come to pass, but they will. Well, there's a short brief overview of prophet. Well, now let's look at priest. Jesus is not only a prophet, he's also a priest. Now, Jesus' priesthood was predicted in the Old Testament. Psalm 110, very important messianic psalm. But Psalm 110 verse 4 specifically says, the Lord has sworn and will not change his mind. You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. So to understand Psalm 110 in its fullness, I think you really need to go back to the Genesis passage with Melchizedek. and then work your way the other direction, hitting Psalm 110 and then getting to the book of Hebrews, which ties all this together and points the fact that Jesus is this high priest according to the order of Melchizedek. But nonetheless, the high priesthood function of Jesus was prophesied, it was predicted in the Psalms. Jesus is actually called our High Priest in Hebrews 3.1. Hebrews 3.1 says, Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider Jesus the Apostle and High Priest of our confession. And you cannot go through a study of Christology and never hit Hebrews. If you do, you miss something. Hebrews is one of the fullest Christologies in all the Bible. Some of the most profound statements about Jesus are found there. And therefore, notice what he says in Hebrews 3.1, talking to holy brethren, fellow believers, and we are part of this too, consider Jesus. By the way, that's an imperative. We need to do this. We are commanded to consider Jesus. So if you're here tonight and you're thoughtfully thinking through this, you're fulfilling this commandment. And that's obedience. That's part of worship to consider who Jesus is, whom here he's now called an apostle and high priest of our confession. The word apostle just means one cent. And here, he is the apostle, definitely with a capital A, and the high priest of our confession, Hebrews 4.14. Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus Christ, or Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession. So, you can at least make an application from Hebrews 4.14 that knowing about Jesus, our high priest, helps us stay encouraged and hold fast to our faith. Jesus, our high priest, didn't bring an animal sacrifice, but actually presented himself as the actual sacrifice for our sins. The priests in the Old Testament constantly worked day after day bringing sacrifices that ultimately couldn't take away sin, but according to Hebrews 10, 11, every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices which can't take away sin. I was already getting ahead of myself, it was right on the board. Then verse 12, but he, Jesus, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time onward until his enemies be made a footstool for his feet. So that would be Hebrews 10.13, would be quoting Psalm 110.1, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool of your feet. And that is still yet to happen. Jesus will do that at his second advent. So again, Jesus wouldn't bring an animal sacrifice. He would be the sacrifice for our sins, and he would bear our sins in his own body. So Jesus is a prophet, he is a priest, and he's also a king. Now, let's look at the promise of the king. When Jesus came to earth, it was not some new revelation that they were expecting a king. In the Old Testament, it was very clear in Genesis 49, 10. The very interesting promise, the scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet until Shiloh comes, and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples. Now, in Genesis 49, 10, it's obvious that a scepter belongs to a king. So the scepter will not depart from Judah. So the kingly line will come from a son of Jacob. One of the 12 sons was Judah, a literal son. And from the line of Judah would come the line of David. And then that's the kingly line. And you can trace Jesus' genealogy even all the way back to David from the line of Judah. So the prophecy all the way back in the Torah, in the first book of Torah, was that the scepter would come from Judah. And therefore, Jesus must be a Jew, must be from the tribe of Judah, and he must be a king until Shiloh comes, which could have something in the Hebrew to do with he whose right it is to rule, to whom it belongs, as some translate. So, Jesus, I think, is the rightful ruler and the rightful owner of that scepter, and he will rule one day in his kingdom. So, there's one of the prophecies. And again, probably one of the most important verses in all Scripture is 2 Samuel 7, 12 and 13. David was being told this by the Lord, when your days are complete, when you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your seed or descendant after you who will come forth from you and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name and I'll establish the throne of his kingdom forever. So again, we have the promise of a coming king way back in the Old Testament. Even Isaiah 9, for a child will be born to us. A son will be given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders, and his name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, and Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of his government or of peace, and on the throne of David, there's the Davidic promise of 2 Samuel 7, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore. The zeal of Yahweh of Hosts will accomplish this. And one of my favorite prophecies that also teaches the deity of Christ, just as Isaiah 9, 6 does, calling him Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father and Prince of Peace, that clearly shows, especially from the Mighty God comment about Jesus, that He is God and nothing less. And all these titles, these four titles, are only used of God in the Scripture except Prince of Peace. So, another one that shows the deity of Christ as well as the coming king. Jeremiah 23, 5 and 6, Behold, days are coming. So, that's future, declares the Lord. When I will raise up for David a righteous branch and he will reign as king and act wisely and do justice and righteousness in the land. Isn't that what we're looking for ultimately in a ruler? And we will never find one that will do what he will do. We're looking for one to reign, to act wisely, do justice and righteousness in the land. Only God can do this perfectly. Verse 6, in his days Judah will be saved and Israel will dwell securely. So, remember how the kingdom split in 931 BC? It went to the north and the south. When then you had the north was Israel, the south was Judah. Well, one day the Lord's going to bring them back in unity. And the Lord will want unity and he will accomplish that. And this is the name by which he will be called in Hebrew, it's Yahweh Sidkenu. And that's the word for the covenant name for God, Yahweh, and then the word for righteousness. So Yahweh, our righteousness, is the name of Jesus Christ. That's his title. So he bears the name Yahweh in this passage. You don't give this name to anybody but the Lord himself. And so Jesus is eternal God become flesh who will rule in fulfillment of this promise. So we have the incarnation. of the king. Did he ever come? Well, we say yes, and we know in Luke 1, 30-33, he did come. Verse 30 says, the angel said to Mary, don't be afraid, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord will give him the throne of his father David. So we clearly see the connection with the Old Testament. And he will reign over the house of Jacob forever. And his kingdom will have no end. So he will be an eternal ruler as the Bible predicted. So, Jesus comes, the kingdom is offered. John the Baptist prepared the way for this offer. Matthew 3, 1 and 2, it says, In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. So, he's calling the whole nation back to the Lord. Deuteronomy 30, I think the repentance idea here goes back to the return to God in Deuteronomy 30, the Hebrew word shuv. And he's calling the nation back to the Lord. And so Jesus hasn't quite come on the scene yet, but John the Baptist is laying out and preparing the way of the King. He's fulfilling Isaiah 40, which he would be the forerunner of the King in preaching. When you saw John the Baptist come, you knew the King was right behind him. And sure enough, Matthew 4, 17, Before the Sermon on the Mount, from that time, Jesus began to preach and say the same thing John did, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And this idea, as at hand, comes from a Greek word, engizo, which means to draw near or is at hand. And I think what he's saying is the kingdom's available, but the nation had to respond to the Messiah, Jesus, and accept him to get the kingdom. So the kingdom was rejected. Many places you could go to show this. Matthew 23 is one of them, 37 through 39. Jesus said, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her. How often I wanted to gather your children together the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings. And you were unwilling. People's question is, was it a real offer of the kingdom? I think it was a legitimate offer. It was a real offer. It was rejected by the nation Israel. They were unwilling to accept him. So there is volition, there is choice, and Israel made the wrong choice. Verse 38, Behold, your house has left you desolate. For I say to you, from now on you will not see me until you say, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. And one day that will be a fulfilled prophecy. when Jesus returns at his second advent. Also, Matthew 21, 43, not on a slide, Jesus said to the nation, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing the fruit of it. So, in Matthew 21, 43, that's the chapter where Jesus curses the fig tree. And now the kingdom will be taken from that generation in Israel, given to a future generation of Israelites who will produce its fruit. And we're still waiting to see that prophecy to come to fulfillment. And then when you have, after the kingdom is rejected, he will return, because the Bible tells us in prophecy that he will establish his kingdom. And we get some clear revelation on that in Revelation 19, 11 through 16. I only have two of the verses up there. I'll read you the section. And Matthew 19, 11 and following it says, John is seeing this revelation of God and he says, I saw heaven opened and behold a white horse and he who sat on it is called faithful and true and in righteousness he judges and wages war. His eyes are a flame of fire and on his head are many diadems and he has a name written on him which no one knows except himself. I always have fun with this when I go out and preach this and I say, does anyone in the room know what his name is? And people try to guess. It says, no one knows except himself. Let's see. It's not as funny, I guess, when you're getting it in the jail or something. But no one knows what this name is. The Bible doesn't reveal it. But it does tell us about him in verse 13. He's clothed in a robe dipped in blood. and his name shall be called the Word of God." Now, if you parallel this to Isaiah 63, Isaiah said, who is this one who comes from Basra covered in red? His robe is crimson. And because he's been in battle, and he's completely bloody from the battle, and he's going to lead Israel into the land and go to the Mount of Olives. And according to Zechariah 14, it will split going east and west, and he will lead Israel into the kingdom. So here again is that imagery of wearing a robe dipped in blood. This is a sign of his conquest as he comes in, not on a donkey this time, but on a white horse. He came in at his first advent in fulfillment of Zechariah 9. where he came in humbly on the donkey, but now he comes back on a victor's horse in great victory. Verse 15, from his mouth comes a sharp sword so that he may strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron, and he will tread the winepress of the fierce wrath of God the Almighty. Then in verse 16, which is on the board, and hid on his robe and on his thigh, he has the name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. So Jesus will come back. He came meek and mild, offering the kingdom. He laid down his life as a sacrifice for sins, but he doesn't come back that way. He comes back with the worst violence this world will ever see, and he will have victory over evil. And it's interesting, we try to soft-soak evil to get rid of it. Have you noticed that in our world? God says the only way to get rid of evil is to stamp it out violently. And that's how he'll remove it. And I'm not saying we should be real aggressive and hateful. I'm not saying that because God is not hateful. We should present the gospel and be willing to die for that. You can see how God will end history. It won't be a suggestion. And will you guys please put down your weapons? It isn't going to happen that way. They will not. They'll all assemble for battle against the Lord Jesus Christ. And he will come back. with great victory. So, in summary, prophet, priest, and king. At the first advent of Jesus, he functioned as prophet. He fulfilled the Old Testament prophecy of Deuteronomy 18, 15 through 19. And he came and he proved he was a prophet. The people called him a prophet. They asked, is he the prophet? They were waiting for one. Jesus did predictions, short-term, long-term. He showed that he was one. And therefore, he completely fulfilled that office. Then he would go to the cross, he'd bear our sins as our substitute, and after that he would ascend into heaven at the right hand of God, and there he'd be seated as our high priest. So, he functioned on earth as a prophet, he's functioning right now, even as we speak, as high priest at the right hand of God. Hebrews 10-12, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, he sat down at the right hand of God. Also, Ephesians 1-20, Colossians 3-1, Hebrews 1.3, 13, 8.1, 1 Peter 3.22, on and on. And then, what is He doing at the right hand of God? Well, according to 1 John 2.1, now think about this, He is our High Priest making intercession for us. Right now, when we leave, before we got here today, 24-7, Jesus is doing this. My little children, 1 John 2.1, I'm writing you these things so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. So this word advocate, the word parakletos, has the idea here in this context of a defense attorney. So Jesus makes intercession for us when we confess our sins, we go to the throne room of God. Jesus can be our advocate because he has paid for us on the cross. Romans 8.34, who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is he who died, yes rather, who was raised, who was at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. Hebrews 7.25, Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. So Jesus is making intercession for us right now. And then he will come back at the second coming and function as king. This is arguable. Some people say he's ruling on David's throne in heaven and will ultimately do that on earth. I think he's on the father's throne, according to Revelation. But he won't be on the Davidic throne until he touches earth and establishes this earthly messianic kingdom, which many of you have heard of as the thousand year reign or the millennium. So there's prophet, priest, and king. And what you're going to need to do is go back and review those and think those through. Because remember, we're told to consider Jesus. We have to know this Lord. And so I would make it your chore in the next few weeks to memorize some of these things and put this together. So if somebody said, tell me about Jesus, prophet, priest, and king, you wouldn't even need your Bible open. You could just talk to them about it. Well, let's look at now Jesus Christ as Son of Man, Son of God, and Son of David. That should be on your page two. We will first start with the Son of Man. Very interesting title. Many think the Son of Man only exclusively refers to the humanity of Jesus. It includes that, but it's much more. Let's look at, I give you, I think should be in your notes, at least five things that the Son of Man conveys. Number one, it conveys His heavenly origin. Number two, His covenant relationship with Israel. Number three, His divine authority. Number four, His earthly mission and true humanity. And number five, His glorious future coming. So when you hear the term Son of Man, Many things should come to your mind. And I think this helps us worship God. The more we know about the Lord, the more full our worship of him can be. Our prayer life gets fuller. And not to say you can't worship God and have a good prayer life with even limited knowledge. But the more you have, I think the more full it will be. So everyone in this room, when you hear son of man, it depends on who you're asking, how full of an understanding they have of that. But let's try to beef this up a little bit and see if we can add a little more dimension than simply just a title for true humanity. Now, let's look at number one is Heavenly Origin. One of the best passages for this is in Daniel 7, 13 and 14, which says this, one of the most important messianic passages about the Son of Man's rule in the future. Daniel 7, 13 says, I kept looking in night visions and behold, with the clouds of heaven, one like a son of man was coming. And he came up to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him." Now, a lot of people make the mistake and think the Ancient of Days is a reference to Jesus, but it's not in this passage because the Son of Man is Jesus who comes up to the Ancient of Days. So, the Ancient of Days has to be another person in the Godhead, and who do you think that would be? That would be the father. So, the son goes up to the father and was presented before him. Now, verse 14, and to him was given, so the father, the ancient of days, will give to the son dominion, glory, and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations, and men of every language might serve him. And the word serve there is a word for worship. So all the nations, not just Israel, will serve the Lord as an expression of worship when he comes back at the second advent. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which will not pass away. And his kingdom is one which will not be destroyed. That's exactly what the Davidic Covenant says. It's an eternal rule, an eternal kingdom. So it's all the scripture ties in together and does not contradict. So Jesus will come to earth. And at his first advent, he identifies himself as the son of man. John 3, 13-15, it says, now listen to this dialogue with Nicodemus. Nicodemus comes to Jesus by night, recognizing that Jesus is something special, that no one can do these things unless God is with you. And then as this dialogue ensues, after Jesus says, you must be born from above, you must be born of the spirit and of water to enter the kingdom of God. I think that a lot of this terminology is coming out of Ezekiel 36. The water and the spirit refers to the new covenant that is tied into the kingdom that Jesus would bring in. But look what Jesus says in 313. No one has ascended into heaven, but he who descended from heaven, the son of man. Because the Son of Man will come down from heaven and receive that kingdom from the Ancient of Days. So watch the terminology, descended from heaven and ascended into heaven. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so the Son of Man must be lifted up so that whoever believes in Him will have eternal life. And I think the Son of Man being lifted up would be His crucifixion through which salvation would come. And if you believe in Him, you'll have eternal life. Now, what I want to do with you, just for a little aside here. Now, the question as to the identity of the one who descended from heaven was asked long ago. This is not an old question, this ascension and descending from heaven and ascending into heaven. Hold your place here and go to Proverbs 30. Now, Proverbs was written way before this time that Jesus came. Now remember, in John 3, Jesus identifies himself as the son of man who has descended from heaven. That's heavy stuff. Wait a minute, you're a human being. You came down from heaven? If I ever said that to you, you better go, something's wrong with this guy. You came down from heaven? You mean you jumped off the roof or something, you know? But no, Jesus is saying, I came down from the third heaven. That's a heavy statement. But look at Proverbs 30, verse 1. The words of Agur, the son of Jacob, the oracle, the man declared to Ithiel, to Ithiel and Ukal. Now listen, verse 2. Surely I'm more stupid than any man, and I don't have the understanding of a man. Neither have I learned wisdom, nor do I have the knowledge of the Holy One. Verse 4, Who has ascended into heaven and descended? Hear the language of John 3 already? Who has gathered the wind in His fists? Who has wrapped the waters in His garment? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is His name or His Son's name? Surely you know. So this is a riddle. This verse 4 is a riddle. You read commentaries, they're all calling it a riddle. Now, what being could only fit the description of verse 4? Only God alone. This can't be any human being or angel, any creature. It has to be God. But notice the last question. What is His name or His Son's name? Oh, this one has a son. Jesus, the Son of Man. And he says in John 3.13, No one is descended into heaven, but he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. Who's the answer to this riddle? If they've been wondering who this one is, Jesus has just designated himself as the one they've been waiting for. He is the Son who came down from heaven. A fascinating comparison there, I think, as the Jews were anticipating this one who would come from heaven. Something that really challenged the Jews, by the way, Even Jesus would say in John 6, 62, what then if you see the Son of Man ascending to where He was before? Which now talks about His ascension. He will go back to the Father. And the Jews really struggle with Jesus. They're like, but isn't this the Son of Mary and Joseph? How can He say He came down from heaven? They should have read your Proverbs 30. And now Jesus is the one, the second person of the Trinity, who has come down from heaven to offer you the kingdom and salvation. So there's number one. How about number two, the son of man describing his covenant relationship with Israel? Genesis 28, 12 and 13 describes the covenant relationship. Remember Jacob's dream? Most Christians, if they've been in the Bible at all, have eventually heard a story or something about Jacob's ladder. Well, in Genesis 28, 12, and 13, very important promise. Remember, this is Jacob's dream, so the covenant was given to Abraham, then to his son Isaac, and then reiterated again to his son Jacob. And in this covenant chapter, a very important chapter, Jacob has a dream, and behold, a ladder, or it could be a sulam, could be a staircase, a ladder was set on earth with its top reaching to heaven. And behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. And behold, the Lord stood above it. So the Lord's at the top of the ladder and said, I am the Lord, the God of your father, Abraham, the God of Isaac, the land on which you lie. I will give it to you and your descendants. There's the land covenant over and over and over this dream. This Jacob's ladder is about the covenant. Okay, so in a covenant, again, God would come send his son, Jesus the Messiah, who would rule in the land. This Daniel 7 was the same thing. He'll get a kingdom. And Jesus did come to fulfill that. And again, I think when Jesus walked the earth, he's using language to connect him to these Old Testament promises. Remember in John 1.51, many have often wondered, why would he say something like this? Well, remember when the disciples start coming around and recognizing him, Jesus makes this statement in John 1.51, "'Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see the heavens opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.'" They were ascending and descending on the ladder back in Genesis 28. So between God and in heaven and on earth, there's a mediator. Jesus is the mediator between God and men. He's the son of man who comes down to mediate blessing to Israel. And I think in John 1 51, he's saying, I'm that ladder of Genesis 28. I'm here. I'm the one to fulfill the covenant that was given to Abraham, to Isaac and then to Jacob. So, watch your connections here. Jesus is definitely a prophet and his words are lining up beautifully with the Old Testament, which is one of the ways they should have checked him. Number three, son of man relates to his divine authority. Matthew 9, 6, he says, but so that you may know that the son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins. Then he said to the paralytic, get up, pick up your bed and go home. Also, Mark 2.10 and Luke 5.24. So, the Son of Man, He uses that title. He has authority to forgive sins. And the question is, well, wait a minute. Nobody can forgive sins but God alone. So, I think the Son of Man is not just a title for humanity. It shows that He is God as well and has divine authority. So, Matthew 12.8. Jesus even says, for the Son of Man, there's the title again, is the Lord of the Sabbath. Well, God, back in the Old Testament, created the Sabbath, and He is the Lord of it. Now, Jesus is claiming to be the Lord of the Sabbath Himself. He's claiming to be God. How about John 5, 25-27? Truly, truly, Jesus said, an hour is coming and is now when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For just as the father has life in himself, even so he gave to the son also to have life in himself. And he gave him authority to execute judgment because he is the son of man. So again, the title is a title of authority. Number four in your notes, the son of man relates to his earthly mission and true humanity. And this is going to include his suffering, his death. his burial, and his resurrection. Mark 8.31, he began to teach that the Son of Man, he uses that title, the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and the scribes and be killed and after three days rise again. Then in Matthew 20.28 and Mark 10.45, the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many. So again, it is related to his suffering and death. Also Luke 19.10, for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which is lost. And I think that also includes bringing the nation physically and delivering them physically into the land. He would save the lost sheep of the house of Israel and bring them into the kingdom. And then number five, the Son of Man relates to his glorious future coming. Again, Daniel 7 would cover that, but also Matthew 16, 27, the Son of Man is going to come in glory of his Father and with his angels and then repay every man according to his deeds. Matthew 26, 64, he says, You have said it yourself, nevertheless I tell you hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power and coming on the clouds of heaven." So again, the Son of Man is related to his second coming. And then even 1928 of Matthew, Jesus said to them, truly I say to you that you who have followed me in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you shall also sit on the twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And I think recently I told you, watch your comma. in this passage. I used to read this as truly I say to you that you who have followed me in the regeneration, I didn't put a comma there in my mind. He's not saying you will follow me that have been saved. He's saying that you who have followed me, you disciples who obeyed me and walked in obedience and followed me, comma, in the regeneration when everything is made new in the kingdom, you will have great reward. So I don't think follow me in the regeneration of salvation. You who have followed me after salvation in the regeneration in the kingdom, you'll receive great reward. And here the disciples will sit on the twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. So that's going to be quite a responsibility and a reward for them. So in summary, son of man, number one, It indicates Jesus's heavenly origin. Number two is earthly mission and true humanity. Three, his glorious future coming. Four, it's a messianic title to identify Jesus as the anointed one who was promised in the Old Testament. Five, it reveals his person. Six, it reveals his unconditional love and grace as one who aggressively seeks the salvation of man. Seven, son of man identifies Jesus as the covenant God of Israel and the mediator of the Abrahamic covenant. And number eight and final, it's also connected with his deity and eternal nature. His sovereign rule as king in the future eternal kingdom and his authority as judge. Well, let's look at Jesus Christ, the son of David. And then we'll look at son of God and close for the night. Son of David. Again, we have the Davidic covenant. I'll just give you a different slide for this. Again, 2 Samuel 7, that I've already read to you, but I'll read the 2 Samuel 7, 12 through 16. Again, when your days are complete, talking about David, and when you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you who will come forth from you and will establish his kingdom. 2 Samuel 7 13. He will build a house for my name and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be a father to him. He'll be a son to me when he commits iniquity. This would be Solomon in this passage. I'll correct him with the rod of men, the strokes of the sons of men. But my loving kindness shall not depart from him as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. Your house and your kingdom shall endure before me forever and your throne shall be established forever. So, always remember this, three central passages for the Davidic Covenant, 2 Samuel 7, Psalm 89, and 1 Chronicles 17, 11-14. So, what do these promise? It promises David an eternal house, David will have an eternal descendant, one who is eternal, that would be Jesus, three, an eternal kingdom, and number four, an eternal throne. This is how God's going to finish history. Now, we read the newspaper. Do you usually see this on the front page of the Chronicle? What's going on in this world? Where is this world going? We always hear all this stuff about what's going to happen to the world. Well, look at the Bible. God's going to tell you what he's going to do and what the future looks like for the world of humanity. Well, at least for those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, in his genealogy, Jesus is called the Son of David. He clearly is, Matthew 1.1. By the way, genealogies don't slight them, they're exceptionally important. Look at the first verse. I always like to look at the last verse of a book in the Bible, but sometimes go to the very first verse. Look at the first verse in John. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. That's what he starts with. I wonder what this book's going to be about. Jesus Christ is deity. But when you get to the Gospel of Matthew, it's a book about the king. So the first verse in the Gospel is the record of the genealogy of Jesus, the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham. They're linking him directly to the covenant. He is the one. So the Jews, if they want to check him out, will look at his genealogy. He has to go all the way back to David, all the way back to Abraham. He has to be a Jew, has to be the seed of Abraham. He has to be from the tribe of Judah to fulfill the promise of Genesis 49-10. So, you can do all this. So, Matthew explicitly puts the genealogy first to show that Jesus is the one who has the rightful rule of this kingship. So, don't dismiss genealogies, they're very important. And the most Jewish, I think, of all four Gospels, the one about the king, puts the genealogy in chapter one. Well, God the Father designated Jesus as the promised Davidic son. Remember Jesus' baptism after being baptized in Matthew 3, 16. He came up immediately from the water and behold, the heavens were opened. And I saw the spirit of God descending as a dove and lighting on him. And behold, a voice came out of heaven that you could have heard audibly. that says, this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. So, the father gave direct verbal testimony that this is the one you've been waiting for, the son of David who would come to rule on the throne. Even the apostles, I have an extra scripture in there for you, I believe that I don't have up here, but even the apostles said that Jesus was the son of David. You read Peter's sermon on Pentecost in Acts 2, I put the section there. And he links, he goes back to Old Testament scripture to tie Jesus in to the line of David. And Paul does so in Romans 1, 1 through 4. Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures concerning his son, who was born of the seed or of a descendant of David, according to the flesh. who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord. So notice, he was born a descendant of David according to the flesh, so he's true humanity, and that's what John has been telling us in 1 John. He who does not confess Jesus' coming in the flesh is not of God. This is a good passage in connection with that. So, what do you say? Is He eternal God who became flesh? If you don't believe that, your statement is not of God. Okay? So, our last title, Son of God. Now, Jesus Christ didn't use this term a lot for Himself, but He does use it. It's found in John 10, 35 and 36. in a difficult section on some of the comments he makes, but let's at least look at the Scripture. John 10.35, Jesus says to this crowd who's questioning him, if he called them gods to whom the Word of God came and the Scripture cannot be broken, do you say of him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, you're blaspheming because I said I am the Son of God? So Jesus clearly claimed that he was God's Son. And the interpretation of that is another issue. I called them gods. You have to go back to Psalm 82 and study that to see what all that means. But what I just wanted to show you tonight is that the title Son of God was something Jesus even used of himself. He acknowledged the truthfulness of the title. for himself. Matthew 26, 63 and 64. But Jesus kept silent. This is at his trial. The high priest said to him, I jury you by the living God that you tell us whether you are the Christ, the son of God. And Jesus said, well, you've said it yourself. So he acknowledged it. He says, nevertheless, I tell you hereafter, you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power and coming on the clouds. So he acknowledges he's the Messiah, the Son of God. But then I think he's pulling from that Daniel 7 passage. You'll see the Son of Man coming. And then I will come in and bring in my kingdom as I will receive it from the ancients of days. So the incarnation is spoken of as God sending his own son, Romans 8 3. But what the law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did by sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh as an offering for sin. And he condemned sin in the flesh. So God sends his own son. Galatians 4.4, when the fullness of time came, God sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under the law. Romans 5.10, For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to become conformed to the image of his son So that he would be the firstborn among many brethren and then 832 which is not on the board in Romans 8 He who did not spare his own son, but delivered him over for us all how will he not freely give us all things and even Paul's first preaching remember after Acts 9 with his his Encounter of the resurrected Jesus on the Damascus Road look where he starts with his preaching Acts 9 20 immediately Paul began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogue saying he is the Son of God So that was a big part of his preaching so in Hebrews Jesus is the Son of who is God's firstborn and personal heir, who is creator and sustainer of the universe, and who is the radiance of God's glory. I mean, you talk about three verses of scripture. Again, how does the book start? Look how Hebrews starts. And when we read Hebrews, a lot of people like to just focus on the warning passages. You know, those five warning passages. Why am I really going to heaven or not? And we camp on those warning passages. And some Christians still don't think they're going to heaven. They're not sure if they fail. Can they lose their salvation? I think all five warning passages are dealing with born again believers that cannot lose their salvation, but they're strictly being warned about divine discipline. But if you look throughout Hebrews, again, I said it when I began this sermon, it's one of the highest Christologies in the Bible. Look how the book starts. God, after he spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days, he has spoken to us. In the Greek, it really says, in a son, not in his son. The word his is not there. And there's an interesting argument how that's constructed. But nonetheless, he's spoken to us in a son. Jesus Christ, God's Son, whom, notice this, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. That's John 1, 3. All things came into existence through Him. How can Jesus not be God if He's Creator? Only God can create. Then it says this, He is the radiance of His glory, the apel gasma, the flashing forth, and He is the exact representation of His nature. So, He is the very essence of God. He's not the Father, but He's equal to the Father in essence. And He upholds all things by the word of His power. Right now, the earth is tilted and moving so fast. We're just far enough from the sun that we don't burn up and close enough that we don't freeze to death. Everything in this whole universe is being sustained by who? Jesus Christ. Right now. He could wipe it out in a second if he wanted to. This Lord Jesus at the right hand of the Father is upholding everything by his word. That is something else. Then when he had made purification for sins, now he's in soteriology, he's talking about his work on the cross. He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. So now we have the ascension and session. Three verses of scripture could keep you busy for weeks in theology. Incredible passage. Hebrews 1, the whole chapter is like that. Well, what is meant by the Son of God? Let me give you something I've done with you a long time ago. I want to give you a grammatical consideration. And one of the reasons I do this is because if you've ever been out in this world, somebody will say, well, no, Jesus isn't God. He's a God or he's very powerful, but he's not God himself. And you say, well, why would you say that? Because God's the father and he's the son. And somehow some people think son for Jesus means inferiority. And they see he's less than the father. And I disagree. I think a father may have authority over his son and a family, but he's still equal in humanity and the image of God before God. So, I don't think sonship means inferiority at all when it pertains to Jesus. Now, let me show you this. I don't know how well this shows up. Now, this phrase, the Son of God, ὁχοιὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ. That's how it's worded in the Greek New Testament. Now, the word son is just a nominative singular of the word hwios, for son, that's followed. Now, this is the important thing. The of God is a genitive singular of the noun for God, theos. Many of you have heard of theos, but it's theou. Now, you can translate a genitive, the son from God, the son of God, you know, that's how the genitive is translated out. Now, here's one of the things I want to describe to you. How do I put this? Now, the of God describes the head noun. So, the Son of God, the God describes the Son. Let me give you some examples of the Son of stuff that you see in Scripture. Psalm 89-22, the Son of Wickedness. This does not mean His Father is wicked. It's a title for Him. It means He's a wicked person. If I went, you son of wickedness, what are you talking about my dad for? I'm not talking about your dad. In the language of the day, this would be meaning you are a wicked person. Second Kings 6.32, a son of a murderer meant that person was a murderer. The Hebrew would say in Job 30 verse 8, sons of fools. That means those people are foolish. There's many, many of these. Acts 4.36 in the New Testament, Barnabas was called the son of encouragement. That means he's an encouraging person. That doesn't mean his dad was an encourager. So again, encouragement describes the son of. The son of encouragement would describe the person of Barnabas. James and John are called sons of thunder, describing their personality. Ephesians 2.2 talks about unbelievers described as the sons of disobedience. It has nothing to do with their biological parents. It describes them and their lost stay separated from God. Even Judas is called the son of perdition. It's a title for him, not his biological father. I'll give you a quote by J. Oliver Buswell, who I think says this well. He says, in Jewish usage, the term son of did not generally imply any subordination, but rather equality and identity of nature. Thus, Bar Kokhba, who led the Jewish revolt in 135 to 132 BC during the reign of Hadrian, was called by a name that means son of the star. It was supposed that he took this name to identify himself as the very star predicted in Numbers 2417. The name son of encouragement in Acts 436 doubtless means the encourager. Sons of Thunder in Mark 317 probably means thunderous men. Son of man, especially as applied to Christ in Daniel 7.13 and constantly in the New Testament, essentially means the representative man. And I'm going to stop here because I think the sonship implies representation. By the way, if you have a child and you have a son, don't you want him to represent you? And when they do well, you go, oh, that's my son. He's my representative. He's acting on my behalf. I like that, but when he's doing bad, you go, that's not my son. Yeah, he's really your child, but you're saying, no, he's not representing me well right now. So he says, son of man, for Jesus implies the representative man. Thus, for Christ to say, I am the Son of God in John 10.36 was understood by his contemporaries as identifying himself as God, equal with the Father in an unqualified sense. So again, Son of God can imply deity in the title as it relates to Jesus Christ. So again, another question often comes up at this point. So by the way, I don't think Son of God, do not fall into the argument that that means inferiority. I do not see that. But some will also ask, as Dr. Leitner mentioned last time he was here, Was Jesus always the Son of God? He says, yes, eternally, and I agree. Some believe that Jesus became the Son of God at his virgin birth. That's when he became the Son. Some would say it is baptism when God says, this is my Son. Some would say it is resurrection or even not until his second coming. Remember Arius in the early church? He taught there was a time when Christ was not. You ever heard that? Arius, this man that fought against Athanasius. He said there was a time when Christ was not. So what he is saying, the Son is merely a creature with a finite beginning. By the way, do you know the religious system that now perpetuates that? The Jehovah's Witnesses. They're just Arianism revisited. It's under a different title. But, yeah, there was a time when Jesus was not. He has a finite beginning. But that's not true. So, Arianism was rejected at the Council of Nicaea in 325, and he was called a heretic for that. So, the Scripture teaches that Christ was always the Son of God in eternity past, and that this Father role has always existed. I don't have a slide, but one writer said about this. He says, Jesus does not bear this title, Son of God, in consequence of his miraculous birth, nor his incarnation. His resurrection and exaltation at the Father's hand. None of these. He says this is a title of nature, not of office. The Sonship of Christ denotes His equality with the Father. To call Christ the Son of God is to assert His true humanity and proper divinity. So if the phrase Son of God is a title for His deity and Jesus Christ, the Logos, has always had an eternal relationship with the Father, then I would say that Jesus, the Son of God, was always the Son of God in eternity past. Because remember John 1.1, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word kept on being with God. So, the Father was always the Father from eternity past, the Son was always the Son in eternity past, and the Spirit was always the Spirit in eternity past. So, as we close, well, that's for next time. Salvation comes through the Son of God. Since we're talking about the title Son of God, we know that salvation comes through Him, and I'll close with the Gospel. For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God didn't send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged, but he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And the book of John at the end says, there were many other signs that Jesus did in the presence of the disciples which are not written in this book. But John 20, 31 says, but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name. Let's pray. Gracious Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for our Savior Jesus. We thank you. We know you've commanded for us to know him. to contemplate Him, to consider Him. And Lord, that means considering everything about Him. And we thank You for all the things that are revealed to us about Him, that He is the Son of David, the Son of God, and the Son of Man, and that He is a prophet, a priest, and a king. And Lord, this is the Jesus whom we will serve and worship for all eternity. And Lord, I just think that somehow what we know about Him now will pay off in the future after the resurrection. And I think to fail to know Him now will have to have some consequence in our walk if we don't come to understand who He is. So Lord, may we know Jesus in every possible way better than we know anything else in this life. May we make Him the highest priority of our daily lives and that we'll only first come through knowing Him And then thoughtfully applying these truths and contemplating them as we go throughout our day. So may the Holy Spirit teach us the truth. May the Holy Spirit build our understanding and knowledge of the Son of God so that we can come to know him better and worship him more fully in the days to come. So, Lord, again, we thank you for our time and bring us back next week to continue to study about our person or the person of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And we'll thank you and praise you in his name. Amen.