Jesus is the Son of God
2 Samuel 7: 11 – 18
From this reading God showed me that Jesus is God’s Son. Today many religions reject Jesus being the Son of God. They regard him just being a prophet.
The people of Jesus’ day had assumed that the prophecy given to Nathan for David meant that the Christ would be a direct descendant of King David, the son of David, a man. “I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come forth from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom for ever. 14 I will be his father, and he shall be my son.” 2 Samuel 7: 12-14.
Solomon the son of David was made a King; his kingship was passed on down the hereditary line from his father King David. The lineage of the ‘House of David.’ Solomon built God’s house, the Temple at Jerusalem, but it was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar in 586BC . 1 Kings 4: 1, 6: 14.
In the gospels some of the people addressed Jesus as Christ, ‘the son of David.’
Matthew 9: 27, “Have mercy on us, son of David.”
12: 23 “Can this be the son of David?”
John the disciple recorded the people’s confusion over Jesus.
“When they heard these words, some of the people said, “This is really the prophet.” Others said, “This is the Christ.” But some said, “Is the Christ to come from Galilee? Has not the scripture said that the Christ is descended from David, and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David was?” So there was a division among the people over him. Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.” John 7: 40-44.
Jesus answered their questioning with a question.
In Mark’s Gospel he recorded where Jesus questioned the teaching of the scribes, “How can the scribes say that the Christ is the son of David? Mark 12: 35, 36.
Luke tells us that his quotation came from the book of Psalms.
“For David himself says in the Book of Psalms, ‘The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand, till I make thy enemies a stool for thy feet.’ David thus calls him Lord; so how is he his son?” Luke 20: 41 – 44
Jesus had quoted from Psalm 110: 1
David had discerned two persons: The Lord said to my Lord,’ Just in a few words he had spiritually discerned that both were superior to him. By Jesus quoting these words from the Psalmist he was separating the Lordship of the Christ from being David’s son, a man.
Thomas the disciple who after Jesus’ resurrection spiritually discerned that Jesus was both his Lord and his God, ‘My Lord and my God.’ John 20: 28. This was following Jesus saying to his disciples, “In that day you will know that I am in the Father, and you in me, and I in you.” John 14: 20.
Nathan’s prophecy to David about his throne and kingdom being eternal referred to the Christ/Messiah.
The link between the prophecy and Jesus, Mary was a descendant of King David and God was His Father, ”I will be his father, and he shall be my son.” Jesus is ‘Christ the Lord,’ the Son of God.
Isaiah prophesied that a virgin would conceive and bear a son, and he would be called Emmanuel’ (God with us.) Isaiah 7: 14. 9: 6, 7.
Archangels’ words, “He will be great, and will be called the son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there will be no end.” Luke 1: 32, 33.
The gospels record Jesus’ birth at Bethlehem. Matthew 1: 18-25. Luke 2: 7.
God called Jesus His Son
“A voice came from heaven, “Thou art my beloved Son; with thee I am well pleased.” Mark 1: 11
The crowd gathered at the cross shouted up to Jesus “. . . If you are the Son of God come down from the cross and we will believe in you.” Matthew 27: 40
The crowd shouting out these words confirms the association between the Jesus the Christ, and the Son of God.
In the first century, the writer of Hebrews also confirms that Jesus is the Son of God from the Hebrew Scriptures. He makes the distinction between the rank of angels and that of the Son of God. (We find Nathan’s prophecy the eternal throne and Psalm 110:1)
“In many and various ways God spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets; 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. 3 He reflects the glory of God and bears the very stamp of his nature, upholding the universe by his word of power. When he had made purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4 having become as much superior to angels as the name he has obtained is more excellent than theirs.
5 For to what angel did God ever say,
“Thou art my Son,
today I have begotten thee”?
Or again, “I will be to him a father,
and he shall be to me a son”?
6 And again, when he brings the first-born into the world, he says, “Let all God’s angels worship him.”
7 Of the angels he says, “Who makes his angels winds,
and his servants flames of fire.”
8 But of the Son he says, “Thy throne, O God,[a] is for ever and ever,
the righteous sceptre is the sceptre of thy[b] kingdom.
9 Thou hast loved righteousness and hated lawlessness;
therefore God, thy God, has anointed thee
with the oil of gladness beyond thy comrades.”
10 And, “Thou, Lord, didst found the earth in the beginning,
and the heavens are the work of thy hands;
11 they will perish, but thou remains;
they will all grow old like a garment,
12 like a mantle thou wilt roll them up,
and they will be changed.[c]
But thou art the same,
and thy years will never end.”
13 But to what angel has he ever said,
“Sit at my right hand
till I make thy enemies
a stool for thy feet”?
Hebrews 1: 2, 5, 6, 8, 13. these verses confirm that Jesus is the Son of God born of a woman to become one of us to enable us to be the body, the eternal House of Christ in our humanity, Christ-like.
Hebrews 2: 14 reveals why he was born as one of us in order to defeat the devil’s power over death.
“Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same nature, that through death he might destroy him who has the power of death, that is, the devil.”
Jesus is the Son of God faithful over God’s House
“Yet Jesus has been counted worthy of as much more glory than Moses as the builder of a house has more honour than the house. 4 (For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.) 5 Now Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later, 6 but Christ was faithful over God’s house as a son. And we are his house if we hold fast our confidence and pride in our hope.” Hebrews 3: 3-6
He makes the distinction between ranks: Moses the servant and Jesus the Son of God.
Nathan’s prophecy point to the Christ’s suffering.
“When he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men;” Jesus suffering insults, mocked and being flogged by men and finally suffered death.
“But I will not take[a] my steadfast love from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. 16 And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure for ever before me; your throne shall be established for ever.’”
We know the history, Saul was disobedient towards God and the kingship was taken from him. David the shepherd had a heart for the things of God and he was anointed King by Samuel and later succeeded Saul as King. Solomon had a continuous reign even though he worshipped Canaanite gods at one point. 1 Kings 11: 5, 8.
God the Father raised Jesus His Son from the dead, His eternal love poured out on the day of Jesus’ death in forgiveness of sin, the magnitude of God’s love to forgive the sins from the fall of man to the cross, from the cross to now and from now till there is a new heaven and a new earth.
Jesus has fulfilled Nathan’s prophecy
God has allowed him to suffer at the hands of men when he bore the sin of the world. And God in his steadfast love raised him up to sit at His right hand in His eternal kingdom. Till he makes his enemies a stool for his feet.
We Christians are in the ‘House of Jesus’
We do not become Christians through our parent’s faith. Jesus is the seed sown into our hearts through our faith in him; the seed comes direct from Jesus that is why it’s personal salvation. We are joint heirs with Jesus all that belongs to Jesus belongs to us. We are a heavenly people, blessed by God our Father.
Knowing personally that Jesus is the Son of God
For Christians it’s about our relationship with God as our Father. David the shepherd boy had a good relationship with his father Jesse. In his relationship with God he asked for God to create in him a clean heart and a new and right spirit within him. David was blessed by walking in the anointing of God’s Spirit, but the creating of a clean heart was brought about through the death and resurrection of Jesus, being born again. Psalm 51: 10 John 3:6-8
Jesus’ relationship with his Father was close in that he heard and did as he saw his Father doing, he was willing to do His Father’s will and he responded like His Father to the need to love one another, to honour and respect and to forgive others.
In our relationship with God our Father we revere and talk to Him as Jesus did. We grow closer to God our Father during times of suffering, as we become more dependent upon Him. We concede when we have fallen short in thought, word or actions. We pray believing that God our Father always hears us when we come to Him in faith.
There are many people who for one reason or another have never met their father or who have a bad relationship with their father, so the thought of having a relationship with Father God a perfect father who loves with an everlasting love, must mean a lot to them.
Prayer
Thank you, Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God for being willing to be made like us and to feel how we feel, to experience at first hand the fallen humanity and our longing to find God and to know Him as Father, our dad. Thank you for suffering and taking my place on the cross, bearing my sin and thank you Father for raising Jesus in forgiveness of all sin and the causes of sin. Thank you for forgiving my sins and raising me up into newness of life, a life transformed to know that Jesus is the Son of God. Thank you, Lord Jesus, Amen.