Hello beloved,
Let us continue our study of the names and titles for Jesus. Last month, we finished the study of what Elmer Towns calls the “assistance names,” by focusing on Jesus as “the Propitiation for our sins.” This month we introduce a new sequence of names, “The Sonship names of Jesus.”
We observe the prophetic implications for the “sonship names” in passages like Psalm 2:7, in which David writes of his decedent, the Messiah, “I will tell of the decree: The Lord said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you”’ [Psalm 2:7 (ESV)]. From another perspective, in the gospels, Jesus referred to God as Father in all but one instance, when he quoted Psalm 22 while on the cross. Jesus cried, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” [Psalm 22:1 (ESV)]. In this text, Jesus referred directly to the twenty-second Psalm in hopes that those standing at the foot of the cross might reflect on the prophetic truths of its fulfilment in the immediate events: the Messiah being scorned, mocked and despised (6-7); the Messiah’s strength being gone (15); the Messiah’s thirst (15); the Messiah’s pierced hands and feet (16); the Messiah’s garments being divided by lots (18); and God who has not hidden His face from the Messiah (24).
As we follow the outline of Towns, we will consider three titles of Christ’s sonship: the “son of man,” the “only begotten son,” and “the son of God.” For now, let’s consider how Christ depicts the Son in relation to the Father from the fifth chapter of John. In this text, many of the Jewish leadership were seeking to kill Jesus because He was calling God His own Father, and was making Himself equal with God. John writes:
19 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise. 20 For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. And greater works than these will he show him, so that you may marvel. 21 For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will. 22 For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, 23 that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. 24 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. 25 “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. 26 For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. 27 And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. John 5:19–27 (ESV)
Jesus refers to Himself as God’s Son ten times in this paragraph. Elmer Towns emphasizes that the “Son did only what He had seen the Father do (5:19), that the Son was the constant object of the Father’s love (5:20), that the Father had and would continue to reveal all things and greater works to the Son (5:20), that the Son had power to give life (5:21), that the Father had delegated His authority to judge to the Son (5:22), that men should honor the Son as they honor the Father (5:23), that those who do not honor the Son offend the Father (5:23), that the Father sent the Son (5:23), that the dead will rise to life when they hear the Son’s voice (5:25), that the Son has life in Himself (5:26), and that the Father has given to the Son authority to execute judgement (5:27).” As we think about the Father and his love for the Son and His love for us, consider the following illustration:
A famous military officer used to tell a story of an aged Quaker named Hartmann, whose son had enlisted in the army. There came the news of a dreadful battle, and this old father, in fear and trembling, started to the scene of conflict that he might learn something concerning his boy. The officer of the day told him that he had not answered to his name, and that there was every reason to believe that he was dead. This did not satisfy the father, so, leaving headquarters, he started across the battlefield, looking for the one who was dearer to him than life. He would stoop down and turn over the face of this one and then the face of another, but without success. The night came on, and then with a lantern he continued his search, all to no purpose. Suddenly the wind, which was blowing a gale, extinguished his lantern, and he stood there in the darkness hardly knowing what to do until his father’s ingenuity, strength and affection prompted him to call out his son’s name, and so he stood and shouted, “John Hartmann, your father calls you.” All about him he would hear the groans of the dying and someone saying: “Oh, if that were only my father.” He continued his cry with more pathos and power until at last in the distance he heard his boy’s voice crying tremblingly, “Here, father.” The old man made his way across the field shouting out, “Thank God! Thank God!” Taking him in his arms, he carried him to headquarters, nursed him back to health and strength, and he went on to live a long life. Over the battlefield of the slain this day walks Jesus Christ, the Son of God, crying out to all who are wrecked by this awful power, “Thy Father calleth thee,” and if there should be but the faintest response to his cry he would take the lost in his arms and carry them home to heaven. Will you not come while He calls today?
Until next time, this is Pastor Daniel writing, “May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.”
(Much of the content of this study is taken from Elmer Towns The Names of Jesus)