The Bible depicts God’s undying love for His people. God is referred to as the Trinity, three in one. The Father, the Son, and The Holy Spirit. Through most of the Old Testament, the Father is depicted as the creator, God, the great “I am”, and Jehovah over the Israelites. However, throughout the entire Old Testament, the Son of God starts to be depicted as the One that can save everyone from the Israelites’ sins, uproot the evil from the world, and much more. Everything leads up to the Son of God, but who is the Son of God and why do we need Him today?
As any “Sunday School” answer goes, let’s answer the first question. Who is the Son of God? Jesus. Matthew 1:21-23. (English Standard Version) is one of the earliest depictions of knowing that Jesus would be the Son of God.
“‘She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins’. All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: ‘Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel’ (which means, God with us).
Jesus, the Son of God, is going to be God with us. We see clearly that the Son of God must be Jesus himself. Also, in John 1:43-51 (ESV), Jesus’s depiction as the Son of God is no longer just said in a dream by an angel, but by Jesus himself. In these verses, Jesus is calling Phillip and Nathanael to follow Him. Philip immediately takes the response and is ready to believe in who Jesus is, but Nathanael questions Philip until he sees who Jesus is himself.
John 1:47-51 (ESV)
“Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, ‘Behold, an Israelite indeed, in who there is no deceit!’ Nathanael said to him, ‘How do you know me?’ Jesus answered him, ‘Before Philip called you when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.’ Nathanael answered him, ‘Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!’ Jesus answered him, ‘Before I said to you, I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? You will see greater things than these.’ And he said to him, ‘Truly, truly I say to you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man'”.
Who is the Son of God? A baby that was born of a virgin, who was called to save the people from their sins. A young boy, who followed after his father’s craft. The Son of God was a man that forgave the sins of many, performed miracles, and became the Savior of the world. That man, fully God and fully man, was Jesus Christ.
Why the Son of God? How does Jesus, the Son of God, affect us today?
Most people today question the relevance of the Bible. Not only do the question the Bible, but Jesus himself. I’ve heard multiple times, “That’s great for you that you are Christian. It sounds like you needed that in your life. I just don’t need it for my life”. With everything out there in the world like advanced medicine, technology, and human development, why would we need the Son of God?
The answer is truly found in who the Son of God is. Jesus was named Jesus because “he will save people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21b). That must mean that humanity needs to be saved from their sins. From the beginning, we learn that we are all broken and sinful people. In Romans 3:23 we see that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”. Nobody is good enough on their own. We are all destined to sin and rebel against God. Jesus is the only one who can save us and all of us are in desperate need of Him.
Jesus is the Son of God, whom God chose to save us from our sins. He did this because of agape (unconditional) love for us. In 1 John 4:9-10 its stated that “In this, the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins”. God sent His only Son to die on a cross to save us from our sins. He is the Son of God, the One that we are all in desperate need of.
Thank you Father for sending your Son to die on the cross for my sins. I believe in You Jesus, and want to live out Your love in my life and share this with others. Keep sowing that inside my soul more and more each day. Amen!