MEMORY VERSE: “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” 1 Timothy 2:5.
BIBLE PASSAGE: Matthew 24:29-31.
INTRODUCTION
Our Lord Jesus Christ described Himself as the Son of Man. The implication of this title of our Lord Jesus and the context in which it was used must be correctly understood by every child of God who wants to maximise their relationship with Him. The title “Son of Man” has everything to do with the incarnation of Jesus Christ and is a clear link to His ministry as our Redeemer, High Priest, Friend and the Author and Finisher of our faith. He could not be our Redeemer or High Priest without taking on a human form to be both fully God and Man simultaneously to enable Him to fulfil His role as saviour of mankind Hebrews 4:15. Jesus took on the nature of a human being by choice to restore man to his original and divine purpose 1 Timothy 3:16; John 1:14. It is also as Son of Man that the Lord Jesus accomplished God’s eternal plan and purpose for humanity which was to bring many ‘sons’ to glory through Christ Hebrews 2:10.
OUTLINE
1.THE PATTERN SON
2. THE NEW ADAM
3. JESUS CHRIST AS SON OF MAN
THE PATTERN SON
In the genealogy of Jesus, the connection to the first human being created, Adam is established Luke 3:38. Adam was meant to populate the Earth with sons and daughters of God, but he failed because of his disobedience. Man was created in the beginning to be God’s family on Earth: sonship had always been God’s plan for human beings. Jesus Christ came as Son of Man, the ‘Seed’ of the woman Genesis 3:15, to show us the pattern of life acceptable to God that all mankind should follow 1 Peter 2:21. God so loved the world that He made Himself become Son of Man; the Pattern Son, the first born among many brethren in God’s new family on Earth according to Romans 8:29; John 1:12. Jesus Christ, who is God, incarnate is our complete specimen pattern of how God wanted man to live. Jesus was totally as human as we are (without the sin) so that we, human beings can become all of God that He is (without the deity) as we follow His pattern. In the gospels, we see how Jesus related to the Father as a son, though fully Man. We see His total dependence on the Father. The relationship of Jesus Christ, the ‘Pattern Son’ with the Father demonstrates His commitment to the Father’s will and is an example of how our life ought to be here on Eart as we relate with our Heavenly Father.
THE NEW ADAM
The first Adam represents the origin and nature of all mankind, which falls short of the glory and original purpose of God 1 Corinthians 15:45. Every man born since Adam carries the nature, the life of flesh, the old man, and can neither please God nor have a relationship with Him Romans 8:7-8. When Jesus Christ the Son of Man died on the Cross of Calvary, He represented Adam and paid the penalty of both the first Adam’s sin and sinful nature Romans 8:3. Jesus Christ the Son of Man, ‘the last Adam’ became ‘the new man’ to redeem fallen mankind and restore us to our glorious estate of God the Father lost by the first man 1 Corinthians 15:47.
The title, Son of Man was the same one used by God when He spoke to the prophets like Ezekiel in the Old Testament Ezekiel 2:1, 37:3, 11. David, the Psalmist, also used the term ‘son of man’ when he referred to mankind Psalm 8:4, 144:3.
JESUS CHRIST AS SON OF MAN
a. Jesus Christ could not identify any closer to human beings than being called and referred to as the Son of Man. This is what qualifies Jesus Christ as our Kinsman Redeemer–a near relative. It is as the Son of Man that the incarnation of Jesus bears its significance. This is the very essence of God becoming flesh, being one of us, identifying with us, born a man so that He could suffer and die in our place for the sins of mankind Hebrews 2:14-18.
b. As the Son of Man, our Lord Jesus demonstrated for us how ‘the new man’ should approach and develop a relationship with God that will make us dwell in His presence always John 14:10; 1 Timothy 3:16.
c. As the Son of Man, Jesus Christ showed us God’s original intention for the human being to have authority and dominion on the Earth as God’s representative Genesis 1:26-28, Mark 4:39- 41.
d. In the revelation of Christ as it was given to John the Apostle, he saw Jesus, the Son of Man in His glory Revelation 1:13. Christ in us is the hope of this same glory Colossians 1:27.
CONCLUSION
Jesus Christ the Son of Man is God’s gift of grace to sinful mankind. As the Son of Man, Jesus restores lost humanity to our original position with God and demonstrates for us the extent of His everlasting love Romans 5:19.
FURTHER READINGS:
MON: Matthew 12:8
TUES: Matthew 18:11
WED: Luke 22:69
THURS: John 6:62
FRI: Mark: 13:26
SAT: Acts 7:56
SUN: Isaiah 9:6.