Jesus Christ, Son of Seven
Text: “What think ye of Christ? Whose son is he?” — Matthew 22:42.
Jesus Christ is the son of Adam, the son of Abraham, the son of David, the son of Joseph, the son of Mary, the son of man, and the son of God. Seven of these titles attest the unique quality of our Lord’s life and relationship both to God and man. This study begins with Christ the son of David, because that comes first in the New Testament.
The Pharisees were the most learned sect of the Jews, and they replied to the question raised by Jesus Christ in our text by saying, “the son of David.”
“The book of the generation of Jesus Christ the son of David.” These are the very first words in the entire New Testament. Christ was often called the “son of David.” Two blind men cried for him to have mercy upon them, saying, “Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy upon us.” (Matthew 9:27). When Jesus did a notable miracle, the people asked, “Can this be the son of David?” (Matthew 12:23). The canaanitish woman used this title when she pleaded for her daughter, saying, “Have mercy on me, Oh Lord, thou son of David.” (Matthew 15:22). This title was the common one that most people used when referring to the expected Messiah. It must, therefore, have been charged with special significance.
David’s victory over Goliath of Gath is a type of Jesus’ victory over sin and death. David was sent by his father with food and a message for his brethren. Christ was sent by His Father with bread from heaven and a message for his brethren. David’s brethren rejected him; Jesus’ brethren rejected him. David was a representative of his people as he went out between the lines to face the giant of Gath. Christ is the only mediator. He alone fought and triumphed over Satan. David rejected Saul’s amour. Jesus commanded Peter to put up his sword. David selected five smooth stones. Christ authorized five channels of Christian worship. David cut off the giant’s head with Goliath’s own sword. Christ slew Satan with Satan’s principal weapon, namely death. “Christ also himself took part of the same that through death he might destroy him that hath the power of death, that is, the devil.” (Hebrews 2:14).
There are numerous ways in which David is a type of Christ. His throne is indeed the type of the throne upon which Christ now reigns at God’s right hand. Thus, Christ was David’s son, not merely after the flesh, but spiritually as well. He was legal heir to David’s throne.
“Jesus Christ the son of Abraham.” (Matthew 1:1). It is one mark of the greatness of Jesus that he is called the son of Abraham, because until Christ came, Abraham was the greatest man who ever lived on earth. From this single patriarch there descends in unbroken lines, three great races, and three great religions. Abraham was father of Isaac through whom the Jews and Judaism descended to this day. He was the father of Ishmael through whom the Arabians and the Moslem religion descended. Abraham is a sacred patriarch to Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. Christians are the spiritual seed of Abraham through the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul said, “If ye are Christs, then are ye Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise.” (Galatians 3:29).
Furthermore, Jesus Christ was a legal son of Abraham. Not all of Abraham’s sons enjoyed this distinction, for example, Ishmael, who was disinherited, being the son of a slave. Likewise, Christ was a literal son of Abraham, through the ancestors of Mary. Still another interesting way in which Jesus was the son of Abraham is seen in the similarity between Jesus and Isaac. Both Christ and Isaac were offered as a sacrifice. Both submitted willingly. Both were raised the third day, Isaac in a figure, Christ literally. Both bore the wood up the hill, Isaac for the sacrifice, Christ the cross till he fainted under its weight. Both suffered on the same mountain, Moriah. Thus, Jesus is Abraham’s greater son. He is that “seed,” in whom God promised Abraham that he would be a blessing to all nations. Paul explained this when he said, “Now to Abraham were the promises spoken, and to his seed. He saith not unto seeds, as of many; but as of one, and to thy seed, which is Christ.” (Galatians 3:16). This of course makes all Christians the “seed of Abraham,” and designates the church as the “true Israel of God.” Paul wrote the Galatian church that “As many as shall walk by this rule, peace be upon them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.” (Galatians 6:16).
Jesus is the son of Adam. In a sense, of course, all men are sons of Adam, but Christ’s sonship is something special. Paul’s keen mind was quick to discern this. He wrote: “The first man Adam became a living soul. The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.” (1 Corinthians 15:45). Paul contrasted the two Adams in these words: “For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.” (1 Corinthians 15:22). Thus, Christ is Adam II. This makes him clearly the son of Adam in a very unusual way. A further mystery of this relationship is seen in the deep sleep that came upon Adam during the creation of Eve. A deep sleep (of death) was upon Christ when he paid his blood for the church, Furthermore, the bone from which Eve was formed came from Adam’s side. The spear was thrust into the side of Christ, and from that came “the water and the blood” identified with the church of Jesus Christ. Furthermore, Adam loved Eve so much that he gave himself for her by committing sin, even though Adam was not deceived. Christ too, in a far different way, gave his life for the church which he redeemed with his own precious blood.
Jesus Christ was the son of Joseph. He was not actually Joseph’s son, but he was surely called this. The citizens of Nazareth said, “Is not this the carpenter’s son?” (Matthew 13:55). Luke traces the genealogy of Jesus and includes Joseph’s name, saying, “Jesus himself, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph.” (Luke 3:23). Christ was, thus, the foster son of Joseph which made him a legal son as well. Christ bestowed every honor upon his foster parent. He submitted to him as befitted an obedient child. Furthermore, as a lawful heir to the name and title “son of Joseph,” Christ became the rightful possessor of a name surpassingly honored in the storied traditions of the Jews. How often, in the long, eventful history of the Jews was there a Joseph to preserve, a Joseph to deliver, a Joseph to stand forth when all others fled away. Joseph the son of Jacob rose to mighty power in Egypt and preserved the Hebrew nation. Joseph, the husband of Mary, filled a requirement in the life of the Lord, perhaps no other could have filled. He was a just man, unwilling to expose Mary to shame, even when it must have appeared to him that she was a sinner. At the cross too, there came Joseph of Arimathea, a rich man, an honorable counsellor. He appeared when the closest friends of Jesus had forsaken him. Yes, it was an honorable name that Jesus inherited as the “son of Joseph.”
Jesus was the son of Mary. Many gross and hurtful errors have been intruded into the holy relationship between the Lord and his earthly mother. It is all the more fitting, therefore, that his relationship to Mary should be viewed in the light of the Holy Scriptures instead of the dismal fog of Medieval superstition and priestcraft. Although Christ was the “firstborn son” of Mary, he was not her “only begotten son.” Mary had four other sons and an undetermined number of daughters. The names of Jesus’ brothers are given in Matthew 13 as “James and Joses, and Simon, and Judas.” Only the gullible can write this off as a reference to Jesus’ cousins, uncles, or lodge brothers! Such imaginations of the celibate mind as “the perpetual virginity of Mary,” her so-called “immaculate conception,” and the monstrous notion that she was “the mother of God,” have absolutely no foundation in that word which liveth and abideth forever.
Jesus, on several occasions, addressed himself to the task of placing his relationship to blessed Mary in the proper focus. His favorite expression in addressing her was “Woman,” certainly not “Mother of God.” On the cross itself, he did not depart from this term of address, saying, “Woman, behold thy son,” as he referred her to John. There is no record that he ever appeared to her after his resurrection, although he did appear to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils. That his sonship of Mary entitles Mary to her current status in the Roman Catholic theology as a female deity whose statue stands higher over the altar than does that of the Christ himself is utterly unthinkable. The entire Roman system has, in our times, moved even further into a vulgar Mariolatry by the recently promulgated doctrine of her bodily assumption into heaven. It is not, nor can it ever be, true; for “there is one God and one mediator between God and men, himself also man, Christ Jesus who gave himself a ransom for all.” (1 Timothy 2:5).
Christ is the Son of Man. This was, by far, Jesus’ favorite way of referring to himself. In Matthew’s gospel, this expression is found thirty-two times. It is found fifteen times in Mark, twenty-six times in Luke, and twelve times in John, eighty-five times in all. Only twice, however, was it ever upped by anyone but himself. Why did Jesus so heavily prefer thig terminology in referring to himself? Perhaps it was to emphasize his complete and intimate union with humanity, his genuine identification with our fallen nature. “He was indeed tempted in all points like we are.” His badge of service was this title, “Son of Man.” Further, we see in this a removal of the restrictions inherent in any other earthly sonship. As son of Mary, he sustained a family limitation; as son of David, there was a legal limitation; as son of Abraham, there existed a racial limitation; as son of Adam, there appeared his connection with him who had brought death to all mankind; as son of Joseph, there was the limit of adoption; but as The Son of Man, he manifested his relationship to the whole sin-cursed race. All its glories and its shame, all its failure and success, all its capabilities, for better or for worse, all these are gathered in the all comprehensive title, “Son of Man.” He belongs to no race or nation, no family, or kingdom, exclusively. “He died for our sin, and not for ours only but for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:2). He is the Son of Man.
Jesus Christ is the Son of God. This is the all-surpassing fact about Jesus Christ. He is not merely the son of God, but “the only begotten Son of God,” This was Peter’s confession in Matthew 16. This became the form of confession practiced in the early church and till this day in Churches of Christ throughout the world, “Thou art the Christ the son of the living God!” How often has this simple confession of faith marked the coming of the penitent to receive baptism and to be added to the church of the living God! It is at once a simple and a profound truth. It is like the mighty ocean in that a little child may play in its shallows and great ships may go in its deeps. Here is a simple truth that a child can believe and yet depths of theological truth that the wisest of this earth have not comprehended. This is called the “good confession.” It is good because Jesus made it and was put to death for so doing. (John 19:7). It is good because all men must make it eventually. (Philippians 2:11). It is good because Christ will confess him who makes it. (Matthew 10:32). It is good because the Father himself made it at the baptism of Jesus (Matthew 3:16) and the mount of transfiguration. (Matthew 17:5). Angels and demons, apostles and martyrs, Judas who betrayed him, the centurion who executed him, Nathaniel, and the woman of Samaria, — all these, and countless millions of the redeemed in all ages have made it. CHRIST IS THE SON OF GOD. How grandly does that fact go marching in the gloom of our sick world. How charged with hope and promise, how laden with life or death, how persistently does this sublime truth tug at men’s hearts for recognition. Have YOU recognized it? Why not claim the blessed promise of Jesus? “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord, and shall believe in thine heart that God raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved!” (Romans 10:9).
Concerning Jesus as Son of God, there is an awful dilemma. He was executed for testifying under oath that he was the Son of God. If this testimony was false, Jesus deserved the felon’s death that he received. If his testimony is true, there can never be any mercy for men who refuse to acknowledge it. “No man cometh to the Father but by Me,” Jesus said. This is in consequence of his being “the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth.” The world cannot escape this dilemma. He was, or He was not, THE SON OF GOD. It is the unwavering conviction of every child of God that he indeed IS the son of the living God. We close this meditation by quoting the words of Christ himself who, under oath. being adjured by the high priest, answered the solemn question, ‘‘Art thou the Christ, the son of the Blessed?” by an unequivocal response, “I am; and ye shall see the Son or Man, sitting on the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.” (Mark 14:62).
The world is not through with this Son of God. He shall come in righteousness to redeem the faithful and appoint the wicked their portion with the hypocrites. “You that are troubled, rest with us in that day when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ.” (2 Thessalonians 1:7-8).
Burton Coffman
The Gospel in Gotham
pp. 73-81
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Burton Coffman (1905-2006) graduated Abilene Christian College. He preached for congregations in Wichita Falls, TX; Houston, TX; Lawton, OK; New York City, and the District of Columbia. While in Washington D. C., Coffman was offered the opportunity to serve as guest chaplain for the U.S. Armed Forces in Japan and Korea. During his time as minister for the Manhattan Church of Christ, Coffman preached across the nation and raised more than $1 million for The Manhattan Project, an effort to build a worship place on the world’s most expensive real estate. After retiring 1971, Coffman wrote a 37-volume commentary of the entire Bible.
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THE VIRGIN BIRTH