“UNTO US A SON IS GIVEN” (Isa 9:6)

December 10^th, 2000

Int.      Spurgeon on The Eternal Sonship of Christ, said: “There are some who apparently think that certain popular pastors, evangelists, and writers have an "exemption" from being criticized when they go "public" with their expressed rejections or diversions in regard to what has been affirmed thru the years as the "orthodox" position on the "Son of God." If it is a "transgression" for me to offer words of criticism and opposition to a "heterodox" view which is advocated by some popular pulpit personality, then "so be it." I am not the least bit "moved," as I find I am in "the company" of many in the past who have stood for the truth of Eternal Sonship in opposition to detractors. Those who feel at liberty to "go public" in "chipping-away" at this view should not expect "exemption" from rebuttal.”

1.         John Gill said: "The ancient Jews applied this prophecy to the Messiah. Their ridiculous traditions, recorded in their Talmud, of God’s desire to make Hezekiah the Messiah, and Senacherib, Gog and Magog; and that saying of R. Hillell’s, “That Israel should not have a Messiah, because they enjoyed him in the days of Hezekiah,” shew plainly that that they were under a conviction of this prophecy’s belonging to him, though they foolishly attempt to wrest it to Hezekiah..."

1.       HIS ETERNAL SONSHIP PROCLAIMED.

          A.      HIS ETERNAL SONSHIP IS PROCLAIMED BY PAUL.

                        1.         (Gal 4:4) "But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,"

            B.      HIS ETERNAL SONSHIP IS PROCLAIMED BY THE GOD THE FATHER.

                        1.         (Mat 3:17) "And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."

            C.      HIS ETERNAL SONSHIP IS PROCLAIMED BY THE SON HIMSELF.

                        1.         (John 5:21) "For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will."

                        2.         (John 10:30) "I and my Father are one."

                                    Ill. A preacher once met a member of a cult who challenged his views about the deity of Christ. "You say that Jesus Christ is coequal with the eternal Father, but He cannot be, for no son is ever as old as the one who has begotten him." The minister thought for a moment and then replied, "You yourself have just called God the eternal Father. Have you ever thought that statement through? Don't you realize that God can only be the eternal Father if He has an eternal Son? If you would rethink your position in the light of the Scriptures, you would see that eternal Fatherhood demands eternal Sonship!"

                        3.         (Rev 1:8) "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty."

             D.        HIS ETERNAL SONSHIP IS PROCLAIMED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT.

                        1.         (Heb 1:8) “But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom.

            E.        HIS ETERNAL SONSHIP IS PROCLAIMED BY ANGELS.

                        1.         (Heb 1:6) "And again, when he bringeth in the firstbegotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him."

                        2.         (Rev 5:11-12) "And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands; {12} Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing."

            F.        HIS ETERNAL SONSHIP IS PROCLAIMED BY SAINTS.

                    1.       (John 20:28) "And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God."

                        2.         (Rom 9:5) "Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen."

             G.        HIS ETERNAL SONSHIP IS FEARED BY DEMONS.

                        1.         (Mark 5:7) "And cried with a loud voice, and said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the most high God? I adjure thee by God, that thou torment me not."

                        2.         (John 5:36) "But I have greater witness than that of John: for the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me."

                        3.         (1 John 5:20) "And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life."

            H.        THE PRONOUNCEMENT OF THIS FACT FRIGHTENED THE DISCIPLES.

                        1.         (Mat 17:5-6) "While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him. {6} And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their face, and were sore afraid." ( Sore–Greek =exceeding (-ly), greatly, sore, very.)

II.      HIS ETERNAL SONSHIP EXPLAINED

          A.      BIBLE BELIEVING PREACHERS PROCLAIM HIS ETERNAL SONSHIP.

                    1.         Matthew Henry . . . “It was great condescension that He who was God should be made in the likeness of flesh; but much greater that He who was holy should be made in the likeness of sinful flesh!”

                        2.         When God came to earth to tabernacle among men it appears that He timed His arrival in the Bethlehem manger to coincide with the Feast of Tabernacles. That was only appropriate, for the Feast of Tabernacles is the most joyous of all the Jewish feasts. It is, in fact, their feast of thanksgiving.

                        3.         J. I. PACKER (1926– ) “God became man; the divine Son became a Jew; the Almighty appeared on earth as a helpless human baby, unable to do more than lie and stare and wriggle and make noises, needing to be fed and changed and taught to talk like any other child. And there was no illusion or deception in this: the babyhood of the Son of God was a reality. The more you think about it, the more staggering it gets. Nothing in fiction is so fantastic as is this truth of the Incarnation.”

                        4.         JOHN BUNYAN (1628–1688) “Christ did not only come into our flesh, but also into our condition, into the valley and shadow of death, where we were, and where we are, as we are sinners.”

                         5.         SAINT AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO (354–430) “Filling the world he lies in a manger.”

                        6.          J. B. PHILLIPS (1906–1982) “The Christian faith is founded upon . . . a well attested sober fact of history; that quietly, but with deliberate purpose, God himself has visited this little planet.”

                        7.         Bibliotheca Sacra: “For unto us a child is born,” which relates to His humanity; and “Unto us a son is given,” which not only relates to His Deity, but implies that, though a child born, He is a son, not born, but given. After the same manner it is announced that “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son.” As He was and what He was, such indeed, was that Gift which was given, namely, The Son of God.”

                        8.          (Acts 4:12) "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved."

                        8.         (Eph 1:22) "And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,"

                        9.         (John 17:4) "I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do."

            B.      HIS ETERNAL SONSHIP EXPLAINED.

                         1.         Matthew Henry on (Jn 1:14) “There is a word that describes this occurence. It is the word Incarnation. Although this word is not found in the Bible, it does have a corresponding Greek word which means "in flesh."

                        2.          Christ took on a human body to identify with man

                                    a.         (Phil 2:7) "But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:"

                                    b.         (Gal 4:4-5) "But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, {5} To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons."

                        3.         MacArthur says on the title “ Son of God.” said: “This title, used nearly 30 times in the gospels, identifies Jesus Christ as the same in essence as God. The resurrection clearly declared that Jesus was deity, the expression of God Himself in human form."

            C.        CONSIDER THE CONDITION OF THIS WORLD WHEN HE CAME.

                        1.         Dr. Kenneth Connoly says: "The prophet Isaiah, looking forward to the time when the Messiah would come, said that He would be "as a root out of a dry ground" (Isaiah 53:2). The "dry ground" referred to was the corrupt character of the age into which the Messiah was to come. The Apostle Paul, looking back at the timing of Jesus' entrance into the world, stated: "When the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son" (Galatians 4:4). Jesus was aware of the timing of His arrival. He said: "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is al hand" (Mark 1:15).

                        2.         “Both the Greeks and the Romans played a significant role in preparing the world for the entrance of Jesus Christ.

                        3.         “When Alexander the Great conquered the world, around 330 BC, he brought the Greek way of life to the east, and with it the thinking of the great Greek philosophers.

                        4.         “The world was challenged by the questions of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, who mentally probed the unknown spirit world.

                        5.         “They taught people how to ask questions which provoked them to think; but they could not supply the answers to those questions.

                        6.         “They succeeded in putting basic problems into focus, but left a world waiting for someone to come who could provide authoritative answers.

                        7.         “The second major Greek contribution was to provide the world with a single language, known as koine, or "common Greek."

                        8.         “By the time Alexander died, in 323 B. C., the world had become bilingual, and Greek was the second language everybody used. This becomes important for our story of the Bible.

                        9.         “Though the origins of the Greek translation of the Old Testament are veiled in romance and conjecture, the most common version is as follows.

                        10.       “Around the year 2135 13c, Demetrius of Phalerunr was custodian of a world-famous librarv in Alexandria. Many Jews were living in Egypt, so Demetrius asked King Ptolemy Philadelphus if he could arrange to have a Greek translation of the Jewish Law made for the library.

                        11.       “As a goodwill gesture, the king released 100,000 Jewish slaves, and sent an embassy with rich presents to Eleazar, the high priest in Jerusalem, requesting six able scholars from each of the twelve tribes. totaling seventy-two men, to undertake this task.

                        12.       “The scholars were honorably received at the court of Alexandria, and taken to the island of Pharos, so they might work silently and undisturbed.

                        13.       “It is reputed that they lived in seventy-two cells, finished their task of translating the Torah in seventy-two days, and were in total agreement over the results of their labour.

                        14.       “Because of the number of scholars, this work became known as the Septuagint, the Greek word for ‘seventy.’ “

                        15.       It was this book that the apostles referred to as the Word of God."

            D.      GOD APPOINTED HIS ETERNAL SON TO EVERY OFFICE

                        1.         A priest to offer sacrifices.

                        2.         A prophet to declare his mercies.

                        3.         A king to bring to terms the reconciliation between man & God.

                        4.         Matthew Henry said: "As Christ, who had no sin, was made sin; so we who had no righteousness were made righteous in Him." (2 Cor.5:21).

III.    HIS ETERNAL SONSHIP IS NECESSARY FOR OUR SALVATION.

            A.      NOTICE SOME EARLY TESTIMONIES TO THIS FACT.

                        1.         Justin Martyr said: "For what other thing was capable of covering our sins than His righteousness? By what other one was it possible that we, the wicked and ungodly, could be justified, than by the only Son of God?"

                        2.         Justin Martyr again: ““We love the martyrs, but the Son of God we worship: it is impossible for us to worship any other.”

            B.      NOTICE SOME BIBLICAL TESTIMONIES AS TO HIS ETERNAL SONSHIP.

                        1.         (John 20:28) "And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God."

                        2.         (Mat 16:16) "And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God."

                        3.         (John 6:69) "And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God."

                        4.         (Mat 24:30) "And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory."

                        5.         (Luke 21:27) "And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory."

            C.        HIS ENEMIES DERIDED HIM FOR CLAIMING TO BE THE SON OF GOD.

                        1.         (Mat 4:3) "And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread."

                        2.         (Mat 4:6) "And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone."

                        3.         (Mat 27:40) "And saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross."

                        4.         (John 19:7) "The Jews answered him, We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God."

            D.        BELIEVING IN HIS ETERNAL SONSHIP IS NECESSARY TO SALVATION.

                        1.         (John 9:35) "Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when he had found him, he said unto him, Dost thou believe on the Son of God?"

                        2.         (John 20:31) "But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name."

                        3.         (Acts 8:37) “And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”

                        4.         (Acts 9:20) “And straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God.”

                        5.         (1 John 5:13) “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.”