Question 63 & 64

Before Jesus was born, an angel* came to a young woman named Mary.* The angel told Mary that she was going to have a son. Her son, Jesus, would be the Savior, Christ the Lord. So, the scriptures* often speak of Jesus in this way; the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

The angel told Mary to name the baby, Jesus. ‘You will call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.*’[1] The name Jesus means God saves.

 

The word ‘Christ’ is the word Jesus’ followers* used to say that he was the Messiah.* The name means ‘the one who God has chosen’. God had promised his people to send someone to rescue them. This person would be the child God promised to Abraham.* He would be the ruler who would come from the tribe* of Judah.* He would be a prophet* like Moses.* He would be the king that would come from David’s* family. God’s people called this promised Savior the Messiah. In the language of Jesus’ day, they called this promised Savior, the Christ.

 

The scriptures also speak of Jesus by the name, ‘Lord.’ This word means a master or ruler. That is the name that the Jews* used for God.

 

So, when we call Jesus the Lord Jesus Christ, we are saying many things about him. He is the son born to Mary. He is a man of flesh and blood like other men. He has taken on our nature. When we call him Lord, we say that he is God, our ruler, and master. When we call him the Christ, we say that he is the promised Savior, the Messiah, the one God’s people had been waiting for.

 

The New Testament* also speaks of Jesus as the Son of God. What do the scriptures mean by this? We must read all of the scriptures with care to find the answer. Here are the answers that we find.

 

First, the Son of God is eternal. That means that the Son of God had no beginning and no end. That means that the Son of God existed before God made the world.[2] In fact, the scriptures tell us that he was the one who created* all things.[3] The Son of God was not created because he is God.

 

Second, the eternal Son of God did not always have a body. But God worked a miracle* in the body of Mary. The Holy Spirit* of God caused a child to grow in Mary’s body. The Son of God took on a body as he grew in the body of a woman. He took on a human nature, a human mind, and a human will as well. He was born in the same way other human babies are born. He grew up to become the man that we know as Jesus.[4] He lived in this body. He died in this body. He rose from death in this body.

 

Third, Jesus spoke of God as his Father. The Jews who heard him knew what Jesus was saying when he did this. They knew that Jesus was saying that he was equal with God.

 

One time, the Jews became very angry when Jesus called God his Father. They were so angry that they picked up stones. They wanted to throw these stones at Jesus to kill him. Jesus asked them, ‘If I am doing my Father’s work, why do you want to kill me?’ The Jews said, ‘We are not going to throw these stones because you did a good work. We are going to stone you because you said a very evil thing. You are only a man. But you say that you are God.’[5]

 

Jesus is the one-of-a-kind, eternal Son of God. He is one with God the Father in a way that no one else has ever been. That is why John* called Jesus ‘the one and only’ Son of God.[6] All that God is, Jesus is. He has always been. He will always be.

 

Yes, this is hard to understand. And yet, the New Testament says this again and again. Jesus is the Lord from heaven.* He shows us God in such a way that, if we have seen Jesus, we have seen the Father.[7] Jesus did things that only God could do. He gave people life and raised the dead.[8] He forgave people of their sins.[9] And one day he will sit as the judge of the whole world.[10]

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[1] Matthew 1:21; Luke 1:31; Luke 2:21
[2] John 16:28; John 17:5
[3] John 1:3; Colossians 1:16
[4] John 1:1-12; Hebrews 1:1-6
[5] John 10:31-33
[6] John 3:16-18; 1 John 4:9
[7] John 14:6-11
[8] John 5:21; John 11:25
[9] Mark 2:5-7
[10] Matthew 25:31-4