What a lofty consideration is ours as we come to this title of our blessed Saviour and attempt to look briefly at different aspects of His Sonship.
Son of Mary
This title causes us to consider His humanity, and it is only found in Mark 6:3 when the Lord Jesus is found teaching in “his own country” and the multitude is both astonished and offended by Him. They wonder at His wisdom and His works, and ask: “Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him.”1 It seems to be said with a sense of disbelief: How can a mere human do such things? As we will learn, He was human, but not merely human.
In Matthew 1 we read that His “mother Mary was espoused to Joseph” and that “she was found with child of the Holy Ghost” (v18). There had been no impropriety in the relationship with this man Joseph; so, although He was human, we realize that there was no earthly father involved in the conception of this Holy One. He was truly God manifest in flesh.
Son of Abraham
This title brings to mind the certainty of the covenantal promises made to Abraham some 2000 years before Christ. The New Testament opens with these words: “The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham” (Mat 1:1). This is linked both to the land that God promised to Abraham and to the promised seed. Paul understood exactly what was happening and wrote of this to the Galatians: “Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ” (Gal 3:16).
Son of David
We cannot help but think about royalty when we come to this title. If He is called “the son of David” in Matthew 1:1, consider what Gabriel said to Mary concerning Him before He was even conceived: “He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David” (Luk 1:32). Can we even begin to imagine how these words would have impacted Mary, a young virgin from the town of Nazareth? Israel had been hundreds of years without a throne and without a king in Jerusalem. That part of the message would be incredible. But to be called the Son of the Highest as well as being the Son of His father David? And there was more: “And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end” (v33). Her simple question was this: “How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?” (v34). Maybe we would have had more questions! Although all of this hasn’t been fulfilled yet, we await the day when the Lord Jesus will indeed be seated on the throne of His father David.
Son of Man
Allow me to suggest that the main idea linked with this title is Christ’s authority. The first thought that comes to mind may be His humanity or His humility, but consider for a moment the first and last mentions in Mark’s Gospel that will help us understand the importance of the way He often used it. And keep in mind that when we read the Gospel accounts, it is only the Lord Jesus who takes this title on His lips.
In a house, He heals a man lowered through the roof, saying: “But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins” (Mar 2:10); here, “power” really includes the idea of authority as well. Later, when being judged by the high priest just before His crucifixion, He answered this way: “Ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven” (14:62). This is an obvious allusion to an OT prophecy that the high priest and those around him would have known well: “Behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days …. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed” (Dan 7:13-14). Although the word “power” in Mark 14:62 is not the same as in Mark 2:10, it is clearly a reference to the Lord’s return in power and glory, with authority to judge and rule.
On the same occasion, we find two other titles employed. The high priest, frustrated with the way the judicial process was going, “arose, and said unto him, Answerest thou nothing? What is it which these witness against thee?” (Mat 26:62). Matthew and Mark record the questioning in a way that expresses a slightly different emphasis for us.
Son of God
“But Jesus held his peace, And the high priest answered and said unto him, I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God” (v63). Are we not made to think about His deity? We recall that the title “Son of God” was linked with the Davidic covenant, when God said that David’s offspring would be His son, and He would be his father; there would be many men to whom this applied before the Lord Jesus was born, but now they had the very Son of God, the ultimate fulfillment standing in front of them, and they were ignorant of this marvelous truth.
But let’s go back to what Mary heard from the angel Gabriel: “The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God” (Luk 1:35). Truly human, yet fully divine – it is a mystery that causes us to worship. When we consider the Lord Jesus, we perhaps can do no better than quote the words of the writer to the Hebrews, recalling that God has now spoken in His Son, “the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person” (Heb 1:3).
Son of the Blessed
In Mark’s Gospel we read these words: “But he held his peace, and answered nothing. Again the high priest asked him, and said unto him, Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” (Mar 14:61). His very identity was linked with the Blessed One, God Himself; this was considered by the Jews to be a reverent way to refer to God.
May these few lines help us worship the One who, eternally God, became the Son of Mary in order that we might become the sons of God.
1 Bible quotations in this article are from the KJV.
