Intro
Welcome to the second part of the Trinity Trilogy! In this part of the trilogy, I will be going over the second member of the Trinity: God the Son. In part one (check it out here if you missed it), I stuck with the more general name ‘God’ for God the Father – even though I could have chosen one of a number of distinct names. However, for God the Son, I am going to use His more common name of Jesus.
Who is Jesus?
Similar to the question “Who is God?”, the question “Who is Jesus?” will get you different answers. Some say he was a great teacher. Others say a prophet. Some people claim he was a fraud. Still others make the claim that he was – and is – the Son of God. How we answer this question reveals where our faith in God lies and reveals a lot more about our worldview. For the rest of this post, I explore the Biblical claims made about Jesus.
As the title indicates, Jesus is the second member of the Trinity – as God the Son. That title – God the Son – indicates two key parts about Jesus’ identity: 1) He is the Son of God; and 2) He is God. I explore these two parts first before examining some other parts of His identity.
Jesus is God’s Son
The gospels quote Jesus claiming, or giving Himself, many names and titles. One of the most prominent ones is His claim to be the Son of God. In many of His prayers, He refers to God as “Father.” In one His most famous prayers in John 17, He says, “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.” And on the cross, Jesus prayed “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:34 NIV). The word Jesus uses for Father is “Abba” which denotes a deeply intimate relationship – the equivalent word in English would be “Daddy”. The Jews had an understanding of their people as the children of God, but they wouldn’t have used such an intimate word for their relationship with Him. Jesus’ use of it was radical indeed. Which indicates how close God and Jesus were.
And it wasn’t a one-way relationship either; during His baptism, God declares that Jesus is “My Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:17 NIV). And towards the end of His earthly ministry, when Jesus transfigured before Peter, James, and John, God spoke again and commanded that they listen to His Son. And later in Colossians 1:13 (NIV) Paul writes, “For he [God] has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves.”
Jesus is God
Not only does Jesus make these claims about being the Son of God, but He also claims equality with God. And not just equality of status or standing – like two CEOs of different companies – but claims to be God.
Jesus’ Claims
Many people say that Jesus never once claimed to be God. That He would have been appalled at being elevated to godhood after His death. But this is just not true. All throughout His ministry, Jesus makes repeated claims to be God. Sure, maybe He doesn’t say the English phrase “I am God” but he sure does say things that make the religious leaders ready to stone Him for that very thing. For example, John 10:33 (NIV), “‘We are not stoning you for any good work,’ they replied, ‘but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God.’” The Jews recognized what Jesus was saying and called Him out on it. And Jesus didn’t correct them. In fact, He doubled down on it later in this conversation.
The I Am
More than once throughout the gospels, Jesus uses a term that is translated as “I am” in English. Perhaps the best-known instance of this is in John 8:58 “‘Very truly I tell you,’ Jesus answered, ‘before Abraham was born, I am!’” (NIV). And like the other passage I mentioned, the Jews caught His meaning and tried to stone Jesus. Why? We miss it in English, but that phrase “I am” – which seems grammatically incorrect in Jesus’ statement – is actually the name God gave to Moses when Moses asked whom he should say sent him. “God said to Moses, ‘I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: “I am has sent me to you.”‘” (Exodus 3:14 NIV). Jesus used a very holy and specific name of God to refer to Himself. If that’s not claiming to be God, I don’t know what is.
If Jesus never intended to claim to be God, and the Jews merely misunderstood Him, all Jesus would’ve had to do is say, “I’m not claiming to be God. You misunderstand me. Here’s what I meant.” And everyone would have been happy, and no one would’ve tried to crucify Jesus. But Jesus didn’t do that. He consistently doubled down and selected words and phrases (such as “I am”) to announce His deity. This served to antagonize the Jews – which resulted in the religious leaders pushing for His execution.
Jesus is the Lamb of God
Animal sacrifice was one of the key things that God instituted through Moses and the Law. All the various sacrifices were designated for forgiving sins and ritual cleansings. And the first animal sacrificed for the Israelite nation was the lamb. While still in Egypt, God commanded Moses to tell the Israelites to kill a lamb and to put the blood on their doorposts so that the Angel of death would pass over their homes and not kill the firstborn child (see Exodus 11-12). This would become known as the first Passover – a holiday celebrated by the Jewish nation to this day. The Passover lamb was one of the most important sacrifices that the priests performed.
In John 1:29 (NIV), John the Baptist proclaimed, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” when he saw Jesus walking toward him. And that last portion “who takes away the sin of the world” is the key to understanding why Jesus is the Lamb of God. In Leviticus, we see all sorts of sacrifices required of Israel. Many were for purification or peace offerings, but others were sin offerings. And in Hebrews 9:22, the author states that “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness” (NIV). So, in order to cleanse the world of sin, there needed to be a sacrifice. And Jesus was that perfect sacrifice who bore our sins upon Him on the cross. The Bible states that no one took His life, but that He gave it as a willing sacrifice.
Jesus is sometimes referred to as the Passover Lamb, because He died during the Passover. One of the amazing things about the Jewish holidays defined by God in the Old Testament is that each foreshadows God’s ultimate plan through Jesus (But that’s another post).
Jesus is the Coming King
As the promised Messiah, Jesus’ work would not be complete if He did not come back and reign as the King of kings and Lord of lords here on the earth. The Jews expected the Messiah as a conquering king. There are several prophecies in the Old Testament about the Messiah being a king. One such passage is found in Daniel 7:14 (NIV), “He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.” One of the reasons the Jews didn’t accept Jesus as Messiah is because He didn’t fulfill the conquering king role from the Old Testament. And there is some truth to it. Jesus hasn’t yet fulfilled all the prophecies of the Messiah. But He will.
Acts 1:11 (NIV), “‘Men of Galilee,’ they said, ‘why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.’” Two angels promised the disciples that Jesus would return in the clouds – which Daniel promised the Messiah would descend from. Jesus promised in John 14 that He would return for His people (the church). And we see starting in Revelation 19:11 and through the end of the book, Jesus’ return, His thousand-year reign, and a new heaven and new earth culminating in the eternal reign of Jesus and the saints with him. There will be no more death, no more pain, no more sin, and there will be joy, peace, harmony, and a restoration of Eden. Amen! Come Lord Jesus, come!
Wrapping Up
I hope and pray this watered and nurtured your faith in who Jesus is. Or maybe it gave you additional points or Bible references for these different topics. Whatever you got out of it, I pray it helps you in your faith journey. I couldn’t cover everything under the sun for who Jesus is, but I do believe I adequately covered some of the most important parts of His identity.
Well, that’s all for this post. Join me next time for part three of The Trinity Trilogy – God The Holy Spirit.