The good news in one phrase!

Reflecting on Luke 1:26-38

"So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God." (Luke 1:35)

Many people see the phrase ‘son of God’ as meaning that Jesus is divine.
As they see it, just as a ‘son of man’ is human, ‘a son of God’ is divine.
And since Jesus used both titles, He was claiming to be both God and human.
Trinitarian theology puts it this way: Jesus is fully God and fully human.
This was not how the ancient Jews understood these phrases.

The phrase ‘son of man’ for Jews referred to the promised messiah (Daniel 7:13-14).
“One like a son of man” would receive and restore the everlasting kingdom.
And the phrase ‘son of God’ meant someone who was fully like God.
This is the ‘image of God’ language used for Adam and Eve as God’s children.

“Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule.” (Genesis 1:26)

“When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son in his own likeness, in his own image; and he named him Seth. (Genesis 5:3)

A son or daughter is one like you, ‘the spitting image of their father or mother’.
Adam was the first son of God, made to be like God, ruling in a God-like way.
Luke makes this connection clear when he traces out Jesus’s family tree.

“Now Jesus … was the son, so it was thought, of Joseph, the son of Heli… the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.” (Luke 3:23,38)

Jesus’s identity as a God-like child of God also connects to the kingdom.
Genesis 1 is the first reference to the kingdom of God.
It is this world under the rule of God-like humans: “it was very good!” (Genesis 1:31)
Gabriel announces to Mary that God will give the throne to her baby.
“He will reign… forever; his kingdom will never end.” (Luke 1:33)

The connection between Jesus and Adam is also seen in how they were created.
Adam was created when God breathed life into the dust (Genesis 2:7).
The dust was the physical vessel into which God’s Spirit (breath) created life.
Jesus was also created when God breathed life into a physical vessel.
The Spirit (breath) of God overshadows Mary’s womb, and Jesus is conceived.
Both Adam and Jesus, fully human, are conceived in a special way.
This is why Paul calls Jesus the last Adam (1 Corinthians 15:45).

As I see it, Jesus is God as Adam making this world “very good” again.
Jesus faces the serpent, like the first Adam, but does not fail.
The first son of God failed, but the new son of God succeeds.
Adam’s failure brought us all death; Jesus’s victory brings us life!

“For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ! (Romans 5:17)

My point in all this is that we need to understand Who Jesus is!
Son of man, son of God, image of God, kingdom of God; it all overlaps.
Through Jesus, we are restored as God’s children, like God, reigning with Him.
The way we reign is not with actual thrones or controlling people with laws.
We reign like Jesus, like God: with humble, gracious, self-giving love.
The way Jesus lived is the way Jesus ruled, the way Adam and Eve were to rule.
The way we live as followers of Jesus either brings life or death into the world.
In Philippians 2:1-11, Paul urges us live, love and lead like Jesus.
We are to be like Jesus, emptying ourselves for others.
We become fully human when we take the very nature of a servant.
It is humble, gracious sons and daughters of God that God exalts!

You may think I talk about love a lot, maybe too much.
But to me, the whole gospel (good news) of Jesus hangs on it.
Humble, self-emptying, other-serving love is how Adam was made to reign.
This is how Jesus reigned… and why Jesus suffered and died.
God’s kingdom is love, God’s will is love, God’s salvation is love.
Unless we become like Jesus, servants of love, we cannot reign with Him.
We become fully human, God-like sons and daughters, when we love like Him.

“Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” (Matthew 5:44-45)

If you want to be a Jesus-follower, a Christian, a God-like child of God…
Then have the same mindset of Jesus, the new Adam, and be gracious in love!
This is what I see in this amazing announcement of Gabriel to Mary.
This is the Jesus I want to know and follow: the God-like son of God!

PRAYER
Lord Jesus, believing in You is not about getting out of hell and into heaven. It is about becoming fully human again, children of God living with, like and for God! May Your kingdom (love) come, may Your will (love) be done on me, as it is in heaven!