God's Son

Just a personal note to the reader. I always write in the third person so that you may insert yourself into the thoughts I express. However, know I am not preaching or teaching, but rather searching myself and how to apply truths I see in my own life.

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

GOD’S SON

John 10:22-42

22 Then came the Feast of Dedication at Jerusalem. It was winter, 23 and Jesus was in the temple area walking in Solomon's Colonnade. 24 The Jews gathered around him, saying, "How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly." 25 Jesus answered, "I did tell you, but you do not believe. The miracles I do in my Father's name speak for me, 26 but you do not believe because you are not my sheep. 27 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand. 30 I and the Father are one."  31 Again the Jews picked up stones to stone him, 32 but Jesus said to them, "I have shown you many great miracles from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?"  33 "We are not stoning you for any of these," replied the Jews, "but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God." 34 Jesus answered them, "Is it not written in your Law, 'I have said you are gods'? 35 If he called them 'gods,' to whom the word of God came — and the Scripture cannot be broken— 36 what about the one whom the Father set apart as his very own and sent into the world? Why then do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said, 'I am God's Son'? 37 Do not believe me unless I do what my Father does. 38 But if I do it, even though you do not believe me, believe the miracles, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father."  39 Again they tried to seize him, but he escaped their grasp. 40 Then Jesus went back across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing in the early days. Here he stayed 41 and many people came to him. They said, "Though John never performed a miraculous sign, all that John said about this man was true." 42 And in that place many believed in Jesus.

NIV

Having examined the idea of Jesus being the Good Shepherd and we being his sheep who listen to his voice and as a result, we will not perish but have eternal life. We also considered that we are in the palm of his hand and nothing can snatch us out of his hand. Now we need to ponder on this statement Jesus makes about sons of God or that God said, “I have said you are gods”. He was using the words of Psalm 82 that he said was written in their Law. Our scholars say that Psalm was speaking of the magistrates who were called ‘gods’ and thus it was appropriate for Jesus to apply that same term to himself. Have we not been given the right to be called children of God? In fact, that was told to us in the very beginning of this Gospel. To those who believe he gave the right to be sons of God. The Greek word there is actually plural and while some translations do use sons, the plural meaning is without regard to gender, so children would be the more correct term. But nevertheless, those who are male, as Jesus was, would rightly be able to use the term son of God, while females could rightly say they are daughters of God. With such fervency, some are so concerned with their ancestry to prove they are daughters of the American Revolution, or as many others need to know their ethnic or national heritage, availing themselves is this new supposed DNA proof of what percent of what historical nations we come from, it seems we have lost sight that our heritage comes from God. We are children of the promise, which would mean the promise God gave to Abraham that he would have a son. The Apostle Paul makes it clear in his letter titled “Romans” that our being children of God or our heritage or lineage is not of natural descent, but that we are the offspring of Abraham. Our ancestry goes all the way back to Jesus, we are sons of God, daughters of God. We are brothers and sisters of Jesus. We are co-heirs with Jesus. They accused him of blasphemy because he said he was God’s Son. Would we be accused of blasphemy because we say we are God’s children, which is basically saying what Jesus said? Of course, he is actually the Divine Son of God, in essence, being God. But he was still speaking in his humanity, proving his right to be called a son of God because of the miracles he does, the same things God does. He says the Father is in Him and He is in the Father. Do we not say the Father or the Spirit is in us and we are in the Spirit, which is the same as Jesus saying the Father is in Him and He is in the Father? All three, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are God. So we have the same relationship as Jesus had, while he was in the flesh, with the Father. So the question is do we live as children of God or children of our human heritage. Do we claim to be African-Americans, Italian-Americans, Irish-Americans, German-Americans, or some other hyphenated nationality or do we claim our rightful heritage as sons of God, or Christ-sons or Christians? We gave up our citizenship of this world when we became citizens of the kingdom of God, therefore we are His children and we should live as such.