The Son of God (in Matthew)
Matthew's evangelistic message demands that everyone confess Jesus to be the Son of God. An angel (hinting at this), a prophet, God the Father, even demons, the disciples, a centurion with his company, and Christ himself affirm Jesus as the Son of God, driving us to believe this truth for ourselves. There is certainly opposition to Jesus, the Son of God, but Matthew is clear that this is a catastrophic position for one to take. To reject Jesus as the Son of God, either by denying his identity outright or rebelling against his authority, is to join the ranks of Caiaphas, of scoffers who deride this crucified Son, and the devil himself. Such ignominy cannot be ignored. But even more, the Son of God himself cannot be overlooked.
But what does it even mean that Jesus is the Son of God? We should have a better grasp after surveying the theme as it is woven through this gospel.
Matthew's opening line is pregnant with meaning: Jesus is the Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham (1:1); themes which I wrote about recently. But this cannot be missed: To say that Jesus is the Son of David is to say that Jesus is likewise the Son of God! The LORD spoke to David saying, "I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son" (2 Sam. 7:12b-14a).
Certainly in the gospels (as implied in 2 Sam. 7:14), Jesus is God's son to such an extent that we must conclude his full and equal deity with his Father. But to be the Son of God here does not exclusively point to Jesus' deity. As a fully human son, from David's own loins, Jesus will perfectly execute the vice-regency of God's kingdom rule, a rule originally endowed to mankind at the beginning, but which Adam forfeited and David fell woefully short of fulfilling. Adam and David were only types of the King to come.
"Son of God" implies deity at times, but it expresses even more. This son must be a human son. But an ordinary human son—fallen and under the curse like all who are in Adam—will not do. Only the purity of deity incarnate in a man could fulfill the role of Son, the perfect spotless King ruling with the power, authority, character, and wisdom of the LORD. God's son would become flesh and dwell with us as Isaiah prophesied long before, "'Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel' (which means, God with us)" (Mt. 1:23; Is.7:14). With unique credentials, Jesus is truly and fully God in human flesh, enabling him to fulfill the role initially given to man before the fall (see Gen. 1:27-28).
Jesus' sojourn to Egypt further confirms that he is God's son, "This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, 'Out of Egypt I called my son'" (Mt 2:15; Hos. 11:1). Without diving deep into the particulars of how Matthew correctly sees a typological fulfillment of Hosea, it is essential to see that Christ is fulfilling what Israel was to do as God's representative son, a human who, in himself, fills up and mirrors God's own essence so as to sit on his throne and rule his kingdom (see Ex. 4:22, 23). The fulfillment in view is not specifically what God (deity) set out to do, but what God designed Israel (humanity) to do. In so doing, Jesus takes up the mantle of Israel's responsibility, mission, and purpose, given to them by the LORD. As a testimony to the world, God set Israel apart from every other nation as a kingdom of priests, a holy nation for his own worship (Ex. 4:23; 19:5-6). Israel failed; Jesus fulfilled.
The close identity of Jesus with his Father is further confirmed when Jesus is baptized by John the Baptist. Matthew records God the Father's words: "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased" (Mt. 3:17). Centuries before, Isaiah prophesied that the ultimate Servant of the LORD would be a representative Israelite, that is a man from Israel, fully devoted to the will of God and anointed with God's Spirit. He would be God's chosen servant, the beloved servant in whom God's soul is "well pleased" (see Mt. 12:17-21 citing Is. 42:1-3). Again, we are made privy to this same testimony of the Father regarding his Son on the Mount of Transfiguration when "a voice from the cloud said, 'This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him'" (Mt. 17:5). Jesus did not disappoint his Father in any way, therefore, everyone was to listen to his prophetic voice. Even the Gentiles would hear Jesus’s preaching and he would be the object of their hope (Mt. 12:18, 21). When the Son of God was crucified, it was his own perfect purity that he imputed to sinful men.
We will return to our subject next week as we continue to survey Matthew's theme of Jesus as the Son of God. For now, ask yourself if you are actively filtering out all other voices in order to listen to the one and only Son of God's? Are you answering the Father's command to listen to his Son? Do you sit at his feet, read from his word, meditate on his teachings, and pray to know him more as you obey what he calls you to do in the power of the Holy Spirit? Is Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the only object of your hope? I know I need more of Christ and less of me.
