His Only Son

As we start, let’s recite the Apostle’s Creed together. Last week, we started into the second section of the Apostle’s Creed by considering what it means that Jesus is called “The Christ.” We saw that this title points to his position as the promised Messiah who would be the eternal prophet, priest, and king for his people. This morning we come to the second attribute given to God the Son in this section, “his only son.” Jesus is not only the promised Messiah, but he is also the promised son. To see that, let’s consider Isaiah 7:10-14 together.

This passage begins with a frustrating conversation between God and King Ahaz. Ahaz was a wicked king of Judah who led the people of God into increasing levels of idolatry. Yet, even though he led the people away from God, the Lord still remained faithful to Judah. He promised that he would protect them from invasion by Assyria. He even went so far, as we see in verse 11, to offer any sign to prove that he would do this. But, in an act of false piety, Ahaz refused to accept a sign. At face value, it appears that Ahaz is acting righteously. After all, the Bible does tell us not to put God to the test. But, deep inside, Ahaz does not want the help of God. He would rather rest in his pagan gods and his fair-weather friends like Egypt and Cush. If he were to rely on God, then God would get the credit, and Ahaz can’t have that.

In verse 13, God expresses frustration over Ahaz’s refusal to trust God with a sign, so God offers his own sign. In verse 14, he gives a sign with two miraculous markers. First, “a virgin will conceive and bear a son.” There are two reasons that this statement is miraculous. For one, it is physically impossible for a virgin to conceive (I’ll say more about this in a couple of weeks when we get to the clause on “conceived of the virgin Mary”). But, this statement is far more significant and purposeful than a random virgin conceiving. This statement harkens back to the first prophecy ever made in the Bible. In Genesis 3:15, God promises that the seed of the woman will crush the head of the serpent. Catch this, in the midst of pronouncing curses on the serpent, Adam, and Eve, God promises that he will provide a way to defeat those same curses. There will be a son, born of woman, who will defeat the rule of Satan over this world. God’s people remembered this promise, and in every generation they hoped for that son of woman who would break the curse of sin. Now, God promises a sign to Ahaz – when you see the virgin conceive, that will be the son who will crush the head of the serpent.

Second, we see a miracle in the statement, “and shall call his name Immanuel.” This statement is miraculous because of what the name, “Immanuel” means. This name means, “God with us.” So, not only with this son be conceived and born through the miraculous means of a virgin, but he will also be the very presence of God with his people. This is why we confess that Jesus is “the only son.” When we confess this, it is important to explain what we don’t mean and what we do. So, consider two things that we don’t mean by confessing Jesus as the only son, and two that we do mean.

First, when we confess that Jesus is the only son, we do not mean that God looked down through the corridors of time and saw the life of Jesus, and then adopted him to be his son. This view is called “Adoptionism”, and it is popular view among liberal Christians who deny the miraculous aspects of Scripture. Now, it is certainly the case that the Bible refers to many sons of God. In Job 1, the angels are called “sons of God.” In 2 Sam. 7:14, God promises that he will be a father to Solomon and will call him his son. But with Jesus, it means far more. In John 1:14 it says, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” Just as Isaiah promised, the eternal Word of God became flesh and dwelt among us (“God with us”), and like the Israelites in the wilderness, who beheld the glory of God in the tabernacle, so the disciples beheld the glory of God in his only Son, Jesus Christ. As the KJV puts it, he is the “only begotten.” Jesus is not a really good man who was adopted by God. He is very God of very God.

Second, when we confess the only son, we don’t mean that Jesus is just another creature – even if he is the first and greatest creature. Many Christian cults, like the Mormons and Jehovah’s Witness, believe that God the Son was the first of God’s creation. This belief goes all the way back to the fourth century, when a priest named Arius taught that “there was a time when he was not”. Yet, this denies the revelation of God. John 1:1 tells us, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” God the Son is the Word of God, and he has always existed with God because he is God. In John 8:58, Jesus makes a statement about himself that the Jews immediately interpret as blasphemy. He says, “Before Abraham was, I am.” The Jews saw this as blasphemy because Jesus used the covenant name of God (“I am that I am”) to refer to himself. In doing so, he also claimed to be pre-existent, before Abraham. The Son of God is not a creature, he is one with God in essence.

So, now that we understand what we don’t mean, let’s consider what we do mean. To do that, let’s read Col. 1:15-20 together. From this passage, there are two key words that help us understand Jesus as the only son. First, there is the word, “image”, or “eikon” in Greek. Paul says that Jesus is the “image of the Invisible God.” I am so thankful that Paul wrote that phrase, because, in my mind, it is the most helpful way of understanding who Jesus is. This word, “image”, has deep biblical meaning. Think, if you will, of the first time we see this word in Scripture – Genesis 1:26-27 – “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” God made man and woman to bear his image. In fact, did you know that mankind is the only authorized image of God. Think of the second commandment, from Exodus 20:4 – “You shall not make for yourself a carved image.” Now, I think we often make the mistake of thinking that, because God forbids idols here, that there is no physical representation of God in the world, but that’s not right. God has always had a physical representation of himself in his image bearers, mankind. Yet, that image was broken by sin. So, man can no longer rightly bear the image of God. Even the best of men – men like Abraham and David – were sinners who did terrible things and fell short of the glory of God. So, for mankind to be forgiven, someone must bear the image of God perfectly. To provide that forgiveness, God would do it himself through his son, Jesus Christ. So, Jesus is the perfect image of the invisible God.

The second key word that we need to notice is “firstborn.” Paul says that Jesus is the “firstborn of all creation.” When we read this, we might be tempted to think, as the Jehovah’s Witness do, that this means the Son was just the first created being. But that isn’t what “firstborn” means. Paul does not use this word to describe birth order but position. You see, the firstborn was a position in the Jewish family – the one who would receive the birthright, and, if a prince, the throne. You can tell that Paul means it this way, because he goes on, in verse 18, to say that he is the “firstborn” from the dead. Was Jesus the firstborn from the dead? Not technically (he raised at least three people during his own ministry). Rather, what Paul means to point us to is his preeminence. He is preeminent over creation – “For by him all things were created.” He holds all things together. He is the head of his church. And, he is the preeminent resurrected one.

As the only begotten Son of God, Jesus is the preeminent king over all things. He deserves this title because he is eternally God the Son. He deserves it because he has created all things. He deserves it because he sustains all things. And, he deserves it because he has redeemed his church through his death and resurrection. Friend, you cannot be reconciled to God apart from faith in Jesus Christ. Won’t you trust him today?

Brothers and sisters, it is because of this only Son of God, that we are now able to be called sons and daughters of God, too. It is by his blood and his resurrection that we have been reconciled to God. So, as we leave this place, we do not leave as enemies of God, but as his friends. We do not leave as slaves, but as children.