Luke 1:32-33
"He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end," Luke 1:32-33. As we pick up where we left off last week we read of the angel Gabriel describing to Mary who her Son will be, and what He will do. He shall be great and be called the Son of the Highest. Son of the Highest in the Old Testament is the Name El Elyon and means Most High God, Sovereign Over All. "Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure: Calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executeth my counsel from a far country: yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it," Isaiah 46:9-11. "For thou art great, and doest wondrous things: thou art God alone," Psalm 86:10. "Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God," Psalm 90:2.
The babe in Mary's womb shall be called the Son of the Highest. Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of the Father (John 1:14, 18, 3:16, 18). "In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him," I John 4:9. "Only begotten" in these verses is the Greek word "monogenes" and in John's writings, spoken only of ho Logos, The Word, the only begotten Son of God in the highest sense, as alone knowing and revealing the essence of the Father. Jesus Christ is the Eternal Son of God (John 1:1-3), and He is about to be placed in the womb of Mary by the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:35). The Eternal Son of God is about to become something He has never been, flesh (John 1:14). In the womb of Mary what takes place is called the hypostatic union. What is the hypostatic union? Here is an excerpt from Grace to you; "The theological term "hypostatic union" has its origins in the Council of Chalcedon and emphasizes that Jesus Christ was fully God and fully man at the same time. It is used to affirm the union of Jesus' divine and human natures in one person-that Jesus Christ is perfectly God and perfectly man. Or, as theologians say, He is consubstantial with God as to His deity and with mankind as to His humanity.
Soon after the establishment of the church, doctrinal errors arose concerning the person of Jesus Christ. In October of A.D. 451, a large church council convened in the city of Chalcedon near Constantinople. After much discussion, the Council issued a statement to correct the errors and to establish an accurate theological statement concerning the person and nature of Christ. The fruit of their labor is perhaps the most significant Christological statement in the history of the church: "We, then, following the holy Fathers, all with one consent, confess one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, the same perfect in Godhead and also perfect in manhood; truly God and truly man, of a reasonable [rational] soul and body; consubstantial [coessential, of the same substance] with the Father according to the Godhead, and consubstantial with us according to the Manhood; in all things like unto us, without sin; begotten before all ages of the Father according to the Godhead, and in these latter days, for us and for our salvation, born of the Virgin Mary, the God-bearer, according to the Manhood; one and the same Christ, Son, Lord, Only-begotten, to be acknowledged in two natures, inconfusedly, unchangeable, indivisibly, inseparably; the distinction of natures being by no means taken away by the union, but rather the property of each nature being preserved, and concurring in one Person and one Subsistence, not parted or divided into two persons, but one and the same Son, and only begotten, God, the Word, the Lord Jesus Christ, as the prophets from the beginning [have declared] concerning Him, and the Lord Jesus Christ Himself has taught us, and the Creed of the holy Father's has been handed down to us." Simply put, Jesus Christ is truly God and truly man in one body.
We may ask, why is this so important? If Jesus Christ was not truly God and truly man, we have no hope. The council of Chalcedon met to deal with errors (heresies) that were being taught about our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Some during that time taught that Christ did not have a human mind or soul; or that Christ was two different persons united in one body; or that Christ had but one nature and that His union with the Divine nature obliterated His human nature. These are all heresies that the church had to deal with, and it did. Another reason this is so important for us to know is because there are those in our day and in our area that attack the biblical fact that Jesus Christ is truly God and truly man. For example, Jehovah's witnesses believe that Jesus was created by Jehovah as the archangel Michael before the physical world existed, and is a lesser, though mighty, god. Mormon's believe the Son of God was the product of divine procreation- the firstborn of many spirit children made by heavenly parents. Mormonism implies that there was a time when the Son was not. They even say that Jesus is eternal, but they mean "always will be", not "always has been." Another heresy in our area is modalism. These believe that God is in three modes, the Father, at other times the Son, and at other times the Holy Spirit; One God in three modes, not One God in three distinct Persons. The Scriptures that we have looked at today proclaim that there is One God, in three distinct Persons. Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God. He is the Son of the Highest.
The same heresies continue to plague the true church. They may come as a different name, but they have always tried working their way into the true church. The difference between today and 130 years ago is that the church today is doctrinally weak. People would rather be entertained than to take a text of Scripture and find out what it actually means. While this is going on, the core doctrines of Christianity are being undermined in the name of tolerance and unity. So, what should we do? "Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ," Jude 1:3-4. We should earnestly contend for the faith. "Earnestly contend" means to fight for or in reference to something, to struggle for. The first thing we must do is to be grounded in the truths of Scripture. This takes much time and effort, but it is worth it.
Jesus Christ is the Son of the Highest, and according to our text, He is also the Son of David, "He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest, and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David," Luke 1:32. Jesus Christ is truly God, and truly man. The hypostatic union. Please send questions and comments to richardsonbaptistchurch@gmail.com. Soli Deo Gloria.
