Lesson for March 25, 2026
The Names and Titles of Jesus
Lesson 12
Son
The Son of God
In Matthew 26:59-66, the Jewish High Priest demanded answers from Jesus, “Now the chief priests and the entire Council kept trying to obtain false testimony against Jesus, so that they might put Him to death. They did not find any, even though many false witnesses came forward. But later on two came forward, and said, ‘This man stated, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God and to rebuild it in three days.’ The high priest stood up and said to Him, ‘Do You offer no answer for what these men are testifying against You?’ But Jesus kept silent. And the high priest said to Him, ‘I place You under oath by the living God, to tell us whether You are the Christ, the Son of God.’ Jesus said to him, “You have said it yourself. But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power, and coming on the clouds of heaven.’ Then the high priest tore his robes and said, “He has blasphemed! What further need do we have of witnesses? See, you have now heard the blasphemy; what do you think?” They answered, “He deserves death!”
Why would His claiming to be the Son of God be considered blasphemy and be worthy of a death sentence? The Jewish leaders understood exactly what Jesus meant by the phrase “Son of God.” To be the Son of God was to be of the same nature and essence as God. The claim to be of the same nature as God (to be God) was blasphemy to the Jewish leaders; therefore, they demanded Jesus’ death. Hebrews 1:3 expresses this very clearly, “And He (Jesus) is the radiance of His (God’s) glory and the exact representation of His (God’s) nature and upholds all things by the word of His power.”
John 1:1,14 clearly states that Jesus is a member of the Godhead. As a member of the Trinity, Jesus is co-equal and co-eternal with the Father and the Holy Spirit. The humanity of Jesus came as the Son of God to represent God on earth as the Savior of the world. He appears many times in the Old Testament and lived 33 years as a man before going to the Cross and fulfilling God the Father’s plan of salvation.
The Son of the Most High
In Luke 1:32, Jesus is referred to as the Son of the Most High. Jesus is God’s unique Son. As the Son of the Most High, Jesus shares in God’s supremacy and reign over all things, according to Matthew 28:18and Hebrews 1:3.
Despite Jesus’s divine authority and supremacy, He humbled Himself by becoming a human being to save us from our sins. Philippians 2:6–8 explains how He, though being in the form of God, did not cling to His divine status but took on human flesh and became obedient to the point of death on the Cross.
Jesus did this because He loves us. He died and rose again so that all who believe in Him would be saved and have eternal life. (John 3:16) Jesus, Who made all things, rules over us, and sustains us. Colossians 1:16–17, “For by Him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things were created through Him and for Him. And he is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.”
The Son of David
Seventeen verses in the New Testament describe Jesus as the “Son of David.” But the question arises, how could Jesus be the son of David if David lived approximately 1,000 years before Jesus? The answer is that Christ (the Messiah) was the fulfillment of the prophecy of “the seed of David.” (II Samuel 7:12–16) Jesus is the promised Messiah, which meant He had to be of the lineage of David. Matthew 1:1-16 gives the genealogical proof that Jesus was a direct descendant of David through his son Solomon to Joseph, Jesus’ legal father. Luke 3:23-38 traces Jesus’ lineage through David’s son Nathan to Mary. Jesus is a descendant of David, “legally” through Joseph and by “birth” through Mary.
Jesus was addressed as “Lord, thou son of David” several times by people who were seeking mercy or healing. The woman whose daughter was being tormented by a demon (Matthew 15:22) and the two blind men by the wayside (Matthew 20:30) all cried out to the Son of David for help. The titles of honor they gave Him declared their faith in Him.
The Son of Man
Jesus adopted this title as a favorite way of speaking about Himself. At times, He used it to emphasize His humility and human frailty (Matthew 8:20); yet other times, He used it to proclaim His divinity. For example, He told the leaders who wanted to kill Him that He would later be seen coming on the clouds, like Daniel’s divine figure (Mark 14:62). Similarly, Stephen affirmed this divine aspect when he said he saw Jesus as the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God (Acts 7:56), which caused the Jews to cover their ears and lunge at him for speaking blasphemy. Together, the Bible shows that Jesus is the Son of Man who shares our humanity, represents us before God, and is the eternal, reigning Lord.
Jesus called Himself ‘Son of Man’ multiple times. Sometimes, He used it to emphasize His humanity. For example, He said, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head” (Matthew 8:20) and that “the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again.” (Mark 8:31) Even in these instances, His suffering was connected to His larger mission as the divine Son of Man Who would save His people.
So, while Jesus may have sometimes used the title to reflect His humanity, His main focus was on the deeper meaning: the Son of Man as the human representative Who was also divine, exalted, and reigning forever.
The Second Adam
1 Corinthians 15:45-49, “So also it is written: ‘The first man, Adam, became a living person.’ The last Adam was a life-giving spirit.However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural; then the spiritual. The first man is from the earth, earthy; the second Man is from heaven. As is the earthy one, so also are those who are earthy; and as is the heavenly One, so also are those who are heavenly. Just as we have borne the image of the earthy, we will also bear the image of the heavenly.”
Paul is here pointing out the difference between two kinds of bodies, i.e., the natural and the spiritual. Genesis 2:7 speaks of the first man, Adam, becoming a living person. Adam was made from the dust of the ground and given the breath of life from God. Every human being since that time shares the same characteristics.
Paul is telling us that the natural man, Adam, came first on this earth and was made from the dust of the earth. While it is true that Christ has existed from eternity past, He is here called the second man or second Adam because He came from Heaven to earth and took the form of a man. many years after Adam. Christ came as a human baby with a body like all other humans, but He did not originate from the dust of the earth as had Adam. He “came from Heaven.”
Because all humanity is descendant from Adam, every human being has an earthly body like Adam’s. Earthly bodies are fitted for life on this earth, with Adam’s original sin and a sin nature. On the other hand, the spiritual bodies of believers, like Christ’s glorified body, are fitted for Heaven, without Adam’s original sin or a sin nature. I John 3:2, “Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.”
Believers’ heavenly bodies will be just like Christ’s, which is imperishable, eternal, and glorious. At this time, we have bodies like Adam, but one day, all believers will be like Christ. Philippians 3:20-21,“For our citizenship is in Heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, Who will transform the body of our lowly condition into conformity with His glorious body, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.”