NEW WINE/OLD WINESKINS: HOW THE COVENANTS INTERSECT, PART IV. SONSHIP

The concept of sonship claws its way into the Bible from the very beginning and remains to the very end. It is, in fact, one of the great themes that impacts many other attendant truths. It is important to discuss the concept of sonship before we actually track its journey throughout Scriptures. In today’s modern western mind, a son is the organic offspring of the father. The connection between a father and a son is mostly physical. They share many traits. They often share many ideals. The son is a ‘chip off the old block,’ as they say. Rarely does the connection go any farther. In a free society, sons usually go their own way and often end up in vocations and places very much distant from their ‘dear old dad.’ In the Bible, however, sons have a much more important role. Sons are an extension and a representation of the life of the father, especially the firstborn son. Sons carry on the father’s purposes in life, and more importantly, his name and his inheritance which in any ancient culture were the things most important to any man. The idea of levirate marriage in the Old Testament, for example, demonstrates how important it was for a man’s name to live on. If he died childless then his brother was to marry his widow and raise up a child to the dead man’s name. The entire book of Ruth is about restoring the name of a dead Jew named Elimelech. In ancient days sons had the power to honor or defile the name of his father. It was important business to be a son. Young lads scarcely think this way today. However, the idea of sonship is of central importance in the Bible. The first words of our New Testament attest to the importance of sonship for it reads, “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.” Ahh, you may suddenly find yourself saying, “I now see the value of the genealogies in Scripture.”

The idea of sonship claws its way into the Bible right from the very start. Adam is the first “son of God.” Adam’s genealogy found in Genesis 5:1 says that he was made in the very likeness of God. That is sonship language. The genealogy of Luke concludes by saying that Adam is “the son of God.” What does this mean that Adam was the son of God? Certainly Adam did not possess divine attributes nor did he in any way resemble God. No, it means that Adam was to be God’s image bearer, the one who would carry forth God’s inheritance, and who was to rule God’s estate, His creation. In other words, Adam was God’s vice-regent, commissioned by God by virtue of a father-son relationship to govern the world for God and offer the creation back up to Father God as a gift. Then came the breach. Adam went off into a far country and wasted all he had. He was no longer the cherished son of God. He had done what no son must do, he had broken away from God and had determined to carry on his own agenda. No, the true son would ever do God’s will. In sinning Adam had in a sense defiled God’s purposes and God’s name. This was the horror of Adam’s sin. It is the horror of ours.

The idea of sonship carries forth throughout the Old Testament. Though Adam abdicated his title as “son,” God had promised that one day there would be a true Son who would obey the father and restore honor to the human race. He would also be born of a woman (Gen 3:15). In a sense the Old Testament is one long anticipation of the coming of this faithful Son. One man after another auditions for the sacred role. All uniformly fail. Abel is murdered. His replacement, Seth, (appointed one) produces a line of godliness for season until they mix with the ungodly race of Cain (Gen 6:1-3). By now God is fed up and nearly destroys the race but He is bound by His promises. So He calls out one man to be His son, Noah. Surely this man will live up to his name and bring ‘rest’ to humanity. But, alas, this man too falls into egregious sin and the hopes of the race are once again dashed. God must have His Son, however, so a few chapters later, He calls an idolater out of the Ur of the Chaldees to begin a new line of sonship. His name is Abraham. God will now promise Him an inheritance that is filled with sonship language (Genesis 12:1-3). Only this time the promises will be bestowed by divine grace alone. God will make sure that the blessings of sonship will fall to Abraham’s offspring (Gen 17:7-8; refer back to 3:15). At first it is not clear if the promise is for all of Abe’s offspring or one member. Later on, Paul will interpret this to mean one descendant, the Seed (singular) of Abraham, who will be the true Son (Galatians 3:16).

So who shall be this son? Isaac? Jacob? None of these men live up to the requirements of sonship. Abraham’s family ends up in harsh Egyptian captivity for over 400 years. Yet God has not forgotten His people. He raises up another man named Moses to lead His “son” Israel of out the iron furnace (see Ex 4:22-23; Hosea 11:1). God does exactly what He says He will do, and brings the nation back toward the promise land. But this only happens after 40 years of disciplinary wandering. If anyone had wondered if Moses was to be the Son, those hopes are quickly dashed when Moses sins and is denied entrance into the land.

So Israel lives for many years and the anticipation of the true Son is ever on the minds of the people. Through it all God is faithful and even promises to send the Messiah through the loins of their greatest king, David. David, of course, is not the promised Son. He is a man of blood and he sins horribly. Yet in 2 Samuel 7:12, God promises David that the Son shall come through his loins and His reign shall be forever. This startling fact is picked up by the gospel writer Luke (1:32-33). In the psalms and prophets the identity of David’s Son is further developed. In Daniel this Son shall be the One who will receive the kingdom (Dan 7:13-14). In the psalms He is portrayed as the One who shall rule the nations (Psalm 2:7) and who will be the chosen Son from all the sons of the earth (Psalm 89:3-4).

All eyes are on David’s sons. Which shall be the anointed Son? Solomon? Uriah? Hezekiah? Josiah? None fit the bill. The hopes of the people are further dashed when Israel is sent into captivity and their capital city is destroyed. How could God bring forth the eternal Son of David now, they ask? Israel eventually returns but there is no more dynasty. But the Davidic line remains. There is yet hope.

When we get to the New Testament, Jesus of Nazareth bursts on the scene. Could it be that the true Son has finally arrived? He is baptized at the Jordan by John and identified as the Son. In addition God Himself speaks from heaven, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Mt 3:17). Jesus will prove that He is the Son for He shall show clearly the nature of the Father as a son should (John 1:18; 14:9) and He shall always do the Father’s will (John 6:38). But then He is condemned to die as a criminal. Can this be the Son? Once again all will doubt. But even in death there remains one witness of His sonship. A heathen Centurion will behold all the events and affirm that, “Truly this was Son of God” (Mt 27:54). But then Jesus dies. The Son can’t die. But after three days He springs forth from the grave in triumph and power proving to all that this indeed was the Son of God.

The apostles continue this testimony. Paul writes to the Colossians and says that Jesus alone is the “image of the invisible God” (1:15), the perfect representation of God, the One who does exactly what a son should do. The epistles are replete with sonship language. They universally affirm that Jesus is the long ago promised Son of God, the One promised in the garden thousands of years earlier.

But is the end of the sonship story? Is Jesus Christ the final and only Son that will ever be? Yes and no. In and of Himself, Jesus is unique and is the only true Son of God. Yet the Bible says He is the firstborn “among many brethren.” By virtue of His receiving His crown, Jesus is the head of His own family. He has adopted many into His household which no man can number. Thus, we, undeserving sinners, become sons of God by virtue of our attachment to Him. The apostle John marvels at this truth. “What manner of love the Father has bestowed on us that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are the children of God and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed we shall be like Him for we shall see Him as He is’”(1 John 3:1-2). So we are sons now and when we enter the Eternal City we shall still be sons of God as it says in Revelation 21:7. As sons and daughters we shall reflect the glory of the Son of God forever. and ever. Because God chose one Son and that Son chose us, we are the most blessed among men. We are forever in the genealogy of Jesus. And as sons we shall enjoy all the rights and privileges of sonship as we shall “dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”