Revelation 1:6 And hath made us kings and priests unto God
and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
Note that this verse refers
to God, who is the Lord Jesus Christ, AND His Father, God the Father, in a
clear statement of Christ's deity.
This brings us to an
important point. In the previous comments on verse 5 Jesus Christ is called the
firstborn in Colossians and that is defined as the beginning of creation, the
creator of all things;
Colossians 1:15
Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: 16 For
by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth,
visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or
principalities, or powers: all things were created by
him, and for
him: 17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.
The Old Testament alludes
to the Messiah’s sonship in verses that refer in context to Israel itself and
then prophetically looking forward to the Messiah to come;
Proverbs 30:4 Who hath ascended up into heaven, or
descended? who hath gathered the wind in his fists? who hath bound the waters
in a garment? who hath established all the ends of the earth? what is his name,
and what is his son’s name, if thou canst tell?
Exodus 4:22 And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith
the LORD, Israel is my son, even my firstborn:
Psalms 89:27 Also I will make him my firstborn, higher
than the kings of the earth.
Hosea 11:1 When Israel was a child, then I loved him,
and called my son out of Egypt.
This verse in Hosea is
referenced in the gospels regarding Christ;
Matthew 2:15 And was there until the death of Herod: that
it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out
of Egypt have I called my son.
As I explained in my
comments on Genesis the son of a king in the ancient world, as evidenced in
many sources, came in the name of the king and for all acts and purposes was
considered in authority as the king he represented. This is just as the son in
an ancient family would inherit the property as well as the religion of his
father.
Indeed, the Jews understood
that for Jesus to declare Himself the Son of God made Him equal with God the
Father;
John 5:18 Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill
him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his
Father, making himself equal with God.
Paul would confirm;
Philippians 2:6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not
robbery to be equal with God:
The Son of God, uppercase
S, then is a reference to God walking in human flesh, as well, as Jesus
declared that He and His father were one;
John 10:30 I and my Father are one.
And to have seen Him was to
have seen the Father;
John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the
truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.7 If ye had known me, ye should have known my
Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.8 Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the
Father, and it sufficeth us. 9 Jesus
saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known
me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou
then, Shew us the Father?
Indeed, Paul declares that
Christ is the visible image of an invisible God.
Colossians 1:15 Who is the image of the invisible God, the
firstborn of every creature:
Hebrews 1:3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and
the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his
power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of
the Majesty on high;
And remember He is said to
be the true God as I interpret this verse;
1 John 5:20 And we know that the Son of God is come, and
hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are
in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and
eternal life.
The importance of the
phrase son of god, whether it be uppercase S for Christ or lowercase s
for spiritual beings, those transformed by God, or Adam himself representing
the image of God in some respect is of vital importance. Here are the three
parts of the Godhead speaking; Father, Son or Word (Logos), and Holy Ghost;
Genesis 1:26 And God said, Let us make man in our image,
after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and
over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over
every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
Here is a reference to what
He created;
Genesis 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the
image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
Luke 3:38b … which was
the son of Adam, which was the son of God.
This appearance would
deteriorate as man devolved with each passing generation in sin following in
the likeness of the previous generation moving away from that perfection.
Genesis 5:3 And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years,
and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth:
This, that Christ was God
in the flesh walking on earth called the Son of God, was also important due to
Gnostic cults of the time of the New Testament, a little later like
Manicheanism, and much later in European History like the Cathars, also called
Albigensian, insisting that Jesus Christ had no physical body thereby
contradicting the entire doctrine of the Son of God.
1 John 4:3 And every spirit that confesseth not that
Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of
antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is
it in the world.
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