Dr. Dan Hayden •
As a man, I am many things simultaneously. To my kids, I am a father… but to my wife, I am a husband. I am both of these things, but not in the same way that Jesus is simultaneously the son of man and the Son of God.
When the angel Gabriel told Mary that as a virgin she would conceive in her womb and bear a son, he also told her how it would happen. In Luke 1:35 he said, “The Holy Spirit shall come upon you and the power of the Highest shall overshadow you, therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of you shall be called the Son of God.”
Now it was obvious that God was going to do a very special thing in Mary, because the human child that would be born of her would also be the Son of God.
The term Son of God is introduced to us in Psalm 2, where in verse seven the Messiah says, “I will declare the decree the Lord hath said unto me, thou art my Son.” The Lord’s son here is the son of Jehovah or the Son of God. Now what Gabriel was saying to Mary was that the child in her would be this Son of God. In other words, Jesus would be both a human being and a divine being. Simultaneously He would be the son of man and the Son of God.
Isaiah clarifies this a little for us when in Isaiah 9:6 he says, “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given.” You see, the child was born – but the Son was given. The Son of God was never born; He had always existed as God. It was the humanity of Jesus that was born, yet the child would also be the Son of God.
Now you know the real meaning of the word.
Hey, I may have multiple roles, but Jesus has a dual nature – He is both God and man. Now that is unique! ■