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Jesus is referred to as the Son of God about eighty times in the New Testament. In some senses the New Testament speaks about all believers as being children, or sons, of God. But when the phrase is ascribed to Jesus, it means something different. It is a description of his deity. Jesus is the Son of God; we could also say that he is God, the Son.
1. What was the question Jesus was asking his disciples? (Matthew 16:13-15)
2. What was different about the disciples’ response, compared with the views of other people? (Matthew 16:16)
3. Six days later, Jesus took three of his disciples to a mountain. While they were there, God gave his answer to the question concerning Jesus’ identity. What was that? (Matthew 17:5)
4. What evidence confirmed the testimony of the voice from heaven concerning who Jesus really was? (Matthew 17:1-5)
5. As the Son of God, Jesus was in a unique position to reveal the heart and mind of God. In fact John describes him as the Word of God (John 1:1-3). With this in mind, what command did God give to the disciples in relation to the Son of God? (Matthew 17:5)
6. How did the disciples respond to this confirmation of who Jesus was? (Matthew 17:6)
7. What information about Jesus’ ministry was communicated to the disciples after both of these revelations of his divinity? (Matthew 16:21; 17:9-11)
8. Read John 5:16-30. Here Jesus affirms that he is equal in essence with God, while being subordinated functionally to the Father. In other word, in terms of who he is, he is one with God; in terms of what he does, he only does what the Father tells him. What did people think of this claim? (John 5:18)
9. Jesus speaks of himself as having been sent from heaven (John 5:23,24,30). He came from heaven where he was before coming into the world (see John 6:38; 8:42). That is to say, he existed as the Son of God in heaven before he became the Son of God in human form, The creeds of the early church all agree on this point. What do Philippians 2:6-11 and Colossians 1:15-20 say about the Son of God prior to his assuming a human body as Jesus of Nazareth?
The disciples only got occasional glimpses of the glory that really belonged to Jesus. Mostly, Jesus wanted to keep it hidden, for the ultimate purpose of his coming had to do with his suffering and death. Spend time praising him that he was willing to lay aside the glory of heaven in order to suffer and die for us.
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