Both John the Baptist and Nathaniel confessed that Jesus was “the Son of God.” Both of these men were Jews. All they had for Scripture was what we call the “Old Testament.” So how did they know that the appropriate response to Jesus was to affirm Him to be “the Son of God.” In other words, where in the OT is this taught?
To answer that question, and I do believe we
can answer the question, we need to notice that both men also confessed Jesus
by the use of another title. John
referred to Him as “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” Nathaniel referred to Him as “the King of
Israel.”
Where in the OT do we see “the Son of God” and
“the Lamb of God” together? The answer
is, of course, in Genesis 22, when Abraham was directed by God to offer his son
Isaac, his only son, his beloved son, as a sacrifice on Mt. Moriah. This story does tell us something about
Abraham that, as the Angel of the LORD said, “for now I know that thou art a
God-fearing man” (22:12; all OT quotes in this post are from the 1917
translation of the Jewish Publication Society of America).
But we also know that this story has a larger
purpose. It is, in my view, the
preeminent picture of Calvary, other than Calvary itself. How can we miss it? “Take now thy son, thine only son, whom thou
lovest, even Isaac” (22:2). “God will provide Himself the lamb” (22:8). “Abraham
went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt-offering in the
stead of his son (22:13). The larger purpose is to declare how God would provide for salvation (22:14). He would send
His only Son, His only beloved Son, to be the sacrifice for sin. Abraham joins “the Lamb of God” and “the Son
of God.”
Where in the OT do
we see “the Son of God” and “the King of Israel” together? The answer is, of course, in Psalm 2.
6 ‘Truly it is I that have
established My king Upon Zion, My holy mountain.’
7 I will tell the decree: The LORD
said unto me: ‘Thou art My son,
This day have I begotten thee.
8 Ask of Me, and I will give the
nations for thine inheritance,
And the ends of the earth for thy
possession.
9 Thou shalt break them with a rod
of iron;
Thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.’
This was common knowledge among the people of
Israel, that the Messiah would be their King.
The Magi were seeking “the King of the Jews” (Mt. 2:2). The crowd recognized Jesus in this way at the
time of the “Triumphal Entry” (John 12:13).
The crowds ridiculed Jesus as “King of Israel” while He was on the
cross, but in so doing were acknowledging that this was who He claimed to be (Mt.
27:42; Mk. 15:32; Lk. 23:37; Jn. 19:3). Pilate’s
sign over the cross called Jesus the “King of the Jews” because in the
conversations between Jesus and Pilate, the Lord affirmed that the title was
correct (Mt. 27:11,37).
This is Jesus of Nazareth. He is the Son of
God. We should know Him both in His humiliation
as the Lamb of God, for “He humbled Himself and became obedient to death, even
the death of the cross”; and in His glory as the King of Israel, for “God has
highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at
the name of Jesus every knee should bow” (Phil. 2:5-11).
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