Jesus, Son of God

In these two sections Luke proves the Messiah-ship of Jesus. First, God speaks at his baptism and calls Jesus his son. Second, Jesus' genealogy is traced all the way back to Adam, the father of all people.

Notes

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Good morning!

I hope all of you had a great week!

Thank you for the testimonies this morning.

Recognize Mother’s Day.

Last week we learned about the message of John the Baptist.

John called for repentance, for people to turn from their sins and toward God.

When that happens authentically, John calls it recognizable fruit.

He is calling all people to live in a way that they are sensitive to God, and in doing so, we will be recognized by others as God’s people.

Lastly, when John is asked if he is the Messiah, he explains why he is not and how much greater the Messiah is than He.

Today as we continue on in Chapter 3, it is going to seem like the narrative is skipping forward a bit.

I thought it would be good to remind us that even though Luke is telling this in a narrative format, he wasn’t there for any of it.

All that he is telling is from the experiences of others.

So, as we begin today in verse 21, know that you haven’t missed anything; this is the next verse.

What we are going to see Luke do today is to show that Jesus both identifies with humanity and is part of humanity.

This is intentional.

Remember, Luke, is writing to a guy named Theophilus.

Luke 1:3–4 CSB

3 So it also seemed good to me, since I have carefully investigated everything from the very first, to write to you in an orderly sequence, most honorable Theophilus, 4 so that you may know the certainty of the things about which you have been instructed.

Luke said that he researched so that he may be certain of who Jesus was and is now sharing that information.

In our passage today, Luke introduces Jesus and the first steps in his ministry.

Let’s read together the first few verses.

Luke 3:21–22 CSB

21 When all the people were baptized, Jesus also was baptized. As he was praying, heaven opened, 22 and the Holy Spirit descended on him in a physical appearance like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well-pleased.”

I didn’t catch it at first myself, but in studying this passage, several commentators pointed out that Jesus was baptized by John, but why?

Luke holds Jesus out as sinless, and John’s baptism is one of repentance.

Why was this necessary?

Luke: An Introduction and Commentary Luke 3:21–22

It is at first sight puzzling that Jesus should have accepted baptism at the hands of John, for this baptism was ‘a baptism of repentance’ (3). Since Luke depicts Jesus as without sin it is not obvious why he should have undergone this baptism. But Jesus saw sinners flocking to John’s baptism. Clearly he decided to take his place with them. At the outset of his ministry he publicly identified himself with the sinners he came to save.

From the very beginning of his public ministry, Jesus is already taking on the sin of the world through this action.

He is going through the same experiences that we are so that He can make atonement for our sins.

We see the author of Hebrews, John, and Paul, all speaking to this end.

Hebrews 2:17 CSB

17 Therefore, he had to be like his brothers and sisters in every way, so that he could become a merciful and faithful high priest in matters pertaining to God, to make atonement for the sins of the people.

1 John 2:2 CSB

2 He himself is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours, but also for those of the whole world.

Romans 3:25 CSB

25 God presented him as the mercy seat by his blood, through faith, to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his restraint God passed over the sins previously committed.

Jesus’ actions are setting the stage for what we are going to learn about him over the course of this study.

He came to live just as we do, to face all that we do, and to concur sin and death.

He is coming to accomplish what we could not.

This moment is Jesus’ introduction, and God does it for him.

I don’t think I can overstate how big of a deal this is.

Look at the second half of verse 21 and into 22 with me.

Luke 3:21–22 CSB

1. God himself says that Jesus is his son.

On top of the audible testimony of God, there was also the Holy Spirit descending like a dove.

Now, Luke doesn’t tell us if anyone else said they could hear it, but it is obvious that if someone told Luke that it happened, it was because they experienced it as well.

Luke wasn’t there, Luke didn’t know Jesus personally while he was alive, nor did he know John the Baptist when he was alive.

We have these details because someone that was there and experienced it told Luke about it.

I don’t know if you know this, but around the time of Jesus, there were about 50 other people that were claiming to be the Messiah.

I learned that from Matt Whitman on one of his podcasts this week.

One of the ways that Jesus stood out from those men was this testimony from God about his origin.

God is proclaiming to those that were present that Jesus is his son.

He is part of God’s family.

And here is the deal, family lines matter.

We are about to see this in a moment as we move through more of the text but think about it with me.

Who your family is and the circumstances in which they and past generations were raised, and the experiences they share, makes a huge difference in a person’s life.

It makes them who they are.

For example, we see the continuation of poverty and hardship cycle generation after generation.

Usually this is because of trauma that happened in someones life and it affected them, their children, and it was passed down to future generations.

The same can also happen in the opposite direction.

If a person is born into a stable family life, there is a very real possibility that the past generations were stable and the future generations will be stable as well.

Of course, those cycles can be broken, but even if they are, the cycles have an impact of some kind.

Let me give you a different example.

My family, from the Butterfield side, has only been in the US for four of five generations.

As far back as we can see, by family has been involved in agriculture.

Is it any surprise that I am the way that I am having that information?

Nope.

It is a part of my heritage and it has been passed down to me from generation to generation.

Here is my point, by God proclaiming Jesus is His son, it is identifying something really important about Jesus’ bloodline.

Just like agriculture has been passed through my family bloodline, the sovereignty of God has been passed through Jesus’ bloodline.

Jesus is the Son of God, and not only did God say it, Luke is about to prove it.

Let’s look at this together.

If anyone makes fun of how I pronounce any of these names, they can take over reading. lol.

Luke 3:23–38 CSB

23 As he began his ministry, Jesus was about thirty years old and was thought to be the son of Joseph, son of Heli, 24 son of Matthat, son of Levi, son of Melchi, son of Jannai, son of Joseph, 25 son of Mattathias, son of Amos, son of Nahum, son of Esli, son of Naggai, 26 son of Maath, son of Mattathias, son of Semein, son of Josech, son of Joda, 27 son of Joanan, son of Rhesa, son of Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel, son of Neri, 28 son of Melchi, son of Addi, son of Cosam, son of Elmadam, son of Er, 29 son of Joshua, son of Eliezer, son of Jorim, son of Matthat, son of Levi, 30 son of Simeon, son of Judah, son of Joseph, son of Jonam, son of Eliakim, 31 son of Melea, son of Menna, son of Mattatha, son of Nathan, son of David, 32 son of Jesse, son of Obed, son of Boaz, son of Salmon, son of Nahshon, 33 son of Amminadab, son of Ram, son of Hezron, son of Perez, son of Judah, 34 son of Jacob, son of Isaac, son of Abraham, son of Terah, son of Nahor, 35 son of Serug, son of Reu, son of Peleg, son of Eber, son of Shelah, 36 son of Cainan, son of Arphaxad, son of Shem, son of Noah, son of Lamech, 37 son of Methuselah, son of Enoch, son of Jared, son of Mahalalel, son of Cainan, 38 son of Enos, son of Seth, son of Adam, son of God.

Now, most of those names don’t mean much to us, but we know that they meant a lot to the Jewish people.

There are a few in there that we can pick out and recognize, but the most important ones are David, Abraham, and Adam.

Luke takes us all the way back to the very beginning and this is intentional.

Luke is making an important point to show the humanity of Jesus.

2. As the son of Adam, Jesus is related to all people.

We are all descendants of Adam.

We share a common bloodline.

As the children of God, we believe that all humans got their start with Adam and Eve.

Even if you don’t believe that Luke and the original audience certainly did.

With that in mind, Luke shows that Jesus isn’t just some guy.

He is telling us that His history is just like ours.

We have the same ancestors.

Luke Luke 3:23–38

Several features of Luke’s genealogy distinguish it organizationally from the lineage in Matthew 1:1–17. (1) Luke’s placement of the list between the baptism and temptations makes the sonship of Jesus the issue, since that is the point of both the baptism and the temptation accounts. Can he be the Son? (2) Because it goes in reverse order, Luke’s list allows Adam’s name to be the last human echo before the temptations of Jesus are described. (3) Where Matthew stops with Abraham, highlighting Jewish interest in Israel’s founder, Luke goes back to the birth of humanity by God’s creative hand. Thus he shows that Jesus’ story is humanity’s story.

“Thus, he shows that Jesus’ story is humanity’s story.”

Back when we were studying the book of Hebrews, we learned that God’s redemptive story was our story.

We learned to identify ourselves with Christ.

We learned that God’s redemptive plan is our story.

It is who we are.

We are a people that were created by God, loved by God, and redeemed by God.

That is our family history.

This is the point that Luke is making and why he shares Jesus' genealogy.

He wants his readers to understand that Jesus is just like us.

His family history is just as messed up as ours is.

Luke Luke 3:23–38

His roots extend to David, Abraham and Adam. God has carefully designed his plan. There are no historical surprises in Jesus. Ultimately all humanity is a unit, and Jesus is concerned with more than deliverance of the tiny, elect nation of Israel. With him comes realization of the Old Testament hope for that nation, but bound up in him also is the fate of all people.

Luke’s tracing of Jesus’ genealogy all the way back to Adam is to prove that God sent Jesus for all people, not just Israel.

Remember, Luke was not Hebrew, and this tracing was important for him and an important distinction that needed to be made in the process of sharing the gospel with the rest of the world.

This is no minor detail.

Luke wants us to see that God is going to do something through Jesus that Adam was unable to do.

Jesus is the second Adam, and unlike Adam, Jesus is going to overcome sin so that He can redeem mankind.

Luke Luke 3:23–38

In Greek culture a tracing of such roots would be done to show Jesus’ qualifications for his task (Diogenes Laertius Life of Plato 3.1–2; Plutarch Parallel Lives, Alexander 2.1; L. T. Johnson 1991:72). The fact Jesus is God’s Son would be particularly significant here, even though that sonship in this context is mediated through Adam. What Luke implies here is explicit in Paul, where Jesus is the second representative of humankind, the second Adam (Rom 5:12–21; 1 Cor 15:20–28, 45–49).

3. As the second, better Adam, Jesus saves all people.

God is doing something through Jesus that was never able to happen through any other man.

Through Jesus, salvation from sin and death is being brought into the world.

Jesus is going to fix the problem.

He will crush the serpent's head and remove sin from the equation once and for all.

This is one of the Apostle Paul’s favorite things to talk about.

Let’s look at a few passages together.

Romans 5:18–21 CSB

18 So then, as through one trespass there is condemnation for everyone, so also through one righteous act there is justification leading to life for everyone. 19 For just as through one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so also through the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. 20 The law came along to multiply the trespass. But where sin multiplied, grace multiplied even more 21 so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace will reign through righteousness, resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Where Adam failed, where all of humanity failed, Jesus did not.

1 Corinthians 15:20–22 CSB

20 But as it is, Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead also comes through a man. 22 For just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.

Our inheritance from Adam is sin and death, but through Jesus, the better Adam, we inherit perfection and eternal life.

1 Corinthians 15:45–49 CSB

45 So it is written, The first man Adam became a living being; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 46 However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, then the spiritual. 47 The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. 48 Like the man of dust, so are those who are of the dust; like the man of heaven, so are those who are of heaven. 49 And just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we will also bear the image of the man of heaven.

Paul is pointing out that we share both a natural and spiritual nature that we have been given by both Adam and Jesus.

Paul is making these declarations about Jesus, but He has the hindsight of Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection.

At this point in the narrative, Jesus is just beginning his ministry and unfolding all that He is going to do.

But this is where Luke is leading us.

When he is writing this letter, he knows what Paul is talking about.

Luke is showing us through his genealogy that Jesus is the son of God, the son of Adam, and therefore solidifies his humanity.

I said at the beginning that Luke is setting the stage for Jesus, but what does this mean for you and I?

It means that through Jesus, the cycle of sin and death that we all inherit has been broken.

That generational trauma that we all inherit, that comes from all the way back to Adam, has been repaired.

God has adopted us into his family, broken the cycle of sin, and redeemed us back to Himself.

Closing

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