Titles of Jesus Christ (#5)

Sermon by Pastor Sylvia Chan

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Today we are going to study another title of the Lord Jesus Christ, a man of sorrows.

^NASB Isaiah 53:1- 4 ¹ Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the LORD (Yahweh) been revealed? ² For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, And like a root out of parched ground; He has no stately form or majesty that we should look upon Him, Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him. ³ He was despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; And like one from whom men hide their face, He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. ⁴ Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted. (Isa 53:1- 4 NASB)

This passage, Isaiah 53:1- 4, describes a man of sorrows (v.3); he had no stately form or majesty, no attractive appearance; he was despised and forsaken of men. He was acquainted with grief; people didn’t even want to look at him, and they hid their faces from him. He bore our griefs, he carried our sorrows, yet people thought he was stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

This passage is a prophecy by the prophet Isaiah, who was active from 740-681 BC. We can estimate roughly this passage was written around 700 BC, around 700 years before Christ.

Christians see Isaiah 53 as a prophecy of a suffering servant of Yahweh God, namely our Lord Jesus Christ. But the Jewish rabbis see Isaiah 53 as referring to the nation of Israel collectively as “Servant of Yahweh God”.

If you are interested in the teaching of the Jewish rabbis, you can go to study their writings. I am not going to explain their teaching; here I am explaining the teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Titles of Jesus Christ (#4)

Sermon by Pastor Sylvia Chan

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Today we are going to study another title of the Lord Jesus Christ; it is a very familiar one: the son of man.

The Son of Man: The Lord’s favorite title for himself

This is the Lord’s favorite title for himself; he refers to himself almost exclusively as the son of man.

1. Son of man simply means man

“Son of man” simply means man. In Israel today, people still use this term “son of man” to refer to a man. Prophets Ezekiel and Daniel were referred to as “son of man” in the Hebrew Bible.

^NASB Ezekiel 1:28-2:1 As the appearance of the rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the appearance of the surrounding radiance. Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD (Yahweh). And when I saw it, I fell on my face and heard a voice speaking. 2:1 Then He said to me, “Son of man, stand on your feet that I may speak with you!” (Eze 1:28-2:1 NASB)

This passage says that Ezekiel saw the glory of Yahweh God, which was like the rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day. When Ezekiel saw it, he fell on his face, then he heard a voice speaking, and the voice of Yahweh God said to him, “Son of man, stand on your feet that I may speak with you!” Here Yahweh God called Ezekiel “son of man.”

^NASB Daniel 8:16-17 And I heard the voice of a man between the banks of Ulai (אוּלַי), and he called out and said, “Gabriel, give this man an understanding of the vision.” ¹⁷ So he came near to where I was standing, and when he came I was frightened and fell on my face; but he said to me, “Son of man, understand that the vision pertains to the time of the end.” (Dan 8:16-17 NASB)     

Here in Daniel 8:16, the archangel Gabriel was called, presumably by Yahweh because who would have the authority to give a command to archangel Gabriel except Yahweh God himself; Gabriel was called to explain to Daniel the meaning of the vision; then in v.17 Gabriel called Daniel, “Son of man…”

These two passages show that the term “son of man” simply means man.

Titles of Jesus Christ (#2)

Sermon by Pastor Sylvia Chan

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Last time we studied the title Messiah in a series of messages on the titles of Jesus Christ. There are lots of titles for the Lord Jesus Christ in the Bible, today we are going to study another title: The Advocate.

 ^NASB 1 John 2:1 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; (1Jo 2:1  NASB)

Here Apostle John says that Jesus Christ is our advocate with the Father Yahweh God. First of all, what does this word “advocate” mean?

The meaning of advocate

The original Greek word for “advocate” is “παράκλητος” (paraklētos); its basic meaning is one who is called alongside to help, especially called to one’s aid. In a court of justice, it is a legal technical term for the legal assistant to the defendant. In its general sense, it is one who pleads the cause of another person.

This word in its wider sense can mean comforter, counselor. That is why the Holy Spirit is also called paraklētos.

 ^NASB John 14:16-17 “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; ¹⁷ that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you. (Joh 14:16-17  NASB)

Here the Lord Jesus is talking about the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth. The original Greek word for “helper” in this passage is also parakletos, the same as the Greek word for “advocate”.

Titles of Jesus Christ (#1)

Sermon by Pastor Sylvia Chan

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So far we have studied several titles of Christians and several titles of the Church, indeed there are in the Bible many titles of Christians and many titles of the Church. We have studied only the more important titles, but there is a lot more we have not studied yet. From time to time we will go back to studying some meaningful titles of Christians and titles of the Church.

Today we are going to study a new topic: The titles of Jesus Christ. There are more than one hundred titles of Jesus Christ in the Bible. The first title we are going to study is “The Messiah”.

A question from an elderly sister

Many years ago an elderly Christian sister asked me during a Bible study: How come we often say “Jesus Christ” instead of just “Jesus”? What is the meaning of “Christ”? I told her, “Jesus is the Lord’s name, Christ is his title; for example, President Reagan: President is his title, Reagan is his name; or Prime Minister Churchill: Prime Minister is his title, Churchill is his name. Similarly, in the case of Jesus Christ, Jesus is his name, Christ is his title.”