Will the Sonship of Jesus End?
by David K. Bernard
Podcast recording (no venue stated in the delivered transcript)
Kind: teaching
Scripture: 1 Corinthians 15:24-28, 2 Peter 3, 1 Timothy 3:16, John 1:14, John 20:28, John 8:58, Isaiah 9:6, Colossians 2:9, Deuteronomy 6:4, Luke 1:35, John 14:9-11, 2 Corinthians 5:19, Psalm 110:1, Revelation 22:3-4, 2 Corinthians 4:4-6, Colossians 1:15, Acts 4:12, Philippians 2:9-11, Ephesians 5:27

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/david-k-bernard--will-the-sonship-of-jesus-end
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
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I will certainly acknowledge that this is one of those difficult passages of scripture and if you think it's difficult where you're in good company second Peter chapter 3 Peter the Great Apostle talked about we love the Apostle Paul he's got great writings his writings are scripture but some things are hard to understand and some people twist them uh into error into their own devices well I think this is probably a candidate for that statement so if you only had this in the Bible you might conclude God in the son or father and son or two different persons but then if you said that you'd also have to conclude that the sun is clearly inferior to the father now classic trinitarianism does say there are two persons in fact three persons but they're all equal so if you want to promote trinitarian theology against one is theology this verse this passage doesn't help because it proves too much if it proves father and son are two different persons it proves that the sun is inferior to the father now the Jehovah's Witnesses have this very teaching they deny the Trinity but they believe uh that there's one god Jehovah but they believe Jesus is the son of God he's not the one god Jehovah but he's a second subordinate being like a glorified Angel well if you only had this passage that might seem to be falling into their supporting their their ideology however if you read the rest of the Bible that's clearly not the case uh and I won't take the time to mention that except the Bible repeatedly speaks of Jesus Christ as the one true God manifests in the flesh so first Timothy 3 16 John 1 14 uh John 20 28 and even identifying him as the Jehovah or I am of the Old Testament John 8 58 Isaiah 9 6 on and on and on Jesus is the true God manifests in the flesh he is Jehovah Yahweh the god of the Old Testament the I am manifests in the flesh so um in fact Colossians Colossians 2 9 says in him the Lord Jesus Christ dwells all the fullness of the godhead bodily and as I mentioned a moment ago when I mentioned John 20 28 Thomas when he saw the resurrected Christ simply identified him and confessed him as my Lord and my God and Jesus of course accepted that confession so if any explanation is doesn't fit the whole of scripture it would be that idea that father and son are two persons and the son is subordinate to the father so once that has been eliminated by the whole of scripture what's left well we need to go back and look at these terms of god father son in their scriptural context not from later centuries not from the Creeds and councils of the fourth and fifth centuries not from the standpoint of the Dark of the Trinity or from the Dr Jehovah's Witnesses which really the ancient term is arianism which was also a fourth Century Doctrine so we can't look at from that context but look at it from the Bible so we look at from the Bible First God is one he's Eternal he's Spirit he's invisible he's The Sovereign of the universe there's none like him none beside him he's the only one Deuteronomy 6 4 and many many other passages of scripture the term father is speaking of that one God in relationship to the human race the term son is more focused a short way to define this term in scripture as used of Jesus Christ the only begotten or unique Son of God is God manifested In the Flesh you see this in Luke 1 35 when the angel Gabriel spoke to Mary the mother of Jesus she said he said to her the holy spirit will overshadow you therefore and here's the reason the child that will be born of you shall be called The Son of God so he's called the Son of God because the spirit of God calls him to be conceived he's not the son of Joseph or any Earthly man he's the son of God by miraculous conception and so when we speak of the Son of God we're speaking of Jesus Christ the human being born of a virgin who the God's spirit is in him so he's the true God but he's manifesting the flesh so that term son would not mean a second person but it means God In the Flesh and you can see this in John 14 9-11 Jesus said if you've seen me you've seen the Father the father dwells in me you could see this in second Corinthians 5 19 God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself now more particularly the son then refers to the Incarnation God manifests in the flesh this passage of scripture is talking about the rule of the son the reign of the son where the sun has Dominion it connects to Psalm 110 where the Lord said unto my Lord sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool so that prophecy It's A Prophecy of the Messiah the Lord the one true God the god of the universe Jehovah Yahweh says to my Lord David the psalmist is saying he's my Lord my king that's talking about the Messiah the anointed king who would come to deliver Israel and by extension the human race so it's a prophecy of Jesus not as a pre-existent second person but looking down through time saying a king will be born he will be anointed and he will conquer the enemies of Israel and the enemies of the human race which would include the devil and I will put him in the right hand position the position of authority and power so God is saying I will give this man Divine Authority and power until he defeats his enemies well until implies a limited time it's not talking about deity because deity is unchanging but basically this is a prophecy saying that anointed king will have my power he will do my work he will defeat all the enemies of the human race and then he'll be finished so that's what you might call the rule of the Sun so what you're seeing in First Corinthians 15 is the rule of the Sun or the reign of the Sun so think about it right now right now we in the church were saved from sin we're saved from the devil we're saved by the grace of God how because Jesus Christ died for us shed his blood he was buried he rose again so we have Victory specifically because of Jesus Christ not just because God is our father or God created us but because Jesus Christ as God manifests the flesh redeemed us so we can say right now we're in the church because of Jesus Christ the son of God because he was a real human who died and rose again that's why we have victory that will continue until the last judgment at the last judgment Jesus Christ as God manifests the flesh will sit on the throne he will judge all the enemies the devil will be cast in the Lake of Fire Sinners will be cast the Lake of Fire the save will be will be ushered into the Eternal state of the New Jerusalem the new heaven new Earth and will live forever and that will complete the work of the son and so the role of the Sun or the reign of the sun will end does that mean Jesus will cease to exist of course not he's he's God does that mean the body of Jesus will cease to exist no because even our bodies are going to be glorified will be Eternal uh human body so Jesus is no less human than us he'll Rule and reign as the one God but manifested in the Eternal glorified body of a human being so but what will happen is Jesus will no longer act as the humble servant no longer act as the son who died no longer act as the mediator that will all be done everybody that's been saved will be saved everybody that needed their sins forgiven will have had their sins forgiven every force of evil will be destroyed and so the son will no longer act as son he will no longer be the mediator the sacrifice the intercessor or even the judge but simply God will be all in all so God will resume being what he was before he created the worlds he will simply be the one true God of Eternity only now revealed in Jesus Christ and so you see the Eternal state in revelation 22 3-4 you see in heaven one Throne one Divine Throne one person on that Throne he's called God and the lamb not two Thrones not two persons sitting side by side on one Throne not one person another's lap it's one person because his servant shall serve him they shall see his face and his name shall be in their foreheads and of course if you study the New Testament Jesus is the face of Jesus Christ the glory of God is revealed in the face of Jesus Christ second Corinthians 4 4-6 Christ is the image of God Colossians 1 15 the son is the image of the invisible God and of course the Supreme name is the name of Jesus it's the only name of Salvation acts 4 12 it's the name that's above every name Philippians 2 9-11 so in revelation 22 we see one God on one Throne who simultaneously God in the lamb he's The Sovereign of the universe he's the sacrifice of sin that can only be Jesus Christ but he's presented as one personal being on one Throne throughout eternity so in other words First Corinthians 15 is kind of like a parable or for an illustration saying Jesus Christ will work as the son saving us being our mediator being the judge of evil until he finishes the work when he finishes the work the son will submit the kingdom to the father that God may be all in all so Jesus will cease acting in this role but he will simply resume the original role that he had before the Incarnation he will be God not as another person now if that sounds a little bit far-fetched well compared with other scripture as I've already mentioned so if you look at this the son submits the kingdom of the father that God may be all in all well second Corinthians 5 19 God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself so the son is not a second person but God is in the Son and the sun does not bring us to somebody else the sun reconciles us to himself another passage is Ephesians 5 27 talking about Jesus Christ in the end he will present it to himself a glorious Church Without spot a wrinkle so there Jesus presents the kingdom to himself and if you think about it it would be kind of weird if we're the bride of Christ and you know Jesus purchases the bride and then at the climactic moment he gives his bride to his dad you know that's not what's going on but Jesus is giving the church to himself so when you look at all these passes together first Corinthians 15 the son gives the kingdom to the father Ephesians 5 Jesus gives the kingdom to himself Second Corinthians God's in Christ reconciling the world to himself we put it all together what First Corinthians 15 is simply saying there's one God who saw my spontaneously fulfills the roles of Father and Son for the purpose of our salvation the son is God manifest In the Flesh when God finishes all his work as the son the reign of the sun will end the role of the sun will end the glorified human body of Jesus Christ will be forever he's a priest Forever After the order of Melchizedek so he'll still be Jesus he'll still be who he is but now he will simply reign as he did from the beginning God will be all in all