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The Son of God – Mark 9
The Son of God – Mark 9
Who do you say that I am? Asked Jesus. In the course of more modern history, there have been several ‘quests’ for Jesus. Rejecting what had been believed for over 1500 years, people wanted to discover the ‘real’ Jesus.
Mark begins his gospel declaring it to be the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God (1:1).
The angel that announced His birth said: “And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God” (Luke 1:35)
Here in Mark 9, at the transfiguration of Jesus, God the Father said: “This is my beloved Son, listen to Him” (vs. 7). This was not the first time that the father had declared that, for it had happened earlier at the baptism of Jesus, a “voice came out of the heavens: “You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased.” (Mark 1:11).
This was the claim of John the Baptist: “I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God” (John 1:34). This was also the confession of Nathanael: “Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” (John 1:49).
I find it interesting that this was a common pronouncement of the demons upon encountering Jesus. “I know who you are – the Holy One of God” (1:24). “And whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, “You are the Son of God.” (Mark 3:11).
The apostles as a group, upon experiencing his power in calming the storm, “worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God” (Matthew 14:33)
Martha, at the tomb of Lazarus, declared: “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.” (John 11:27)
When arrested, he was asked: “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?” His answer: “I am”. (Mark 14:61-62). With this, they claimed they had enough evidence of blasphemy to put him to death – and they incited Pilate to do the dirty work.
The whole gospel of John was written for this very purpose; to prove that Jesus was indeed the Son of God. “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:30-31).
Paul claimed that Jesus “was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 1:4)
Hebrews begins: “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world” (Hebrews 1:1-2).
Rejecting the testimony of the New Testament, some set off on a ‘quest’ to find the ‘real Jesus’. Those who accept the testimony have already found Him and have also found eternal life (1John 5:11). Have you found Jesus?
Hugh DeLong
