By far and away, the most dramatic and significant birth announcement ever made was delivered by an angel named Gabriel. He spoke to the virgin Mary in Luke 1 and revealed to her that she was not only to bear a son but the Son, and this Son would not only be the Son of Man but the Son of God as well…not a Son of God, mind you, but the Son of God. It all must have been truly overwhelming to this teenage peasant girl from Nazareth. Son of God? Son of God indeed. What, precisely, did that mean? It referred to another of several prophesies given about Christ hundreds of years before His birth. In this case, it was a thousand years earlier when David the King was inspired to write what he did in Psalm 2. Speaking prophetically and messianically, David penned, “I will surely tell of the decree of the Lord; He said to me, ‘Thou art My Son. Today I have begotten Thee.’” This is what the angel Gabriel was referring to when he told Mary her child would be called the Son of God, because He was the Son of God.
At the baptism of Jesus, the voice from heaven was heard, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” And, again, when Christ was transfigured before Peter, James, and John on the mount, the voice of the Father was heard from heaven again with the same message. In biblical language, when one is declared the son of another, it means the son reflects the character quality and sameness of the one he is the son of. In the case of Jesus Christ, to call Him the “Son of God” means He is what His Father is.
Barnabas, in the book of Acts, is called the “son of consolation” because he was a very consoling and encouraging person. James and John, sons of Zebedee, are called “sons of thunder”, no doubt because their demeanor, or disposition, reminded all of the raucous, booming nature of thunder. So too, Judas is called the “son of perdition”, because that was what he was about.
The Jews full-well understood the implications of Jesus referring to Himself as the “Son of God”. Said they, as they took up stones to stone Jesus, “We are not going to stone You for any work You did, but because You have blasphemed God. You, Jesus, calling Yourself the ‘Son of God’ are making Yourself to be the same as God.” Why didn’t Jesus move to explain Himself, telling them that they had misunderstood. Surely, Jesus never claimed to be equal to God so He ought to have corrected them, but He didn’t, because He was.
The Old Testament prophesied it, and the New revealed and declared it repeatedly. “That holy thing that shall be born of you will be called the Son of God,” precisely because He is the Son of God.
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