[Music] We are tracing a theme in the Bible that We're calling the firstborn it's a theme About who God chooses to rule the world On his behalf it's a theme about power And how power should be used today we Arrive in the New Testament and we talk About how Jesus is the ultimate power in The universe the firstborn of all Creation this title gets specifically Applied to Jesus by Paul later in the New Testament but the gospel authors Make the same point in a different way By calling Jesus the son of God and the First time that title is used of Jesus Publicly is in the story of his baptism The story is about the commissioning of The Sun as the Son of God to begin Ruling over creation as God's image and Sun and that's what's being announced Here not a new identity that a human is Somehow like adopted into but didn't Have before baptism is an anointing Ceremony of the true King this king is Born of a woman but also has a cosmic Identity that makes him the true ruler Of the cosmos these two ways that Jesus Is the son of God one is through his Human lineage it goes through Joseph Mary and links back to Adam and that's Crucial for him coming as a human to do For humans what no human seems to be Able to do but the baptism is revealing This other aspect of his identity that
In appearing among us as the son of Adam That one is at the same time the Eternal son of the father if Jesus is The ultimate power how will he use it After his baptism he goes into the Wilderness where Satan tempts him to do What other firstborns have done before Him seize power by their own means but Jesus will succeed where others have Failed by the very Act of surrendering His life so that's essentially what the Hebrew Bible is it's just cycle cycle Cycles but it keeps pointing forward to This promise that eventually comes to be Focused on a hoped for King from the Lineage of David Israel's second king And that one is going to be the lowest Of the lowest of the low that God will Elevate to the highest of the highest of The high by giving their life in the Place of others and for their sins Today Tim Mackey and I talk about the Identity of Jesus as the firstborn son Of God I'm John Collins and you're Listening to Bible project podcast Thanks for joining us here we go Hello Tim hey John hi hi hey we have Turned a corner in our conversations On this theme we're calling the theme of The firstborn And if you've been following along you Know what that means and by turn a Quarter I mean we have talked through The storyline and how this theme weaves
Through the story of the whole Hebrew Bible and now we're going to open up a Gospel and start reading about Jesus and See how this theme has a climax in the Identity of Jesus and so maybe Tim give Us the like three minute explainer on The theme of the firstborn Well on page one of the story of the Bible God appoints a human image bearing Representative to embody the Divine Rule And presence and power and creativity in The world to take responsibility for it In partnership with God that's the image Of God but that image is subverted and Deceived and lured in to disobeying the Word and wisdom of God and is exiled Into the land of dust and death And so what begins as a pattern of God Choosing someone from the Next Generation and elevating them to have a Chance at uh I don't know why a baseball Metaphors come into my mind right now Because I don't really watch baseball But a chance at the plate as it were a Chance to go up to bat And what's interesting is the one that God consistently chooses to you know go Up to bat or I guess soccer to kick the Ball in bounds or something I guess you Don't kick it you throw it in bands when The ball's out of bounds in soccer isn't That right in soccer yeah you throw it In yeah you throw it in so whatever you Really are not a sports guy
I mean I'm not a big Sports guy but ah You wow you're a soccer fan yeah okay Well you know okay so in um in indoor Soccer you kick it in oh really okay oh Yeah that's all okay well there you go Yeah Futsal is what I meant to say so either Way God God consistently chooses people To be the one to get into the game back In the game thank God consistently Chooses the late Comer the second born The person of lower social status and by The game Yeah what is important to remember that We are talking about in general like who Do we put in charge of our institutions And and who do we give the authority to Like rule in and among us but underneath That is this promise That takes place yes early in Genesis That there's gonna be this one special Human the seed of the woman Who is going to rule in such a way that He actually crushes evil the head of Evil the head of the venomous snake and It's that seed that rule that ruler like Who whose family is he gonna come from Yeah and what line is he gonna come from And so a lot of this choosing who's in The game who's at bat is about where is This snake Crusher gonna yeah yeah Because through that one the blessings And life of Eden will be restored to God's world that's what's implicit there
In the in the promise And so God consistently chooses The carrier of This Promise lineage to Be from among those who are the late Comers those of lower status And it sets in motion all these cycles Of the biblical story that we're calling Just under the title of the firstborn So the firstborn can get angry the one Of high status can get angry and Persecute or get hostile to the one that God has chosen Sometimes the younger one Who's not chosen but thinks they ought To be will engage in hostile rivalry Towards their elders and then sometimes The one of low status or rank or the Late Comer that God does choose it Eventually goes to their head and then They abuse that privilege and end up Replaying the cycle of The Human Condition all over again and so that's Essentially what the Hebrew Bible is It's just cycle cycle Cycles But it keeps pointing forward to this Promise That eventually comes to be focused on a Hoped for King from the lineage of David Israel's second king And that one is going to be the lowest Of the lowest of the low That God will Elevate to the highest of The highest of the high by giving their Life in the place of others
And for their sins that's where we ended In our last conversation in the Suffering servant poems of Isaiah So with all of that said from Isaiah and The whole Hebrew Bible I didn't do a Very good job of explaining that quickly You had to come in to rescue me for my Sports metaphors that was great My ill placed Sports metaphors anyway With all that said we really do Transition into the story of Jesus and What we're going to do is touch down at A few points in the gospel narrative and We'll kind of sample actually passages From Mark Luke and Matthew that explore This theme of Jesus as the I don't know What do you say the ultimate Firstborn or the ultimate Cosmic Firstborn of God So should we dive into the gospels let's Do it so let's start with Mark who has The briefest And most kind of concise introduction to The story of Jesus there's no birth Narratives in Mark there's no stories About Mary or Joseph or anything it just Begins With a long well actually what it begins With is the words the beginning The beginning of the good news about Jesus Messiah And then depending on your translation It's the phrase the son of God So let's real quick compare
Hmm Actually almost all of our modern Translations have the Son of God and That's because there's good manuscript Support for it however there are a few Manuscripts that are significant Witnesses textual witnesses to the early Text of the Gospel that don't have the Phrase Son of God it just reads the Beginning of the good news about Jesus Messiah Christ meaning Messiah Jesus Jesus Christ that's right and the Christ Means Messiah so whether or not the Phrase Son of God Appears in the Earliest Version of Mark it doesn't make a huge Difference to the point we're trying to Raise here but the point is that Jesus's Identity As the ultimate firstborn of God and we Actually won't explore well yeah we'll Begin to explore what that means like The gospels are exploring what it means To say a thing like that And then we'll explore it a lot more in The next episode when we get to Paul in Hebrews okay but Mark begins out of the Gate with that line so in other words it Tells you about the identity of Jesus it Makes a claim the first statement of Mark is a claim about the identity of Jesus that he's the Messiah he's a Messiah and the Son of God so the rest Of the story is essentially going to be
About unfolding that claim in narrative Through a sequence of narratives and It's mostly going to be about how people Slowly come to the realization of Jesus's identity Richard Hayes the New Testament scholar I remember his Treatment of Mark that I came across Long time ago is he said Mark is like The opposite of like a mystery story Where the identity like in like a Whodunit oh man I'm reading this great Like children's mystery story to my boys It's about stolen treasure all these People are in a castle and a blizzard And then this like the castle treasure Is stolen and the whole story is about This little teddy bear that um Because all the characters are talking Like stuffed animals But uh is trying to figure out who's the One who took the treasure and it's so Fun man a good whodunit you know is so Fun to take in so Mark is the opposite Of that because you're being told who The main character is and who they Really are in the first sentence yeah And it creates this dramatic irony Because the story is really going to be About how everybody else Does or does not come to a realization Of who you know this character to be so It begins with a quotation from Isaiah And Malachi that introduces John the Baptist and then John the Baptist is
Doing his thing in the wilderness it's a Renewal movement taking Israel back to The Jordan River Dunking them in the river As a way of identifying and preparing Israel for God to show up like Isaiah And Malachi promised and what we're Going to consider is the baptism of Jesus okay this is the key key story Which we've read many times over the Years but just want to look at it from This angle with this theme in mind [Music] Thank you So in Mark 1 verse 9 we read in those Days Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee And he was baptized by John in the Jordan River immediately coming up out Of the water he saw the heavens Interesting New American Standard has Opening but it's the word like ripped or Torn open it's uh Hmm it's actually the Greek word schizo Or skidzane from where we get our English word Schism so it's a like a Violent opening yeah like ripping you Know a garment open this is significant I don't know if we've ever fully talked About this Mark identifies the one who sees this Happening not as everybody But as Jesus so Jesus saw the heavens Torn open and the spirit Descending like a dove upon him and then
A voice came out of those ripped Open Heavens saying you are my beloved Son IM Knew I am well pleased so that's the Story Short and sweet now I always get a bit Turned around with these phrases Son of God and son of man they're very similar Phrases we're introduced up top With Mark as the Son of God and then Here in the baptism Just a few verses later yeah he's called God's beloved Son yeah yeah what what is The title Son of God maybe start there Just re-upload that in my mind yeah well I mean there's many levels of context For it so the phrase son of Elohim in The Hebrew Bible means a member of the Class of Spiritual Beings so this is What the Spiritual Beings in Genesis 6 Are called that's the first time the Phrase is used son of Elohim is of not Of the Messiah of Spiritual Beings and That's a common phrase actually to refer To beings who share in the class of Having a spiritual nature like the one True God okay So the Bene Elohim is used in the psalm Psalm 29 Psalm 82 Psalm 89 to refer to Spiritual Beings but in the story of the Hebrew Bible God appoints certain human Representatives To be His son and specifically David And the line of Kings from David in
Second Samuel chapter 7 and then in Psalm 2 which supplies the language for God's quote right here God appoints a messiah a king who's from The line of David who is one day going To rule Over the Nations and bring God's Heavenly rule to Earth And so that human one Who is God's vehicle to be his rule on Earth is called my son in Psalm 2. and Also Israel was called God's thank you Yes actually in Exodus chapter 4 God calls Israel my firstborn son which We talked about earlier in the series Because Israel was not the firstborn Among the Nations And in that moment Egypt was claiming to Be the one chosen by God to rule the Nations which is why they enslave other Nations And God is saying actually it's your Slaves one of those people groups is my Firstborn son so be a Son of God and be Called a Son of God is to say that you Are a people or a person who's being Kind of uniquely chosen to represent God In a unique way yeah yep in terms of That's the background of the term So this term And that's just in the Hebrew Bible so This term is capable of multiple nuances Of meaning and I think what's sometimes Challenging for
Us Here we are 2000 years later is that we Have inherited a really developed view Of what that term means and I think that View actually comes from the gospel Narratives and what they want to tell us About Jesus about the you know the Second member of the Trinity you know Her God the Father God the son God the Spirit and I think those ideas are Really rooted in what the gospel authors Want to say But the term Son of God was capable of Many nuances of meaning when the gospel Authors were writing and so what they're Going to do is Define what they mean and What Jesus means by being the Son of God By actually reading the narrative you Actually have to read The Narrative to Know what they mean by it with all those Other meanings in the background it's Not like a theological dictionary word That they were like plucking from that Meant a very precise thing but by Following the story you will learn what Mark means by Jesus the son of God and Then so here in the baptism Heavens rip Open Sky rips open God's Spirit comes down God's voice says you Are my beloved Son yeah and you said That's a quotation from Psalm 2. yeah Actually there's three Hebrew Bible quotations being brought Together here so
Um the phrase you are my son comes from Psalm 2. okay where God looks out at the Nations that are raging and violent Ruled by violent Kings who are stealing And plundering from each other And raging against God's Authority Because they see no Authority greater Than themselves and so what God says is He laughs And he says I already have my king and It's none of you it's the one that I Have installed on Zion my Holy Mountain And then that King speaks up to us in Psalm 2 and tells us about this decree That God made about him and he says I'll Tell you the decree of the Lord God said to me you are my son today I Have and it's the word birth birthed you So birth is being used here as a Metaphor because it's a you know God This is God speaking here in the song Yeah this is the Son of God the king Relaying to the reader a decree that God Made about Himself okay and he's saying God has Declared about me you are my son and Today As of this day I have begotten you which doesn't mean That God's giving birth to the king Rather it means that God is appointing This King as the firstborn son yeah okay So what's interesting here is that this Promise that God has appointed a king
And designated them as the firstborn son When you come to this in Psalms you Already have all these the whole Hebrew Bible in your mind for calling this up But what's interesting about the story Of Jesus is when Mark calls on these Words the question is is Jesus being Marked as something that he wasn't Already Or is he becoming something that he Wasn't already or was he always already This and does that make sense yeah That's a question in the reader's mind And actually that was a huge source of Debate in the early centuries Of the Jesus movement So Psalm 2 is One Source the Second Source is in you I am well pleased That comes from one of the servant poems In the squirrel of Isaiah Specifically the opening lines of Isaiah 42. so that hyperlinks to all the stuff We talked about in the last episode yeah All the servant stuff yep the servant Stuff and also connected with David Because the king from the line of David The new David the new David the last bit Is you are my beloved Son and that word Beloved You are my beloved Son uniquely in Greek Maps precisely on to the Greek Translation Of the story about Abraham and Isaac in Genesis 22 where God says take now your
Son Your unique or one and only son the one Whom you love and offer him up as a Ascension offering so this very subtle To us but this is totally how Jewish Authors worked in the Hebrew Bible and In this period which is to hyperlink Whole big ideas and themes in the Hebrew Bible by just blending together a few Chosen words hmm So this is a vision that Jesus had when He was baptized and notice you have the Heavenly voice stating the identity of The Sun And the connection or the vehicle That carries that loving pronouncement From the Heavenly voice to the son is The spirit yeah so you have this three God as three and one working together Here To send a beloved Son into the world to Carry out the vocation of the royal Servant All that's being like communicated here In very very few words so here's just One quote one of my favorite Commentators on the gospels he's written Commentaries on Mark and Matthew is RT France is no longer with us But he has a great way of summarizing Issues here he says the Divine Declaration And the whole experience of which it Forms apart he's talking about the voice
From heaven Is not phrased in such a way as to Suggest that Jesus at this point becomes Something that he was not before The Voice declares who Jesus is Not who he has now become and he's Talking about the echo of Psalm 2 here It may be significant that the part of The verse from Psalm 2 that speaks of The status as new today I have begotten You mark doesn't include that in his Illusion clearly for Mark Jesus will not Have to wait Until the resurrection or now to become God's son he is so already And there's no hint even at his baptism That this is some new Factor what is new Here is the launching into the public Exercise of a role for which he as the Son of God is now prepared yeah and That's an important clarification Because in other words Jesus is arriving On the scene and what happens the next Word after the Divine voice is Immediately the spirit compelled him out Into the wilderness And he begins his mission he overcomes The evil one and then he goes out and Starts announcing the kingdom of God So the point is that the story is about The commissioning of the Sun As the Son of God to begin ruling over Creation as God's image and sun and That's what's being announced here not a
New identity That a human is somehow like adopted Into right but didn't have before sure And you've talked about this being Jesus's anointing we haven't been Talking about that idea but David when He was chosen as King Samuel had his Like oil of anointing yeah that we Talked about yeah totally go take your Oil or your horn fill it with oil and Then he pours it on David When God says That's your guy David And then he anoints David with the oil And that's the moment then saying David's Reign has begun yes yeah and so You've said this baptism scene of Jesus He's not being Anointed with oil and This is a rabbit hole I suppose but this Is like his anointing from heaven with The spirit yeah yeah right I mean and The story with David the spirit comes Down and anoints him as well like the Spirit does to Jesus yes and so this is The idea of not so just to say like this Story is more about the commissioning And the acknowledgment of Jesus as the Anointed one versus yeah like making him Giving him that status yeah exactly and Actually the rest of the Gospel of Mark Is going to be designed to keep Revealing that so there's two more Scenes where there is some Heavenly Phenomenon that appears and people look Up and then there's some declaration
Made about Jesus's identity And all of them reveal not something That Jesus is becoming But it's like the unveiling of who he Really is and who he has always been and What's new is that he's on the scene to Like be the image of God and to crush The snake and like that's what's being Announced here Foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] So that's the first appearance of this Image of Jesus as the Son of God as God's firstborn elevated and appointed Commissioned to do his task that's the Baptism narrative now in this chapter We're also told that Jesus came from Nazareth And that's just like lighting up in my Mind because we just talked about Jesse Yes yes as father of David being from Nazareth yeah exactly in the servant Poem of Isaiah 11 we're told that There's going to be a new son of Jesse Yes the new David yeah so is that why Nazareth is being Highlighted here yeah actually that's Great so for sure you know in Mark's Audience just saying he came from Nazareth Echoes all of the other Oral Traditions that would have been Passed down from the apostles about
Jesus background but Mark doesn't give Us that story Yeah he doesn't tell us stories about Mary or Joseph you have to turn to the Other gospels to do that and actually It's perfect this is the moment to Switch over to Luke Okay so in Luke's account Jesus's Baptism comes in Luke chapter 3 what we Call Luke chapter 3. And immediately after The baptism like the next thing after The Heavenly voice in Luke's account is Luke chapter 3 verse 23 and it is the Genealogy of Jesus and just watch how This works so God in Luke God just said You're my beloved Son and you I'm well Pleased Verse 23 When Jesus began his ministry Jesus himself was about 30 years of age Oh do you know this is where that comes From This line his age yeah his age yeah yeah It's not referred to very often in the Gospels and it's about I always just Thought oh he was 30. about 30. about 30. he was As it was supposed the son of Joseph The son of Eli the son of Mata the son Of Levi the son of Milky and it's about To go on for a long time But first let's just note he was just in The narrative called my son
And then the next line is he was about 30 years old and people thought he was The son of and then we Joseph being his Marian Joseph exactly right yeah yeah And Luke actually has already told you The story of Joseph and Mary you know in In Luke chapters one and two yeah so in Other words Jesus is being His son his status as a son Has multiple layers to it because he was Born as a human to Mary But not to Joseph and that's the whole Thing about the Virgin birth and so here There's two ways that Jesus can be Called a son He's the son of Mary biologically he's The son of Joseph in terms of as an Adopted son And then he's the son of God But watch how this works so he's the son Of Joseph and then Luke is just going to Carry on Joseph's lineage all the way Back Linking it up to David and then to Jesse And then linking it all the way back to Judah And then Jacob Isaac Abraham and then Working backwards through Genesis 1 Through 11. to yeah Tara yep who was Abraham's father yep and then back to Noah back to Noah back to Enoch back to Seth back to Adam and then the last Phrase in the genealogy is So the son of Seth the son of Adam the
Son of God Oh wow Adam the Son of God yeah so This is fascinating because Luke equates Being the image of God and being the Son Of God as being overlapping ideas in Some way okay so the question is is Jesus just a human Son of God Or is he a new Adam Strictly speaking just another human Who's given a status that Adam was given Which is the image of God yeah exactly And so I think the point of what the Gospel authors are saying Is they're trying to load the phrase Son Of God With more meaning because of their Convictions about who Jesus is in light Of the whole story about him that they Want to tell But this is a good example about Adam is The Son of God is using one of the Nuances of the phrase in the Hebrew Bible Which means a human that God has Appointed it doesn't mean that Adam was The second member of the trinity Right it means that he was a human Appointed by God And made in the image of God and what The gospel others are going to go on to Try and claim about Jesus is Jesus isn't Just the Son of God like the way Adam is The son of God
Jesus is actually the image of God In whose image Adam and Eve were made And if that makes sense yeah yeah so Let's watch the story the plot thickens Chap look for Jesus full of the Holy Spirit returned from the Jordan River And was led around by the spirit in the Wilderness so the spirit that came on And meant the river Is like with him now empowering him For 40 days to be tested by the Slanderer so it's the word devil in our Translations but let's just the devil The uh diabolas It is not a name it's a title that means Somebody who Slanders Or tries to bring someone's reputation And to disrepute And he was tested by the slanderer Jesus Like Moses ate nothing for those 40 days And 49th And he was hungry when they were over Yep then the slanderous said to him you Know if you really are the son of God So we're back to that yeah yeah what are We supposed to be imagining He's meaning here yeah exactly well one Way to think of it is if you are an Image of God like Adam yeah was meant to Be yeah that all of Humanity's meant to Me Then I have an idea let's come up with a Food test A test of food yeah and you're like oh
My gosh I'm in the opposite of a garden I'm in the wilderness but it's like I'm In the garden with the snake and the Humans With a test of food and that food will Determine or somehow tell the truth About this son of God's allegiance to His father which is what the test of the Food of the tree of the knowledge good And bad exactly is too that's exactly Right yeah okay so this is Luke's way Of casting Jesus's sorry back my bad Sports metaphors but now it's Jesus Stepping up to the plate as it were as The Son of God yeah and as we're going To see like he overcomes the test and The tester three times over So what Jesus says is listen food Doesn't actually determine the life of Our world it's the word of God that is Our true life so he says humans don't Live on bread alone yeah which is a Quotation from Deuteronomy Referring to another moment in the Wilderness where God was providing food And so that's all hyperlinked to the Same idea for Israel his firstborn son Yeah yeah but if the quotation continues Don't live on bread alone but by every Word that's right and so the idea is Just like Adam and Eve at the tree of Wisdom of no you know the fruit that Will make them wise yes it's like Are they going to take the fruit or are
They going to rely on God's word which Was don't take the fruit but I guess Underneath that is the assumption that God will give me wisdom yeah and God Will give me life From the Tree of Life right sustenance I Don't need that sustenance I've got Sesame yes totally there's food that you Think will give you life that actually In the long run won't but God's word if You hear it and do it that will give you True life yeah and that's what's at Stake in the Garden of Eden and that's What's at stake right here with this son Of God Jesus cuts to the core of it yeah Yeah And that's just the first test here's The second test The slanderer led the Son of God up and You're like up where And showed him all the kingdoms of the World in a flash of time in a moment of Time it's kind of like a dream state oh Totally this is another I mean dude he's Like Starving in the wilderness yeah no And so I'm making light of that but this Is actually really key To Jesus's experience is he is Participating in a long tradition in Judaism of focused times of prayer Where you achieve a higher or rather Deeper level of Consciousness and like An altered state of consciousness in This case through fasting yeah
Yeah because your mind's going to be Doing weird stuff having not been yeah Had anything for 40 days or you have Really flipped that over the idea is That somehow through depriving ourselves Of constantly meeting our own needs we Achieve a clearer State of Mind as to The true reality and that it's when our Stomachs are full that's when we're in a Weird State of Mind You know what I mean yeah we're in a Numbed more like not aware of the Marvels around us and of the connections Of things and we're just kind of yeah Numb to it we're full and we're happy Fasting is about getting clarity about Reality it's interesting yeah oh yeah So he can see clearly and he's shown That the slanderer says listen I'll give You all of this territory and its honor Its Glory So we're talking here about Rule and Authority yeah which is what the theme Of the firstborn is all about yeah I'll Make you King I'll make you King yes yes And then the slanderer says because it Has been handed over to me and I can Hand it to whomever I desire so good It's such an interesting kind of Half-truth there right because in a way It has been handed over to him like Isn't that part of the story is that Like God like hands over us to our own Desires and so exactly there is a
Handing over but that doesn't put evil In charge right in the way that the Slander is saying here totally so it's Like a half truth yeah this actually There's a deep deep Insight here and you Have to get what was happening in the Hebrew Bible to understand what's being Said here because when God's desire is For humans to rule his Partners but the Snake keeps like hijacking each Generation yeah in Adam and Eve and then When the snake appears as this animal Called sin in the story of Cain and Abel And then this figure just goes Underground But keeps being at work in every Generation and every generation the god Hands an opportunity to rule They hand it over to the evil impulse to The snake through their poor decisions And so in that way The domain and the glory of ruling the World keeps getting handed over To the snake and the snake's just having A heyday So all those themes have really Developed throughout the whole Hebrew Bible and then in second temple Judaism And so in a story like this those Concepts are just being alluded to like You already know how it all works right So the slanderous says listen if you Give your allegiance to me worship me You'll get all the power in the world
And so here we are back to the question Remember he said if you are the Son of God and what you know from the Heavenly Voice is the Son of God is the psalm 2 Ruling King over the Nations But That rule will be achieved Through an act of utter self-surrender Like the Beloved son of Isaac and also Through the self-giving sacrifice of the Suffering servant the one in whom I am Well pleased And so there's going to be two paths to Power and authority The surrendering of one's life and Trusting the word of God is true life or You can take it for yourself yeah which Is what is on offer right here so this Story is so amazing this is like all Everything in the Hebrew Bible and its Analysis of the human condition is Coming together in the scene right here And we have the ultimate Son of God Who's gonna make the right choice here Yeah Foreign [Applause] [Applause] So there's one more test but this would Take too long it's the test where he Puts them on top of the Tabernacle and Says jump and you'll be sick that's Right yeah yeah so force your father's Hand to save you
Essentially yeah Show Your Glory now Exactly yeah in a spectacle that will Make it clear beyond a shadow of a doubt To everybody That you are the Son of God and Jesus Says um listen I'm not in the business Of putting my father to the test he will Vindicate me in the eyes of the nations In his own time I'm not gonna make him Do it on my time So when the devil finished his testing He left him until the right time And that right time is going to be uh in The garden the next time he's tested in The garden which is it's them It's the villain in the cartoon you got Me this time but I'll be back That's right now is there this is a Random side note why three is three Important as we don't talk a lot about Three oh the tests three tests oh Absolutely this is all about the third Day ah the third day the three days Three days in the belly of the whale Three days in the Tomb yeah Israel goes Three days into the Wilderness and they Don't have water and then they test God God tests them oh interesting yeah three Days or cycles of three are often Associated with this Motif in the kind Of the theme and Melody of the Hebrew Bible which is another person up to have The chance to rule and it's usually There's some pattern of three at work in
Their testing story cool Gideon's three Tests And judges he has three tests huh yes Yeah anyhow oh okay let's ringing a bell So this is wonderful this is all taking Longer than I thought it would and That's great But notice okay so verse 14 Jesus Returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit yeah news about him spread Through the district he began teaching In their synagogues and hopefully he got A meal first yeah totally Then he went back to Nazareth where he Was brought up and he goes into the Synagogue on the Sabbath and lo and Behold the scroll of Isaiah was being Read as the portion that day and so he Opens the scroll and opens it to Isaiah 61 and he reads the words of Isaiah 61 which is one of these servant Poems in Isaiah saying the spirit of the Lord is on me Because he has anointed me To preach good news to the poor to Proclaim release to the captives Recovery of sight to the blind to set Free those who were oppressed Proclaim the favorable year of the Lord So it's so rad it's like he actually is The ultimate firstborn He's passed the test And now what does he do with his power Right what does he do with this
Opportunity for him okay hold on though Yeah he's the ultimate firstborn he's Called God's son his beloved Son yeah Yeah he's the son of God And in the Hebrew Bible when God chooses Someone to empower them the narratives You generally almost always and with Failure yeah like a testing and a Failure yeah yeah yeah so here's Jesus He is the Son of God and not just the Way that a human is the image of God but He is the image of God which humans Image yes and actually let me clarify so In Luke putting the genealogy And saying he was the son of Joseph so It was supposed And that's the lineage that he takes all The way down to Adam right the Son of God but the baptism That's about God saying look you are my Beloved Son yeah in other words his Human sonship from Joseph is important Crucially important but that's not what The baptism is about the baptism his Human yeah his human like Joseph lineage Connects him to the servant as being From Jessie and then being from Adam and Then being from Adam yeah a new Adam Yeah and that's important like he's a Huge David he's a new human new David New Adam However he's more than just that and the Baptism is about how he actually is the Revelation of God's own self
And God is presented as being father son And spirit working in concert to do what No sons of Adam and Eve have ever been Able to do so here we have the chosen Sun and in all the narratives before We've gone through the chosen sun was Unexpected choice And here that's also in the subtext he's This unexpected you know Small town totally God yeah born to uh I Mean born to an adwed mother a teenager Yeah and she's definitely in lower Social status Than the other people in the story Around her like a priest you know Zechariah but that's the one God has Chosen but then in another sense like His identity is told to us right off the Bat which is like no this is this isn't Like God choosing the Lesser son yes Exactly an inverting power this is yeah The guy like this is the Son of God like Yeah So he is the true firstborn and we'll Get into that more because I know Paul Used that language but yeah so these two Ways that Jesus is the son of God one is Through his human lineage it goes Through Joseph Mary and links back to Adam and that's crucial for him coming As a human to do for humans what no Human seems to be able to do But the baptism is revealing this other Aspect of his identity
That in appearing among us as the son of Adam that one is at the same time The Eternal son of the Father which Mark Doesn't come out and say with that kind Of language but not Eternal and exactly And that's where you just have to read The story to see the claim being I read The story you've got to read the Apostles teachings yeah yeah you've got Said yeah but but also at work in the Book of Isaiah and we didn't have time To cover this because it's not a series On the book of Isaiah but Isaiah keeps Holding out this Future Hope of a coming King from the line of David alongside This future hope that Yahweh himself Would show up in person To do what no Israelite or human has Ever been able to do and this is you Know Isaiah 40 Yahweh is coming like a King to gather the Sheep into his arms To bring Justice all the nations will See his glory he's coming in person And The gospel narratives take the promise Of the king And the promise of Yahweh coming and are Putting Jesus in both of those slots As the Divine One and the human one Together And that's what they mean when they talk About Jesus as the Son of God revealed Like in the baptism story yeah okay and
So then here Passes the test cruises in is a Tabernacle time going on they're reading Yes or synagogue or whatever it is the Reading the scroll of Isaiah takes the Scroll he reads from this passage about The servants about the servant of Isaiah Yep he says this is me but the specific Passage he wants you to know like what And I love what you said what's he gonna Do with his status yes yeah what is he Gonna do with his power and it's to Release captives Heal to rescue the oppressed yeah in Other words in all the cycles of this Firstborn theme God elevates somebody who's not actually The firstborn But here's Jesus on the scene and he Really is like the ultimate Son of God Yeah and he passes the test and then What he does with his authority and Power Is to what do you say de-elevate himself Or no actually it's rather to raise up Others alongside him and who does he Raise up those at the bottom of their Social Circles So what God has been doing in the story Of raising up those of low status in the Younger and the second born and the late Comer now Jesus is going to do With his authority and power as the Firstborn he's gonna do what Yahweh has
Been doing throughout the whole Hebrew Bible that's really cool yeah because I Think I was trying to make the Observation maybe in our last Conversation about how there's Two extremes that come out of this theme And one is that the mode that God likes To use To empower people and it's this upside Down unexpected Underdog kind of thing And it's elevating the weak it's Elevating the oppressed And we're seeing that on cycle and That's part of the firstborn thing the Other thing the firstborn theme though Is that no matter who's given power Humans are just corrupt and we can't Figure it out and so we need a new human A new Adam a new David and so now these Two themes have come to a climax and Here's the new Adam the new David who is The son He is the image of the Eternal God and Made human So he's fulfilling that kind of hope but Then we pivot back over to the other Theme which is like what's God's mode How does he like to empower people yeah Totally yeah it's it's this upside down Yeah okay or how does he exercise his Divine Authority and he does it by Elevating those who are low to be high And so this is the launching pad the Story of Jesus at the synagogue reading
This is the launching pad and what Follows are just loads of healing Stories after this Healing The Sick and The poor Healing people from their slavery to Mental and spiritual slavery to the Powers and to Partners of the slanderer So it's truly like the this is what Happens when God comes to bring his Firstborn authority to bear in the world Is he elevates the sick and the poor and The hurting Yeah and this apparently is going to be How Jesus exercises and comes to a place Of final glory and authority over the Nations Which is what the slanderer was offering Him but just without having to go to the Bottom so we've just looked at two Really just the opening chapters of Mark And of Luke and the word firstborn has Never appeared But the phrase Son of God has And then all of the surrounding themes That echoed around the firstborn Motif In the Hebrew Bible are getting drawn Upon here if you have ears to hear them Yeah so the next step in the gospels and I think a good place to go next is one Additional moment of this revelation of Jesus's identity as the Eternal Son of God and uh it's at the Story of Jesus Transfiguration
And it's another one of these moments Like the baptism where who Jesus is and Has always been is revealed to the People around him but in a very Surprising way That has surprising implications and I Think that's the story we should look at Next awesome Thank you for listening to this episode Of Bible project podcast next week we Continue to explore the identity of Jesus as the Son of God focusing on the Miracles he performed according to Levitical law if you touch someone who Is sick you become unclean too but Jesus Does what only God can do he touches Thick and makes them clean and pure and Healthy contagious Holiness or Contagious life I mean what Holiness is Is Holiness describes God as the unique One who is the source of life and so It's as if Divine life is what becomes Contagious through Jesus Today's Show Came from our podcast team including Producer Cooper Peltz associate producer Lindsey Ponder our lead editor Dan Gummel additional editors Tyler Bailey And Frank Garza Tyler Bailey mixed the Episode in Hannah Wu did our annotations For the bio project app what is Bible Project you ask well Bible project is a Crowdfunded nonprofit We Exist to Experience the Bible as a unified story That leads to Jesus and everything that
We make including this podcast our Videos our classrooms all our study Notes discussion notes and everything on The website it's all free because it's Been paid for by thousands of people Just like you thank you so much for Being a part of this with us hi this is Tanila and I'm from Michael's Nigeria I First heard about the Bible project in 2016 for my sister hi this is John and I'm from Ohio I first heard about Bible Project from a family member I used the Bible project for my own personal Bible Study and also for fun because the Videos are really well thought out and Very well Illustrated I use file project For my daily Bible reading my favorite Thing about bio project is the videos They are very helpful in understanding Each chapter in each book of God's word My favorite thing about Bible project is How it debunks the idea that the Bible Is just a boring industrial text which Only theologians and pastors can Decipher a Bible project helps me Understand it and use it to encounter God we believe the Bible is a unified Story that leads to Jesus we're a Crowdfunding project by people like me Buying free videos study notes podcasts Classes and more at bibleproject.com [Music] Foreign [Music]