Names of Jesus Series: His Identity

I have always been intrigued by the many names of Jesus. Each name gives us a picture of who He is. His names declare not only his identity, but also his character and his purpose.

Many names of Jesus declared his identity. We know that Jesus is God’s Son; however, there is so much wrapped up in that title alone. Let’s explore some of the names of Jesus and see what we can learn about him through them.

Son of God

Jesus is referred to as “Son of God” twenty-six times in the Gospels. The angel Gabriel declared his identity to Mary, God revealed his identity to Peter, and even demons recognized and declared his identity.

The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.”
Luke 1:35

During their travels, Jesus was having a conversion with his disciples and asked who they thought he was. Peter answers, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” (Matthew 16:16) Jesus then informs Peter that the only way he could know this was through a direct revelation from God and he warned his disciples not to tell anyone he was the Christ.

In Matthew 8:28-29, two demon-possessed men come out to meet Jesus as he traveled to the other side of the region of Gadarenes. They asked Jesus “What do you want with us, Son of God?” Jesus ordered the demons to go out of these men and they did. Even the demons recognized who Jesus was and the authority he possessed.

As the Son of God, Jesus declared his divine authority.

Son of Man

The prophet Daniel was the first to refer to the Messiah as the Son of Man; however, this was Jesus’ most common title for himself. In fact, Jesus is the only one to use the title “Son of Man”. He used it 81 times in the Gospels.

“In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.”
Daniel 7:13-14

Jesus would refer to himself as the Son of Man when speaking of the end of the age in Matthew 24. He also called himself the Son of Man after his arrest when the high priest asked if he was “the Christ, the Son of God.”

“Yes, it is as you say,” Jesus replied. “But I say to all of you: In the future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.”
Matthew 26:64

As the Son of Man, Jesus was declaring his identity as told of the prophets of old and the prophecies yet to be fulfilled.

The Word

John himself referred to Jesus as the Word.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
John 1:1

John was using a term here that had meaning to both Jews and Gentiles. Jews used this term to refer to God; however, Greeks used it to reference both the spoken and unspoken word – reason. It was meant as a way to express the rationality that governed all things.

John goes on to point out that through the Word all things were created and through him was life.

As the Word, John declared the identity of Jesus as God our creator.

The names of Jesus are plentiful and they are meaningful.

Over the next few weeks, we are going to explore some of the other names of Jesus. We will look at the names which declare his character and the names which declare his purpose. There are many and we won’t be able to cover them all, but, hopefully, we will begin to get an even better glimpse into this One named Jesus.

I hope you will join me as we learn more about Jesus during this Advent season.

If you are looking for other Advent or Christmas resources be sure to check out the links below.

You can download a free Advent Hymn study for you and your family here.

Learn a little bit of how to put family time back into the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season here.

Click on the links below to find the other posts in this series:

Names of Jesus: His Character

Names of Jesus: His Purpose