We turn now in the Word of God to Luke chapter 17. We're going to consider this morning the truth of the Incarnation, the phrase that Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary under the idea of Jesus as the Son of Man. And that's a common, important concept or name of Jesus in the scriptures. And if you study that name and look where it occurs and the occasion that you find it in Scripture, you will discover that one occasion is when the Scriptures teach us about Jesus of being exalted and especially his return to judge the quick and the dead. And so we have here in Luke 17, Jesus' teaching concerning the end time. And he uses that phrase, the Son of Man, frequently, and you will find a similar same thing with regard to Matthew 24, a parallel passage. But we're going to begin reading with verse 20. Luke 17, verse 20, we'll read to the end of the chapter. And notice here, because we're going to notice it in the sermon, how this whole occasion begins with questions about the Kingdom of God and the Son of God. And it's turned into an issue of the Son of Man. And when He was demanded of the Pharisees when the Kingdom of God should come, He answered them and said, the kingdom of God cometh not with observation. Neither shall they say, lo here, or lo there, for behold, the kingdom of God is within you. And he said unto the disciples, the days will come. when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and ye shall not see it. And they shall say to you, see here, or see there. Go not after them, nor follow them. For as the lightning that lightneth out of the one part under heaven shineth unto the other part under heaven, so shall also the Son of Man be in his day. But first must he suffer many things and be rejected of this generation. And as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of Man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise, also as it was in the days of Lot, they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, They planted, they built it. But the same day that lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed. In that day, he which shall be upon the housetop and his stuff in the house, let him not come down to take it away. And he that is in the field, let him likewise not return back. Remember Lot's wife. Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it. and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it. I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed, the one shall be taken and the other shall be left. Two women shall be grinding together, the one shall be taken and the other left. Two men shall be in the field, the one shall be taken and the other left.' And they answered and said unto him, And he said unto them, wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together. We read that far in the word of God, and now we consider Lord's day 14. What is the meaning of these words? He was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary. That God's eternal Son, who is and continueth true and eternal God, took upon him the very nature of man, of the flesh and blood of the Virgin Mary, by the operation of the Holy Ghost. that he might also be the true seed of David, like unto his brethren in all things sin accepted. What profit dost thou receive by Christ's holy conception and nativity, that he is our mediator, and with his innocence and perfect holiness covers in the sight of God my sins, wherein I was conceived and brought forth. Beloved in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Heidelberg Catechism at this point in its explanation of the person and work of Jesus Christ changes from treating the names of Jesus, the names of the Mediator, to treating what we call the states, the states of the mediator. And you may remember from your essentials instruction, there are two states, the state of exaltation and the state of humiliation. This has a long tradition in the Reformed faith, of treating the person and work of Christ in this way and largely because of the Apostles' Creed. Exactly because of the Apostles' Creed and its order, the instruction that we receive in such matters often follows that course. The two states of the mediator, the state of exaltation and humiliation, comes from, but not exclusively from, but is most clearly taught in Philippians 2. where in verses 6-8 we have reference to the state of humiliation, where we read that Christ being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men, and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself. and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. And then in the next verses, 9 and 10, we have a transition to the state of exaltation. Wherefore, God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth. And you may recall from your catechism instruction also that the explanation for these two states and the radical change of the state and condition of Jesus between them is explained by sin and the righteousness of God. That's why we study them. In other words, the explanation for the state of humiliation is that Jesus, who is in his person, perfect, without sin, had sin. What explains the state of humiliation is that Jesus had taken upon himself our sins, the responsibility for them, and that humiliation was the result of God's righteousness. God, who is righteous, justly visited upon him what he deserved for those sins. Then the explanation for the state of exaltation is that Jesus paid for those sins, that by his perfect obedience and holiness, he, suffering and dying, paid for those sins, atoned for them completely, exhausted the wrath of God for those sins so that, again, the righteous God justly visits upon Christ the exaltation and the glory that He deserves for His perfect obedience unto death. This transition from studying the names of Jesus to the study of those two states, which is what we're going to be doing for the next few Lord's Days, gives us opportunity to consider one other name of Christ, which is really missing from the Apostles' Creed. It often receives scant Notice also even in our instruction with regard to Jesus, but it ought not be. And that is the name, the Son of Man. And it's fitting we do this because it is that name that basically describes the same truth of this Lord's Day. This Lord's Day that is going to go on, transist from the states, and then explain those states. The name Son of Man helps us understand Not only the state of humiliation, which we're going to begin with by dealing with the Incarnation, but also the exaltation. It helps us look ahead a bit and see that the same One who is humbled must be and is exalted. So consider with me Jesus, the Son of Man, this morning, and we'll notice, first of all, that He is the born son of man, secondly, the representative son of man, and finally, the sovereign son of man. First, the born son of man. That name, son of man, is more common in the Holy Scriptures for Jesus than you may realize. You are aware from our past study, and I'm sure your own reading of scriptures, of the name Son of God. And we have considered really how significant that is, not only with relation to Jesus, but our own sonship. But this name, Son of Man, is, we may say, equally important. It may not really take second place to the name Son of God. To know Jesus as the mediator is to know Jesus both as the Son of God and the Son of Man. And Jesus strikingly makes that clear Himself in such passages as we read. That name can be traced all the way back to the Old Testament, where it was understood by the people of God that the Savior that God would send would be also the Son of Man. We have, for example, in Psalm 8, this meditation of the psalmist What is man that thou visitest him, and the son of man that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and, and the idea is but, hast crowned him With glory and honor, thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands. Thou has put all things under his feet. Or you can go to Psalm 80, verse 17, for example. Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand. upon the Son of Man, whom thou madest strong for thyself. Then there are references, for example, Psalm 146, verse 3, where it's used a little bit differently. Put not your trust in princes, nor in the Son of Man, in whom there is no help. If you peruse The Bible, you will discover that that word is used most frequently with respect to one particular prophet, Ezekiel. Ezekiel is called the Son of Man, and that word is used, I believe, over 90 times in that prophecy alone. It's used in the prophecy of Daniel very significantly, verse 7, verses 13 and 14, which verses are important because they're picked up later by Jesus Himself and applied to his instruction on the last days with regard to Matthew 24. So if you look up Matthew 24 verse 30 and verse 31 and 26 of chapter 25 where Jesus is giving instruction on the last days, he picks up what's taught in Daniel and he adds to it. You will discover that of all the names that Jesus refers to himself by, which include those that we have looked at, he uses the name Son of Man more frequently than them all. Importantly, this name will be also a name for which Jesus is crucified, and that deliberately by his own doing. We considered earlier that Jesus was convicted, unjustly convicted, for claiming he was the Son of God. He was declared a blasphemer and therefore worthy of death. But often overlooked is that Jesus was also convicted for taking upon him the name the Son of Man. And that because the Pharisees and the leaders of the Jews knew that the Messiah must also be the Son of Man. And so we have in Matthew 26, not long after Jesus gives instruction on the end times in Matthew 24, that at His trial, this happened. The high priest arose and said unto him, Answerest thou nothing? What is it which these witness against thee? But Jesus held his peace. And the high priest answered and said unto him, I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God. Listen to Jesus' answer. Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast said, In other words, that's what you say and that's the truth, but you don't stop there. Nevertheless, I say unto you, hereafter shall ye see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power and coming in the clouds of heaven. Then we read, the high priest rent his clothes and accused him of blasphemy. Interesting. There's a lot here. But we can understand the importance of that term if we can connect it to the term Son of God. For some reason, we have no real problem understanding that one. That Jesus is the Son of God means He is begotten out of God and of God. That He is the Son of God means that He is in the image of God. We know that as Son, He is the perfect image of the Father, and yet not the Father. He represents the Father. He stands for the Father. That He is the Son of God means He is really and truly God, God out of God, light out of light. He has, therefore, the power and the wisdom and the understanding of God. All of those things are built into that term. And He is a revelation of God. If you want to know what God is like, if you want to know who God is and about God's perfection, you go right to the Son of God. Jesus more than once pointed out that no man can know God, see God, understand God, can approach God, worship God, except by Him, the Son of God. Similar idea then with the son of man. That name emphasizes that the one who has this name, and let's understand here, has that name uniquely, is one who is fully man, because he's born of man. He's born out of mankind. We saw earlier in the passages that we read that that term, son of man, is also a term that represents the whole race. That often in Scripture, that term simply is a term to represent humanity, mankind. Don't put your trust in princes or the son of man. Don't put your trust in men. or the representatives that man pushed forward to represent them, the nebuchadnezzars of the world. Don't trust in them. Nevertheless, there is a representative of the human race in which we should trust. That's Jesus. As the Son of Man, He not only is fully and truly man, that name indicates, but He is the representative of man. He stands for man. It is remarkable that In Jesus' instruction about the end times and the signs of the times in many places in Scripture, Scripture reminds us that Satan is going to establish a representative man, the Antichrist, one who represents the whole human race and rules over the whole human race as Satan's incarnation. He is a false Christ, the false Savior, But nevertheless, you ask, how can that be and why could that happen? And the answer is because it's sort of, as it were, baked into the human race. The human race wants a representative. It wants a king. It wants someone to take them somewhere, to deliver them from their misery, to deliver them from their troubles, to deliver them from whatever. And so Satan will present one. Here he is, your king. Give him all your allegiance. Submit to him and his rule, and he will save you. But that's a false son of man. There is one. It's Jesus the Christ. And that term son of man, you see, is sort of related, as it were, to the title Christ. The idea is that this is the one whom God appointed who God appointed out of the human race to represent that race, to save man, to deliver man from his trouble and his oppression, and to bring man to his highest heights, to fulfill God's plan and purpose for mankind, and that's Jesus. That's why Jesus delighted in that name. He knew who he was. And that helps you understand then why man crucified him. The people were interested in Jesus who would give them bread. They had a great interest in Jesus as the son of man who could take a few loaves and some fishes and turn it into food for thousands and thousands. Ah, they had an interest in that son of man, that king. They have an interest in the Son of Man who will produce gold and silver. They have an interest in the Son of Man who will be tolerant of their sin and iniquity. They have interest in the Son of Man who's well-built and beautiful, handsome, who towers over everyone else and exudes power and wisdom. But when man looks at the Christ, he says, not interested. When Christ came into the world the way he came, which is humble, that's the connection to humility. When Jesus came as the Son of Man in his humble state, And let's remind ourselves what the Scriptures tell us about Jesus, which is, there was absolutely nothing of earthly desire in Him. I think that if Jesus were in front of us today, standing on this pulpit, we would all be repulsed if we simply looked at Him with earthly eyes. Jesus is repulsive to the natural man. The natural man looks at Jesus and says, that is one ugly guy. He's ugly. He's weak. Look at him. He's skin and bones. Look at him. That's our king. That's our leader. If you think that's strange, The Apostle Paul knew something of that. The Apostle Paul repeatedly talks about himself as the great apostle who brings the gospel to the Gentiles and reminds the people over and over that those who believed his gospel believed it by grace because there was absolutely nothing in him. Even his speech, when he spoke, It was the kind of speech, diction, and use of the language that you'd go, hmm, that guy can't speak. He had a handicap, perhaps blind. Who else knows what else, but whatever it is. And Jesus was conscious that he who was beat on, hated, despised, no doubt mocked through most of his childhood, all kinds of things, exactly because he was the Son of Man, showed that the Son of Man that man doesn't naturally want. Now, there's a tie-in here, which is that that term Son of Man also sets forth what he will be in the state of exaltation. That term Son of Man means that being the representative of the human race, God has appointed that he is the one who takes the race through himself to its absolute pinnacle of glory and honor that God has in store. Even shows that that was never Adam. Never was. Adam was the son of God and the first man, but never really the son of man. Oh, He indeed represented us, make no mistake, so that when He fell, we fell. His misery is our misery. His depravity now is our depravity. But the most that Adam could have done, that if he were absolutely perfect, is he could have lived for a really, really long time. But he was not immortal. He was not immortal. He was subject to death, subject to sin and temptation. Even if he hadn't sinned, he was still subject to it. He was subject to error and sin. He could have produced a human race of untold numbers just like himself, but could never bring the human race, man, to where God had designed man to go, which is to immortality. that is a life above death. To possess body and soul, a spiritual life, not just an earthly fleshly life that lived on fruit and meat, not just a life where the riches and the pleasures and the ease of life all is related to what God had created on earth but heavenly riches, to have a power and a wisdom and a knowledge and a joy and a pleasure that comes from above, from the heavenly realm. You see? So Adam, as great as he was and as perfect as he was, could have never brought the human race to where Christ brings it as the Son of Man. And that's why Jesus reminds his disciples again and again, and he did this publicly in his teaching, the Son of Man is coming. Not just the Son of God, but the Son of Man is coming. And there's going to be a day, and it's going to be in the very days when man is staring at their idol. when they're looking at their political leader and their religious leader. In the days when they can do whatever they want, but they must serve this man and follow this man. In the days when they're persecuting the church out of existence, when all the scoffers have said he is never coming. then the Son of Man is going to appear like a lightning, flashing across the sky, and stepping through the portal of heaven will be a man. It will be clear He's not God, not only God, because you can see Him. And it's going to be the Son of Man in all His glory. The glory of heavenly life where He has been seated at God's right hand for the last thousands of years and show who is Lord and King. That's the end of His exaltation. That's why when we study the states, we go with Jesus into hell, as low as He can go. But then he's raised to the highest possible height, which ends not in heaven. It doesn't end with him being seated at the right hand of God in heaven, but it ends with his return upon the clouds of heaven. His return as a man, the son of man. And these are things that we only believe now. We cannot see that glory of Christ now, except by faith. We cannot see now that this Son of Man is King and Lord over all. Now, all of this begins, as it were, with the Incarnation. And by begins, I mean it's revealed in time in the reality of Jesus taking our flesh. Certainly it was the mind of God. Certainly it was the plan of God. Certainly all the references in the Old Testament to the Son of Man, attaching them to the Messiah and to the Christ, all reveal that. The fact that that term applies to specific types of Jesus, all of it reveals this is God's plan. And now, at a specific point in time, when the fullness of time has come, exactly according to God's plan, God brings forth this Son of Man out of the human race. Now, this occurs by the miraculous conception of the Virgin Mary. This occurs without the aid or the help or the power and the will of a human man that is humanity, mankind. This is above and beyond what man can do. Even the Virgin Mary, this occurs by the power of the highest overshadowing her. And this is what happened. The miracle is that this Son of Man is the Son of God. that the Son of God, the second person of the Trinity, that person took a human nature, which human nature came from Mary, and united himself to that nature, so that that very same person, the Son of God, is both the Son of God and God, and also the Son of Man, a real man, truly man. And the miracle is that he is both without being one alone. There's all kinds of mystery here. This is the miracle of all miracles. We must see that. There's a reason to celebrate, especially the conception and birth of Jesus, and it's because it's far greater than all the other miracles. It's far greater than creation. It's far greater than anything. In fact, everything rests upon that miracle. That means we ought to expect a great mystery. If you can explain how God created the world in six days, you can't. And if you can't explain how God parted the Red Sea, and how a whale swallowed Jonah and then spit him up after three days, you can't explain those things. You're not going to be able to explain or understand fully the Incarnation, because it's greater than those. But the point is, is that God and man is united in the person of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, in such a way that His Godness and divinity stays distinct. Not separated from, but distinct from His humanity. And the humanity stays humanity. Whatever man is, that he's with the limitations of man. With the fact that man is located in time and space, God is not. And this is the amazing thing, that Jesus, in His person, can claim all the properties and all the events, all the activities, all the work and power of both, at the same time, without it being a contradiction. He is both the Son of God and the Son of Man. He is the Son of God who is without beginning or end. He is the Son of Man who has a beginning and was begotten on a certain day from His mother Mary. He's God who cannot die, immortal. He's the Son of Man who can die and did. And the miracle is He stays that way. The idea is not that when he ascended up into heaven, all of a sudden now, we see just the Son of God. And he loses his humanity. It disappears. It's gone. I found that error in our own churches. We may not have it. He is and continues true man. Also, true God. Both. But the difference is where he brings man. What happens to that humanity? What happens to that human nature? And you see, you'll notice it here, that this is all connected, especially with his mediatorship. Notice the issue of the mediator comes up here again. What's the prophet? That he is our mediator. And so we must see, when we see Jesus again, the marvel that He is. He's just not God and man, but He's the Son of God and the Son of Man. And He must be both to be our mediator, to represent both, to do what is required with regard to both. And this is what He shall always be. This is what He always is. This is the miracle of it all. Now, what's emphasized, you will notice here, which doesn't talk about the Son of Man strictly, but when it talks, the Heidelberg Catechism does about the incarnation, His conception. Notice the emphasis. I'm gonna read it for you in a minute. That God's eternal Son, who is and continue with true and eternal God, that doesn't cease, took upon him the very nature of man, of the flesh and blood of the Virgin Mary, by the operation of the Holy Ghost." Now notice, "...that he might also be the true seed of David, like unto his brethren in all things sin accepted." And then when you get to the prophet of it, notice again it relates it to his humanity. This has to be something emphasized. We learned all the way back in the Lord's days five and six, why must he be God and man? Remember that? There the subject of the mediator came up first. And we learned some rather technical ideas about substitution and satisfaction, that he must be man because only man can pay. He must be a perfect man because a sinless man can't pay for the sins of others and other such things. But what's not really answered there is how does he do that? How does he become man? How does he represent us? And the answer is with his conception and nativity. And that's why the focus is upon that human nature. You know, Jesus didn't just take a human nature or a human nature generally. He didn't just create one, didn't just take any human nature. If you want to have the miracle emphasized, remember how the Bible, when it locates that nature in Mary, points out something remarkable. Think of everything that God has to do and God will do and God that does to make sure that the Son of Man is born from that particular woman at that particular moment in time. I don't know how many relatives she had. I don't know how many stood between her and Adam. But there's a line that can be traced from Adam to Mary And not only that, but because of God's Word, God's promises, and behind that is God's plan, this line has to follow through Seth and through Methuselah and Noah, and then it has to go through Shem. and from there to Abraham, and through David, and so on and so forth, all the way until he gets to Mary. And it's that particular human nature, today we would say in terms of DNA, that can be traced all the way back, and that particular one, out of the whole human race, a particular human nature, became Christ's. Again, we can talk about the miracle of the Incarnation from all sorts of perspectives. We tend to focus on how in the world can God and man be one person, in one person. And yet, man stays man, God stays man. How did this all happen? But just look at the selection of a particular human nature that became Christ's. And then, remember, Christ did all this work voluntarily. The Bible delights in telling the story that it was Mary's nature, because Mary was nobody. She was nobody. Talk about an impoverished person. Who would want her offspring? Who would want to be her offspring? Who would want to be born of that woman? She's the daughter of David. Wasn't David supposed to be the king forever and now this is where that line has gone to? Go back some time and really trace the lineage and see what that line holds. Rahab the harlot. Jesus says, I want to be a descendant of Rahab the harlot. Think about that one for a while. Of David. David was a great guy, but there's some pretty embarrassing things he did. Judah, go look up the history of Judah and Tamar sometime. Yeah. And Jesus says, I want to take that human nature, Now, why am I emphasizing all that? Well, again, He represents us. and it's that representation that comes out here. This is the only way, and the first of all, he can cover our sins. Notice the emphasis upon that, that his innocence and perfect holiness covers in the sight of God my sins. If you want to know how in the world that's possible, it's because he takes on that human nature. But as one who is holy and perfect, that's the only way he can cover our sins. And notice, too, wherein I was conceived and brought forth. Again, the marvel of our salvation comes forth here. It's conceivable that Jesus could just simply be a special creation of God, that God created Him, that He didn't take His human nature out of the nature of the likes of Rahab and Solomon and David. He doesn't have to be associated, as it were, with the likes of all kinds of scurrilous individuals. And sinners, remember, even the great Abraham and others. Great, great, great sinners that God just say, here's my son, creates him. It's conceivable God could do that. That's not what God does. And not only that, but God does this by way of conception and birth, which is very fitting because that's how we become the sinners that we are, by conception and birth. And now the Bible presents him and said, here is the real representative of man. And the vast majority of the human race is going to say, no thank you, not interested. This man has nothing to offer that we want. Is that the kind of man that we want representing us? And reject him, hate him, despise him. Now that too is in the plan of God. The fact is that Jesus never did represent the entire human race head for head, not like Adam. He represents only the human race that God gave to him. God, in his eternal love, chose some out of the human race to redeem and save in him and to give to him. To give to him as his own body and those he represents. And part of his work, of course, is that he actually does save them. And that shows the second part of this whole Son of Man thing. You see, Another danger we have to avoid is that Jesus is our Lord and our King and our Christ simply because he's God. Now, I say simply, but I don't mean that, well, it's not a great thing that God is our King and our Lord and our Sovereign, but that's often how we look at Christ. And time and time the scriptures remind us that's not the way we must do it. We must realize that Christ is our Sovereign and our Lord. in a whole different sense. Oh yes, he's God, he's Lord. He's Lord and God in heaven right now. But he's Lord in a different way, because he represents you, because he bought you. And notice how that connects back to what we've already learned. Notice when it emphasized the fact that he's a Christ. The emphasis is upon God's choosing him in eternity, but as Christ who is a real prophet, priest, and king. That is a real man. When we get to Lord, why is He Lord? The answer is not because He made you. Because He's God and you're a man. It's not Lord simply because God has a divine law that says do this and don't do that. But He's Lord because He bought you. That's what we learned in the last Lord's Day. He is your Lord because you are His property. that as a man and now we see how why he's the son of man so he is your sovereign as a man he is the man among men who was king of kings and lord of lords he is the man who rules all over men that's the way we have to look at him And understand now what that means. He's not your Lord and your Sovereign because you gave yourself to Him. Because you decided to submit to Him. But He is your King and Lord because that's what He's always been. That's what you have to see. In other words, He extols the grace of God, the mercy of God, the wisdom of God in all this. Because if left to us, we would say, not interested, no thank you. We would go along with the rest of the world and say, give us Caesar. We don't want this man. Like the whole nation of Israel, the 10 tribes said, we don't want anything to do with David anymore. We don't want anything to do with him. No. It's exactly because he's the son of man. that He comes, this miracle occurs by which He becomes one of us, and He can go to the cross and represent you and represent me, and then ascend into heaven, receive the Spirit of God as a man, as His own Spirit, and then pour that Spirit out so that in that same chapter in Philippians 2 that we read, we have His mind, His heart, His will. They become ours. And so our flesh and lust doesn't rule and say, we don't want that guy. But we say, oh, that's the only one who could possibly represent us. That's the one who we want as our King and Lord. That's the one we trust in and believe in. Now that's the significance of Jesus being the Son of Man, and that one, born of the Virgin Mary. Amen. Let us pray. Our Father which art in heaven, O Lord, we pray that we may receive Thy Word, understand that Word, and see how it extols Thy grace, the power of Thy grace, the utter mercy of saving and redeeming us, and we pray, O Lord, that we may submit to thee and thy will and thy way in all of our life and living. Forgive, O Lord, the folly of our sin, the loss of our heart and flesh, which would put its trust in men, and not our Lord Jesus Christ. And in his name we pray, amen.