For many years I struggled with understanding who I was in the grand scheme of things.
I struggled with understanding all that the Bible said concerning the relationship between God and Man — not so much who God is, but more so who Man is in relationship to God.
I went back and forth over the terms “Son of God” and “Son of Man”, ad nauseum, to determine precisely to whom these terms referred.
I was raised to believe they referred to Jesus Christ as recorded in the New Testament. I have always embraced that notion, and I still do. But is that all? To whom else do those terms refer?
Obviously, we are all the sons & daughters of man, but are we all the sons & daughters of God?
The Son of God
In my journey for the past decade, I have become convinced that the Son of God was not God Himself, but rather an offspring of Him — a spiritual offspring.
I have discovered that the “angels” of God mentioned throughout the Bible are considered heavenly sons of God. I don’t know exactly how they came to be, but evidently they were here before man came to be. And then there are earthly sons of God as well.
These “sons of God” are two different species. Heavenly sons were made immortal while the earthly sons are mortal.
But I was hesitant to embrace the notion that all of mankind was to be considered the corporate Son of God. It had appeared to me that only portions of mankind may have been considered such. But who decides this? Who determines which portion of mankind is the Son of God?
I’m realizing, now, with more clarity that all of mankind was made to be the Son of God. And God chose man to grant him the authority, power & dominion to rule in His kingdom. But, it is the choice of each individual to accept that calling for himself.
We decide if we are going to walk in the ways of our Heavenly Father or to be cutoff from Him. And we decide if we are going to be restored to right relationship with Him should we become cutoff from Him. Therefore, we decide if we are going to be seated in the position of His Anointed Son.
God made His choice. What will we choose? Personally, I have humbly accepted the calling to be the Son of God.
Man: the Anointed Son of God
It is my current understanding that Man (Adam), with the seed to produce all of mankind within him, is the Son of God.
Moreover, he is the Anointed of God from the very beginning, having been made a little lower than the angels, yet given all authority, power & dominion to rule in righteousness in the land.
However, due to Adam & Eve’s sin, all of Man was spiritually cut off from his Heavenly Father. This is the “death” that was foretold would come from that sin — it was a spiritual death.
But God, in His infinite wisdom, made provision to first cover man in his nakedness when He made garments of skin for him, to replace that which man had made for himself to cover his own shame.
But then also, with the adversarial relationship between the Serpent and the Woman exposed, crucial elements of God’s plan was revealed.
- The Enemy of Man was cursed to eat the dust of the ground all the days of his life, and the Enemy was going to bruise/crush the heel of Man.
- However, the Seed of the Woman, also known as the Son of Man, would bruise/crush the Enemy’s head.
- The ground was cursed due to the Man’s sin, and Man would have to labor to eat of it all the days of his natural born life.
So, there would remain a struggle between the Enemy and mankind, but the Son of Man would have the upper hand. And, it was now, man’s lot to have to toil to eat of the land all the days of his physical life.
In the next chapter of Genesis, the story of Cain & Abel followed by the introduction to Seth, all of whom were the Son of Man, revealed God’s plan of redemption.
God’s Plan of Redemption
Cain & Abel both made offerings to God. Abel’s offering pleased God and was found acceptable in His sight. Cain’s offering was not.
Cain was forewarned that if he did well, he would be accepted, but if he did not do well, sin was crouching at his door longing for him, and Cain had to rule over it.
This demonstrated that the Son of Man has the ability to please God despite the sin of Adam/Man. It also demonstrated that the Son of Man could rule over sin.
But Cain did not do well, and ultimately, he slew his brother. Cain’s punishment was to be banished from the presence of God, but God had mercy on him, preserving his physical life. And in doing so, Cain was blessed to have begotten sons, extending his physical life further still.
This demonstrated that sin separates the Son of Man from God, but God is merciful.
Then, near the end of the chapter, we read another son is begotten of Man/Adam, to replace the son whom Cain slew: Seth. And this son begat a son of his own, and we’re told he then began to call upon the name of YHVH. The Septuagint says, he hoped (“elpizo”) to call on the name of the Lord God.
It seems to me that this demonstrated some kind of substitutionary atonement with a hope of reconciliation between God and Man.
And all of this took place not through Adam himself, but rather through the Son of Man/Adam.
The position of the whole of Man as the Anointed of God, seated at the Right Hand of God in glory & power to rule upon the land was always present. It was never taken away. However, over the course of many generations, I believe this truth was hidden from us.
In the first century of the common era, I believe Yeshua may have shed light on this subject when he continually referred to himself as the Son of Man after it was revealed that he was the Son of God. In doing so, I believe Yeshua indicated all that applied to himself individually also applied to the entire Son of Man at large.
It seems to me that God was revealing to His people in the first century at the dawn of the messianic age in which we are still living, that we, the sons & daughters of man, who are called by His name, are the anointed of God.
Should we accept that calling and prove ourselves worthy to be called such, all nations will be blessed through us.
But first, we must come out of the world made by human hands, so we can live freely on the land in the world made by God.
