This is My Son

I read my Bible in various ways.
Sometimes while looking for something in particular, I skim through chapter after chapter until I find the targeted reference or event.
Other times I read very slowly and often pause for quite a long time while the truth of what I've read sinks in, soaks through my mind and meshes with other truths already stored there.

Here's an example of a long pause today.
Matthew 3 : 17 records:

And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased."

This declaration came after Jesus became a man and was baptised by John in the Jordan river.
God was saying that this Jesus, in His humanity, was His beloved Son.
The human Jesus fully identified with Adam and his descendants so He could take away our sins.

For this reason he had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people.
[Hebrews 2 : 17   NIV]

Matthew 17 : 5 records:

... and a voice from the cloud said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased."

This identical declaration came after Jesus was transfigured before Peter, James and John on the mountain.
God was saying that this Jesus, in His divinity, was His beloved Son.
The divine Jesus fully identified with the realm and glory of heaven.

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

Jesus was indeed the "Son of Man" and the "Son of God".

This immediately meshed with a statement from Paul in the introduction of his letter to the Roman church.

... the gospel of God ... regarding his Son, who as to his earthly life was a descendant of David, and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.
[Romans 1 : 1 - 2  NIV]

This conjunction of "Son of Man" with "Son of God" in one person really pushes the minds of us mere creatures to the limit, doesn't it?

That's why we have a spirit, indwelt by the Holy Spirit, to extend us beyond our soulish boundaries.

What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us.
[1 Corinthians 2 : 12  NIV]

As a follower of Jesus, I also have an identity in the world and in heaven.
I need to live fully engaged with the world, fulfilling the calling God has given me, while fully engaged with the Spirit, living as a child of God.

Blessings, Barry