Names and Titles of Jesus Christ (Part 2)

By Renald Showers
The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry

As a result of His incarnation, Christ became a human being with a complete human nature. The combination of the definite article “the” plus the singular form of “son” is very significant.

The Son of Man: This title emphasized the humanity of Jesus Christ (Lk. 9:58). As a result of His incarnation, Christ became a human being with a complete human nature. The combination of the definite article “the” plus the singular form of “son” is very significant. It reveals that Christ is the unique offspring of humanity. All other human offspring are sinful by nature, but Christ is sinless in His humanity (Jn. 8:46; Heb. 4:15). In addition, He is the only human being who can accomplish the victory of humanity over its enemies (Heb. 2:14–17).

As the Son of man, He died as our substitute and rose bodily from the dead to save sinful people (Lk. 9:22; 19:10). At His Second Coming He will return as the Son of man to rule the earth (Mt. 24:29–30; 25:31–34).

The Last Adam: Jesus Christ is “the last Adam,” the counterpart of the first Adam (1 Cor. 15:45). Through his original rebellion against God, the first Adam caused the theocratic kingdom of God to be lost from the earth, the world system to come under the rule of Satan, and nature to be subjected to a curse (Lk. 4:5–6; Rom. 8:20–23). At His Second Coming Christ will return to the earth as “the last Adam” to end Satan’s rule, restore God’s theocratic kingdom rule to the earth, and remove the curse from nature (Rev. 19:11–20:6; Mt. 28:19).

The Word: The Apostle John called Jesus Christ “the Word” (Jn. 1:1, 14). This title refers to an important function that Christ had in the world during His first advent. A person’s thoughts are invisible to other people unless those thoughts are given outward expression. The instrument used for this expression is words, either in spoken or written form. Thus, words are the outward expression of invisible thoughts to people.

By analogy, the Bible teaches that God the Father is invisible to mortal human beings (Jn. 1:18; 1 Tim. 1:17). It also indicates that while Jesus Christ was on the earth, He was the outward expression of God to people (Jn. 1:18; Col. 1:15; Heb. 1:3). When Jesus was asked to show the Father to His disciples, He said, “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father” (Jn. 14:8–9). Just as words are the outward expression of invisible thoughts to people, so Jesus Christ was the outward expression of the invisible Father to them. He was the personal revealer of God to mankind.

The Light of the World: Christ was called “the Light” (Jn. 1:7–9), and He called Himself “the light of the world” (Jn. 8:12). Light’s function is to expose what is hidden; therefore, this title signified several things about Christ. First, He was the revealer of God and His truth to mankind (Jn. 8:26). Second, He looks inside people to expose their innermost being (Jn. 1:9). He did this to Nathanael (Jn. 1:47–48) and the scribes and Pharisees (Lk. 6:6–8). Third, He exposes the outward deeds of people (Jn. 3:19–21). He did this to the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well (Jn. 4:16–19).

The Lamb of God: John the Baptist said of Jesus, “Behold the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the world” (Jn. 1:29). The combination of the definite article “the” with the singular form of “Lamb” is very significant. It implies that Christ was unique in His function as a sacrificial lamb in at least three ways. First, the Jews were required to provide their own lambs as sacrifices for their sins. By contrast, Christ was the Lamb that God, not human beings, provided. Second, the Jews were required to offer many lambs as repeated sacrifices for their sins. God offered only one Lamb, His Son, as a one-time sacrifice for mankind’s sin (Heb. 9:28; 10:11–12). Third, the many lambs that the Jews offered could not take away sins (Heb. 10:11). The one-time sacrifice of Christ took away the sin of the world (Heb. 10:10).

The King of Israel: Nathanael said to Jesus, “thou art the King of Israel” (Jn. 1:49). The Old Testament foretold that in the future the Messiah, a physical descendant of King David, would rule the nation of Israel as the heir of David’s ruling authority (2 Sam. 7:16; Isa. 9:6–7; Jer. 23:5–6), as well the entire world (Zech. 14:9). Centuries later the angel Gabriel told the virgin Mary the following concerning Jesus, the unique Son to whom she would give birth:

“the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father, David. And he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end” (Lk. 1:32–33).

Gabriel thereby revealed that Jesus Christ is that promised King of Israel, the Messiah, who will fulfill the Old Testament prophecies by ruling with His ancestor David’s authority over the nation of Israel throughout the Millennium and eternity in the future.

King of Kings and Lord of Lords: Jesus Christ will have this title on His garment and thigh when He comes out of heaven in His Second Coming to end Satan’s rule over the world system and to restore God’s theocratic kingdom rule on the earth (Rev. 19:16). During the future reign of Christ there will be distinct nations with their individual kings and other ruling authorities, but Jesus Christ will be the ultimate King over all these other kings and the ultimate ruling authority over all other ruling authorities (Ps. 72:10–11, 17; Zech. 14:16–19).

This list of names and titles is not exhaustive. Other designations are given in the Bible; however, the ones that have been examined give significant insight into the person and work of Jesus Christ. They indicate that He was and is a unique person who came in the past and will come again in the future to do a unique work.

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