Names of Jesus: Son of the Most High

Names of Jesus: Son of the Most High

The book of Luke opens up in a beautiful way, telling of Gabriel predicting the births of John the Baptist and of Jesus, the Son of God. We see beautiful examples of faithful people believing the message sent from God, and willingly accepting God’s plan for the coming of His Son into the world. In the midst of this incredible story, we find another name of Jesus – the Son of the Most High.

³² He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David. 
³³ He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will have no end.”

Luke 1:32-33 CSB

News of the Son of the Most High

Gabriel, an angel of the Lord, was sent to both Mary and Zechariah separately to tell them they would be parents by the grace and power of God. One child, Jesus, would be the Son of the Most High, and the other, John, would prepare the way for the Son of the Most High. While Zechariah, father of John the Baptist, doubted and was mute until John’s birth, Mary believed and was blessed.

³⁴ Mary asked the angel, “How can this be, since I have not had sexual relations with a man?” ^[a]

³⁵ The angel replied to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore, the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.

Luke 1:34-35 CSB

This is an extraordinary and vital part of God’s story. The coming of the Son of the Most High into the world was carefully planned by the Most High Himself. He knew every detail, every step, every person involved, and knew exactly the responses, reactions, beliefs, and doubts of every one of them every step of the way.

Mary believed the message sent to her from the Lord by His messenger the angel Gabriel, and she gave great praise to the Lord. She counted this a blessing to be grateful for. She, in faith, accepted the will of God that she would bear the Son of the Most High, and bring the Messiah into the world.

Elizabeth and Zechariah both showed their faithfulness in naming John as Gabriel had told them, and Elizabeth’s proclamations of her son even in the womb. Scripture indicates that they raised John as the Lord had called them to, and John eventually did what he was born to do – he prepared the way for the coming of the Son of the Most High God.

Power of the Son of the Most High

In the book of Mark we see this name of Jesus come up again, but from a very different source. Jesus was traveling to Garasenes and was approached by a demon-possessed man who the people of that town had not been able to subdue. As Jesus got out of the boat the possessed man ran and fell at Jesus’ feet.

⁶ When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and knelt down before him. 
⁷ And he cried out with a loud voice, “What do you have to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you before God, don’t torment me!” 
⁸ For he had told him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!”

⁹ “What is your name?” he asked him.

“My name is Legion,” he answered him, “because we are many.” 
¹⁰ And he begged him earnestly not to send them out of the region.

¹¹ A large herd of pigs was there, feeding on the hillside. 
¹² The demons^[a] begged him, “Send us to the pigs, so that we may enter them.” 
¹³ So he gave them permission, and the unclean spirits came out and entered the pigs. The herd of about two thousand rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned there.

Mark 5:6-13 CSB

We see again another extraordinary example of the knowledge and belief in Jesus as the Son of the Most High, yet here we see that even the demons know and believe this of Jesus and fell at His feet terrified and begging. Jesus’ mere presence provoked the demons and they begged to be cast into a herd of pigs rather than be cast away. The unclean spirits had to obey the Son of God, for the power of God dwelt in Him.

Importance of the Son of the Most High

We are called to have faith and believe in the Son of the Most High God. Believing the true identity of Jesus Christ is vital. When you believe that Jesus is, in fact, the Son of the Most High God who came to dwell on the earth, die as a sacrifice for our sins, and rise again to defeat death, and you accept Him as your Savior in faith, you are saved from the penalty of your sins and enter into the family of God. By faith, we are saved, and we are blessed children of the Most High God.

¹² But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 
¹³ who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

John 1:12-13 ESV

¹⁴ For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons^[a] of God. 
¹⁵ For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” 
¹⁶ The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 
¹⁷ and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

Romans 8:14-17 ESV

Mary, who believed the news not only that the Son of God was coming but that she would give birth to Him, was an extraordinary act of faith. Elizabeth bore a son late in her life by the grace of God and obediently raised him as the Lord instructed. Even the demons believed Jesus to be the Son of the Most High God and obeyed Him. Each of us is called to have faith and believe that Jesus is in fact the Son of the Most High God so that by faith we may be saved by the grace of God.

¹⁵ Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God—God remains in him and he in God.

1 John 4:15 CSB

¹⁶ “For God so loved the world,^[a] that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 
¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

John 3:16-17 ESV