When the angel Gabriel announced to Mary that she should have a Son, whose name should be Jesus, Saviour, he said of Him: "He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of His father David: And He shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of His kingdom there shall be no end." (Luke 1:32-33)
There are many who adore Jesus as the great and mighty Son of the Highest, who do not experience the joy and blessedness that they should from the knowledge of His greatness, because they adore Him as one far off, separated from them by infinite space, and not as One near at hand, a personal companion.
But while He is the Son of the Highest, He is the Son of man, and it is as such that He always referred to himself.
Christ is not to be worshiped as the heathen worship their gods. The heathen set their gods upon a pedestal, and think of them as enjoying themselves together apart from men, and having no interest in common with them.
It is true that they attribute all human passions to their gods, but all these emotions are for their own kind, and not for men. No heathen ever thinks of his god as a being who loves him or has any manner of sympathy with him; the god is to him a being whose anger is to be appeased, or at the best, whose indifference is to be overcome, and his favor bought.
But Christ appears among men first of all as man. His appearance in the world was as a babe in Bethlehem, "born of a woman, born under the law." (Galatians 4:4,RV) "[He] was born of the seed of David according to the flesh." (Romans 1:3)
It is "the throne of His father David," (Luke 1:32) that is to be given Him. His greatness is in His humility: "Being found in fashion as a man, He humbled himself, becoming obedient even unto death, yea, the death of the cross. Wherefore also God highly exalted Him, and gave Him the name which is above every name." (Philippians 2:8-9,RV)
It was not for His own sake that Christ, the Word, who was in the beginning with God, and who was God, came to this earth. It was not to win anything for himself, for as God all creation was His.
But man had lost his dominion of glory and honor which he had in the beginning as the son of the Highest. So in order to win back for man that which he had lost, He became Man, and it is now as Man, as the seed of David according to the flesh, that He is made great, and called the Son of the Highest.
Remember this, it is as a Man, the Son of man, as "the Man Christ Jesus," (1 Timothy 2:5) that He occupies His high position; not as a unique specimen, but as the representative Man, our Forerunner. "He died for all." (2 Corinthians 5:15)
And what He won is for all. "He [is] the firstborn among many brethren," (Romans 8:29) all of whom through the grace of God have equal rights with himself. "The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God; And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ." (Romans 8:16-17)
Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of God. He is the One Man who is entitled to be called the Son of the Highest. But coming in the flesh as the seed of David, the Son of man, He has in His flesh abolished the enmity that separated man from God the Father, "That He might create in himself of the twain one new man, so making peace. ... For through Him we both have access in one Spirit unto the Father." (Ephesians 2:15,18)
There is only one Man, "the Man Christ Jesus." (1 Timothy 2:5)
But in the faith and knowledge of the Son of God, we who have fallen, and have lost the Divine image, may attain "unto a full-grown man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ." (Ephesians 4:13)
Then in Him we also shall be great, and shall be called sons of the Highest, and shall reign with Him for ever and ever. God, who raised Christ from the dead, "and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places, Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion," (Ephesians 1:20-21) because of "His great love wherewith He loved us, ... has made us alive together with Christ, And has raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus." (Ephesians 2:4-6) "He has put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree." (Luke 1:52)
In His hand is power and might, and in His hand it is to make great, and to give strength to all. "Both riches and honor come of You, and You reign over all; and in your hand is power and might; and in your hand it is to make great, and to give strength unto all." (1 Chronicles 29:12) "You have also given me the shield of your salvation; and your right hand has held me up, and your condescension has made me great." (Psalm 18:35,RV) "With His stripes we are healed." (Isaiah 53:5)
Because He humbled himself we are made great; for if we accept Him as the sharer of our humiliation. He will acknowledge us as sharers of His greatness. Then let us gladly accept Him and worship Him as the Fountain of Life. "Not now afar, but near."--Horatius Bonar, Hymns of Faith and Hope, "Bathed in Unfallen Sunlight," 1861.
--Present Truth, December 15, 1898--Timeline: Nativity-2 (The Annunciation), 3 (Mary's Visit to Elisabeth)--Luke 1:32-52.