The Son of Man

Jesus is referred to as the “Son of Man” 88 times in the New Testament.

The first use of the phrase in the Bible is in Ezekiel. Pretty much every time God addresses Ezekiel, he does so as “son of man”. Besides Ezekiel, the only other use of the phrase in the Old Testament was by his contemporary, Daniel. In Daniel 7:13 we get a very different picture of the Son of Man than as just a prophet. Daniel writes:

As my vision continued that night, I saw one like the Son of Man coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, honour, and sovereignty over all the nations of the world, so that people of every race and nation and language would obey him. His rule is eternal—it will never end. His kingdom will never be destroyed.

The first book in the New Testament rivals Ezekiel in how frequently the phrase Son of Man is used. The difference is that it was God calling the prophet “son of man” in the Old Testament but now we see Jesus referring to Himself this way in the New. All three of the gospels, and occasionally in John and Revelation we find Jesus referred to, usually by himself, as the Son of Man. Does this parallel Ezekiel’s use? Is he merely a prophet sent to a rebellious Israel? Or does it parallel Daniel’s use? Is He the one who has been given all authority, honour, and sovereignty over the nations of the world?

The answer to that is found in the theme of Jesus’s message. Everywhere He went, Jesus went announcing that the Kingdom of God has come. He takes Messianic scriptures and applies them to Himself. He demonstrates time and time again that He has power over sickness, death, and demonic authorities. He takes the religious “authority” of the day and tells them over and over again they have it all wrong, placing Himself in judgment, in authority, over them. His selection of twelve disciples was far more than symbolic. As Jesus Himself says in Matthew 19:28:

I assure you that when the world is made new and the Son of Man sits upon his glorious throne, you who have been my followers will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

Jesus used this title in three distinct ways:

• In a general way – almost as a substitute for the pronoun “I.” Luke 9:58 says, “Jesus replied, ‘Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.'”
• Specifically dealing with suffering – Mark 8:31 says, “He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again.”
• Specially dealing with authority – Mark 2:10 says, “But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins. . .”

Very clearly, Jesus recognized Himself, the Son of Man, as the subject of Daniel’s vision. He sees Himself as the One who has all authority and to whom the whole world must bow in worship. It was the Ancient of Days that had just responded from heaven to Jesus’s prayer. Jesus was proclaiming Himself as the Messiah. 

But there is also a second aspect to the title of “Son of Man”.

Jesus is called the Son of Man because that is who He was on earth. He was a son and He was born and belonged to the family of man. This fact also leads us to understand with certainty the prophecies surrounding his birth and what was foretold in Isaiah 7:14: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”

Further, Jesus as the Son of Man holds for us some incredible realities; this name and title allows us to perceive in words that we belong to Him and He belongs to us. It connects divinity to humanity in a manner that was lost when Adam and Eve sinned and had to leave the Garden of Eden. So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being” the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man from heaven. As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the man from heaven, so also are those who are of heaven (1 Corinthians 15:45-48).

It is also a reminder that God understands what it is to be human—to fight our fights, to be tempted and to feel alone—to be, according to Isaiah 53:3, “despised and rejected by men; a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief:” After all, how much easier is it for you in your human relationships to connect with someone who understands what you have been through or are going through right now?

Additionally, Jesus showed that it is possible as human beings to keep the laws of God; that the battle against the flesh could be won, through Christ living in us. Hebrews 4:15 further expounds on both these concepts: “For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.”

Jesus as the Son of Man reminds us that God is still the same God who desires a relationship with us as He did in Eden (Genesis 2); in Exodus 25:8 when He instructed Moses to “let [the Israelites] make me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them”; and in Jeremiah 32:38 when He said that we will be His people, and He our God. The name and titles He calls Himself reveal to us His enduring promises, power, love and presence in our lives.

The problem is, despite all the evidence, for all too many in the crowd, the jury was still out. It wasn’t that they needed proof. The proof was everywhere they turned, just as it is for us. The problem was, acknowledging Jesus as this Son of Man would require a response on their part. They would have to bend their knee. They would have to surrender their lives. And like so many today, as much as they wanted to believe, they weren’t ready to accept those implications. That’s what the Gospel does, it makes us come face to face with the reality that Jesus is God and that it is only through Him, with our repentance and the acceptance of His sacrifice in our place, and following His commandments, that we are reunited with our Creator.

Worthy is the Lamb! Blessings!