The Son of Man
Jesus calls himself only the “Son of Man”? Why is this? And what does it mean?
The origin
The Son of Man comes from a vision from Daniel:
“‘In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a 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, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.”
There is no direct explanation of who He is, so we have to dig a little. And we do not have to dig very far, because just a few verses later the explanation is given: “But the holy people of the Most High will receive the kingdom and will possess it for ever — yes, for ever and ever.”
The holy people of the Most High are the people of Israel. They represent the Son of Man, since they are not God but men (in ancient times, a group could be represented by a person, such as daughter Zion for Israel, or the story of Israel compared to a woman or the northern and southern kingdoms of Israel as the story of two daughters).
The statement
So what is the calling and destiny of the son of man (Israel)? Let’s read on:
“I also wanted to know about the ten horns on its head and about the other horn that came up, before which three of them fell — the horn that looked more imposing than the others and that had eyes and a mouth that spoke boastfully. As I watched, this horn was waging war against the holy people and defeating them, until the Ancient of Days came and pronounced judgment in favour of the holy people of the Most High, and the time came when they possessed the kingdom.
‘He gave me this explanation: “The fourth beast is a fourth kingdom that will appear on earth. It will be different from all the other kingdoms and will devour the whole earth, trampling it down and crushing it. The ten horns are ten kings who will come from this kingdom. After them another king will arise, different from the earlier ones; he will subdue three kings. He will speak against the Most High and oppress his holy people and try to change the set times and the laws. The holy people will be delivered into his hands for a time, times and half a time. ‘ “But the court will sit, and his power will be taken away and completely destroyed for ever. Then the sovereignty, power and greatness of all the kingdoms under heaven will be handed over to the holy people of the Most High. His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all rulers will worship and obey him.”
This describes the kingdoms of the earth that we described earlier. The first part refers to elements of the vision and its actions, while the second part is the explanation.
Let us look at the interpreted elements:
- 10 horns = 10 kings
- another horn = another king
- three of the horns fell = three kings were subdued
- Horn is more imposing and speaks boastfully = speaks against the Most High, oppresses His people, tries to change times and laws
- horn defeats them = holy people are delivered into his hands for 3,5 times
- The Ancient of Days speaks judgment in favor of the holy people = the king’s power is taken away and he is completely destroyed forever
- Time comes they possess the kingdom = all kingdoms will be given over to the Holy People, will be everlasting and all rulers will worship and obey Him.
Some observations:
- The boastful speech is reflected in speaking against God, oppressing His people and His law — so the attack on His people is actually an attack on Him, so it is God’s response.
- The defeat of the Holy People is only temporary and lasts only 3.5 times, the defeat comes before the victory.
- The judgment in favor of the Holy People means that the kings are destroyed once and for all.
- The possession of the kingdom is also related to the fact that all rulers will worship Him (Son of Man = Israel).
The problem
When you see this, it sounds like Israel will rule the world at a certain time.
But there is a problem: The Son of Man will receive worship. This is only possible for God, because only God can be worshiped.
So how can this be resolved? The prophets speak in the subject of the Day of the Lord that only a remnant of Israel will remain. So the holy people could be referring to this remnant in the future.
It is not clear from the context of Daniel when this will be, but the description in chapters 2 and 7 shows that it must be the Day of the Lord.
In the Old Testament only the prophet Ezekiel is called the “Son of Man”, but again this is “ben adam” (“son of Adam”), whereas in Daniel the term “kebar enas” (“son of mankind”) is used.
The solution
When Jesus refers to Himself, He refers to Him only as the Son of Man. He is the fulfillment. Because he is God, he is worthy of receiving worship.
So how does this prophecy apply to Jesus?
I hope you are sitting down, because this will be a bit uncomfortable.
- Jesus is the remnant of Israel. There is no one left.
- The horn or another king opposes Jesus and tries to change his law and this for 3.5 times. Jesus ministry lasted about 3 years and he raised from the dead on the third day.
- The result of the vindication of Jesus is the destruction of His enemies.
On the one hand, you could say, that this is Satan or the Antichrist, but the Gospels show a different picture. It is Israel who rejected Him, the religious leaders who attacked Him and conspired to kill Him, who set up a court to find Him guilty and as all men to kill Him. It was also Israel that twisted the law (“You have heard that it was said”).
The hard truth is that his own people, Israel, became his great enemy by opposing him. We should be very careful about judging them, because the church is no better.
But what did Jesus do? He forgave them, because they did not know what they were doing. And His calling was to restore Israel and to call as many of them to Him as possible (it was the disciples’ calling to go after the nations, of course there were exceptions). He did not come as a judge, but as a savior, but He will come again. And He did not reject Israel and replace it with the Church, but He restarted Israel and included the Church in it.
But He saved the remnant of Israel.
The heritage
Jesus is the Son of Man, but all things belong to Him. In Daniel 2, we see that the stone that destroyed all the kingdoms became as great as the earth, which is a description of the New Israel (which includes the Church) reaching out to the whole earth.
This image is picked up in the description of the two witnesses in the Book of Revelation, who represent the New Israel including the Church. They reign for 3.5 years (in case you are curious what 3.5 years are) and are killed for 3.5 days until resurrected, 3.5 times as in the prophecy of the Son of Man.
The witnesses are identified as the Son of Man because they live the life of Jesus:
- Living in simplicity and repentance
- filled with the Holy Spirit
- They do not use violence to attack people but leave the judgment to God.
- They are witnesses with miracles.
- They are defeated by the enemy when their testimony is finished.
- But this is not their defeat because they will be resurrected like Jesus.
- They are exalted like Jesus.