JESUS THE SON MAN

What does it mean that Jesus is the “Son of Man”? That is the description that He used to refer to Himself the most. Far more than any other title, in fact.

While there is much that we likely do not understand for sure, we can say with certainty that it has to do with His humanity and His deity. The humility of Jesus, and yet His supreme authority, are both important parts of understanding the title, “Son of Man.”

Jesus was the most real human being who ever lived. That is because He is the only one who ever lived a perfect human life. He is the only one who ever “got it right” when it comes to living the way that God intended for humanity to live.

No one understands more about human life, and the suffering thereof, than Jesus Christ. Not you, not me, not anyone. We know a lot, but not nearly as much as He. When it comes to the sufferings and difficulties of being human on this earth, no one knows as much about it as Jesus.

Consider, for example, that He was “tempted in all points like we are” but He never sinned (Hebrews 4:15). The rest of us have given into temptation, but He never did. That is why the Bible says that He “suffered being tempted” (Hebrews 2:18).

When you are tempted in every way, and yet you never once give into the temptation, that is a type of suffering that only Jesus can understand. Only Jesus can understand how difficult temptation is for humanity in an absolute sense. Those of us who have given in to it could never know as much as He does. And He does not just know it because He is omniscient. He knows it firsthand, by experience.

We see the Lord‘s great humility when He said, “Foxes have holes and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head” (Matthew 8:20). We see His great friendship and love when we learn that the “Son of Man” is the “friend of tax collectors and sinners” (Matthew 11:19).

We see His humility in His great concern for the eternal welfare of others when He said, “the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). He understands every part of human suffering. When we are tempted to complain to God about the suffering in this world, let us remember what our Lord said: “The Son of Man” was “delivered into the hands of men” who murdered Him (Matthew 17:22).

There are simply no adequate words in any human language to sufficiently describe the majesty and beauty of our Lord. The love and compassion of Christ in humbling Himself to become human (Philippians 2:8) is the definition of sacrificial love and concern.

To comprehend some of the depth of meaning behind Jesus referring to Himself as the “Son of Man,” we need to carefully consider a prophecy from the Old Testament Book of Daniel. In Daniel 7:13-14, we read where “one like a Son of Man” comes before the “Ancient of Days” from whom He receives, in obvious approval and appreciation, a kingdom of “authority and glory.”

The Ancient of Days was a divine being, but the Son of Man was, as well. This prophecy obviously has reference to Jesus coming into heaven after He made atonement for the sins of humanity and received the eternal kingdom, which is the body of Christ, the saved of all the earth (Hebrews 9:12, 24-28). The Ancient of Days, then, was God the Father and the Son of Man was Jesus after His ascension into heaven.

In His trial before the High Priest, Jesus tied this ancient prophecy to Himself when He said, “Hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of God and coming on the clouds of heaven” (Matthew 26:64). The religious leaders understood what He was claiming, that He was the fulfillment of Daniel’s prophecy and therefore was a divine being. This is why they accused Him of blasphemy (v. 65).

Jesus’s divinity is further revealed by the fact that He had the authority to forgive sins. “The Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins” (Matthew 9:6). He also said “the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath” (Mark 2:28), revealing that as the one who gave the Sabbath law, He could make exceptions to it.

The divinity of Jesus is revealed in the fact that God became flesh to die for us (John 1:1, 14). Indeed, the Son of Man came to “give His life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28). Jesus also predicted His resurrection from the dead as the Son of Man (Mark 9:31).

The Son of Man has ascended to the right hand of God to rule and reign in His kingdom. The church’s first martyr, Stephen, beheld the glorified “Son of Man standing at the right hand of God” (Acts 7:56). This points to His deity, His rule and reign over the people of God.

Ultimately Jesus will come again to judge the world. Only the “Son of Man” has the authority to do this. “When the Son of Man comes in His glory and all the holy angels with Him, He will sit on the throne of His glory” (Matthew 25:31).

So Jesus’s description as the Son of Man speaks of His humility, His humanity, His power, His authority, and the fact that He is God.

      Bryan Dewayne Dunaway