For the Son of Man
“For the Son of Man.”
I have started to live with this as my life’s goal, my “mantra.”
What does it mean? Context is helpful.
The term “son of man” is used in the Jewish Scriptures to describe a human being. A person. This is true in almost every use of the term, like in the book by the prophet Ezekiel. Yet in the Jewish Scriptures, there is one key deviation for the use of this term, and it makes all the difference in how to understand the term.
The use is in the book of Daniel, the prophet who was known for interpreting the dreams of a king and of escaping from a den of lions unharmed. The passage goes like this:
“I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed” (Daniel 7:13–14).
A few crucial details:
1. The human being (son of man) comes with the clouds. To my understanding, this coming with the clouds is only ever used to signify divinity in the Jewish Scriptures. Thus, the reference is saying that this man is divine, which seems to contradict what had been revealed by God to Moses, that God is one and there are no other gods. Are there two Gods then? If you accept that all Scripture is true and the accurate word of God to mankind, then there MUST be a way to resolve this tension. A God-Man must exist.
2. This Son of Man is exceptional. All other sons of men (human beings) ought to serve him. He is given rule, fame, and authority over all of humanity. Only one man can have that position — only one person can be at the top and rule everyone else. Now this is also practical: the idea that every human being ought to serve him, whoever HE is, means I ought to serve him and the same for you.
3. The Son of Man has a rule that will never end. His authority and kingship will never be taken away. The nature of this dominion and kingship being eternal requires that the man live forever. What man has ever been born who is never to die? Yet this is what is required for such a circumstance to be true.
Hundreds of years after the book of Daniel was written, one man took the “Son of Man” title for himself: Jesus of Nazareth. In the four accounts of his life (the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John), this title is used 81 times. It is the title Jesus most frequently used for himself, according to those records. And to those who understood the title, they knew what he was saying: I am God, I have the right to rule over everyone, and I will rule over all forever. Doubt this? Then you don’t understand why Jesus was murdered by crucifixion. When he was standing on trial before the Jewish religious leaders of his day, he referred to himself as the Son of Man coming with the clouds and the leaders understood correctly that he was identifying as God. This was why they condemned him to death: for blasphemy. That was the express reason for his execution. The only issue is this: Jesus was telling the truth.
Therefore Jesus, after being killed, was raised from the dead three days later, just as he had foretold. He not only appeared to some five hundred people over the course of 40 days following his resurrection, but then he ascended to the right hand of the throne of God (the Ancient of Days) and sat down on his throne — the exact thing depicted in Daniel’s vision some 700 years prior.
This means something very, very important: The Son of Man, Jesus of Nazareth, the God-Man is ruling over all creation at this moment.
It gets more intense.
In the days following Jesus’ resurrection, a man named Saul started imprisoning and even helping to execute followers of Jesus. This same Saul met a resurrected Jesus on his road to the city of Damascus while heading to imprison the men and women who followed Jesus with the permission of the Jewish leaders (the same ones who sentenced Jesus to death). He met a resurrected Jesus, if the account of his life can be trusted. And it seems it can, because the records (specifically, the book of Acts in the Christian New Testament) show that Saul, also called Paul, went around the known world preaching a resurrected Jesus, converting thousands in cities across the world for many, many years, until he was imprisoned and executed for his message. That’s why Christianity exists worldwide today: because of the missionary work of the Apostle Paul in the first century.
Paul wrote a very significant statement about Jesus, recorded in his letter to the followers of Jesus in the city of Colossae. He said: [Jesus] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things were created through him and for him” (Colossians 1:15–16).
This means a couple of things:
1) Paul agrees that Jesus is who he claimed to be: God himself. Being the image of God means that Jesus is the very picture of God to humanity, God in the flesh. He’s not just God’s representative, like the other prophets like Daniel claimed to be, but He is God in three-dimensions. If you want to see, hear, touch God, you can — he is Jesus.
2) Paul makes this profound statement: everything in the material universe is made by Jesus, through Jesus, and for Jesus. All people in power, everything that can be seen, Jesus made them all, and they are all designed to be for him. Earlier in his letter, Paul refers to how everyone should be “fully pleasing to him” that is, Jesus. The point is this: your life and my life are to be lived for Jesus’ good pleasure; that’s why he made us and why we exist.
You don’t have to agree with me, but I am telling you the truth. Because this is the truth, I choose to live under the banner: “For the Son of Man.” It is a powerful reminder of why I exist, who I was made for, who I ought to serve, and who I do serve.
