The Son of Man

I was recently challenged regarding my reference to Jesus’s claims of divinity on a social media thread where I had commented that Jesus was very concise in the language that he used when he was accused of claiming to be greater than Abraham and equating himself with God, citing John 8:58.  “’Very truly I tell you,’ Jesus answered, ‘before Abraham was born I AM!’”.  The Jews immediately picked up stones to stone him for blasphemy.  Additionally, in John 10:30, Jesus said, “I and the Father are one.” And they once again picked up stones to stone him.

Jesus asked them, “’I have shown you many good works from the Father.  For which of these do you stone me?’  We are not stoning you for any good work,’ they replied, ‘but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God.’” John 10:32-33.  Jesus was intentional in the words he chose and the Jews fully understood the message he was conveying.  No interpretive insight is required in translating from Greek to English alleging Christ didn’t claim divinity or that he meant something else in these passages.  The Jews spoke the same language and they were noticeably offended.

The challenger to my comment asserted that John’s gospel was written long after the synoptic gospels and that Matthew, Mark, and Luke never made the same claims of Christ’s divinity as John’s gospel, therefore, John’s account was biased and a response to beliefs established well after the crucifixion.  This compelled me to do a little further research to see if there were passages in the synoptic gospels affirming Christ’s claim to be God.

Notwithstanding Paul’s writings, which were completed within thirty years of the crucifixion and preceded the gospels, and that Paul attested to Christ’s divinity in Colossians 2:9, where he wrote, “For in Christ all the fullness of Deity lives in bodily form.” And in his epistle to Titus, in the second chapter, verse thirteen, Paul says, “while we wait for the blessed hope – the appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.” Unsurprisingly, the synoptic gospels also concur with John regarding the deity of Jesus.

Mark is considered to be the earliest gospel and it is speculated that it was used as a source by both Matthew and Luke, therefore, in order to dispel the theory that Christ’s divinity was an afterthought, it is to Mark that we turn for clarity on this issue.  In Mark we find Jesus referring to himself as the “Son of Man” (Mark 2:10).  The discourse describes the healing of a paralytic man, with Jesus telling him, “Your sins are forgiven.”  Some teachers of the law were in attendance and they thought to themselves. “Why does this fellow talk like that?  He’s blaspheming!  Who can forgive sins but God alone?” (Verse 7).

Once again, there was no misinterpretation of Christ’s language as was evident in the critique of these religious leaders.  “Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, ‘Why are you thinking these things?  Which is easier: to say ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’?  But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins….” Mark 2:8-10.

The title son of man is used 80 times by Jesus in the gospels, so what does it really mean?  There are two titles of son of man found in the Old Testament.  One is used in Ezekiel and the other is used in the book of Daniel.  They are very different in context and mean totally different things, so in order to identify which son of man Jesus is referring to when he speaks of himself, we must examine these Old Testament uses of the term.

In the book of Ezekiel, God calls the prophet Ezekiel “son of man” as he instructs him, “Now son of man, take a clay tablet….” (Ezekiel 4:1), “Now son of man, take a sharp sword….” (Ezekiel 5:1), “Son of man, set your face against the mountains….” (Ezekiel 6:2), “Son of man, this is what the Sovereign Lord says….” (Ezekiel 7:2) and it is apparent that Ezekiel is a mere man compared to God.  There is no inference to authority over sin or any power associated with this title, in fact all glory is reserved by the Sovereign God and the prophet is portrayed as nothing more than a messenger.

In Daniel’s prophecy, in the seventh chapter, in the thirteenth verse, we read, “In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming on 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 peoples, nations and men of every language worshipped him.  His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.” 

In Mark 14:61, the high priest asks Jesus point blank if he is the Messiah, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?”  In the next verse we read, “’I am,’ Jesus replied.  ‘And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.’”  In verse 63, the high priest tears his clothes and proclaims, ”Why do we need any more witnesses?  You have heard the blasphemy.  What do you think?”.

There is no doubt that when Jesus calls himself the Son of Man, he is referring to the prophecy of Daniel, not Ezekiel.  But wait, there is more.  In Daniel’s vision, the son of man is worshipped by humanity – all peoples, nations and men of every language – an act reserved only for God.  His dominion is an everlasting dominion, meaning it is eternal.  Who other than God is eternal?  Whose kingdom is an eternal kingdom?  Only God’s kingdom. Furthermore, God is a jealous God and commands us to have no other gods but him, yet here he is endorsing the worship of this son of man.  Here we have two individuals being worshipped as God with the son of man receiving what is reserved for God, in his very presence, with the full approval of the Ancient of Days. 

Not only does God condone the son of man receiving worship, he also makes room on his throne for him, to sit with him in power.  He doesn’t sit across the boardroom table in some war room, he sits with him in reference to Psalm 110:1, which says, “The Lord says to my Lord: ‘Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.”  No one in the history of Israel ever had the right to sit next to God until Christ. It is no wonder that Jesus was such a polarizing figure in the eyes of the establishment.

As heir to the throne, Jesus, God’s one and only Son, has every right to sit with his Father, at his right hand.  The unity between the Christ and the Almighty was implied long before the gospels were written and the Pharisees and the religious leaders knew this full well.  This was the basis for their charges of blasphemy that they brought forward against Jesus.  This is why he was crucified.  Without the divinity of Christ there is no gospel.  Without the deity of Jesus there can be no Christianity.

It is nonsensical to suggest that the concept of the triune nature of God and the divinity of Jesus were afterthoughts, pieced together to support an embellished version of the gospel or to elevate Jesus to legendary status in order to prosper the Christian Church.  In fact, Genesis 1:26 records the first evidence of God’s plural nature, where it is written, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness….” 

Jesus ties together the Old Testament and the New Testament in his divine identity.  He claims to be the “Son of Man” from Daniel, “I Am” from Exodus and the “Lord” sitting at the right hand of the Lord from Psalm 110.  His divinity was revealed long before his incarnation.  John informs us, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was with God in the beginning.

Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.” John 1:1-3.  In verse 14, John tells us, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.  We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

 God is infinite.  God is omnipotent.  He has no limits.  It is therefore illogical that God would be unable to manifest himself as a man in the person of Jesus Christ.  In fact, God appeared as a man when he visited Abraham before he destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 18) and also before Joshua (Joshua 5) so it shouldn’t surprise anyone that he would do it again, especially regarding his Messiah.  He did not circumvent any of the laws of physics in order to achieve this (he created these laws), nor did he surrender his omnipresence so that Jesus could be fully human.  While Jesus was alive in the flesh, God the Father was still everywhere.  Jesus was fully human yet fully divine as an extension of God himself.  They were inseparable as Jesus’s prayer reveals in John 17:21, “Father, just as you are in me and I am in you.”

It was incumbent upon Jesus to be ambiguous concerning his identity until the appropriate time so he could carry out the mission of laying his life down as a sacrifice and atonement for the sins of mankind and so that prophecy could be fulfilled.  God had a perfect plan for salvation and Jesus executed it perfectly.  Early in his ministry, each time he healed someone or performed a miracle, Jesus instructed his subjects not to tell anyone.  Despite this, Jesus could not deny himself and his identification as the Son of Man confirm his identity as the one man that fulfilled all prophecy, all of the law and all of the fullness of God as well. He is now worshipped by all peoples, nations and men of every language. Hallelujah!!!