THE SON OF MAN

“Who do men say that I the Son of Man am?” Jesus asked his disciples. Peter’s correct answer was finally, “Thou art the Christ (Messiah), the Son of the Living God”. (Matthew 16:13-19) So Jesus is named as the Messiah, and as the Son of God, but take note that these are descriptive titles of “the Son of Man”. The title “Messiah” (Hebrew) or “Christ” (Greek) is speaking of His ministry as Prophet, Priest, and King. “Son of God” speaks of His divinity, and His relation to the Father. Other titles of Jesus describe His other characteristics; “Son of the Blessed” and “Emmanuel” expresses His divine nature; “Son of David” reveals His human nature and His lineage, and the name “Jesus” conveys simply that He is “the Savior” of humanity. None of these titles on their own can give a complete meaning of the person of our Lord because each name only signifies one of His characteristics. However, the title “Son of man” is a comprehensive name, a name that is able to describe all His characteristics and attributes. The Lord Jesus, the very God-man, determined that the title “Son of man” would be his chosen and foundational title that would encompass His person completely. If you were to read carefully through the four Gospels you would discover that Jesus chose for Himself His primary title, “Son of man”. In fact it is the only title that He applied to Himself, and He speaks of Himself as the “Son of man” 80+ times. Do a phrase search at Bible Gateway for “Son of man” if you are interested in marking these verses in your Bible. The title “Son of man” has its origin in the book of origins, Genesis. When God cursed the serpent for his deception of Adam and Eve he said, “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman and between thy seed and her seed; he shall crush thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel” (Genesis 3:15). This curse upon the serpent, Satan, was a promise to Adam and Eve and to all their descendants as well, and became the hope of the human race that a redeemer and savior would be born of a woman that would abolish the authority that Satan had stolen from Adam and Eve. This “seed of the woman” would be the “Son of the woman”, who is the “Son of Man”. Since a woman does not produce seed, this promise means that in the future there would be a woman, a virgin, who would conceive a Son without the seed of a human male. This virgin born Son would be at enmity with the seed of the serpent, that is, the devil and all his devotees. And in the mystery of God’s plan of redemption, this seed, this Son of man, would crush the head of the serpent, loosing us from the devil’s authority (1 John 3:8), destroying the power of death (Hebrews 2:14, 15), and granting life and immortality to those who believe in Jesus (2 Timothy 1:8-10). The Prophet Daniel foretold of this “Son of man” coming with clouds of glory and establishing an everlasting kingdom (Daniel 7:13, 14). This prophecy is fulfilled in the person of Jesus as we read in Revelation 1:12-18. Jesus is more than just a man, He is “The Man”, “Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand, upon the Son of man…(Psalm 80:17). Eighty plus times Jesus declares unequivocally that He is the “Son of man”, making it abundantly clear to all who will listen that He is the promised redeemer and savior foretold in Genesis 3:15. Amen.