Sermon: Names of Jesus: Son of Man

As Pastor Kevin said, we're continuing our series, uh, this Lord's Day evening through the names of Jesus. And tonight we come to a title, the Son of Man, a title of Jesus, the Son of Man. So I would invite you, uh, to turn, we're gonna turn to two places together. First we're gonna turn to uh, Matthew chapter 16 and then to Daniel chapter seven. So maybe, uh, stick your finger at Daniel seven. You can turn there easily

and then we'll begin in Matthew chapter 16.

I am gonna read Matthew chapter 16 verses 13 through 16.

Before I read, let's pray and ask that God would illuminate his word and speak to us through it.

Our Father in heaven, you are a gracious God. Your grace to us is greater than we could hope. It is greater than we could even imagine. We thank you for your grace in sending to us your only begotten son, our Lord Jesus Christ, that in the revelation of your son, we might know your grace. Truly and fully we pray that your grace would be active among us tonight, that we would see Jesus, that our hearts would once again Be moved

By your spirit to believe in your only son. And Father, we thank you for your word that you have kept your revelation and have preserved it for us, that we might know you, that we might know what it means to be saved. We pray that your spirit would use these words which he authored to minister to us. And we ask this in the name of Jesus our savior. Amen. So Matthew chapter 16 verses 13 through 16.

Now, when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, who do people say that the son of man is? They said, some say John the Baptist. Others say Elijah and others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets, he said to them, but who do you say that I am? Simon Peter replied, you are the Christ, the son of the living God. And then let's turn over in our bibles to Daniel chapter seven

and we will uh, read here just verses 13 and 14, though we will be referring back to the whole chapter, uh, later on. So Daniel seven verses 13 and 14, I saw on 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 is kingdom one that shall not be destroyed. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Well, friends, the the turning point in the synoptic gospels is generally agreed to be Peter's confession. Peter's Confe confession in Cea Philippi, the one which we just read, you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. Prior to Peter's confession, the focus

of the gospels is largely on Jesus's teaching and his miracles, his signs that he performed. But when Peter makes this confession, Jesus and the focus of the gospels turns to the cross is as if Jesus from this point, from the confession on sets his face toward Jerusalem and everything about his life is headed toward the cross. And the gospel writers seem to follow that. This turn is pretty clear, uh, in Matthew, in Mark in Luke.

And we see it and we hear it in Matthew just below uh, our text verse 21. But here's what Mark says in Mark eight verse 31, right after Peter's confession, and he began to teach them that the son of man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed. And after three days rise again. Jesus is the one who initiates the conversation that leads to Peter's great confession.

He does. So with that question, who do people say that I am? Who do people say that the son of man is? And the disciples answer Jesus's question, well, you know Jesus, some people think you're John the Baptist, others, others actually think you're Elijah, that you've Elijah has come back and you're Elijah risen from the dead. Others think you're Jeremiah or one of the other great prophets.

Then Jesus does something interesting. He, he opens the conversation wide. It's broad, it's general. Who does everyone else say that I am? What are people saying about me? And then he focuses it doesn't he? He says, but who do you say that I am? He makes the question very personal, personal for the disciples and he himself becomes, makes it very personal for himself. Who do you say that I am? This is an important question.

It is the question on which the gospels turn. It is the question that Jesus would ask each of you. And it's the question he would have you to answer personally, who do you say that Jesus is? Who is he to you? And that's a question that I want you to be mulling over in your mind as we spend this time throughout the sermon. But even as you go away from this evening, who do you say that Jesus is? But the question that I want us to answer tonight,

to consider tonight is a question that's of a similar genre but slightly different, slightly different, not who do you say that Jesus is, but who does Jesus say that he is? Who does Jesus say that he is? Or what does Jesus say about himself? What does he tell us about himself? The reason I'd have us to consider consider this question tonight is because the title Son of Man, the title which we've come to in our series is Jesus's favorite

self designation. That is when Jesus speaks of Himself, the name or title of which he uses to refer to himself more than any other name, more than any other title is this one, the Son of Man.

Interestingly throughout the gospels, the title Son of Man is ever only used by Jesus. It's his favorite title and it's a title that is only self designated in the gospels and it's only ever used by Jesus to refer to himself. Now if we go outside the gospels, uh, we'll find a few other references to the son of man. But in the New Testament as a whole, this title son of man shows up on more than 80 occasions and all but three of those occasions are used

by Jesus himself. So 80 times, about, 80 times in the New Testament, Jesus says about himself, I am the son of man and since calling himself son of man is the way that Jesus most often speaks about himself, it makes sense to me then that we would consider the question tonight that I stated a moment ago, who does Jesus say that he is? And specifically what is Jesus saying about himself when he speaks of himself as the son of man?

What is it that he wants us to know about him? What is it that he wants us to believe about him? What does the title Son of Man tell us about his person, about his work? What can we learn from Jesus's use of this title about Jesus? That's the question that I want us to think about tonight. And here I'm giving you my thesis straight away, okay, this is, this is what I think in just three sentences, kinda what Jesus is saying about himself in this title.

And then I'll unpack it and we'll explore tonight, Jesus is saying that he is the exalted son of man, the one prophesied by Daniel and all the prophets, the one whose kingdom is eternal and universal.

He tells us that he is the son of man, that he as the son of man, he came to establish his kingdom and is now reigning in heaven and he will surely come again in power and glory to judge the nations and to finally establish his kingdom once and for all. Now I don't expect that you caught all of that just now. What I'm gonna do is unpack this and the rest of our time together and I'll close by sharing this again and you can see for yourself.

So what I want us to consider then tonight under these three headings, uh, would be this, Jesus fulfills the son of man prophecies. Jesus is the son of man who came to establish his kingdom and Jesus is the son of man who will come again to consummate his kingdom.

So our first impulse when we come across this title, son of man, and I find myself uh, with this impulse as well, might be to think that the son of man is a designation about Jesus's humanity. It's a designation of his humanity and that the title is meant to distinguish between his humanity and his deity. So you think of that title we explored last week, son of God, and then we've got this week son of man. So you think, ah, son of God is about Jesus's deity,

he's divine, he is fully God. And then he might come tonight and you're thinking, okay, son of man, last night we talked about his, or last week we talked about his deity. Tonight we're gonna talk about his humanity. That Jesus is not only fully God but he's also fully man. And while it's absolutely true, absolutely true, that Jesus is both God and man and this is a fact of utmost importance for your salvation. And for mine it's actually unlikely

that Jesus primarily meant with this title, with the use of the title Son of Man to distinguish his humanity from his deity rather what's more likely. And what we'll find as we read a little bit more of Daniel seven is that Jesus, when he is using this title, son of Man, meant to identify himself as the fulfillment of the Son of man prophecies, particularly the figure in Daniel chapter seven. And what we'll find is that this title, son

of Man here in Daniel seven is not a a title of humiliation, it's a title of exaltation, it's an exalted title. So Jesus meant with its title to identify himself with the figure of Daniel seven when he applied it to himself. And here's what one scholar observes as he reads through the New Testament, he sees how Jesus uses this title. He says, in all but one saying of Jesus in all but one saying the gospels use the Greek article

which signals the phrase as definite or defined. In other words, the son of man is introduced as a known quantity.

The son of man is the son of man, the son of man who you would know from Daniel chapter seven, the son of man whom you have read about and heard prophesied about. And so this scholar says, as a result, the son of man title is employed to draw attention not to Jesus's humanity primarily, but to the authority given to him by God as referred to in this IC vision. But it's more than the fact that the definite article is used throughout the New Testament

that leads us to believe and confirms for us that Jesus has in mind the Danieli vision when he is applying to himself the title son of man regularly. As you read through these 80 instances, you will find that Jesus is drawing from the language in the imagery found in Daniel chapter seven. So here's just one example for you, mark chapter 13, verse 26. Listen, listen to that language from Daniel seven. Jesus says this, they will see the son of man coming

in clouds with great power and glory. You hear it there in the language that Jesus uses. He's drawing upon the imagery, the language of Daniel Chapter seven. He sees himself as the fulfillment of that great figure of Daniel chapter seven.

So the first thing we should recognize that as we come across Jesus attributing the son of man title to his person, we should recognize that the son of man who is we should recognize that he is claiming to be the son of man prophesied about in Daniel. And in order to understand then what Jesus is actually saying about himself, we need to look at Daniel chapter seven, right? We need to understand what is the prophecy all about?

Who is this son of man in Daniel chapter seven? So let's look there together. I'm gonna give a really quick overview beginning in in verse one, okay, beginning in Daniel seven, Daniel sees a vision, a dream, a vision in his dream. It's a vision that alarms him. Many times he said, it's terrifying. It, it's alarming me, even keeps it to himself for a time because it alarms him so greatly. And the vision that he sees has two scenes.

The first scene we find in the first section of Daniel chapter seven, the first scene portrays four beasts coming out of the sea, says in verse three. And these four beasts are different from one another. They're great, they're different from one another. They're coming out from the sea and they're representing as verse 17 says, four kings and four kingdoms, which shall arise from the earth. Daniel gets the interpretation in verse 17,

and he's told these four beasts represent four earthly kingdoms, four earthly kings. Now, many scholars think that these four kingdoms and kings that Daniel is seeing here in his vision refer to Babylon, the Babylonian empire, the mito Persia empire, the Greek empire, and the Roman Empire. They really have time to explore all why that is, but that's just what scholars generally say. But from where Daniel's, from Daniel's perspective

where he's sitting, he's seeing the unfolding of the earthly kingdoms to come. And what we notice about these kings in their kingdoms is that they wield great power, great power, their strength is terrifying, exceedingly great. It would, it will devour other beasts and it will break them into pieces. So these kings and these kingdoms wield great power throughout the earth and they succeed one another, one after another after another.

This is what Daniel's seeing in the first scene, what's gonna happen on the earth with the kingdoms of the world. But then Daniel sees more than what? More than what happens on the earth. Daniel sees a heavenly courtroom, a heavenly courtroom, and a divine figure. So in verse nine, he tells us, he shows us, he speaks of what he has seen of these thrones, of the ancient of days, the eternal God sitting on the throne and he is executing judgment.

He opens the books to judge the kingdoms. And then the ancient of days, as he issues his judgment, he destroys the beast. He destroys the beast and he strips the kingdoms of their dominion.

And then we see the divine figure of which we read in verses 13 and 14, and this is where we get to that son of man prophecy specifically, right? So Daniel now in his vision, sees coming with the clouds of heaven a figure, someone, a figure, a divine figure that looks like a son of man. And this of course is meant to contrast those kings and those kingdoms, those four kingdoms are represented by beasts. And there's a contrast.

There's one like a son of man who has come and he comes to the ancient of days, the eternal God, and was presented before him

and he's given dominion and a kingdom, the son of man, he's a a foil, he's an antithesis to those kings. There's a clear contrast being made in Daniel's vision, whereas the kingdoms of the earth come out of the earth and they rise and they fall.

The kingdom and dominion of the son of man is said to be an everlasting dominion. It's a kingdom that shall not be destroyed. Verse 14. And of course that's to contrast that great beast just up in verse 11, the beast is killed. He's not immortal, his kingdom is not immortal, his body is destroyed, their dominion is stripped away. So the son of man here is a divine figure. He's a divine figure that is able to stand in the presence

of the eternal God. He's the figure who receives from God dominion and glory that is everlasting and universal. And so when Jesus then in the New Testament repeatedly takes this title, son of man upon his lips, this is the primary backdrop, this is the primary backdrop. Jesus is claiming that he is the fulfillment. The revelation of that one, like a son of man foreseen by Daniel, he's identifying himself as the majestic divine figure who will inherit

an everlasting kingdom. He's claiming that he is the Messiah, the promised one, the anointed one, the Christ, the one in whom all of Israel hoped and longed for would restore to Israel the kingdom. Jesus is claiming to be that one. The fulfillment of this prophecy,

The Son of man though is not only forcing in Daniel chapter seven, but he's seen, he's revealed. And the disciples see the son of man with their own eyes. They give witness to him in their writings. And so Jesus, when he uses the title, is not only referring to the fulfillment of the prophecies, but he is telling them something about who he is and what he has come to do. He's here to establish his kingdom. He's here to establish his kingdom.

If you got your Bibles open, you can flip over to Mark chapter two. Mark chapter two.

We find Jesus's first, the first instance where Jesus takes the title Son of man upon his lips. And Jesus oftentimes we're hearing Jesus say something about the son of man with his words. But here in Mark two, Jesus is not only saying that he is the son of man, he is showing himself to be the son of man, that son of man of Daniel seven, mark chapter two, Jesus is in Capernaum. And there while he is there, a paralytic is brought to him.

And Jesus says to the paralytic in verse five, son, your sins are forgiven. Some of the scribes are sitting there questioning in their hearts, why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming who can forgive sins but God alone. And then in verse nine, Jesus says to them, which is easier to say, which is easier to say to the paralytic, your sins are forgiven. Or to say, rise, take up your bed and walk. And here's the key verse,

but that you may know that the son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins. Jesus said to the paralytic, I say to you, rise, pick up your bed and go home. And the paralytic rose and immediately picked up his bed and went out before them all so that they were all amazed and glorified God saying, we never saw anything like this. Jesus is not just saying that he's the son of man, he is showing that he is the son of man.

You see, he does this miracle to attest that his words are true miracles all throughout the New Testament are meant to authenticate a message of a prophet and they authenticate Jesus's message. And we see here that Jesus has authority, right? He has authority. He claims authority not just over the physical world, he heals the man's body, but Jesus claims authority over the spiritual world. He forgives this man's sin. And the miracle is meant to confirm to all who are present

that Jesus has the authority to do both. And of course, I think even more than that, what this miracle is revealing to the disciples and to us is that the authority Jesus has originates with God. It originates with God. It has been given to him. The scribes of course, are saying, who can forgive sins, but God alone? That's the, that's the right question. The answer is no one, no one can forgive sins but God alone. And so Jesus does this miracle to demonstrate to

all those watching. I not only have authority over the physical world when I say your sins are forgiven, I have authority to forgive sins. So in light of the backdrop of Daniel seven, what we find in Mark two where Jesus first takes that title, son of man upon his lips, is exactly what we would expect to find. Jesus here is exercising authority. He's exercising dominion. His majesty and his glory is revealed to those around him.

But what's interesting is that throughout the New Testament, as Jesus takes the title upon his lips, he does so in an unexpected way. This is the expected way, but he does so in a very unexpected way. And at least 10 instances where Jesus says, brings the the title Son of man to his lips to refer to himself, he says that the son of man must suffer, the son of man must be given over and die. Of course, the probably most well-known passage

that fits this context would be marked 10 45. The son of man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. At this point, I think we might ask, what is the connection between these seemingly juxtaposed contexts? If Jesus is the son of man from Daniel chapter seven, why is Jesus then taking the title and associating it with suffering and with death? Daniel seven doesn't say anything about that.

It just says that this son of man is exercising dominion, a universal glorious dominion. It would seem that suffering diminishes glory, right? It would seem that suffering would diminish his glory.

You know, well what happens Throughout Jesus' life, the religious authorities believed that they humiliated the so-called King when they flogged him and had him killed, they thought they had proven to the world for all time that Jesus was a fraudulent Messiah. When Jesus hung on the cross and he breathed his last breath, the devil believed that the son of man was conquered when he hung nailed to a cross, cursed by men and cursed by God.

How do these contexts fit together? They, they seem to not fit together. Even Jesus' followers had a hard time understanding Jesus. When Jesus is talking about his suffering, as soon as Jesus or as soon as Peter finishes his great confession about Jesus being the Christ, the son of God, Peter then rebukes Jesus. When Jesus begins to talk about how he must suffer and die,

and then at the end of the gospels in Luke 24, those folks are on the Emmaus road and they're downcast. They look sad and Jesus approaches them and he's asking them why they're sad. And they say, what? Why are you? Have you been gone? Everybody knows what happened in Jerusalem. And they say to Jesus, we hoped, we hoped that that Jesus who hung on the cross, our hopes were in him. We thought he was the Messiah, the one to redeem Israel.

So even, even to Jesus' followers, it seems like these cannot go together. These are juxtaposed contexts that cannot fit. And maybe to us, maybe to you, it would seem that suffering diminishes the glory of the son of man. But in actuality, it's just the other way around. For the son of man, the the suffering that the son of man undergoes actually magnifies his glory as the son of man, the son of man suffering and dying does not make him the conquered.

It makes him the conqueror. And that's what nobody could understand. That's what nobody was seeing or believing about Jesus. Even when he told them until after Jesus died and rose again. You see, it was by the very same means that Jesus' enemies thought they had conquered Jesus, that Jesus had actually conquered them, that the Son of man was conquering. It was by the very same means that Jesus's enemies, the enemies of the Son of man,

thought they were humiliating Jesus, where Jesus was actually exalted, where the son of man was exalted. It's immediately after Judas departs from Jesus in the upper room that Jesus declares this now is the son of man glorified, now is the son of man glorified and God is glorified in him. In Jesus's mind, he is revealing to his disciples and he's revealing to us that on his, on the earth, as he's ministering, as he's suffering, as he's dying,

that the title Son of man still fits. It still fits. It may not be revealed in Daniel seven, but it is he's fulfilling all the prophecies of the Old Testament concerning the Messiah, all of them. And what Jesus does as he hangs on the cross, as his glory is displayed, he's being lifted up. He's being lifted up. As he himself says in the book of John, the son of man is lifted up. And when the son of man is lifted up, he will draw

all people to himself, all people to himself. The glory of the Son of man is on display throughout his life in ways that we would expect through his teaching and his signs, but other ways that we would not expect unless he had told us through his suffering and through his death. Now you know what happens, right? He's delivered up, he's crucified, he's placed in the tomb. And then on the third day, just as the son of man fore tells, he rises from the grave.

And for 40 days after Jesus rises from the dead, what he's doing is he's instructing and teaching his disciples, he's showing them how he is the fulfillment of all the Old Testament prophecies. Everything finds their proper end in him. And then in Acts chapter one, as Jesus has finished teaching his disciples and on the 40th day what happens, they again are asking, Jesus is now the time that you're gonna restore the kingdom

to Israel is now the time.

And again, Jesus does. The unexpected or the unexpected. Unexpected happens for the son of man, he's taken up in the clouds to heaven. He ascends into heaven.

Jesus declares in his ministry through using the title Son of Man that he has come to establish his kingdom, his resurrection from the dead is the victory, the victorious vindication that all that Jesus has said, all that Jesus has done is right. He ascends to heaven in order to reign until he shall come again to consummate his kingdom. So Jesus repeatedly uses this title, son of Man, some of those instances where Jesus uses,

it just referred generally to his ministry. A number of them refer to his suffering, to his death and to his resurrection. But then there's a third category of these uses and that's about the future. His coming again, the consummation of his kingdom. Now when we read, read Daniel, we we did not receive any indication that the son of man was going to come once to inaugurate his kingdom and then much later fully to much later come to fully

and finally establish his kingdom forever. But Jesus throughout the gospels is telling them, telling us that the son of man has not come just once, but he will come again. And that is when he will fully and finally establish his kingdom.

Jesus did not tell them when he would return. He does not tell us when he will return. I just received a text message the other day from someone in my family, another pastor saying 2024 is the year Jesus is coming back. Jesus doesn't tell us when he's coming back,

but what Jesus does tell us is what he will do when he comes back. Matthew chapter 16, just after what we read earlier, Jesus says, the son of man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done. Jesus is telling us He's going to come to judge the earth, all of the earth, one of those uses of the son of man that that come outside of the gospels comes in Revelation 14,

John's vision of the son of man. And in his vision he sees the same. The son of man coming to execute judgment, grand judgment over not only individuals but over kingdoms.

And Jesus says that he will repay each person according to what he has done. He will judge in righteousness. He will judge with equity. Every law breaker will be gathered and cast out of his kingdom into the fiery furnace. Matthew 1341, while his elect, the elect of the son of man, will be gathered from every corner of the earth and gathered into his kingdom. Matthew 24 31,

Jesus is showing us in the gospels that his kingdom is now, but not yet. There's a partial fulfillment in his first coming, but when he comes again, he will fulfill every promise. He will consummate his kingdom, he will judge the nations, and then he will reign as king for all of eternity.

Jesus clearly says, you don't know the day or the hour, but I will return. And for those disciples that had to have been a huge help when they were hearing about Jesus suffering and dying right to encourage them and give them hope to help them be steadfast and help them endure suffering. They like us are living in between the times awaiting Jesus's return when he will fully and finally establish his kingdom. And so for us, the applications are simple.

Are you ready for the day of the son of man's return? He's promised he will come. He's already fulfilled the number of the promises and prophecies of the Old Testament. He's coming again. Are you ready? But I think it's also helpful just to ponder this, not going to elaborate on it tonight. Now's not the time and it's not the place, but the son of man will have what no other kingdom ever could have.

Universal rule, dominion that extends into all eternity. People serving him from every tribe and nation and people group, no kingdom of the earth, none. We still see the nations raging over the king and his anointed. But Jesus, when he comes again, he will set, he will judge, and he will set all things at peace and at rest. Are you ready? Are you ready? Brothers and sisters? When Jesus comes or when he uses, excuse me, when he uses the title Son

of Man, he's saying to us that he is fulfilling all the prophecies of Daniel and all the other prophets. He's the one who's kingdom is universal and eternal, and Jesus came as the son of man to establish his kingdom. He's reigning now as king in heaven and he will come again. He surely will come again in power and glory to judge the nations and to finally establish his kingdom once and for all. So who does Jesus say that he is?

What would he have us know about himself as he reveals himself to us through the title Son of Man? That is what he would have us to know.

Will you worship him as king? Will you yield your allegiance to him as your Lord? He deserves it. He is the glorious king, the glorious judge, and he will come again and all will see him. Let us pray.

Our Father in heaven, we pray that you would take this seed of your word, which has just been cast out, and that as it lands upon the soil of our hearts, that you would allow it to settle and rest in healthy soil, fertile soil, that it may bear fruit in our lives. We thank you for Jesus. We thank you that he spoke clearly about himself. We thank you that he has come to establish his kingdom and we thank you that He's coming again.

We ask that you would make us eager for his return. Help us to anticipate his return and until then, to remain steadfast and to endure, and we ask and pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen.