Faithful on Fridays Blog

Scene Seven

With Christmas coming let’s focus on Jesus calling Himself the Son of Man looking at a few reasons why this is important during this season.

First of all, the prophet Daniel wrote about the Messiah coming to the Ancient of Days (God, the Father) calling Him the Son of Man. He’s the Son of God and also the Son of Man, who’d be miraculously conceived by a virgin (Is. 7:14), born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2), and raised in Nazareth (Is. 11:1). John 1:14 tells us Jesus was a human being living among His people: He’s the physical Son of Man. As Son of God He accepted the Plan of Redemption for mankind by giving up His divine form in heaven and taking on the form of man to complete the task (Phil. 2:6-8). 

Let’s look at a few statements of Jesus indicating why He called Himself by this name.

• He told a Hebrew teacher that animals have homes, but He, as the Son of Man has none (Matt. 8:20). Jesus knew heaven was His home and when the assignment was completed and He’d return there.

• The religious leaders asked for a sign proving He was the Messiah and Jesus pointed to Jonah who spent 3 days inside a fish and He, as the Son of Man will spend 3 days in Hades after His death (Matt. 12:40). 

• Jesus told His followers that when we acknowledge Him, He’ll acknowledge us in return. However, the reverse is true; deny the Son of Man and He’ll have no choice but to deny you (Luke 12:8-9).

• Jesus was the Son of Man with authority to forgive sins and heal people (Luke 5:17-26) since He came to seek and save lost mankind (Luke 19:10).

• After revealing Himself as the Messiah, the physical Son of Man, Peter declared that He was the Son of the Living God. They didn’t get His dual nature yet, but eventually they would (Matt. 16:27-28).

• Jesus called Himself the Son of Man who serves people as an example for us and to give His life as a physical ransom (Matt. 20:28) preparing them for His death as He’s physically ‘lifted up’ on a cross (John 8:28).

• The Son of Man is looking for faith on earth when He returns, but will He find it (Luke 18:8)? He’s preparing His followers for His death, but also His return.

• The ‘coming of the Son of Man’ will be in a glorified body, but He’ll retain His dual nature (Matt.  24:27).

Jesus is returning in a physical body because He’s the Son of Man, but also the Son of God who physically suffered, physically died, physically rose again, and physically ascended back into heaven. He’s the Son of Man who’ll return on the clouds in human form to retrieve us for eternity. That’s why His name, Son of Man, is important as we celebrate His first coming at Christmas.