Jesus the Son of Man

To know the significance of Jesus’ person and work, we must consider what our Lord says about Himself. Throughout His earthly ministry, Jesus made claims regarding who He was and what He came to do (e.g., Mark 10:45; John 8:58). He also used titles for Himself to give His people understanding of His ministry, and among the most important of these is the title Son of Man.

We know that the Scriptures give many titles to Jesus, but the title Son of Man is one that Jesus Himself seemed to have preferred above all others, at least during His earthly ministry. In terms of frequency, New Testament scholars have noted that Jesus uses the title Son of Man for Himself more than any other title. Plainly, He wants us to know that there is something especially important about this title for understanding His mission.

What does the title Son of Man tell us about Jesus? Many of the early church fathers saw in the title evidence of the true humanity of Jesus. Certainly, we may infer the humanity of our Lord from His use of the title, but this does not seem to be the primary truth that Son of Man conveys. Looking at the Old Testament background of the title will help us here. First, we see that God calls the prophet Ezekiel “son of man” nearly one hundred times (e.g., Ezek. 2:1; 31:2). Consequently, the title Son of Man when applied to Jesus may be a key pointer to His prophetic office.

More important are the allusions to the book of Daniel that Jesus employs in today’s passage and elsewhere. When Jesus speaks of Himself as the Son of Man coming on the clouds (Mark 13:24–26), He undoubtedly has Daniel 7 in mind. That chapter records Daniel’s vision of four successive beasts, each of which has a dominion on the earth for a time, letting us know that they represent different kingdoms. The fourth beast wages a violent war against God’s people until the Ancient of Days—God Himself—destroys that last kingdom and hands everlasting dominion over to “one like a son of man” who has come to the Almighty on the clouds (7:13–14). Because Jesus is the Son of Man, Daniel’s vision describes our Lord’s ascension to receive His appointed reign from the Father, which was part of a complex of events that included the AD 70 destruction of Jerusalem, representing the Jewish kingdom that persecuted the early Christians. The title Son of Man, then, describes our Lord’s exalted reign over all things.