The Son of Man

Jesus has been called many things:

Christ/Messiah - Anointed one, a kingly figure/high priest come to set thing right.

Son of God - explains his Divinity, as part of the Trinity, related to God the Father, God become man.

Prophet - someone who speaks the words of God to the people.

Rabbi/teacher - Someone who explains the Word of God to the people

Nazarene - Someone who comes from nazareth/ someone totally dedicated to God

Son of Man - Jesus’s favorite title of himself, Litterally “the decendant of Adam.”

English Standard Version Chapter 8

27 And Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” 28 And they told him, “John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.” 29 And he asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Christ.” 30 And he strictly charged them to tell no one about him.

John the baptist - or John the baptist come back from the dead

People thought it was too weird that there were two mysterious teachers teaching similar things that didn’t fit into any of the established groups. And the miracles mean that he must of come back from the dead after King Herod beheaded him

King Herod even thinks this! - Mark 6:14

Mark 6:14 ESV

King Herod heard of it, for Jesus’ name had become known. Some said, “John the Baptist has been raised from the dead. That is why these miraculous powers are at work in him.”

Elijah, the prophet who was taken up into heaven in a chariot of Fire

Jewish tradition said that elijah would come back to herald the coming of the messiah

John the baptist filled this role.

One of the PRophets.

Peter calls him Christ/MEssiah,

Lets look at this account in Matthew

English Standard Version Chapter 16

13 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” 14 And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

First Jesus refers to himself as “the Son of Man” but what does that mean?

Jeremiah is added to this list for some reason, maybe because Jeremiah was often opposed to the kings and preists of Israel who were allowing Idolatry.

Simon calls his Christ/messiah, Son of the Living God. - Getting all of Jesus’s titles to him.

And then the passage continues:

English Standard Version Chapter 16

17 And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. 18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” 20 Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ.

Simon is his original name, it was a common name - comes from Simeon

Bar-Jonah “son of Jonah” so we know simon’s father’s name

Peter - Petrus - Cephus - Rock

On this Petra rock i will build my church, and the gates of Hell (literally gates of hades) will not stand against it.

Peter’s proclomation of faith in Christ becomes the foundation of the church

What do the gates of Hades have to do with any of this?

Jesus and his disciples are in Caesarea Philippi - a City built by Herod Phillip in honor of Ceasar in a region that was traditionally pagan, and it became the largest center for Pagan worship in the area. On the base of Mount hermon, the largest mountain in the area, which was seen by the people as a bridge between heaven and earth - similar to mount olympus.

This region in the old testament was believed by canaanites to be ruled by Giant demigods that guarded the gate to the underworld

Several pagan temples built into the base of the mountain

One of them was built in front of a cave used for sacrifice

Dedicated to the greek god pan - the half goat man,

Pan is the closest thing the greeks could find to Ba’al - the enemy of God in the Old Testament

So Jesus is with his Jewish disciples in a place where pagan roots are deep outside of a temple dedicated to the idol that God most despised, which is in front of a cave that in a mountain meant to be an entrance to the world of the dead/the underworld, and Jesus chooses here to say “the gates of hades will not prevail against my church”

Hades is a greek God in charge of the underworld/ the realm of the dead.

Jesus can point to the temples in the side of the mountain, and say This idolatry, this paganism, this worship of false gods through fear, and lust, and gluttony will not overcome my church.

Gates are not offensive structures, they are defensive.

Jesus just declared war on the false gods of his day, and claimed that his church would eradicate them.

And litterally on the next page, he proves it.

English Standard Version Chapter 17

17 And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. 2 And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light. 3 And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. 4 And Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.” 5 He was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” 6 When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and were terrified. 7 But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Rise, and have no fear.” 8 And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only.

Jesus proably takes Peter james and john up to the top of Mount Hermon, the same mountain that all these temples are built into the foot of, the mountain that locals believed touched heaven.

And there he reveals his true glory to them, and God speaks to them from the Glory cloud, the cloud that represented God’s presence in the old testament, and Moses - who represents the Law/the Torah, and Elijah who represents the prophets are there

Jesus has litterally put all of his enemies under his feet.

English Standard Version Psalm 110

The LORD says to my Lord:

“Sit at my right hand,

until I make your enemies your footstool

But even more so we see that Jesus is fulfilling his role as “the Son of Man”

English Standard Version Chapter 7

7 In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon, Daniel saw a dream and visions of his head as he lay in his bed. Then he wrote down the dream and told the sum of the matter. 2 Daniel declared, “I saw in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the great sea. 3 And four great beasts came up out of the sea, different from one another. 4 The first was like a lion and had eagles’ wings. Then as I looked its wings were plucked off, and it was lifted up from the ground and made to stand on two feet like a man, and the mind of a man was given to it. 5 And behold, another beast, a second one, like a bear. It was raised up on one side. It had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth; and it was told, ‘Arise, devour much flesh.’ 6 After this I looked, and behold, another, like a leopard, with four wings of a bird on its back. And the beast had four heads, and dominion was given to it. 7 After this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, terrifying and dreadful and exceedingly strong. It had great iron teeth; it devoured and broke in pieces and stamped what was left with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns. 8 I considered the horns, and behold, there came up among them another horn, a little one, before which three of the first horns were plucked up by the roots. And behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great things.

The Ancient of Days Reigns

9 “As I looked,

thrones were placed,

and the Ancient of Days took his seat;

his clothing was white as snow,

and the hair of his head like pure wool;

his throne was fiery flames;

its wheels were burning fire.

10  A stream of fire issued

and came out from before him;

a thousand thousands served him,

and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him;

the court sat in judgment,

and the books were opened.

11 “I looked then because of the sound of the great words that the horn was speaking. And as I looked, the beast was killed, and its body destroyed and given over to be burned with fire. 12 As for the rest of the beasts, their dominion was taken away, but their lives were prolonged for a season and a time.

The Son of Man Is Given Dominion

13 “I saw in 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.

14  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 his kingdom one

that shall not be destroyed.

This is a very odd vision, and a lot of it is poetic and symbolic, so we are going to simplify it a little bit.

Daniel has a vision of monsters ruling over the land - they are kingdoms, they have authority, and they are somewhat spiritual in nature. One of them is far worse than all the rest.

These are the spiritual forces that ran rampant over the world after the fall of mankind.

the same forces that the pagans worshiped,

It gets so bad that God shows up to bring justice

The great beast is destroyed, and the others loose their authority

and a “son of man” comes up from the earth, and is given the dominion that the beasts had.

Looking back at the tranfiguartion in Matthew:

Jesus “the son of man” declares war on the spiritual forces of darkness,

Comes up from among the idols and false Gods,

Comes to the throne of God and is given dominion over the earth

But he does not sit down on the throne yet. He still had work to do

From this point onward in Matthew mark and Luke Jesus is on a long walk towards Jerusalem where he will eventually be put to death on the cross, where the Son of man to whom all authority has been given gives his life, and in doing so defeats sin and death.

This points to Jesus being the one foretold of all the way back in the beginning in Genesis 3 14-15

Genesis 3:14–15 ESV

The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

The offspring of woman, which can be read as “the son of man” will crush the head of the serpent, a beast.

Daniel the beasts are trampling the world underfoot,

The son of man takes away the beast’s power and dominion

Crushing the head,

and he does it by allowing the snake to crush his heel.

Dying on the cross.

Jesus defeated the powers of Sin and death by living a perfect life, and allowing himself to be trampled by the beast. because he was perfect, and innocent as the Son of God, God’s justice demanded that power of the beast then be removed.

When we lived in our sin, before we come to jesus, we are living a life trampled on by the powers of Sin, Death, Anger, Rage, jealosy, hunger, it is a fight for our very survival

Jesus trampled those powers underfoot.

So why, when Jesus has defeated the beasts, would we continue to live as though we are under their rule?

We should seek to live lives under Jesus

Jesus, the son of man, did far more than just die for our sins, he gave us new life, a purpose, a calling, to help overcome the forces of darkness that are around us, and bring other people into the light. He came to retake the world from the power of sin and death, and he gives that task to us his church. To show the world the hope, peace, love, and Joy that Christ brings.