Observe the expression, “Sort of man.” This is the character in which, according to Dan. 7, the Lord will come, in a power and glory much greater than that of His manifestation as Messiah, the Son of David, and which will be displayed in a much wider sphere. As the Son of man He is the heir of all that God destines for man. (See Heb. 2:6-8; 1 Cor. 15:27.) He must, in consequence, seeing what man's condition is, suffer in order to possess this inheritance. He was there as the Messiah, but He must be received in His true character, Emmanuel; and the Jews must thus be tested morally. He will not have the kingdom on carnal principles. Rejected as Messiah, as Emmanuel, He postpones the period of those events which will close the ministry of His disciples with respect to Israel unto His coming us the Son of man. Meantime God has brought out other things, that had been hidden from the foundation of the world, the true glory of Jesus the Son of God, His heavenly glory as man, and the church united to Him in heaven. The judgment of Jerusalem, and the dispersion of the nation, have suspended the ministry which had begun at the moment of which the evangelist here speaks. That which has filled up the interval since then is not the subject here of the Lord's discourse, which refers solely to the ministry that had the Jews for its object. The counsels of God with respect to the church, in connection with the glory of Jesus the right hand of God, we shall find spoken of elsewhere.
Luke will give us in more detail that which concerns the Son of man. In Matthew the Holy Ghost occupies us with the rejection of Emmanuel.