Every intelligent and devout reader of Scripture must have discovered to some extent the vast range of truth which is unfolded and displayed in the various titles of our blessed Lord. Not one of them is without significance; they all indeed present some rays either of His essential or acquired glory. To study them, therefore, if guided and taught of the Holy Spirit, is the way to attain a deeper knowledge of His Person, and thus to be filled with God’s thoughts of His beloved Son. We may then well be encouraged to embark upon the consideration of the subject, even if we confine our attention in these pages to the one mentioned at the head of this chapter; that is, that of the Son of man.
It is found, as the reader will remember, in the Old Testament, and is used, as may be afterward shown, in a prophetic way of Christ. Both Psalm 8 and Daniel 7 introduce it, and manifestly in connection with the future glory of our blessed Lord. It is also used of Ezekiel (chaps. 2, 3, 4, etc.), and its application to the prophet in his especial circumstances will greatly help us to determine its meaning as assumed by Christ Himself.
We may then pass at once to consider the term as adopted by our Lord and Savior. Two things will aid us to apprehend its force and meaning — its place in the 8th Psalm, and the period of its adoption in the synoptical gospels; that is in Matthew, Mark and Luke. The subject of the first Psalm is the Righteous Man; in the second Psalm, God’s King is introduced, but “The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against His Anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us” (Psalm 2:2-3). The apostles cite and apply this scripture to the action of Herod and Pontius Pilate, together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in the rejection of Christ; and they also emphatically declare that the Jews in crucifying their Messiah, did but accomplish whatsoever God’s hand and His counsel had determined before to be done (Acts 4:25-28).
Thus, while God’s purposes can never be frustrated — for He will yet set His King upon His holy hill of Zion — Christ, when presented to the Jews for acceptance, was rejected. The next four psalms depict — to speak generally — the state of things among the Jews consequent upon their refusal of their Messiah, and also the feelings and experiences of the godly remnant who have attached themselves in heart to Christ before He establishes His throne; that is, during the period of His rejection by His ancient people. This brings us to Psalm 8 — a very important one in the way of God. Its opening sentence, “O LORD our Lord, how excellent is Thy name in all the earth!” gives the key to its interpretation. It is no longer a question of Israel or of the Messiah, but the whole earth is in view, and all things are put under the feet of the SON OF MAN. Now, inasmuch as Adam was not the Son of man, it would be plain, even if we had no further light upon the subject, that a greater than Adam was here set forth. But we have an inspired interpretation of the psalm in Hebrews 2, where the writer of the epistle shows that Jesus, who for the suffering of death was made a little lower than the angels, is now crowned with glory and honor; and he proceeds to show, beyond all contradiction, that it is under the feet of the glorified Man at God’s right hand, He having tasted death for every man (or everything), all things are put. Indeed, in two other epistles this is directly stated (see 1 Cor. 15:27-28; Eph. 1:22).
The conclusion then is, from the foregoing considerations, that on the rejection of Christ by the Jews He assumes the title of the Son of Man, and as such passes in prospect into a wider circle of glory in which all men and all things will be subjected to His sway. This conclusion will be confirmed by a reference to the teaching of the gospels. In Luke we read, for example, that on one occasion our blessed Lord put this question to His disciples, “Whom say the people that I am?” After they had answered, “John the Baptist; but some say, Elias; and others say, that one of the old prophets is risen again. He said unto them, but whom say ye that I am? Peter answering said, The Christ of God.” Then we find that he immediately charged them and commanded them to tell no man that thing; namely, that He was God’s Christ — the Messiah — saying, “The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be slain, and be raised the third day.” (Luke 9:18-22; see also Matt. 17:9; Mark 8:27-31; 9:9, 12, 30-32).
From these passages it is abundantly clear that the Lord adopted the title of Son of man in view of His rejection, suffering, and death; and second, it is as manifestly taught that it is in this chapter as the Son of man that He will have universal rule throughout the world. Daniel thus says, “I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought Him near before Him. and There was given Him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve Him” (Daniel 7:13-14).
Allusion has been made to the fact that the prophet Ezekiel is addressed by the same title, and the remarks of another upon this may aid the reader in understanding its general purport. He says, “The throne of the supreme and sovereign Lord God is seen in Chaldea — in the place where the prophet then was — among the Gentiles. It is no longer seen at Jerusalem in connection with the land; nor have we any law embodied, so to speak, in the throne, according to which an immediate government was exercised. Consequently, the voice of God speaks to Ezekiel as to a ‘son of man’ — a title that suited the testimony of a God who spoke outside of His people, as being no longer in their midst, but on the contrary as judging them from the throne of His sovereignty. It is Christ’s own title, looked at as rejected and outside of Israel, although He never ceases to think of the blessing of the people in grace. This puts the prophet in connection with the position of Christ Himself. He would not, thus rejected, allow His disciples to announce Him as the Christ (Luke 9), for the Son of man was to suffer.”
To apprehend this teaching concerning the title in question will enable us to pursue our subject with greater intelligence and profit, especially if it be remembered that it is only through the ministry of the Holy Spirit we can know the things that are freely given to us of God (1 Cor. 2).