SON OF MAN

This is the first of eighty nine times in the New Testament where the Lord is called the ‘Son of man’. The first mention of this term in the Old Testament was by Balaam when he said, ‘God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent’, Num. 23.19. However, by the incarnation, the astonishing reality is that God did become man and, in Jesus, we see One who is the ‘Son of man’. Yet the Lord Jesus, in becoming man, did not cease to be what He ever was, the eternal God.

The extent to which the Lord became man is indicated by our verses today. He did not come to the palaces of men but to the poverty of the manger. He did not come to the desirable locations of earth but to despised Nazareth. Those animals, foxes and birds, so often associated with evil, S. of S. 2. 15; Luke 13. 32; Matt. 13. 4, 32, were given place in preference to the Son of man who ‘hath not where to lay his head’.

He came to Bethlehem for a specific reason. When addressing Zacchaeus and those around him, the Lord revealed the mission that brought Him here; ‘the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost’, Luke 19.10. He came to rescue the lost. Such a mission did not bring him status or position. He was despised and rejected of men. Indeed, to those disciples who were vying for positions in the kingdom, the Lord said, ‘the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but ...to give his life a ransom for many’, Matt. 20. 28. He came to ransom the sinner in the grip of sin’s power.

How would He accomplish such a purpose? He would be betrayed into the hands of men, Matt. 17. 22, condemned to death, Matt. 20.18, killed, Mark 8.31, be three days in the heart of the earth, Matt. 12. 40, before rising again from the dead. Now, there is a man in the glory of heaven.

Soon, the Son of man who was rejected and cast out by this world will come to the earth again. He will come suddenly and unexpectedly, Matt. 24. 39. He will come ‘with power and great glory’, Matt. 24. 30, and establish His kingdom. What a prospect! What a vindication for the Son of man!