JESUS, THE SON OF MAN

ACTS 7:54–60

“Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God”

(Acts 7:56).

As he was martyred, Stephen had a vision of Jesus, the Son of Man, standing next to God the Father. The title Son of Man occurs about eighty times in the New Testament. In almost every case it is found on the lips of Jesus because it was His favorite self-designation.

The key passage for understanding the expression Son of Man is in Daniel 7, especially verses 13–14. There, Daniel sees a divine figure coming on the clouds of heaven. That person is called the Son of Man, the Father’s agent to rule and judge the world. The Ancient of Days (the Father) calls on the Son of Man to bring judgment. He comes from the Father, evaluates the situation, reports back to the Father, and participates with Him in judgment.

When Jesus spoke of the Son of Man as coming to the world, He spoke of Himself as judge, seated at the Father’s right hand. We confess this in the Apostles’ Creed: “He ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty, from whence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead.”

In Acts 7, we find Stephen preaching the Gospel to the people, and then brought before the Sanhedrin. This was the religious supreme court of Israel. As this human court condemned Stephen, he looked up into heaven and saw Jesus, not sitting at the right hand of God, but standing up.

The earthly court was condemning Stephen, accusing him of blasphemy. In the court of heaven, however, the Judge, who sits at the right hand, is passing another judgment. In fact, the Judge gets up from His chair, and goes around to stand as Defense Counsel for the accused.

That is the incredible thing about the Gospel: God has designed our Judge to be our Defense Advocate, because the One who judges our sins has already died and paid the price for our sins. Stephen was condemned by men, but he stood acquitted in a higher court.

CORAM DEO

1 Chronicles 6–7

John 8:12–30

Jesus did not call Himself King or Messiah, but rather the Son of Man. After His ascension, the New Testament writers called Him Lord and Messiah (Christ). In other words Jesus called on the people to come to grips with Him as Judge and Advocate before they could have Him as their King. Have you done so?

For further study: Daniel 7; Matthew 8:18–22; 16:24–28

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