Son of God and Son of Man

Beautiful Savior! Lord of all the nations!
Son of God and Son of Man!
Glory and honor, praise, adoration,
Now and forevermore be thine.

In the twelfth chapter of the Gospel of John, Jesus and His disciples were having some good times, some spiritually high times.  Jesus had just raised Lazarus from the dead, and Lazarus' sister Martha had prepared a meal for Him and His disciples.  Martha's sister Mary had just anointed Jesus' feet with perfume, and Jesus said it was in preparation for His death.  Then Jesus had ridden through the streets of Jerusalem on a donkey, and all the people there were shouting Hosanna to Him and laying palm branches in front of the donkey, so that Jesus would have a smoother ride.The Pharisees were standing back watching all this take place, and all they could do was wonder at it all. "Look how the whole world has gone after him," they said. (John 12.19)

Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the Feast.  They came to Phillip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request.  "Sir," they said, "we would like to see Jesus."  Philip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus.  Jesus said to them, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.  I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed.  But if it dies, it produces many seeds."

What a strange answer to these Gentile men, who have come to Jesus with questions.  Had He come only for the Jews?  Must the Gentiles become Jews before they could be a disciple of Christ?  Or could they be His disciples and remain Gentile?  I can imagine they had heard of His miracles.  Maybe they wanted to know when He would come perform some for their people.  But when Jesus spoke to them, He spoke of dying.

"The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.  Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am my servant will also be.  My Father will honor the one who serves me." (John 12.25-26)

So he was giving some measure of hope to the Greeks (and, ultimately, to us as well).  But then Jesus started talking about His own death.  "But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to me."  Again, this was an encouragement to the Greeks, who did not share the country, the language, or the presence of Jesus when He was ministering in Israel.  But the Jews in the crowd did not understand.

The crowd spoke up, "We have heard from the Law that the Christ will remain forever, so how can you say, 'The Son of Man must be lifted up'?  Who is this 'Son of Man'?"  (John 12.34)

They had heard Him say He would go back to His Father.  They thought that "lifted up" meant that somehow he would fly away to heaven.  But their prophets had said that the Christ would rule the world forever.  How could this be?  Was he talking about another person when he said "Son of Man"?  It would only make sense later to them.  He was not talking about leaving them; He meant that He would be raised up on a cross to die. And death, for Him, would not be permanent.  So yes, he would be "lifted up" and also would fulfill the prophecies about the Christ ruling forever.

But why did Jesus use the phrase "Son of Man" to describe Himself?  Jesus refers to Himself in this way 81 times in the Gospels.  No one but Jesus ever referred to Him in this way--the Jews in the above verse used the term, but they were quoting Jesus when they did it.  They did not understand that Jesus meant it as a Messianic title, a name that would point to Himself as the one and only Messiah.

The first use of this phrase was in the book of Daniel.  In the 7th chapter of his book, Daniel describes all kinds of heavenly beings and spiritual beasts.  One looked like a lion, but with wings like eagles.  A second looked like a bear, and a third looked like a leopard.  The fourth beast was too terrifying to describe: it had iron teeth and ten horns, and each of the horns had an eyeball in it.  But when The Ancient of Days came, He slew the scary beast, and stripped the lion, bear and leopard of their powers, although the three animal-like beasts were left alive for awhile.

In the midst of all this, another being arrived, this one with a human form.

In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven.  He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into His presence.  He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped Him.  His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and His kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.

So Daniel saw this human figure, this son of man, that could approach the Almighty God, the Ancient of Days, without fear.  He was not destroyed like the scary beast; He was not stripped of His power like the other beasts in Daniel's vision.  Instead, He was given power, glory and authority, that all men of every nation and language would worship Him forever.

Jesus was speaking of Himself in these terms.  He was trying to give encouragement to the Greeks, who felt like they were on the outside looking in.  He was also trying to let the Jews know that although the Pharisees would succeed at killing Him, He would have power over death.

At the time Jesus spoke these words, the people did not understand.  Their eyes were blind, and they were confused by the rules of nature.  If Jesus were to die, then He would not live forever.  Their minds could not fathom the concept of a resurrection.  Sometimes we today get caught up inside the box of laws, rules and limits to what is possible.  But with God, all things are possible.  In our day, the power of God is hidden from us by leaders like the lion, the bear and the leopard; but The Ancient of Days has already defeated them, and rendered them powerless. O God, open our eyes so we can see.