Before I begin, I’d like to address what Pastor Boyd had to say about leading in public prayer. He said that it’s difficult to know the heart. That is a question that everyone who leads in prayer, who teaches and preaches the word in public, anyone who’s conscientious at all, struggles with the same question. What I do know of my heart, I have to think, I don’t know that I’ve ever had a pure motive in all my life. But one of the responsibilities of those who pray in public is to lead the hearts of the people of God collectively into the presence of God. I am one who has benefited deeply from Pastor Boyd’s leading us in prayer together. I’ve appreciated it immensely, and so I just want to say, Pastor Boyd, you have those struggles. Please deal with them. Keep doing what you’re doing.
Daniel chapter 7. Daniel chapter 7. We’ve been working our way through this passage, this chapter now several times, once at one large quick brush, and then we went back to see the theme of the sovereignty of God as it is displayed in this chapter, and then through the book of Daniel as well. We then last time saw the theme of the little horn, as it was expounded in this passage. Today we come now to the theme of the Son of Man, which is a prominent part in this chapter as well. To refresh our memories, I do want to take the time to read through the entire chapter. You can follow along as I read.
Daniel chapter 7, I’ll begin with verse 1: “In the first year of Belshazzar, king of Babylon, Daniel saw a dream and visions of his head as he lay on his bed. Then he wrote down the dream and told the sum of the matter. Daniel declared, ‘I saw in my vision by night and behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the great sea. And four beasts came up out of the sea, different from one another. The first was like a lion and had eagle’s wings. And then I looked, as I looked, its wings were plucked off and it was lifted up from the ground and made to stand on two feet like a man and the mind of a man was given to it. And behold, another beast, a second one, like a bear, was raised up on one side. It had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth, and it was told, “Arise, devour much flesh.” And after this I looked, and behold, another, like a leopard, with four wings of a bird on its back. And the beast had four heads, and dominion was given to it.
After this I saw in the night vision and behold a fourth beast, terrifying and dreadful and exceedingly strong. It had great iron teeth, it devoured and broken pieces and stamped what was left with its feet. It was different from all the other beasts that were before it and it had ten horns. I considered the horns and behold, there came up among them another horn, a little one, before which three of the first horns were plucked up by the roots. And behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth speaking great things. As I looked, thrones were placed and the Ancient of Days took his seat. His clothing was white as snow and the hair of his head like pure wool. His throne was fiery flames. Its wheels were burning fire. A stream of fire issued and came out from before him. A thousand thousands served him and 10,000 times 10,000 stood before him. The court sat in judgment and the books were opened.
I looked then, because of the sound of the great words that the horn was speaking, and as I looked, the beast was killed, and its body was destroyed and given over to be burned with fire. As for the rest of the beast, their dominion was taken away, but their lives were prolonged for a season and a time. I saw in the night visions and behold with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man and he came to the ancient of days and was presented before him and to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom that all people’s nations languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.
As for me, Daniel, my spirit within me was anxious, and the visions of my head alarmed me. I approached one of those who stood there and asked him the truth concerning all this. So he told me and made known to me the interpretation of the things. These four great beasts are four kings who shall arise out of the earth. But the saints of the Most High shall receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever, forever and ever. Then I desired to know the truth about the fourth beast, which was different from all the rest, exceedingly terrifying with its teeth of iron and claws of bronze in which devoured and broken pieces and stamped what was left with its feet, and about the 10 horns that were on its head and the other horn that came up before which three of them fell, the horn that had eyes and a mouth that spoke great things and that seemed greater than its companions. As I looked, this horn made war with the saints and prevailed over them until the Ancient of Days came and judgment was given for the saints of the Most High, and the time came when the saints possessed the kingdom.
Thus he said, as for the fourth beast, there shall be a fourth kingdom on earth, which shall be different from all the kingdoms, and it shall devour the whole earth and trample it down and break it to pieces. As for the 10 horns out of this kingdom, 10 kings shall arise and another shall arise after them. He shall be different from the former ones and shall put down three kings. He shall speak words against the Most High and shall wear out the saints of the Most High and shall think to change the times and the law. And they shall be given into his hand for a time, times and half a time. But the court shall sit in judgment and his dominion shall be taken away to be consumed and destroyed to the end. And the kingdom and the dominion and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the most high. His kingdom shall be an everlasting kingdom and all dominions shall serve and obey him. Here’s the end of the matter. As for me, Daniel, my thoughts greatly alarmed me. My color changed, but I kept the matter in my heart.'”
Let’s bow together. Our Father, again, we thank you for this strange but marvelous portion of your word. We’re grateful for what we have learned thus far in it. We ask now that you will focus our attention on this glorious figure, the Son of Man, that we may gain a greater appreciation for him and a greater firmness of faith in him. Open your word for us, we pray, in Jesus’ name, amen.
We have seen in chapter 7 that it is divided into two rather equal halves. In verses 1 to 14 we have the vision itself, and then in verses 15 through 28 we have the interpretation of the vision. There are a few more details of the vision that are included in the interpretation, but essentially these are the divisions of the passage: the vision and then its interpretation. We saw that in verses 1 to 14, verses 1 to 8, we have these four beasts in succession which represent four kingdoms that will arise in succession from Babylon to Medo-Persia to Greece and then to Rome, and then out of Rome growing these ten horns and then this little horn coming out of it and these successive kingdoms after Rome.
We should mention that in this outlook here that he has, it is fairly clear that perhaps because the fourth kingdom, the fourth beast is not named—first of all, it’s a nondescript beast. It’s not like any of the others, but then it’s not identified as Rome as such. It clearly is Rome in view, but what is said about this kingdom, this fourth kingdom, is not exhausted by Rome and all that’s said about it. I think it pretty obviously then prefigures the kingdom of the world. These ten horns growing out of it are successive kingdoms that are arising out of the aftermath of the Roman Empire perhaps. But I think that conforms then pretty well to what we find in the book of Revelation where we have described at the end the world spoken of as a single kingdom. And I think that’s what’s in view here with this fourth beast. Rome obviously is in view and then it becomes more than that in the vision and takes us all the way to the end as we have seen.
So we’ve gone through and we saw that in this vision, the successive kingdoms come, the climax of it is at the judgment, the Ancient of Days shows up, and it’s a rather uneventful thing; you’re just done, your time is over, the beast is taken and burned, and the kingdom of God is established and it is forever and ever. In the central verses, verses 13 and 14, we see that the kingdom is given to the Son of Man figure that we’ll look at today. And then also we will see in later studies that it’s given not just to the Son of Man, but the saints of the Most High share in the rule as well. But that’s our focus for today: the Son of Man who establishes the kingdom of God.
The Son of Man is introduced for us here in verses 13 and 14: “And he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.” Now clearly in view here in the sweep of the chapter with these successive kingdoms, with the purview all the way to the end, this is clearly the establishment of the kingdom of God. But what is highlighted and what’s emphasized for us in verses 13 and 14 is that the kingdom of God is given to this Son of Man. He is the one who receives the kingdom. That is to say, he is the one who rules. He comes on the clouds. Keep that in mind. We’ll see that becomes an important phrase later on as well. He comes on the clouds. He appears before the Ancient of Days. He’s given universal dominion. His dominion is not only universal, it’s eternal. It will never pass away and never be destroyed. Whoever he is, verses 13 and 14, whoever the Son of Man is, he’s one who has earned the right to rule and he has earned the right to serve as God’s king over all the earth in the kingdom of God.
Now, I want to look, if we can this morning, at this title, the Son of Man, and try to identify it and see what its significance is. We have the Lord’s Table in a little while. I’m not sure I’ll be able to finish this morning, but we’ll see how far we can go. We’ll look at this in three steps. First of all, the title, Son of Man. What’s the significance of that? Next, we’ll look at the identity of the Son of Man. Who is it? And of course, you know the answer to that. And then number three, we will look at the implications of this title, the Son of Man, and how that is fleshed out in the rest of scripture.
The Title, Son of Man
So first of all, the title, Son of Man, how is that significant? Well, the answer to the question, how is the title, Son of Man, significant? The answer to that is not a quick and easy one. And in fact, there are layers of significance to the title, the Son of Man. Not three different significances, but layers of significance to this title, and we’ll have to look at them just briefly.
Number one, the expression Son of Man is just a Semitic way of saying a human being. If you’re the son of man, you’re a man. You’re human. That’s the idea. In fact, this phrase is used that way plenty of times in the Old Testament. I’ll just give you an example. Job chapter 16 verse 21: “A man would not dare to argue his case with God as a son of man does with his neighbor.” That is, like a human would do on a horizontal level, argue with another human being, you would never argue like that to God. You don’t have the standing. Son of man means a human being. We find that phrase, I think, more than a dozen times in the prophecy of Ezekiel, where Ezekiel the prophet is called the son of man. Son of man, prophesy. This means you, man, human being. And that’s the significance of it. So in this context then, these other kingdoms are beastly and they are inhuman. But this kingdom that’s being established here rests in the hands of a man. And I think we are to infer also then it is a humane kingdom. And we’ll see how that plays out perhaps next time.
So the title Son of Man on one level simply just means it’s a human being. Second layer of significance to this title: it’s a messianic title. It’s a title that’s obviously in reference to the Messiah who’s been promised. In verses 13 and 14, pretty clearly here we have a coronation scene where the Son of Man comes and receives universal kingship. Well, if you’ve read through the Old Testament with any attention given to it at all, you’ve caught on to this expectation of this Davidic son, this Davidic king who will come and rule not only on David’s throne, but will rule universally over the entire earth. And that’s pretty clear what’s in view here. That conforms pretty obviously to chapter 2 in the vision then. You remember that metallic image with the successive kingdoms with the varying metals of the kingdom from the gold head to the silver, and then to the bronze, and then to the iron. And then you have this great boulder that’s cut out of the mountain without human hand, and it comes and crushes the image and grinds it to powder. Clearly it is the kingdom of God that is coming, and that is what’s happening here, only with different figures in view. The Son of Man is the Messiah who comes to receive the kingdom of God.
And within the sweep of the Old Testament messianic expectation, I think you just can’t miss it. In fact, in Hebrews chapter 2, this phrase, the Son of Man, is picked up and tied tightly to Jesus as well. And in fact, I think that’s where the title, Son of Man, expands just a bit. It’s not just a messianic title, but here we have something of, if you can remember back some months ago in our series on the Bible story of salvation, Adam Christology—that there’s Adam and there’s Jesus, who is the second Adam, and where Adam failed, Jesus succeeds. We have something of that here with this Son of Man title as well. In Genesis chapter 1, verses 26 and following, Adam is given dominion over the earth as God’s appointed king. He failed in that dominion. It was usurped by Satan. And here Daniel picks up that line of thinking, and the Son of Man is given dominion over the beast, and he’s given dominion over the entire earth, and he is succeeding where Adam failed.
And that’s exactly the way it’s picked up in Hebrews chapter 2. You might remember, I don’t have the time to chase these down with you, you might remember we saw in Psalm 8 that David rejoices in the dignity that has been given to humanity. “What is man that you are mindful of him and the son of man that you care for him. You’ve made him a little lower than the angels, the great dignity. You put all things under his feet.” But of course that is a dominion that has not yet been realized. And so Hebrews 2 picks that up and says, no, it hasn’t been realized yet. But we see Jesus made a little lower than the angels, crowned with glory and honor. And he has succeeded where Adam failed. And he is the new man, the new Adam. And that I think is going on here as well. This king is not just the son of Israel and not just the son of David. He is the son of man. He’s given dominion over the entire world. His kingship is universal. He has succeeded where Adam has failed. So without question, I think this is the Messiah that is in view here. Who else could it be? And in fact, that was the earliest and always dominant interpretation even among the Jews.
There’s another layer of significance to this title, Son of Man, though, that we have to see, and that is not only does it indicate his humanness—Son of Man is a term that means he’s a man—and not only does it speak of his messianic title, his position as messianic king, but also this term Son of Man in the way it’s used here requires that we say something of his transcendence as well. This Son of Man is a man for sure. He’s the son of David. But there’s more going on here than that. He’s also a being of heavenly origin. And so we have here, notice in verse 13, “I saw one like the son of man. There came one like the son of man.” Why doesn’t it just say there came a son of man? But one like the Son of Man. Why do you have to say that? Well, I think the following details, well, the details in verses 13 and 15 fill in the answer for us.
First of all, verse 13, he comes on the clouds of heaven. Well, who in the world does that? Who rides the clouds? Well, in fact, that’s terminology that is frequently in the Old Testament associated with God himself. He comes on the clouds. You can find that in Psalm 68. You can find it in Isaiah in a couple of places as well. So he comes on the clouds. Also here, he stands before God’s throne. So he has a right to be there. And he comes to the throne not from earth to heaven. He’s just there. He appears before the divine throne as one that has the right. And then the terminology, this is later in the passage or what we’ve seen here, the kingdom is given to the saints of the Most High. This is more than I can chase down at this point. This is something I just learned this week in studying the passage, that the term the Most High throughout Daniel obviously is a reference to God himself. But in this passage, the phrase, “the saints of the most high,” the expression, the “most high” is a different expression from the other times in Daniel. And it has evidently reference to the Son of Man himself, who is the most high.
So it’s a recognition of his deity, but there’s also a distinction between him and God in some sense. And I think we are here into the, into Trinitarian theology as well. All of that to say we have here presented for us not just one who is human, one who’s a man, but also the transcendent nature of the Messiah. He is both human and divine. And in fact, we have more in the passage, in the fact of verse 14, “all peoples and nations and languages should serve him.” And that term as well has the idea of not just serving, waiting on, but venerating, paying homage to, and serving him. And in fact this expression, all peoples, nations, and languages serving and obeying him—you remember that’s what we’ve been set up for several times through Daniel. This is what Nebuchadnezzar thought in chapter 3 when he set up this great image so that all peoples and nations and languages should worship him. And now that is being realized not in Nebuchadnezzar but in the Son of Man. All peoples and nations and languages are worshiping him and paying homage to him. So he’s the object of universal homage.
So the Son of Man is a man, but he’s just as certainly a divine being. By the way, Daniel 7 is not the only passage in the Old Testament that teaches us about this supernatural Messiah, this transcendent Messiah. You find it in other places, in the prophets as well as the Psalms. Psalm 45, for example, speaking of the Davidic king and suddenly the language goes beyond it and says, “your throne O God is forever and ever.” We find it for example in Isaiah chapter 9 that this son, this child that is given, the son that is born, this Davidic descendant who is coming, this human being who’s coming, “his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father.” This note of the transcendent Messiah who is, yes, David’s son, but also David’s Lord is something we find not infrequently in the Old Testament. Psalm 110 was another time: “the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.” But that’s what Daniel is teaching us here, that this Son of Man is a human being, he is the Messiah, and he is the transcendent being from heaven itself. He is God, and he is man.
The Identity of the Son of Man
So we come then to the second point, his identity. You looked at the title, now his identity. Who do you think that is? This one who is of divine origin and yet is a man. This one who receives the kingdom from God and yet has a right to it and has earned it. And of course we recognize immediately if you’ve read through the Bible even once just instinctively you realize this is speaking of Jesus. Then the whole sweep of the Bible’s messianic hope and you’ve read the Bible story, you just can’t miss it. It is Jesus who takes the throne and takes authority and dominion over the kingdom of God.
Come to the Gospels, we find that Jesus is presented not just as a man born of Mary, but as the God-man, the great doctrine of the incarnation, that he is both God and man in one person. And in fact, if there were any doubt, Jesus himself confirms it for us all through the Gospels, particularly in the Synoptic Gospels, but all through the Gospels. Jesus’ favorite self-designation is this term here that we find in verse 13, the Son of Man. When he refers to himself, he doesn’t usually say, “I.” He says, “the Son of Man.” This is his title chosen from Daniel, making the point that he is Daniel’s prophesied Son of Man. Some 80, more than 80 times in the gospel, Jesus taking that title to himself.
Implications of This Title, the Son of Man
Now what are the implications then of this title? We’ve seen the significance of the title, the identity of who the son of man is. What are the implications of it? And I can tell already we will not be able to finish today, but let’s get started.
When we come to the New Testament, this term, Son of Man, Jesus uses it, as I say, over 80 times in the New Testament, in the Gospels. And you take all of those times that Jesus refers to himself as the Son of Man, and it turns out that there are basically three broad associations with the term as Jesus uses it. Number one, Jesus uses this term, Son of Man, to speak of his authority, even in his earthly ministry. His authority, even in his earthly ministry. Now, authority is clearly what’s in view and emphasized here in Daniel 7 verse 13. He is the one who receives the kingdom. The Ancient of Days gives it to him. You’re the ruler. You’re the king. You have this authority. And all peoples and nations and languages will serve him.” When Jesus uses the term, one of the associations with it often is this notion of authority even in his earthly ministry.
Let’s take the time to look at one. Look at Matthew chapter 9. Matthew chapter 9. I’ll begin reading with verse 1, Matthew 9 verse 1: “And getting into a boat, he crossed over and came to his own city. And behold, some people brought to him a paralytic lying in a bed. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, ‘Take heart, my son, your sins are forgiven.’ And behold, some of the scribes said to themselves, ‘This man is blaspheming.’ Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, ‘Why do you think evil in your hearts? For which is easier to say, “Your sins are forgiven,” or to say, “Rise and walk”? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.’ He then said to the paralytic, ‘Rise, pick up your bed, and go home.’ And he rose and went home. When the crowd saw it, they were afraid, and they glorified God, who had given such authority to men.”
A marvelous scene. Here you have these men, theologians of the day, all committed to their opposition to Jesus. A couple of men bring this paralytic to Jesus in hopes that he will heal him. Paralytic—he looks at the paralytic, and instead of saying, just rise, get up, and walk, he says, “your sins are forgiven.” The scribes, the Pharisees are thinking, who does he think he is? I mean, it’s not like this man had sinned against him, and he’s just forgiven him of a personal offense. It’s obvious he’s going further. Who does he think he is? Speak for God? And so Jesus says, well, it should be easier. Say, your sins are forgiven, or rise up and bed and walk. They’re both pretty tough. But then he even specifies, just so you know, that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins. That’s why I’ve said it. And so he says, rise, take up your bed and walk.
Now the Pharisees, the scribes and the Pharisees, they’re right on one count. And that is no one has that authority except God himself. What they won’t acknowledge is that that authority belongs to Jesus. But that is exactly the point that Jesus is pushing. And notice it’s in the connotations of the Son of Man. The Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins. We could turn a page or two. Chapter 12, we find the same thing. I’ll just mention it briefly. Verses 1 through 8, we have this incident where Jesus’ disciples are plucking some heads of grain as they walk past the field on the Sabbath day. The Pharisees come and make a big to-do over it and said, “oh, your disciples are violating the law of Moses. They’re harvesting grain on the Sabbath.” It’s hardly harvesting. And Jesus could have answered on that level. “Look, guys, they’re not harvesting, they’re eating.” But that’s not what Jesus says. Jesus takes the opportunity to ratchet it up a bit and make it a Christological manifesto. And he ends up in verse 8 saying, “the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.” Whoa! Who do you think you are?
In other words, Jesus’ defense against his critics—”your disciples are eating grain on the Sabbath, harvesting on the Sabbath”—Jesus’ defense is not, “Hey, they’re not harvesting, forget it.” His defense is, “I’m an exceptional case.” Isn’t that amazing? The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath. It’s hard to find anything more sacred than the Sabbath. This is God-given, if anything was. And here Jesus claims for himself this remarkable authority that he is the Lord of the Sabbath. Well, we find this often in Jesus’ ministry. For instance, when he casts out demons, like we read this morning in Luke’s Gospel, he makes the point. His casting out demons is indicative of the fact that he has the authority on earth to do that, and he has brought in the kingdom. Well, that is something we find emphasized often. That’s one of the associations of this term, that Jesus is the Son of Man. He has this authority that was promised in Daniel’s prophecy.
I thought I would get much further than this this morning, but we do have the Lord’s Table to observe this morning, so I think I will leave it at this. It’s a terrible way to leave the sermon before you get to the conclusion, but I think that’s where we’ll go this morning. If you would like, through the week, look at some of the passages in the Gospels where Jesus takes this term, the Son of Man, and see what the associations are, and we’ll see then how that relates back to the prophecy of Daniel itself. Bow together for prayer.
Our Father, we are grateful to see in Jesus the realization of this great hope that the kingdom belongs to him. How we long to see that brought to culmination, but we rejoice now to know that he is king. We’re grateful that you have rescued us out of the kingdom of Satan. You’ve transferred us into the kingdom of your dear son, that we enjoy his kingship today as he rules over us. Give us through this a greater love and admiration and faith in him. We ask in his name, amen.