The Son of Man

I have received several letters asking me about the description of Jesus as being the “Son of Man.” In the Old Testament Jacob had a dream about a ladder that reached from earth to heaven. Angels of God ascended and descended the ladder. The divine purpose was to have men born into the family of God. The incarnation of Jesus Christ was necessary so that the Son of God may become the Son of Man. In doing so Jesus would become the Ladder connecting heaven to earth. This would create the opportunity for man to enter into the presence of God. What God demanded for mankind to be saved, only God could provide. But we do see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God, for Whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what He suffered. Both the One who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters. Hebrews 2:9-11 NIV

It was Jesus desire to become one of us, human, so that He may  be our merciful and faithful High Priest. He suffered being tempted as we are, except He never sinned.  He took on a body of humiliation so that through His death, burial, and resurrection we might be able to ascend to heaven. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, Who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bond-servant, and coming in the likeness of men.  And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Philippians 2:5-8 NKJV

  Jesus descended from the first Adam through the lineage of His mother Mary. She is the virgin God sent an angel to announce His birth as the Son of Man. He was God, and He was also man.  He was God in the flesh. Christ was in the beginning with God. This was His place of origin. He willingly took on a body of humiliation and made Himself of no reputation. It is impossible for us to fully fathom what He did for us until we reach heaven. He took on the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men. He did this so He could become the mediator between God and man. He became the man Christ Jesus who looks upon poor, dying sinners with compassion, Who commit no sins, and there in Him no deceit was found. He suffered death and did not fight back, but committed Himself to the One Who judges righteously.  Who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed. 1 Peter 2:24 NKJV

The Son of God became the Son of Man to fulfill the Law. He satisfied the righteousness and holiness of God, and even though He did not sin, He paid the price of a sinner’s death, providing us with a way to heaven and reuniting us with God.  His dominion and kingdom are everlasting, and He resides at the right hand of God the Father waiting for His enemies to be made His footstool.  Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:9-11 NKJV

When Christ died it was impossible for death to hold Him, because He is the Son of God. When He was resurrected from the dead He proved to everyone to be God’s Son. He was crucified as the Son of Man. He arose from the grave as the Son of Man, but He never stopped being the Son of God. He suffered as we do and bled as we do. He came forth from the tomb as the seed of David according to the flesh, but proved Himself to be the Son of God by His resurrection.  Jesus Christ has the right to give eternal life to all who believe. He completely satisfied the law of God, and then He laid His life down and took it up again by His own power, thus proving He is the Son of God. God became man so that He might prepare a way for us to enter our Father’s house. We do this by the ladder provided in Christ through His finished work. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.  He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. John 1:10-13 NKJV