“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 nations and peoples 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.” Daniel 7:13-14
In
the context of Daniel’s dream, God gave Daniel information about Israel’s
future. Remember, they were exiled out
of Israel and lived in Babylon. Now Persia
took over and many people during this period were probably nervous wondering what was
next and would they ever return to Jerusalem.
For
the last six chapters of Daniel, God gave Daniel a series of mysterious visions with
strange imagery with sometimes unclear meaning.
God wanted to say to Daniel, “Here’s the future. I’m not going to explain everything, but I
know what’s going to happen. I’ve got it
under control.”
A
figure emerged from this glimpse into the future of someone very powerful, a
king, a judge, a man and yet eternal, worshiped by every nation and
language. Who else could that be but
Jesus Christ.
Daniel
and Ezekiel used this phrase “son of man” and even Jesus adopted it too, to
reference back to verses like this.
While the descriptions surrounding this phrase are used only in reference
to God, the phrase itself says it’s a man, born of flesh from a
woman.
God and man—Emmanuel, God with
us.