Son of Man
Revelation 1:13 “One like a Son of Man.” Also 14:14.
Jesus referred to Himself in the third person as the “Son of Man” as in Matthew 11:19.[1] This was understood to be speaking of the Messiah.[2] Regarding the kingdom, He referred to Himself as the King. This was in reference to the passage in Daniel 7:13:
I saw in the night visions, and, behold, [one] like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. (Daniel 7:13)
The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. But wisdom is justified of her children. (Matt. 11:19)
Also in Luke 19:9-10:
9. And Jesus said unto him, This day is salvation come to this house, forsomuch as he also is a son of Abraham. 10. For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. (Luke 19)
Here Jesus was identifying Himself as the Messiah by reference to a passage in Ezekiel 34: 11-16:
For thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I, [even] I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out. 12 As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep [that are] scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day. 13 And I will bring them out from the people, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land, and feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the rivers, and in all the inhabited places of the country. 14 I will feed them in a good pasture, and upon the high mountains of Israel shall their fold be: there shall they lie in a good fold, and [in] a fat pasture shall they feed upon the mountains of Israel. 15 I will feed my flock, and I will cause them to lie down, saith the Lord GOD. 16 I will seek that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven away, and will bind up [that which was] broken, and will strengthen that which was sick: but I will destroy the fat and the strong; I will feed them with judgment.
Dr. Robert Lindsay believes that Jesus spoke in Hebrew because recent archaeological discoveries near the Temple site indicate that Hebrew was the spoken language in Jerusalem at that time. However, in these passages He was quoting from portions of the book of Daniel which were written in Aramaic, and so He used the Aramaic in these instances. In Aramaic the term Son of Man would be Bar-Enash. When translated into the Greek, the term would have been awkward, considered a barbarism, “The Son of The Man.”
The Son of Man as envisioned by Enoch had been hidden but was to be revealed to the elect:
And the kings and the mighty and all who possess the earth shall bless and glorify and extol him who rules over all, who was hidden. 7. For from the beginning the Son of Man was hidden, And the Most High preserved him in the presence of His might, And revealed him to the elect. (Emphasis added. Charles, Enoch 62.6).
The revelation of Jesus Christ, as the Son of Man, is therefore the fulfillment of Enoch‘s prophecy, as well as those of the Old Testament.
[1] I owe much of this discussion to a lesson given by Dr. Robert Lindsay on Channel 14 TBN television on December 11, 1988 at 2:30 p.m. CST. See also Robert Lindsay, Jesus Rabbi and Lord, (Oak Creek, Wisconsin, Cornerstone Publishing, 1990).
[2] The term “Son of Man” was familiar to the New Testament Jewish Church not only because of His mention in the book of Daniel, but also in the pseudepigraphical book of Enoch. (See Charles, Enoch.” The Book of Enoch is one of the pieces of literature with which the early Church was familiar and which seemed to be revered almost equally with the canonical writings. In fact, the Book of Enoch is quoted in Jude verses 14 and 15. The book therefore serves as a literary referent for many of the expressions and symbols used in the New Testament, and therefore should be considered as a part of the cultural context for the book of Revelation. Many of the obscure ideas of the book of Revelation will become clear after one reads the Book of Enoch.
The Book of Enoch is part of a body of literature known as the pseudepigrapha, which simply means that the author’s name, in this case Enoch, is a pseudonym for the real author. In fact, Oesterley quotes Burkitt, (Jewish and Christian Apocalypses, p. 18), regarding pseudonymous authorship: “…that the names were not chosen out of mere caprice; they indicated to a certain extent what subjects would be treated and the point of view of the writer.”
Charles, Enoch. p. 66, “48.2. And at that hour that Son of Man was named in the presence of the Lord of Spirits, And his name before the Head of Days. 3. Yea, before the sun and the signs were created, before the stars of the heaven were made, His name was named before the Lord of Spirits.”