The Resurrection and the Return

 Jesus’ claim to be the Son of Man is little understood, even by Christians. That claim ensured his crucifixion, as the high priest considered it blasphemy (Matthew 26:64 and Mark 14:62).

Why?

To answer that, we turn to Daniel 7:13–14. I quote the verses in full:

"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.”

Here, this Son of Man receives all God’s authority, and all the earth worshiped Him—the latter a mark of His divinity. Jesus’ claim to be the Son of Man, did not refer to His humanity, but the celebrated Son of Man from the Daniel passage. Jesus confirmed it, as He He forecast his final “coming on the clouds of heaven” to the High Priest.

The High Priest understood this reference as the divine Messiah coming on the clouds of heaven from Daniel. For a man to make that claim amounted to blasphemy if the claim was not true. The High Priest assumed Jesus’ claim was untrue, making it blasphemy demanding death.

Because Jesus’ faced death, the resurrection was implicit in His prediction of His eventual return on the clouds; a claim He had already made earlier (Matthew 24:30), and repeated later by John (Revelation 1:7). His resurrection provided assurance of His return; the two are interwoven.

As he ascended into heaven—in a cloud—the angels confirmed His message. “‘Men of Galilee,’ they said, ‘why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven’” (Acts 1:11).

Jesus’ response to the high priest not only confirmed His real identity, but also declared His authority over death and the nations of the earth.

Find further insight on these issues in my books, Guess Who’s Coming to Reign: Jesus Talks about HIs Return, and Jesus: Is He Really God? Does It Really Matter? available from Amazon at www.amazon.ca, The Pebble Press at www.pebblepress.ca, or Christian bookstores.