Listen While You Work
Play this study as you work, drive, or rest. A simple way to keep the Word with you throughout your day, not only as a full sit-down study.
🎧 Listen to this study
Please note: this study is narrated with AI-generated audio, which may occasionally misread a Scripture reference (for example, "Acts 1 point 9" rather than "Acts 1 verse 9"). For the exact wording, please refer to your Bible.
Bible Study • The Identity of Christ
Jesus never called Himself "Son of Man" by accident. It was His most frequent self-designation, over 80 times in the Gospels. To understand why, you have to go back to Ezekiel, then to Daniel, and then watch what happens when Jesus walks into the room.
Daniel 7:13 (NKJV)
"I was watching in the night visions, and behold, One like the Son of Man, coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him."
The Hebrew Foundation
The phrase begins in Hebrew as ben adam, literally "son of Adam," meaning a mortal human being. God uses it to address Ezekiel throughout his entire book.
"And He said to me, 'Son of man, stand on your feet, and I will speak to you.'"
God calls Ezekiel ben adam more than 90 times in this book. The emphasis is on human frailty standing before an infinite God. Ezekiel is mortal. God is not.
"What is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him?"
Here ben adam is used in parallel with "man", it simply means a human being. Frail, created, dependent on God. This is the baseline meaning before Daniel transforms it.
The Turning Point
In Daniel 7, the phrase is no longer about human frailty. It describes a heavenly figure of eternal authority, a vision the Jewish people knew by heart, and one Jesus deliberately claimed as His own.
Daniel 7:13-14 (NKJV)
"I was watching in the night visions, and behold, One like the Son of Man, coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him. Then 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 the one which shall not be destroyed."
Throughout the Old Testament, coming on the clouds is imagery repeatedly associated with God's sovereign majesty (Psalm 104:3; Isaiah 19:1). Daniel's vision therefore presents a figure sharing in divine authority rather than an ordinary earthly ruler.
He approaches God directly and receives authority from Him, a heavenly, not earthly, coronation.
The Aramaic verb translated "serve" (pelach) is elsewhere used in Daniel for religious service rendered to God (Daniel 3:12, 17-18, 28; 6:16, 20). Many scholars therefore understand Daniel to portray this heavenly figure receiving honor that belongs uniquely to God.
No human king has an everlasting kingdom. This figure is in a category beyond any earthly ruler.
Daniel's "Son of Man" is not a weak, mortal human being. Daniel presents Him as a heavenly figure who receives everlasting dominion, glory, and a kingdom over all peoples. Within the broader witness of Scripture, Christians recognize this figure as Jesus Christ, the eternal God revealed in the flesh, whom the New Testament identifies as the fulfillment of this vision. When Jesus chose this title, those familiar with the Scriptures would have recognized exactly what He was reaching for.
In the Gospels
"Son of Man" is Jesus' most frequent self-designation in the Gospels. He never uses it by accident. Watch what He claims under that title.
"But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins..."
The scribes had just said silently, "This Man blasphemes!" (v.3) because only God can forgive sins (Mark 2:7). Jesus acknowledges their logic -- and then proves His authority by healing the paralytic. He forgives sin as the Son of Man.
"No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven."
Jesus speaks of the Son of Man as having come down from heaven, revealing the heavenly origin of the One now present in the flesh. This fits John's larger testimony that "the Word became flesh" (John 1:14).
"When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing of Myself..."
Jesus declares that when the Son of Man is lifted up, His true identity will be revealed. His words add to John's repeated use of the divine "I AM" language throughout the Gospel, culminating in the unmistakable declaration of John 8:58: "Before Abraham was, I AM." The religious leaders understood it as a claim to deity, and took up stones (v.59).
"Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?"
Jesus deliberately frames the question of His identity using the title "Son of Man," inviting His disciples to recognize Him not merely as a human teacher but as the promised Messiah revealed in Scripture. The answers range from John the Baptist to Elijah to Jeremiah. Then Peter breaks through: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God" (v.16). Jesus responds that flesh and blood did not reveal that, the Father did.
"The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified."
Jesus says this when Greeks seek to see Him, a foreshadowing that all nations will come to Him. Daniel 7:14 said all peoples, nations, and languages would serve the Son of Man. Jesus sees the fulfillment approaching.
"The high priest said to Him, 'I put You under oath by the living God: Tell us if You are the Christ, the Son of God!' Jesus said to him, 'It is as you said. Nevertheless, I say to you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven.' Then the high priest tore his clothes, saying, 'He has spoken blasphemy!'"
This is the moment everything converges. The high priest asks about "the Son of God." Jesus answers by combining Daniel 7:13 ("coming with the clouds of heaven") and Psalm 110:1 ("sitting at the right hand of Power"). Together these passages form one of the clearest Messianic and divine claims recorded in the Gospels, which is why the high priest immediately tears his robes and charges blasphemy.
The Deeper Question
Many assume "Son of Man" is a humble, self-effacing title, that Jesus was downplaying His divinity when He used it. The opposite is true.
During the first century, the title "Messiah" often carried political expectations of a military deliverer who would overthrow Roman rule. By consistently referring to Himself as the "Son of Man," Jesus revealed His identity through the language of Daniel 7 while defining His mission according to God's plan rather than popular expectation. Through His teaching, suffering, death, resurrection, and exaltation, He filled the title with its full biblical meaning.
Many of Jesus' hearers, especially those familiar with the Scriptures, would have recognized the imagery of Daniel 7:13. By calling Himself the Son of Man, Jesus was not saying "I am just a human." He was saying "I am the one Daniel saw coming on the clouds with an everlasting kingdom." That is not humility. This was one of the clearest and most significant Messianic claims Jesus repeatedly made about Himself.
"Son of Man" reflects the mystery of the Incarnation: the eternal Word made flesh (John 1:14), God manifested in the flesh (1 Timothy 3:16), and the fullness of the Godhead dwelling bodily in Christ (Colossians 2:9). He genuinely became man; He did not merely appear to be human.
When Jesus forgave sins as the Son of Man (Matthew 9:6), came down from heaven as the Son of Man (John 3:13), declared I AM as the Son of Man (John 8:28), and quoted Daniel 7 as the Son of Man (Matthew 26:64) -- He was not hiding who He was. He was showing it.
Far from denying His divinity, Jesus' use of "Son of Man" identifies Him with Daniel's heavenly figure while affirming the reality of the Incarnation. The New Testament reveals that the One Daniel saw is Jesus Christ, God manifested in the flesh.
After the Resurrection
After the Gospels, the title almost disappears, with two striking exceptions. Both confirm what Jesus had been claiming all along.
"But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and said, 'Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!'"
This is the only time in the New Testament that anyone other than Jesus uses the title "Son of Man" to refer to Jesus. Stephen is being stoned. He looks up and sees Jesus, and calls Him exactly what Jesus called Himself. The Daniel 7 figure is standing in glory.
"Then I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the seven lampstands One like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band."
John's vision of the glorified Christ uses the same language as Daniel 7, "One like the Son of Man." The description that follows (eyes like fire, voice like many waters, face like the sun) echoes the divine imagery of the Old Testament and reveals the glorified God in flesh. John's vision identifies Jesus as the fulfillment of Daniel's "Son of Man" and the exalted Lord who now reigns in glory. This imagery also appears in Revelation 14:14.
Side by Side
| Ezekiel (ben adam) | Daniel 7:13 | Jesus (NT) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who it refers to | The prophet Ezekiel | A heavenly figure in a vision | Jesus, of Himself |
| Core meaning | Mortal man before God | Eternal, divine king | God revealed in human flesh |
| What it emphasizes | Human frailty | Divine authority and glory | Both, the Incarnation |
| Relationship to clouds | None | Comes with clouds of heaven | Matthew 26:64, quoting Daniel 7 directly |
| Kingdom | None given | Everlasting dominion over all nations | Matthew 16:28, coming in His kingdom |
| Reaction to the claim | Ezekiel obeys | Daniel falls on his face (Daniel 8:17) | High priest tears his robes (Matthew 26:65) |
Memory Verse
"When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things."
John 8:28 (NKJV)
Go Deeper
Compare Daniel 7:13-14 with Matthew 26:63-65 side by side. What specific language does Jesus borrow from Daniel? Why does the high priest react the way he does?
If "Son of Man" meant only "humble human being," how do you explain Matthew 9:6 (forgives sins), John 3:13 (came from heaven), and John 8:28 (I AM)? What does the title actually claim?
Acts 7:56 is the only time after the Gospels that someone other than Jesus uses "Son of Man." Why does Stephen use it at this moment? What is he seeing and what is he saying about it?
Continue the Study
Go deeper into the identity of Jesus Christ and the fullness of the Godhead.
Want to know what the Bible teaches about salvation?