By default, we are typical sons/daughters of Adam. We have the same impulses as that of Adam and Eve. Instead of pleasing God… we chase whatever is pleasing to the eye. Instead of mastering our cravings and desires… we’re conquered by them. Instead of trusting God… we question his goodness and subvert his authority as the One True God, the Only King, Lawgiver & Judge, and Lord of the earth.
Instead of assuming our role as Creatures… we imagine ourselves our own Creators. We’re perpetually trying to make a name for ourselves, claiming status, seizing power, vying for control, at great cost to ourselves and others. We dreamed of being like God, only to wake up to a nightmare. We imagined we could defy gravity, that we could soar to greater and greater heights without God! But, we’ve only descended deeper into the depths of corruption and sin and self-ruin even death.
The Fall of Adam and Eve
I don’t know what brought you to Lakeside today. Perhaps you’re tired of being your own god. Maybe you’re tired of looking to other people to be/do for you what only God can be/do. In the beginning, God promised Adam and Eve that he would send forth a Son, who would crush the head of Satan under His feet, and rescue us from the Satanic compulsions that well up deep within our hearts.
The Promise Through Abraham
Through Abraham, God sought to establish for His own glory, a people and nation, of whom He’d truly be God and King. God’s promise “to bless Abraham,” would come through one of his distant offspring, a child, a son. As a sign of God’s covenant, Abraham and all his descendants began circumcising themselves. Their circumcision reminded them most intimately and personally, that by faith, they were waiting for a Child, a Christ, a King, a Ruler, a Son through whom every nation on earth would be blessed.
Failed Kings & Kingdoms
But God’s people grew restless, and refused to wait on God’s promise. So they demanded God appoint them a “king” so their nation could function like all the other nations. Instead of being ruled of God, they wanted to be ruled by a man. The best “earthly” King Abraham’s descendants ever had was David. But David never “was” nor could he ever “become” the kind of King God desired for his people. God alone is King over his people. We were created for His own pleasure and glory, and no other.
The Promised Son of Man
After King David, God extends His promise to send forth his King, his Christ, his Messiah, his Son. When we get to the later part of the Old Testament, God’s promised King is called the “Son of Man.” The “Son of Man” was one of primary ways Jesus referred to Himself (its used 88x in NT). This title is one of the most theologically loaded titles Jesus could have ever claimed for himself. It was as controversial for Jesus to call himself “The Son of Man” as it was the Son of Abraham, Son of David, or as we’ll see next week, Son of the Living God.
In the Old Testament book of Daniel we’re introduced to “The Son of Man.” Daniel is an amazing guy, and for the record, the book of Daniel isn’t about dieting, and no he doesn’t outline how to become fit and trim in 40 days or less, thank you Rick Warren!
Daniel lived around 600 B.C., smack dab in the era of the Prophets. You can divide the Old Testament into section. There is the time from Adam to Abraham, then Abraham to David, and then David to the Prophets, and finally the prophets to arrival of Christ Jesus. King David’s reign was a kind of apex, when Israel was at its greatest power and strength. But after David, Israel strays into idolatry. And the further she strays, the more she found herself disciplined by God. In the Scriptures God uses nations to discipline nations. So after David, nation after nation came against Israel.
The first nation to come against Israel was the brutal and murderous Assyrian Empire. Think ISIS 1.0! They invaded Israel and the valley of Armageddon and carried God’s people off as slaves/captives. The second nation God used to discipline Israel was Nebuchadnezzar and the dreadful/brutal Babylonian Empire. They were like ISIS 2.0., a murderous lot. The Babylonians invaded the valley of Armageddon and drove out the Assyrians! It was during this Babylonian period that Daniel lived. He was taken captive by the Babylonians and made to serve in King Nebuchadnezzar’s court.
What’s remarkable about Daniel is that he remains faithful to God, despite being in a hostile kingdom. If you are wondering what it might look like to live in enemy territory, Daniel is a great book. They threw Daniel into a lion’s den to terrorize him for his faith, but he trusted God. They threw three of his Hebrew brothers (Shadrach, Meschack, and Abendego) into a fiery furnace but they trusted God.
Throughout his life, God gave Daniel powerful visions and the ability to interpret dreams. In Daniel 7, Daniel is given a vision of the coming of “The Son of Man.” God showed Daniel, in a vision, what would come of the Babylonians, and the future of what would happen over the coming centuries.
In Daniel 7, God shows Daniel that the just like the Babylonians overthrew the Assyrians, the Babylonian Empire (the 1st Beast) would be overthrown by the Persians/Medes (the 2nd Beast). And then God shows Daniel how the Persians/Medes (the 2nd Beast) would be swallowed up by Alexander the Great and the Greek Empire! (The Greeks were the 3rd Beast!). But then the Greek Empire (the 3rd Beast) would be swallowed up by the Roman Empire (the 4th Beast). Daniel is most fascinated with the vision of the 4th Beast, because the Roman’s power so eclipsed that of the other beasts.
The Coming Son of Man
But the best part of Daniel 7 vision is that God shows Daniel how in the midst of one beastly nation after another rising and falling, God would send forth “The Son of Man” to reign and establish a Kingdom, of which there would be no end! What Kingdom would be greater than Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians/Medes, Greeks and Romans?
In Daniel 7:13-15 Daniel says, “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.”
A King Fully God and Fully Man
Now I have to tell you, the book of Daniel drives modern liberals insane. Because here is a prophetic chapter of Scripture not only forthtelling the rise and fall of empire after empire, but forthtelling the coming of the Christ. This phrase “Son of Man” is an overt reference to the God-like Messiah/King/Christ of Daniel 7. But it’s also an overt reference to the human-like nature of God’s Messiah/ King/ Christ/ Son. God’s King would be fully like God and fully like man. He’d be “of” God. He’d be given authority/ glory/ power/ worship/ lasting dominion. He’d be “of” God, able to stand in the very presence of the Ancient of Days. Yet he’d also be of man, a descendent of Adam, a descendent of Abraham, a descendant and successor to David’s throne.
Daniel wasn’t the only one to whom God revealed the Son of Man. Prophets like Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Isaiah, and many others saw the coming of the Christ. In the Bible they foretold the exact circumstances of his birth, his life, his ministry, his suffering, his death-burial-resurrection, his ascension to the right hand of God. Again, the prophets drive modern liberals insane. Because how could so many men prophesy so much detail about the life of a man who would come centuries later?
This phrase “Son of Man” is an overt reference to person/work of God’s Christ. His Christ King would be fully God, yet fully man. He’d be God come in the flesh. But there is more. This phrase “Son of Man” also declares the manner in which God’s King, God’s Christ, God’s Messiah, God’s Son would come and ascend to His throne!
So let me ask. How did Assyrians conquer the world? How did the Babylonians conquer the world? How did the Persians/Medes conquer the world? How did Alexander the Great and the Greeks conquer the world? How did the Romans conquer the world? How do modern nations seek to conquer the world? How do you think the nation of Israel expected God’s King to conquer the world? What kind of Kingdom do you suppose Israel was expecting God to come establish? And what kind of King did God actually send? And what kind of Kingdom did Christ Jesus actually establish?
God's Kind of King...
Israel set its hopes on a worldly king, who would use worldly means, to establish a worldly kingdom, that would satisfy all their worldly hopes/longings/pleasures. But God sent forth a heavenly king, who would use spiritual means, to establish an eternal kingdom… and Jesus would do it all for the pleasure/glory of the Father.
Kings always came in violence, Jesus came in humility. Kings always brought war, Jesus came in peace. Kings always arrived in the thunder of horses/chariots, Jesus would come silent in a manger. Kings would assert their power through coercion, power, intimidation, brutality, and instruments of torture. Jesus would assert his power through invitation, through submission even unto death, even unto an instrument of torture, even unto a cross. Kings would reign through sin and death, but Jesus would reign in righteousness, justice, and love, forever conquering the power of sin and death.
When Jesus claimed to be the “The Son of Man” he was making as much a statement about his identity and the manner to which he would ascend to the throne. He wouldn’t afflict people with suffering, he himself would suffer our afflictions. He wouldn’t go on a killing spree, like King Herod did upon Jesus’ birth. Jesus would willingly lay down his life and die. His kingdom would transcend all boundaries of space, time, geography, ethnicity, nationality, political stripe, tongue, tribe, and language.
Suppose you had a vision for conquering the world. Suppose like Israel you tasted the wrath of Kings and Kingdoms throughout your life. Let me ask, if you’d suffered as Israel suffered, would you have… could you in any way… have ever invented one like Jesus…. the Son of Abraham, of David, the Son of Man? No! You would have invented a greater beast. A beast of beasts. A monster of monsters. A terror of all terrors.
You never would have invented a manger Jesus, a baby Jesus, a meek Jesus, a suffering foot washing servant Jesus, a mocked/ridiculed Jesus. You wouldn’t have ever invented a triumphal Jesus ascending to his throne, meek and mild on a donkey. You wouldn’t have ever invented a crucified messiah, a dead but then resurrected and ascendant messiah. You wouldn’t have ever invented a messiah who reigns through race, mercy, love and forgiveness, and peace.
If it were up to you, you would have invented a warring general with a mighty army that instead of redeeming your enemies would decimate your enemies. But no, in your bitterness/hate you wouldn’t have ever invented a Christ King who ascends to his throne, going before his accusers, silent like a sheep being led to the slaughter. You would have invented a King led of the flesh, not of the Holy Spirit. A king more like yourself, but definitely not one like the Ancient of Days, like a Daniel 7 Son of Man!
But thanks be to God because this Christmas God sent forth not our kind of King but His kind of King! I wonder what it will take for us to recognize this King Jesus. John says, “He came to that which was his own, but his own didn’t recognize him.” What a terrible thing this Christmas that here God sends his King, but maybe we don’t recognize him, or take time to welcome him, or worship him, or celebrate him, or invite him to reign over our lives. Circumcision anticipated coming Christ; Baptism celebrates that King came (Death, Burial, Resurrection).