"Who is this Son of Man?"

The multitude therefore answered Him, "We have heard out of the Law that the Christ is to remain forever; and how can You say, 'The Son of Man must be lifted up?' Who is this Son of Man?" (John 12:34)

I wanted to call this post "The amazing Son of Man," but it sounded too much like the amazing Spiderman. Oh well. He's still amazing.

When Jesus was on the earth, He called Himself by the name "Son of Man" more than any other name. You can find Him mentioning the name "Son of Man" more than 80 times in the New Testament.

When He does, this is what He's referring to-- something that was written by the prophet Daniel more than 500 years before:

I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven, one like a Son of Man was coming, and He came up to the Ancient of Days and was presented before Him.

And to Him was given dominion, glory and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations, and men of every language might serve Him.

His dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not pass away; and His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed. (Daniel 7:13-14)

I like to try to picture the clouds, picture Him before the throne, imagine Him receiving that kind of everlasting authority. Then with that picture in mind, to read some of the amazing things He said about Himself when He was here, walking among his disciples:

"The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head." (Matthew 8:20)

"...for just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." (Matthew 12:40)

"Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem; and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn Him to death, and will deliver Him to the Gentiles to mock and scourge and crucify Him, and on the third day He will be raised up." (Matthew 20:18-19)

"For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many." (Mark 10:45)

"For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost." (Luke 19:10)

"And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; that whoever believes may in Him have eternal life." (John 3:14-15)

"Truly, truly, I say to you; unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves." (John 6:53)

According to Daniel's prophecy, Jesus would be an everlasting King...The Everlasting King. The disciples, Pharisees, chief priests and others must have been familiar with the prophecy, at least to some extent. I wonder what Jesus' words sounded like to them?