The "Son of man" was one of the ways that Jesus would refer to himself. You have to use proper context when you interpret the Bible. And that is one of the problems with the Bible. When it comes to Jesus predicting that he would return during the disciples' lifetimes and that would be the beginning of the end time the prophecy is there.
WHAT JESUS SAID
“For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and will then repay every man according to his deeds. Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.“ (Matthew 16: 27, 28)
“Behold, I have told you in advance. So if they say to you, ‘Behold, He is in the wilderness,’ do not go out, or, ‘Behold, He is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe them. For just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes even to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be. Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.
But immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. And He will send forth His angels with a great trumpet and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.
Now learn the parable from the fig tree: when its branch has already become tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near; so, you too, when you see all these things, recognize that He is near, right at the door. Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.“ (Matthew 24: 25-34)
Jesus’ Failed Prophecy About His Return
Other believers at that time seemed to believe the same thing:
WHAT NEW TESTAMENT WRITERS BELIEVED
“Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son…” (Hebrews 1:1-2)
“Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come.” (1 Corinthians 10:11)
“And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” (Hebrews 10:24-25)
“Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour.” (1 John 2:18)
“Do not seek a wife. This is what I mean, brothers: the appointed time has grown very short. From now on, let those who have wives live as though they had none, and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no goods, and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away.” (1 Corinthians 7:27,29-31)
“The end of all things is near…” (1 Peter 4:7)
Same sources as above.
You and I had this conversation before and I saved the post in a Word document in a folder entitled 'Son of man in the clouds.' I always save any long posts that contain important information, as that saves a lot of time since invariably this subject will come up again with a Christian (see post #1199 below).
"One" of the biggest mistakes Christians made was 'believing' that the same Jesus in the same body He had when He resurrected and ascended ti heaven in the clouds (Acts 1:9-11) will return someday in the clouds, as it left! The whole idea is completely absurd, first because Jesus never rose from the dead, and second because Jesus never ascended into the clouds in a physical body, thus defying gravity.
I know you have no dog in this fight but I do, because the primary reason Christians have rejected Baha'u'llah is because He is not the same Jesus they want so much to return; but the return of the same man Jesus in the clouds is a complete fabrication if Christianity and a complete fantasy because Jesus never promised to return, not even once in the entire New Testament.
Baha’u’llah explained the meaning of clouds in
The Kitáb-i-Íqán. The term “clouds” as used in the Bible means those things that cloud our judgment and prevent us from seeing what is really there. Just like the physical clouds prevent the eyes of men from beholding the sun, the desires of men hindered men from recognizing the return of Christ.
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Subduction Zone said:
Does he had to do that every time? Quite often he referred to himself that way. It is only a reasonable conclusion that when he uses that phrase without claiming that he is the "Son of man" that he is referring to himself.
In some instances Jesus was referring to himself as the Son of Man and we know that because of the
context of those verses where the title is connected with the earthly life of Jesus we know about from cross verification (reading other verses). For example, we know from other verses that Jesus did the following when he came to earth:
But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins - he said to the paralytic (
Mark 2:10).
So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath (
Mark 2:28).
And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head (
Matthew 8:20)
For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost (
Luke 19:10).
And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again (
Mark 8:31).
It is not a reasonable conclusion to assume that Jesus was referring to Himself as the Son of Man who would come in the clouds with great power and glory because:
(a) Great power and glory is not consistent with the personality of Jesus. Jesus was meek and lowly.
(b) Son of man is not a title that belongs exclusively to Jesus, so there is no reason to believe that Jesus was the only Son of Man:
37 Bible verses about Son Of Man
"
Son of man", "
son of Adam", or "
like a man", are phrases used in the
Hebrew Bible, various
apocalyptic works of the
intertestamental period, and in the
Greek New Testament. In the indefinite form ("son of Adam", "son of man", "like a man") used in the Hebrew Bible it is a form of address, or it contrasts
human beings against
God and the
angels, or contrasts foreign nations (like Persia and Babylon), which are often represented as animals in apocalyptic writings (bear, goat, or ram), with Israel which is represented as human (a "son of man"), or it signifies an
eschatological human figure.
In its indefinite form it is used in the
Greek Old Testament,
Biblical apocrypha and
Pseudepigrapha. The Greek New Testament uses the earlier indefinite form while introducing a novel definite form, "the son of man."
Son of man - Wikipedia
(c) Jesus could not come back to earth in the same body because His body died on the cross. Jesus did not come back to life walk around and then ascend into the clouds to heaven and live there for 2000 years planning to return at some future date. This is all a belief that came into being from a misinterpretation and thus a misunderstanding of Bible verses, a grave misunderstanding.
(d) There are no verses wherein Jesus says He is coming back to earth and many verses where Jesus says He is not coming back to earth because His work is finished here: (
John 14:19,
John 17:11,
John 17:4,
John 19:30)
The logical conclusion we can draw is that the second coming was slated to be another man. Since truth from God is revealed progressively, Jesus promised to send the Comforter and the Spirit of truth to reveal more truth in the future, but Christians did not understand what Jesus was referring to and believed that was a reference ton the Holy Spirit that was sent to the disciples at Pentecost when on fact those were titles for the man who would be the second coming of Christ who was the return of the Spirit of Christ.
#1199 Trailblazer
