Jesus was deity
manifested in a human body, but He was not deity
incarnated in a human body.
“The Christian equivalent to the Bahá'í concept of Manifestation is the concept of
incarnation. The word to incarnate means 'to embody in flesh or 'to assume, or exist in, a bodily (esp. a human) form (
Oxford English Dictionary). From a Bahá'í point of view, the important question regarding the subject of incarnation is, what does Jesus incarnate? Bahá'ís can certainly say that Jesus incarnated Gods attributes, in the sense that in Jesus, Gods attributes were perfectly reflected and expressed.
[4] The Bahá'í scriptures, however, reject the belief that the ineffable essence of the Divinity was ever perfectly and completely contained in a single human body, because the Bahá'í scriptures emphasize the omnipresence and transcendence of the essence of God…..
One can argue that Bahá'u'lláh is asserting that
epistemologically the Manifestations are God, for they are the perfect embodiment of all we can know about God; but
ontologically they are not God, for they are not identical with God's essence. Perhaps this is the meaning of the words attributed to Jesus in the gospel of John: 'If you had known me, you would have known my Father also' (John 14:7) and 'he who has seen me has seen the Father (John 14:9)…..
The New Testament, similarly, contains statements where Jesus describes Himself as God, and others where He makes a distinction between Himself and God. For example, 'I and the Father are One (John 10:30); and 'the Father is in me, and I am in the Father (John 1038); but on the other hand, 'the Father is greater than I (John 14:28); and 'Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone (Mark 10:18; Luke 18:19). These statements do not contradict, but are complementary if one assumes they assert an epistemological oneness with God, but an ontological separateness from the Unknowable Essence.
The Christian concept of the Trinity arose out of the need to explain statements such as these. The earliest Christians tended to be "binitarian," that is, they stressed the Father and the Son. The third person of the Trinity was added because of the experience of the Spirit in Christian worship and in order to explain many doxologies and expressions used in worship that included the Holy Spirit…”
Jesus Christ in the Bahá'í Writings
As that video noted, one can use the scriptures to MEAN anything they want them to mean, but they have to be taken in their full context and in context with all the other scriptures in the Bible.
However, you are correct, if the person in Daniel 7:13-14 is only
someone “like” a son of man, then it certainly implies there must be some differences.
Jesus was the Son of man, so
"one like a son of man" who is rightful heir and successor to the divine throne was
the second coming of Christ who would come and fulfill the Daniel 7:13. It would not be the same Jesus, it would be another man who had some differences.
“THE Most Great Law is come, and the Ancient Beauty ruleth upon the throne of David. Thus hath My Pen spoken that which the histories of bygone ages have related. At this time, however, David crieth aloud and saith: ‘O my loving Lord! Do Thou number me with such as have stood steadfast in Thy Cause, O Thou through Whom the faces have been illumined, and the footsteps have slipped!’” Proclamation of Bahá’u’lláh, pp. 89-90
Please note that
none of the verses below are in the first person; they are all Jesus saying the Son of man will appear or you shall see him... None of them say “you will see ME coming.”
Rather they refer to the Son of man in the third person.
Matthew 24:30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
Matthew 26:64 Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast said: nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.
Mark 13:26 And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory.
Mark 14:62 And Jesus said, I am: and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.
Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven means that the return of the Christ Spirit promised in the Bible will be made manifest from the heaven of the will of God, and will appear in the form of a human being. The term “heaven” means loftiness and exaltation. The term “clouds” means those things that are contrary to the ways and desires of men, things that cloud one’s mind and judgment. These clouds are “veils” to recognition of the return of Christ, just like the physical clouds prevent the eyes of men from beholding the sun.
These verses clearly explain why Baha'u'llah was not recognized by Christians; their judgment was clouded because they were waiting for the same Jesus to return, since they misapprehended so many Bible verses. Moreover, they wanted what they wanted, which was the same Jesus they knew, but Jesus never promised to return; not once in the NT did Jesus ever say He would return. The return of Jesus in the same body was became a Church doctrine because Christians misconstrued their scriptures.
The reason Jesus was speaking in the third person is because Jesus never planned to return to earth Himself. He clearly stated that His work was finished here and He was no more in the world.
John 17:4 I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.
John 17:11 And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.
The nature of God is
unchanging so God does not just suddenly wake up one day and decide to become a man. Moreover, there is absolutely no reason why God would want to become a man or need to become a man.
The Bible was misconstrued by Christians early on and then it became a Church doctrine that God became a man. The Church needed God to become a man for their own purposes because they believed that was necessary for salvation; but it was not necessary for God to become a man for salvation, as Jesus conferred salvation as a Manifestation of God, just as God intended Him to do.
That Jesus became God is the product of man-made Church doctrines, it is not in the Bible as Jesus never said He was God. Others said that about Him because they misunderstood the scriptures.
