In Hebrew it just means a human being. Daniel saw a human being carried to God's throne. Jesus took the phrase as his own name.
The son of man meaning starts out plain. In Hebrew, ben adam means a human being, a mortal, one of Adam's children.
Daniel 7 then shows “one like a son of man” carried with the clouds to God's throne to receive a kingdom that never ends. Jesus took that phrase as his favorite name for himself, claiming to be the human being who receives God's own authority, and he told his judges they would see it happen.
Lowly and royal at once. That tension is the point.
Before it was ever a title, it was an ordinary phrase. Hebrew likes to describe a person by where they come from, so a son of something shares its nature. A son of Adam is a human being.
Son of Adam. In Hebrew, adam is the word for humankind as well as the name of the first man.
A human being, a mortal. Hebrew poetry sets it in parallel with the word man, so the second line repeats the first.
God's usual way of addressing the prophet, starting in Ezekiel 2:1 and running through the whole book.
Daniel 7 is written in Aramaic, where the matching phrase is bar enash, with the same basic sense of a human being.
“What is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?”
Psalm 8:4David is looking up at the night sky and feeling small. The two lines say the same thing twice: man, son of man. Then the psalm turns and says God crowned this small creature with glory and honor. Hebrews 2 later quotes this psalm and applies it to Jesus, the human being who actually wears that crown.
Then comes Ezekiel. God calls him “son of man” ninety-three times. As Derek Thomas puts it at Ligonier, “He’s a prophet, but he’s also a man. It’s a reminder of his lowliness.” Ezekiel sees the glory of God, and God keeps reminding him what he is. You have seen the glory, and you are still a mortal standing in front of it.
Start here and the title stops sounding strange. When Jesus said “the Son of Man,” the first thing a Jewish listener heard was “the human one.”
Daniel 7 is where the plain phrase picks up weight. It is apocalyptic writing, a vision packed with symbols, and it has to be read the way its first readers read it, as a picture of empires and of God's verdict on them. Our summary of the book of Daniel sets the wider scene.
A lion, a bear, a leopard and a fourth beast with iron teeth. Kingdoms pictured as predators, ruling by devouring.
Thrones are set, the Ancient of Days takes his seat, and the books are opened. God is the judge over every empire on the map.
A human figure, in deliberate contrast to the beasts, comes with the clouds to the Ancient of Days and is given the kingdom.
The angel's explanation says the holy ones of the Most High receive the kingdom. The figure and his people share the reign.
“I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And 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 one that shall not be destroyed.”
Daniel 7:13 to 14Two things are easy to miss. The first is the contrast. The empires look like animals, and God's kingdom looks like a person. The second is the direction. The son of man comes with the clouds to the Ancient of Days. He is going up into the throne room, not down to the earth. This is a coronation scene.
The clouds matter too. In the Hebrew Bible, riding the clouds is something God does. Psalm 104:3 says he makes the clouds his chariot, and Isaiah 19:1 pictures him riding a swift cloud against Egypt. So a human figure arriving on the clouds and receiving the service of all peoples is a human being sharing in the rule of God. Daniel never names him. Jesus would.
Daniel 7 is an ascension scene. A human being goes up to God and receives a kingdom the beasts cannot touch.
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Manage My Giving"Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver."2 Corinthians 9:7
Across the four Gospels, “the Son of Man” appears more than eighty times, and almost every time it is Jesus talking about himself. Outside the Gospels it shows up with the article once, when Stephen sees heaven opened in Acts 7:56. The early church preferred Lord and Christ. Jesus preferred this. And nobody in the Hebrew Scriptures had used it with “the” as a way of referring to himself.
His sayings fall into a few clear groups.
“The Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins” (Mark 2:10), and he is “lord even of the Sabbath” (Mark 2:28). A human being doing what only God does.
“For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45).
“For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10), spoken in the house of a tax collector everyone else had written off.
“There are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom” (Matthew 16:28).
Why this title? Scholars honestly disagree. Some think it was mostly an Aramaic way of saying “I” or “a man like me.” Others hear Daniel 7 behind nearly every use. We think both are true at once. It was ordinary enough to be heard as “a human being,” and loaded enough that anyone who knew Daniel caught the claim. It let Jesus define the job before anyone else filled it with their own expectations.
That is also why he handled the word Messiah so carefully. In his day, Christ, the anointed king, often meant a warrior who would drive out Rome. When Peter confesses him as the Christ in Mark 8, Jesus immediately switches to Son of Man language and starts talking about suffering. He accepted the anointing and refused the popular job description. We walk through that word on its own in what Christ means.
It is night, and Jesus is on trial before the high priest. Caiaphas puts him under oath: tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God. Jesus answers with Daniel.
“You have said so. But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.”
Matthew 26:64He fuses two texts. Psalm 110:1, the king seated at God's right hand, and Daniel 7:13, the son of man coming to the Ancient of Days. Caiaphas tears his robes and calls it blasphemy, because he heard exactly what was claimed. A man standing bound in front of him said he would share the throne of God.
Jesus is predicting that someday, far in the future, he will descend from the sky on literal clouds for the whole world to watch.
In Daniel the son of man goes up to God to receive a kingdom. Jesus is telling his judges they will witness his enthronement, starting now.
Notice who he is talking to and when. “You will see.” “From now on.” He is speaking to Caiaphas and the council in that room. It fits Matthew 16:28 and Matthew 24:34, where all these things come before “this generation” passes away.
Sound of Heaven reads Matthew 26:64 as fulfilled. The men at that trial saw the Son of Man vindicated: the empty tomb, the ascension to the right hand, the Spirit poured out at Pentecost, the gospel going out to the nations, and in AD 70 the temple that condemned him falling within that same generation. That is Daniel 7 happening in history.
The strongest case for the other reading is that Mark 13:26 and Matthew 24:30 use the same cloud language for something public and visible. We agree it was public. But Jesus tied those very sayings to “this generation,” and the covenant transition they describe reached its climax in AD 70. Pushing them into a still future return pulls them out of the time frame Jesus himself set.
So we do not teach a future descent on literal clouds. We teach a reigning King. That is not less hope. It is hope in the present tense. We go further in what coming on the clouds really means and when Jesus is coming back.
In Daniel 7:13, which way is the son of man traveling?
He comes with the clouds to the Ancient of Days and is presented before him. It is a throne room scene, which is why Jesus could tell the council they would see it “from now on.”
A lot of teaching, including an earlier version of this very page, says Son of Man means his humanity and Son of God means his divinity. It is tidy, and it is too tidy. Son of Man carries Daniel's clouds and throne, which is divine imagery. Son of God in Psalm 2 was royal language for Israel's king. Both titles describe one whole person, and neither can be sorted into a single box.
He was hungry, tired, grieved and he died. The Son of Man is a real son of Adam, not God wearing a costume. We unpack this in the incarnation of Jesus.
He forgives sins, rules the Sabbath and shares the throne. He is the eternal Son, the second Person of the Trinity, one God with the Father and the Spirit. See the Trinity in the Bible.
Not two people sharing a body, and not a human who was promoted. One Son, fully divine and fully human at the same time. More in is Jesus the Son of God.
Hold both without hedging. Lose his humanity and he cannot stand in for us. Lose his divinity and he cannot bring God to us. The Son of Man title keeps both in the room, which may be why he loved it.
The one who got hungry and tired and wept at a friend's grave is the one who now reigns. Daniel's vision is not something we are waiting for. It is our present situation. The Kingdom of God is established, and a human being sits at the right hand of Power.
And remember Daniel 7:27. The kingdom is given to the people of the Most High. The Son of Man does not hoard his reign. He shares it. You are not a spectator of the Kingdom. You are part of how it shows up on your street, at your job, around your table.
If you feel small today, you are in good company. Psalm 8 was written by someone who felt small, and Ezekiel heard “mortal” ninety-three times. God still spoke to both of them, and he still speaks to you. If you want someone to pray with you, send us a request.
For related reading, see who Yeshua is, the seventy weeks of Daniel and what we believe, or plan a visit and ask us in person.
Son of man means a human being, Daniel saw a human being carried to God's throne to receive an everlasting kingdom, and Jesus claimed that name, lived it as a servant, and was enthroned in full view of his own generation.
Send us your questions about the Son of Man, Daniel, or anything else, and someone at Sound of Heaven will walk through it with you.
In Hebrew, ben adam simply means a human being, a mortal. Psalm 8:4 uses it that way, and God addresses Ezekiel with it ninety-three times. Daniel 7 then gives the phrase royal weight, showing one like a son of man coming with the clouds to the Ancient of Days to receive an everlasting kingdom. Jesus took the phrase as his main way of speaking about himself, claiming to be that human figure who shares the rule of God.
It let him make a large claim without the baggage of other titles. Messiah suggested a warrior king who would fight Rome. Son of Man sounded ordinary, meaning a human being, yet anyone who knew Daniel 7 heard a claim to receive God's kingdom. Jesus used it for his authority to forgive sins, for his coming suffering and service, and for his vindication. It let him define his mission on his own terms before others defined it for him.
In the vision he is a human figure set against four beasts that stand for empires. He comes with the clouds of heaven to the Ancient of Days and is given dominion, glory and a kingdom that will never be destroyed. The angel connects him with the holy ones who receive the kingdom. Daniel does not name him. Jesus applied the vision to himself at his trial, and the church has read it as fulfilled in him ever since.
Both titles belong to the same person, Jesus. It is common to say one means his humanity and the other his divinity, but that is too neat. Son of Man carries Daniel's divine imagery of clouds and a throne, and Son of God was used in Psalm 2 for Israel's king. Jesus is fully God and fully human, the eternal Son and second Person of the Trinity, and both titles point to that one person.
In Matthew 26:64 he joined Psalm 110 and Daniel 7 and told the high priest that from now on he would see it. In Daniel the son of man comes with the clouds up to God to receive a kingdom. So this is enthronement and vindication, seen by that generation in the resurrection, the ascension, Pentecost and the fall of the temple in AD 70. It is not a prediction of a future descent from the sky.