Understanding Jesus: The Divine Authority of the Son of Man

1. "Identity's really important, isn't it? There's a whole load of stuff around who I am, who I really am, who I want to be known as, who I want you to think I am. And then there's a whole load of identity. There's a whole load of identity stuff behind that as to whether I want you to really know who I am. And so identity's really important. And we're doing a little series on Jesus' identity and how he saw himself." [53:14] (27 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


2. "And when Jesus talked about himself, he normally said, I, which is not unusual because that's what we all do, isn't it? But sometimes Jesus would say, I am. And the I am was really important because the I am came from when Moses was in the desert and there was a bush that didn't burn up and Moses heard a voice from the bush and Moses went over to find out what was going on and then he has a conversation with God and he asks God what his name is. And God says, I am who I am or Yahweh, which is I am, Yahweh, Jehovah, depending on how you spell it." [53:14] (41 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


3. "Jesus, about once every chapter in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, uses the phrase son of man. That's an average, but that works. It's about the same number of chapters as there are uses of that term, the son of man. Obviously, he means. I is just using it for dramatic effect, like any good storyteller would. And that's fair enough. And maybe just means I. And the evidence for that would be in Ezekiel, where God's whenever God speaks to Ezekiel, it seems that God says son of man when he means Ezekiel." [56:38] (34 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


4. "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 peoples, nations and men of every language worshipped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away. And his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed." [59:24] (36 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


5. "Jesus knew when he said, I'm the son of man. He knew where he'd come from. He'd come from God. That he was going to. To God. Son of man. Jesus identifies himself closely with this mysterious figure. Who comes down with the clouds of heaven. Approaching the ancient of days. Therefore, going up. And there's so much more here. And I want to talk about some of that this morning. God coming down. Entering our world. Incarnation. Christmas. God has moved into the neighborhood." [01:00:35] (31 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


6. "Implying that Jesus is human. He's a person. That he is a human being. Son of man. It's human. And Jesus confirms that when he uses this phrase all the time. That I'm a man. One amongst you. A man amongst the people. But in Daniel's mysterious vision, this is one like a son of man. Coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the ancient of days and was led into his presence. Maybe you've been there. He was given authority, glory, and sovereign power. Had an anointing. Authority, glory, sovereign power. And all people's nations and people of every language worshipped him." [01:03:18] (58 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


7. "The son of man is God with us. And of course it would never not have got him into a huge amount of trouble because it's son of man. But actually every time he uses that it's a claim to be divine. Does Jesus ever claim to be God? Yes. Every time he uses that phrase. There's a claim that this is the one who is worthy to be worshipped and we only worship God." [01:05:06] (26 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


8. "So we have this up down God man image, this picture in Daniel chapter 7. We ask what is this God man doing? Well he's approaching the ancient of days and he's given authority and glory and sovereignty. He's given power. He's given a kingdom. That's what sovereign power is, isn't it? He's given a kingdom. He's given a kingdom. Every Jew wanted a king like David. David because David was ruler when we were the top and not the bottom. David was the ruler when we were the head and not the tail. David was the ruler who when he led us into battle we knew that we had half a chance at least of winning. David was our hero. He was the ruler when we were the greatest of the nation." [01:06:49] (52 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


9. "When Jesus said son of man, he understood that he was the rightful king. He was the rightful king. Not just king of the Jews but king of the nations. Didn't he say when I come in my glory, all the nations will be gathered before me? separate the sheep from the goats I am the king and you can take this seriously or not you can take these claims seriously or not you can recognize that Jesus is using this phrase son of man and came to be God with us claims to be the rightful king." [01:06:49] (39 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


10. "Jesus asked loads of questions. But one of the most important I think was the question that he asked his disciples when they were walking along the beach one day. And he said. He simply said. Who do people say the son of man is? Who do people say the son of man is? Then he focused. Got a few answers. And then he focused on them and said. What about you? What about you? Who do you say the son of man is? Peter gave his reply. He says you are the Christ the son of the living God. And that was life changing for Peter. Changed his life. It changed the destiny of the church. The kingdom came at that point. The church came at that point. All sorts of stuff happened at that point as Peter gave that answer. That was seismic for Peter." [01:23:44] (50 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)