The Son of Man is REALLY Israel! | Pastor Reacts

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Now, I mention this simply to show that Jesus was very clear about his own identity, not only in the things that he said, but in the things that he did.

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Well, someone in the chat brought up a great point, which is, Jews understand the Son of Man in Daniel to be

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Israel. Not an individual person, but Israel itself, okay?

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So, let's talk about that. Open your Bibles with me to the book of Daniel. This is the part where all of the staff of YouTube gets so excited when we read our

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Bibles on YouTube, amen? Open your Bibles with me to Daniel chapter 7, and let's take a look together.

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Welcome back to another episode of Wise Disciple. My name is Nate, and I'm so glad that you're with me today.

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Our heart at this organization is to help you become the effective Christian that you were meant to be, and we do that by creating videos and content to give you a deeper understanding of your faith, as well as to help you communicate your

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Christian convictions more effectively. Well, today, I just sense that I'm supposed to follow this particular thread a tad further.

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Do you know what I'm saying about sense? Have you ever been there before? This has been the theme so far for me of 2023, is seeking to do what the

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Lord puts right in front of me. And I'm noticing lately that He's putting a lot on my calendar that sort of overrides my own plans and what

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I have put on my own calendar. So I hope you can understand what I'm saying, and I pray that you have the same sensitivities as a follower of Jesus.

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Well, in light of that, I wanted to respond to a comment that I received on my reaction to a Jew having a discussion with an

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Anglican on Jesus. The discussion was an episode of the unbelievable show with Justin Brierley, and basically it was about how

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Christians get Jesus and His Jewishness wrong, which I think is actually a great discussion to have, particularly with the

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Jewish community. Why do I say that? Well, because we, Christians and Jews, we have much to discuss as people who share sacred texts.

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In other words, we both can go to what we Christians call the Old Testament. Jews would refer to it as the

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Tanakh, and we can engage the same texts in order to talk about God. Well, if you haven't seen that video yet,

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I strongly encourage you to watch it first and then come back to this video, because one of the things that I said was that Jesus referred to Himself as the

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Son of Man. But in order to say that, she has to downplay or ignore the things that Jesus said to identify

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Himself as the Messiah, as the Son of Man, who clearly was a reference to, you know,

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Daniel chapter 7, where it says, "...one like a son of man ascended to God and was given glory, dominion, and a kingdom."

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Now, I mention this simply to show that Jesus was very clear about His own identity, not only in the things that He said, but in the things that He did.

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Well, someone in the chat brought up a great point, which is, Jews understand the Son of Man in Daniel to be

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Israel. Not an individual person, but Israel itself, okay?

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So let's talk about that. Open your Bibles with me to the book of Daniel. This is the part where all of the staff of YouTube gets so excited when we read our

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Bibles on YouTube, amen? Open your Bibles with me to Daniel chapter 7, and let's take a look together.

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Verse 13 says this, "...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

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Ancient of Days and came near before Him. And to Him was given dominion, glory, and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations, and men of every tongue might serve

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Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which will not be taken away, and His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed."

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We have to remember a few things about the book of Daniel, all right? Daniel was written about a time of Jewish captivity,

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Babylon had overtaken the Israelites, Daniel was taken along with many others, and he was forced to be a servant of King Nebuchadnezzar.

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And so, we read in the book of Daniel about how he and some of his friends were put into very awkward positions, to say the least, where they were forced to choose who they will worship, who they will serve,

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Yahweh or the false idols of Babylon. As a matter of fact, that is one of the overarching themes of the book of Daniel, loyalty to the one true

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God. Well, in his experience in captivity, Daniel receives a number of visions from God, and he records these visions in his writings.

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So, when we get to the visions of Daniel, like in chapter 7, we need to remember that these visions are what's called apocalyptic writings.

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They are God's revelation to Daniel, and by extension, to His people.

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But that means that these apocalyptic writings are highly symbolic, alright?

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This is just like the vision that the Apostle John received in the book of Revelation, which is also another apocalyptic text.

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In other words, God communicates to mankind a specific message through symbolic imagery.

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And that means that the images themselves should point to either something or someone very specific.

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And that brings us to the vision of one like a son of man. Jesus identified Himself as this

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Son of Man in many places in the Gospels. Jesus said in Luke 12, 8, Again, in John 1, 51,

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Jesus said, He's referring to Himself there.

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This is all over the place in the Gospels. But someone says, well, wait a minute, Nate. One like a son of man is not about an individual.

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It's about the nation of Israel. Why? Well, because this is apocalyptic literature. You know,

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Daniel, he saw four beasts come up out of the sea, and then they go wreak havoc everywhere, and it's very horrific imagery,

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I mean, if you read the account. And so, going along with this kind of imagery, the individual that Daniel saw later, riding the clouds, going up to the

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Ancient of Days, this person cannot be interpreted as being a literal individual. Now, this seems to make sense, because if you look a little further,

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Daniel is given an explanation as to what the vision means. As for me, Daniel, my spirit was distressed within me, and the visions of my head kept alarming me.

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I came near to one of those who were standing by and began seeking out from him the exact meaning of all this.

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What's very interesting about this is the explanation that is given to Daniel does not talk about an individual, but rather the nation of Israel.

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Verse 18 says, but the saints of the highest one, who are these saints? Well, this is understood to be

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Israel. They will receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever for all ages to come.

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Okay, well, and this also seems to fit with a further explanation given to Daniel in verse 27.

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There, it says, well, then the reign, the dominion, and the greatness of all the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the, again, the people of the saints of the highest one.

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So, it appears that the saints are the ones who are in view in the explanation of Daniel's vision that's given to Daniel, and so, therefore, the one like a son of man must represent

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Israel as a people. So, I'm trying to characterize the view, right? Here is why Christians do not agree with this interpretation.

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First, Jews themselves, okay, not just Christians, understood the one like a son of man to be the

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Messiah, this individual that Jesus claimed to be. It is recognized by the Jewish community that some rabbinic exegesis of Daniel identifies the son of man as being the

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Messiah, not Israel. This identification can be shown not only in places like Sanhedrin 98a, but also the

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Qumran scroll account of the Aramaic apocalypse of Daniel. It's the same accounting of what we're reading now in Daniel 7, but it was a

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Qumran scroll that was found. As a matter of fact, in Sanhedrin 98a, there is a discussion between rabbis over an apparent contradiction about whether the

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Messiah will appear as Zachariah said, which he said he will appear lowly and riding upon a donkey, or whether he will appear as Daniel said, coming with the clouds of heaven, one like a son of man.

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Now, I bring this first point up only to say this, Christians did not introduce this interpretation of the son of man being the

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Messiah. This was the view of Jews prior to, as well as after, Jesus.

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But there's another reason why we disciples of Jesus, we Christians, believe that the son of man is the

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Messiah, and by extension, that Jesus is this son of man. You gotta remember,

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Daniel receives this vision after he had a previous vision where four beasts come rising up out of the sea.

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This is in verses 1 -12 of Daniel 7. And then when Daniel asks for the explanation of this vision, notice what the beasts really are.

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Verse 17 says, these great beasts, which are four in number, are four kings who will arise from the earth.

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Are they four nations? No, they are four kings, who, by the way, each of these beasts, right, each of these kings are given dominion.

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Look at verses 6 -12. Each of these kings have dominion, and then

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Daniel has a vision of one final individual who is also given dominion, glory, and a kingdom.

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Only this time, his dominion is everlasting. Well, this individual must also be a king.

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But this king rides the clouds of heaven, and he comes up to the Ancient of Days, which is God. This is why not only

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Christians, but Jews as well, understood the son of man to be an individual, a king, the

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Messiah, that would bring about the everlasting kingdom. Not only bring it about, but reign over it, okay?

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But here's another reason why we believe that the son of man is not Israel. It makes no sense for the nation of Israel to receive worship.

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Look down at verse 27 of Daniel 7. It says, the fourth beast will speak words against God, and so, therefore, this fourth beast's dominion will be taken away and destroyed forever.

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And then the reign, the dominion, and the greatness of all the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the people of the saints of the

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Highest One. Who is the Highest One? This is the, in the Hebrew, El -Leonin.

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This is the Messiah. This is not the Ancient of Days. This is not God, the

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Illa 'ah. No, this is a distinct person from the Ancient of Days, the

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Highest One, the El -Leonin. His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all the dominions will, now pay attention to this, serve and obey

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Him. Okay, so here's the question. If Israel is the Son of Man, why will they receive worship from all the other dominions of the world?

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The word serve that Daniel uses here in verse 27 is used to mean worship.

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Take a look at Daniel 3, verse 28. Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who gave up their bodies so as not to serve and not to worship any god except their own

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God. This word serve in Daniel, it means worship, and the examples are everywhere in Daniel.

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So the question is, why would a nation, even the nation of Israel, receive worship, receive the worship of other nations?

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That makes no sense, unless the Son of Man is not a nation, but an individual.

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The El -Leonin, the Highest One, who rides the clouds of heaven and comes near the

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Ancient of Days and is given dominion, glory, and an everlasting kingdom.

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This is the Messiah. This is the Jesus Christ whom we serve, and He is

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King now. He is reigning now, amen? Until as Psalm 110 tells us, all of His enemies become a footstool for His feet.

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As always, I appreciate the comments and for the opportunity to further the discussion. Let me know what you think, let me know where you stand on this.

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Is Daniel writing about the Messiah in chapter 7? Is he not? Let's continue the discussion in the comments.