The Messiah

[Trailblazer]

Well there is this passage in which Jesus describes the arrival of the Son of Man:

"Immediately after the suffering of those days
the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light;
the stars will fall from heaven,
and the powers of heaven will be shaken.
"Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see 'the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven' with power and great glory. And he will send out his angels with a lout trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other."
(Matthew 24:29-31, NRSVue)

So who is the Son of Man? Here's what Jesus said about that:

"For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, 'He has a demon'; the Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, 'Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!'"
(Matthew 11:18-19, NRSVue)

I know that Jesus was the Son of Man, but I do not believe that Jesus was ever slated to come in the latter days.

Jesus never promised to return to earth, not once in the New Testament. Jesus said His work was finished here and He was no more in the world. (John 14:19, John 16:10, John 17:4, John 17:11) That means that the return of Christ has to be another Person.

Who is the Son of man who will come in the clouds of heaven?

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. 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...

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To me, it doesn't seem like much of a stretch to conclude that Jesus was talking about himself in the above passage. Both passages are from the same book-- Matthew-- so it seems reasonable, at least to me, to infer that Jesus was describing his own future return in the first passage.

These verses about the Son of Man coming in the clouds are from the writers of the New Testament so maybe they 'believed' that Jesus was going to return, but Jesus never said that he was going to return. Jesus said he was not going to return.

Just as a point of interest, Christians believe that the following verses are about Jesus, but if Jesus was the Son of man, as Jesus claimed to be, the following verses cannot be about the Jesus.

Daniel 7:13-14 I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.

Baha'is believe that these verses are about Baha'u'llah, who was one like Jesus.

We believe that Baha’u’llah, one like the son of man, descended from the clouds of heaven of the Will of God, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed. These verses are about an earthly Kingdom, not a heavenly Kingdom. Jesus’ Kingdom is in heaven, Baha’u’llah’s Kingdom will be on earth, after it is built by humans.

John 18:36 Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.

 

[Betho_br]

List of passages that many believe refer to the Messiah:

- Genesis 3:15
- Genesis 14:17-20
- Genesis 49:8-12
- Numbers 24:17-19
- Deuteronomy 18:18-19
- Psalm 2
- Daniel 9:16-24 (the last one is often used)

 

[IndigoChild5559]

List of passages that many believe refer to the Messiah:

- Genesis 3:15
- Genesis 14:17-20
- Genesis 49:8-12
- Numbers 24:17-19
- Deuteronomy 18:18-19
- Psalm 2
- Daniel 9:16-24 (the last one is often used)

By "many" you refer to Christians. Jews have a different understanding of those verses. In fact, to us there are only a handful of messianic passages.