Son of Man - Acts 7:53

Acts 7:53

And he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”

With this short phrase Luke affirms the fulfillment of the promise given from the beginning of our dilemma in Genesis 3:15.  The offspring of the woman (A son of mankind.) promised to deliver us.  This is affirmed in the vision of Daniel 7:13

 “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.

We see it fleshed out here.  A son of man taking His place at the right hand of the Father.  “Son of Man” was the title most used by Jesus for himself in the Gospels.  More so than Messiah or the more universal son of God.  It was His way of stating who He was while distancing Himself from the current Jewish perception of a political king.

Stephen, just before he dies is at one of those places in time where the vail between time and eternity thins and one sees a glimpse of what is to come.  It is gracious reminder from the Father of the truth of who Jesus is and that resurrection is a reality moments before he is brutally stoned by the mob.  The crowds apparently did not see what Stephen saw and what was peaceful for him was enraging for them.  It is a case one again of believing is seeing vs. seeing is believing.  We do not have eyes to see reality for what it is until we believe. For any who have been with one who is in their dying days or minutes you may have experienced them “seeing” things that we cannot see.  The hospice nurse reminded us of this in my father in laws last days and we watched this with him.  

I love this reminder from Acts and find myself asking myself again, do I insist on seeing before I am willing to believe, or do I trust open handed and open minded so that I am enabled to see?  LHM/CHM

 **3/3/20 This is one of what I hope will be a regular entry in my blog.  This is a shift from what I have done in the past which has mostly been episodic accounts of things I experience in life.  I may continue to post more of the same from time to time, but the drift of the blog, at least for now, will be my observations, prayers, questions, and grappling with the Bible as I read through it over the next two years with some friends.  We are together following a 2 year reading schedule and meeting monthly to compare notes.  Your comments are welcome and if you are interested in what the reading schedule looks like reply in comments and I will be glad to send it to you.