JOHN088 - He Shall Reign Forever and Ever

John 1:50-51

Matt's book, The Lightning-Fast Field Guide to the Bible is available NOW! - here's a link that gets TMBH a little kickback: https://amzn.to/4pEYSS9

Thanks to everyone who supports TMBH at patreon.com/thetmbhpodcast

You're the reason we can all do this together!

Discuss the episode here

Music by Jeff Foote

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hey everybody, it's Matt. This is the 10-Minute Bible Hour Podcast. And yesterday we were talking about those little those little phrases that have a wink at the end, where when you hear them, you're like, oh, I understood that. There's so many levels to that simple little thing that you said. Everybody else might not understand it, but boom, eye contact. I know what you meant. Well, that sort of glisten in the eye, here's what's coming, sort of turn of a phrase, is what we're getting at the end of John chapter one from Jesus when he refers to himself as the son of man. It's not just a, you know, kind of humble-sounding nickname. It's there's a reason this is the favorite title of Jesus for himself. It is one, humble, but two, it points to his divinity and his role in the grand redemptive plan. And also, it's the kind of thing that causes other people to shrug and say, I don't get it. But people whose eyes are opened and who have ears to hear and who have looked at the scriptures to hear that phrase and perk up and think, oh my, does that ever have implications? So yesterday we got moving toward Daniel chapter seven, and this very important, very difficult passage there that's going to give us a great look at what the concept that Jesus is referencing when he says son of man is all about. With that said, I'm going to have my friend Jeffrey play some music, and then we'll pick up where we left off yesterday. Here we go. He wrote down the substance of his dream. Daniel said, In my vision at night I looked, and there before me were the four winds of heaven churning up the great sea. Four great beasts, each different from the others, came up out of the sea. The first was like a lion, and it had wings of an eagle, and I watched until its wings were torn off, and it was lifted from the ground so that it stood on two feet like a man, and the heart of a man was given to it. And there before me was a second beast, which looked like a bear, and it was raised up on one of its sides, and it had three ribs in its mouth. Between its teeth, it was told, Get up and eat your fill of flesh. After that I looked, and there before me was another beast, one that looked like a leopard. And then on its back it had four wings like those of a bird, and this beast had four heads, and it was given authority to rule. And after that, in my vision at night I looked, and there before me was a fourth beast, terrifying and frightening and very powerful, and it had large iron teeth that crushed and devoured its victims and trampled underfoot whatever was left. It was different from all the former beasts, and it had ten horns. Well, I was thinking about the horns. There before me was another horn, a little one, which came up among them, and three of the first horns were uprooted before it. This horn had eyes, like the eyes of a man, and a mouth that spoke boastfully. As I looked, thrones were set in place, and the ancient of days took his seat. His clothing was as white as snow, and the hair of his head was white like wool. His throne was flaming with fire, and its wheels were all ablaze, and a river of fire was flowing, coming out from before him. Thousands upon thousands attended him. Ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him. The court was seated, and the books were opened. Then I continued to watch because of the boastful words the horn was speaking. I kept looking until the beast was slain and its body destroyed and thrown into the blazing fire. The other beasts had been stripped of their authority, but were allowed to live for a period of time. Okay, but this is where we get to the part that would have rung a bell with the that little wink ding thing at the end of John chapter one with this phrase, son of man. Okay, so you got all that context. You got that you got the scene in your head. What the heck is going on, right? It's cryptic, it's it's gigantic, it gives the impression that huge things are about to happen. God comes off as so calm and in control in the face of this the insanity that's happening around him. But then we get to verses 13 and 14, and they go like this. Daniel continues. 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. See what I'm saying? The earlier stuff, it it would take us a very long time to sort through it. And smarter people than me have done a good job of processing through a lot of this imagery and what it would mean against the backdrop of the Babylonian culture and Medo-Persian culture. And there are some really good theories and some really good cases that could be made. Ultimately, that is a rabbit trail we're not going to chase down for because, for the purposes of understanding John chapter one, all we need to get from this is there are eras, epochs of turmoil, spiritual powers, worldly powers that all ultimately are brought to heal by the ancient of days. We get the impression as this vision unfolds that it's going somewhere, that God is doing something, that he's the one who's wielding real authority and power, and yet that authority and power is heaped upon, is charged upon this son of man. Now, some over the years have looked at this and said, Oh, that son of man must be a created being, a very important angel, a very tame beast that God created and then raised up and then gave authority to to go and do things. But only God is worthy of worship. This is affirmed all over the Bible, and this vision celebrates the reality that this son of man, who's given all of this authority and sovereign power, is also worshipped by all. Now this son of man is the Messiah. This son of man is God in the flesh. This son of man is a look at God the Son. And the other thing that we learn about him is that he isn't going to be a flash in the pan. He isn't going to show up for just a second and do some cool stuff, and that'll be one nice little step in the larger story of the Bible in history. No, his dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away. His kingdom is one that will never be destroyed. And that kind of language is echoed in other parts of the Bible, Old Testament and New Testament. It's also echoed in Handel's Messiah, and he shall reign forever and ever. That is a phrase associated with this term son of man that can just so easily wash over us. Oh, and he will reign forever and ever. Great. That sounds so Christian and so nice to sing at a certain time of year. Yes, God is on his throne. That's just great. But sometimes I think those really powerful theological promises and motifs from the Bible can get a little bit tritified because we just don't think about them enough. What I mean, what's the implication of this? This son of man is identified in the Old Testament as the one to keep your eye out for, because he's the one who is going to reign on the eternal throne of David forever, per the promises of God to David and all the prophets throughout the Old Testament. And Jesus, at the end of John chapter one, you know, he doesn't come out and say, like, and I am God, God in the flesh, and that is how you will know. We just met a second ago. I'm God. No, he doesn't sound like that. That would make him sound like Homelander. Instead, he just uses this phrase. If you have eyes to see, you'll see it. If you have ears to hear, you'll hear it. If you know what the Word of God says, then let the reader understand. Another phrase that nods probably back toward Daniel from another part of the Bible. No, no, no. He just says of himself, son of man. I'm sure the level to which the five guys who were gathered there got this varied. I bet one or two connected the dots pretty quickly and thought, whoa, and he shall reign forever and ever? That son of man? Well, wait a minute. The one who approached the flaming lava throne of the ancient of days in the presence of the defeated and controlled great beasts, and in the midst of that chaos, the ancient of days bestowed upon him all authority and power, and all humankind bowed down to him and he reigned forever and ever. That son of man, I'm guessing other people in this little party that Jesus was forming up were like, cool, I've heard that phrase before. But for you and me, with the benefit of the Bible in front of us and all the time in the world to sit here and think about it, we are quickly in a position to marvel at the massiveness of this claim that Christ is making in a way that is subtle, but in a way that if you know what you're looking at and you put in the work, is unmissable. I'm not done pulling on this thread. We're going to look at it more next time around. I really do recommend Andor. It it's a it's slow burn, but it is a really smart two seasons of TV. So if you're in, you know, just looking for a show and you're in like some kind of desert in terms of content, I think you'll see a whole lot of themes in there that you will like. I also think there are a whole bunch of biblical themes in there, and I like that as well. If you choose not to watch Andor, I mean, I'm not gonna know. So it's cool. Oh, and also if anything in there happens that you find to be bad, know that I'm almost surely against that as well. Okay, more of this Son of Man stuff. Next time around, I'm Matt. This is the 10 Minute Bible Hour Podcast. Let's do this again soon.