One Like A Son of Man

And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks; (Rev 1:12)

And in the midst of the seven candlesticks [one] like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. (Rev 1:13)

Continuing with our study we come upon the first vision that God revealed to John on the isle of Patmos. Jesus instructs John to write down the things he sees and send it to the 7 churches which were in Asia at that time. To Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and to Laodicea. (Rev 1:11)

As John turns to see the voice which was speaking to him he sees some interesting things.

He sees 7 candlesticks and in the middle of the candlesticks he sees “one like unto the Son of man”, being Jesus. He then goes on to describe the attributes of Jesus who is holding in his hands 7 stars.

Lets look at the attributes of Jesus that John describes in verses 13-16.

It is interesting that John describes Jesus first off as “one like unto the Son of man.” (Rev 1:13). In actuality “the” is implied. (In other versions it’s also translated “A Son of man”.) If you look at the Greek version of the verse the actual word they translated “unto the son” from is translated from one word, “huios”, which is the Greek word for “son”: generally used of the offspring of men. John is differentiating between who he knew Jesus was and who he sees Jesus to be now!

Jesus while he was on earth appeared as a son of man, THE Son of man. He used this term often while speaking of himself because he wanted us to know he associated himself with us, mankind. He wanted to clearly point out that he was “one of us”.

(There are still different “sects” of Christianity that dispute the fact that Christ was and is now only fully God and he was and is fully man. I believe the “Son of man” clearly refutes that by calling himself that most often). If Jesus was not fully man, he would not be so uniquely qualified to be our Saviour and Judge, for he then would not have any way to identify with us so completely. (Heb 4:15)

Because John used “like unto” and it can be translated as unto "A son of man", I believe in this instance John was not using “The Son of man” as a title but was giving a description of Jesus.

What John was letting us know with this phrase was that Jesus, though he is now in a “glorified” state (as evidenced by further descriptions of him in later verses), he still has the aspects of man.

As Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words states it:

“He is the same Person as in the days of His flesh, still continuing His humanity with His Deity. The phrase "like unto" serves to distinguish Him as there seen in His glory and majesty in contrast to the days of His humiliation.”

He is no longer as he was on earth but is now "glorified". And even more exciting, as he said in verse five he is “the first begotten of the dead”. This tells me that after we enter into the Kingdom heaven we also will no long be just as we are here on earth in the flesh. There will also be a transformation to our own bodies and being!