Supernatural RSM Series – Part 7
Refton Student Ministry Series:
Supernatural Part 7: The Cloud Rider
Well, hello New Testament! Last week we finally made the transition from the Old Testament to the New Testament. This shouldn’t be so surprising since the OT is basically 75% of our Bible. Nevertheless, it was necessary to fly over key themes in the OT so that we can appreciate what is going on in the NT. As I said in the beginning, this lesson series is one that builds on itself. So those of you that have been following along will really appreciate these last three lessons because they directly point to some familiar themes such as Jesus’ death and resurrection, and our purpose in life. But of course, what you know may not be so… in fact you might be wondering why I titled this one, The Cloud Rider. Yes, it’s a cool name, but the rabbit hole goes deep. So here we go!
The Names and Titles of Jesus
The Bible refers to Jesus in many different ways. Here are some…
Christ
Messiah
Lord
Master
Son of God
Son of man
Son of David
The Word
Lamb of God
Light of the world
King of kings
Rabbi / Teacher
There is one particular title that Jesus uses of Himself the most. Actually, it’s really not a close contest. Jesus calls Himself “Son of man” by far the most out of any other title. The weird thing is that it wasn’t a title in the Old Testament. The 196 uses of “son of man” in the OT simply mean “human being.” If anything, we would think that Jesus would use the title Messiah, or Christ. In fact, that’s what most people in the NT called Him! He even acknowledges this, but He almost never calls Himself Messiah or Christ. You can see why some people argue that Jesus never claimed to be God! Well, that’s actually not true, and we’ll set the record straight by the end of this lesson.
This title is vital for understanding who Jesus is and claimed to be. The biblical writers and the religious leaders of their day knew that when Jesus calls Himself the Son of man, He was referring to a certain figure in Daniel chapter 7. Today most modern Bible scholars would agree that Daniel 7 is possibly the most important chapter in the entire OT! Let’s find out why…
Daniel is a confusing book to us. This is mostly due to the ancient writing techniques used by the author. Sections are brought forth in thirds, yet those thirds are broken up, which makes it difficult for us to pick up on the themes. If you’ve read Daniel and agree that it is confusing, I recommend checking out this podcast series: Exploring My Strange Bible – Faithfulness in Exile, Daniel, Parts 1-5. Dr. Tim Mackie has a knack for communicating complex biblical imagery in a way that’s understandable to us today. I’ll simply give you a quick introduction and overview of chapter 7 in this lesson.
– Daniel –
Daniel was a man that was torn from his own country and forced to live in a completely foreign country, Babylon. Daniel was a prophet and wound up becoming an advisor to the king. The thing was though, they wanted Daniel to change his ways. They changed his name, the style of his clothes, and they even wanted him to change the way he ate. But Daniel wouldn’t go that far because food was very important to him. You might think food is important as well, but this was different. Daniel’s believed that depending on the food he ate, he could become “unclean,” which to him was unacceptable. His reasoning goes back to an Old Testament command which came from Yahweh, the God Daniel served.
Babylon was one of the pagan nations that served multiple gods. This was a problem because Daniel wouldn’t bow to any god other than Yahweh. Through the act of eating vegetables, Daniel and his buddies that were with him were able to prove that they served a legitimate god [well, THE God of all gods]. Because of this, Daniel was allowed to continue to serve the king. However, things weren’t always rainbows and butterflies. There were a few times when Daniel faced death. You may remember Daniel being in a lions den, or his buddies in a massive furnace! The Lord, Yahweh, saved them each time because of their believing loyalty to Him.
So, one night Daniel had a dream. He saw four beasts standing on trial for their disobedience. Yahweh God was depicted in all of His awesomeness and His divine council was there ready to serve. Daniel says that the first three beasts were found guilty, but their life was temporarily spared. The fourth beast, however, was so bad that it had to be put down. We learn in this chapter that these beasts had at one time been given authority from Yahweh God, but now because of their disobedience, that authority was stripped from them. Then something dramatic happens…
“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 nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.” (Daniel 7:13-14, NIV)
This cloud rider is said to be “like a son of man” [human being] and has been given all authority! Interestingly – and this is key – first century Jews and prior saw this cloud rider person as a second Yahweh figure. In fact, you could easily make the argument that they had shelf space for a Trinity because they clearly believed that the Holy Spirit was God. Why would they see the cloud rider as a second Yahweh figure? Because except for Daniel 7, every time the Old Testament refers to someone coming on the clouds, it’s referring to Yahweh God Himself!
So now we’ll fast forward to the New Testament. Go ahead and read Matthew 26:57-66. Did you catch what Jesus said? Before the religious leaders, in the context of a trial [the same context of Daniel 7!] Jesus says, “But I say to all of you: From now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven” (verse 64). The religious leaders knew that Jesus was referring to Himself as the cloud rider of Daniel 7. This is crucial to understand! This statement from Jesus was the last straw for the religious leaders. The high priest was so mad he even tore his own clothes (that was the thing to do when you heard blasphemy). Ultimately, this claim from Jesus wound up putting Him on the cross. Why?
Because Jesus was saying that He was Yahweh God!
There’s absolutely no doubt about it. Jesus claimed to be God. We would love for Him to just say it plainly. But the reality is, to the first century population, Jesus did say it plainly! He is God. He has all authority. So now it’s up to everyone else to choose to believe that or not.
Why does this matter to me?
Well, I could give you the obvious churchy answers. But you came to find out if what you know might not be so, right? If you remember back to an earlier lesson, this matters because Jesus wants to share His authority with His followers! I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again… we won’t just be sitting up there in the clouds singing Chris Tomlin songs all day! Jesus has stuff for us to do, and part of that is to rule with Him.
There are “Christians” out there who will tell you that they’ve “said the prayer” and that they’re good to go. Their life might not model what they believe, but they said the prayer (please read sarcasm into that)! Doesn’t that idea now seem silly? Why would the God of the universe want to share His authority with lazy people who claim to know Him but in reality, they don’t? The answer is, He wouldn’t. We’re called for more than nominal Christianity, and it’s time we start living up to who God has made us to be!
The other thing to consider is the power of the resurrection. When Jesus died, he went down into the depths of Hades to say a few words to some old “friends.” But when He came back up, He broke the power of death! It’s this power that frees us from the power of death, sin and destruction. Paul sums this up nicely in Colossians 2:13-15 which says,
“And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities [rebellious spiritual beings] and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.”
I hope by now you’ve seen that your story is more than wake up, go to work, eat, come home, take care of the kids, and then go to bed. You are part of a cosmic story that spans across all time. It’s not a story only about you, and yet it certainly focuses on a God that constantly pursues you and the rest of humanity. This story began “In the beginning” and will go on for eternity.
Let’s allow Yahweh God to use us to show others the story they have been missing.