By Jill Szoo Wilson
The Messiah Israel Expected
Among the central claims of the New Testament is the declaration that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah. Yet neither Jesus nor His earliest followers invented that category. The title emerged from centuries of Israel’s covenant history and carried with it a network of expectations shaped by the Tanakh, the Hebrew Scriptures later known to Christians as the Old Testament. When the apostles proclaimed Jesus as Messiah, they were identifying Him as the fulfillment of promises already embedded within Israel’s Scriptures.
The Hebrew word Mashiach, usually translated “Messiah,” means “anointed one.” Throughout Israel’s history, priests and kings were anointed with oil as a visible sign that God had appointed them for service among His covenant people. The act symbolized divine authorization, identifying a person as one whom God had appointed to serve a particular role within Israel’s covenant life. As Israel’s story unfolded, the Scriptures increasingly directed attention toward a future figure through whom God would restore His people, establish His kingdom, defeat evil, and bring His covenant promises to their appointed fulfillment.
Several prophetic streams contributed to this expectation. Moses promised that God would raise up a prophet like himself who would speak God’s words with unique authority and mediate between God and His people (Deuteronomy 18:15). Yet the Torah closes by observing that no prophet had arisen in Israel like Moses (Deuteronomy 34:10), leaving the promise awaiting fulfillment.
A second stream emerged through God’s covenant with David. The Lord promised that David’s throne would endure and that one of his descendants would establish an everlasting kingdom (2 Samuel 7:12–16). Later prophets returned repeatedly to this promise, envisioning a future ruler who would reign in righteousness, restore Israel, and bring justice to the nations (Isaiah 9:6–7; Jeremiah 23:5–6).
The Psalms deepened these royal expectations. Psalm 2 portrays the Lord’s anointed king receiving authority over the nations, while Psalm 110 depicts a ruler invited to sit at God’s right hand until all enemies are subdued. At the same time, Isaiah introduced another dimension to Israel’s hope through visions of a Spirit-anointed servant who would bring justice, healing, restoration, and redemption (Isaiah 42:1–7; 61:1–3). By the close of the Second Temple period, many Jews expected God to send a decisive deliverer who would fulfill these promises, defeat evil, restore His people, and establish His kingdom.
Alongside these familiar messianic expectations stood another figure whose significance grew steadily during the centuries leading up to the New Testament. In Daniel 7, the prophet describes “one like a son of man” approaching the Ancient of Days, a title that emphasizes God’s eternal rule over history. This figure receives authority, glory, and an everlasting kingdom so that all peoples and nations come under his dominion.
For many readers, Daniel’s vision raises immediate questions. Who is this ruler? Why does he receive authority directly from heaven rather than inheriting it through an earthly dynasty? And why does Daniel describe him using imagery that echoes passages elsewhere in Scripture associated with the presence and authority of God Himself?
These questions became increasingly important during the Second Temple period, the centuries leading up to the time of Jesus. As foreign empires continued to dominate the Jewish people, many looked to Daniel’s vision for hope. The Son of Man came to represent far more than another Davidic king. He became associated with God’s final victory over evil, the judgment of oppressive kingdoms, the restoration of God’s people, and the establishment of a kingdom that would never end.
Against this backdrop, one feature of Jesus’ ministry stands out. Although the Gospels identify Him as Messiah, Son of David, Rabbi, and Son of God, Jesus most often refers to Himself as the Son of Man. He uses the title when speaking about His authority, His suffering, His resurrection, His future return, and the coming kingdom of God. Understanding why Jesus chose this title opens a window into how He understood His own mission and how the New Testament understands the fulfillment of Israel’s story.
Daniel’s Vision of the Son of Man
The title Son of Man comes from one of the most important visions in the book of Daniel. Daniel receives this vision during the Babylonian exile, a period when God’s people lived under foreign rule, and many wondered how God’s promises to Israel would ultimately be fulfilled. Powerful empires controlled the world. Jerusalem had fallen. The temple had been destroyed. The question facing God’s people was straightforward: if the God of Israel truly ruled history, why did pagan kingdoms continue to dominate His people?
Daniel’s vision answers that question through a series of vivid images. He sees four great beasts rising from the sea. Later in the chapter, Daniel learns that these beasts represent kingdoms that exercise authority over the earth. The imagery is intentionally unsettling. Human governments appear as powerful animals rather than noble rulers. Daniel’s vision reveals that history unfolds simultaneously on earthly and heavenly stages. While empires rise, wage war, and exercise power on earth, the heavenly court remains in session above them. The vision emphasizes that political events never exist apart from God’s sovereign rule and judgment.
As the vision unfolds, Daniel’s attention shifts from earth to heaven. Thrones are placed in position, and the Ancient of Days takes His seat. The title emphasizes God’s eternal existence and sovereign authority. Human rulers govern for a season before passing from the stage of history. Empires rise and fall. Generations come and go. The God of Israel remains enthroned above them all.
Daniel then watches as a heavenly court convenes. Judgment begins. The beasts that appeared so powerful at the beginning of the vision suddenly stand accountable before a higher authority. The future of the nations rests in the hands of God.
At this point, a new figure enters the vision. Daniel sees “one like a son of man” coming with the clouds of heaven (Daniel 7:13). The description immediately creates a contrast with everything that has come before. The kingdoms of the world appeared as beasts. This ruler appears as a human being. The beasts seized power through violence. The Son of Man receives authority from God. The beasts devoured nations. The Son of Man receives a kingdom intended to endure forever. Throughout the vision, Daniel presents the Son of Man as the answer to the failed rule of the beasts.
Daniel then watches as the Son of Man approaches the Ancient of Days and receives authority, glory, and kingship. The result is extraordinary: all peoples, nations, and languages come under his rule. His kingdom will never be destroyed, and his dominion will never pass away.
One detail in the vision deserves special attention. Daniel does not simply describe the Son of Man receiving a kingdom. He describes him arriving “with the clouds of heaven.” To modern readers, that detail can appear incidental. To readers familiar with the rest of the Old Testament, it would have stood out immediately.
Throughout the Old Testament, cloud imagery is closely associated with the presence and authority of God. The Lord descends upon Mount Sinai in a cloud, leads Israel through the wilderness by a pillar of cloud, and fills both the tabernacle and the temple with His glory. Israel’s poets even celebrate the Lord as the one who rides upon the clouds of heaven. Daniel, therefore, presents more than a human ruler receiving a kingdom. The Son of Man participates in imagery traditionally associated with the God of Israel Himself.
The Son of Man in Second Temple Judaism
Daniel’s vision did not remain confined to the pages of Scripture. During these centuries, Daniel’s vision became a focal point for Jewish reflection on God’s future kingdom. Foreign powers continued to dominate the Jewish people. Although Israel had returned from exile and rebuilt the temple, the great promises of restoration described by the prophets still awaited fulfillment. Daniel’s vision offered hope that God remained sovereign over history and would one day establish His kingdom over every earthly power.
This period is commonly called Second Temple Judaism because it stretches from the rebuilding of the temple after the Babylonian exile until its destruction by Rome in A.D. 70. It includes the lifetime of Jesus, His disciples, and the earliest Christian movement. During these centuries, many Jews returned repeatedly to Daniel’s writings as they wrestled with questions about Israel’s future. They asked many of the same questions readers ask today. Who is the Son of Man? When will God’s kingdom arrive? How will evil finally be defeated? Daniel’s vision became one of the central texts through which many Jews understood God’s future intervention in history.
Among the most significant examples appears in the Book of Enoch, a collection of Jewish writings that circulated widely during the centuries before and during the time of Jesus. Several sections portray a heavenly Son of Man who receives authority from God, judges wicked rulers, vindicates the righteous, and presides over the final establishment of God’s kingdom. Enoch is not part of the biblical canon, yet it provides valuable insight into how many Jews understood Daniel’s vision during the first century. By the time Jesus began His public ministry, the Son of Man had become associated with God’s coming judgment, the defeat of evil, the vindication of God’s people, and the arrival of His everlasting kingdom.
This broader interpretive tradition helps explain why Daniel 7 occupied such an important place within Jewish expectation. The Son of Man was far more than a poetic description of humanity. He increasingly functioned as a figure associated with heavenly authority, divine judgment, covenant fulfillment, and God’s ultimate victory over the kingdoms of the world. Daniel’s vision had become part of Israel’s larger hope for the future.
The New Testament itself provides evidence of this interpretive environment. The Epistle of Jude cites a prophecy attributed to Enoch concerning the Lord’s coming judgment: “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones, to execute judgment on all” (Jude 14–15). Jude’s citation does not place Enoch on the same level as Scripture, but it demonstrates that Jewish believers remained familiar with traditions that developed around Daniel’s apocalyptic vision. Themes such as heavenly judgment, angelic hosts, the defeat of evil, and the coming kingdom formed part of the theological world inhabited by Jesus and His earliest followers.
By the first century, therefore, Daniel’s Son of Man carried far greater significance than the phrase might suggest to a modern reader. The title evoked expectations of heavenly enthronement, divine judgment, covenant fulfillment, and the arrival of God’s kingdom. When Jesus repeatedly identified Himself as the Son of Man, He was not selecting an obscure expression. He was placing Himself within one of the most powerful and recognizable prophetic visions in Israel’s Scriptures and within one of the most influential streams of Jewish expectation.
Jesus Claims Daniel’s Identity
Against this backdrop, Jesus’ repeated use of the title Son of Man takes on extraordinary significance. The phrase appears more than eighty times in the Gospels and serves as Jesus’ preferred description of Himself. While others call Him Messiah, Son of David, Rabbi, or Son of God, Jesus consistently returns to the title rooted in Daniel’s vision.
The most revealing example occurs during His trial before the high priest. Asked directly whether He is the Messiah, the Son of God, Jesus responds by combining two of the most significant messianic texts in Israel’s Scriptures. Drawing from Psalm 110 and Daniel 7, He declares, “From now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven” (Matthew 26:64).
The force of this statement becomes clear only when both passages are considered together. Psalm 110 portrays a royal figure invited to sit at God’s right hand until all enemies are placed beneath his feet. Daniel 7 depicts the Son of Man approaching the Ancient of Days, receiving everlasting dominion, and ruling over all nations. By combining these texts, Jesus identifies Himself as the ruler who shares in God’s authority, receives God’s kingdom, and exercises God’s judgment over the world.
Just as significant is the direction of the prophecy. Jesus does not merely claim that He will someday appear in glory. He tells the members of the Sanhedrin that they themselves will witness the vindication of the Son of Man. The judges seated before Him believe they possess authority over His fate. Jesus responds by declaring that history is moving toward a moment when their authority will be eclipsed by His own. The accused stands before the court, announcing that He is the figure Daniel saw receiving the kingdom.
The high priest immediately tears his garments and accuses Jesus of blasphemy. This reaction is often misunderstood. The controversy does not arise because Jesus claims to be human. Nor does it arise merely because He claims to be the Messiah. First-century Judaism knew of various messianic expectations, and other messianic claimants would appear during this period. The crisis emerges because Jesus places Himself within Daniel’s heavenly vision and applies to Himself the cloud-riding imagery associated throughout Israel’s Scriptures with the authority of God. The Son of Man receives everlasting dominion, exercises judgment over the nations, and participates in imagery traditionally reserved for the Lord Himself. Jesus does not merely claim a royal office. He claims Daniel’s identity.
The same pattern appears throughout the Gospels. When Jesus forgives sins, He declares that “the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins” (Mark 2:10). When He speaks of the coming judgment, He describes the Son of Man seated upon a glorious throne with all nations gathered before Him (Matthew 25:31–32). When He predicts His return, He again draws directly from Daniel’s language, declaring that the Son of Man will come with power and great glory upon the clouds of heaven (Matthew 24:30). In each case, Jesus presents Himself as the figure Daniel saw approaching the heavenly throne.
This explains why the title Son of Man ultimately carries greater theological weight than many of the other messianic titles found in the New Testament. Son of David emphasizes royal descent. Prophet recalls Moses. Servant evokes Isaiah. Son of Man gathers all of these themes into a single figure while simultaneously placing that figure within Daniel’s vision of heavenly enthronement and everlasting dominion. No other title so comprehensively unites Israel’s prophetic, royal, covenantal, and apocalyptic expectations.
Before moving forward, it may be helpful to visualize how Daniel’s vision, Jewish expectation, and Jesus’ own claims fit together within a single messianic framework.
The Son of Man Must Suffer
By the time Jesus began His public ministry, many Jews associated the Son of Man with authority, judgment, victory, and the coming kingdom of God. Daniel’s vision describes a ruler who receives everlasting dominion from the Ancient of Days and reigns over all nations. For this reason, many expected the Messiah’s story to move toward triumph. The Son of Man would defeat God’s enemies, establish God’s kingdom, and bring history to its appointed conclusion.
The Gospels present a surprising development. Immediately after Peter identifies Jesus as the Messiah, Jesus begins teaching that “the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again” (Mark 8:31). Instead of speaking about victory, He speaks about rejection. Instead of describing conquest, He describes suffering. The Son of Man who receives the kingdom must first endure death.
Jesus returns to this theme repeatedly. While discussing Elijah and the restoration of all things, He asks a remarkable question: “How is it written of the Son of Man that he should suffer many things and be treated with contempt?” (Mark 9:12). The question itself reveals something important. Jesus assumes that the Scriptures already speak of the suffering of the Son of Man. Yet Daniel never describes the Son of Man being rejected, wounded, or killed. Jesus is therefore interpreting Daniel within the larger framework of Israel’s Scriptures.
The solution emerges through Isaiah’s Servant Songs, particularly Isaiah 52–53. Isaiah describes a servant who suffers rejection, bears the sins of others, and is ultimately vindicated by God. For centuries, Jewish interpreters wrestled with the identity of this figure. Jesus brings Isaiah and Daniel together. The servant who suffers is the Son of Man who receives the kingdom. The ruler who inherits everlasting dominion is also the one who bears rejection. The figure enthroned in Daniel and the servant wounded in Isaiah belong to a single messianic mission.
This synthesis represents one of the most significant theological developments in the New Testament. Jesus does not abandon Israel’s messianic expectations. He reveals how the various strands of Israel’s Scriptures fit together. The path to the throne runs through the cross. The kingdom arrives through suffering before it arrives in judgment. Glory follows sacrifice.
The Gospels repeatedly present the disciples struggling to understand this connection. They recognize Jesus as the Messiah but continue to expect immediate triumph. Jesus, however, insists that the Scriptures tell a larger story. Before the Son of Man receives the kingdom openly, He must first accomplish the work described by Isaiah’s suffering servant. The covenant promises given to Israel require more than the defeat of political enemies. They require the defeat of sin, death, and evil themselves.
By joining Daniel’s Son of Man and Isaiah’s Servant into a single figure, Jesus resolves a tension that had long existed within Israel’s prophetic hope. The Messiah will indeed receive everlasting dominion. He will indeed judge the nations and establish God’s kingdom. Yet before He reigns in glory, He will suffer on behalf of the people He came to redeem. The crown and the cross belong to the same story.
The Son of Man Receives the Kingdom
Once Jesus joins Daniel’s Son of Man and Isaiah’s suffering servant into a single messianic mission, another question naturally follows. When does Daniel’s vision actually occur?
Many readers associate Daniel 7 primarily with the end of history because the chapter culminates in everlasting dominion and universal kingship. Yet a careful reading reveals that the central movement of the vision is not downward from heaven to earth. It is upward toward the heavenly throne. Daniel sees the Son of Man approaching the Ancient of Days in order to receive authority from Him.
This detail proves crucial for understanding how the apostles interpreted Jesus’ resurrection and ascension. Following His resurrection, Jesus ascends into heaven and takes His seat at the Father’s right hand. Throughout the New Testament, the apostles repeatedly describe this event using the language of enthronement. Peter proclaims that the risen Christ has been exalted to God’s right hand (Acts 2:33). Paul declares that God seated Him above every rule, authority, power, and dominion (Ephesians 1:20–21). The author of Hebrews describes Him taking His place at the right hand of Majesty after accomplishing purification for sins (Hebrews 1:3).
These passages reflect the same theological reality. The ascension is not merely Christ’s departure from earth. It is His enthronement. The Son of Man approaches the Ancient of Days and receives the kingdom Daniel foresaw.
This understanding explains why the New Testament consistently speaks of Christ’s present reign. The kingdom has not yet reached its final consummation, yet the King already occupies the throne. Daniel’s vision has begun to unfold. The Son of Man has received authority, and His reign now extends throughout the nations through the proclamation of the gospel. The promises given to David find their fulfillment in the enthroned Messiah, and the dominion foreseen by Daniel enters history through the victory of the risen Christ.
At the same time, the New Testament insists that history is moving toward a future moment when the authority of the Son of Man will be revealed openly throughout creation. The kingdom has been inaugurated through His exaltation, but it has not yet reached its appointed completion.
Jesus repeatedly describes this future using the language of Daniel 7. In His Olivet Discourse, He declares that “they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory” (Matthew 24:30). The imagery is unmistakable. The cloud-rider of Daniel’s vision will ultimately appear before all nations as the rightful ruler of the world.
This expectation extends beyond judgment alone. When Peter asks what awaits those who have followed Him, Jesus speaks of “the renewal of all things” when the Son of Man will sit upon His glorious throne and the twelve apostles will judge the twelve tribes of Israel (Matthew 19:28). The language reflects the restoration anticipated throughout the prophets. God’s purposes for creation, Israel, and the nations move toward fulfillment rather than abandonment. Evil will be overthrown. The righteous will be vindicated. Creation itself will experience renewal.
This future hope appears throughout the New Testament. Paul describes the final defeat of every enemy beneath Christ’s feet (1 Corinthians 15:24–28). The book of Revelation portrays the consummation of God’s kingdom and the renewal of heaven and earth. The story consistently moves toward the same destination. The reign inaugurated through the exaltation of the Son of Man will one day become visible throughout all creation.
The New Testament therefore presents a unified vision of the Messiah’s work. The Son of Man receives the kingdom through His resurrection and ascension, exercises authority in the present age, and ultimately returns to bring His reign to completion. Daniel’s vision stretches from Christ’s exaltation to the renewal of all things, binding together the present and future dimensions of God’s kingdom in a single covenantal story.
One Story. One Covenant. One Messiah.
The title Son of Man reveals why the New Testament cannot be separated from the Scriptures that precede it. Jesus does not adopt a new theological category. He identifies Himself with a figure already standing at the center of Israel’s prophetic and apocalyptic imagination. Daniel saw the Son of Man approach the Ancient of Days and receive everlasting dominion. Israel’s prophets anticipated a coming ruler who would establish God’s kingdom, restore His people, judge evil, and fulfill the covenant promises given to Abraham, Moses, and David. Second Temple Judaism continued to reflect upon these expectations as it awaited God’s decisive intervention in history. The New Testament declares that this long-anticipated figure has appeared in Jesus of Nazareth.
Yet the Gospels also reveal something Daniel’s vision did not fully disclose. The Son of Man who receives the kingdom is also the suffering servant who bears the sins of His people. The ruler who inherits everlasting dominion first walks the path of rejection, death, and resurrection. Jesus therefore brings together prophetic streams that had previously stood side by side within Israel’s Scriptures and reveals their fulfillment within a single messianic mission.
For this reason, the title Son of Man occupies a central place in the New Testament. It gathers the promises made to Israel, the visions of the prophets, the hopes of Second Temple Judaism, and the covenant purposes of God into a single figure. Jesus is the prophet greater than Moses, the Son promised to David, the servant proclaimed by Isaiah, the priest-king envisioned in the Psalms, and the heavenly ruler seen by Daniel. The New Testament’s repeated use of the title is therefore an act of identification rather than innovation. The Messiah anticipated throughout the Tanakh has arrived. The kingdom promised throughout God’s covenants has begun in Him. The Son of Man has received the kingdom, and through Him the story of Israel moves toward its appointed fulfillment. One Story. One Covenant. One Messiah.
To read previous essays in this series, click any of the titles below:
One Story. One Covenant. One Messiah.
Shavuot and Pentecost: One Feast, One Story
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: Why the Abrahamic Covenant Still Stands
One Root. Many Branches. Paul’s Answer in Romans 11
From Sinai to Messiah: The Prophet Like Moses in Deuteronomy and the New Testament
The New Testament Was Written by Second Temple Jews
Jill Szoo Wilson 
