Summary
JesusJesus is the Messiah whose life, death, and resurrection are God's saving act for humanity. is the MessiahThe Messiah was the one who, it was believed, would come to free the people of Israel from bondage and exile. In Jewish thought the Messiah is the anticipated one who will come, as prophesied by Isaiah. In Christian thought Jesus of Nazareth is identified..., the Son of Man who comes to destroy the power of the beast, to rescue his people and to receive glory and honor from God the Father.
Analysis
As noted in the entry on Old Testament and Revelation, John makes constant creative use of Old Testament imagery without direct quotation. In Revelation 1:12-18, he takes up an image drawn from the book of DanielAn interpreter of dreams who was delivered from the lions' den., in which Daniel sees a vision of the “one like a Son of Man” coming on the clouds of heaven. The Gospel of Mark was the first to apply this image specifically to Jesus. When the high priestThe high priest was the most powerful priest in the temple in Jerusalem. The high priest Caiaphas held the office during the trial of Jesus. Later, in the New Testament book of Hebrews, the role of merciful high priest is ascribed to the resurrected Jesus. challenges Jesus to reveal whether or not he is the Messiah, Jesus responds by quoting Daniel 7:13, identifying himself as the Son of Man who will come on the clouds of heaven with power.
The image of the Son of Man is uniquely suited for the challenges that John faced. In Daniel, it comes in the context of the persecution of Israel by Antiochus Epiphanes, whom Daniel describes as a horn that speaks arrogant words (Daniel 7:11), an image that John will pick up in his description of the beast from the sea. For John, this image represents the hope that just as God toppled the power of Antiochus, Jesus will come and topple the arrogance of the Roman EmpireThe region we today call Palestine and Israel was under Roman rule during the time of Jesus and the early church. The Roman Empire was in its ascendancy during the first century, making it the most powerful political and military force on earth..
John, however, adds a twist to the image. Not only does he describe Jesus as the Son of Man, but he also sees Jesus as having the attributes of Daniel’s “Ancient of Days” (Daniel 7:9). The description of Jesus as having head and hair as “white as white wool, white as snow” and eyes “like a flame of fire” (1:14), identify Jesus with the one seated on the throne (Daniel 7:9). Here, John identifies Jesus with God the Father, a claim that he will repeat at the end of Revelation when he proclaims that Jesus is also the Alpha and the Omega.
