Page:The Last Judgement and Second Coming of the Lord Illustrated.djvu/44

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

Son of man that He forgiveth sins; for He said, "that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins," He said unto the sick of the palsy, "arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house;"[1] it is as the Son of man that He effects salvation, for it is written, "The Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them."[2] It is the flesh and the blood of the Son of man that we are to eat, without which we can have no life in us.[3] It was the Son of man that was to be glorified;[4] it was the Son of man who was to ascend;[5] it is the sign of the Son of man which is to appear in heaven; and it is the Son of man who is to come in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.[6] It is as the Son of man that judgment is to be executed, for it is expressly said, "The Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgement unto the Son, and hath given Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of man."[7] It is amazing, when the texts are collected together, how frequently, and under what important phases, the Lord is spoken of as the Son of man. And what can be the meaning of this? Every one sees that the two titles, Son of God, and Son of man, are made use of in reference to one and the same humanity; and, as it is plain that the title, Son of God, expresses the relationship which that humanity bears to God, it may be easy to perceive that the title, Son of man, is employed to express the relationship which the same humanity bears to man. The Lord, under this title, has presented to the world an idea of the Deity in the lowest possible form for human apprehension; it is that side of Him about which we can have some intellectual perception; that side which we see to

  1. Matt. ix. 6.
  2. Luke ix. 56.
  3. John vi. 53.
  4. John xi. 4; xii. 23.
  5. John vi. 62.
  6. Matt. xxiv. 30.
  7. John v. 22, 27.