27. The Lord is called the Son of man when the subject is redemption, salvation, reformation and regeneration. This is clear from the following:

...the Son of man (came) to give His life a redemption for many. (Matthew 20:28, Mark 10:45)

...the Son of man has come to save..., (and) not...to destroy.... (Matthew 18:11, Luke 9:56)

...the Son of man has come to seek and to save that which was lost. (Luke 19:10)

(The Son of man came) that the world through Him might be saved. (John 3:17)

He who sows the good seed is the Son of man. (Matthew 13:37)

The subject there is redemption and salvation, because these are accomplished by the Lord through the Word, and the Lord therefore calls Himself the Son of man.

The Lord says that “the Son of man has power...to forgive sins” (Mark 2:10, Luke 5:24), that is, to save from them. Also, that He is Lord of the Sabbath, because He is the Son of man (Matthew 12:8, Mark 2:28, Luke 6:5), since He is the Word that He teaches then. Moreover, He says in John:

Labor not for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of man will give you.... (John 6:27)

Food means all the truth and goodness of doctrine drawn from the Word, thus from the Lord.

This, too, is meant by the manna and bread referred to there that descended from heaven, and by the following declaration as well in the same chapter:

...unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. (John 6:53)

Flesh, or bread, is the goodness of love gained from the Word, while blood, or wine, is the goodness of faith gained from the Word, both originating from the Lord.

[2] The Son of man has the same symbolism in other places where the Son of man is mentioned. So, for example, in the following:

Foxes have holes and birds...have nests, but the Son of man has nowhere to lay His head. (Matthew 8:20, Luke 9:58)

This means that the Word would have no place among the Jews, as the Lord also says in John 8:37. Nor would they have it abiding among them, because they did not acknowledge Him (John 5:38).

The Son of man means the Lord in relation to the Word as well in the book of Revelation:

(I saw) in the midst of the seven lampstands one like the Son of man, clothed with a long robe and girded about the breasts with a golden girdle. (Revelation 1:13ff.)

Various things in that book represent the Lord as the embodiment of the Word, for which reason He is called the Son of man.

In Psalms:

Let Your hand be upon the man of Your right hand, upon the Son of man whom You made strong for Yourself. Then we will not turn back from You; revive us.... (Psalms 80:17-18)

The man of the right hand here as well is the Lord in relation to the Word, like the Son of man. He is called the man of the right hand because the Lord has power from Divine truth, which is also what the Word is, and He had Divine power when He fulfilled the whole of the Word. That is why He also said that people would see the Son of Man sitting at the right of the Father with power (Mark 14:62).

4293. In the internal historical sense 'for as a prince you have contended with God and with men, and have prevailed' means on account of the stubborn perverseness which was a product of their false delusions and evil desires. This becomes clear from the meaning of 'God' and the meaning of 'men' as truths and goods, dealt with above in 4287, though here the selfsame words have the opposite meaning because in this internal historical sense they are expressions used in reference to the descendants of Jacob, with whom no truths or goods were present interiorly, as shown above, only falsities and evils. Falsities are false delusions because they are the product of such delusions, and evils are evil desires because they are the product of such desires.

[2] As regards that nation's insistence that they should play the representative part, that is, that they themselves should constitute the Church in preference to all nations throughout the whole world, see above in 4290. More than this it is the fact that they were allowed to do so on account of the stubborn perverseness which was a product of their false delusions and of their evil desires that is meant here. No one can know the nature of those delusions and desires unless he has some contact with them in the next life. To enable me to know, such contact has been granted to me, for I have talked on several occasions to those people there. They love themselves and worldly wealth more than anybody else does, and above all they fear loss of position as well as loss of gain more than anybody else does. Consequently today as in former times they despise everyone else in comparison with themselves; they are also utterly intent on the acquisition of wealth, and in addition are full of fear. Because that nation has been like this since ancient times they were better able than others to be kept in external holiness devoid of all internal holiness, and so in outward form to represent things that constituted the Church It was these false delusions and evil desires that produced such stubborn perverseness.

[3] This is also apparent from many things which are mentioned regarding them in the historical narratives of the Word. After being punished they were able to demonstrate an external humility such as no other nation could do, for they were able for whole days to lie prostrate on the ground and to roll themselves in the dust and not get up until the third day. They were also able for many days to beat their breasts, and to go around in sackcloth, in tattered garments, with ashes or dust sprinkled over their head. They were able to fast continuously for many days, and during that time to burst into bitter tears. But these were the expressions solely of bodily and earthly love, and a fear of losing their pre-eminence and worldly wealth. For there was not anything internal which moved them since they did not know at all, and did not even wish to know, what the internal was, such as the matter of a life after death, or that of eternal salvation.

[4] From this it may be seen that because their nature was such they had to be dispossessed of all internal holiness, for this holiness accords in no way at all with the kind of external holiness that has just been described; indeed the two are utterly contrary to each other. It may also be seen that they were better able than others to play the part of a representative of the Church, that is to say, to represent holy things in external form, devoid of all internal holiness; and that thus by means of that nation some kind of communication with the heavens was possible, see 4288.