28. The Son of man symbolizes the Lord in relation to the Word because prophets also were called sons of man. Prophets were also called sons of man because they represented the Lord in relation to the Word, and therefore they symbolized the doctrine of the church drawn from the Word. Prophets have no other meaning in heaven when they are mentioned in the Word. For the spiritual meaning of a prophet, as also that of the Son of man, is the doctrine of the church drawn from the Word, and when referring to the Lord it is the Word itself.

That the prophet Daniel was called son of man may be seen in Daniel 8:17.

That the prophet Ezekiel was called son of man may be seen in Ezekiel 2:1, 3, 6, 8, 3:1, 3-4, 10, 17, 25, 4:1, 16, 5:1, 6:2, 7:2, 8:5-6, 8, 12, 15, 11:2, 4, 15, 12:2-3, 9, 18, 22, 27, 13:2, 17, 14:3, 13, 15:2, 16:2, 17:2, 20:3-4, 27, 46, 21:7, 11, 14, 17, 19, 24, 22:18, 24, 23:2, 36, 24:2, 16, 25, 25:2, 26:2, 27:2, 28:2, 12, 21, 29:2, 18, 30:2, 21, 31:2, 32:2, 18, 33:2, 7, 10, 12, 24, 30, 34:2, 35:2, 36:1, 17, 37:3, 9, 11, 16, 38:2, 14, 39:1, 17, 40:4, 43:7, 10, 18, 44:5.

It is apparent now from this that the Lord in relation to His Divine humanity is called the Son of God, and in relation to the Word the Son of man.

A company might have executives setting policy and strategy, engineers designing products, managers handling personnel and others handling various functions. They all do different things -- but if they're doing them with a shared underlying purpose, the company -- and the individuals in it -- will likely be successful. The Lord wants all human society to function in a similar way. We have different skills and individual loves, but if we all share a mutual love -- a love of serving others -- then society will function as one, will be a reflection of heaven and will be a good receptacle for the Lord's love. This can also happen within each of us, as we unify our talents and ideas around a central love. And in an abstract sense, it illustrates how a wide collection of varying ideas can be unified around a shared good intention. That is the kind of love pictured when “one” is used in the Bible, either as a specific number or in the sense of several people or objects “being one.” In more casual references -- when used to identify a specific person or object -- the meaning is relatively literal, and is connected to that person or object.