Doctrine of the Lord # 27
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).
Published by the General Church of the New Jerusalem, 1100 Cathedral Road, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania 19009, U.S.A. A translation of Doctrina Novae Hierosolymae de Domino, by Emanuel Swedenborg, 1688-1772. Translated from the Original Latin by N. Bruce Rogers. ISBN 9780945003687, Library of Congress Control Number: 2013954074.
Matthew 20
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"For the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who was the master of a household, who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard.
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When he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard.
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He went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace.
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To them he said, 'You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.' So they went their way.
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Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did likewise.
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About the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle. He said to them, 'Why do you stand here all day idle?'
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"They said to him, 'Because no one has hired us.' "He said to them, 'You also go into the vineyard, and you will receive whatever is right.'
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When evening had come, the lord of the vineyard said to his manager, 'Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning from the last to the first.'
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"When those who were hired at about the eleventh hour came, they each received a denarius.
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When the first came, they supposed that they would receive more; and they likewise each received a denarius.
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When they received it, they murmured against the master of the household,
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saying, 'These last have spent one hour, and you have made them equal to us, who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat!'
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"But he answered one of them, 'Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Didn't you agree with me for a denarius?
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Take that which is yours, and go your way. It is my desire to give to this last just as much as to you.
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Isn't it lawful for me to do what I want to with what I own? Or is your eye evil, because I am good?'
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So the last will be first, and the first last. For many are called, but few are chosen."
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As Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside, and on the way he said to them,
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"Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death,
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and will hand him over to the Gentiles to mock, to scourge, and to crucify; and the third day he will be raised up."
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Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to him with her sons, kneeling and asking a certain thing of him.
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He said to her, "What do you want?" She said to him, "Command that these, my two sons, may sit, one on your right hand, and one on your left hand, in your Kingdom."
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But Jesus answered, "You don't know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?" They said to him, "We are able."
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He said to them, "You will indeed drink my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with, but to sit on my right hand and on my left hand is not mine to give; but it is for whom it has been prepared by my Father."
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When the ten heard it, they were indignant with the two brothers.
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But Jesus summoned them, and said, "You know that the rulers of the nations lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them.
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It shall not be so among you, but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant.
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Whoever desires to be first among you shall be your bondservant,
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even as the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."
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As they went out from Jericho, a great multitude followed him.
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Behold, two blind men sitting by the road, when they heard that Jesus was passing by, cried out, "Lord, have mercy on us, you son of David!"
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The multitude rebuked them, telling them that they should be quiet, but they cried out even more, "Lord, have mercy on us, you son of David!"
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Jesus stood still, and called them, and asked, "What do you want me to do for you?"
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They told him, "Lord, that our eyes may be opened."
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Jesus, being moved with compassion, touched their eyes; and immediately their eyes received their sight, and they followed him.
