self-designation of ' Son of Man,' — 'Son of Man' which in Matthew's representation, too,
appears as the standing Messianic des- ignation which our Lord employs of Himself, occur- ring as such about thirty times. The Messianic character of this designation Is placed beyond all doubt
35 Cf. W. C. Allen on 3^''^ and J. A. Robinson, Ephesians 229 seq. and Hastings' Diet, of the Bible, 11., p, 501 ; also Charles, Ascension of Isaiah, p. 3 et passim, and E. Daplyn sub voc. Hastings' D. C. G.
The Designations in Matthew 85
by Its Interchange with other Messianic titles (i6^^ cf. verses 16, 20; 17^ cf. verse 10 [the forerunner of Messiah]; 24-^ cf. verse 23; 26^^, cf. verse 63) : and the conception suggested by It of the Messiah, as judged by the substance of the passages In which It occurs, differs In nothing from that derived from the passages in Mark except that it is illuminated by more details. Here, too, we learn that the ' Son of Man ' came to minister, — or more specifically for the pur- pose of redemption: "the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many" (20^^). Suffering and death were, therefore. His appointed portion (17^^ 17^^ 20^^ 252,24,45^^ as indeed Scripture had foretold (12^"). But after death is the resurrection (17^'^" 20^^ 12^°), and after the resurrection the " coming " in great glory to judge the world (10-^ 24^''''''''^'^^ 26^^). There is noth- ing here which we had not already In Mark, but every- where details are filled In. The fortunes of the earthly life of the ' Son of Man ' are traced. We learn that He lived like other men, without asceticism, — " eating and drinking" (11^'') ; but lived a hard and suffering life, — He had not where to lay His head (8-°). His task was to sow the good seed of the word (13^^). As part of His lowliness, It emerges that blasphemy against Him Is forgivable, as It is not against the Holy Ghost (12^^). And the suffering He Is called on to endure runs out into death (17^-'-^). It would not be easy to give a more Itemized account of the suffer- ings He endured at the end than Mark gives, but they are all set down here, too (20^^), as also is the promise of the resurrection (12^ j -79.23 20^^) . When He shall come again is left here, too, In the Indefinite future
86 The Designations of Our Lord
(24"^ cf. 10-^), but the suddenness of its eventuatlon is emphasized (24^'^'^'^'^^''*^).
The details become notably numerous again, how- ever, when the purpose and accompaniment of this coming are adverted to (13^^ 16"" 19-^ 24^^ 25^^ 26*^^). The ' Son of Man ' Is " henceforth to be seen sitting at the right hand of power and coming In the clouds of heaven" (26*'^ 24"*^). He Is to come in the glory of His Father with His angels (16-'), for all the angels are to be with Him (25^^). The end of His coming Is to pass judgment on men and to consummate the Kingdom. " For the Son of Man shall come In the glory of His Father with His angels, and then shall He render unto every man according to his deeds " (i6-^) — and this Is "to come In His kingdom" (16-^). There Is naturally a punitive side to this judgment and a side of reward. Of the punitive side we are told that " when the sign of the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory shall appear," " all the tribes of the earth shall mourn" (24"'^'); and that He "shall send forth His angels, and they shall gather out of His kingdom all things that cause stumbling and them that do Iniquity, and shall cast them Into the furnace of fire : there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth" (13^^). On the side of reward we are told that " those who have followed Him, in the regeneration when the ' Son of Man ' shall sit on the throne of His glory " " also shall sit upon twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel" (19"^). For "He shall send forth His angels with a great sound of trumpets, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds; from one end of heaven to the other" (24^^), and "then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the King-
The Designations in Matthew 87
dom of their Father" (13'*^). It is obviously the universal judgment that Is here brought before us; and the consummation of the Kingdom, when by this judgment all that Is Impure Is drafted out of It and the chosen are made sharers In the universal regeneration. The whole scene of the judgment Is pictured for us with great vividness in the remarkable passage, 25^^"*°, where all the nations are depicted as summoned before the throne of the ' Son of Man's ' glory and separated according to their deeds done In the body — Interpreted as relating to Him — to the eternal inheritance of the kingdom prepared for them from the foundation of the world or to the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. The ' Son of Man ' appears here ac- cordingly as the King on His throne apportioning to men their eternal destinies.