(5) Coming With Power & Great Glory

(Note: This post is part of a series on Jesus as The Ancient of Days)

Remember what we saw before when Jesus stood before the Sanhedrin? Jesus made this same declaration about coming on the clouds. “But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power and coming on the clouds of heaven. (Matthew 26:64 NET)”

Daniel says the Son of Man will come with the clouds. Jesus, speaking about Himself says “you will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds.”

Jesus made this statement another time in the middle of the Olivet Discourse when He was explaining to His disciples what would happen before His second coming and what would happen when He returned.

Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. (Matthew 24:30 ESV)

I like the way John MacArthur deals with this “sign” and Jesus coming “on the clouds of Heaven” in his message "The Signs of Christ's Coming--Part 6".

The sign then is going to be the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ coming in majesty. He will be distinguishable. He will be recognizable. And yet He will be in full glory. It also says, notice it, at the end of verse 30 that He will come on (“on” is the right word) the clouds of heaven...on the clouds of heaven. In the same manner as you have seen Him go, Acts 1:9-11 says, He'll come. He went in the clouds, He'll come in the clouds. Daniel says He will come with the clouds of heaven, (Daniel 7:13). John says He'll come with the clouds, (Revelation 1:7). Mark says He'll come in clouds, (Mark 13:26). Luke says in 21:27 He'll come in a cloud and Matthew says He comes on the clouds of heaven here and later on in chapter 26 verse 64. So, all the writers agree that He is coming surrounded with clouds.

Daniel sees the Son of Man not just coming on the clouds; he adds that they are the clouds “of Heaven.” He is saying that the Son of Man comes from Heaven. Expositor’s Bible Commentary states:

The personage who now appears before God in the form of a human being is of heavenly origin. He has come to this place of coronation accompanied by the clouds of heaven and is clearly no mere human being in essence. The expression "like a son of man" identifies the appearance of this final Ruler of the world not only as a man, but also as the heavenly Sovereign incarnate.

So, we have pretty well established from scripture that Jesus is the Son of Man spoken about in Daniel. He is from Heaven, affirming His deity. He is going to return to earth on the clouds at His second coming (not the rapture). He is also going to return “in power and great glory.”

MacArthur continues commenting on Jesus returning on the clouds:

You say, "What's that point?" I don't know. Maybe that's their way in the vision of seeing this glorious Shekinah. But there's some kind of a cloud, a cloud of light, a cloud of glory. And I think it's kind of special clouds. You know, the Old Testament tells us that clouds are the chariot of God. It's a very vivid thing. Psalm 104, do you remember what it says? "Bless the Lord, O my soul, O Lord, my God, Thou art very great, Thou art clothed with honor and majesty who layeth the beams of His chamber in the waters, who maketh the clouds His chariot, who walketh on the wings of the wind." Very vivid beautiful language. And Isaiah 19:1 says, "The Lord rides on the a swift cloud." And so, the scene is indescribable. The world is in panic. People everywhere are dying of sheer terror. They're in total blackness and only the Lord holds them together enough so that they can see the rest of these events. And in the midst of that black chaos appears the glory of the Son of God in heaven, in utter majesty, an unveiled holy Shekinah presence and riding on the chariot of God, the clouds, appears in the sky.

Jesus says He will come on the clouds with “great glory”, and He will also come “with power”. Daniel says, “He was given authority, honor, and sovereignty over all the nations of the world, so that people of every race and nation and language would obey him.” Paul describes this in his second letter to the church in Thessalonica.

For it is right for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to you who are being afflicted to give rest together with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels. With flaming fire he will mete out punishment on those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. (2 Thessalonians 1:6-8 (NET)

The Son of Man will return in an awesome display of power and glory to exercise His authority, honor, and sovereignty over all the peoples and nations of the earth. He will do this by bringing “affliction” and “punishment” on those who have not obeyed the gospel. This is the glorious, powerful, conquering, sovereign Son of Man. This is our Jesus! Hallelujah!!!

Perhaps it would be beneficial at this point to summarize what we have seen from all these texts.

1. The Son of Man is a heavenly person, he is divine, God.

2. The Son of Man possesses great honor, power, and glory.

3.The Son of Man is given authority and sovereignty over the entire world.

4. The Son of Man will return to earth “on the clouds” to exercise his rule.

5. The Son of Man will exercise judgement over the earth.

6. Jesus is the Son of Man.

Never again think of this title “Son of Man” as a mere reference to the humanity of Jesus. It is far more. “Son of Man” is a title of authority, power, sovereignty, glory, and deity. This is our Jesus, up close and personal.