NOTES for Dan 7:15-28

The Aramaic "bar nasha" encountered in the previous reading, like the Hebrew "ben adam," means first of all "human being." This is what God calls the prophet in Ezekiel. Here, however, the expression has a special and exalted meaning: it denotes a human being who mysteriously surpasses human nature. Today's entire text constantly brings us back to this unknown and coming Son of Man, in whom the world will see Glory and Holiness. This meaning can apply only to the person of the Lord Jesus, especially since He applied it to Himself (Mt 8:20). Yet we can also observe a "collective meaning" here in verses 18 and 22, where the Son of Man is identified, as it were, with all the saints of the Most High. The Son of Man is at once the head, the representative, and the model of the people of the saints. And we likewise see and find the perfect manifestation of this Holy One in Christ.