Daniel saw a vision of “one like a son of man” ascending to God’s throne (Daniel 7:13). We, who read this with the knowledge that Jesus referred to Himself as “the son of man” (Matthew 9:6), often assume that the vision was about Jesus. True, according what we know now, like all prophecy (1 Peter 1:12). But the angel told Daniel the vision was about “the saints,” not an individual. The figure like a son of man ascending to the throne and being given the kingdom in his vision was referring to the future time when “the saints of the Most High shall receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever, forever and ever” (7:18). The term “saints” is used five times in the story of Daniel’s vision. The term is only used six times in the entire book of Daniel.
There are reasons why Daniel would find the “saints” interpretation of the figure of the son of man to make sense. Before “one like the son of man” ascended, a series of four animals, “beasts” came from the sea. These four beasts represented four successive empires, not single rulers. So it would make sense if the figure of the son also designated a collective reality.
Indeed, there is another reason why Daniel and his readers might readily agree with angel in identifying “one like a son of man” as the saints. Psalm 80 uses the term as a reference to Israel:
You brought a vine out of Egypt;
you drove out the nations and planted it.
You cleared the ground for it;
it took deep root and filled the land.
The mountains were covered with its shade,
the mighty cedars with its branches.
It sent out its branches to the sea
and its shoots to the River.
Why then have you broken down its walls,
so that all who pass along the way pluck its fruit?
The boar from the forest ravages it,
and all that move in the field feed on it.
Turn again, O God of hosts! Look down from heaven, and see;
have regard for this vine,
the stock that your right hand planted,
and for the son whom you made strong for yourself.
They have burned it with fire; they have cut it down;
may they perish at the rebuke of your face!
But let your hand be on the man of your right hand,
the son of man whom you have made strong for yourself!
Then we shall not turn back from you;
give us life, and we will call upon your name!
Psalm 80:8–18 ESV
So Daniel saw a vision of this “son of man” being made strong. The true Israel, the holy nation (Exodus 19:6), the holy ones or saints, would be given the kingdom.
Jesus, then, was not adopting a known title that designated the Messiah. Rather, he was claiming a title that had, before, referred to a group. He is claiming that it centers on himself. He is the only one who can claim to be the son of man. But he also promises that all who follow him will receive his blessings. So by identifying himself as the son of man, Jesus makes a way for the prophecy to be fulfilled for his followers, the saints.
Why would Psalm 80 refer to Israel as a “son of man”? Because the nation was collectively a second Adam—a son of Adam. It is the same word in Hebrew. The Dominion Mandate given to Adam and repeated to Noah, to be fruitful and multiply, was given as a promise of God’s blessing to Abraham:
When Abram was ninety-nine years old the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless, that I may make my covenant between me and you, and may multiply you greatly.” Then Abram fell on his face. And God said to him, “Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you.”
Genesis 17:1–6 ESV
Then the promise turns into another Dominion Mandate for Jacob, who is Israel:
God appeared to Jacob again, when he came from Paddan-aram, and blessed him. And God said to him, “Your name is Jacob; no longer shall your name be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name.” So he called his name Israel. And God said to him, “I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come from your own body.”
Genesis 35:9–11 ESV
In Genesis, Abraham’s seed is presented as a new Adam. In Daniel, seeing “one like a son of man,” given dominion that is taken away from beasts tells us again that this is a second Adam. The saints ruling in heaven are a new creation.
None of this is explicitly mentioned in Ephesians. All of it is background to what Paul writes…