“Who is this Son of man?” the people asked Christ.
His response was curious at first glance. “Walk while you have the light…Believe in the light that you may be the children of light.” He is saying that the Son of man is the Light, and if we believe in Him, then we can be the children of light (John 12: 34-36).
We understand the phrase “Son of God,” for we see Him walking on water, raising the dead, healing the sick, and doing the mighty works of God. God’s Son will do what the Father does. But “Son of man”? Does it mean the same as “Son of God”? Why both?
A son is by definition the male offspring of human beings. But we are not talking about just any son here; we are talking about the glorified offspring of mankind—not just a male offspring of natural sinful man, but a glorified male offspring. It is a man who has traveled and matured completely in the life cycle God has made for man.
“Man is the glory of God.” That is the purpose. Man is to be converted from his fallen state and restored to the original calling God has for him—to be the temple that holds the shekinah glory of God. This entity—God-fully-manifested-in-human-form—is the Son, the Son of God, yes, for He is God’s offspring, but He also is the Son of man, for He sprang forth from just being a mortal man to being an immortal man—full of the presence of the Spirit of his Creator, living in an immortal spiritual body by the resurrection of the dead (I Cor. 15: 42-49; II Cor. 5: 1-5).
And this is where He wants to take us! To be just like Him, the Son of man, the Light. That is the true calling and life cycle of a few chosen ones called “the elect” by the prophets and apostles. They are the ones who will journey at God’s bequest to make the full circle from His throne room to the destitution of earthly flesh, and back to the throne, where they will sit with Him, restored to their rightful seat with Him. “Thou turnest man to destruction and then say, Return.”
These elect will make the round trip back to Him. They will be accounted worthy to walk with Him in white and will be of one mind and one accord with their Savior and Maker. In fact, they will be accounted by God as actually a part of His body; they are His body. They are a part of the “Son” and will be called as well, the “Son of man,” for they will have made the journey of maturity, growing up into Him—God in human form.
This is what His eternal purpose is all about. This is the vision for the wrap up, for the end time. They are God’s battle axe, the apple of His eye. They are His crowning creation, the “kings” with a little “k” of the phrase, “The King of kings.” They are the ones, and yet, they are one with Him. For there is one God and one body of that great Deity, and they are the limbs, and the Pattern Son, Yahshua of Nazareth, is the head of that great body, called by His prophets, God’s temple.
That is the Son of man. He is the Light, and they are the “light” as well after they receive and retain the fullness of His Spirit in their spiritual bodies. The sons and daughters of man will comprise the spiritual body of the Son of man. They are one and yet many—many men and women who have grown up into spiritual maturity and have left their human fleshly prison for the greater dimension of the kingdom of heaven. These elect will know what I’m talking about, for it will quicken in their spirit.
Kenneth Wayne Hancock
For more on the eternal purpose read my book The Unveiling of the Sons of God, ch. 2, here: https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/ebook-the-unveiling-of-the-sons-of-god/