“Now, son of man… lie on your left side and put the sin of the people of Israel upon yourself. You are to bear their sin for the number of days you lie on your side. I have assigned you the same number of days as the years of their sin.” – Ezekiel 4:1 & 4-5
Chapter 4 of Ezekiel has one of the most fascinating pictures of Jesus in the Old Testament. In this passage God starts by addressing Ezekiel as “son of man.” God uses this phrase to address Ezekiel a total of 93 times. The only other person referred to as the Son of Man in the Bible is Jesus. The New Testament refers to Jesus as the Son of Man a total of 88 times.
The title “Son of Man" is literally “ben ‘adam” or “son of Adam” and is used to emphasize humanness and indicate that the person is a type or representative of all humanity. As such, God sent Ezekiel as a sign to the captives in Babylon telling him, “I have made you a sign…” (Ezekiel 12:6). In Babylon, Ezekiel delivers God’s message of God’s judgment. God then tells Ezekiel to lie on his side and take the full sins of his people upon himself and bear them fully.
All of this foreshadows Jesus! Like Ezekiel, Jesus took on our humanity, identified Himself with our lowly position and our representative before God. He also came to us when we were captive to sin and revealed the truth of God’s Word and the reality of needing to pay the penalty for sin. Like Ezekiel, Jesus also took the fullness of our sins upon Himself.
But, unlike Ezekiel, Jesus wasn’t just a sign of our sin, He was the solution for our sin. He took our sins to the cross and paid the full penalty for them Himself. He fully satisfied God’s wrath, delivered us out of captivity, and set us free to be the children of God.
Take a moment this morning and thank Jesus for taking on your humanity, bearing your sin, and setting you free from captivity. Thank Him for being the Son of Man.
Chapter 4 of Ezekiel has one of the most fascinating pictures of Jesus in the Old Testament. In this passage God starts by addressing Ezekiel as “son of man.” God uses this phrase to address Ezekiel a total of 93 times. The only other person referred to as the Son of Man in the Bible is Jesus. The New Testament refers to Jesus as the Son of Man a total of 88 times.
The title “Son of Man" is literally “ben ‘adam” or “son of Adam” and is used to emphasize humanness and indicate that the person is a type or representative of all humanity. As such, God sent Ezekiel as a sign to the captives in Babylon telling him, “I have made you a sign…” (Ezekiel 12:6). In Babylon, Ezekiel delivers God’s message of God’s judgment. God then tells Ezekiel to lie on his side and take the full sins of his people upon himself and bear them fully.
All of this foreshadows Jesus! Like Ezekiel, Jesus took on our humanity, identified Himself with our lowly position and our representative before God. He also came to us when we were captive to sin and revealed the truth of God’s Word and the reality of needing to pay the penalty for sin. Like Ezekiel, Jesus also took the fullness of our sins upon Himself.
But, unlike Ezekiel, Jesus wasn’t just a sign of our sin, He was the solution for our sin. He took our sins to the cross and paid the full penalty for them Himself. He fully satisfied God’s wrath, delivered us out of captivity, and set us free to be the children of God.
Take a moment this morning and thank Jesus for taking on your humanity, bearing your sin, and setting you free from captivity. Thank Him for being the Son of Man.
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