Luke 22:21-23

The Son of Man goeth

The Son of Man, and His going

I. THE SON OF MAN.

1. Reference of the appellation. Nothing is more certain than that the appellation, “the Son of Man,” belongs to Jesus Christ, and is peculiar to Him.

2. Origin of the appellation (see Psalms 18:17).

3. Meaning of the appellation. When the Messiah is termed “the Son of Man,” the term fixes the mind both on the reality of His manhood, and on the circumstances which distinguish Him among men. It marks Him as truly a man, a descendant of man; but it as really marks Him as standing out from the rest of men. The leading thoughts suggested by the designation, “the Son of Man,” as given to our Lord Jesus Christ, are these: that He is a real man, truly a partaker of human nature; that He is a perfect man, the normal man, man as he should be; that He is the representative man, the second Adam, charged with the responsibilities of the race; that He is the God-man, a true man in union with the true God; finally, that He is the predicted man, the great subject of New Testament prophecy; a man, a son of man--the man, the son of man.

II. THE GOING OF THE SON OF MAN. The predestined, predicted “going” of this Son of Man comes now to be considered. “The Son of Man,” said the Son of Man Himself, goeth, “goeth as was determined, goeth as it is written.” Heaven was His original abode--earth was His present residence; but it was not intended to be His permanent dwelling-place. He had come from heaven to earth, and was to go from earth to heaven. When He came, He came not unsent. He was commissioned to do a great work, and, when that work was accomplished, He was to return to Him that sent Him.

1. He went to the grave.

2. He went to the grave as it is written. Before proceeding farther in tracing the Son of Man’s amazing journey, it may be well for us here to stop and inquire how, when He went thus to the grave, He went “as it is written”? Here, there are three remarks which deserve our attention--

(1) He went in the character in which it was written He should go;

(2)He went in the disposition in which it was written He should go; and

(3) In many of the particular and even minute details of His progress, He went “as it was written.”

(1) He suffered and died as a public person, the representative of His people, the victim of sin. He suffered for us, the just in the room of the unjust; and this is as it was written.

(2) He went, as we have seen, in the spirit of the most entire self-devotedness, cheerful resignation, magnanimous fortitude. No man took His life from Him; He laid it down of Himself. And all this was written of Him.

(3) The agony in Gethsemane was as it was written; also His betrayal, the particular insults and injuries done Him, the manner in which His death was accomplished the circumstances of His funeral, etc.

3. He went to heaven.

4. He went to heaven as it is written. (D. Brown, D. D.)