Jesus’ favourite self-designation in the gospels is the title “Son of Man”. In the narrative of Jesus’ trial, Jesus connects this title with the image of “coming with the clouds of heaven”, thus drawing our attention to the prophetic text of Daniel 7:13-14: “I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.”A typical Jewish interpretation of this text in Daniel is that the Son of Man is actually a personification of the nation of Israel. Jewish apologists draw support for this interpretation from the interpretation of Daniel’s entire vision given in verses 15-22 of the same chapter, and in particular verses 18, 22 and 27: “But in the end, the holy people of the Most High will be given the kingdom, and they will rule forever and ever… until the Ancient of Days—the Most High—came and judged in favor of his holy people. Then the time arrived for the holy people to take over the kingdom.… Then the sovereignty, power, and greatness of all the kingdoms under heaven will be given to the holy people of the Most High. His kingdom will last forever, and all rulers will serve and obey him.”” Thus, it is argued, the Son of Man in verses 13-14 actually refers to the “saints of the most high”, not the Messiah. This is the argument presented in a recent video by Muslim YouTube polemicist Yahya Snow claiming to offer a refutation of my claim that the "Son of Man" was used by Jesus as a divine title.
The clip that Yahya Snow played of me was from an old radio debate of mine, at a point at which I was asked to give an example where Jesus self-identified as God. I cited Jesus' self-designation as "Son of Man" and its clear ties to Daniel 7:13-14. Here, it is less important how the text was originally intended by its author to be interpreted and more important how Jesus Himself understood it and his intent in applying the title to Himself. Clearly, Jesus did not understand the title "Son of Man" in Daniel as a reference to the nation of Israel (unless one is seriously going to contend that Jesus considered Himself to be the whole nation of Israel). Jesus clearly understood the title as a title of deity.
