In Matthew 8 we find the first mention of the Son of Man in the New Testament. How striking that in this first mention He is seen as a stranger in this world, with no place to lay His head. As the Creator, He has provided a resting place for the foxes and even the birds of the heavens. But when the Creator became Man—the Son of Man—He had no place to lay His head. This foreshadows His coming rejection here. Before the Son of Man reigns, He must first be rejected and suffer.

The last mention of the Son of Man in the New Testament is found in Revelation 14; there we see Him beginning to exert His power over the earth. He is crowned with a crown of gold (cf. Heb. 2:9; Ps. 21:3). The harvest and the vintage are two pictures of the judgment to come just before the coming Kingdom. In Leviticus 23 we find the feasts of the Lord, which give a calendar of God’s plans for this earth. The last of those feasts, the Feast of Tabernacles, pictures Israel’s rest in the millennial kingdom; this comes after the harvest and vintage have been gathered in (Lev. 23:39; Dt. 16:13). In Matthew 13:30, the Lord speaks of the wheat being gathered into the barn—speaking of the Rapture—and the tares harvested to be burned. In Revelation 14:14, we find that it will be our Lord Himself as the Son of Man who will initiate this coming harvest of judgment.

All judgment has been committed to Him because He is the Son of Man (Jn. 5:27). We give thanks that before He came to reign He first came to suffer for us, that we might reign with Him!