"Coming on the clouds" = Ascension in Mt 26.64
First, for the moment let's ignore the question of whether Jesus is explicitly quoting Ps 110.1 and Dn 7.13 in Mt 26.64.
Whether or not there's an intertextual reference, it would seem that Jesus says in the verse that "sitting on the right hand of the might one" and "coming on the clouds of heaven" describes a single set of events, not two separate sets of events that are separated by thousands of years (or tens of thousands, or more, of years).
There are two items in the verse that seem to suggest that. First, note the timing of when Jesus says that the high priest and the Sanhedrin will "see" Jesus. Secondly, note the connection between sitting on the throne and coming on the clouds. I.e., the "and."
NIV: "From now on, you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven."
ESV: "From now on, you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven."
NAS: "Hereafter, you will see the son of man sitting at the right hand of power, and coming on the clouds of heaven.”
So whatever Jesus is referring to here, it would seem that he is describing two aspects of one thing, and this one thing will be "seen" by the high priest and the Sanhedrin starting very close in time to the point at which Jesus is then talking to them. ("From now on"; "hereafter.")
Secondly, now let's take the intertextual move. The reference to being "seated at the right hand of power" would seem to be the more obvious reference in the verse. As I understand it, first century Judaism understood Ps 110.1 to speak of the expected messiah. Hence the Sanhedrin's reaction when Jesus identified his claim to be the messiah (under penalty of perjury) by applying Ps 110.1 to himself.
Whether or not the members of the Sanhedrin understood Ps 110.1 to speak to anything like the ascension as it fully occured with Jesus, it certinaly does speak to an exaltation that provoked the Sanhedrin. And this exaltation is consistent with Jesus' actual ascension. Further, on the day of Pentecost, Peter expressly invokes Ps 110.1 as fulfilled in Jesus' ascension (Acts 2.34).
So we know that Ps 110.1 speaks to Jesus' ascension.
Now return to Mt 26.64. Given that Jesus refers to the seating at God's right hand AND his coming on the clouds in glory as coterminus events that would soon start, and continue, to occur, then I would submit that the "coming on the clouds" would have been understood by the Sanhedrin to refer to the same thing that the Sanhedrin would "see" when they saw Jesus seated at the right hand of power - namely, his ascended position.
Given the language, there is no reason to push up the timing of Jesus' "coming on the clouds" to the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D., let alone pushing it thousands of years into the future (so far) to refer to Jesus coming at the end of history.
This undertanding would seem to be fortified by Dan 7.13, where one "like a son of man" "comes" "with the clouds of heaven" and is presented before the Ancient of Days.
So we know that the "coming on the clouds" language does not have to refer to Jesus coming back to hear on the clouds, but can refer to this son of man coming to heaven for presentation before God the Father.
Given Jesus' statements in Mt 26.64, I'd suggest that the reference to Jesus presentation before the father would be the most reasonable understanding of his statement, and that that would be the way the Sanhedrin understood it and responded to it: Given that Jesus identifies himself in Mt 26.64 and throughout the Gosepls as the "son of man" and given that Jesus was taken up in the clouds in his ascension (Acts 1.9), and given that Jesus' ascension is the point he invokes by referring to Ps 110.1, and given that the "coming on the clouds" is linked temporally and in signficance to being "seated at the right hand of power," and given that this heaven-ward movement of the "son of man" is discussed in Dan 7.13, then it seems reasonable to understand Jesus' reference to the son of man coming on the clouds of heaven to be a reference to his ascension as well, and to think that that's what the Sanhedrin understood Jesus to be saying in his sworn testimony to them in v. 64 as well.
Whether or not there's an intertextual reference, it would seem that Jesus says in the verse that "sitting on the right hand of the might one" and "coming on the clouds of heaven" describes a single set of events, not two separate sets of events that are separated by thousands of years (or tens of thousands, or more, of years).
There are two items in the verse that seem to suggest that. First, note the timing of when Jesus says that the high priest and the Sanhedrin will "see" Jesus. Secondly, note the connection between sitting on the throne and coming on the clouds. I.e., the "and."
NIV: "From now on, you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven."
ESV: "From now on, you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven."
NAS: "Hereafter, you will see the son of man sitting at the right hand of power, and coming on the clouds of heaven.”
So whatever Jesus is referring to here, it would seem that he is describing two aspects of one thing, and this one thing will be "seen" by the high priest and the Sanhedrin starting very close in time to the point at which Jesus is then talking to them. ("From now on"; "hereafter.")
Secondly, now let's take the intertextual move. The reference to being "seated at the right hand of power" would seem to be the more obvious reference in the verse. As I understand it, first century Judaism understood Ps 110.1 to speak of the expected messiah. Hence the Sanhedrin's reaction when Jesus identified his claim to be the messiah (under penalty of perjury) by applying Ps 110.1 to himself.
Whether or not the members of the Sanhedrin understood Ps 110.1 to speak to anything like the ascension as it fully occured with Jesus, it certinaly does speak to an exaltation that provoked the Sanhedrin. And this exaltation is consistent with Jesus' actual ascension. Further, on the day of Pentecost, Peter expressly invokes Ps 110.1 as fulfilled in Jesus' ascension (Acts 2.34).
So we know that Ps 110.1 speaks to Jesus' ascension.
Now return to Mt 26.64. Given that Jesus refers to the seating at God's right hand AND his coming on the clouds in glory as coterminus events that would soon start, and continue, to occur, then I would submit that the "coming on the clouds" would have been understood by the Sanhedrin to refer to the same thing that the Sanhedrin would "see" when they saw Jesus seated at the right hand of power - namely, his ascended position.
Given the language, there is no reason to push up the timing of Jesus' "coming on the clouds" to the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D., let alone pushing it thousands of years into the future (so far) to refer to Jesus coming at the end of history.
This undertanding would seem to be fortified by Dan 7.13, where one "like a son of man" "comes" "with the clouds of heaven" and is presented before the Ancient of Days.
So we know that the "coming on the clouds" language does not have to refer to Jesus coming back to hear on the clouds, but can refer to this son of man coming to heaven for presentation before God the Father.
Given Jesus' statements in Mt 26.64, I'd suggest that the reference to Jesus presentation before the father would be the most reasonable understanding of his statement, and that that would be the way the Sanhedrin understood it and responded to it: Given that Jesus identifies himself in Mt 26.64 and throughout the Gosepls as the "son of man" and given that Jesus was taken up in the clouds in his ascension (Acts 1.9), and given that Jesus' ascension is the point he invokes by referring to Ps 110.1, and given that the "coming on the clouds" is linked temporally and in signficance to being "seated at the right hand of power," and given that this heaven-ward movement of the "son of man" is discussed in Dan 7.13, then it seems reasonable to understand Jesus' reference to the son of man coming on the clouds of heaven to be a reference to his ascension as well, and to think that that's what the Sanhedrin understood Jesus to be saying in his sworn testimony to them in v. 64 as well.
posted by Jim at 8:09 AM
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