He reminds us of who he is, and who it is that was lifted up in verse 28, by calling himself the Son of Man. The Son of Man, as we remind ourselves regularly, is that one on whom the Father, the Ancient of Days, placed all his authority, all his power, all his dominion. All was laid on the Son of Man.
The Lord has always been the Son of Man. That is someone who has been in the Old Testament, been in the Bible, since before Jesus became a human. He has always been the Son of Man, and he remains the Son of Man even when he is veiled in flesh and becomes a human. He does not lose his divine power and authority.
It is this Son of Man who was soon to be lifted up. What it is the cross reveals, as we have been saying, is that when they lift him up, you will know that he is the one with all authority in heaven and on earth—the Son of Man.
Yet what is also going to be seen in this lifting up, which was soon to take place, is that ‘I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me.’
We have to unpick any sinful, worldly way of thinking that might cause us to think that this means he is not the Lord, not the Son of Man, not mighty, not very God of very God. This is not him being revealed to be any less divine. This is not an admission of his being somehow not God. Rather, this is a description of what it means truly to be the Son of Man, truly to be Lord.
This description of him doing nothing on his own authority, but speaking just as his Father taught him—again, that is when you will see that he is the one. That is what he says to the Pharisees.
In his crucifixion, in his doing nothing on his own, in his only speaking the Father’s words, in his having, verse 29, the Father with him, he is remaining totally united to his Father. That is who God is—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, one God.
