Hey, this is John at the Bible Project, and today we continue our series discussing the

phrase the Son of Man.

This is a phrase that Jesus uses to refer to Himself.

It's a phrase found most famously in Daniel 7, where a Son of Man, literally meaning

a human, rides up on a cloud, and then sits on a throne right next to Yahweh Himself,

and together they rule the world.

Last week, we went back to the beginning of the Bible to see how this theme, the theme

of a man coming to rule, is all over the first chapters of the Bible.

Humans are made in God's image to rule the world with God, and perhaps everything would

have gone great except foreign encounter with the beast.

The serpent.

He's talking snake in Genesis 3.

It's a mysterious and surprising character.

It's an animal, and it's clearly dangerous, but is it merely a snake?

It's clear that the snake is identified as a beast of the field, but also as exceptional

among the beasts.

This creature is also presented as having knowledge of God's decisions.

The snake pretends to be clearing up a miscommunication that God had with these humans, and He says,

and if you eat from this tree of knowing good and evil, you're not going to die.

In fact, you will become like the Elohim, the spiritual beings.

What is this snake?

How does it know this?

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