If you want to hear Jesus plainly say who He is, listen to Him on trial.

It is the night before the crucifixion. He has been arrested and brought before the high priest, and the questions come one after another. To most of them He says nothing. Then the high priest asks the one question that matters:

Mark 14:61-62 (NKJV)

But He kept silent and answered nothing. Again the high priest asked Him, saying to Him, “Are You the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” Jesus said, “I am. And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.”

To our ears that answer sounds almost cryptic — a string of strange titles and images. But the high priest understood it instantly, and what he understood horrified him. The reason is that every phrase Jesus used was lifted straight out of the Old Testament, and one passage specifically in Daniel Chapter 7.

Daniel 7:13-14 (NKJV)

“I was watching in the night visions, And behold, One like the Son of Man, Coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days, And they brought Him near before Him. Then 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 the one which shall not be destroyed.”

Look closely at this vision. There are two figures. One seated on the throne — “the Ancient of Days,” God Himself. The other is approaching Him: “One like the Son of Man,” a figure in human form, coming on the clouds of heaven. And that small phrase — coming on the clouds — is crucial.

Everywhere else in the Old Testament, the One who comes on the clouds is Yahweh (Psalm 104:3 / Isaiah 19:1 / Nahum 1:3). Riding on the cloud is something God does. No one else.

So here is a human-looking figure doing what, in every other passage, only God does. And it does not stop there. What He is then given: dominion, glory, and a kingdom; the service of every nation on earth; a reign that will never end. A mere creature could never be handed the worship of all peoples and an everlasting throne — that belongs to God. Yet this human figure receives exactly that.

Now going back to the courtroom. When Jesus tells the high priest, “You will see the Son of Man… coming with the clouds of heaven,” He is not reaching for a humble title. He is placing Himself inside Daniel’s vision. He is saying: I am that figure — the One in human form who does what only Yahweh does and receives what only God receives. That is why the high priest tore his robes (Mark 14:63) and the council condemned Him as deserving of death for blasphemy (Mark 14:64). They were not confused. They understood the claim exactly — and to them, on the lips of a man, it was the highest blasphemy imaginable.

This also clears up a common mix-up. Many assume ‘Son of Man’ is simply Jesus’ human title, and ‘Son of God’ His divine one. However, the opposite is true. “Son of God” is a name Scripture hands to many — to Adam (Luke 3:38), to angels (Job 1:6), to the nation of Israel (Hosea 11:1), to the kings of David’s line (2 Samuel 7:14). But there is only one “Son of Man” who comes on the clouds and shares God’s throne — and that is the title Jesus deliberately chose for Himself.

And there was a second claim folded into the very same sentence. Jesus did not only say He would come on the clouds; He said the Son of Man would be “sitting at the right hand of the Power” — “the Power” being a reverent Jewish way of naming God without speaking His name.

Additionally, Jesus’ statement also reminds us of another text: “The LORD said to my Lord, ‘Sit at My right hand’” (Psalm 110:1). And the posture matters. In the Old Testament, men stand before God — Moses stood with Him on the mountain, Enoch walked with Him, Adam walked with Him in the garden — but no one ever sits. To sit at God’s right hand is to share His throne and His rule. No prophet, no patriarch, no king ever dared claim such a seat.

Jesus claimed it — and the church confesses He holds it still, seated at the Father’s right hand in sovereign power, glory, and authority.

So in a single answer, on the night He was condemned, Jesus claimed to do what only God does, to receive what only God receives, and to reign where only God reigns. The high priest heard all three, and tore his robes. He fully understood who Jesus was claiming to be.