I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him.
One like the Son of man - (see note, Ezekiel 2:1). Not merely, like other men, a son of man, but the Son of man. Not merely Son of David, and King of Israel, but Head of restored humanity (corresponding to the world-wide horizon of Daniel's prophecy); the seed of the woman crushing Antichrist, the seed of the serpent, according to the Protevangel in Paradise (Genesis 3:15). The Representative man shall then realize the original destiny of man as Head of the creation (Genesis 1:26; Genesis 1:28) - the center of unity to Israel and the Gentiles. The beast, which taken conjointly represents the four beasts, ascends from the sea (Daniel 7:2; Revelation 13:1); the Son of man descends from "heaven." Satan, as the serpent, is the representative head of all that is bestial; man, by following the serpent, has become bestial. God must, therefore, become man, so that man may cease to be beastlike and become truly manly. Whoever rejects the incarnate God will be judged by the Son of man just because He is the Son of man (John 5:27). This title is always associated with His coming again, because the kingdom that then awaits Him is that which belongs to Him as the Saviour of man, the Restorer of the lost inheritance. His title "the Son of man" expresses His VISIBLE state, formerly in His humiliation, hereafter in His exaltation.
Came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. He comes "to the Ancient of days" to, be invested with the kingdom. Compare Psalms 110:2, "The Lord shall send the rod of thy strength (Messiah) out of Zion." This investiture, was at His ascension "with the clouds of heaven" (Acts 1:9; Acts 2:33-34; Psalms 2:6-9; Matthew 28:18, "Jesus (after Has resurrection, and just before His ascension) spake, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth"); which is a pledge of His return "in like manner" "in the clouds" (Acts 1:11; Matthew 26:64), and "with clouds" (Revelation 1:9). The kingdom then was given to Him in title and invisible exercise; at His second coming it shall be in visible administration. He will vindicate it from the misrule of those who received it to hold for and under God, but who ignored His supremacy. The Father will assert His right by the Son, the heir, who will hold it for Him (Ezekiel 21:27; Hebrews 1:2; Revelation 19:13-16).
Tregelles thinks the investiture here immediately precedes Christ's coming forth; because He sits at God's right hand until His enemies are made His footstool; then the kingdom is given to the Son in actual investiture, and He comes to crush His so-prepared footstool under His feet. But the words "with the clouds," and the universal power actually, though invisibly, given Him then (Ephesians 1:20-22), agree best with His investiture at the ascension; which, in the prophetic view, overleaping the interval of ages, is the precursor of His coming visibly to reign, no event of equal moment taking place in the interval.