2968831 - Java system fails to start after upgrading HANA Client version

A Java system is failing to start due to the following error:

jvm_bootstrap.out

Starting to initialize database connection
Exception occurred for component [internal/unkown] of type [unkown]
java.lang.UnsupportedClassVersionError: com/sap/db/jdbc/Driver has been compiled by a more recent version of the Java Runtime (class file version 52.0), this version of the Java Runtime only recognizes class file versions up to 50.0
 at java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass1(Native Method)
 at java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClassCond(ClassLoader.java:739)
 at java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass(ClassLoader.java:720)
 at com.sap.engine.offline.FileClassLoader.findClass(FileClassLoader.java:927)
 at com.sap.engine.offline.FileClassLoader.loadClass(FileClassLoader.java:807)
 at com.sap.engine.offline.FileClassLoader.loadClass(FileClassLoader.java:755)
 at com.sap.sql.connect.factory.VendorConnectionFactory.createInstance(VendorConnectionFactory.java:206)
 at com.sap.sql.connect.factory.VendorConnectionFactory.createVendorDriver(VendorConnectionFactory.java:43)
 at com.sap.sql.connect.factory.DriverPooledConnectionFactory.<init>(DriverPooledConnectionFactory.java:31)
 at com.sap.sql.connect.datasource.DataSourceManager.createPooledConnectionFactory(DataSourceManager.java:642)
 at com.sap.sql.connect.datasource.DataSourceManager.createDataSource(DataSourceManager.java:603)
 at com.sap.sql.connect.datasource.DataSourceManager.createDataSource(DataSourceManager.java:137)
 at com.sap.sql.connect.OpenSQLDataSourceImpl.getDataSource(OpenSQLDataSourceImpl.java:277)
 at com.sap.sql.connect.OpenSQLDataSourceImpl.getPooledConnection(OpenSQLDataSourceImpl.java:213)
 at com.sap.engine.core.configuration.impl.persistence.rdbms.DBConnectionPoolImpl.createConnection(DBConnectionPoolImpl.java:483)
 at com.sap.engine.core.configuration.impl.persistence.rdbms.DBConnectionPoolImpl.<init>(DBConnectionPoolImpl.java:197)
 at com.sap.engine.core.configuration.impl.persistence.rdbms.PersistenceHandlerImpl.<init>(PersistenceHandlerImpl.java:50)
 at com.sap.engine.core.configuration.impl.cache.ConfigurationController.<init>(ConfigurationController.java:139)
 at com.sap.engine.core.configuration.bootstrap.ConfigurationManagerBootstrapImpl.init(ConfigurationManagerBootstrapImpl.java:309)
 at com.sap.engine.core.configuration.bootstrap.ConfigurationManagerBootstrapImpl.<init>(ConfigurationManagerBootstrapImpl.java:59)
 at com.sap.engine.bootstrap.StorageAccess.<init>(StorageAccess.java:138)
 at com.sap.engine.bootstrap.Bootstrap.initializeSynchronizer(Bootstrap.java:79)
 at com.sap.engine.bootstrap.Bootstrap.main(Bootstrap.java:273)
 at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
 at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:39)
 at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:25)
 at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:597)
 at com.sap.engine.offline.OfflineToolStart.main(OfflineToolStart.java:162)

SAP HANA Database Platform Edition

KBA , HAN-DB-CLI , SAP HANA Clients (JDBC, ODBC) , HAN-LM-INS-SAP , Installation of SAP Systems on HANA , BC-JAS-SF , Startup Framework , BC-JAS-COR , Enterprise Runtime, Core J2EE Framework , Problem