Presently, we are involved in a study of the Challenge of Christ, which is found in John 10:37-38. There Jesus told his listeners, many of whom were his enemies, in the context of whether or not he was the Messiah (John 10:24-25), Jesus told them: look, don’t simply believe my words. Instead, believe my works! If my works, which the Father sent me to do, aren’t demonstrably his works, DON’T BELIEVE ME! But, if my works are the Father’s works, then you can believe what I say, that I am in the Father and the Father is in me. In essence, this is Jesus’ claim to his being the Messiah or the Christ (Greek for Messiah), i.e. the Anointed One of the Lord. If Jesus didn’t do what he said he would do, then we shouldn’t believe he is the Christ. It is just that simple and that powerful a challenge. Did Jesus do what he said he came to do? If not, he isn’t the Messiah, the Christ, the Anointed One of God, and that is Jesus’ own statement about his identity.
Remember, one of the works the Father had given Jesus to do was judgment (John 5:22). In other words, all judgment was a work the Father had placed in the hands of Jesus. On the night before he was crucified, he was in the court of the Jews, the Sanhedrin. There he was asked by the high priest if he were the Christ, the Son of God (Matthew 26:62-63), and Jesus answered that he was (Matthew 26:64). Moreover, Jesus made the claim that he (i.e. the high priest standing before Jesus) would see the Son of Man (i.e. a term used to refer to the Messiah, Jesus), seated at the right hand of God (i.e. the executive position, the one who carries out the will of God; alluding to Psalm 110:1 and Daniel 7:13-14) coming in the clouds of heaven (a reference to judgment, see Isaiah 19:1). Thus, whatever the judgment Jesus spoke of, it would occur in the generation of the high priest standing before Jesus. He would live to see Jesus coming in his office as Judge.
Later that day, Jesus was carrying his cross and he met some weeping women of Jerusalem (Luke 23:27). There he told them not to weep for him, but for their children, for the day was coming when they would flee before their enemies to the safety of the mountains (Luke 23:28-30). Once more, Jesus was predicting a time of national trouble, which would occur in the very generation that rejected and crucified him. Moreover, Jesus was alluding to Isaiah 2:19-21. There, Isaiah was prophesying about the last days (Isaiah 2:2), which was a judgment upon House of Jacob (the Jews) in the Day of the Lord (Isaiah 2:6, 12). The prophet claimed that during this time: the last days and the Day of the Lord, the House of Jacob (the Jews) would flee to the mountains for safety (Isaiah 2:19, 21).[1] Therefore, we have Jesus interpreting Isaiah 2, saying the last days, the Day of the Lord, the judgment of the House of Jacob would occur in the very generation that rejected and crucified him (cp. Matthew 26:64; Luke 23:28-30).
So, can we believe Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One of God (Matthew 26:62-64)? Did he come to judge the Jewish nation before that generation died out that rejected and crucified him (Matthew 16:27-28; 24:30-34)? If he did the works, which the Father had sent him to do (John 5:22; 10:24-25, 37-38), then we can believe his words. The evidence that Jesus is the Christ is his judgment upon Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 AD, which, by the way, stands to this day. There is no Temple in Jerusalem, no covenant with the Jews to address mankind. All there is after Jesus’ judgment in 70 AD is the New Covenant, which pertains to the Church of Christ, through whom the Lord addresses mankind.
_____________________________________________________
[1] Josephus, himself, claimed an entire city in Galilee fled to the mountains at the approach of the Roman armies. See Wars of the Jews 2.18.9 (504).
Smoodock's Blog 