The scriptures tell us that God had abandoned his Temple at the time of the Babylonian captivity, and there is no record in the scriptures, showing he returned to dwell in the Holy of Holies in the rebuilt Temple. There was definitely a demonstration of the Presence of the Lord coming to dwell in the Temple that Solomon built (1Kings 8:10-11), and Ezekiel records that the Presence, the Shekinah Glory, left that Temple (Ezekiel 10:4, 18; 11:22-23). Nevertheless, there isn’t anything in the scriptures, before the coming of Christ, that shows the Lord returning to the Temple. Instead, the prophets foretold of the time, when that would occur (Malachi 3:1; Isaiah 52:8; cp. 40:5).
While Jesus was growing up in Nazareth, there arose a sect of Judaism, called the Zealots, there were various forms of them later, but they began with the notion that God, and only God, should be King of the Jews. Josephus, the Jewish historian of the first century AD, recorded that Judas the Galilean was their founder, and they had close ties to the Pharisees.[1] The Zealots’ rebellion against Rome is mentioned in Acts, saying it occurred during the time of the census, held in Judea, just after Herod Archelaus was banished in AD 6 (Acts 5:37), Jesus would have been 7 or 8 years old, when the rebellion began.
So, Judas the Galilean was the father of the Zealots, and he wanted a theocracy! How would that have worked? Was it simply that the Lord was King, and no one else had any authority? No, before there was a king in Israel, God was King. The Lord raised up a number of judges/prophets, who guided the people in his ways, sometimes leading them against an enemy. However, there came a time that Israel asked Samuel to give them a king, because Samuel was old, and his sons perverted justice (1Samuel 8:1-5). Samuel was opposed to the idea, but the Lord told him to obey their voice, because it wasn’t Samuel, the people rejected; it was the Lord, whom they didn’t want for their King. The people wanted a king like the nations around them (1Samuel 8:6-7).
This tells us two things about the Jews, the ancient Jews and those of Jesus’ day. First of all, they thought they knew God and wanted him as their King, and they were willing to fight their enemies to make that happen. Nevertheless, they didn’t really know him, because, although they were willing to fight for him to be their King, they had already rejected the very premise of his rule. Secondly, although they hated their enemies and their enemies’ kings, they admired them and wanted to be like them. Moreover, the Jews wanted their own king to be like the kings of their enemies!
Think about that, as we reconsider Jesus’ entries into Jerusalem. During his first entry, the pilgrim Jews didn’t know Jesus, but they were greatly impressed with his cleansing of the Temple. Two days later the Jews in the city went out to meet their coming Messiah and brought him back into Jerusalem amid shouts of Hosanna to the Son of David, as they laid palm branches at Jesus feet. Their greeting had royal significance, both with the kings of Israel (2Kings 9:4-6, 11-13) and the Hasmonean kings (1Maccabees 13:51). Nevertheless, as soon as they discovered Jesus’ plan (John 12:23-24, 31-33), they rejected him; they simply couldn’t understand how a Messiah could save his people through his death (John 12:34; Luke 19:42).
Thus, we have the Jews wanting God to reign again, but only as long as he reigned according to their desires. It is the same today, as it was in Jesus’ day, and it was true in Jesus’ day that the Jews wanted God to rule, not as he did during the days of the judges, but just like the kings of the nations ruled. In other words, no one, not the Jews or the nations, wanted God as King. So, who should rule? Who should be king? No matter how we answer that question, “God!” isn’t the answer. Jesus, himself, says that his Kingdom is not of this world. It never was of this world, nor would it ever be. This world has one way to rule, violently, vis-à-vis survival of the fittest. God has an all-embracing Kingdom of love and grace. The two cannot be reconciled. One must capitulate to the other, and God does not, will not, should not surrender his will to the will of mankind.
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[1] See Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 18.1.6.
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