No one during the two centuries prior to Jesus’ ministry, vis-à-vis anyone in the Hasmonaean dynasty, nor anyone in the century following Jesus’ ministry, which would include the bar Kochba[1] uprising in AD 132, did anything to suggest that God had returned to his people, through the reign of one of the historical leaders, and fulfilled what the prophets foretold. In contrast, although Jesus didn’t do any of the things the people expected a Messiah to do, such as leading the nation from victory to victory against its enemies, the Christian movement, which Jesus had begun, has held together the theme of the Kingdom of God, on the one hand and the theme of a Messianic Kingdom on the other with Jesus as King.
Almost immediately after Jesus’ crucifixion, death and resurrection, his followers were found preaching about him, writing about what he said and did and singing his praises, “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing” (Revelation 5:12). He wasn’t simply a ‘great teacher’ as some would like to label him, nor just a healer, a great leader or a holy man. Indeed, he was all of these, but he was also the Messiah (the Anointed One), the Son of David, and he personified the return of God to his people.
In Jesus, God had become King, not in the manner in which worldly kings reign, which, by the way, was the sort of rule, the Jews looked for in the coming of their Messiah, but Jesus reigned as King from within men’s hearts (Luke 17:21). The Kingdom of God lies within the heart of mankind. God doesn’t force men to submit to him! Instead, he desires our submission, but voluntarily from our hearts. Freewill matters to God; it is his gift to us, and, as Almighty God, he can and will work out his plan without abusing our free moral agency. In the end all men will submit themselves to him, but God is patient and awaits our submission to come from our hearts (Philippians 2:10-11).
The temptation is great to join one of the two opposing weather systems of our perfect storm metaphor. Shall we submit to the relentless power of cold front that is Rome, vis-à-vis the state, and yield to it our undivided loyalty in a kind of patriotic idolatry? On the other hand, perhaps we believe we could find fulfillment it the high-pressure system of national/religious hopes of greatness. Should we opt or settle for it?
Nevertheless, a different wind has arisen, different from the other two systems in our perfect storm, and it faces those dangerous imposters head on. It is the Wind of God, Jesus, and he spoke continually about God becoming King – a Hurricane of great consequence in our metaphor, the perfect storm, and this theme had been sung by the psalmists and preached by the prophets, as is well documented in the Old Testament.
During his public ministry, Jesus took the role of prophet upon himself, as “a man sent from God to reaffirm God’s intention of overthrowing the might of pagan empire (Daniel 2:44), but also warning Israel that its present way of going about things was dangerously ill-conceived and leading to disaster” (Luke 23:28-31; Matthew 23:37-39),[2] which, of course did occur in AD 70
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[1] Simon bar Kochba (also Kokhba, Koseba) led the 2nd or 3rd Jewish-Roman War (depends upon one’s source) in AD 132 until the revolt was put down with his death in AD 135. The conflicting sources may account for one concluding the revolt of Judas, the Galilean, in AD 6 (father of the Zealots) was the first Jewish-Roman War instead of the AD 66-73 being the first war.
[2] Quoting N.T. Wright, Simply Jesus; chapter 5, page 56. This whole series of studies is based upon Dr. Wright’s book. In some places, vis-à-vis in this study and in others in this series, I have deviated from his conclusions, and I take full responsibility for doing that. I am uncertain that he would agree with the short excursions I took from his theme.
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2 responses to “The Coming of the Anointed One!”
Eddie, in my opinion, there is a fatal flaw in your basic argument
regarding AD 70, you rest most of your argument on what the people
“expected” to happen, then you meld these thoughts into your arguments,
as if they had some kind of special revelation; they do not…
If you remove every single one of these false data points from your
discussion, you’ll be left with what God said “nobody knows nothing
about the End Times, even my Son does not know “when the Father sends
Him”, period”. Talk all you want down there, you will never figure out
my plan for you, because you are sinners and I am not, and, by the way I
created you; therefore do whatever I tell you to do, and do it with a
smile – or else.
We are told to patiently await the second coming of Jesus Christ, in
person, every eye will see and every knee will bend; there will be
nothing secret about His return, everyone will be involved with the Last
Day of this world, as we know it, right now, gone gone gone, at that
moment. Pray that you will not be “judged”, we have the Mind of Christ
within, and His Blood is our hall pass, so that the Saints will help out
with the prosecutions…
This is my, very simple interpretation, like a razor of Occam, I’m just
too lazy to attempt to second guess God’s Will, I just never felt like
doing that. I’m saved and just hanging around to see whatever will
happen, according to God’s Will. I’m happy with that much information,
lived my life gazing at the horizon, and now I’m just a little tired of
it ALL. However, I still refuse to try and make up a good ending…
The book of Revelation is quite recursive in structure [ how many times
do we “gather at Armageddon”? ], so repeated sequences will likely be
included in the whole process of killing everyone that does not obey
God. And trial runs are quite likely, IMHO AD 70 is nothing more than a
head fake; we’re all still here wondering what Jesus really looks like.
I know I am completely unsatisfied with the Jesus we have NOW. We are
warned to IGNORE any talk, rumors of Christ’s return; ignored!
There is no logical reason that the Second Coming needs to be
synchronized with the second leveling of the Jewish Temple, except that
some folks would “like” it to turn out that way. Sorry Charlie, God is
in charge, NOT us. My thinking is that the End CANNOT come until AFTER
the 3rd Temple is built, and is destroyed by evil men. Since the Jews
are, in fact, building the Temple, as we speak, and evil forces are
attempting to stop them from building it, I think it’s gonna be quite
some time before we “see Jesus, as He REALLY IS”.
I can hardly wait, but I will wait, ’cause I got nothing better to do
and I don’t like any of the other options…
Best Regards,
-Samm
Greetings Samm, thanks for reading and for your comment. Lord bless you.
Actually, Samm, I said the opposite of what you claim here. I said “Jesus didn’t do any of the things the people expected a Messiah to do, such as leading the nation from victory to victory against its enemies.” Yet, “the Christian movement, which Jesus had begun, has held together the theme of the Kingdom of God, on the one hand and the theme of a Messianic Kingdom on the other with Jesus as King.” That is a surprise! Jesus didn’t do what was expected, yet he was preached as King.
What false data points?
You expect the “end of time” to occur, when the Bible never mentions that. It does speak of the “time of the end” but the **end** of what? Both Moses and Jacob speak of the latter days of Israel as a nation. That is also what Daniel spoke of in Daniel 12, a time not like any other since Israel became a nation.
Try not to put words in God’s mouth, Samm. While it is true Jesus didn’t know the day he would return, he was able to predict he would return prior to the end of the evil generation that rejected him as Messiah.
Don’t know what you mean here. We’re told to be patient during persecution (Luke 21:19), but, specifically, that had to do with the folks living in the lands of the Jews during the first century AD (Luke 21:12). Nothing is said of patiently waiting for the return of Christ.
In whatever manner you wish to see these things is fine with me, Samm. I don’t wish to disturb your faith or change what you believe. I’m merely interpreting a book I read and offering my thoughts about what that book says, agreeing and disagreeing with its author. Don’t let that challenge your understanding of God’s word. Believe as you feel led by the Spirit.
Believe as you wish, my friend. As for me, I couldn’t be more satisfied with the Jesus I see in the Gospels.
We are the third Temple. God promised to build David a house. What kind of ‘house’ did God build for David? Wasn’t a descendance (people) that would lead to the Messiah? When Jesus told Peter that he intended to build his Church, was that a building or a lot of people? What kind of Temple did Paul claim was being built during his preaching?
I am unaware that the Jews are building anything that could be called a Temple. However, even if they attempt to do so, it would be in the wrong place. The so-called Temple mount in Jerusalem is actually the Antonia. The Temple stood about a hundred or so yards to the south where the wall bulges out in a slight curve. The Temple and the whole mount was completely dismantled and destroyed by the Romans for the gold therein in AD 70.