Module 3 - The King and the Kingdom

Module 3‒The King and the Kingdom Essay

Module 3–The King and the Kingdom Essay

Frank D. Felker

Grand Canyon University: BIB 354

July 10, 2011

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Jesus the Messiah: Kingdom Teaching and Conflict

His entrance into this world was ignoble. His mission was majestic beyond all

imaginings. His birthplace was the small town of Bethlehem, just a few miles SSW of Jerusalem.

His father, a carpenter, had brought his, then expectant, wife to the town of his heritage for a

national census. There was no public housing available, and so; the boy child was born in an

enclosure used for domestic livestock, a manger substituted for a crib. They were instructed by

God to name him Jesus, translated, “The LORD Saves.” (The Gospel of Matthew, Chapter I)

This was quite a magnificent name, for one born so humbly. That was his mission,

however, the salvation of all of humanity. The LORD God of the Jews, YHWH, whose son he was

in reality, had predestined this child to die in redemption for all mankind because of its

sinfulness. It was his destiny to proclaim the coming kingdom of the LORD God of Hosts. It was

his fate to die in order to usher in this eternal kingdom. These things, he must accomplish in the

face of the unbelief of the leaders of the nation that he was born into (Gaston, L., 1975). It was

this nation that must be used as his base and the tool for his teachings. Wholly man, totally God,

He was Mashiach, the Messiah.

The Kingdom Teachings

In order for Jesus to fulfill His mission of salvation it was necessary to first be accepted

as Messiah and second, educate the people as to what the kingdom of God truly was. Being

accepted as the Messiah would be difficult. The Jewish people had been anticipating the Messiah

for hundreds of years. Contemporary with His life, there were already many men claiming this

status. To the Jews this savior would be; “…a royal ‘Son of David’ and a redeemer/restorer of

Israel, but also a heaven-sent ruler who is able to bear titles of divinity (Isa. 9:6-7). (Price, R.

2001). Jesus’ teaching plan must be convincing to a population who, as a whole, were illiterate

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and controlled by an elite class of priests and elders. He accomplished this through healing

miracles, a chosen cadre of disciples, lectures in the synagogues, and extemporaneous meetings

with large groups of the populace.

The healings performed by Jesus were extraordinary; those blind from birth, lepers, the

mute and deaf, exorcisms, and at times, even the raising of the dead to life. Once His disciples

were trained, he shared these powers with them and sent them out to teach and preach (Luke 9:

1-6). At times, He held mass meetings of 4,000 or more and, on occasion, fed these masses with

only a few loaves of bread and a couple of fish (Matt.15: 32-39; Luke 9: 10-17). In all of this,

Jesus taught with authority far beyond his own earthly education (Mark 1: 21-28). “Although

Jesus lacked the formal training associated with the latter title (Rabbi), he did what other rabbis

did: taught in the synagogue, proclaimed the divine law, settled legal disputes…used Scripture to

support his reasoning…” (Stein, R. H., 1996)

Purpose and Conflict

The teachings of Jesus were difficult, at times impossible, for the Jewish leaders to come

to terms with. Part of the difficulty lay in the type of Messiah that was expected by these leaders.

They were looking forward to a physical redemption and restoration of the Jewish nation. What

they desired was a return to the national hegemony known during the times of King David and

his son, King Solomon. These leaders also feared the loss of the entitlement they enjoyed under

Roman rule. Rome appointed the High Priest and the Judean king. They saw Jesus as a rabble

rouser; inciting their followers to rebellion against their Roman patrons (Horsley, R., 2010).

They could not comprehend a “Heavenly Kingdom” with Jesus Christ, himself, as an eternal

king. “Implicit in Jesus’ actions is an alternative, generous view of Israel’s God and an

apparently liberal, non-legal response to Him.” (Newell, T., 2009) Jesus often taught in

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parables, making their comprehension even more difficult. “Most of the Gospel parables are

either similitude or story-parables. But if the parable is meant to quicken understanding, it

requires that the hearer be in some kind of spiritual rapport with its teller.” (Hunter, A., 1960)

The Pharisees were certainly not in “spiritual rapport” with Jesus.

Consequence and Conclusion

The Jewish leaders had developed such an intense hatred for this man; they called a

blasphemer that ultimately, they aided Him in His final act of the mission assigned to Him. The

Pharisees finally convinced the Roman political machine that Jesus deserved to die. In His death

came the culmination of Jesus’ life work. Jesus the Christ suffered and died on the cross offering

redemption to mankind by paying the price for our sins. What was not anticipated by the leaders,

and even some of Jesus’ own followers, was His resurrection to eternal life. With His

resurrection, the fledgling church, started by His disciples, flowered into world-wide revival. As

Jesus promised, His death and resurrection brought with it the revelation of the Holy Spirit. The

Holy Spirit was gifted to man as Comforter, Teacher, and Advocate to Jehovah God. Christ’s

disciples and Apostles, now witnesses to Jesus’ renewal and ascension into heaven, began with a

revitalized and renewed spirit of their own, to build and strengthen a church that has grown

unbounded for over 2,000 years. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,

that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son

into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” (John 3: 16-17, NIV)

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References

Gaston, L. (1975). Messiah of Israel as teacher of the Gentiles: the setting of Matthew’s

Christology, Interpretation, 29(1), 24-40. Retrieved from EBSCOhost,

http://web.ebscohost.com.library.gcu.edu (accessed July 2, 2011)

Holy Bible (2005), Life Application Study Bible, NIV, Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House

Publishers, Inc. & Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan

Horsley, R. A. (2010). Jesus and the Politics of Roman Palestine, Journal for the Study of the

Historical Jesus, 8(2), 99-145. Doi: 10. 1163/1745511910X504882, Retrieved from,

EBSCOhost, http://web.ebscohost.com.library.gcu.edu (accessed July 8, 2011)

Hunter, A. (1960). Interpreting the Parables, Interpretation, 14(1), 70-84, Retrieved from,

EBSCOhost, http://web.ebscohost.com.library.gcu.edu (accessed July 2, 2011)

Newell, T. (2009), Worldviews in Collision: Jesus as Critical Educator, Journal of Education &

Christian Belief, 13(2), 141-154. Retrieved from EBSCOhost,

http://web.ebscohost.com.library.gcu.edu (accessed July 8, 2011)

Price, R. (2001), World of the Bible, the Concept of the Messiah in the Old Testament. Retrieved

from, http://www.worldofthebible.com (accessed July 2, 2011)

Stein, R. H. (1996), Jesus the Messiah: A Survey of the Life of Christ, (p.124), Downers Grove,

IL: Inter-Varsity Press

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http://www.worldofthebible.com/

http://web.ebscohost.com.library.gcu.edu/




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Module 3 - The King and the Kingdom