Our Statement of Faith – Part twelve

“That the Message he delivered from God to his kinsmen, the Jews. was a call to repentance from every evil work. the assertions of his divine sonship and Jewish kingship; and the proclamation of the glad tidings that God would restore their kingdom through him, and accomplish all things written in the prophets.” Article X

The Hope Of Israel

Josephus, the famous first century historian records the fact that just prior to the appearance of Jesus, there was a general state of expectancy in Israel that the Messiah was about to appear. The historian’s observation was made quite independently of the Scriptures’ attestation to the same thing as stated in Luke 3:15; “And as the people were in expectation, and all men mused in their hearts of John, whether he were the Christ, or not”; The Jews felt that the Messiah was about to come, due to the prophecies of Daniel. This no doubt accounts for the feeling among the followers of Jesus that the Kingdom of God would be set up at that time.

The belief in the restoration of the kingdom ran strongly among the Jews of Christ’s days, and raised their hopes that this Jesus of Nazareth would indeed be the promised King. This hope had been held by the Jews for many centuries; not only those in the land at the time, but also among the Jews of the dispersion. Paul, in his defense before Agrippa, maintained, “And now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made of God unto our fathers: Unto which Promise our Twelve Tribes, Instantly Serving God Day And Night, Hope to come. For which hope’s sake, king Agrippa, I am accused of the Jews.” (Acts 26:6, 7) The apostle later referred to this same expectation as “The Hope of Israel” (Acts 28:20) When Zacharias, father of John Baptist, had his speech restored after naming his new-born son, John, and having been filled with the Holy Spirit, he broke forth into a prophetic acclamation in which he expressed this “hope”: “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people, and hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David. As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began: That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us . . . That he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our life.” Luke 1:68-75)

This feeling of the imminence of the Kingdom of God among the apostles was accelerated when their Lord was raised from the dead. They felt that surely nothing could now stand in the way of the realization of their hopes. Jesus was with them for forty days after his resurrection, and instructed them in the things of the Kingdom (Acts 1:3). Motivated by this close companionship of the Risen Lord, and excited by His amplification of the Kingdom of God, they asked Him, “Lord wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6) If they were mistaken in their expectation that the kingdom was to be restored, now would be the appropriate time for the Lord to correct them. However, even aside from the reply which Jesus addressed them it would be unreasonable for us to suppose that they have been misinformed as to the nature of the kingdom, since their Master had just spent forty days discussing it with them. It is obvious from the Lord’s answer that they were quite correct in their hope that the kingdom would be restored, but were wrong in their belief that He would at that time effect its restoration. “It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.” (V7)

Jesus — The Rightful Heir To David’s Throne

The expectation that God would some day redeem the nation of Israel, and establish them as in former times finds its foundation in the covenant which God made with King David. The prophet, Nathan was sent by God to reveal His will concerning the future of David’s throne and kingdom, and to make with him an everlasting covenant. In this covenant is found reference to the eventual future of the nation of Israel. In 2 Samuel 7:10, the Lord speaks through Nathan, “Moreover I will Appoint a place for my People Israel, And will Plant them, That they may Dwell in a place of their own, and Move no More; neither shall the children of wickedness afflict them any more, as beforetime.” This promise was to be implemented by the fulfillment of the covenant which is contained in the verses which followed. David was promised a son who would set up his kingdom forever. He was to be more than just a son, for in verse 14, the LORD declares, “I will be His Father, And He Shall be my Son.” It will not be necessary for us to restate the terms of the covenant in their entirety — only to note the fact that the establishment of Israel in a land of their own in prosperity and peace, was in-separately linked with the Davidic covenant.

In his writings, David often made mention of this covenant and of the seed which God promised to supply him which would fulfill it “The LORD hath sworn in truth unto David, he will not turn from it, of the fruit of thy Body eill I set upon thy Throne” (Psalm 132 11) The prophets, also, abound with allusions to the covenant, but the foregoing will suffice (This subject will receive more space when Article 21 is considered ) Peter, on the day of Pentecost made direct reference to this promise and showed that the seed had been fulfilled by Jesus “Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had Sworn with an oath to Him that of the Fruit of His Loins, According to the Flesh, He would raise up Christ to Sit on His Throne‘ (Acts 2 29, 30)

Many who came in contact with Jesus during His earthly ministry understood that He was truly the Messiah This apprehension was the result of both what they saw in the Lord’s experiences and by what He, himself declared The word, Christ ‘ in the New Testament is from the Greek, CHRISTOS’ , and means “anointed’ The Septuagint translates the Hebrew Messiah with this word In the New Testament, the word is frequently used to identify Jesus of Nazareth, the writers and speakers believing that He was truly the one foretold in the prophets On three occasions, Jesus expressly accepted the title, THE CHRIST (hi) Christos) Matt 16 17, Mark 14 61, 62, John 4 26 The first of these arose from a question put by Jesus to His disciples, ‘ But whom say ye that I am? Peter, the spokesman for the apostles answered, Thou are the Christ, the Son of the living God And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar­jona for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven ‘ The last text records the conversation which took place between Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well of Jacob After revealing certain facts about the woman’s personal life to her and having commented on the true place of worship, the woman remarked, “I know that Messiah cometh which is called Christ when he is come, he will tell us all things ” To this, the Master replied, ‘I that speak unto thee am he “

All Things To Be Accomplished Through Christ

In addition to asserting His true Messiah-ship, Jesus also maintained that all things spoken of by the prophets were to be accomplished through Him In His sermon on the Mount, the Master stressed this fact ‘Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled ” (Matt 5 17, 18)

Many of His parables were designed, at least in part, to convey to His followers the fact that all authority designated to the Messiah, were to be given Him In answer to the question, “Lord, are there few that be saved?”, Jesus depicts himself as the ‘master of the house”, who alone holds the prerogative of allowing and disallowing individual entrance in’o salvation (Luke 13 23-30) He is the nobleman of Luke 19 12-37 who is to receive a kingdom and return to the earth at which time, He will come to judge the living ing and the dead, and assign places of authority in the Kingdom of God Again, He is the “man traveling into a far country (Matt 25 1­30) who, upon his departure calls his servants and delivers to them certain responsibilities When he returns, he reckons with them, demanding to know how much each had received by trading Thus, the Lord asserts Himself as the judge of all mankind and the dispenser of rewards

In addition to these, Jesus plainly taught that He would be the one who granted access to the Kingdom of God To His disciples, the faithful 12, the Master declared, Ye are they which have continued with me in my temptations And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me, That ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel (Luke 22 28 30) In His letters to the seven Ecclesias in Asia, Jesus repeatedly set forth His authority as judge and dispenser of rewards in the time of the end To the faithful of Ephesus He declared, To him that over cometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God (Rev 2 7), to Thyatira And he that ovrcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations (2 26), to Philadelphia— To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcome, and am set down with my Father in his throne (3 21), etc, etc

Jesus knew from the beginning that He would be rejected of His brethren He frequently spoke of His inevitable death at Jerusalem as a result of the jealousy and rage of His kinsmen Peter spoke of Him as a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious (1 Peter 2 4) The Master, Himself, perceived in this rejection of Himself a fulfillment of certain prophecies about the stone’ In the week prior to His betrayal and crucifixion, Jesus related to the Jews the parable of the wicked husbandmen in which He illustrated the duplicity of the Jews against Him After speaking the parable, in a further effort to make them aware of what they were about to do, Jesus said to them, Did ye never read in the Scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner this is the Lord s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes? There fore, say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken but on whomsoever is shall fall, it will grind him to powder (Matt 21 42 44)

For these assertions just considered, and for many more, which could be considered, Jesus was apprehended by the Jews, and after a mock trial, was sentenced to, and in fact abandoned to the death of the cross