Previous Posts in this Series:
A Gospel Presentation: Part 1 (Two-Age Worldview)
A Gospel Presentation: Part 2 (Creation/Curse)
A Gospel Presentation: Part 3 (Covenant/Commitment)
"For I say that Messiah has become a servant to the circumcision in behalf of the truth of God, to confirm the promises given to the fathers, and for the Gentiles to glorify God for His mercy..." (Romans 15:8-9, NASB)
In some ways Jesus is the easiest part of this narrative to write about, and in other ways, He is the hardest thing to write about. On the one hand, few are confused as to who Jesus is and what He has done. Those of us who have grown up in the Faith have heard about Jesus all of our lives and heard the wonderous stories of his life; the miracles, the teachings, his death and his resurrection, etc. many times over. On the other hand, the layers of meaning run endlessly deep - the possible avenues for discussion and commentary could (and have) fill volumes upon volumes. In Evangelical circles, the 'volume' on Jesus is turned way up, and I don't seek to change that in any way. When speaking of Messiah Jesus, he deserves to have the volume all the way up. What I have hoped to achieve with these writings is a turning up of the volume in some other areas as well, to present what I believe is a full Gospel, ala Acts 18:24-26. What I want to do here is communicate how Jesus fits into the narrative I have been speaking about throughout this series.
Jesus as Messiah/King
A good starting place in speaking about Jesus, is his role as 'Messiah'. In keeping with some of what I brought up in the last post, I will point out that 'Messiah' is a thoroughly Jewish term. There was a whole 'messianic expectation' that had formed prior to Jesus' appearance, mostly in the Intertestamental Period (the ~400 year period between the end of the Hebraic Scriptures, Genesis through Malachi, and the beginning of Matthew). This expectation centered, in part, around the Davidic Covenant and the Jewish hope of one who would come to sit/rule on the throne of David forever. It is critical to understand that at the time of Jesus birth, the primary expectation of a 'messiah' within the mind of a Jew, was the expectation of a coming King. A political figure, to put a modern context to it. This is clear when we look at what the Magi say when they come to find the one they are searching for:
"After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him." (Matthew 2:1-2, NIV)
