The Missing Piece
I wanted to elaborate a little about why the Jews had a difficult time accepting Jesus as the Messiah. I mentioned yesterday that they had a misguided perspective on the timing of the Messiah's physical reign. They expected the Messiah to come and kick some Gentile tail and establish His kingdom forever. Once again the Jews would have a King who would be King of all kings.
Then along comes Jesus... If you read through the gospels carefully, the conversations begin to buzz about the possibility of Jesus being the Messiah. "Could he be the one?" is the question that was being asked. Jesus asked His disciples at one point, "Who do people say that I am?" Jesus was not fishing for affirmation to stroke His ego, rather He was setting up the disciples for the more important question... "Who do YOU say that I am?" Peter responds, "You are the Christ of God!" Understand what Peter is saying... He is saying that Jesus is the one that every Jew has longed for and waited to see! He is the one that every mother, when they looked at their baby boy, thought "could he be the one?" Peter was making a statement of affirmation that he believed Jesus to be the one mentioned in Genesis 3. The one who would rescue the Jews from their oppression and set up a kingdom that will last forever!!! Salvation for the Jews!
Then Jesus drops a bomb shell. Jesus affirms that He is the Christ, but the Scriptures proceeds to say:
Can you imagine the reaction from the disciples. This did not fit their understanding of the Messiah or Christ. Look how Peter responds:
Wow! First of all... what guts Peter has. He just affirmed Jesus to be the Messiah, Jesus then proceeds to rearrange their thinking about what will happen to Him, and then Peter rebukes Him. Not sure if he thought that one through! This just shows us how strong the belief that a Jew had that the Messiah would come and reign and establish the kingdom for the Jews forever! It was ingrained in their thinking that even the Son of God had a difficult time changing it. As a matter of fact, they still never grasped it until they actually saw the resurrected Christ. Look what Jesus said after He rose from the dead while walking with two men on a road to Emmaus:
"He said to them, 'How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter His glory?' And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning Himself."
These men were discussing with Jesus (before they saw that He was Jesus) about the tragic events of the week. They told Him that they had hoped Jesus was the one who was going to redeem Israel, but He died and now the women came back from the tomb with stories of angels and no one in the tomb. Then Jesus had a little one on two session with them. After He was done teaching them, He open their eyes so that they recognized who He was. They immediately ran back to Jerusalem... this news couldn't wait. They told the disciples about what had happened and then Jesus appears to the disciples where He opens up the Scriptures with them again. They finally got it! There was to be a gap between His ascension into glory and His physical reign on earth. God's plan went beyond redeeming Israel, He was redeeming the world! And guess who gets to play a part in that? That's right, you and me!
Now the Messiah is coming back to physically reign on earth, but for now we are to be His witnesses through the power of the Holy Spirit. If you want a great passage to read that even deepens this thought, read Acts 1:1-11. Great stuff!
Back to Hebrews for a sec... If you are going to convince a Jew that Jesus is indeed the Messiah you must deal with the delayed kingdom issue! Jesus clearly dealt with it while He was alive and His disciples didn't get it, but it finally clicked when they saw Jesus after the resurrection. The author knows this because he is, no doubt, a Jew himself.
Then along comes Jesus... If you read through the gospels carefully, the conversations begin to buzz about the possibility of Jesus being the Messiah. "Could he be the one?" is the question that was being asked. Jesus asked His disciples at one point, "Who do people say that I am?" Jesus was not fishing for affirmation to stroke His ego, rather He was setting up the disciples for the more important question... "Who do YOU say that I am?" Peter responds, "You are the Christ of God!" Understand what Peter is saying... He is saying that Jesus is the one that every Jew has longed for and waited to see! He is the one that every mother, when they looked at their baby boy, thought "could he be the one?" Peter was making a statement of affirmation that he believed Jesus to be the one mentioned in Genesis 3. The one who would rescue the Jews from their oppression and set up a kingdom that will last forever!!! Salvation for the Jews!
Then Jesus drops a bomb shell. Jesus affirms that He is the Christ, but the Scriptures proceeds to say:
"From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests, and teachers of the law, and that He must be KILLED and on the third day be raised to life."
Matthew 16:21
Can you imagine the reaction from the disciples. This did not fit their understanding of the Messiah or Christ. Look how Peter responds:
"Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him (Jesus). 'Never Lord!' he said. 'This shall never happen to you.'"
Matthew 16:22
Wow! First of all... what guts Peter has. He just affirmed Jesus to be the Messiah, Jesus then proceeds to rearrange their thinking about what will happen to Him, and then Peter rebukes Him. Not sure if he thought that one through! This just shows us how strong the belief that a Jew had that the Messiah would come and reign and establish the kingdom for the Jews forever! It was ingrained in their thinking that even the Son of God had a difficult time changing it. As a matter of fact, they still never grasped it until they actually saw the resurrected Christ. Look what Jesus said after He rose from the dead while walking with two men on a road to Emmaus:
"He said to them, 'How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter His glory?' And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning Himself."
Luke 24:25-27
These men were discussing with Jesus (before they saw that He was Jesus) about the tragic events of the week. They told Him that they had hoped Jesus was the one who was going to redeem Israel, but He died and now the women came back from the tomb with stories of angels and no one in the tomb. Then Jesus had a little one on two session with them. After He was done teaching them, He open their eyes so that they recognized who He was. They immediately ran back to Jerusalem... this news couldn't wait. They told the disciples about what had happened and then Jesus appears to the disciples where He opens up the Scriptures with them again. They finally got it! There was to be a gap between His ascension into glory and His physical reign on earth. God's plan went beyond redeeming Israel, He was redeeming the world! And guess who gets to play a part in that? That's right, you and me!
Now the Messiah is coming back to physically reign on earth, but for now we are to be His witnesses through the power of the Holy Spirit. If you want a great passage to read that even deepens this thought, read Acts 1:1-11. Great stuff!
Back to Hebrews for a sec... If you are going to convince a Jew that Jesus is indeed the Messiah you must deal with the delayed kingdom issue! Jesus clearly dealt with it while He was alive and His disciples didn't get it, but it finally clicked when they saw Jesus after the resurrection. The author knows this because he is, no doubt, a Jew himself.
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