Page 58 - TH130 Kingdom of God A4 Final

The Kingdom of God

set up His kingdom, and restore justice to God’s chosen people. They
believed that the Messiah would be a Davidic king, that He would sit on
the throne of David.

Jesus came during a time of great messianic expectation (Luke 2:25,
38). It was a time when the Jews looked longingly for their promised
Messiah. They thought that His coming would herald the kingdom of God
(23:51). This helps to explain why the people were so ready to hear the
message of John the Baptist (Mark 1:4–5; Luke 3:15). Jesus, however,
failed to meet their expectations for the Messiah, although at times they
thought He might. For instance, after feeding the 5000, the people tried
to make him their king by force (John 6:14–15). Even His disciples shared
these false hopes (Luke 24:21, Acts 1:6).

During the intertestamental period there were different views
concerning the coming of the Messiah. The Pharisees believed that the
Messiah would come if all Jews would
obey the law perfectly for one day. The
Zealots thought the Messiah would
Rather than come only if all Jews would join in an
coming as the armed rebellion against Rome.

Conquering King, The way Jesus came disappointed

Jesus came as the them both. Rather than come as the
Conquering King, Jesus came as the
Suffering Servant. Suffering Servant. The Jews had largely

ignored this part of messianic prophecy.
They were disappointed when He came
in humility, poverty, and meekness. This was very different from their
hopes and expectations.

The Jews were the natural “subjects of the kingdom” (Matthew 8:12).
When Jesus came, He offered the Kingdom to them, but they rejected
it (Luke 19:41–44; Matthew 27:20–26). The kingdom of God was thus
taken from the Jews and given to “a people who will produce its fruit”
(Matthew 21:43), that is, the church made up of both believing Jews and
Gentiles (1 Peter 2:9). The church, the new Israel (being the new seed of
Abraham referenced in Romans 4:13–18), inherited from Israel its special
mission to take the message of God to the nations (Matthew 28:18–20).

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