Messiah

The LORD’s Anointed

Old Testament references to Israel’s Messiah, Jesus Christ, are not always easily identifiable because the terminology that is used to distinguish him is sometimes applied to others. For instance, the Messiah is referred to as the king in Psalm 21, which was written by King David and could be applied to the writer also. Psalm 21 is one of the psalms referred to as Messianic (other examples of Messianic portions would include Psalm 34:20; 40:6-8; 41:9; 45:6, 7; 69:21; 72:8; and 118:22). Psalms are classified as Messianic based on one or more of the three following criteria. First, consider the testimony of the writers of the Old Testament. When other books, in the context of discussing the Messiah, contain quotes or wording very similar to lines from the psalms (e.g. Psalm 72:8, cf. Zechariah 9:10), it is a clear indication that a psalm is Messianic. Secondly, there are the citations from psalms that Christ applied to himself (e.g. Psalm 41:9, cf. John 13:18) or that New Testament writers identified as depicting Christ (e.g., Psalm 118:22, cf. Acts 4:11; 1 Peter 2:7). Finally, there are statements in the psalms that, while never specifically identified as such in the Scriptures, clearly point to Jesus Christ, (e.g. Psalm 22:1, cf. Matthew 27:46). It should be noted that within the ‘Messianic’ portions of individual psalms, some passages refer exclusively to Christ while others seem to also address a situation faced by the human writer” (note on Psalm 22:1-31).

Psalm 2 is one of the psalms that is identified as Messianic. In this psalm, Christ is referred to as the LORD’s Anointed, as well as, my Son. One of the well-known lines in this Psalm is found in verse 7, “The LORD said to me, ‘You are my Son; today I have begotten you.’” The Apostle Paul quoted this verse in a message he delivered at Antioch. After reciting a brief history of the people of Israel (Acts 13:16-25), Paul stated:

“Brothers, sons of the family of Abraham, and those among you who fear God, to us has been sent the message of this salvation. For those who live in Jerusalem and their rulers, because they did not recognize him nor understand the utterances of the prophets, which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled them by condemning him. And though they found in him no guilt worthy of death, they asked Pilate to have him executed. And when they had carried out all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb. But God raised him from the dead, and for many days he appeared to those who had come up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now his witnesses to the people. And we bring you the good news that what God promised to the fathers, this he has fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus, as also it is written in the second Psalm,

“‘You are my Son,
    today I have begotten you.’” (Acts 13:26-33)

Paul’s comment about the good news that was promised to the Israelites had to do with their Messiah not being recognized as the Son of God. Paul said the Jews living in Jerusalem and their rulers did not understand the utterances of the prophets, in particular that the verse he quoted from Psalm 2 was Messianic.  

The title of Psalm 2, The Reign of the LORD’s Anointed, points to an event that was expected by the Jews at the time of Christ’s birth, but was largely misunderstood because it didn’t apply to the nation of Israel. The book of Revelation tells us that Christ’s reign will take place after a worldwide system of government is established that requires allegiance to one man, Antichrist who will rule over all the earth (Revelation 13:1-8). At the end of Antichrist’s 42 month reign, Christ will return to earth and will, “strike down the nations, and will rule them with a rod of iron” (Revelation 19:15). Psalm 2 begins with the question, “Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?” (Psalm 2:1), referring to the rebellion against God that elicits Christ’s return. The psalmist states, “The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against his Anointed, saying, ‘Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us’” (Psalm 2:2-3).

People’s attitude toward God when Christ returns will be one of complete disdain, which is why it will be necessary for him to rule with a rod of iron. In response to the world’s antagonism toward him, Christ will appoint judges to rule with him over the people on earth for a thousand years (Revelation 20:4-5), but when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be given one last opportunity to oppose Christ’s authority (Revelation 20:7-9). It says in Revelation 20:9 that fire will come down from heaven and consume Satan’s army. God’s rationale for a swift and decisive defeat of Satan is conveyed in Psalm 2:4-7. It states:

He who sits in the heavens laughs;
    the Lord holds them in derision.
Then he will speak to them in his wrath,
    and terrify them in his fury, saying,
“As for me, I have set my King
    on Zion, my holy hill.”

I will tell of the decree:
The Lord said to me, “You are my Son;
    today I have begotten you.

A decree is an official order issued by a legal authority. God’s decrees must be observed and by virtue of his divine authority, are like the laws of nature which cannot be broken. God’s statement, “As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill” (Psalm 2:6) implies that a decision was made at a particular point in time that determined Christ’s sacrifice for our sins would result in him becoming the individual who was given the power and authority to rule over God’s kingdom forever (2 Samuel 7:4-16). Before Jesus was born, God said of the coming Messiah, “I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son” (2 Samuel 7:14).

The reign of the LORD’s Anointed is depicted as a period of harsh judgment. It says of the LORD’s Anointed in Psalm 2:9, “You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” “The ‘rod’ mentioned here is not an emblem of a royal office but a rod of correction in the hand of the King. The fact that it is made of iron indicates the severity and harshness of the judgment that will be meted out by Christ at his return (Revelation 19:15). This harsh judgment is not inconsistent with the meekness and gentleness of Christ. Meekness does not exclude anger but simply means that one is angry for the right reasons and at the right time (John 2:13-17). Jesus could truthfully claim to be gentle without contradicting his claim to be the Judge (Matthew 11:28-30; John 5:26-30)” (note on Psalm 2:9). The Hebrew word that is translated break in Psalm 2:9, raʿaʿ (raw-ahˊ) means “to spoil (literally, by breaking to pieces)…The root of the word indicates breaking, in contrast to the word tamam (8552), which means to be whole” (H7489). Tamam has to do with something being complete or finished, “to conclude. At its root, this word carries the connotation of finishing or bringing closure” (H8552).

Jesus told his disciples before he was crucified that he was going to prepare a place for them (John 14:2). Jesus said, “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also” (John 14:3). In his Parable of the Ten Minas, Jesus explained that it was necessary for the LORD’s Anointed to go away in order for him to receive his kingdom. Luke tells us, “As they heard these things, he proceeded to tell a parable, because they supposed that the kingdom of God was to appear immediately: (Luke 19:11). Luke 19:12-27 states:

He said therefore, “A nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and then return. Calling ten of his servants, he gave them ten minas, and said to them, ‘Engage in business until I come.’ But his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We do not want this man to reign over us.’ When he returned, having received the kingdom, he ordered these servants to whom he had given the money to be called to him, that he might know what they had gained by doing business. The first came before him, saying, ‘Lord, your mina has made ten minas more.’ And he said to him, ‘Well done, good servant! Because you have been faithful in a very little, you shall have authority over ten cities.’ And the second came, saying, ‘Lord, your mina has made five minas.’ And he said to him, ‘And you are to be over five cities.’ Then another came, saying, ‘Lord, here is your mina, which I kept laid away in a handkerchief; for I was afraid of you, because you are a severe man. You take what you did not deposit, and reap what you did not sow.’ He said to him, ‘I will condemn you with your own words, you wicked servant! You knew that I was a severe man, taking what I did not deposit and reaping what I did not sow? Why then did you not put my money in the bank, and at my coming I might have collected it with interest?’ And he said to those who stood by, ‘Take the mina from him, and give it to the one who has the ten minas.’ And they said to him, ‘Lord, he has ten minas!’ ‘I tell you that to everyone who has, more will be given, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. But as for these enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slaughter them before me.’”

Jesus indicated the citizens of the kingdom hated the LORD’s Anointed and did not want him to reign over them. At the end of the parable, Jesus spoke as though he was the one who was hated and said to those who were listening, “I tell you that everyone who has, more will be given, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. But as for those enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slaughter them before me” (Luke 19:26-27). A couple of days later, in his Parable of the Wicked Tenants (Luke 20:9-18), Jesus revealed the people’s motive for being hostile toward the LORD’s Anointed. Jesus stated:

Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my beloved son; perhaps they will respect him.’ But when the tenants saw him, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Let us kill him, so that the inheritance may be ours.’ And they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? He will come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others.” When they heard this, they said, “Surely not!” But he looked directly at them and said, “What then is this that is written:

“‘The stone that the builders rejected
    has become the cornerstone’?

Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.” (Luke 20:13-18)

When Jesus returns, he intends to judge those who have rejected him as the LORD’s Anointed. Jesus told his disciples, “Truly, I say to you, in the new world, when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Matthew 19:28). The Greek word that is translated new world, paliggenesia (pal-ing-ghen-es-eeˊ-ah) refers specifically to Messianic restoration. “In the sense of renovation, restoration, restitution to a former state; spoken of complete eternal manifestation of the Messiah’s kingdom when all things are to be delivered from the present corruption and restored to spiritual purity and splendor (Matthew 19:28)” (G3824).

God’s restoration of the world will be similar to the spiritual rebirth that believers experience when they are born again. Paul explained in his letter to Titus, “But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his mercy, by the washing of regeneration (paliggenesia) and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life” (Titus 3:4-7). Paul used the phrase washing of regeneration to describe the cleansing that takes place at salvation (G3067). This cleansing is done through Jesus Christ, the Word of God. Revelation 19:12-16 tells us that when Jesus, the LORD’s Anointed returns, “His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which his is called is The Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.” The nineteenth chapter of Revelation concludes with the beast and the false prophet being captured and “thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur” and the rest who made war against the LORD’s Anointed, “were slain by the sword that came from the mouth of him who was sitting on the horse, and all the birds were gorged on their flesh” (Revelation 19:20-21).

Psalm 2 concludes with a warning to the rulers of the earth to not contest the supremacy of the LORD’s Anointed. Psalm 2:10-12 states:

Now therefore, O kings, be wise;
    be warned, O rulers of the earth.
Serve the Lord with fear,
    and rejoice with trembling.
Kiss the Son,
    lest he be angry, and you perish in the way,
    for his wrath is quickly kindled.
Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

The Hebrew word that is translated blessed, ʾesher (ehˊ-sher) is “used to describe a person or nation who enjoys a relationship with God (Deuteronomy 33:29; Job 5:17; Psalm 33:12; 146:5)” (H835). Having a relationship with God means that you have access to him on a continuous basis. After he told his disciples he was going to prepare a place for them (John 14:3), Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). Jesus referred to himself as the way, “the way of access, e.g., into the direct presence of God (Hebrews 9:8)” (G3598). Christ’s sacrifice opened the way for everyone to enter into God’s presence. Because of this, all who take refuge in him will be blessed and Jesus will rule over God’s kingdom forever (2 Samuel 7:4-16)

King of the Jews

The first prophetic vision that pointed to Israel’s Messiah in the Bible is recorded in the book of Numbers. Not long after the Israelites disobeyed God’s command to enter the Promised Land and take possession of it (Numbers 14:1-12), a false prophet by the name of Balaam was hired to curse God’s people. Because of Balaam’s interaction with Balak the king of Moab, God intervened and it says in Numbers 24:2 that the Spirit of God came upon Balaam, “and he took up his discourse and said:

‘The oracle of Balaam the son of Beor,
    the oracle of the man whose eye is opened,
the oracle of him who hears the words of God,
    who sees the vision of the Almighty,
    falling down with his eyes uncovered:
How lovely are your tents, O Jacob,
    your encampments, O Israel!
Like palm groves that stretch afar,
    like gardens beside a river,
like aloes that the Lord has planted,
    like cedar trees beside the waters.
Water shall flow from his buckets,
    and his seed shall be in many waters;
his king shall be higher than Agag,
    and his kingdom shall be exalted.
God brings him out of Egypt
    and is for him like the horns of the wild ox;
he shall eat up the nations, his adversaries,
    and shall break their bones in pieces
    and pierce them through with his arrows.
He crouched, he lay down like a lion
    and like a lioness; who will rouse him up?
Blessed are those who bless you,
    and cursed are those who curse you.’” (Numbers 24:2-9)

The mention of a king whose kingdom shall be exalted indicated that God’s plan of salvation was going to be fulfilled in a way that people didn’t necessarily expect. The Hebrew word that is translated exalted, naçah (naw-sawˊ) “is used of the undertaking of the responsibilities for sins of others by substitution or representation (Exodus 28:12; Leviticus 16:22; Isaiah 53:12; cf. 1 Peter 2:24)” (H5375). After Jesus’ substitutionary death on the cross, God exalted him to a position of honor. Peter and the apostles who were with him told the council that had arrested them for preaching the gospel, “The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him” (Acts 5:30-32).


Mark’s gospel tells us that after the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council, “they bound Jesus and led him away and delivered him over to Pilate” (Mark 15:1). The first question that Pilate asked Jesus was, “Are you the King of the Jews?” (Mark 15:2). The wise men who came to Jerusalem after Jesus’ birth asked a similar question, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star and have come to worship him” (Matthew 2:2). It is possible that Balaam’s prophecy about a king whose kingdom would be exalted was intended to alert the secular world to the fact that a Savior was coming and that they as well as the Jews should anticipate the arrival of their Messiah. John’s gospel elaborates on Jesus’ interaction with Pilate. John 18:33-40 states:


So Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus answered, “Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me?” Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me. What have you done?” Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.” Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” Pilate said to him, “What is truth?”


After he had said this, he went back outside to the Jews and told them, “I find no guilt in him. But you have a custom that I should release one man for you at the Passover. So do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?” They cried out again, “Not this man, but Barabbas!” Now Barabbas was a robber.

Jesus differentiated his servants from the Jews and indicated that his kingdom was not from the world. (John 18:36). What Jesus meant by his kingdom not being from the world was that his kingdom came from, and only existed at that time, in the spiritual realm. Jesus went on to explain to Pilate that the reason why he was born was so that we would know that the spiritual realm exists. Jesus referred to the spiritual realm as truth because it is the reality (G225) that the physical realm is based on or you might say patterned after (Hebrews 8:5).

Jesus told Pilate, “Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice” (John 18:37). Being of the truth means that you have conformed to the nature and reality of things (G225). It says in Romans 8:29 that those whom God foreknew he also predestined “to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.” The Greek word summorphos (soom-mor-fosˊ) means “jointly formed that is (figuratively) similar” (G4832). It also says in Romans 12:2 that you should “not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind.” In this instance, the Greek word that is translated conformed is suschematizo (soos-khay-mat-idˊ-zo) which means “to fashion alike, i.e. conform to the same pattern” (G4964). Suschematizo has to do with the external condition of a person, whereas summorphos has to do with the person’s internal nature. Therefore, being of the truth means that you have been internally conformed to the nature and reality of things, as opposed to externally conforming to the pattern of the world around you.

The Jewish religious leader’s decision to deliver Jesus over to Pilate is evidence that they were not only conforming to the pattern of the world around them, but were also trying to negate the reality of God’s existence in the physical realm. It says in Mark 15:29-32 that the Jews derided and reviled Jesus. The Greek word that is translated derided, blasphemeo (blas-fay-mehˊ-o) means “to blaspheme” (G987) and oneidezo (on-i-didˊ-zo), which is translated reviled, means “to defame” (G3679) or ruin someone’s reputation. Oneidezo is derived from the word onoma (onˊom-ah) which is “spoken of God, where His name is said to be hallowed, revealed, invoked, honored” and “spoken of Christ as the Messiah where His name is said to be honored, revered, believed on, invoked” (G3686). Mark said of Jesus’ crucifixion:

And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, “Aha! You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself, and come down from the cross!” So also the chief priests with the scribes mocked him to one another, saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may see and believe.” Those who were crucified with him also reviled him. (Mark 15:29-32).

There is no doubt that the Jews knew who Jesus was, they referred to him as the Christ, the King of Israel, but not in way that was respectful or even appropriate for the situation. The Jews made it clear that they did not want to be identified as God’s servants, their allegiance belonged to Caesar (Luke 23:2)

Mark tells us that the inscription of the charge against Jesus read, “The King of the Jews.” It was as if Jesus’ true identity was the only thing that the Jews could hold against him. In Mark’s record of Jesus’ death, he noted that others believed who Jesus was in spite of the Jewish leaders’ defamation of his character. Mark wrote:


And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” And some of the bystanders hearing it said, “Behold, he is calling Elijah.” And someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink, saying, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.” And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!” (Mark 15:33-39)

Jesus’ death was not the death of an ordinary man. The centurion who stood facing him saw Jesus stop breathing and declared, “Truly this man was the Son of God!” (Mark 15:39). The King James Version of Mark 15:39 says that the centurion saw that Jesus “so cried out, and gave up the ghost.” Giving up the ghost is explained in the Amplified Bible as being fully in control. It states, “When the centurion, who was standing opposite Him, saw the way He breathed His last [being fully in control], he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!” (Mark 15:39). Jesus voluntarily, rather than involuntarily, stopped breathing when he took his last breath.

Jesus explained to his disciples that he had the authority to give up his life if he chose to. He told them, “The thief comes only to steal and to kill and to destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father” (John 10:10-18). Jesus later told his disciples, “Greater love has no one that this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13), and then, concluded his explanation with this statement, “I have said these things to you in figures of speech. The hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures of speech but will tell you plainly about the Father. In that day you will ask in my name, and I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf; for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. I came from the Father and have come into the world, and now I am leaving the world and going to the Father” (John 16:25-28).

Jesus’ physical departure from earth is recorded in Acts 1:6-11. Just before Jesus ascended into heaven, his disciples asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6). Jesus didn’t answer their question, but instead talked about his disciples receiving power when the Holy Spirit had come and their mission of spreading the gospel to the end of the earth (Acts 1:8). We don’t hear anything more about Jesus’ position as King of the Jews or God’s kingdom in the New Testament until we get to the book of Revelation, except for a brief mention of it in Paul’s first letter to Timothy. Paul told Timothy, “The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who believe in him for eternal life. To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen” (1 Timothy 1:15-17). Paul concluded his letter to Timothy with an admonition to fight the good fight of faith (1 Timothy 6:12) and then stated, “I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which he will display at the proper time—he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen” (1 Timothy 6:13-16).

A permanent structure

King David wanted to build a temple for God that would be a permanent structure for him to live in. After David shared his plan with Nathan the prophet, 2 Samuel 7:4-16 tells us:

But that same night the word of the Lord came to Nathan, “Go and tell my servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord: Would you build me a house to dwell in? I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent for my dwelling. In all places where I have moved with all the people of Israel, did I speak a word with any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?”’ Now, therefore, thus you shall say to my servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, that you should be prince over my people Israel. And I have been with you wherever you went and have cut off all your enemies from before you. And I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth. And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may dwell in their own place and be disturbed no more. And violent men shall afflict them no more, as formerly, from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel. And I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover, the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house. When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men, but my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.’”

Nathan told David that the LORD was going to build him a house rather than the other way around. Nathan said, “When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever” (2 Samuel 7:12-13). David’s desire to build a house for the Lord set the stage for one of the key passages in the Old Testament concerning the coming Messiah. Verses 8-16 of 2 Samuel 7 are referred to as the Davidic covenant. Verse 13 of this passage referred initially to Solomon “but was ultimately fulfilled in Jesus Christ, the ‘Son of David’ (Luke 1:31-33; Acts 2:25-35) who reigns at God’s right hand (Psalm 2:7; Acts 13:33)” (note on 2 Samuel 7:4-16).

The temple that David wanted to build for the Lord was eventually constructed by his son Solomon (1 Kings 6). It says in 1 Kings 6:21, “Solomon overlaid the inside of the house with pure gold.” One of the qualities of gold is that it is “durable to the point of virtual indestructibility” (britannica.com). Solomon’s intention in building a house for the Lord was that it would be a place for him to dwell in forever (1 Kings 8:13). The temple that Solomon built was destroyed when King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon invaded Jerusalem and took the Jews into captivity (2 Kings 25:8-12). Another temple existed during the time that Jesus’ lived on earth. During one of Jesus’ visits to the temple, he was confronted by the Jews. The incident is recorded in John’s gospel. John stated, “So the Jews said to him, ‘What sign do you show us for doing these things?’ Jesus answered them, ‘Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.’ The Jews then said, ‘It has taken forty six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in in three days?’ But he was speaking about the temple of his body. When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture, and the word that Jesus had spoken” (John 2:18-22).

God’s promise to King David that his offspring would “build a house for my name” (2 Samuel 7:13) was about him building a permanent structure for God to dwell in, but it wasn’t the kind of structure that David was imagining. In his first letter to the Corinthians, the Apostle Paul talked about his ministry being comparable to a building project that started with the foundation of Jesus Christ. Paul said:

What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building

According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw—each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.

Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple. (1 Corinthians 3:5-17)

Paul’s illustration of building a temple on the foundation of Jesus Christ concluded with the important spiritual truth that God’s Spirit dwells inside believers. Paul said, “If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him” (1 Corinthian 3:17). In the King James Version of the Bible, 1 Corinthians 3:17 reads, “If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy.” The Greek word that is translated defile and destroy, phtheiro (fthiˊ-ro) is properly translated “to shrivel or wither, i.e. to spoil (by any process) or (genitive) to ruin (especially figurative by moral influences, to deprave)” (G5351). Paul was talking about a person being brought to a worse state than he was presently in from a moral perspective. Paul said that God’s temple is holy (1 Corinthians 3:17). The Greek word that is translated holy, hagios (hagˊ-ee-os) is “spoken of those who are purified and sanctified by the influences of the Spirit, a saint” (G40). Instead of saying “God’s temple is holy” (1 Corinthians 3:17), Paul could have said, more specifically, God’s temple is purified ones. Paul used hagios throughout his first letter to the Corinthians to refer to both saints and the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 1:2; 2:13; 6:1, 2, 19; 12:3; 14:33; 16:1, 15), as well as, to refer to God’s temple being holy (1 Corinthians 3:17).

Paul went on in his letter to talk about the church being defiled by sexual immorality (1 Corinthians 5:1-13) and about the need for believers to flee sexual immorality because “the body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body” (1 Corinthians 6:13). Paul explained, “Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, ‘The two will become one flesh.’ But who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body” (1 Corinthians 6:15-20). Paul indicated that a person who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her (1 Corinthians 6:16). Paul wasn’t referring to sexual intercourse, but to a type of relationship that usually involves two people living under the same roof. The Greek word kollao (kol-lahˊ-o), which is translated joined, means “to glue, i.e. (passive or reflexive) to stick” (G2853). In other words, there is no separation of the two people. There is a permanent connection between them.

Jesus’ teaching about divorce made it clear that there is a permanent bond between a husband and wife. Jesus said, “’Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate” (Matthew 19:5-6). The separation that Jesus was referring to was chorizo (kho-ridˊ-zo), which means “to place room between that is part; reflexively to go away” (G5583). The fact that God joins two people together when they are married has to do with their placement in space. Paul was building on Jesus’ teaching when he said in his letter to the Corinthians, “To the married I give this charge (not I, but the Lord): the wife should not separate from her husband (but if she does, she should remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband), and the husband should not divorce his wife” (1 Corinthians 7:10-11). Paul used the word chorizo when he said the wife should not separate from her husband. The point that I believe Paul was trying to make was that the wife continuing to live under the same roof with her husband was necessary for God’s spiritual work in her and her husband’s lives to continue. Paul went on to say, “If any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever, and she consents to live with him, he should not divorce her. If any woman has a husband who is an unbeliever, and he consents to live with her, she should not divorce him. For the unbelieving husband is made holy because of his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy because of her husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy. But if the unbelieving partner separates, let it be so. In such cases the brother or sister is not enslaved. God has called you to peace. For how do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife?” (1 Corinthians 7:12-16).

It seems that the building up of the body of Christ does not involve the random placement of individual believers into a permanent structure, but the growth or extension of a believer’s faith into the lives of those she is permanently connected to. Paul told the Ephesians, “So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit” (Ephesians 2:19-22). Paul went on to say, “Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love” (Ephesians 4:15-16). Paul indicated that the building grows when each part is working properly and that the body of Christ is joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped. Paul used body movement to make his point that believers need to not only function as a single unit, but also to function as a strong and healthy unit in order for the body of Christ to grow. Jesus said the only way we can do this is by abiding in him. He explained to his disciples, “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). The Greek word that is translated apart, psallo (psalˊ-lo) is derived from the word chora (khoˊ-rah) which properly denotes “the space lying between two limits or places” (G5561). If you think of Jesus as a power outlet, in order for the body of Christ to live, and move, and have its being, (Acts 17:28) it must remain plugged into Jesus at all times. Through this connection, we become a part of a permanent structure that will one day be the dwelling place of God (Revelation 21).

Antichrist

The Apostle John introduced a character into his gospel message that none of the other apostles seemed to be aware of. John referred to him as antichrist. John said, “Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us” (1 John 2:18-19). The Greek word that is translated antichrist, antichristos (an-tee´-khris-tos) means “an opponent of, an imposter for the Messiah.” Antichristo can mean either “against Christ” or “instead of Christ,” or perhaps, combining the two, “one who, assuming the guise of Christ, opposes Christ and takes His place” (G500). “This noun is only found in John’s epistles, and there is defined to be, “collectively, all who deny that Jesus is the Messiah and that the Messiah is come in the flesh (1 John 2:18, 22; 4:3; 2 John 7). What class of person the apostle had in mind is unknown; probably Jewish adversaries” (G500). Paul seems to have been referring to the same person or class of person in his second letter to the Thessalonians when he said, “Let no one deceive you in any way. For the day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God” (2 Thessalonians 2:3-4).

John indicated that antichrists had already appeared on the scene in the first century and were attempting to disrupt the spread of the gospel in the church’s early stages of development. John said, “For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist” (2 John 1:7). The Greek word that is translated deceiver, planos (plan´-os) means “an imposter or misleader” (G4108). John and Paul’s descriptions agree in that both men identify the antichrist/man of lawlessness as one who deceives others. The key evidence we are to look for in identifying Antichrist is that he will attempt to take the place of Christ and will proclaim himself to be God (2 Thessalonians 2:4). Paul said, “The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception, for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved” (2 Thessalonians 2:9-10). “Two words in this verse refer to supernatural occurrences: ‘signs’ (semeion [G4592]) and ‘wonders’ (teras [G5059]). These ‘counterfeit miracles’ are accomplished by the power of Satan. Miracles are not necessarily evidences of God’s power (Acts 19:13, cf. Exodus 7:22)” (note on 2 Thessalonian 2:9). According to Paul, “the Holy Spirit is the restraining force in this world, holding back the power of lawlessness and the many ‘antichrists’ existing today (1 John 2:18)” the removal of the Holy Spirit’s restraining power will allow Satan and the Antichrist “to exercise dominion on the earth, but God will use whatever happens to further his plan in accordance with his own timetable” (note on 2 Thessalonians 2:6, 7).

God’s covenant with King David (2 Samuel 7:4-16) specified that he would establish an eternal kingdom through one of David’s offspring, a son that would come from David’s own body. “The Jews recognized that the Messiah would come from David’s descendants (cf. John 7:42). One of the titles applied to Jesus during his earthly ministry was ‘Son of David’ (Matthew 9:27; 12:23; 15:22)), emphasizing his heirship of all David’s royal prerogatives as well as his fulfillment of the messianic promises to David (2 Samuel 7:8-16, cf. Matthew 22:41-45; Luke 1:32, 33, 69)” (note on 1 Samuel 16:13). God didn’t specify which of David’s sons would inherit his throne, but implied there would be a special relationship between him and the Messiah. God said, “I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son” (2 Samuel 2:14) indicating he always intended Israel’s Messiah to be both the Son of David and the Son of God.

Antichrist’s plot to usurp the throne of God is revealed in detail in the book of Daniel. Daniel stated:

After this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, terrifying and dreadful and exceedingly strong. It had great iron teeth; it devoured and broke in pieces and stamped what was left with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns. I considered the horns, and behold, there came up among them another horn, a little one, before which three of the first horns were plucked up by the roots. And behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great things…As I looked, this horn made war with the saints and prevailed over them, until the Ancient of Days came, and judgment was given for the saints of the Most High, and the time came when the saints possessed the kingdom. (Daniel 7:7-8, 21-22)

“The coming Antichrist is represented as a ‘little horn,’ who eliminates three of the original ten horns. The mouth that speaks boastfully correlates to the description of the beast that will campaign against God and the saints for forty-two months (Revelation 13:5-7) but will finally be destroyed and cast into the lake of fire (v.11, cf. Revelation 19:20)” (note on Daniel 7:1-28).

Absalom’s conspiracy against his father, King David (2 Samuel 15-18), to a certain extent, depicts the struggle between Antichrist and Christ, and also provides us with a valuable lesson in how God defeats the purposes of Satan. David left Jerusalem without a fight and allowed Absalom to take over as the reigning King of Israel. A loyal servant of David’s, Hushai the Archite, was instructed to “return to the city and say to Absalom, I will be your servant, O king; as I have been your father’s servant in time past, so now I will be your servant’” (2 Samuel 15:34). David did this so that Hushai could interfere with the counsel that Absalom received from Ahithophel, his co-conspirator and former advisor of David. After Ahithophel had advised Absalom to pursue David immediately and throw him into a panic while he was weary and discouraged (2 Samuel 17:1-3), Hushai said to Absalom:

“This time the counsel that Ahithophel has given is not good.” Hushai said, “You know that your father and his men are mighty men, and that they are enraged, like a bear robbed of her cubs in the field. Besides, your father is expert in war; he will not spend the night with the people. Behold, even now he has hidden himself in one of the pits or in some other place. And as soon as some of the people fall at the first attack, whoever hears it will say, ‘There has been a slaughter among the people who follow Absalom.’ Then even the valiant man, whose heart is like the heart of a lion, will utterly melt with fear, for all Israel knows that your father is a mighty man, and that those who are with him are valiant men. But my counsel is that all Israel be gathered to you, from Dan to Beersheba, as the sand by the sea for multitude, and that you go to battle in person. So we shall come upon him in some place where he is to be found, and we shall light upon him as the dew falls on the ground, and of him and all the men with him not one will be left. (2 Samuel 17:7-12)

The battle strategy that Hushai proposed to Absalom is similar to what we see in Revelation 19:19 where Antichrist was preparing to fight against Christ and his army, and 20:7-8 where Satan gathered the nations, and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city (Revelation 20:9). The anticlimactic end to each of these situations (2 Samuel 18:14-15; Revelation 19:20; 20:9-10) demonstrates the invincibleness of God’s covenant with David and ultimately, the Messiah that is expected to rule and reign over the kingdom of heaven. John’s warning to first century believers about Antichrist was not so much about the possibility of being defeated, but about losing the reward that Jesus promised to his faithful followers (Matthew 10:40-42). John advised them, “Watch yourselves, so that you may not lose what we have worked for, but may win a full reward” (2 John 1:8).

Jesus states in Revelation 22:12, “Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done.” The Greek word that is translated recompense, misthos (mis-thos´) means “pay for services” G3408). Paul talked about the recompense that believers will receive in his first letter to the Corinthians. Paul identified two groups of Christians, “spiritual people” and “people of the flesh,” and differentiated these two groups by the type of spiritual nourishment they required, milk or solid food (1 Corinthians 3:1-2). Paul went on to explain that the work he was doing to help the Corinthians mature spiritually would be rewarded based on the motive behind it (1 Corinthians 4:5). Paul said:

He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building.

According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw—each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire. (1 Corinthians 3:8-15).

Paul indicated that a person could be saved and yet, receive no reward for serving God. John’s caution to believers, “Watch yourselves, so that you may not lose what we have worked for, but may win a full reward” (2 John 1:8), suggests that even if we have earned a reward, it could be lost afterward. Paul admitted that he was vulnerable to human error and stated, “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified” (1 Corinthians 9:24-27).

Paul’s concern about being disqualified had to do with how he was perceived by others. The Greek word dokeo (dok-eh´-o) “refers to a person’s subjective mental estimate or opinion about something…It always signifies a subjective estimate of a thing, not the objective appearance and qualities the thing actually possesses” (G1380). Paul knew that he was definitely saved and had been tasked with preaching the gospel, but he referred to himself as “the very least of all the saints” (Ephesians 3:7-8). Paul’s estimate of himself was likely based on his behavior before he became a Christian, rather than afterward, but it reveals an important point about the attitude Paul had about himself. Paul knew that he had failed in the past, and was capable of failing again, therefore he didn’t think of himself as being invulnerable to the influences of Antichrist or as being beyond the reproach of God. When Shimei cursed King David as he was fleeing from Absalom, David responded, “’If he is cursing because the LORD has said to him, “Curse David,” who then shall say, “Why have you done so?”’ And David said to Abishai and to all his servants, ‘Behold, my own son seeks my life; how much more now may this Benjamite! Leave him alone and let him curse, for the LORD has told him to. It may be that the LORD will look on the wrong done to me, and that the LORD will repay me with good for his cursing today’” (2 Samuel 16:10-12). Instead of thinking that he deserved a reward for all the things he had done for the LORD, David hoped the LORD would repay him with good for the wrong that was done to him. This is consistent with Jesus’ teaching in his Sermon on the Mount. Jesus told his followers, “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Matthew 5:11-12).

Rejection

Jesus’ Parable of the Tenants revealed that the Jewish chief priests were aware that their Messiah had come and decided to kill him so that they could remain in control of God’s earthly kingdom. The parable and its interpretation are as follows:

“Hear another parable. There was a master of a house who planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a winepress in it and built a tower and leased it to tenants, and went into another country. When the season for fruit drew near, he sent his servant to the tenants to get his fruit. And the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent other servants, more than the first. And they did the same to them. Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance.’ And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons.”

Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:

“‘The stone that the builders rejected
    has become the cornerstone;
this was the Lord’s doing,
    and it is marvelous in our eyes’?

Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits. And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.”

When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he was speaking about them. And although they were seeking to arrest him, they feared the crowds, because they held him to be a prophet. (Matthew 21:33-46)

It says in Matthew’s gospel that on the morning of Jesus’ crucifixion, “When morning came, all the chief priests and the elders took counsel against Jesus to put him to death. And they bound him and led him away and delivered him over to Pilate the governor. Then when Judas, his betrayer, saw that Jesus was condemned, he changed his mind and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, ‘I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.’ They said, ‘What is that to us? See to it yourself” (Matthew 27:1-4). The chief priests and elders were not concerned about Jesus’ guilt or innocence, they only wanted to gain custody of him so that they could put him into the hands of the Roman government and have him killed. The chief priests and elders’ primary objective was to get rid of Jesus so that he would no longer be a threat to their assumed authority over the people of Israel (John 11:47-48).

Matthew 27:20 indicates that the chief priests and elders persuaded the crowd outside the governor’s palace to destroy Jesus. The Greek word that is translated persuaded, peitho (pi’-tho) has a similar connotation to what we think of today as a jury in a trial, but it goes deeper into the realm of belief and suggests that the chief priests and elders were able to convince the Jews that Jesus was not who he claimed to be and therefore, they shouldn’t put their trust in him. “Peitho, in the active voice, signifies ‘to apply persuasion, to prevail upon or win over, to persuade,’ bringing about a change of mind by the influence of reason or moral considerations” (G3982). Matthew described the situation this way:

Now at the feast the governor was accustomed to release for the crowd any one prisoner whom they wanted. And they had then a notorious prisoner called Barabbas. So when they had gathered, Pilate said to them, “Whom do you want me to release for you: Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?” For he knew that it was out of envy that they had delivered him up. Besides, while he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent word to him, “Have nothing to do with that righteous man, for I have suffered much because of him today in a dream.” Now the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus. The governor again said to them, “Which of the two do you want me to release for you?” And they said, “Barabbas.” Pilate said to them, “Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?” They all said, “Let him be crucified!” And he said, “Why? What evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Let him be crucified!” So when Pilate saw that he was gaining nothing, but rather that a riot was beginning, he took water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this man’s blood; see to it yourselves.” And all the people answered, “His blood be on us and on our children!” Then he released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, delivered him to be crucified. (Matthew 27:15-26)

Jesus’ quotation of Psalm 118:22 at the end of his parable of the tenants (Matthew 21:42) pointed to a larger conspiracy that was taking place at the time of his crucifixion. Aside from the Jews rejection of their Messiah was an attempt by Satan to usurp the authority of God’s Son. Beginning with their bondage in Egypt, there was an ongoing effort by Satan to shift the Israelites’ allegiance away from God and onto himself. Pharaoh’s cruel treatment of the people of Israel made them fearful to rebel against him. Even though God promised to deliver them from their bondage in Egypt, the Israelites refused to listen to Moses and rejected God’s offer of help. Exodus 6:2-9 states:

God spoke to Moses and said to him, “I am the Lord. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by my name the Lord I did not make myself known to them. I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they lived as sojourners. Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the people of Israel whom the Egyptians hold as slaves, and I have remembered my covenant. Say therefore to the people of Israel, ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment. I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. I will give it to you for a possession. I am the Lord.’” Moses spoke thus to the people of Israel, but they did not listen to Moses, because of their broken spirit and harsh slavery.

The Israelites’ unbearable circumstances caused them to ignore what Moses said God intended to do to save them. The Hebrew word that is translated listen in Exodus 6:9, shama (shaw-mah’) means to hear intelligently. “Hearing can be both intellectual and spiritual…In the case of hearing and hearkening to a higher authority, shama can mean to obey (Genesis 22:18)” (H8085). When it says that “they did not listen to Moses,” it meant that the people wouldn’t do what Moses told them to, he didn’t have any influence over them.

The prophet Isaiah’s mention of the precious cornerstone that would be rejected showed up in the context of a covenant that God’s people had made with death (Isaiah 28:15-16). This may have been in reference to Moses’ final proclamation to the Israelites. Moses said, “See, I set before you today life and good, death and evil. If you obey the commandments of the LORD your God that I command you today, by loving the LORD your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the LORD will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess. I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse” (Deuteronomy 30:15-19).

The Jews response to Pilate’s declaration that he was “innocent of this man’s blood” (Matthew 27:24) seems to indicate that they were aware of the fact that they were rejecting their own Messiah. Matthew stated, “And all the people answered, ‘His blood be on us and on our children!'” (Matthew 27:25). One of the things that is evident from Matthew’s account of Jesus’ crucifixion is that everyone was clear about who Jesus claimed to be, even the Roman soldiers that carried out his execution. Matthew said, “Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the governor’s headquarters, and they gathered the whole battalion before him. And they stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and twisted together a crown of thorns, they put it on his head and put a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying, ‘Hail, King of the Jews!'” (Matthew 27:27-29). The title King of the Jews was first introduced by the wise men that came looking for Jesus not long after his birth. Matthew recorded:

Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet:

“‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
    are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for from you shall come a ruler
    who will shepherd my people Israel.’” (Matthew 2:1-6)

Micah’s prophecy of the arrival of Israel’s Messiah (Micah 5:2) was clear evidence that Jesus had fulfilled the Old Testament prophecies about himself. The fact that the Roman soldiers “mocked him, saying, ‘Hail, King of the Jews!'” (Matthew 27:29), seems to suggest that even they were convinced that Jesus was who he claimed to be, and yet, they also rejected him and killed him anyway.

Isaiah’s prophecy of the LORD’s coming salvation indicated that Jesus’ appearance would be “marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of mankind” (Isaiah 52:14). The beatings and whippings that Jesus endured at the hands of the Roman soldiers was in itself enough to kill the average person. By the time he was led off “to a place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull)” to be crucified Jesus was so weak that he was unable to carry his own cross (Matthew 27:32-33). Isaiah indicated that Jesus was rejected by everyone and had to bear the burden of the willful disobedience of not only the Jews, but also every person, past, present, and future that would receive him as Savior. Isaiah said:

He was despised and rejected by men,
    a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;
and as one from whom men hide their faces
    he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Surely he has borne our griefs
    and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
    smitten by God, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions;
    he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
    and with his wounds we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
    we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
    the iniquity of us all.

If it weren’t enough that Jesus was rejected by of all of mankind, he also had to endure the rejection of his heavenly Father. When he was hanging on the cross, Matthew said, “Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Eli, Eli, lema, sabachthani?’ that is ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46). The Greek word that is translated forsaken, egkataleipo (eng-kat-al-i’-po) means to desert (G1459). Just as his disciples had left him and fled after he was taken prisoner in the garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26:56), Jesus’ own Father abandoned him while he was dying for the sins of the world.

Isaiah’s explanation of Jesus’ complete rejection centered around God’s Eternal Covenant of Peace and the compassion that He would eventually show to everyone because of His Son’s sacrifice. Isaiah’s prophecy stated, “‘For a brief moment I deserted you, but with great compassion I will gather you. In overflowing anger for a moment I hid my face from you, but with everlasting love I will have compassion on you,’ says the LORD, your Redeemer…Seek the LORD while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 54:7-8, 55:6-9).

The Hebrew words that are translated brief moment in Isaiah 54:7, qaton (kaw-tone’) and rega’ (reh’-gah) denote the shortest space of time and could also be expressed as the blink of an eye. In other words, God’s desertion of Jesus probably lasted less than 400 milliseconds or the average time it takes to blink your eyes. The Apostle Paul talked about the mystery of the transformation of believers’ bodies and said, “Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: ‘Death is swallowed up in victory.’ ‘O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?'” (1 Corinthians 15:51-55). It seems that God the Father’s rejection of Jesus had something to do with his transformation from a mortal to an immortal state. Because Jesus died a mortal death and was separated from his Father momentarily, the eternal rejection that believers would have otherwise experienced at death has been eliminated.

Personal testimony

Jesus’ healing of the man born blind provided an opportunity for him to give his personal testimony to the religious leaders that denied Jesus was the promised Savior of God’s people. When the man was asked how he had received his sight, “He said unto them, He put clay upon mine eyes, and I washed, and do see” (John 9:15). This straight forward account of what happened left little room for the Pharisees to question the man any further. As usual, the religious leaders were divided about the authenticity of Jesus’ miraculous power. John recorded, “Therefore said some of the Pharisees, This man is not of God, because he keepeth not the sabbath day. Others said, How can a man that is a sinner do such miracles? And there was a division among them” (John 9:16). In an attempt to discredit the man who was healed, the Pharisees brought in his parents to see if they would corroborate his story or deny that a miracle had taken place.

The parents of the man that was healed refused to put their own reputations on the line, but instead claimed that their son was old enough to testify on his own behalf (John 9:23). It says in John 9:24, “Then again called they the man that was blind, and said unto him, Give God the praise: we know that this man is a sinner.” The Pharisees’ persistent haranguing of the man who was healed did little to shake his confidence in what had happened to him. In what appeared to be a sarcastic jab at the Pharisees ignorance, “He answered them, I have told you already, and ye did not hear: wherefore would you hear it again? will ye also be his disciples?” (John 9:27). This man’s courageous personal testimony left the Pharisees with little choice but to ban him from their synagogue in order to prevent him from influencing others into believing in Jesus. In a final attempt to convince the Pharisees he was telling the truth, the man said:

Why herein is a marvelous thing, that ye know not from whence his is, and yet he had opened mine eyes. Now we know that God heareth not sinners: but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth. Since the world began was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind. If this man were not of God, he could do nothing. (John 9:30-33)

After the man was cast out, Jesus found him and encouraged him in his faith. Jesus told the healed man that he was the Son of God and gave him the opportunity to be born again (John 9:35). Immediately, the man committed himself to Jesus, “And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped him” (John 9:38). The commitment the man made to Jesus was not based on the miracle he done for him, but an understanding of who Jesus really was, God in human form. Jesus allowed this man to worship him because he knew his faith was genuine.

Abraham’s children

The descendants of Abraham were promised a kingdom on earth that would be an everlasting or eternal kingdom (Genesis 17:6-8). The ruler of this kingdom was prophesied to be not only the son of King David, but also the son of God (2 Samuel 7:14). The remnant of Jews that returned to the Promised Land at the end of their captivity in Babylon expected to be a part of this eternal kingdom and were told that their Messiah would arrive after God dealt with Israel’s enemies (Zechariah 9:2-7). The prophet Zechariah told God’s chosen people, “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass” (Zechariah 9:9). Somewhere in between the delivery of this prophetic message and the birth of Jesus Christ, the Jews forgot the point of their salvation, to be witnesses to the rest of the world of God’s endless mercy toward his people (Zechariah 9:16-17). When Jesus confronted the Jews about their lack of understanding of God’s plan of salvation, they argued that they were entitled to membership in God’s kingdom because they were descendants of Abraham (John 8:33). What these men failed to comprehend was that the rules had changed when the nation of Israel was destroyed and God’s chosen people were taken into captivity. Afterwards, Jesus told the Jews that survived the only way they could inherit the kingdom of God was to be born again (John 3:3).

Jesus’ formal rebuttal to the Jews argument was directed at the lack of proof behind their claim to the eternal inheritance that was promised to Abraham. He said, “If ye were Abraham’s children, ye would do the works of Abraham” (John 8:39). The works that Jesus was referring to were works of faith. God’s original promise to Abraham’s was based on his faith or belief that what God told him was true. It says of Abraham in Genesis 15:6, “He believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.” The Hebrew word translated counted, chashab (khaw-shab’) has to do with a spiritual transaction that enabled Abraham to receive credit for the death of Jesus on the cross before it actually happened. For all intents and purposes, Abraham was saved when he believed that God would do what he said he would. Jesus’ final comment about who would inherit the kingdom of God pointed to his eternal existence. He said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am” (John 8:58). In other words, Jesus was saying that Abraham’s belief in God was actually belief in himself because “the word of the LORD” (Genesis 15:1) became real or was manifested when Jesus was born on earth. The Apostle John identified Jesus as God’s living word and said, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us”  (John 1:1, 14).

Controversy

Toward the end of Jesus’ ministry, there was a lot of public debate about his true identity. Part of the problem was that Jesus intentionally tried to keep his identity a secret. Many times after he performed a miracle, he would tell the recipient not to tell anyone what had happened to him. Even when Jesus took three of his disciples to the top of a mountain and showed them his glorified state, he instructed them saying, “Tell the vision to no man, until the Son of man be risen again from the dead” (Matthew 17:9). It says in John 7:1, “After these things Jesus walked in Galilee: for he would not walk in Jewry, because the Jews sought to kill him.” The controversy about Jesus stemmed from the fact that many people knew him as the son of Mary and Joseph, a carpenter who had lived an ordinary life until the start of his ministry around the age of 30. When it was time for Jesus to begin his work of salvation, he tried to win the common people over without impressing them with his holy grandeur. Often times, Jesus had to sneak away to remote locations just to get a break from the masses of people that sought his help. During a popular religious festival, that would be attended by the majority of the Jewish population, Jesus was encouraged to “go into Judea, that thy disciples also may see the works that thou doest. For there is no man that doeth any thing in secret, and he himself seeketh to be known openly. If thou do these things, shew thyself to the world” (John 7:3-4).

The crux of the argument being presented to Jesus was that his intention of being the savior of the world meant that he had to be known by everyone. Therefore, it was necessary for him to go where masses of people could witness his miracles. Jesus knew that the risk of being killed was too great for him to expose himself to anymore public appearances. After Jesus’ brethren were gone, it says in John 7:10, “then went he also up to the feast, not openly, but as it were in secret.” Jesus’ intention to keep himself hidden from the religious leaders was nearly an impossible feat. When it was discovered that Jesus was somewhere in the vicinity, “Then the Jews sought him at the feast, and said Where is he? And there was much murmuring among the people concerning him: for some said, He is a good man: others said, Nay; but he deceiveth the people” (John 7:11-12). When the Pharisees heard the murmuring about Jesus, they sent officers to arrest him, but Jesus told them, “Yet a little while am I with you, and then I go unto him that sent me. Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me and where I am, thither ye cannot come” (John 7:33-34).

Jesus’ reference to his ascension to heaven was probably meant to startle the officers that came to arrest him so that they would realize he wasn’t an ordinary man that they could just take into custody. When the officers were asked to explain why they hadn’t arrested Jesus they told the Pharisees and chief priests, “Never man spake like this man” (John 7:46). In other words, they recognized the supernatural power of Jesus’ words and were unwilling to try and take him by force. Like the prophet Elijah, Jesus could have brought fire down from heaven and consumed these men if he chose to (1 Kings 1:10). At the heart of the discussion about Jesus true identity was the question about whether or not the Pharisees intended to allow the Jews’ Messiah to accomplish his mission on earth. At that time, it was becoming clear to the religious leaders that Jesus had already won over the majority of people and proven himself to be who he claimed to be, “the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). Among the Pharisees that were debating what to do about Jesus, was Nicodemus (John 7:50), the Pharisee that had come to Jesus by night and admitted, “no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him” (John 3:2). Even though Jesus had given him an in depth explanation about how he could be saved (John 3:3-21), Nicodemus didn’t appear to have been converted, because rather than sharing what had happened with the other Pharisees, Nicodemus suggested a trial should be conducted in order to settle the controversy about Jesus’ identity once and for all (John 7:51).

 

The keys to the kingdom

In an effort to dispel rumors about his identity, Jesus had a conversation with his disciples that made it clear he had come from heaven to earth for a specific purpose, to die for the sins of the world. Jesus began the conversation by asking his disciples, “Whom say the people that I am?” (Luke 9:18) and then asked, “But whom say ye that I am?” (Luke 9:20). The apostle Peter’s response is documented three different ways in the three gospels that have a record of this incident. I think Matthew, who was present at the time, captured it best when he said, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Mark 16:16). What Peter was saying was that Jesus was the Messiah, the savior God had promised to send to his people. Matthew went on to say, “And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 16:17).

Luke explained that the reason Jesus’ true identity was being kept a secret was because, “The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be slain, and be raised the third day” (Luke 9:22). In other words, it was dangerous for Jesus’ identity to be revealed because the religious leaders wanted to kill him in order to stop him from completing his mission of saving the world. After Peter made his confession of faith, Jesus told him, “And I say unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock will I build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” (Mark 16:18-19).

Keys are only mentioned twice in the Bible, in the conversation Jesus had with his disciples about his identity and in Revelation 1:18 where Jesus said, “I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and death.” The keys to the kingdom of heaven and the keys to hell were both given to Jesus, the Messiah, who was also know as the anointed one, God’s designated representative. It was in his role as Messiah that Jesus obtained access to heaven for all mankind. When Jesus told Peter that he would give him the keys of the kingdom of heaven, he was essentially saying that Peter, and anyone else that confessed that he was the Messiah, would be able to have direct access to God for all eternity. Jesus’ reference to things being bound and loosed on earth and in heaven had to do with sin and its power to separate us from God.

So that his disciples would understand that access to God was not something to be taken lightly, Jesus said:

If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it. For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away? For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father’s, and of the holy angels. (Luke 9:23-26)

The phrase Jesus used “take up his cross daily” meant to undergo suffering, trial, punishment, to expose oneself to reproach and death. In other words, to allow oneself to be treated in the same way that Jesus was. Matthew’s version of Jesus’ admonition included an incentive. He stated, “For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels: and then he shall reward every man according to his works” (Matthew 16:27). The Greek word that is translated works, praxis means practice and by extension a function (4234). Another way of referring to works could be an assignment or regular duty. I think what Jesus was implying was that the more we exercise our faith on earth, the more we will see the results of it in heaven.

 

A sign

The scribes and the Pharisees were notorious for their criticism of Jesus and went so far as to suggest that he was performing miracles by the power of Beelzebub the prince of the devils (Matthew 12:24). After Jesus told these hypocrites that they would be judged for their blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, it says in Matthew 12:38, “Then certain of the scribes and Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from thee.” The fact that the scribes and Pharisees used the title Master to refer to Jesus and then asked him for a sign showed their disrespect for his authority. Essentially, what these men were doing was asking Jesus to show them his credentials. The scribes and Pharisees didn’t believe Jesus was their Messiah and wanted evidence that he was who he claimed to be. At a deeper level, these men expected Jesus to act like their version of what they thought God’s Messiah would be, a revolutionary that would overthrow the Roman government.

In spite of their disrespectful attitude, Jesus told the scribes and Pharisees that he would give them a sign similar to the one that was given to Nineveh, the wicked city where Jonah the prophet was sent with a message of God’s judgment (Jonah 1:2). Jesus said, “For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (Matthew 12:39). Interestingly enough, Jesus didn’t tell the scribes and Pharisees that his resurrection would be the sign of his authenticity, but told these sceptics that the proof he would give them that he was their Messiah would be his death and burial. In other words, the proof that Jesus was the Jew’s Messiah was that he would be killed by the very same people he came to save. This was also a prophetic sign because it was foretold hundreds of years earlier that Israel’s Messiah would suffer and die for God’s chosen people (Isaiah 53).

Jesus depicted the spiritual state of God’s people as being susceptible to demonic influence (Matthew 12:45). This may have been the case because Satan had gained significant ground in God’s territory through Roman occupation. Jesus’ illustration showed that God’s people should expect things to get worse, rather than better, after the Roman government was out of the picture. He said, “When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none. Then he saith, I will return unto my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation” (Matthew 12:43-45).