So the Jews thought there were two Messiahs coming once each. Jesus said, no there’s one Messiah coming twice. And this is how they arrived at that, and how Jesus was the most unlikely candidate to be the Messiah of his time.
For example, and I document all of this, going back before Christ, Palestine was invaded, and they were slaughtering the Jews. I mean, some of the historical accounts say the bodies of Jews were stacked up twenty feet tall, that’s two stories high, all over Israel. They were being slaughtered, and the Jewish soldiers and the lay people were walking away from the Jewish leaders.
Why? Now think. They were telling them, hang in there, sacrifice, give your lives! Why? Because the Messiah’s coming and he’s going to die for you! They go, wow, that’s quite exciting…does he have a grandfather clause? No, I’m serious! And so they thought, this is not worth dying for, a dying Messiah. So they started to walk away. So if there’s any two people in history that learned how to survive through adjustment, it’s the Armenians and the Jews, and they adjusted. And I document this, this is what they started to teach: that the first Messiah, the suffering Messiah, was who? Not the son of Joseph, but Israel. You say, what? Yeah, many Jewish leaders will teach that today; that the Jews, Israel is the suffering Messiah. They say, look at all of our history, look at all the suffering we’ve been through. This is why one Jewish leader a number of years ago on television blamed the Holocaust, the killing of six million Jewish people, on the Gentiles. Because he said, “God took the sins of you Gentiles and placed them upon the Jews, and sacrificed six million for your forgiveness.” So they taught that the Jews themselves were the first Messiah. Now the second Messiah would be the son of David; would now be the one coming would be the reigning political Messiah, who would drive out of all Jerusalem, Israel the hated usurpers and rule the world from Jerusalem. And they did this to give hope to the soldiers to be able to fight on.
Well, when it came to the time of Christ, do you see why they couldn’t understand him? Jesus said, I came to die, I’ve got to go to Jerusalem, I’m going to be beaten, and persecuted, killed, and burred. “No, no, you can’t go there! They will kill you Jesus! You don’t understand!” I’m going to be killed, buried, and raised from the dead. But whenever Christ mentioned the resurrection, they couldn’t understand him. Why? Because to the Jew the Messiah could not die. He was the reigning Messiah, the son of David. And remember it said, “Is it now?” You know, they were getting impatient with Jesus. They said, “Look, get your act together,” I’m being reverent, “Get your act together! Is it now that you are going to set up your kingdom.” Were they thinking of a suffering Messiah? No, a reigning political Messiah. “Lord, can we reign at your right hand?” They didn’t ask if they could suffer. You see, their whole concept was a reigning political Messiah. Jesus said, “I came to die.”
So the Jews thought there were two Messiahs coming once each. Jesus said, no there’s one Messiah coming twice. And this is how they arrived at that, and how Jesus was the most unlikely candidate to be the Messiah of his time.
For example, and I document all of this, going back before Christ, Palestine was invaded, and they were slaughtering the Jews. I mean, some of the historical accounts say the bodies of Jews were stacked up twenty feet tall, that’s two stories high, all over Israel. They were being slaughtered, and the Jewish soldiers and the lay people were walking away from the Jewish leaders.
Why? Now think. They were telling them, hang in there, sacrifice, give your lives! Why? Because the Messiah’s coming and he’s going to die for you! They go, wow, that’s quite exciting…does he have a grandfather clause? No, I’m serious! And so they thought, this is not worth dying for, a dying Messiah. So they started to walk away. So if there’s any two people in history that learned how to survive through adjustment, it’s the Armenians and the Jews, and they adjusted. And I document this, this is what they started to teach: that the first Messiah, the suffering Messiah, was who? Not the son of Joseph, but Israel. You say, what? Yeah, many Jewish leaders will teach that today; that the Jews, Israel is the suffering Messiah. They say, look at all of our history, look at all the suffering we’ve been through. This is why one Jewish leader a number of years ago on television blamed the Holocaust, the killing of six million Jewish people, on the Gentiles. Because he said, “God took the sins of you Gentiles and placed them upon the Jews, and sacrificed six million for your forgiveness.” So they taught that the Jews themselves were the first Messiah. Now the second Messiah would be the son of David; would now be the one coming would be the reigning political Messiah, who would drive out of all Jerusalem, Israel the hated usurpers and rule the world from Jerusalem. And they did this to give hope to the soldiers to be able to fight on.
Well, when it came to the time of Christ, do you see why they couldn’t understand him? Jesus said, I came to die, I’ve got to go to Jerusalem, I’m going to be beaten, and persecuted, killed, and burred. “No, no, you can’t go there! They will kill you Jesus! You don’t understand!” I’m going to be killed, buried, and raised from the dead. But whenever Christ mentioned the resurrection, they couldn’t understand him. Why? Because to the Jew the Messiah could not die. He was the reigning Messiah, the son of David. And remember it said, “Is it now?” You know, they were getting impatient with Jesus. They said, “Look, get your act together,” I’m being reverent, “Get your act together! Is it now that you are going to set up your kingdom.” Were they thinking of a suffering Messiah? No, he was to be a reigning political Messiah. “Lord, can we reign at your right hand?” They didn’t ask if they could suffer. You see, their whole concept was a reigning political Messiah. Jesus said, “I came to die.”
SUMMARY: Jesus was the most unlikely candidate to be the Messiah of his time. Before Jesus’ time Palestine was invaded and Jews were being slaughtered. Many Jews were walking away from their faith so the rabbis told them that they were the first Messiah suffering and dying for the world’s sins. They were told that a second Messiah would come as a son of David and be a reigning political Messiah who would drive out the bad guys from Jerusalem; so fight on soldiers. The disciples didn’t want Jesus to be killed since they thought he was the reigning Messiah. They ask Jesus, “Lord, can we reign at your right hand?” Their concept was a reigning political Messiah.
STUDY QUESTIONS:
© 2024 Josh McDowell Ministry | All rights reserved.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
