The Messiah in the Old Testament
The
Messiah in the Old Testament (Zondervan Publishing House, 1995) is the
title of a book by Walter Kaiser, professor of Old Testament at Gordon Conwell
Theological Seminary. Monthly, in my newsletter
articles and weekly in my blog, I will begin 2016 with thoughts Kaiser’s book
has raised in me.
I don’t know that I could write an
opening paragraph any dryer than this.
What possible interest could my reading of Kaiser have for you, friendly
reader? Only this: there is continuity
between Christianity and Judaism. If we
Christians are ignorant of Judaism, we ignore our spiritual relatives to our
peril. Thus we must give our attention
to our spiritual roots.
The Apostle Paul calls all
non-Jewish Christ followers “wild olive shoots.” In order to be part of God’s people, we have
to be “grafted in” (Romans 11:19). To
follow Jesus with a deep, mature faith, we have to embrace that by God’s grace,
we gentile Christ-followers are adopted into Israel and not at the expense of
Israel.
What is the eternal destiny of
Jewish people who do not accept that Jesus is the Messiah? That is for God to decide. I will not in this space offer any opinion
about the eternal destiny of Jews or anyone else. I enter this exercise with fear and
trembling. I know the history of evils
Christians have committed against Jews.
It is understandable that one of the most detestable things to Jews is
the attempt Christians make to convert them.
I pray I can write in a way that is respectful.
As an evangelical Christian, I would try to
help anyone of any background who does not follow and worship Jesus come to
that point in their journey where they decide to worship and follow him. But my role is to love, to encourage, to
help, and to support and to do it all with compassion. I do not convert anyone. I do not “win souls.” The Holy Spirit does this. My efforts at reading about the Jewishness of
Jesus are not part of a design to specifically witness to Jews. I feel called to witness to all people. But for reasons stated above, this witness is
shared humbly. Confidently and boldly,
but just as important, humbly.
My goal in this study is to more
deeply understand Jesus. And I invite
you to join me in this. As the Gospel
makes clear, Jesus is the Messiah, the Anointed one of Israel. So, if we are to understand our Lord, we need
to understand why he is called “Christ.”
It’s a title, not his last name.
It serves as a name, of course, because there is no other Christ. But to know Jesus, we need to know all
aspects of Him (or as many as we can).
John 21:25 implies what we obviously see when we realize Jesus is
God. No one can ever know all there is
to know of Him. So we strive to know as
much as we can.
Kaiser writes, “The Bible is to be
read with an appreciation of its wholeness, its unity, and its concept of a
divine plan that is being enacted both in immediate historical fulfillments,
and in a final, climactic fulfillment in the last days” (p.26). This unity carries from Old Testament words
about the Messiah through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus and into
the age of the church. Kaiser’s proposal
is that “the messianic doctrine is located in God’s single, unified plan, called
in the NT his ‘promise,’ which is eternal in its fulfillment but climactic in
its final accomplishments, while being built up by historical fulfillments that
are part and parcel of that single ongoing plan as it moved toward its final
plateau” (p.31).
In other words, from the start, God planned to save the world through the
Jewish Messiah. I hope you’ll walk with
me as I explore all the implications in the claim that Jesus is the Christ even
and we are his, ‘Christians.’ Follow the blog (http://honesttalkwithgod.blogspot.com/). Leave comments, or Facebook me or tweet at
me. Participate in the conversation. Together, let’s begin growing in our
knowledge of our Lord by growing in our understanding of what we mean when we
say Jesus Christ.
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