Messiah in the Old Testament - some final thoughts (for now)

A Final Post on The Messiah in the Old Testament (Walter Kaiser)

            I am loathe to write this post because if you read my blogs regularly, you know at the beginning of 2016, I intended to write blog posts throughout the year reacting to Kaiser’s book.  He makes the case that anticipation of Jesus coming as Messiah (Anointed one of God, the Christ) is seen in the Old Testament.  According to Kaiser, from Genesis to Malachi, there is unmistakable evidence of the Messiah’s presence in the Old Testament.  I wanted to learn Kaiser’s perspective and share it with you, my readers. 

            I did OK through the Pentateuch (Genesis-Deuteronomy) and I reviewed his assessment of OT books up through the Psalms.   Alas, time caught up with me.  Some of Kaiser’s meatiest work is done in the prophets.  In 2016, other interests (family life, church, study of racial dynamic in American life) took me away from working on writing my responses to the ideas in this book. 

            So now, I conclude by recommending that you go to Amazon (or whatever site you prefer) and get your own copy of Kaiser’s book. 

            I do offer this.  I have only recently come to appreciate just how important and controversial it is to think that New Testament concepts arose first in the Old Testament and then served as fulfillment of the Old Testament.  For Jewish people who do not believe Jesus is the Messiah, this is a great insult.  For them, the Old Testament is not “Old.”  It is “the Bible,” the Torah.  Some Jews may feel that their book was stolen from them by the same Christians who perpetrated the Pogroms and ignored the Holocaust.  I think the story is more complicated than that, but I want to be gentle with the feelings of others, especially those who have suffered enormous wounding in history.

            I want to respect the Jewish reading of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament).  I want to be in dialogue with Jewish friends and neighbors.  I want to learn about this sacred text from them; they’re the experts.  If I see something about the Messiah (Jesus as Messiah) in Psalm 22 or Genesis 3 or Isaiah 53, something my Jewish friends don’t see or refuse to see, I want to come to that knowledge humbly.  I want to hold that reading reverently and with no intent to marginalize or discard the Jewish viewpoint.

            At the same time, I recognize the absolute nature of this conversation.  Either Jesus is the Messiah or he isn’t.  I believe he is.  I believe His Holy Spirit resides in me and compels me to read the Hebrew Bible through Gospel-tinted lenses.  I believe what Kaiser says is true.  “A straightforward understanding and application of the text leads one straight to the Messiah and to Jesus of Nazareth, who has fulfilled everything these texts said about his first coming” (p.232).

            Thus, I live in this tension.  I want to love and respect my Jewish neighbor who says “Don’t undermine my Bible by insisting that its message is fulfilled in Jesus.”  At the same, I believe scripture (including the Old Testament) can be properly only when read in such a way that we see that the message points to Jesus.  The Bible is about God’s relationship with humanity, and God’s relationship with humanity is made whole through the death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth who is the Christ, the Messiah.  I believe that with all my being, all my soul.

            I pray that conversations around this topic can be peaceful and friendly, even if they end in disagreement.

Nation of Israel - Guest Post by Pastor Rich Goodier

Rich is my friend and colleague and I appreciate him letting me share his thoughts.

Nation of Israel (August)

As I write this article, the fighting between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza strip rages on, with over 700 Palestinian civilians, many women and children, having lost their lives in the fighting. The very area of the world where Jesus Christ our Lord proclaimed “peace on earth and good will towards men” is once again embroiled in violence. The people of Israel have always held a special place in the hearts of Christians. If one equates the modern state of Israel with the people of Israel of our Scriptures, then we have some serious questions to answer regarding this most recent strife.

Aside from the Jewish people themselves, arguably no one knows their history better than Christians, for we cherish their history in the pages of our Holy Scripture. And we know how often the Jewish people stumbled in their pursuit to walk in God’s ways. God would send prophet after prophet to call them back on the path of righteousness. Today is no different. We must be careful not to support any and all that the nation of Israel does, for they too stumble, and God continues to call them back.

I often hear from brothers and sisters how we are to support the nation of Israel, but I rarely hear that we must call them once again to seek shalom (peace), to be a city on a hill that draws all nations to itself. We cannot give Israel a blank check to do anything it wants, for that is putting Israel ahead of Jesus. There is a danger of forsaking the commands of Jesus for the sake of the nation of Israel, and this is something we should never do. When Israel (or any country for that matter) uses gratuitous violence against innocent civilians, we must be prepared to stand up and say, “No.”

Years ago, there was a group of people who forsook the Savior for the sake of the nation of Israel. They were described as the Pharisees. According to the Gospel of John, the Pharisees were so preoccupied with the safety of Israel, they were willing to go as far as to orchestrate Jesus’ execution.

But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin. “What are we accomplishing?” they asked. “Here is this man performing many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our temple and our nation.” Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up, “You know nothing at all! You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.” (John 11:46-50)

The Pharisees made the conscious choice to save their lives and the life of their country by forsaking the Messiah. Ironically, Jesus prophesied that in just a few years Rome would indeed come and take away both the temple and nation. Perhaps this is a sober reminder of Jesus’ warning, “For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it (Mat 16:25).”

God has called us to be ambassadors of reconciliation (2 Cor 5). In a very real way, we citizens of God’s Kingdom can serve as ambassadors between Israel and the people in Gaza, seeking reconciliation, condemning violence, whether perpetrated by Hamas or the Israeli government, and being witnesses on behalf of the One who called us to be peacemakers. And in all these things we can hold securely to the promise: Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

Pastor Rich